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entry into the house of the offender, and the breaking up and burning of
all his goods. The Italians, again, use the same word for "disgrace" and
"misfortune." I once heard an Italian lady speak of a young friend whom
she described as endowed with every virtue under heaven, "ma," she
exclaimed, "povero disgraziato, ha ammazzato suo zio." ("Poor
unfortunate fellow, he has murdered his uncle.")

On mentioning this, which I heard when taken to Italy as a boy by my
father, the person to whom I told it showed no surprise. He said that he
had been driven for two or three years in a certain city by a young
Sicilian cabdriver of prepossessing manners and appearance, but then lost
sight of him. On asking what had become of him, he was told that he was
in prison for having shot at his father with intent to kill him--happily
without serious result. Some years later my informant again found
himself warmly accosted by the prepossessing young cabdriver. "Ah, caro
signore," he exclaimed, "sono cinque anni che non lo vedo--tre anni di
militare, e due anni di disgrazia," &c. ("My dear sir, it is five years
since I saw you--three years of military service, and two of
misfortune")--during which last the poor fellow had been in prison. Of
moral sense he showed not so much as a trace. He and his father were now
on excellent terms, and were likely to remain so unless either of them
should again have the misfortune mortally to offend the other.

In the following chapter I will give a few examples of the way in which
what we should call misfortune, hardship, or disease are dealt with by
the Erewhonians, but for the moment will return to their treatment of
cases that with us are criminal. As I have already said, these, though
not judicially punishable, are recognised as requiring correction.
Accordingly, there exists a class of men trained in soul-craft, whom they
call straighteners, as nearly as I can translate a word which literally
means "one who bends back the crooked." These men practise much as
medical men in England, and receive a quasi-surreptitious fee on every
visit. They are treated with the same unreserve, and obeyed as readily,
as our own doctors--that is to say, on the whole sufficiently--because
people know that it is their interest to get well as soon as they can,
and that they will not be scouted as they would be if their bodies were
out of order, even though they may have to undergo a very painful course
of treatment.

When I say that they will not be scouted, I do not mean that an
Erewhonian will suffer no social inconvenience in consequence, we will
say, of having committed fraud. Friends will fall away from him because
of his being less pleasant company, just as we ourselves are disinclined
to make companions of those who are either poor or poorly. No one with
any sense of self-respect will place himself on an equality in the matter
of affection with those who are less lucky than himself in birth, health,

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