Page 1198 - ULYSSES

Ulysses

inmate of Simpson’s Hospital for reduced but respectable
men permanently disabled by gout or want of sight. Nadir
of misery: the aged impotent disfranchised ratesupported
moribund lunatic pauper.

With which attendant indignities?
The unsympathetic indifference of previously amiable
females, the contempt of muscular males, the acceptance
of fragments of bread, the simulated ignorance of casual
acquaintances, the latration of illegitimate unlicensed
vagabond dogs, the infantile discharge of decomposed
vegetable missiles, worth little or nothing, nothing or less
than nothing.
By what could such a situation be precluded?
By decease (change of state): by departure (change of
place).
Which preferably?
The latter, by the line of least resistance.
What considerations rendered departure not entirely
undesirable?
Constant cohabitation impeding mutual toleration of
personal defects. The habit of independent purchase
increasingly cultivated. The necessity to counteract by
impermanent sojourn the permanence of arrest.
What considerations rendered departure not irrational?

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