Chapter XVI Summary

This chapter consists of the author's assessment of the planet earth as it pertains to the general breakdown of adult types. He estimates there are over a hundred kings, almost 100,000 businessmen, three-quarters of a million tipplers and well over 300,000 conceited men. Yet the most impressive of them all are the lamplighters, who would perform (prior to the advent of electricity, of course) each day and night, like clockwork. Country by country, the lights would go on and then off again. And each day all the lamplighters would carry out their orders in precisely the same manner. He describes their daily ritual as one of great pageantry, using the visual image of a group of soldiers who dance together in perfect order, so that just as one set of lights goes out, another is immediately lit. It is, he says, magnificent.

Chapter XVI Analysis