e if he alone was
aware of the danger. I remember very well an evening at school when I
was told and convinced by several boys older than myself that (I even
remember the date) on June 18th the earth was going to be destroyed.
It had been proved, I was told, beyond the shadow of a doubt that on
that particular date some natural phenomenon would take place which
would inevitably entail the destruction of everything living on the
earth. This forms an interesting parallel to the present case; for at
the time I was only about eight years old, and I had very scanty ideas
about God and future life. To me the earth was the Universe. And,
furthermore, for about an hour most of us thoroughly believed that the
destruction of the earth, or the End of the World as we called it, was
at hand. Of course, it might be said that there is no real parallel,
since we were only children; but I believe that argument to be
absolutely fallacious. In the matter of fundamental tendencies and
characteristics of human nature one cannot assume such divisions.
Since the present state of good and evil in human nature has taken
thousands of years to become evolved, it seems unlikely that there can
be caused in the individual at present any fundamental change. I
therefore contend that as soon as personality and independence of
character becomes evident in the individual, both the good and the evil
in his nature will be present in the same way and in the same relation,
although not necessarily in the same proportions or degrees, as they
will be throughout the greater part of his life. This personality
becomes evident without any doubt at a very early age, certainly by the
age of eight; and in so far as the development of good and evil is
dependent upon the development of character, it seems likely that these
elements will be more clearly marked in the child of eight than in the
second infancy of the man of eighty.

To return to the personal incident. I recall very vividly now the
half-hour which followed my conviction of Universal destruction, and,
of course, I realise my actual feelings and their probable causes more
clearly now than I did at the time. The real force of my conviction
only lasted for about an hour, but in that time, and aided no doubt by
a rather strained imagination, I was, I feel convinced, in the same
position as any one of the individuals on that great Road as they see
the Fire approaching and devouring the entire Universe.