Somewhat early in the story and not quite in the
fitting place, these things have to be written down.
The soul of the man is as transparent in this first
testing of his powers as we shall ever see it in later
days. All that imparts moral dignity to his life ap-
pears at once in slight and common incidents, from
the first week of active duty in what was then a raw
western town.

His moral problems at this time were of the sim-
plest. They gave him neither doubts nor morbid in-
trospection. His happiness was as robust as it was
confident and contagious. In one of his letters he
says he is "half ashamed that mere existence is a
pleasure." This rare gift never left him, though as
his problem slowly changed his "democratic ideal-
ism" was roughly challenged.

Such proofs of mastery as his life has to offer, we
shall see more clearly in the light of ideals already
revealed in his struggle to choose the right vocation.

-79-