2 . An old lady was walking with her basket down the middle of a street in Petrograd to the great confusion of the traffic and with no small danger to herself. It was pointed out to her that the pavement was the place for pedestrians, but she replied: “I’m going to walk where I like. We’ve got liberty now.” It did not occur to the dear old lady that if liberty entitled（授权）the pedestrian to walk down the middle of the road, then the end of such liberty would be universal chaos. Everybody would be getting in everybody else’s way and nobody would get anywhere. Individual liberty would have become social chaos.

There is a danger of the world getting liberty-drunk in these days like the old lady, and it is just as well to remind ourselves of what the rule of the road means .It means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved, the liberties of everybody must be limited. When the policeman steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny（暴政）, but of liberty.

Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract（契约）. In matters which do not touch anybody else’s liberty, of course, I may be as free as 1 like. If I go down the street dressed strangely, who shall say me no? We have a whole kingdom in which we rule alone and can do what we choose. But directly we step out of that kingdom, our personal liberty of action becomes qualified by other people’s liberty.

We all tend to forget this. A reasonable consideration for the rights or feelings of others is the base of social conduct.