Page 266 - erewhon

so terrible were the threats he hurled at those who should
disobey him, that in the end he carried the more highly
educated part of the people with him, and presently the
poorer classes followed suit, or professed to do so. Having
seen the triumph of his principles, he was gathered to his
fathers, and no doubt entered at once into full communion
with that unseen power whose favour he had already so pre-
eminently enjoyed.
He had not, however, been dead very long, before some
of his more ardent disciples took it upon them to better the
instruction of their master. The old prophet had allowed
the use of eggs and milk, but his disciples decided that to
eat a fresh egg was to destroy a potential chicken, and that
this came to much the same as murdering a live one. Stale
eggs, if it was quite certain that they were too far gone to be
able to be hatched, were grudgingly permitted, but all eggs
offered for sale had to be submitted to an inspector, who,
on being satisfied that they were addled, would label them
‘Laid not less than three months’ from the date, whatever it
might happen to be. These eggs, I need hardly say, were only
used in puddings, and as a medicine in certain cases where
an emetic was urgently required. Milk was forbidden inas-
much as it could not be obtained without robbing some calf
of its natural sustenance, and thus endangering its life.
It will be easily believed that at first there were many
who gave the new rules outward observance, but embraced
every opportunity of indulging secretly in those flesh-pots
to which they had been accustomed. It was found that ani-
mals were continually dying natural deaths under more or