Of course, according to Erewhonian premises, it would serve people right
to be punished and scouted for moral and intellectual diseases as much as
for physical, and I cannot to this day understand why they should have
stopped short half way. Neither, again, can I understand why their
having done so should have been, as it certainly was, a matter of so much
concern to myself. What could it matter to me how many absurdities the
Erewhonians might adopt? Nevertheless I longed to make them think as I
did, for the wish to spread those opinions that we hold conducive to our
own welfare is so deeply rooted in the English character that few of us
can escape its influence. But let this pass.
In spite of not a few modifications in practice of a theory which is
itself revolting, the relations between children and parents in that
country are less happy than in Europe. It was rarely that I saw cases of
real hearty and intense affection between the old people and the young
ones. Here and there I did so, and was quite sure that the children,
even at the age of twenty, were fonder of their parents than they were of
any one else; and that of their own inclination, being free to choose
what company they would, they would often choose that of their father and
mother.
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