A MODERN UTOPIA
"I wish I had. But I have seen him. On earth he wrote a thing. . . it would run———
"Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be,
For my unconquerable soul. . . ."
"We have that here. All good earthly things are in Utopia also. We put that in the Canon almost as soon as he died," said my double.
§ 5
"We have now a double Canon, a very fine First Canon, and a Second Canon of work by living men and work of inferior quality, and a satisfactory knowledge of both of these is the fourth intellectual qualification for the samurai."
"It must keep a sort of uniformity in your tone of thought."
"The Canon pervades our whole world. As a matter of fact, very much of it is read and learned in the schools. . . . Next to the intellectual qualification comes the physical, the man must be in sound health, free from certain foul, avoidable, and demoralising diseases, and in good training. We reject men who are fat, or thin and flabby, or whose nerves are shaky—we refer them back to training. And finally the man or woman must be fully adult."
"Twenty-one? But you said twenty-five!"
"The age has varied. At first it was twenty-five
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