There was one reputation which many sought but which represented to me exactly what a real man’s nature ought not contain—this was the common prefix² to one’s name of “hardboiled.” The accepted meaning of this word varied³ with localities, but I did not like it even in its most liberal and favorable interpretation⁴.

In every locality except the front, the common acceptance of the term “hardboiled” indicated one who in any position of authority was a pinheaded, tyrannical crab⁵, who was so engrossed⁶ in himself and his big stick position that he was entirely⁷ oblivious⁸ to the feelings and rights of those he commanded. In other words, one who neither sought counsel nor 23permitted argument. At the front, however, common usage had changed the meaning of this famous term. There it ordinarily referred to the soldier who had the maximum quantity of bravery and the minimum amount of common sense and who purposely flirted⁹ with death for the fun of it and who valued life somewhere between eight cents and two bits, war tax not included. I paraphrase¹⁰ Mr. Shakespeare in that some people are naturally hardboiled, others acquire it and still others have it thrust upon them. I must add another class which has grown quite common since the war is over; that is, assumed hardboiledness, and it is ordinarily recognized in the blowing of one’s own horn lest it be not blown for true enough the genuine hardboiled soldier in the fighting interpretation of that word, is strictly a man of action and not words.

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