Moral reforms and deteriorations are moved by large forces, and they are mostly caused by reactions from the habits of a preceding period. Backwards and forwards swings the great pendulum, and its alterna-tions are not determined by a few distinguished folk clinging to the end of it.
the focus on 144 likely nods to its biblical symbolism in Revelation 7:4—representing 144,000 divinely protected souls—suggesting a numerological lens on tragedy as part of eschatological prophecy.