of their leader; if this leader leaps over a stick, all the
rest will leap when they come to that spot, even though the stick may
have been taken away in the meantime. The scientist explains this
seeming-foolishness by the fact that sheep once lived in high
mountains, and fled from their enemies in swiftly rushing herds; when
the leader leaped across an abyss, the others had to leap, without
waiting to see in the dust and confusion. Now there are no mountains
and no enemies, but the sheep still jump. And in exactly the same way
the tailor still sews buttons at the back of your dress-coat, because
a couple of hundred years age all gentlemen wore swords; in the same
way our railroad builders make cars narrow and uncomfortable and
liable to overturn, because a hundred years ago all cars were hauled
by mules. In the same way the Orthodox Hebrew will eat no pork, in
spite of the fact that the microscope affords him complete protection
against disease; the orthodox Catholic will not eat meat on Friday,
because he thinks Jesus was crucified on that day; the orthodox
Anglican will not marry his deceased wife's sister, because of
something he reads in Leviticus; the orthodox Baptist requires total
immersion in a climate quite different from that of Palestine; the
orthodox Methodist refuses to enjoy fresh air and exercise on the
Sabbath.

In ancient Judea, you see, the people lived an open-air life, tending
sheep and working the fields; so it was an excellent thing for them to
rest from labor one day of the week, and to gather in temples to hear
the reading of the best literature of their time. But nowadays the
city slave spends his week-days shut up in an office, poring over a
ledger, or in a sweat-shop, chained to a sewing-machine. Obviously,
therefore, the thing to do on the seventh day is to lure him into the
open air, and persuade him to run and play. But do we do that, we
human sheep? We write ancient Hebrew laws upon our modern
statute-books, and if the city slave goes into a vacant lot and tries
to play base-ball, we send a policeman and take him to jail, and next
morning he is fined five dollars, and probably loses his job.

In the city where I live, a city supposed to be free and enlightened,
but in reality heavily burdened with churches, there are tennis courts
built and paid for out of public funds, my own included; yet I cannot
use these tennis courts on Sunday, because of the ancient Hebrew
taboo. My mail is not