Contents I. THE BAYONET-POKER 1 II. ON BEING A DOCTRINAIRE .... 43 III. CHRISTMAS AND THE LITERATURE OF DISILLUSION 97 IV. THE IGNOMINY OF BEING GROWN-UP 131 V. CHRISTMAS AND THE SPIRIT OF DEMO- CRACY .191 Christmas and the Spirit of Democracy appeared originally in Everybodys Magazine, the four other essays in the Atlantic Monthly. Acknowledgments are due to the editors of these periodicals for permission to reprint them here.