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206 FLAPPERS AND PHILOSOPHERS  and, pointing her to a wooden bench, he sprawled full length on the grass.

"Are these young men happy here, Keith?"

"Don't they look happy, Lois?"

"I suppose so, but those young ones, those two we just passed—have they—are they—?

"Are they signed up?" he laughed. "No, but they will be next month."

"Permanently?"

"Yes—unless they break down mentally or physically. Of course in a discipline like ours a lot drop out."

"But those boys. Are they giving up fine chances outside—like you did?"

He nodded.

"Some of them."

"But Keith, they don't know what they're doing. They haven't had any experience of what they're missing."

"No, I suppose not."

"It doesn't seem fair. Life has just sort of scared them at first. Do they all come in so young?"

"No, some of them have knocked around, led pretty wild lives—Reagan, for instance."

"I should think that sort would be better," she said meditatively, "men that had seen life."

"No," said Keith earnestly, "I'm not sure that knocking about gives a man the sort of experience he can communicate to others. Some of the broadest men I've known have been absolutely rigid about themselves. And reformed libertines are a