Page:H.G. Wells - The Dream (US Edition).pdf/19

 dreadfulness of life in that age. It seemed to Firefly and Starlight that existence must have been almost unendurable, a tissue of hate, terror, want and discomfort, from the cradle to the grave. But Radiant argued that people then were perhaps no less happy and no happier than himself; that for everyone in every age there was a normal state, and that any exaltation of hope or sensation above that was happiness and any depression below it misery. It did not matter where the normal came. “They went to great intensities in both directions,” he said. There was more darkness in their lives and more pain, but not more unhappiness. Sunray was inclined to agree with him.

But Willow objected to Radiant’s psychology. She said that there could be permanently depressed states in an unhealthy body or in a life lived under restraint. There could be generally miserable creatures just as there could be generally happy creatures.

“Of course,” interjected Sarnac, “given a standard outside themselves.”

“But why did they make such wars?” cried Firefly. “Why did they do such horrible things to one another? They were people like ourselves.”

“No better,” said Radiant, “and no worse. So far as their natural quality went. It is not a hundred generations ago.”

“Their skulls were as big and well shaped.”

“Those poor creatures in the tunnel!” said Sarnac. “Those poor wretches caught in the tunnel! But everyone in that age must have felt caught in a tunnel.”