Page:Ossendowski - The Shadow of the Gloomy East.djvu/175

Rh have been dragged out again and submitted to selection and criticism.

In a word, under the very eyes of the twentieth century there has been created a terrible and hopeless legend.

The people are bending beneath its horrors. Drug-doping and self-immolation of the most insane kind are spreading. For although men may still feel capable of fighting men, they cannot reasonably fight against the Power of Evil, who boldly challenges the Maker of the world and plunges the earth Into darkness. So they cut their throats, hang themselves in barns and forests, drown themselves in rivers and marshy lakes, pour boiling water over themselves, swallow poison, or fling themselves into flames. &hellip;