登陆注册
15702000000081

第81章

As for the flesh of animals that had bona fide died a natural death, the permission to eat it was nugatory, for it was generally eaten by some other animal before man got hold of it; or failing this it was often poisonous, so that practically people were forced to evade the law by some of the means above spoken of, or to become vegetarians. This last alternative was so little to the taste of the Erewhonians, that the laws against killing animals were falling into desuetude, and would very likely have been repealed, but for the breaking out of a pestilence, which was ascribed by the priests and prophets of the day to the lawlessness of the people in the matter of eating forbidden flesh. On this, there was a reaction;stringent laws were passed, forbidding the use of meat in any form or shape, and permitting no food but grain, fruits, and vegetables to be sold in shops and markets. These laws were enacted about two hundred years after the death of the old prophet who had first unsettled people's minds about the rights of animals; but they had hardly been passed before people again began to break them.

I was told that the most painful consequence of all this folly did not lie in the fact that law-abiding people had to go without animal food--many nations do this and seem none the worse, and even in flesh-eating countries such as Italy, Spain, and Greece, the poor seldom see meat from year's end to year's end. The mischief lay in the jar which undue prohibition gave to the consciences of all but those who were strong enough to know that though conscience as a rule boons, it can also bane. The awakened conscience of an individual will often lead him to do things in haste that he had better have left undone, but the conscience of a nation awakened by a respectable old gentleman who has an unseen power up his sleeve will pave hell with a vengeance.

Young people were told that it was a sin to do what their fathers had done unhurt for centuries; those, moreover, who preached to them about the enormity of eating meat, were an unattractive academic folk, and though they over-awed all but the bolder youths, there were few who did not in their hearts dislike them. However much the young person might be shielded, he soon got to know that men and women of the world--often far nicer people than the prophets who preached abstention--continually spoke sneeringly of the new doctrinaire laws, and were believed to set them aside in secret, though they dared not do so openly. Small wonder, then, that the more human among the student classes were provoked by the touch-not, taste-not, handle-not precepts of their rulers, into questioning much that they would otherwise have unhesitatingly accepted.

One sad story is on record about a young man of promising amiable disposition, but cursed with more conscience than brains, who had been told by his doctor (for as I have above said disease was not yet held to be criminal) that he ought to eat meat, law or no law.

He was much shocked and for some time refused to comply with what he deemed the unrighteous advice given him by his doctor; at last, however, finding that he grew weaker and weaker, he stole secretly on a dark night into one of those dens in which meat was surreptitiously sold, and bought a pound of prime steak. He took it home, cooked it in his bedroom when every one in the house had gone to rest, ate it, and though he could hardly sleep for remorse and shame, felt so much better next morning that he hardly knew himself.

Three or four days later, he again found himself irresistibly drawn to this same den. Again he bought a pound of steak, again he cooked and ate it, and again, in spite of much mental torture, on the following morning felt himself a different man. To cut the story short, though he never went beyond the bounds of moderation, it preyed upon his mind that he should be drifting, as he certainly was, into the ranks of the habitual law-breakers.

All the time his health kept on improving, and though he felt sure that he owed this to the beefsteaks, the better he became in body, the more his conscience gave him no rest; two voices were for ever ringing in his ears--the one saying, "I am Common Sense and Nature;heed me, and I will reward you as I rewarded your fathers before you." But the other voice said: "Let not that plausible spirit lure you to your ruin. I am Duty; heed me, and I will reward you as I rewarded your fathers before you."Sometimes he even seemed to see the faces of the speakers. Common Sense looked so easy, genial, and serene, so frank and fearless, that do what he might he could not mistrust her; but as he was on the point of following her, he would be checked by the austere face of Duty, so grave, but yet so kindly; and it cut him to the heart that from time to time he should see her turn pitying away from him as he followed after her rival.

The poor boy continually thought of the better class of his fellow-students, and tried to model his conduct on what he thought was theirs. "They," he said to himself, "eat a beefsteak? Never."But they most of them ate one now and again, unless it was a mutton chop that tempted them. And they used him for a model much as he did them. "He," they would say to themselves, "eat a mutton chop?

Never." One night, however, he was followed by one of the authorities, who was always prowling about in search of law-breakers, and was caught coming out of the den with half a shoulder of mutton concealed about his person. On this, even though he had not been put in prison, he would have been sent away with his prospects in life irretrievably ruined; he therefore hanged himself as soon as he got home.

同类推荐
  • 胜鬘经挟注

    胜鬘经挟注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 泰山道里记

    泰山道里记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • Black Rock

    Black Rock

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 开天传信记

    开天传信记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 三时伏气外感篇

    三时伏气外感篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 梦天幻地

    梦天幻地

    本人的第一本书,写的不好多多包涵,求收藏!谢谢!
  • 过江七事

    过江七事

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 冷总裁的退婚新娘

    冷总裁的退婚新娘

    对他而言,这不是一场婚姻,而是交易。他是冷酷无情、心狠手辣的总裁,为了股权,他要娶一个受人鄙视的夜店舞女为妻。但是,他从来不是这种任人摆布的角色,为了拿到股权,他可以不择手段,阴谋诡计,残酷虐待,就这样统统加在了自己老婆身上。却不知,残酷对待她的同时,自己的心早已迷失了方向。对她而言,这不是一场婚姻,而是报复。她只是一个卑贱低俗的舞女,她要嫁给高高在上的首席总裁,对于她这种小人物,她没有反抗的权利,或许她可以利用这个机会来报复曾经抛弃自己的父亲。而当幸福成为复仇的筹码,她又该何去何从……
  • 修缘传

    修缘传

    诸缘在我身上,因果在我指尖。不见来时路,我自问苍天。
  • 神龙神界之征途

    神龙神界之征途

    神界少主下凡历练,当他遇到能爆粗口的仙子、会打架的美女校花、爱虐人的魔道公主、喜欢斗嘴的极品萝莉更有着如灭绝师太一样的美女导师会发生什么事情?没办法,为了守护身边的美女!林途当过学生、神秘部队的成员!客串过神医、神厨、保镖、商业皇帝、黑道老大!“各位师太,老纳法号乱来,已戒色多年!”
  • 审判之路

    审判之路

    墨沁意外进入审判之路穿越到异界,与审判之灵冥魁一起开始神秘之旅。qq2857445950
  • 穿越大密宝

    穿越大密宝

    作为《海贼王》同人穿越作品的《穿越大密宝》,讲述的是一名从南海·布利斯王国“屠魔令”中幸运逃生的小男孩在伟大航道的各种奇幻冒险、以及从“加入海军”到“叛逃海军”,并在最终以“超新星”的名号登上伟大航道后段,目标赫然剑指——onepiece的传奇海贼囧事。而且主角本身还是“穿越”异世界的人哦!
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 香蕉班(阳光宝宝系列)

    香蕉班(阳光宝宝系列)

    本书介绍了宝宝在31-36个月时,应培养宝宝的音乐表现力。美妙的音乐能愉悦宝宝的情绪,陶冶宝宝的性情,音乐的节奏、旋律能有效地刺激宝宝的听觉神经,让宝宝更聪明;会唱、能表演,有助于宝宝充分展示自己,从而使宝宝更自信。
  • 江湖刑堂

    江湖刑堂

    一个全新的江湖组织——江湖刑堂,它不同于官场刑部,而是江湖人自已成立的审判机构,它不听官方号令,却与官场有着千丝万缕的联系,它的下属职员,被人称做——侠捕。