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.