A little more of my current book.
The more careful readers of this history may have noticed an interest in Locke and his ideas upon the accumulation of a person’s character as they grow and mature throughout their life; that a person can start life as a blank wall in a prison cell and like that wall can accumulate all manner of graffito, scratched and carved upon it by all those who find themselves living near such a wall. The reader may also be wondering what sort of life Mr Steele had led to impress his own character with the selfish and ruthless traits that he then carved with great force in others characters, nightmares and faces. The reader could then expect me to recite an eternal litany of unfortunate situations which would lead the reader more sensible to the soft emotions to feel a degree of understanding and pity for a much wronged against man. I would need to disappoint this reader.
To assume that a person must always been driven to acts of cruelty in the manner that a herdsman drives his cattle to the slaughterhouse is to forget one very important fact, that the Devil always tempts. To put it in less theological terms, that cruelty, to the open mind can be a reward in itself. I can only show the reader a life lived in moderate comfort in a small town surrounded by many willing animals, I’m sure the reader can then assemble a childhood of richer aunts looking with disdain upon their slightly less wealthy relations; a constricting obligation to a restrictive community spirit and experiments on dogs that may turn a queasy stomach. The rest tells itself.
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