Having remained resolutely single throughout his life, the prospect of a lonely retirement on an inadequate pension played some role in Childe’s decision to end his life. But his letter to William Grimes was, above all, an unemotional meditation on the meaninglessness of a life without useful work to do. In it he expressed the view that the elderly were no more than parasitic rentiers who leeched off the energy and hard work of the young. He also expressed no sympathy for the elderly who continued to work, determined to prove that they were still useful. He insisted that they were obstacles in
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