ot pretend that he
accepted Braden's theories; in fact, he pronounced them shocking. Still,
he contended, that was neither here nor there. Braden believed in them,
and it wasn't any affair of his, after all.

"I don't believe it is right for man to try to do God's work," said he, in
explaining his objections. "But it doesn't matter what I think about it,
old chap, so don't mind me."

"Can't you understand, Simmy, that I advocate a simple, direct means of
relieving the--"

"Sure, I understand," broke in Simmy agreeably.

"Does God send the soldiers into battle, does he send the condemned man to
the gallows? Man does that, doesn't he? If it is God's work to drop a
small child into a boiling vat by accident, and if He fails to kill that
child at once, why shouldn't it be the work of man to complete the job as
quickly as possible? We shoot down the soldiers. Is that God's work? We
hang the murderer. Is that God's work? Emperors and kings conduct their
wars in the name of God and thousands of God's creatures go down to death.
Do you believe that God approves of this slaughter of the strong and
hardy? God doesn't send the man to the gallows nor the soldier to the
fighting line. Man does that, and he does it because he has the power to
do it, and he lives serene in the consolation that the great, good God
will not hold him to account for what he has done. We legalise the killing
of the strong; but not for humane reasons. Why shouldn't we legalise the
killing of the weak for humane reasons? It may interest you to know,
Simmy, that we men have more merciful ways of ending life than God Himself
directs. Why prolong life when it means agony that cannot be ended except
by the death that so certainly waits a few days or weeks beyond--"

"How can you be sure that a man is going to die? Doctors very frequently
say that a person has no chance whatever, and then the fellow fools 'em
and gets well."

"I am not speaking of such cases. I only speak of the cases where there
can be no doubt. There are such cases, you see. I would let Death take its
toll, just as it has always done, and I would fight for my patient until
the last breath was gone from his body. Two weeks ago a child was gored by
a bull back here in the country. It was disembowelled. That child lived
for many hours,--and suffered. That's what I mean, in substance. I too
believe in the old maxim,--'while there's life there's hope.' That is the
foundation on which our profe