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for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: IN
THE ARENA WHEN a boy retorted with the direct challenge, "An' you
da'sn't back it " it was a case, if you did not wish to lose caste,
of your either taking the aggressive or effecting some honorable
compromise. It was difficult to explain to an outsider, to one not
in sympathy with the duello, the deep significance of "da'sn't back
it." You felt the term, but you could not elucidate it, save, to
some extent, by example; you yourself, with a red spot on your
forehead, a scratch on your nose, a torn collar to your waist, a
rent in your knickerbockers, and a proud spirit in your bosom,
being the example. "Now, I slwuld like to know what you were
fighting about," declared your mother, holding you prisoner at her
knee while she stitched your collar so as to make you presentable
for supper. You squirmed, realizing the task before you. "Well, we
were playin', an' Ted he tripped me, an' I said he did it on
purpose (an' he did,too), an' he said he didn't an' I said he did,
an' he said I was a liar an' da'sn't back it, an' I went to back
it, an' he hit me, an' ?" "But what is to 'back it' ?" interrupted
your mother. "Why, to back it ? to back it, you know. He said I
da'sn't back it, an' I had to or else I'd be a coward, an' he hit
me, an' I hit him, an' ?" "But how could you back being a liar? I
don't understand." She was a darling mother, yet at times
surprisingly dense. "I did back it, though, just the same." That
ought to be exposition enough, and you galloped on with your
narrative: "An' I hit him, an' he hit me right on the forehead, ?
but it didn't hurt, ? an' I ? an' then we got each other down, an'
I was gettin' on top, an' then the kids pulled him off, an' a man
came by an' wouldn't let us fight any more. Ted's ten, an' I'm only
nine." Thus, w...
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