Anthem Page #3

								

      and in the plants which grow. But the Council of Scholars has
      said that there are no mysteries, and the Council of Scholars
      knows all things. And we learned much from our Teachers. We
      learned that the earth is flat and that the sun revolves around
      it, which causes the day and the night. We learned the names of
      all the winds which blow over the seas and push the sails of our
      great ships. We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all
      ailments.

      We loved the Science of Things. And in the darkness, in the
      secret hour, when we awoke in the night and there were no
      brothers around us, but only their shapes in the beds and their
      snores, we closed our eyes, and we held our lips shut, and we
      stopped our breath, that no shudder might let our brothers see or
      hear or guess, and we thought that we wished to be sent to the
      Home of the Scholars when our time would come.

      All the great modern inventions come from the Home of the
      Scholars, such as the newest one, which was found only a hundred
      years ago, of how to make candles from wax and string; also, how
      to make glass, which is put in our windows to protect us from the
      rain. To find these things, the Scholars must study the earth and
      learn from the rivers, from the sands, from the winds and the
      rocks. And if we went to the Home of the Scholars, we could learn
      from these also. We could ask questions of these, for they do not
      forbid questions.

      And questions give us no rest. We know not why our curse makes us
      seek we know not what, ever and ever. But we cannot resist it. It
      whispers to us that there are great things on this earth of ours,
      and that we can know them if we try, and that we must know them.
      We ask, why must we know, but it has no answer to give us. We
      must know that we may know.

      So we wished to be sent to the Home of the Scholars. We wished it
      so much that our hands trembled under the blankets in the night,
      and we bit our arm to stop that other pain which we could not
      endure. It was evil and we dared not face our brothers in the
      morning. For men may wish nothing for themselves. And we were
      punished when the Council of Vocations came to give us our life
      Mandates which tell those who reach their fifteenth year what
      their work is to be for the rest of their days.

      The Council of Vocations came on the first day of spring, and
      they sat in the great hall. And we who were fifteen and all the
      Teachers came into the great hall. And the Council of Vocations
      sat on a high dais, and they had but two words to speak to each
      of the Students. They called the Students’ names, and when the
      Students stepped before them, one after another, the Council
      said: “Carpenter” or “Doctor” or “Cook” or “Leader.” Then each
      Student raised their right arm and said: “The will of our
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