"
"It seems impossible," I said.
"No," he said. "You have that in part. You ridicule what you call old
maids, don't you?"
Again I was too slow with my reply. If I ever meet him again, I shall
show him the fallacy of many of his arguments.
"Men with most children had the most to say. The childless were
penalized, were punished. The sterile were put to death. There grew up a
religion and a priesthood, ceremonials, sacrifices and rituals. And they
had their god, in the shape of this lizard thing. Of course, like most
other gods, it was more of a malevolent creature than anything else.
Gods generally are if you will consider a little. I don't care what
creed or religion gets the upper hand, it's Fear that becomes the power.
Look around and see if I'm not right.
"Well, Somerfield and I walked into that kind of thing. Now like me, he
had worked for the Exploration Company a good few years and had been to
all kinds of places prospecting. Torres Straits, the Gold Coast,
Madagascar, Patagonia. We prospectors have to get around in queer
corners and the life's a dull one. All monotony. But Somerfield had
queer notions. He worked at the job because he could make more money
than at anything else and that gave him a chance to keep his family in
Ohio in comfort.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195