"The cholera will come; and these fellows are just mad; but I mustn't
quarrel with them, mad or not."
"Why, then?"
"For the same reason that you must not. If we keep our influence,
we may be able to do some good at the last, which means, in plain
English, saving a few human lives. As for you Lieutenant, you have
behaved like a hero, and have been served as heroes generally are.
What you must do is this. On the first hint of disease, pack up your
traps and your good lady, and go and live in the watch-house across
the river. As for the men's houses, I'll set them to rights in a day,
if you'll get the commander of the district to allow you a little
chloride of lime and whitewash."
And so the matter ended.
"You are a greater puzzle than ever to me, Thurnall," said Frank. "You
are always pretending to care for nothing but your own interest, and
yet here you have gone out of your way to incur odium, knowing, you
say, that your cause was all but hopeless."
"Well, I do it because I like it. It's a sort of sporting with your
true doctor. He blazes away at a disease where he sees one, as he
would at a bear or a lion; the very sight of it excites his organ of
destructiveness. Don't you understand me? You hate sin, you know.
Well, I hate disease. Moral evil is your devil, and physical evil is
mine. I hate it, little or big; I hate to see a fellow sick; I hate
to see a child rickety and pale; I hate to see a speck of dirt in the
street; I hate to see a woman's gown torn; I hate to see her stockings
down at heel; I hate to see anything wasted, anything awry, anything
going wrong; I hate to see water-power wasted, manure wasted, land
wasted, muscle wasted, pluck wasted, brains wasted; I hate neglect,
incapacity, idleness, ignorance, and all the disease and misery which
spring out of that.
Pages:
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373