Anthem Page #4

								

      brothers be done.”

      Now if the Council has said “Carpenter” or “Cook,” the Students
      so assigned go to work and they do not study any further. But if
      the Council has said “Leader,” then those Students go into the
      Home of the Leaders, which is the greatest house in the City, for
      it has three stories. And there they study for many years, so
      that they may become candidates and be elected to the City
      Council and the State Council and the World Council—by a free and
      general vote of all men. But we wished not to be a Leader, even
      though it is a great honor. We wished to be a Scholar.

      So we awaited our turn in the great hall and then we heard the
      Council of Vocations call our name: “Equality 7-2521.” We walked
      to the dais, and our legs did not tremble, and we looked up at
      the Council. There were five members of the Council, three of the
      male gender and two of the female. Their hair was white and their
      faces were cracked as the clay of a dry river bed. They were old.
      They seemed older than the marble of the Temple of the World
      Council. They sat before us and they did not move. And we saw no
      breath to stir the folds of their white togas. But we knew that
      they were alive, for a finger of the hand of the oldest rose,
      pointed to us, and fell down again. This was the only thing which
      moved, for the lips of the oldest did not move as they said:
      “Street Sweeper.”

      We felt the cords of our neck grow tight as our head rose higher
      to look upon the faces of the Council, and we were happy. We knew
      we had been guilty, but now we had a way to atone for it. We
      would accept our Life Mandate, and we would work for our
      brothers, gladly and willingly, and we would erase our sin
      against them, which they did not know, but we knew. So we were
      happy, and proud of ourselves and of our victory over ourselves.
      We raised our right arm and we spoke, and our voice was the
      clearest, the steadiest voice in the hall that day, and we said:

      “The will of our brothers be done.”

      And we looked straight into the eyes of the Council, but their
      eyes were as cold blue glass buttons.

      So we went into the Home of the Street Sweepers. It is a grey
      house on a narrow street. There is a sundial in its courtyard, by
      which the Council of the Home can tell the hours of the day and
      when to ring the bell. When the bell rings, we all arise from our
      beds. The sky is green and cold in our windows to the east. The
      shadow on the sundial marks off a half-hour while we dress and
      eat our breakfast in the dining hall, where there are five long
      tables with twenty clay plates and twenty clay cups on each
      table. Then we go to work in the streets of the City, with our
      brooms and our rakes. In five hours, when the sun is high, we
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