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Text 7
THE LOTUS EATER

W.Somerset Maugham

Most people, the vast majority in fact, lead the lives that
circumstances have thrust upon them, and though some repine,
looking upon themselves as round pegs in square holes, and think that
if things had been different they might have made a much better
showing, the greater part accept their lot, if not with serenity, at all
events with resignation. They are like tram-cars travelling for ever on
the selfsame rails. They go backwards and forwards, backwards and
forwards, inevitably, till they can go no longer and then are sold as
scrap-iron. It is not often that you find a man who has boldly taken
the course of his life into his own hands. When you do, it is worth
while having a good look at him.
That was why I was curious to meet Thomas Wilson. It was an
interesting and a bold thing he had done. Of course the end was not
yet and until the experiment was concluded it was impossible to call
it successful. But from what I had heard it seemed he must be an odd
sort of fellow and I thought I should like to know him. I had been told
he was reserved, but I had a notion that with patience and tact I could
persuade him to confide in me, I wanted to hear the facts from his
own lips. People exaggerate, they love to romanticise, and I was quite
prepared to discover that his story was not nearly so singular as I had
been led to believe.
And this impression was confirmed when at last I made his
acquaintance. It was on the Piazza in Capri, where I was spending the
month of August at a friend's villa and a little before sunset, when
most of the inhabitants, native and foreign, gather together to chat
with their friends in the cool of the evening. There is a terrace that
overlooks the Bay of Naples, and when the sun sinks slowly into the
sea the island of Ischia is silhouetted against a blaze of splendour. It
is one of the most lovely sights in the world. I was standing there with
my friend and host watching it, when suddenly he said:
"Look, there's Wilson."
"Where? "
"The man sitting on the parapet, with his back to us. He's got a
blue shirt on."