But
the greater number shake their yet unfashioned heads and say they have
no evidence for this that will stand a moment's examination.
"'Nay,' answer the others, 'so much work, so elaborate, so wondrous as
that whereon we are now so busily engaged must have a purpose, though
the purpose is beyond our grasp.'
"'Never,' reply the first speakers; 'our pleasure in the work is
sufficient justification for it. Who has ever partaken of this life
you speak of, and re-entered into the womb to tell us of it? Granted
that some few have pretended to have done this, but how completely
have their stories broken down when subjected to the tests of sober
criticism. No. When we are born we are born, and there is an end of
us.'
"But in the hour of birth, when they can no longer re-enter the womb
and tell the others, Behold! they find that it is not so."
Here the reader again closed his book and resumed his place in the apse.
CHAPTER XVI: PROFESSOR HANKY PREACHES A SERMON, IN THE COURSE OF WHICH MY
FATHER DECLARES HIMSELF TO BE THE SUNCHILD
Professor Hanky then went up into the pulpit, richly but soberly robed in
vestments the exact nature of which I cannot determine. His carriage was
dignified, and the harsh lines on his face gave it a strong
individuality, which, though it did not attract, conveyed an impression
of power that could not fail to interest.
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