.. or what was even worse, I was
attempting to glorify the under-dog; who, if he were the demigod
Socialists portray him, would by no means remain the under-dog.
* * * * *
I found Baxter more a-flame than ever for the utter reformation of
mankind ... in the way they dressed ... stiff collars hurt the nervous
system, pressing as they did, on the spine ... in the books they read
... he wished to start a library that would sell cheaply and bring all
the world's great thought and poetry into factory, and every worker's
home ... all conventional ideas of marriage and religion must go by the
board and freedom in every respect be granted to men and women.
It was good to listen to this sincere, naive man, still young ... who
would re-make life nearer to the beauty and harmony that Shelley also
dreamed for mankind. I lived in a state of perpetual reverence toward
Baxter. This man tried to live his ideals, as well as write about them.
In matters of diet I accepted Baxter's theories but, humanly, did not
live up to them. He was a vegetarian.
Later I was to learn that he was to himself an experiment station. On
his own person he directly and practically tried out each idea ... his
wife was also a convertee, slightly reluctant, to his tests ... and his
son, perforce. Baxter actually kept a vegetarian dog. "Even carnivorous
animals thrive better on a vegetarian diet.
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