The New Jerusalem

MP3 Audio CD. The New Jerusalem

CHAPTER I

THE WAY OF THE CITIES

It was in the season of Christmas that I came out of my little garden
in that "field of the beeches" between the Chilterns and the Thames,
and began to walk backwards through history to the place from which
Christmas came. For it is often necessary to walk backwards, as a man
on the wrong road goes back to a sign-post to find the right road.
The modern man is more like a traveller who has forgotten the name
of his destination, and has to go back whence he came, even to find out
where he is going. That the world has lost its way few will now deny;
and it did seem to me that I found at last a sort of sign-post,
of a singular and significant shape, and saw for a moment in my mind
the true map of the modern wanderings; but whether I shall be able
to say anything of what I saw, this story must show.