al things.
_O Lord, enable us to keep our ranks in righteousness!_'

Tramp! tramp! tramp! tramp!

VII

'And Enoch walked with God.'

'And Noah walked with God.'

'And Abraham walked with God.'

'And Moses walked with God.'

Tramp! tramp! tramp! tramp!

'All these men of war _that could keep rank_ came with a perfect heart
to make David king over all Israel.'

'O Lord, enable us to keep our ranks in righteousness!'

VIII

THE FIRST MATE

'First officers are often worse than skippers,' remarked the night
watchman in Mr. W. W. Jacobs' _Light Freights_. 'In the first place,
they know they ain't skippers, and that alone is enough to put 'em in a
bad temper, especially if they've 'ad their certificate a good many
years, and can't get a vacancy.' I fancy there is something in the
night watchman's philosophy; and I am therefore writing a word or two
for the special benefit of first mates. I am half inclined to address
it 'to first mates only,' for to second mates, third mates, and other
inferior officers I have nothing to say. But the first mate evokes our
sympathy on the ground that the night watchman states so forcibly,
'First mates know they ain't skippers, and that alone is enough to put
'em in a bad temper.' It is horribly vexatious to be next door to
greatness. An old proverb tells us that a miss is as good as a mile;
but like most proverbs, it is as false as false can be. A mile is ever
so much better than a miss.

I am fond of cricket, and am president of a certain club. I invariably
attend the matches unless the house happens to be on fire. I have
enough of the sporting instinct to be able to take defeat
cheerfully--if the defeat falls within certain limits. It must not be
so crushing as to be a positive humiliation, nor must it be by so fine
a margin as to constitute itself a tantalization. Of the two, I prefer
the former to the latter. The former can be dismissed under certain
recognized forms. 'The glorious uncertainty of cricket!' you say to
yourself. 'It's all in the game; and the best side in the world
sometimes has an off day!' But, if, after a great struggle, you lose
by a run, you go home thinking uncharitable thoughts of the bowler who
might have prevented the other fellow from making a certain boundary
hit, of the wicket-keeper who might have saved a bye, or of the batsman
who might easily have got a few more runs if he hadn't played such a
ridiculously fluky strok