You, gentle reader, who know about as much of the science of managing men in practical life as you know of any other phase of the world-that-is--you, gentle reader, are shocked by my rudeness to a polite, well-educated, well-dressed Englishman. And you hope--and feel--that I overreached myself. But let me inform you--not for your instruction but for my own satisfaction--courtesy has to be used most sparingly. Human vanity is so monstrous that men eagerly read into politeness to them--the most ordinary politeness--evidence that their superiority is inspiring fear, awe and desire to conciliate them. You often hear men in high place severely criticised for being rude, short, arrogant, insulting. Do not condemn them too hastily. It may be that they were driven into this attitude toward their fellows by the disastrous consequences of courtesy. Be polite to a man and he will misunderstand. Be cool to him and he, thickly enveloped in his own good opinion of himself, will not feel it. Rudeness, overt and unmistakable, is often the one way to reach him and save not only yourself but also him from the consequences of his vanity. It is the instinct of big men to be big and simple and natural in their dealings with their fellows. The mass of little men with big vanities compels them to suppress this instinct; and by suppression it inevitably becomes in time crushed out of existence. How can one who is busy continue to show consideration for others if they, instead of showing a return consideration for him, take it as tribute to their importance and begin to rear and impose and trample?