a great city was besieged, and its inhabitants were called together to consider the best means of protecting it from the enemy. a bricklayer earnestly recommended bricks as affording the best material for an effective resistance. a carpenter, with equal enthusiasm, proposed timber as a preferable method of defense. upon which a currier stood up and said, “sirs, i differ from you altogether: there is no material for resistance equal to a covering of hides; and nothing so good as leather.”

every man for himself.