Page:Keeban (IA keeban00balm).pdf/136

 tionary definition till I got talking to some of my present friends; now here's just what Webster says: 'A rule of conduct established by an authority able to enforce its will.' That's all there is to it—a set of rules drawn up by the first men on the ground, who've grabbed everything in sight, and who naturally want to perpetuate and increase their possessions. Hence they fix up a lot of rules in their favor which they call law. If you come along later, and are boob enough to believe it's best to work with them, you're a good lawful citizen; if you carry a few ideas of your own, and mean to get ahead without asking anybody's permission, you're a lawbreaker."

That peeved me; he saw it and smiled.

"I'm quoting, Steve; quoting."

"Quoting who?"

"Oh, philosophers with any number of aliases. There's no philosopher like a flat-worker or a good gopher man. In the first place, they've plenty of time to think; their hours of actual effort are short, if rather intense; and between them are periods of leisure which may become decidedly protracted, if they're picked up. Those who complain that the ancient Greek art of dialectics is declining simply con-