Page 153 - erewhon

to hint at it. Even those who to my certain knowledge kept
only just enough money at the Musical Banks to swear by,
would call the other banks (where their securities really lay)
cold, deadening, paralysing, and the like.
I noticed another thing, moreover, which struck me
greatly. I was taken to the opening of one of these banks
in a neighbouring town, and saw a large assemblage of ca-
shiers and managers. I sat opposite them and scanned their
faces attentively. They did not please me; they lacked, with
few exceptions, the true Erewhonian frankness; and an
equal number from any other class would have looked hap-
pier and better men. When I met them in the streets they
did not seem like other people, but had, as a general rule,
a cramped expression upon their faces which pained and
depressed me.
Those who came from the country were better; they
seemed to have lived less as a separate class, and to be fre-
er and healthier; but in spite of my seeing not a few whose
looks were benign and noble, I could not help asking my-
self concerning the greater number of those whom I met,
whether Erewhon would be a better country if their ex-
pression were to be transferred to the people in general. I
answered myself emphatically, no. The expression on the
faces of the high Ydgrunites was that which one would wish
to diffuse, and not that of the cashiers.
A man’s expression is his sacrament; it is the outward
and visible sign of his inward and spiritual grace, or want of
grace; and as I looked at the a majority of these men, I could
not help feeling that there must be a something in their lives

1 Erewhon