"As for me and my friends," he said, "we shall sally forth to found a
new Settlement, and to govern it by the ideas of the Past. No one in
our Settlement will be obliged to work; but if he does not, he shall
certainly starve. Nobody will inherit any share to anything except
what he may win by struggle. There will be no equality at all, but
every man shall have what he can honestly get for himself. No women
shall be compelled to work; but they may work if they please, and at
such things as they please. Many old and long-forgotten things have
been already revived; such as Love: we are in love again--we, who
actually forgot what love was like for all the years which we have
ceased to number or to chronicle. It is impossible to describe to
you, my former Brother Suffragan, who never even in the old days felt
the passion--the intense joy, the ecstasy--of Love." The other men
murmured approval. "But Love is a plant which, while it is hardy to
endure many things, withers and dies under certain conditions. It was
found to flourish in the old time, through all the changes of life: it
survived the time of youth and beauty; it lasted through middle age;
flourished through the scenes of old age; it lasted beyond the grave.
It endured changes of fortune, decay of health, poverty, sickness, and
even helplessness. But one thing kills Love. It cannot endure the dull
monotony which has followed the Great Discovery: it cannot live long
while the face and form know no change; while the voice never changes;
while the dress, the hours of work, the work itself, the food, know no
change. These are things which kill the Flower of Love. Now, all things
desirable--this is a saying too hard for you, Suffragan--depend upon
Love. With Love, they have revived: the courtesy of man to woman; the
deference of the stronger to the weaker; the stimulus of work; hope and
ambition; self-sacrifice; unselfishness; devotion; the sweet illusions
of imagination--all these things have been born again within the last
three weeks. They have been born again, and, with them, the necessity
of an End. All things earthly most have an end." The Chief looked
round him: the men murmured approval, and tears stood in the eyes of
the women. "We cannot let them die. And since the First Law of Love is
change--and the Certain End--we have resolved, Suffragan, on forgetting
the Grand Discovery." Could this be our late Arch Physician? Were
we dreaming? "We shall forego any share in it. Only the chiefs here
gathered together know as yet what has been resolved. Little by little
the truth will get possession of our people that an End is ordained."
We made no reply to this extraordinary announcement. What could we say?
We only gasped with wonder.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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