boy. What do
you think put her on to him in the first place? She spotted he was wearing
a funny kind of shoes -- said she'd never seen anyone wearing shoes like
that before. So the chances were he was a foreigner. Pretty smart for a
nipper of seven, eh?'
'What happened to the man?' said Winston.
'Ah, that I couldn't say, of course. But I wouldn't be altogether
surprised if--' Parsons made the motion of aiming a rifle, and clicked his
tongue for the explosion.
'Good,' said Syme abstractedly, without looking up from his strip of
paper.
'Of course we can't afford to take chances,' agreed Winston dutifully.
'What I mean to say, there is a war on,' said Parsons.
As though in confirmation of this, a trumpet call floated from the
telescreen just above their heads. However, it was not the proclamation of
a military victory this time, but merely an announcement from the Ministry
of Plenty.
'Comrades!' cried an eager youthful voice. 'Attention, comrades! We
have glorious news for you. We have won the battle for production! Returns
now completed of the output of all classes of consumption goods show that
the standard of living has risen by no less than 20 per cent over the past
year. All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous
demonstrations when workers marched out of factories and offices and
paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big
Brother for the new, happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon
us. Here are some of the completed figures. Foodstuffs--'
The phrase 'our new, happy life' recurred several times. It had been a
favourite of late with the Mini