And this is the kind of thing the preacher urges his high-spirited young men to confront if they go into public careers. Do you think American politics could be made more attractive to the strong men of this nation if some of the abuse and personal sewer methods were eliminated? Do you think all this gutter spattering is necessary to reach conclusions and arrive at a final better condition for the nation's life? Do you think that even if discussion and defence of opinion are necessary in the settlement of great public affairs, it is also in order to question a man's purity of purpose, his patriotism and his personal devotion to a great ideal? Paul's whole nature was stirred by what he was going through and his absorption in the matters nearest his heart was so complete that it was with no ordinary shock he came to realise that his own son was in a critical condition. As a father he reproached himself for neglecting the boy under the plea of trying to reform the state. And when he began to question Louis that night he rapidly noted the lad's physical condition and took account of his manner which, the more he studied it, was not at all reassuring. "Tell me, now, Louis, what you want. Begin at the beginning and hide nothing." Louis looked sullenly at his father. "You haven't time to listen to me. You never have." "Yes, I have. I'll take it." Paul felt more self-reproach every minute he eyed Louis. And as he looked at him he could not help thinking of how much the boy resembled in many ways Esther's brother Louis, who used to give him such concern. "Well, father, I want to quit High School. I don't like it. I hate it." "Why? Tell me honestly now. I can't help you unless you give me the real facts." "I don't like the teachers. They nag me. I hate them." "Hate them? You mean all of your teachers?" "Well, most of them. They criticise me and make fun of me. Miss Barrows showed what I wrote about tuberculosis to every other teacher in the school." "Go on," said Paul, after a pause. "I can't get the English. I don't understand the long definitions. I am not cut out for a scholar." "Have you tried?" "Yes, I have. But the harder I try, the worse it is." "What lessons are you carrying?" "English, algebra, physics, manual training, German and chemistry." "Tell me now," said Paul good-naturedly, "which one of all these studies you hate the least." Louis laughed. "I don't like any studies." "But which one would you choose first if you couldn't help yourself?" "Manual training." "What do you do in that?" "Oh, I plane and saw and glue up boards and make things." "What things?" Louis hesitated. "You'll laugh." "No, I won't." Paul felt more like crying than laughing as Louis eyed him doubtfully. "Great God!" he felt like saying to himself. "Here I have been so busy with everybody else's affairs that my own son is afraid of me."