man has the right to pick out the stage of civilization
best adapted to his needs. There are two ways of doing that: either go
to it or make it come to you. If you're not tied, it's easier to go to
it, because sometimes it takes more than a generation to make it come to
you."

"So you've gone to it," said Lewis.

Leighton nodded.

"Nations and individuals travel like the hands of a clock. You can't
always live in the midday of your life, but you can in the midday of a
nation. When you get an educated taste, you prefer pheasants, bananas,
Stilton, and nations when they're at one o'clock. The best flavor--I'm
not talking about emotions--the best flavor of anything, including life,
comes with one o'clock."

"What time is it over there now?" asked Leighton.

"About eleven," said Leighton, "top wave of success. Now, these are the
earmarks of success: a meticulous morality in trifles, ingrowing eyes,
crudity, enthusiasm, and a majority."

"Heavens!" cried Lewis, "you told me once you were afraid I was going to
be successful. Am I earmarked like that?"

"You will be," said Leighton, "the minute you're driven to sculpturing
for the populace--for what it will bring. That's why I'm giving you your
own income now, because, when you're married, you're going to be pretty
hard pressed. I don't want you to be able to justify the sale of your
soul.

"I had an uncle once--he's dead now--that had an only son named Will.
Uncle Jim was a hard worker. He had a paper-mill, and he was worth a lot
of money. His son Will wasn't a worker. He didn't own the paper-mill,
but he never let you forget he was going to. He failed his way through
school, but he couldn't quite fail through college. Every time he failed
at anything, he used to say: 'It doesn't matter. Dad will give me a
start in life, won't you, Dad?' And his father would say, 'I certainly
will.'

"Well, one morning a little after Will had been flunked out of college,
he was standing on the lawn whittling. I happened to be looking out of
the window. I saw Uncle Jim crawling across the grass under cover of a
rhododendron bush to a position just behind Will. He was carrying under
one arm an enormous fire-cracker, with the fuse lit. He rolled it out on
the grass behind Will, and when it went off, Will went, too. He landed
seventeen feet from the hole the cracker made.

"When he'd turned around, but before he could get his jaw up, my uncle
said: 'Will, I've always promised I'd gi