Silly people in
power, armed to the teeth with millions of bayonets, police and courts
of justice at their command, yet uneasy and afraid to let a dozen
freethinkers meet to discuss them!
These circles had not the air of conspiracies, and though they rather
invited persecution, their activities were confined to words. What
else was there for them to do but talk? They were separated from the
mass of their fellow thinkers, who had been drawn into the army or
the war-machine, which would only give them up when they were past
service. What of the youth of Europe remained behind the lines?
There were the slackers, who often descended to the lowest depths of
meanness to make others fight, so that it should be forgotten
that they did not fight themselves. Setting these aside, the
representatives--_rari nantes_--of the younger generation in civil
life were those discharged from the army for physical incapacity, and
a few broken-down wrecks of the war, like Moreau. In these mutilated
or diseased bodies the spirit was like a candle lighted behind broken
windows. Twisted and smoky, it seemed as if a breath would extinguish
it. But it was all the more ardent for knowing what to expect from
life.
Sudden changes from extreme pessimism to an equally extreme optimism
would occur, and these violent oscillations of the barometer did not
always correspond with the course of events.
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