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written: "An empty brain is a threat to Society." He had
consequently instituted a system of mental culture, comprising
two parts:
1. As a basis, a mass of useless disconnected facts.
2. A superstructure of lies.
Part 1 was compulsory; the people then took Part 2 without
protest.*
The language of the plains was simple but profuse. They had
few nouns and fewer verbs. 'To work again' (there was no word for
'to work' simply), 'to eat again', 'to break the law' (no word
for 'to break the law again'), 'to come from without', 'to find
light' (i.e. to go to the phosphorus factory) were almost the
only verbs used by adults. The young men and women had a verb-
language yet simpler, and of degraded coarseness. All had,
however, an extraordinary wealth of adjectives, most of them
meaningless, as attached to no noun ideas, and a great quantity
of abstract nouns such as 'Liberty', 'Progress', without which no
refined inhabitant could consider a sentence complete. He would
introduce them into a discussion on the most material subjects.
"The immoral snub-nose", "the unprogressive teeth", "lascivious
music", "reactionary eyebrows"--such were phrases familiar to
all. "To eat again, to sleep again, to work again, to find the
light--that is Liberty, that is Progress" was a proverb common in
every mouth.
The religion of the people was Protestant Christianity in all
essentials, but with an even closer dependence upon God. They
asserted its formulae, without attaching any meaning to the
words, in a manner both reverent and passionate. Sexual life was
entirely forbidden to the workers, a single breach implying
relegation to the phosphorus works.
In every field was, however, an enormous tablet of rock,
carved on one side with a representation of the three stages of
life: the fields, the labour mill, the factory; and on the other
side with these words: "To enter Atlas, fly." Beneath this an
elaborate series of graphic pictures showed how to acquire the
art of flying. During all the generations of Atlas, not one man
had been known to take advantage of these instructions.
The principal fear of the populace was a variation of any kind
from routine. For any such the people had one word only, though
this word changed its annotation in different centuries.
'Witchcraft', 'Heresy', 'Madness', 'Bad Form', 'Sex-Perversion',
'Black Magic' were its principal shapes in the last four thousand
years of the dominion of Atlas.
Sneezing, idleness, smiling, were regarded as premonitory. Any
cessation from speech, even for a moment to take breath, was
considered highly dangerous. The wish to be alone was worse than
all; the delinquent would be seized by his fellows, and either
killed outright or thrust into the compound of the phosphorus
factory, from which there was no egress.
The habits of the people were incredibly disgusting. Their
principal relaxations were art, music and the drama, in which
they could show achievement hardly inferior to that of Henry
Arthur Jones, Pinero, Lehar, George Dance, Luke Fildes, and
Thomas Sidney Cooper.
Of medicine they were happily ignorant. The outdoor life in
that equable climate bred strong youths and maidens, and the
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