ubt have its horror as long as the man
were able habitually to contrast his position with that of the few
favoured ones who had, within his own memory, lived happily to a more
advanced age; but when the time should come that no such old man
had so existed, I could not but think that a frame of mind would be
created not indisposed to contentment. Sitting there, and turning it
all over in my mind, while my eyes rested on the bright expanse of
the glass-clear sea, I did perceive that the Fixed Period, with all
its advantages, was of such a nature that it must necessarily be
postponed to an age prepared for it. Crasweller's eloquence had had
that effect upon me. I did see that it would be impossible to induce,
in the present generation, a feeling of satisfaction in the system.
I should have declared that it would not commence but with those
who were at present unborn; or, indeed, to allay the natural fears
of mothers, not with those who should be born for the next dozen
years. It might have been well to postpone it for another century. I
admitted so much to myself, with the full understanding that a theory
delayed so long must be endangered by its own postponement. How was
I to answer for the zeal of those who were to come so long after me?
I sometimes thought of a more immediate date in which I myself might
be the first to be deposited, and that I might thus be allowed to set
an example of a happy final year passed within the college. But then,
how far would the Tallowaxes, and Barneses, and Exors of the day be
led by my example?

I must on my arrival in England remodel altogether the Fixed Period,
and name a day so far removed that even Jack's children would not be
able to see it. It was with sad grief of heart that I so determined.
All my dreams of a personal ambition were at once shivered to the
ground. Nothing would remain of me but the name of the man who had
caused the republic of Britannula to be destroyed, and her government
to be resumed by her old mistress. I must go to work, and with
pen, ink, and paper, with long written arguments and studied logic,
endeavour to prove to mankind that the world should not allow itself
to endure the indignities, and weakness, and selfish misery of
extreme old age. I confess that my belief in the efficacy of spoken
words, of words running like an electric spark from the lips of the
speaker right into the heart of him who heard them, was stronger far
than my trust in written argum