he fact. Yes, and this last
with particular care, since the conferment of healthy children upon the
country is a work of absolute importance."

Further, pointing to a grey headstone with a worn inscription, he
shouted (or almost did so):

"Under that stone lies buried the body of a man who never in his life
loved but one woman, but ONE woman. Now, THAT is a fact which ought to
have been recorded about him for it is not merely a string of names
that is wanted, but a narrative of deeds. Yes, I have not only a
desire, but a RIGHT, to know the lives which men have lived, and the
works which they have performed; and whenever a man leaves our midst we
ought to inscribe over his tomb full particulars of the 'cross and
burden' which he bore, as particulars ever to be held in remembrance,
and inscribed there both for my benefit and for the benefit of life in
general, as constituting a clear and circumstantial record of the given
career. Why did that man live? To the question write down, always, the
answer in large and conspicuous characters. Eh?"

"Most certainly."

This led the Lieutenant's enthusiasm to increase still more as, for the
third time waving his hand in the direction of the tombs, and mouthing
each word, he continued:

"The folk of that town are liars pure and simple, for of set purpose
they conceal the particulars of careers that they may depreciate those
careers in our eyes, and, while showing us the insignificance of the
dead, fill the living with a sense of similar insignificance, since
insignificant folk are the easiest to manage. Yes, it is a scheme
thought out with diabolical ingenuity. Yet, for myself--well, try and
make me do what I don't intend to do!"

To which, with his face wrinkled with disgust, he added in a tone like
a shot from a pistol:

"Machines are we! Yes, machines, and nothing else!"

Curious was it to watch the old man's excitement as one listened to the
strong bass voice amid the stillness of the cemetery. Once more over
the tombs, there came floating the languid, metallic notes of "N-n-o-u!
N-n-o-u!"

The oily gloss on the withered grass had vanished, faded, and
everything turned dull, though the air remained charged with the spring
perfume of the geraniums, stocks, and narcissi which encircled some of
the graves.

"You see," continued the Lieutenant, "one could not deny that each of
us has his value. By the time that one has lived threescore years, one
perceives that fact ver