148
THE STAR IN THE WEST
If we
could
be
optimistic
enough
to
believe
in
a
(semi-)omnipotent
power
(pure
omnipotency
is ana
chronistic ), we should
believe
this
malady
were in
flicted on man
as are the measles
, the croup , and the
chicken -pox , so
as to stimulate
romance , and retard
that ultimate uninteresting
state perfection. This not
being so , we can only suggest
that being
descended
from
the
flat - nosed
simiae ,
besides
being generally
flat
all
round
,
man must have lost his wits with
his
tail
,
both being now exceedingly rudimentary
.
Having
lost his tail
,
he
could
no
longer swing
in
the ethereal
blue
;
and
then
,
losing
his wits
,
grew
a
mental tail
,
and swung
in
the
deep
inane
,
devising
the
ideal
of
discomfort
,
wherein
all
pleasures should
be
considered
as
evil
,
and
all
pains
as
exceedingly good
;
chewing
aloes
he
swore they were
as
melligenous
as
the sugar
cane
,
called
black
white
,
white
black
,
and this fair
world
the abode
of
his satanic majesty
;
beat his wife
,
swore
at
the
'
kids
,
and kicked the cat over the garden
wall
.
Not being able
to
walk
on
his
head
,
with his
feet
in
the air
,
he
,
however
,
did and continues
to
do
his best
to
carry what
remains
of
his fungoid
organ
of
thought
as
low
as
he
possibly can
,
his desires
in
his
stomach
,
and his thoughts
in
the vicinity
of
his
prostate gland
.
There
was
a
time when
man did not know how
to
cook
his dinner
;
we sincerely
hope
there will
be
a
time when
he
ceases
to
cook
his thoughts
,
but that
time
,
in
spite
of
science
and art
,
is
in
the far here
after
.
Some people
labour
under the idea that
a
genera
tion
or
two hence
the world will
be
sprawling
at
the
feet
of
Reason instead
of
those
of
God
.
Possibly
,
yet
God
is
still
far
from
being
a
centenarian
,
and our