was necessary to march with life, which marched always.
No halt was to be expected, no peace in immobility and renunciation, no
consolation in turning back. One must keep a steadfast soul, the only
ambition to perform one's work, modestly looking for no other reward
of life than to have lived it bravely, accomplishing the task which it
imposes. Evil was only an accident not yet explained, humanity appearing
from a great height like an immense wheel in action, working ceaselessly
for the future. Why should the workman who disappeared, having finished
his day's work, abuse the work because he could neither see nor know its
end? Even if it were to have no end why should he not enjoy the delight
of action, the exhilarating air of the march, the sweetness of sleep
after the fatigue of a long and busy day? The children would carry on
the task of the parents; they were born and cherished only for this, for
the task of life which is transmitted to them, which they in their turn
will transmit to others. All that remained, then, was to be courageously
resigned to the grand common labor, without the rebellion of the ego,
which demands personal happiness, perfect and complete.

She questioned herself, and she found that she did not experience that
anguish which had filled her formerly at the thought of what was to
follow death. This anxiety about the Beyond no longer haunted her until
it became a torture. Formerly she would have liked to wrest by force
from heaven the secrets of destiny. It had been a source of infinite
grief to her not to know why she existed. Why are we born? What do we
come on earth to do? What is the meaning of this execrable existence,
without equality, without justice, which seemed to her like a fevered
dream? Now her terror was calmed; she could think of these things
courageously. Perhaps it was her child, the continuation of herself,
which now concealed from her the horror of her end. But her regular life
contributed also to this, the thought that it was necessary to live for
the effort of living, and that the only peace possible in this world was
in the joy of the accomplishment of this effort. She repeated to herself
a remark of the doctor, who would often say when he saw a peasant
returning home with a contented look after his day's work: "There is a
man whom anxiety about the Beyond will not prevent from sleeping." He
meant to say that this anxiety troubles and perverts only excitable
and idle brains. If