The same article that one declares is the
most essential to his comfort, is the very first thing that another
will throw into the trail.
A man's outfit is a matter which seems to
touch his private honor. I have heard veterans sitting around a
camp-fire proclaim the superiority of their kits with a jealousy,
loyalty, and enthusiasm they would not exhibit for the flesh of their
flesh and the bone of their bone. On a campaign, you may attack a
man's courage, the flag he serves, the newspaper for which he works,
his intelligence, or his camp manners, and he will ignore you; but if
you criticise his patent water-bottle he will fall upon you with both
fists. So, in recommending any article for an outfit, one needs to
be careful. An outfit lends itself to dispute, because the selection
of its component parts is not an exact science. It should be, but it
is not. A doctor on his daily rounds can carry in a compact little
satchel almost everything he is liable to need; a carpenter can stow
away in one box all the tools of his trade. But an outfit is not
selected on any recognized principles. It seems to be a question
entirely of temperament. As the man said when his friends asked him
how he made his famous cocktail, "It depends on my mood." The truth
is that each man in selecting his outfit generally follows the lines
of least resistance.
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