Evening star., 1938-12-19
BY H. G. WELLS.
CHAPTER IX-LAMBS DON'T
TC~Anr

cOSl16
In Rud's reveries of a stupendous
political ascent, there had been
great marches and demonstrations,
f1ag-waving and cheering, there had
been battles (heard of and tremen-
dous displays of armament, thou
sands of planes in the air and the
like, but so far the rougher stuff
had always been fairly remote from
his person.
But now, in clumsy and distress
ful speeches, in broken sentences
and broken English, came harsh
reality, at first hand. One of the
German refugees had been crippled
and broken. He limped. He clung
to the chair in front of him as he
talked. Even here" he said, among
friends, one hesitateS to tell"
He spoke admirable, bookish Eng
lish. slowly, carefully and with a
German flavor rather than a posi-
tive accent.
He told them of the foul fndigni-
ties that men, when they encourage
instead of discourage each other in
cruelty, can put upon their victims.
And your martyrdom," he said in
a faded voice, lis in vain. Your
courage is wasted. You suffer and
you are hidden away and lied about
Your prosecutors are more horrible
than apes, because they are subtler.
Beasts and disease and accidents
can cause men pain and misery, but
such things do not torment you with
hope and snatch it away, they do
not caricature and disgrace you as
we'll as destroy. They do not leave
your friends in doubt whether you
have betrayed them. They do not
make those you love vanish without
a trace or put them to pain and
indignity before your eyes. I did
not know it was in my fellow crea-
lures, to do such things as I have
seen-such things as I have been
through. Let me tell you'll will
tell you-a part of it. What hap
pened to me. If can tell you. ="
1t was hideous and circumstan-
tial tale he had to tell
Others Speeches Fall Flat.
The speeches OF the inexperienced
which followed seemed helplessly
feeble and pale. 1t was difficult to
listen to them with that mans story
fresh and vivid in the mind. Then
came a woman recounting at Sec
ond hand. but no further off than
second hand, the frightfulnesses
that had happened to her family.
Rud wished he could go out of
the room: he felt inadequate. His
dissatisfaction evaporated.
He wanted to get up and say,
stop all this! What do you imag-
Inc we can do"
A little old Jew from Vienna sud-
denly jumped up with a great dis
covery. Il will tell you something.
will tell you something. A Magma
Carta for the whole vorlt. No
force except in the hants of dis
ciplined men. Veil paid, veil fed,
veil cared for. disciplined men, with
officers who know exactly-vat dey
may do. And go no more beyond.
Exactly. Yess. No wappens. No
munitions. Noting. Except for
them. And no secret police. No
force used out of sight ever. No
dossier-or II there must be dossiers,
I do not know, but if there must
be dossiers, then every man the
right to know exactly what you
hold against him. Right to inspect
and protest. And no secret exam
nations. No. Wherever there is
an examination, then gif me sort
of people to be able to walk through
the room, at any time, able to say,
What's dis? What you doing? A
sort of people able to go through all
these things. Walk in. Doctors,
mind or body, all controlled
In their examinations. Visitors.
Guardians of men. See? A Magma
Carta. Until you hat that. Always
there will be darkness and abomina-
lions. AlWays-to the end of the
vorlt. Better law and order, I tell
you, even If it is bad law-then
lawlessness and evil in the night.
For by night, louts, hooligans touch
hell-you hat heard-and rejoice in
It, I know. I know. Always, al
ways gif me law"
Bright Eyes Glitter.
His face was flushed. His bright
eyes glittered with tears of excite
ment.
"Gif me my Magma Carta. Then
you need not bother. Everything
will be all right. No force, you un-
derstand me, no force to be used
on any one except in the hants of
disciplined men,"
He went right through what he
had said already, almost word for
word.
He repeated his speech with vari-
ations three times and was resum-
ing da capo, when the chairman
overwhelmed him with clock and
bell. Whereupon he sat down, sat
very subdued for a minute or so and
then twisted himself round and be-
gan to explain it all in harsh whis-
pers to the people Immediately be-
hind him. MY Magma Carta for
all the vorlt. No force, you under
stand me? ="
Rud sat in his place during the
outbreak of this little old Jew from
Vienna, digesting the ugly realities
those other two refugees had re-
tailed. They stunned him so that
for a time he could not find any
thing to say. The thought OF vio-
lence filled him with angry fear
and the urge to savage reprisals.
He felt just as he had felt when he
read of gorillas and wolves in his
childhood. The shadow of 1t lay
plainly across the path of his imag-
nations. What the little old Jew
was saying meant nothing to him.
What stirred his imagination was
the thought of himself being treated
brutally and filthily. mutilated
subjected to sub-human indignities.
Get your blow in first" he
thought. Nothing else for it. Al
ways carry a gun. Garry poison"
When at last he SroL, - .~.s