Human language was too gross a vehicle of thought--thought being
incapable of absolute translation. He added, that as there can be no
translation from one language into another which shall not scant the
meaning somewhat, or enlarge upon it, so there is no language which can
render thought without a jarring and a harshness somewhere--and so forth;
all of which seemed to come to this in the end, that it was the custom of
the country, and that the Erewhonians were a conservative people; that
the boy would have to begin compromising sooner or later, and this was
part of his education in the art. It was perhaps to be regretted that
compromise should be as necessary as it was; still it was necessary, and
the sooner the boy got to understand it the better for himself. But they
never tell this to the boy.
From the book of their mythology about the unborn I made the extracts
which will form the following chapter.
CHAPTER XIX: THE WORLD OF THE UNBORN
The Erewhonians say that we are drawn through life backwards; or again,
that we go onwards into the future as into a dark corridor. Time walks
beside us and flings back shutters as we advance; but the light thus
given often dazzles us, and deepens the darkness which is in front.
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