Anarchhism And Other Essays

Some twenty-one years ago I heard the first great Anarchist speaker—the inimitable John Most.
It seemed to me then, and for many years after, that the spoken word hurled forth among the
masses with such wonderful eloquence, such enthusiasm and fire, could never be erased from the
human mind and soul. How could any one of all the multitudes who flocked to Most's meetings
escape his prophetic voice! Surely they had but to hear him to throw off their old beliefs, and see
the truth and beauty of Anarchism!
My one great longing then was to be able to speak with the tongue of John Most,—that I, too,
might thus reach the masses. Oh, for the naivety of Youth's enthusiasm! It is the time when the
hardest thing seems but child's play. It is the only period in life worth while. Alas! This period is
but of short duration. Like Spring, the STURM UND DRANG period of the propagandist brings
forth growth, frail and delicate, to be matured or killed according to its powers of resistance
against a thousand vicissitudes.