AUM

"From your couch to the frontiers of the world, there are but two steps: Will, Faith!" -
Balzac, Louis Lambert.

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
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Vol. XIII October, 1898 No. 7
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THE WISDOM RELIGION OF ZOROASTER

by Alexander Wilder, M.D.

"THE primeval religion of Iran," says Sir William Jones, "if we rely on the authorities
adduced by Mohsan Fani* was that which Newton calls the oldest (and it may justly be
called the noblest) of all religions: - 'a firm belief that one Supreme God made the world by
his power and continually governed it by his providence; a pious fear, love and adoration
of him; a due reverence for parents and aged persons; a fraternal affection for the whole
human species, and a compassionate tenderness even for the brute creation.'"
The believers in a Golden Age preceding the ruder and unhappier periods of human
history readily trace in this a confirmation of their cherished sentiment. Those who
contemplate religions as substantially the same in their essential principles, can subscribe
heartily to the statement. Even they who ignore and repudiate the past as solely bestial
and barbarous, and place everything in the future as a goal of effort and expectation, will
not hesitate to accept the proposition as an ultimate attainment.
Yet that which is to be must be to a large degree something that has been,

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* Mohsan who is here cited was a native of Kashmir, and a Sufi. He insisted that
there was an Eranian monarchy the oldest in the world, and that the religion of Hushan,
which is here described, was its prevailing faith.
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and a rehabilitation of the old. It must have existed in idea, or it would not be evolved in
manifested existence. Religions may have their Apostles, but Apostles are not the first
creators of religions. For religion has its inception not from the logical reason, but in the
human heart, in the passionate desire for the better and more true, for that which is
superior to the present selfhood. It comes into existence as an infant child, and grows
gradually, taking form and shape according to the genius of those by whom it is adopted
and cherished.
When the first Zarathustra was born, Mazdaism was already divergent not only from
Turanian Shamanism but likewise from the Aryan Deva-worship of archaic India. The
pioneers of Eran were tillers of the soil and dwellers in ceiled houses and walled villages,
while the followers of Indra and Saurva were still nomadic shepherds and fed their flocks
wherever pasture was afforded, little regardful even of any respect for the enclosed and
cultivated fields of their brethren. Yet at that period the two had not become distinct
communities. "Hard by the believers in Ahura live the worshipers of the devas," says
Zoroaster.
Much curious speculation has been bestowed in regard to the identity of the

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Great Sage and Prophet of archaic Eran. Some modern writers have even suggested that
he was simply a mythic or ideal personage described in ancient hyperbole as a Son or
Avatar of Divinity, because of representing the religious system of which he was the
recognized expositor. Plato more rationally styles him "the Oro-Mazdean,'' who
promulgated the learning of the Magi, by which was meant the worship of the Gods, and
being true and truthful in words and deeds through the whole of one's life. "By means of
the splendor and glory of the Frohars or guardian spirits," says the Fravardin-Yasht, "that
man obtained revelations who spoke good words, who was the Source of Wisdom, who
was born before Gotama had such intercourse with God."
We find him accordingly set forth in the Gathas, the most ancient literature of his
people, as an historic person of the lineage of Spitama, with a father, remoter ancestors,
kinsmen, a wife, and sons and daughters.* The Yasna, or Book of Worship, declares the
following: "Then answered me Homa the righteous: 'Pourushaspa has prepared me as
the fourth man in the corporeal world; this blessing was bestowed upon him that thou wast
born to him - thou, the righteous Zarathustra, of the house of Pourushaspa, who opposest
the devas, who art devoted to the Ahura religion and famous in Airyana-Vaejo, the Aryan
Fatherland.'"
He seems to have begun his career as an humble student and reciter of the chants
and prayers in the presence of the Sacred Fire, but to have been developed in maturer
years into an apostle and speaker of oracles which should impart the true wisdom to all
who heard. He gave a rational form to the religious thought of his countrymen, elaborated

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* The father of the first Zoroaster was named Pourushaspa, his great grandfather,
Haekatashaspa, his wife Hvovi, his daughters, Freni, Thriti, Pourushist. The daughters
were married according to archaic Aryan custom to near kindred.
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it into a philosophy, and began for it the preparation of a literature by which it should be
perpetuated.
Nevertheless we May not accept for him much that has been published under the
name or title by which he is commonly known. Whether he actually wrote much we do not
know. Generally, the disciples, and not the Masters, are the ones most prolific in literary
productions. Besides, there have been many Zoroasters, or spiritual superiors, who
succeeded to the rank and honors of Zarathustra Spitaman. All these who made
contributions to the Sacred Oracles, appear to have received acceptance like that awarded
to the Mazdean Apostle. Nor does the distinction seem to have been confined to the
Eranian country, nor even to the collections of the Avesta. When conquest extended the
Persian authority to other regions, it was followed by religious propagandism. In this way
the Zoroastrian faith burst through the limitations of a single people and country, and for
a period of centuries appeared likely to become the principal religion of the world. It was
supreme in the Parthian dominion clear to Kabul* or further, and it extended over the
Roman Empire as far as Germany and Scotland. As conquest removed the lines of
partition between peoples, religion and philosophy met fewer obstacles. The "pure thought"
and doctrine may have been greatly changed by the commingling with the notions of the
newer receivers, as we observe in the Mithra-worship and the various forms of Gnosticism.
We also find men in different countries of the East who, for their apperception and superior
intelligence bore the same honorary designation as the Sage of the Avesta, which has
created some uncertainty in later times in distinguishing the individual who was actually first
to bear the title.

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* The Afghan language appears to have been derived from that of the Avesta.
Perhaps the book was written there.
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The Mazdean faith has left a vivid impress upon the doctrine and literature of other
religions. The Hebrew Sacred Writings of later periods treat of the "God of Heaven," and
the "God of Truth,"* and contain other references significant of acquaintance with the
Persian theosophy.
The New Testament is by no means free from this influence; the Gnosis or superior
wisdom is repeatedly mentioned; also guardian angels, and various spiritual essences.
The reference in the Apocalypse to the tree of life, the second death, the white pebble
inscribed with an occult name, the procession in white robes, and the enthronement, are
taken from the Mithraic worship.
The pioneers of the later Platonic School distinctly named Mithras as the central
divinity. He had to a great degree displaced Apollo and Bacchus in the West, and ranked
with Serapis in Egypt. Porphyry treats of the worship of the Cave, the constructing of a
Cave by Zoroaster with figures of the planets and constellations overhead, and declares
that Mithras was born in a petra or grotto-shrine.** He describes the Mith-

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* The name Mithras signifies truth. Falsehood was regarded as obnoxious to this
divinity, and as punished with leprosy. (Kings II, v. 27.)
** That ingenious writer "Mark Twain" calls attention to the fact that all the sacred
places connected with the Holy Family in Palestine are grottoes. "It is exceedingly
strange," says he, "that these tremendous events all happened in grottoes," and he does
not hesitate to pronounce "this grotto-stuff as important."
We may look further, however. The ancient mystic rites were celebrated in petras,
or grotto-shrines, and the temples of Mithras bore that designation. The Semitic term PTR
or peter signifies to lay open, to interpret, and hence an interpreter, a hierophant. It was
probably applied to the officiating priests at the initiations, in the "barbarous" or "sacred"
language used on such occasions. There was such an official at the Cave or Shrine of
Mithras at Rome, till the worship was interdicted. In the Eleusinian Rites, the hierophant
read to the candidates from the Petroma or two tablets of stone. The servants of the
Pharaoh in the book of Genesis were sad at having dreamed when there was no peter to
give a petrun or explanation. Petra in Idumea probably was named from the profusion of
its petrea or shrines, and the country was famed for "wisdom." (Jeremiah xlix, 7). Apollo
the god of oracles was called Patereus, and his priests paterae. Places having oracles or
prophets were sometimes so named, as Pethor the abode of Balaam, Patara, Patras, etc.
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ras-worship as being in touch with the Esoteric philosophy, and his famous Letter to Anebo,
the Egyptian prophet, appears to have been called forth by the apprehension of an
endeavor to qualify or supersede it by a theurgy which was chiefly deduced from the occult
Rites of Serapis and the Assyrian theology.
In connection with their expositions of the Later Platonism, the various philosophic
writers, as for example Synesios, Proklos, and Damaskios, quoted selections from the
Oriental literature. These have come to us under the general name of "Chaldean Oracles,"
but later redactors have styled them [greek] - the Memorable Sayings of the Zoroaster.*
They exhibit a remarkable similarity to the Neo-Platonic teachings, and we have the
assurance of a distinguished Parsee gentlemen famous alike for his profound attainments
and his extensive liberality,** that they are genuine. He declares that there is no reason
to doubt that the Persian doctrine was based upon that of the Chaldeans and was in close
affinity with it, and he adds that the Chaldean doctrine and philosophy may be taken as a
true exposition of the Persian.
We may remark that much of the religious symbolism employed by the Persians was
identical with that of the Assyrians, and the explanations given by M. Lajard in his work, La
Culte de Mithra, plainly accepts rites and divinities from the Chaldean worship.
Many of the Maxims attributed to the Eranian Zarathustra, as well as the Memorable
Sayings of the Chaldean Zoroaster are replete with suggestions in regard to

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* An edition published at Paris in 1563 had the title of "The Magical Oracles of the
Magi descended from the Zoroaster." By magical is only meant gnostic or wise.
** Sir Dhunjibhoy Jamsetjee Medhora, of the Presidency of Bombay who has written
ably on Zoroastrianism.
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the true life of fraternity and neighborly charity, as well as information upon recondite and
philosophic subjects. They are inspired by a profound veneration as well as intuition.
Every family was part of a Brotherhood, and the districts were constituted of these
fraternities.
The Zoroastrian designation of the Supreme Being was Ahura and Mazda, the Lord,
the All-Wise, Mazdaism or the Mazdayasna is therefore the Wisdom-Religion. The Divinity
is also honored as the Divine Fire or inmost energy of life - in his body resembling light;
in his essence, truth.
Mithras was the God of Truth. The Zoroastrian religion was an apotheosis of Truth.
Evil was hateful as being the lie. Trade was discouraged as tending to make men
untruthful. "The wretch who belies Mithras," who falsifies his word, neglecting to pay his
debts, it is said, "is destructive to the whole country. Never break a promise - neither that
which was contracted with a fellow-religionist, nor with an unbeliever."
As Ahur' Mazda is first of the seven Amshaspands, or archangels, so Mithras is chief
of the Yazatas or subordinate angels. "I created him," says Ahur' Mazda, "to be of the
same rank and honor as myself." Mithras precedes the Sun in the morning, he protects the
Earth with unsleeping vigilance, he drives away lying and wicked spirits, and rewards those
who follow the truth.
Those who speak lies, who fail to keep their word, who love evil better than good,
he leaves to their own courses; and so they are certain to perish. His dominion is
geographically described in the Mihir-Yasht as extending from Eastern India and the Seven
Rivers to Western India, and from the Steppes of the North to the Indian Ocean.
Although much is said about ''dualism" and the corporeal resurrection, it is apparent
that it is principally "read into'' the Zoroastrian writings rather than properly deduced from
them. Opportunity for this is afforded by the fact that the vocabulary of the different
languages was very limited, and single words were necessarily used to do duty for a
multitude of ideas. We notice this fact, by comparing them, that no two translators of
passages in the Avesta give the same sense or even general tenor. We are often obliged
to form a judgment from what is apparent.
This text from Dr. Haug's translation seems explicit: "Ahura Mazda by his holy spirit,
through good thought, good word and good deed, gives health and immortality to the
world." Two ideas are distinct: that all real good is of and from Divinity; 2, that intrinsic
goodness on the part of the individual, makes him recipient of its benefits.
It seems plain, also, that in the mind of Zoroaster, as of other great thinkers, life is
sempersistent. The Yasna and Hadokht-Yasht, both "older Scriptures," declare this plainly.
They recite the particulars of the journey of the soul, the real self, from the forsaken body
to the future home. It waits three days by the body, as if not ready to depart forever. The
righteous soul, then setting out, presently meets a divine maiden, its higher law and interior
selfhood, who gives the joyful assurance: "Thou art like me even as I appear to thee. I
was beloved, beautiful, desirable and exalted; and thou, by the good thought, good
speech, and good action, hast made me more beloved, more beautiful, more desirable, and
exalted still higher." So the righteous soul having taken these three steps, now takes the
fourth, which brings it to the Everlasting Lights.
Here is no talk about the resuscitating of anything that had really died. There is
recognized a continuing to live, and for the worthy one, this life is eternal, or what is the
same thing, divine.
For the others, there is the counterpart, a meeting with an impure maiden figure, a
falling under the sway of the Evil Mind with the probations which

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this entails. Nevertheless we may not consider this Evil Mind as sempiternal, or all-
powerful; else there would be two Intelligences in conflict for dominion over the universe,
and so the shifting scenes of human life could be only an absurd, pitiful farce. In the nature
of things, evil must exist as the correlative of good; but it is never an essence or a
principle. It is always self-destroying and never permanent in any form. In most old copies
of the Hadokht-Yasht, we notice that no fourth step is mentioned, in the case of the wicked
soul; though far from righteousness, it is not consigned to perpetual hell.
The primitive Mazdean doctrine was philosophic on these subjects as well as moral,
"All good has sprung from Ahur' Mazda's holy spirit," the Yasna declares and he who in his
wisdom created both the Good and the Negative Mind, rewards those who are obedient.
In him the last cause of both minds lies hidden."
Further we are told of the real origin of devas or devils, that those who do not
perform good works actually themselves "produce the devas by means of their pernicious
thoughts."
In the end, however, the Savior is to make the whole world immortal. Then the Truth
will smite and destroy the lie, and Anhra Manyas, the Evil Mind, will part with his rule.
By this we are not to understand any coming crisis of the external world, but a
palingenesis or restitution and regeneration in each person individually. It was a true
saying in the Gospel: "This is the crisis or judging: that the Light comes into the world, and
men love the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil."
Both the Memorable Sayings, and the recorded utterances of the Avesta which are
still preserved, abound with philosophic and theurgic utterances. Many of them are very
recondite, others excel in sublimity. The following selections are examples.
"The Paternal Monad (or Divine Fire) is: It is extended and generates the Twin. For
the Dual sitteth close beside the One, and flashes forth mental promptings which are both
for the direction of all things and the arranging of every thing that is not in order."
"The Paternal Mind commanded that all things should be divided into Threes, all of
them to be directed by Intelligence."
"In all the cosmic universe the Triad shines, which the Monad rules."
"Understand that all things are subservient to the Three Beginnings. The first of
these is the Sacred Course; then in the midst is the region of Air; the third, the other, is
that which cherishes the Earth with fire - the fountain of fountains and Source of all
fountains, the womb containing all; from hence at once proceeds the genesis of matter in
its many shapes."
"The Father takes himself away from sight; not shutting his own Fire in his own
spiritual power. For from the Paternal Beginning nothing that is imperfect gyrates forth.
For the Father made all things complete and delivered them to the Second Intelligence
which the race of men call the First."
"He holds fast in the Mind the matters of mind, but sensibility he supplies to the
worlds. He holds fast in the Mind the things of mind, but supplies soul to the worlds,"
"The Soul being a radiant fire by the power of the Father, not only remains immortal
and is absolute ruler of the life, but also holds in possession the many perfections of the
bosoms of the world; for it becomes a copy of the Mind, but that which is born is somewhat
corporeal."

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"Let the immortal depth of the soul lead and all the views expand on high. Do not
incline to the dark-gleaming world. Beneath is always spread out a faithless deep and
Hades dark all around, perturbed, delighting in senseless phantasms, abounding with
precipices, craggy, always whirling round a miserable deep, perpetually wedded to an
ignoble, idle, spiritless body."
"Extend the fiery mind to work of piety and you will preserve ever changing body."
"The mortal approaching the Fire will be illuminated from God. "
"Let alone the hastening of the Moon in her monthly course, and the goings forward
of stars; the moon is always moved on by the work of necessity, and the progress of the
stars was not produced for thy sake. Neither the bold flight of birds through the ether, nor
the dissection of the entrails of sacrificed animals is a source to learn the truth; they are
all playthings, supports for gainful deceptions; fly them all, if thou art going to open the
sacred paradise of piety, where virtue, wisdom, and justice are assembled.''
Despite all these mentions of the Father and the Paternal Monad, no reference is
made in the Avesta to God as a father. Nevertheless he exhibits all the qualities of a
parent and protector; he gives happiness, rewards goodness, creates beneficent light and
darkness, and loves all his creation.
Many of the Avestan utterances are sublime.
"My light is hidden under all that shines," says Ahur' Mazda.
"My name is: He who may be questioned; the Gatherer of the People; the Most
Pure; He who takes account of the actions of men. My name is Ahura, the Living One;
my name is Mazda, the All-Wise. I am the All-Beholding, the Desirer of good for my
creatures, the Protector, the Creator of all."
The Yasna abounds with expressive sayings, somewhat of the character of
proverbs.
"He first created, by means of his own fire, the multitude of celestial bodies, and
through his Intelligence, the good creatures governed by the inborn good mind."
"When my eyes behold thee, the Essence of truth, the Creator of life who manifests
his life in his works, then I know thee to be the Primeval Spirit, thee the All-Wise, so high
in mind as to create the world, and the Father of the Good Mind."
"I praise the Mazdayasnian religion, and the righteous brotherhood which it
establishes and defends."
In the Zoroastrian religion a man might not live for himself or even die for himself.
Individual virtue is not the gain of only the soul that practices it, but an actual addition to the
whole power of good in the universe. The good of one is the good of all; the sin of one is
a fountain of evil to all. The aim of the Mazdean discipline is to keep pure the thought,
speech, action, memory, reason and understanding. Zoroaster asks of Ahur' Mazda, what
prayer excels everything else? "That prayer," is the reply, "when a man renounces all evil
thoughts, words and works."
Fasting and ascetic practices are disapproved as a culpable weakening of "the
powers entrusted to a person for the service of Ahur' Mazda." The sins of the Zoroastrian
category include everything that burdens the conscience, seeing evil and not warning him
who is doing it, lying, doubting the good, withholding alms, afflicting a good man, denying
that there is a God, - also pride, covet-

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ing of goods, the coveting of the wife of another, speaking ill of the dead, anger, envy,
discontent with the arrangements of God, sloth, scorn, false witness.
 The soul of man is a ray from the Great Soul, by the Father of Light.
It is matter of regret that so much of the Zoroastrian literature has been lost. It is
more to be regretted that it has not been better translated. Yet books do not create a faith,
but are only aids. Men are infinitely more precious than books. The essence of the
Wisdom-Religion was not lost when the Nasks perished. "The Zoroastrian ideal of
Brotherhood is founded on a recognition of the Divine Unity, and does not represent an
association of men united by a common belief or common interests." There is no
distinction of class or race. In the Zoroastrian writings the Frohars or protecting geniuses
of all good men and women are invoked and praised, as well as those of Zoroastrians. Any
one whose aspirations are spiritual and his life beneficent, is accepted, though not
professedly of the Mazdean fellowship.
So much of the literature has an esoteric meaning that superficial students lose sight
of, that the genuine Wisdom-Religion is not discerned. There are eyes needed that can
see and apperceive. Then the symbols which materialists blunder over will be unveiled in
their true meaning and there will be witnessed a revival of a religion devoid of elaborate
ceremony, but replete with justice, serene peacefulness and goodwill to men.

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OUR OPPORTUNITIES
by Sidney G.P. Coryn

TO look back upon a lost opportunity, and upon many such, is a possibility to most
of those who have worked for Brotherhood during any large portion of the life of our
Society. It is in this way that we learn all those lessons of confidence and of obedience that
must be learned and well learned before success can be absolute and perpetual.
It has been well and ably pointed out that our work is in its third stage, a number
which is in itself a type of completion and containing the promise and the potency of an
establishment, four square, which shall stand forever before the eyes of men. Of the first
two of these stages it is not necessary to speak here. Their lessons have been burned into
our minds and our literature has recorded them. So far as we have been changed by them,
molded by them, educated by them, are we able to profit by the third stage into which, with
so much stress and conflict, we have entered, and in this struggle we have lost some few,
who, because they could not see their opportunity, have missed it. They would travel upon
no road but that which was illumined by the deceptive glimmer of the personality and of the
intellect, and it has led them where it has already led thousands before.
The work upon which H.P.B. entered 25 years ago, and to which she invited our aid,
was not a mysterious nor a secret work, however mysterious and secret some of its
methods may have seemed. It was declared to be a work for the Brotherhood of Humanity,
for the establishment of a nucleus of Universal Brotherhood, and this Brotherhood was

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to be without any distinction whatever, neither of race, nor creed, nor sex nor caste. And
from that day to this there has been no deviation. We are fighting now for what we were
fighting then and the terms of our service made us then, as they make us now, servants
of humanity, and not at all of Self. No one who has understood this has ever failed, nor can
he ever fail. There is no other occultism in nature, no other evolution in nature, and the
intellectual instruction which, in such monumental form, was given to us by H. P. B. was
intended for no other purpose than to make us more fitting servants of humanity. And yet
there were some who lost sight of the abiding object in the transient method, to whom
service by intellectual generalship was not unpleasing, and such as these have mistaken
the sharpening of the sword for the battle itself. Their place in the ranks has been filled and
the tide of fight has passed onward and away. Once more the miser has been starved
while counting his gold. That our methods have been changed is in itself an evidence of
our leadership and of our own vitality under that leadership. Confronted by disease, the
wise physician studies each symptom, each change of his patient. Each new symptom he
combats with its appropriate remedy, each change finds him alert to do the right thing, at
the right time. No higher wisdom is there than this. I have said that he who keeps alive
within him the one great purpose of our work, can never go astray, and it is because that
work is for humanity and in no way for ourselves and because that humanity is diseased
with wrong thinking and wrong acting that we must follow every symptom as it arises and
to each changing symptom apply the changing remedy.
If we be honest in thought and honest in purpose, how easy it becomes to see
something of the great plan which underlies what we call change of method in our work,
and to lay hold of the opportunities which lie so thick upon our path. We know well that the
object of occult training is not to know something, but to become something. He who
places himself upon the occult path and permits himself to be whirled away by the hunger
and thirst for knowledge alone, may indeed advance some little way but he is courting
disaster at every step. To that becoming, intellectual knowledge indeed is necessary, but
it is always the means and never the end, and as a means it has been given so freely.
Now at the very root of that intellectual training lies the theory that Life is one and
indivisible, that there is one great Life pulsating through the Universe, manifesting here in
the grain of sand and there in the brain of the philosopher. I say theory advisedly, because
intellectually it is but a theory and cannot become for us a fact until we have made it a part
of ourselves.
When we have made it a part of ourselves by embracing the opportunities which are
now put within our reach, it must show itself, not by the power of verbal jugglery, not by an
added subtlety in debate, but by an ever-flowing, compassion which is ever concreting into
acts of pity and of love. Are we to theorize for ever, at the bidding of those who arrogate
to themselves high places in the temple of occult truth, or is not the tune even now upon
us when we may turn our theories into knowledge and by that knowledge help the world?
Which among us is so blind that in a Brotherhood supper he can see but the filling of empty
stomachs. Truly the world is full of the misery of hunger and of nakedness and vice and
if we can fill a hundred empty stomachs tonight, are there not twenty times a hundred at
our very doors and is not the world filled with deep curses of pain and of despair? And the
hundred stomachs which we have filled tonight, will they not be empty again tomorrow and
what shall

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be the end of it? Is it not in this way that the opportunity of our lives has come to us, that
from intellectual theory we may climb upwards towards knowledge, that we may become
that of which we have theorized?
We can talk glibly of the secret forces of nature, the play of mind on mind. We have
learned it from books, we have pondered over it in our minds and we have evolved strange
theories which are all our own, and that are not to be found at all in the books. Let us now,
at this third stage in our history, withdraw ourselves from the fascinating contemplation of
our own wisdom and apply some infinitesimal portion of it to the events of daily life and to
the sorrows of other men. Do we believe in the underlying unity of life? Do we believe that
evolution requires us to break down that selfish illusion of the personality which says ever
"I" and would have the world say "I"? We intellectually believe all this, but we get but little
nearer to that becoming which is occultism. And now we have the opportunity to add this
coping stone of knowledge which will supersede all theory. We have the opportunity to look
into the eyes of those who suffer and to see ourselves therein, so of a surety, the unity of
life comes over us with a rush that is overpowering and we have learned a lesson which
shall abide with us throughout the ages when the books have crumbled again into their
dust. None of our theories have any value whatever, except so far as they tend to concrete
into acts. This concretion into act is the evidence and proof of that which we have become.
And that which we ourselves become has a necessary and certain contagion. We
throw a pebble into the Atlantic and the ripples will reach two great continents. You, now,
who know so much of books, learned and occult, say what will be the end of putting one
little thought of brotherhood into two hundred minds whose bodies are but the playground
of hunger and of cold. Here is an occult problem of so practical a nature that we are
somewhat staggered, remembering, the ripples on the Atlantic which follow the one small
pebble. The not injudicious silence which must follow the stating of such a problem allows
room for another. What then shall he the ultimate result if we can give some slight physical
aid, in the name of Universal Brotherhood, to an army, with the horrors of war upon each
man. What shall be the ultimate, final result upon that army and upon the nation to which
they belong, when these men disband, north, south, east and west bearing the contagion
of brotherhood throughout the land?
"There is a tide in the affairs of men." That tide can bear us to victory, and it can
also overwhelm. Shall not great sorrow be our portion if these our opportunities pass by
unheeded, and the great light of the future make all men to see our follies of today?

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THE DAY IS AT HAND

by Henry T. Edge

THE readers of this magazine are familiar with the idea that we are at one of those
stages in human history when an old order passeth away and a new order cometh to pass.
As Krishna, the Divine Word, says in the Bhagavad Gita: - "I incarnate from age to age,
whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice, for the
preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of
righteousness." We have heard of these epochs in the past, how they have been marked
by widespread changes and so-called calamities, and how many have given them a
religious interpretation and imagined that Christ, or some other religious teacher, would
come in a chariot of fire and establish a temporal kingdom.
But we do not look for any such revolutionary event as the millennium or the
translation of a gross of thousands of sectarians. The outpouring of radiance from the
Spiritual Sun is a gradual and progressive process, instilling new life into every scattered
seed of nobleness and aspiration, and cleansing away the rotten growths of decadence.
Our monthly reviews and our denunciatory novels have made us sufficiently familiar with
the dark and menacing side of the picture, and have never ceased to din into our ears the
fact that everything is deteriorating, from silver coinage to morals and from the novel to the
throne. But let us turn our eyes awhile from the "destruction of the wicked'' to the
"establishment of righteousness." Let us forget the birth-pangs and turn our attention to
the birth, to the end that we may dispel from our spirits the gloom of pessimism and inspire
new hope.
A survey of the progress of this century will show us that there is no department of
human thought and activity in which the regenerative spirit has not been busy, bursting old
husks and throwing out new shoots. Everything has been broadened and energized, in
religion, in science, and social ideals. The result has been a large number of new reform
movements which are as yet mutually isolated, but which will ere long combine, and then
shall the sewage dawn.
Each of the progressive movements of our day may be regarded as a separate
stone in the future masonic temple, undergoing the process of cutting and dressing, and
nearly ready to be fitted into its place. We do not see the future building as a whole, except
with the prophetic eye of faith, but all its parts are ready. We wait only for the ground to be
cleared of the crumbling old ruins which still darken our prospect and frighten us with their
delusive aspect of solidity and permanence. But, like Poe's "House of Usher," these
antiquated structures are rotten to the last degree, though every stone is as yet in its place,
and a very slight shock will break them up. Never shall their like be built again, once they
are gone, for the workshops of the world are stocked with newer and better materials and
fittings for the new fabrics.
Let us enumerate some of these reforms in our ideals of human life and destiny.
In social economy we have begun to realize that the individual is of less importance
than the community; that man has a common life and a common interest which are more
important than his personal concerns. The narrow, selfish

--- 365

individualism of Samuel Smiles is out of date.

In religion we are getting rid of narrowness and bigotry, and learning breadth and
tolerance; we are letting go the husk and seeking the kernel.
In literature we are recognizing the wisdom of the ancients and of contemporaries
in foreign lands. We have lost the old insularity.
In science, mankind is beginning to study its proper study - Man. We realize that
man is something more than a thinking machine, and is an immortal soul with the powers
and destinies of a God.
Caste distinctions are disappearing, and men are becoming men, instead of merely
aristocrats and common people.
Education is being recognized as a moral training rather than as a process of mental
stuffing.
All these movements are evidences of the strenuous working of the leaven of higher
ideals, instilled by the spiritual fire which glows beneath the mass of our modern life. The
ardent longing for that which is real and true and enduring, the universal discontent with
shams, the striving for unity and brotherhood, are all manifestations of the coming of
Krishna or Christ.
Just now all these diverse movements are working and struggling separately against
the heavy inertia of the old order of things. Very soon the old foundations of society will be
tottering and reeling, and then will come the time for concerted action among all the new
movements. For they are all informed by the same spirit, though they may know it not - the
spirit that breathes expansion and sympathy and light and warmth and buoyancy, and that
melts and withers all barriers and boundaries.
Till that day arrives, and it cannot be long delayed, let us all continue to work in our
own departments, each chiseling his own stone. Let the labor leader and the socialist still
persevere in their efforts for fair and just conditions of life. Let the artist strive on to elevate
his art, and bring back the soul of music to the mute harp. Let the scientist study the laws
of human conduct and seek nature herself behind her veils; and let the preacher go on
preaching tolerance of other people's views, and inculcating the spirit of religion instead of
the form. Let all work as for a goal in sight and heed not the inevitable din of crumbling
ruins. Let us fix our gaze on that which is fast approaching.

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--- 366

THE SOUL KNOWS

by Adelaide A. Deen Hunt

"In him who knows that all spiritual beings are the same in kind with the Supreme
spirit, what room can there be for delusion of mind, and what room for sorrow, when he
reflects on the identity of spirit." - Yajur Veda

HOW well it is for us that the soul does know. How would life be bearable were it
not that such is the fact? How could we possibly reconcile our own vagaries or those of our
friends or of humanity at large, with the protestations, the professed creeds, or the
formulated beliefs which are (seemingly) daily and hourly transgressed in action? But life
as we see it is only a distorted reflection in a mirror, the personality a Jack-in-the-box
whose springs are disordered, and who consequently jumps at unseemly times, in
unseemly ways, because its harmony has been disarranged. But even as he who
manipulates the toy, knows that the fault lies in the twisted spring, so does the soul know
that a similar warping of the mental reflection of the real truth, is the occasion of all the
antics in which man indulges.
Let us take, for instance, the various and often absolutely opposing creeds which
have sprung from the Truth the Master came to teach nearly two thousand years ago. How
could one possibly reconcile the life of his followers, so called, with their professed belief
in the usual interpretation of his words, were he not aware whether consciously or not that
the Soul knows; that there is something above all this turmoil of assertion and denial,
viewing all with calm judgment and absolute knowledge, certain that at some hour an
awakening to the Real must come. Most creeds, founded on the misinterpreted rendering
of the writings of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, have postulated an Eternity of bliss or
woe, resultant from the action of man during a mere seventy years of manifestation, and
this eternal or rather sempiternal existence they attempt to identify with the Unlimited. In
Oriental philosophy, we know that eternity meant a period of such far-reaching duration that
it is beyond man's finite thought to conceive. The Brahmins have a period of time which
they compute at 311,040,000,000,000 years which they call a Maha Kalpa or Brahma's
age, containing innumerable periods of manifestation and withdrawal. This is beyond the
mind to grasp. We cannot measure the time in which the Soul evolves from the Infinite, to
pursue its cyclic round, until it becomes again involved in the Infinite. Yet throughout this
tremendous sweep of years, in which all experience contained within its limit, is to be
gained, gathered through many personalities, on many planes of consciousness, the Silent
Spectator watches and waits.
How evident that all must have sub-conscious knowledge of this truth, or personal
man would never act as does. Had he the faintest conception of that eternity, of which he
talks so glibly or with emotional excitement, his whole course of life would be different,
especially if he really believed that only seventy years was his allotted time in which, by a
certain line of conduct, to obtain unending bliss or to doom himself to everlasting woe.
Would he have time for fads, and fashions, and follies, continually doing the thing that
afforded him personal gratification, or amusing himself - like one dancing on the brink

--- 367

of a precipice - at best only slightly restraining his passions or desires? Certainly not.
Every moment would be spent in as determined an effort to secure eternal happiness, as
is now given to securing whatever earthly advantage seems most desirable. The simple
fact then is that all these assertions are, so far as man's personal conditions are concerned,
mere modes of speech, and that really he does not believe them. Such an one is only
aware in his innermost consciousness that somewhere, somehow, there is something
connected with him that persists, that goes on and will continue to go on, let him do what
he may.
Occasionally we find a person who has set himself to realize what he professes, and
in such case we are apt to find the searcher after truth on these lines overcome by abject
terror by a dread of having committed the "unpardonable sin," of being in torment
continually, until, unless more wholesome modes of thought can be introduced, melancholy
supervenes, reason is dethroned, and a certain needed experience in this incarnation is
delayed.
Or take another instance in which one who has bound himself to some ascetic creed
and tries to live the life prescribed. Let such an one, especially if it be a woman, be bound
by the closest earthly ties to one who cannot see as she does, a so-called unbeliever; one
who doesn't care for prayer (in the wife's idea an absolutely necessary means for
salvation), who finds church-going a bore, and who would rather stay at home after his
week's work and rest, read his newspapers or magazines, than listen to dogmas that have
no possible meaning to him and whose limitations are barriers that he cannot endure.
Imagine a wife or mother under such conditions. Would she have one happy moment if
she really believed what she postulated? It could not be. No living soul would be willing
to go into eternal bliss and feel that another soul with whom she was closely allied was
destined to eternal torment. If she really thought so, she would either be steeped in
deepest melancholy, plunged in despair, or else harry the poor victim of her doubts and
fears out of all benefit to be derived from his present state of existence, through striving to
make him see the error of his ways.
That such conditions rarely prevail and that each believes that somewhere,
somehow, by a death-bed repentance, or some unknown virtue in the beloved one, all will
come right, simply points to the fact that every one is aware that the soul is One, - that we
are only differentiations under certain aspects: that eventually full evolution from material
manifestation must come, and all souls be one again with the Oversoul - as each drop of
a river or stream finds its way to the ocean, mixes, blends, and is one with it, but is still an
individual drop, imperceptible in the whole. So, after all, these professed creeds are but
distorted and limited reflections of the One Truth, simply carrying with them the fact, that
the higher the aspiration, the more earnest the desire to find the Christos, the sooner will
man become aware of his own soul and awaken to its knowledge.
How could we bear the petty cares of life, its frequent injustice, its
misunderstandings, its pain, even its physical demands and weariness, were we not sure
that these were merely transitory and of no account except for the lessons that they
contain, and which we must learn if we would be through with them. Nothing but the fact
that we are certain of this Silent Spectator who, undisturbed, immovable as the Sphinx,
views all with knowledge that compasseth everlasting truth, could enable us to endure to
the end. If, however, there is a moment in the day or week when we can enter into the
secret chamber of the heart and learn the higher wisdom that the immortal part of us can
teach, we shall

--- 368

realize that there is nothing but one point of time for us, and that point is the Eternal Now.
We have nothing to do with the past. It is dead - let it bury its dead. The present contains
it and its results. As for the future, that too is contained in the now, and the instant of time
we are living contains the future as well as the past: consequently all we need consider is
each moment as it is and strive to live that moment in its highest possibility. Thus may we
attain to real perception of what life really is and means. If we could only keep this in mind
how steady, how self-controlled, what forces we should be. Unfortunately we cannot or do
not. The personality becomes rampant. We do not like the feel of the gad when it touches
a sore spot and we flinch and rebel, though possibly, indeed we might say undoubtedly, it
was the very discipline that we needed. We cross bridges continually that we never come
to, we dwell on a past that we have nothing to do with, we shrink from what we consider
the false judgment of our associates, and immediately retaliate by sitting in judgment on
them - a judgment, which taken only from our point of view, is probably equally one-sided,
or, it may be, entirely false. We are glad or sad, depressed or elated, troubled or rejoiced,
according to circumstances, quite oblivious of the fact that they are entirely of our own
making and need not be if we did not wish or permit them. What a waste of energy in all
this!
Why should we not then try always to realize that the Soul knows, and endeavor to
attain to a state of consciousness in which this knowledge may be completely apparent to
us. Thus, and thus only, shall we cease to continue in our old ruts, to go through
experiences of which we have already had too many; but, by conserving our energy, so
uselessly wasted, become at peace with ourselves and so be at peace with the Universe,
working in harmony with it.

------------

"One, the Arabian Alchemist Abipili, speaks thus: 'I admonish thee, whosoever thou
art that desirest to dive into the inmost parts of nature; if that thou seekest thou findest not
within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee. If thou knowest not the excellency of thine
own house, why dost thou seek after the excellency of other things? .... O MAN, KNOW
THYSELF! IN THEE IS HID THE TREASURE OF TREASURES.'" - Isis Unveiled, II, 617.

-------------
--- 369

THE KABALAH
by H.T. Patterson

EVERYWHERE in nature there is interior and exterior; in material forms, and

immaterial conceptions; in physics and metaphysics; in arts, sciences and religions. It is
not necessary to demonstrate this; the fact is so apparent. That which is interior is so from
its essential nature. In the fruit the pulp is interior to the rind or skin, the seed to the pulp.
The exterior protects. The interior is that seat which contains the valuable, vital and living
part. The seed or the interior can only be reached through the protective exterior. In
knowledge, crude opinions surround and preserve hidden truths. Those truths are stored
up in the treasure houses of wisdom. Their custodians are those whose worthiness has
been proven. Only those who have broken through the barriers, scaled the parapets and
overcome the warders can be trusted as defenders. At different times, and in different
places, from the treasure house, have been given to the people by those whom the
Pharaohs have placed in charge, the necessary grain for food and seed. The seed thus
given has been implanted in the minds of the people, and from it has grown the crop,
according to the nature of the soil and seed; the teachings, though never the same in form,
are always the same in essence, and are always imparted by similar methods. The lowest
form of dissemination is by means of words carrying associations of ideas. Back of this
form, is the cipher contained in the words, which as combinations of letters are complex
symbols; back of the symbol is the sound per se, apart from its association of ideas; back
of the sound is the color which sound always produces by correlation; back of the color is
the numerical valuation; back of the numerical valuation the related state of
consciousness.
Before written teachings came oral teachings; before oral, other forms. The
Gnostics say that the superior creatures impart of their efflux to the inferior creatures when
they - the inferior - adore. If we look upon adoration in its aspect of aspiration, and upon
aspiration as associated with inspiration, we get a clue to the meaning of this statement.
When we - the inferior creatures - aspire, then the superior creatures can impart to us of
their efflux and we inspire from the higher planes. The creatures of these higher planes are
the devas. In all the great religions the anagram was one of the most prevalent ciphers.
Transposing the letters of the word devas we have the word vedas that highest form of
instruction in which the higher imparts to the lower of its efflux. In the course of time,
however, as by emanation the instruction took lower and lower forms, the impartation of
knowledge by efflux became the impartation by sound, the impartation by sound became
the impartation by the written word, and so the devas became the vedas. This is why the
vedas are spoken of as the leaves of the universal tree. They are such in their original
devic form. The Upanishads are the keys to the vedas.
Looking for the interior knowledge of the Hebrews we find it not in the old testament,
which is quite external in its nature, but in the Kabalah, the key to the old testament. The
story of the creation, of Adam and Eve, of Noah, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve
sons came from the East to the Jews

--- 370

through the Babylonian civilization. Adam is the ad-om, the first, ad, and the logos, om.
Adam was thus the first logos, Adam Kadmon, the Adam of Adams, the logos of logoi.
Abram is taken from the Sanscrit Brahm, and the wife of Abram was Sara (Saros?), as
Sarasvati was the wife of Brahm. The twelve sons of Jacob are but euhemerizations of the
twelve signs of the Zodiac, the macrocosm from which we, the people of Israel, as part of
the microcosm must have descended. These are, however, merely surface revelations.
There are far deeper ones some of which can never be found in the Kabalah itself,
excepting with extraneous suggestion. Every letter in the Hebrew language is both a form,
a symbol, and a number. Thus Aleph is the horns of a hull; Beth a House, Gimel a
serpent, and so on. Also each letter has a number corresponding to it. The use of these
corresponding numbers gives mathematical formulas. These are expounded in the Sepher
Jezirah. Sepher is the same as our word cipher, the s-ph-ra tallying with our c-ph-r. In this
system of numbers the naught precedes the enumeration. It is Ainsoph, the limitless, the
boundless light, the infinite. It is in no sense creative, the true Kabalistic teachings not
admitting of creation in the sense of production of something from nothing. It is, however,
that from which emanation takes place. It is from it that the Sephiroth emanate. These are
grouped in triads, the upper sephirothal triad being in the Archetypal World. In the
sephiroth we have the ten points of the Pythagorean triangle, the ten Prajapati of the
Hindus. Only by understanding the different systems can we comprehend any one by
itself; and yet the terms of one system are not translatable literally from one to the other.
It is like the translation of ideas from language to language. To make a good translation
more than the dictionary values of the words must be understood, and much freedom must
be used. In some of the names of the creative entities there are proofs of the profundity
of the learning of the old Kabalists. The numerical equivalent of Alhim or Elohim, who
created man in their image, is 13514. Considering these numbers anagramatically, as the
letters in the words devas and vedas have already been considered, we have the
relationship of diameter to circumference 3.1415. This exactly expresses one of the
aspects of the Elohim. It is through them that the finite is related to the infinite, the
diameter to the circumference, the 1 to the 3.1415. This also is true of man made in their
image. Equally interesting is one of the Kabalistic names of God - God as revealed to
Moses. Its numerical equivalent is 543. 5, 4, 3 are the basic numbers of manifestation.
In plane geometry they are the pentagon, the square and the triangle. On these forms are
built up the fundamental figures of solid geometry. 5, 4, 3, also gives the multiple and
separate parts of 4,320,000, the maha-yuga; of 360, the number of degrees in a circle of
86,400, the number of seconds in a day, of the 24, 27, 30, 32, 36, 40 and 45 vibrations of
the musical scale, of the 12 signs of the Zodiac, of the 12 inches in a foot, of the number
of degrees in the tetrahedron, the cube and the dodecahedron, of the number of degrees
in the triangle, the square, the pentagon and the hexagon, and the relationship of the
simplest right angle triangle which gives the most complexity in whole numbers, the one
whose hypothenuse is five and two sides four and three respectively. But Moses saw God
backward, or from behind, that is the 5 preceding the 4 and the 3 following. This is
precisely what does happen when man seeks to know the divine or fundamental. First he
perceives through his five senses the exterior manifestations, later he rises until he unites
himself with the trinity, the three in one, and so cognizes the interior manifesta-

--- 371

tions. Moses, himself, in numerical equivalents was 345. That is from the trinity emanated
by degrees that which became the pentagon or five-fold, five-sensed man. Thus all
through these old, old teachings runs the marvelous story of creation by emanation, of
transmutations, of successive objectivizations. The grand cycles are changing once again,
and man begins to look back to the source from whence he came. From the five, through
the four, the three, the two (the pairs of opposites) he is reaching towards the one ray, and
through it towards the luminous ocean which is neither one nor many, but the shoreless
ocean of infinite being from which all came and to which all must return.
The subject could be continued indefinitely. Suffice it, however, that there is in these
old books, the Kabalah, the Upanishads, the Vedas, and the rest, many a key which will
unlock storehouses of knowledge which cannot be entered otherwise excepting by long,
weary years of hard unremitting labor and study.

-------------

GOD'S ALMONERS
by E.E. Brown

God's almoners are we -

Or rich, or poor,
He gives to thee, to me,
From out His store,
Some gift, some sacred trust,
That we alone
Of all His children, must
Bear swiftly on
 To those who watch and pray,
In bitter need,
Doubting, while we delay,
If God doth heed! -
Doubting, because the hand
That holds His gift
Comes not to succor, and
The burden lift.

God's almoners!
Untold The honor given
To us that we should hold
The gifts of Heaven
In sacred trust like this!
Oh! let it not,
(The deed forgot!)
Be ours the joy to miss.

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--- 372

THE RED-HEELED SLIPPER

by W. T. P.

AN old school-master whose days of service had numbered many years, once said
to me in the good old New England town of Hartford:
"Don't you think the grass grows greener here than it does in the West?" Who could
have had the heart to say "no'' to such a pathetic question? Who is there that has been in
love and does not know that the grass was greener, the sky bluer and the songs of the
birds sweeter on one memorable day? Blessed day.
To the school-master, who, like an old war-horse, was resting on his laurels, the
sunset of life heightened the hues of mother nature.
But, whatever may be said about the grass, I am sure the sun shines brighter, and
the air is sweeter and more wholesome in Southern California than it is in the eastern
states, from whence most of us have come to this veritable "land-of-sunshine."
I am sure, too, that this was and is the opinion of a happy company of merry
maidens and their chosen gallants who recently made the valleys near Los Angeles echo
with their laughter.
It was a clear warm day in May, with just enough breeze to temper the ardor of the
sun. For several months the sky had wept upon the dry and thirsty earth, and then, under
the kisses of the sun, wild flowers sprang forth to testify to the fertility of the wooing. Wild
flowers of every hue, from the sweet delicate gentian to the purple Mariposa lily. But most
glorious of all were the rich golden poppies, which, like a halo, crowned the hills, causing
one instinctively to raise his thoughts in reverential silence to his Maker.
As I said, it was a clear warm day and most of the ladies who had ridden from
Pasadena had laid aside their wraps, wandering with their escorts around Eagle Rock, after
justice had been done to the commissary department.
Eagle Rock is a titanic relic of long-gone ages which raises its solitary back some
forty feet into the air from the valley to which it gives its name, and is situated about five
miles from Pasadena. It is peculiar in that it is all alone at its post of duty; no other rocky
sentinel being near.
From one point of view the rock presents an obtuse angle, and upon either face is
a cave, hollowed out by the action of water or by the labor of some other natural mason.
At a little distance the caves have the appearance of the spread wings of the national-bird;
hence the name. It is possible that the natural contour of the caves has been intensified
by the chisel of man as there is a legend that one or both of the cavities, at least the more
accessible of the two, was once inhabited by an old recluse, but this seems to have been
after the brigands and banditti, who early infested the country, had been compelled to
retire.
It is to the upper end of Eagle Rock Valley, however, rather than to the rock itself,
that our attention is due. At the north end of the valley is a slight depression, flanked by
hills, one of which is quite high, commanding a fine view of the surrounding country and
especially of the two roads which cross each other at its base. These roads were highways
in the early days when the country was under Spanish rule, or rather misrule, of the lawless
banditti who roamed the land at will and owed allegiance to neither church nor state.
On the summit of the hill referred to,

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at the time of which we write, was a venerable adobe building, slowly crumbling to dust, like
some of the old and lamented church missions, now so attractive to all true lovers of
California. The legends that hang about this spot are responsible for the christening of the
adobe retreat "Robbers' Roost."
One of the party of merry-makers we left at Eagle Rock had visited the place some
time previously and, much enamored of the mysterious air about the house, and captivated
by the romantic name it bore, determined to carry his companions to the "Roost" for a feast
of the imagination, as well as for the fine view afforded by the hill. The party in due time
gained the summit. Many were the conjectures and myths that served to send the scythe
of old Father Time with quickened stroke through the ripening hours. Each one carried
away either a flower or a stone as a memento of the occasion, and some of those faded
flowers to this day communicate their fragrance to shells and bows and dainty gloves, all
talismans of an undying love. One of the gentlemen captured a piece of the old adobe.
Returning home, flushed with the harvest of the day's experience and filled with the
magnetism of the sun, the company stopped at the house of a lady friend who was unable
to share in the day's outing, but was much interested in all the goings-on. Before there had
been time for much conversation, a gentleman of the party, whose bright black eyes, dark
complexion and raven hair betrayed a trace of the Andalusian blood, with courtly bow
handed the surprised hostess a piece of the old adobe, saying: "A memento of our outing,
Senorita."
The blue eyes of the fair hostess opened wider as she questioningly took the relic.
She had been in California but a short time and had never been in the section visited by
her friends during the day.
 She held the piece of adobe in her right hand for a moment or so, when suddenly
she startled all present by exclaiming, involuntarily apparently: "Oh!" Almost immediately
she half sank into a chair, and passing her hand across her forehead said half dreamily:
"What a fine view. Why it is indeed peculiar. I see as readily and as easily as though I
were upon the spot, but my eyes are closed."
She paused, then continued:
"The sun shines brightly, and I see a little plastered house on a hill. A great wide
porch surrounds the house, which makes it look like a great bird with wide-spread wings
for I seem to be looking down upon the roof."
She relapsed into silence for a moment, then exclaimed:
"Oh! how dainty, how sweet!"
By this time all in the room had gathered around the speaker, who, half-reclining,
half-sitting in a large easy-chair, seemed like one entranced. It was instructive to note the
features of the various persons in the group. Upon the faces of some was written eager
expectancy; others seemed puzzled yet curious; others again were sad and sympathetic,
feeling solicitous for the health of their friend; a few seemed incredulous, but all were
interested, and more or less excited. Only one of the gathering was quiet and cool,
seeming to understand the situation. There was a chorus of cries: "Go on! go on! tell us
what you see."
For a moment the hum of voices seemed to disturb the lady, Alice, and she
hesitated but tightened her grasp upon the piece of adobe.
"Hush!" commanded the dark-eyed gentleman, "be quiet." Then lowering his voice,
he said gently: "What is it Alice?"
A deep silence fell upon the company which was broken after awhile by Alice saying
somewhat abstractedly:
"Oh! I see such a beautiful creature. She is like a fairy, but surely a human

--- 374

being. Her dark eyes are large and lustrous, with long silky fringe and delicately arched
brows; her cheeks are soft and plump like a rich peach ripened by the sun; her cherry lips
half parted, reveal two rows of dainty pearly teeth. She moves like the breeze, quickly but
softly; now she stands at the edge of the porch, shading her eyes with one of her dainty
hands, upon the long, supple, graceful fingers of which sparkle many jewels. She stands
intently gazing down the road. Yes, she's Spanish, surely. Her short silken skirts rustle in
the air, changing color with every motion; her beaded bodice is of black velvet and over
her shoulders is loosely thrown a black mantilla. Her dainty feet are encased in a dear little
pair of slippers with high red heels." She said all this somewhat in the manner of a
somnambulist, adding somewhat more spiritedly:
"Now she turns; her eyes sparkle like diamonds - ; Oh! she's gone!"
"Ah! Come back, come back, he cried in grief!" quoted the funny-man in the corner
with a long drawn sigh.
"You be still, " hoarsely whispered his next neighbor, accompanying his injunction
with a nudge in the ribs, from his elbow.
Miss Alice drew one hand across her forehead, clutched the fragment of adobe held
in the other, and continued, scarcely noticing the interruption:
 "There is a company of men in the front-room which extends across the entire
house; they are seated around a long table, eating and drinking. They are dressed gayly
like Mexicans or Spaniards, and all are armed. Queer-looking fire-arms and knives are
scattered over the room. Some one seems to have given an alarm, for many of them are
scurrying to the windows or loop-holes in the walls commanding a view of the road from
which a cloud of dust is rising."
Another pause, then Alice said: "Everything is black: I see nothing."
There was a rustle in the room as some of the ladies shifted their positions and a
murmur arose from the company, which was silenced by a quick, sharp, glance from the
dark-complexioned gentleman, who rising, held up his forefinger significantly.
Once more silence, but after a few moments Alice resumed: "Yes, I see now. It is
night, and very, very dark, but there is a faint light. Yes, it comes from the flickering rays
of a lantern, which seems to be opened and shut, alternately. It is beginning to rain. There
are the forms of two or three men, black and shifting. They seem to be standing on the
edge of a deep gorge or canyon, and behind them the outlines of the little plastered house,
seeming wavering and unreal. The men have picks and spades; they are digging a hole.
The lantern is now on the ground; its light rests on a large box. Well, well, they are
dumping trinkets and jewelry of all sorts into the hole. Many rings and pins set with
sparkling jewels - Oh! a man draws a knife; the blade strikes another man under the arm;
he falls backward down the chasm - Ugh!''
With this last utterance, a shudder shook the speaker and she stopped short
suddenly, as though stunned; nor was she subsequently able to resume.
The conversation now became general and animated. The conversational storm
being accompanied by flashes of wit and peals of laughter. The company had plunged
head first into the realms of the mysterious. Each one seemed to feel, like Hamlet, that
"there are stranger things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in our
philosophy."
Many explanations and more conjectures followed, until the sun rang down the
curtain of the night, behind which the party set out for their respective homes.
Some time later two of the gentlemen of the party impressed by the words of

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Alice, and filled with a love of adventure and novelty visited the old adobe. Probably the
stories current about "Robber's Roost," some of which they had heard, had fired their
imagination and gave the color of probability, or at least of possibility, to the words of their
lady friend. But whatever the motive, it is true that the boys, at an early day, secretly visited
the ruins with pick and spade, and selecting a spot which seemed to answer the description
in their mind's eye, began to dig for the buried treasure.
They dug and dug, but no gold, no silver, no jewels rewarded them. Still, their
search was not entirely without result of interest, for much to their surprise and delight, they
unearthed the remains of a dainty slipper with a high heel, which in their eyes, was red.
Contenting themselves with this trophy they returned to Los Angeles. Some days
afterward one of the "boys" carried the slipper to Long Beach, at which place he had been
informed lived an ancient Mexican, who was familiar with all the old legends of Southern
California.
 He found the native of Montezuma to be a veritable patriarch, as wise as he is old,
and as gentle as he is wise, for he still lives, and if rumor is to be credited, he will soon
round the century post, without signs of impending dissolution. But, while the venerable
Mexican was willing to speak, he could talk but little English and our friend knew "little Latin
and less - Spanish." However, an interpreter was found and with many digressions quite
an interesting story was woven with the threads of memory and suggestion.
The aged man took the slipper carefully and tenderly; he examined it minutely, now
brushing away some specks of dirt and now stroking it caressingly. He turned it over and
over, especially examining the sole and the threads, which in places still held it to the
upper. He remained silent a long time, but his thoughts, evidently, were busy. A sense of
pleasure would now-and-again light his features only to be chased behind the cloud of a
frown, and again burst into view, like the sun on a summer day. The ghosts of the past
seemed to rise in his mind, resurrected by the sight of the slipper, and dance the fandango
to the tunes of the mandolin. At last he spoke, saying substantially:
"Yes, it is so, Senor, the turn of the sole is the same; it was made by Mexican hands
about the time I was a lad. It was probably worn by the divine Senorita. She for whom
more than one gallant braved the poniard, and as I believe, more than one has found an
untimely grave on the mesa, or in the canyon. For the jealousy of Morilla was quick to
kindle, and the reaping of his wrath as sure as the rising of the sun. Few had the honor of
a duel, but all alike felt the descent of his vengeance. He was as handsome as the Prince
of Darkness, and twice as wicked; as graceful as the doe, and as brave as a lion; cunning
as a fox and wise as a serpent. Chief of the marauding band that once held this section
in fear and trembling. Fear, for their flocks and gold; trembling for their women. And yet,
strange as it may seem, many were the acts of courtliness and generosity which they
sometimes bestowed upon the unfortunate and the destitute."
"The Robbers' Roost" to which you refer was the last stronghold which they
possessed in this neighborhood. The Senorita, whose slipper you have found, was said
to be the niece of Morilla, but I doubt not they bore a more tender relation to each other.
The Senorita was as beautiful as the dawn and as proud as a queen. Her word was law
with the robber chieftain.
"As the robbers grew bolder the situation grew more aggravating to the settlers.
Still, the Americans kept coming; the town kept increasing in population and, as the city
grew, the ranches were

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taken up. At last the ranchers determined to make war upon the banditti, thus stopping the
predatory incursions. But it was a long time before any headway was made. Law was slow
to make its way into the defiles, where the mountaineer was as much at home as other wild
game, and he poised upon the peaks as secure as the eagle in its eyrie.
"Many times and often the settlers organized search parties, but old Father Time
was a better marksman than the Americans. Time is a great leveler; the great adjuster.
The wild mountaineers dwindled as the usurping squatters increased.
"One day in April the last remnant of the band was surprised at a carousal in broad
daylight. Several of the banditti were killed and the divine Senorita captured; held as
hostage. The settlers knew that Morilla would return if the maiden remained in the vicinity,
so they lay in wait.
"In about a month he did return at night and, tying his steed in a eucalyptus grove,
ventured into the adobe, which was stealthily guarded. He was taken prisoner, and without
more ado a lasso was placed around his neck, the intention being to drag him to death at
the heels of horses, in the morning. But Providence ordained that he should meet his
death otherwise.
"Morilla possessed a fine horse - a graceful, sensitive, nervous animal, fleet but
strong. His dappled, glossy coat was like silk. His delicate neck slightly arched under the
restraining bit, indicating his fiery disposition, yet tractable to the firm hand of his master.
"Morilla loved his horse almost as much as he did the Senorita, and it was for his
horse that be thought when he saw his impending doom. He asked the privilege of a
farewell caress of his horse. The men of that day were as fond of their horses as of their
wives, and appreciating the animal they gave the desired permission.
"Morilla stroked and patted the velvety nose of his steed, and the horse gave
evidence of almost human intelligence. At last Morilla threw his arm around the horses'
neck, and, drawing the animal's head down, whispered in his ear. Almost instantaneously
the horse rose on his hind legs and at the same moment Morilla swung himself into the
saddle. The horse fought like a demon, pawing the air with his forefeet which were shod
with light but sharp shoes. Several men fell before his wild assault. In an instant he had
broken through the circle of armed men, then, like an arrow from a bow, he shot down the
steep road.
"The baffled ranchers were desperate, all pity dead before hot anger. They shot the
horse under the rider and Morilla's neck was broken by the fall.
"There was great rejoicing in the country at large, because of the fall of the dreaded
chief, but more than one heart was sad. People whom Morilla had befriended mourned his
departure."
Tears stole from the eyes of the ancient man and trickled down his swarthy cheek.
He bent his gray head and was silent. Then he half-rose and gently stroking the slipper
which he had retained in his hand, continued:
"The Senorita died young; her heart was broken, and here you have brought me her
slipper - . Well, I too, will soon pass beyond."

-------------
--- 377

THE TRIPLE MIRROR

by E. N.

THAT to see ourselves as others see us is not always flattering to our self-love the
following little dream story will show. I dreamt that I was standing on the summit of a lofty
hill surrounded by a vast plain which appeared to melt away into the blue haze of the
horizon. By contrast with its immensity the people scattered over it looked like pygmies.
Their insignificance was rendered more marked on account of the immense size of
numerous pictures (for such I took them to be) before which they stood, or knelt, in
attitudes of admiration and worship. The pictures appeared supported by colossal props
driven into the ground.
 Wishing to ascertain the cause of such ardent and yet silent contemplation, for only
one person at a time stood before each mirror, I descended the hill. I then saw that the
people were of average stature.
Selecting a picture before which there was a vacant space, I hastened towards it.
Great was my surprise on discovering that what I had taken for pictures were huge mirrors.
All these people therefore were admiring or worshiping their reflected selves. The idea
seemed so monstrous and ludicrous that I burst into a derisive laugh. Curiosity however
impelled me to gaze steadily at my own reflection in the hope of discovering the secret of
the apparent enchantment. I soon began to learn that I had greatly undervalued the
satisfaction such self-contemplation could afford. My busy life had allowed me but little
time for self-examination. This I now discovered had been a loss to me. It was evident that
my previous indifference had prevented me from seeing myself as I was in reality, and that
I had thus formed of myself too mean an opinion. I gazed with growing satisfaction upon
the changes that were taking place in my appearance. My stature seemed to increase
rapidly, reaching nearly to the top of the mirror. My form developed in proportion, and
finally resembled in its symmetrical beauty those statues of the ancient gods and heroes
created by the genius of the Greeks. In place of the sad-colored unlovely earth-stained
garments planned for utility, white drapery fell around me in majestic folds, emitting light,
as it were, from their lustrous purity. Mighty wings slowly uprose, each feather glowing with
dazzling, ever shifting prismatic hues. My brow was encircled by a golden band in the
centre of which was engraven a mystic sign. Wisdom, power, love, purity were all
portrayed in the exalted expression of the noble countenance I beheld before me. If this
radiant being represented my true self, then it was evident that I could have little or nothing
in common with the sinful, repenting, unwise, passion-tossed humanity around me.
"I am a God!" was my exultant thought.
In this magic mirror I saw the Inner Self which is hidden to mortal view as is a pearl
within its shell.
What divine beauty, what heavenly gifts were mine! How favored and protected was
I by the invisible Powers! I, in outward seeming a mere man, must be in reality one of
those pure spirits who rank little lower than the Sons of God and the Angelic Hosts. How
worthy was I not of the veneration of meaner men, if they could but know to what heights
of sublime perfection I had attained! But if a doubting world that

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rejects its saviors would not believe in me, I at least could revere and adore my divine Ego
thus enshrined within its temple of human clay. I fell upon my knees in an ecstasy of self-
worship.
As I gazed in rapture upon the Inner Self thus revealed, becoming ever more
intoxicated as I dwelt upon its growing perfections, a voice uttered the words: "Now go and
look upon the reverse of the mirror."
Startled, I looked up and saw a dignified personage clad in a loose purple robe
bordered with yellow. His stature exceeded that of the average man. The expression of
his noble face was reposeful and benignant, his searching yet kindly eyes inspired me with
love and confidence.
Taking me gently by the hand he assisted me to rise from my attitude of worship,
and led me to the back of the mirror.
I was surprised to find that this was also of glass.
My disappointment was great on seeing that I had resumed my ordinary
appearance. But disappointment speedily changed to horror. I wished to turn and flee, but
I could not. Some force compelled me to remain and gaze in terror upon the transformation
again taking place in my outer self.
What foul monster was this that presently stared at me with murderous scowls
alternating with malicious grins, with my features, but distorted almost out of recognition by
expressions of devilish malignity! The blackened, misshapened body writhed in repulsive
attitudes. In the bloated sensual face and small fiery eyes which glowed in their deep
sockets like burning coals, the lowest brute propensities were dominant.
Presently this hideous presentment of myself began to weep, twisting its features
into almost ludicrous expressions of grief and despair. A sensation of pity seized me. Why
should I allow myself to be overcome by emotions of disgust and humiliation? What awful
heredity, what sins of ignorance, of insanity, may not have been irresistible factors in the
creation of this loathsome self? But, after all, was I so loathsome? In the revulsion of
feeling consequent upon the shock of no longer seeing myself arrayed in God-like attitudes,
had I not exaggerated the foulness of the contrasted vision? Were not subtle changes
again taking place? I now began to discern grandeur in the lofty defiance assumed by the
hitherto shrinking creature whose stature was again attaining a great height, the body
growing erect and finely formed. The filthy rags fell off, revealing the richly tinted dark skin.
Great wings, black as ravens' plumes, rose against the sombre background. An iron
casque, surrounded by a silver serpent, encrusted with emeralds, surmounted the haughty
head. Beneath the frowning majesty of the brow inscrutable eyes returned my gaze with
a profound melancholy in their glowing depths.
The evil fascination gained upon me. The longer I gazed, the more awe-inspiring
became this second self. All my previous disgust and horror had entirely disappeared.
Filled with a perverted admiration, I exclaimed, "If I be evil I am at least great. I will rule
men through their vices and appetites, their ambitions and selfishness. They shall fear,
follow, and bow down to me, subjugated by my resistless power and unconquerable will,
by my serpent-subtle wisdom and my lion-hearted courage. Evil shall be my good, and I
myself will be as a god to my votaries. Bewildered humanity, vacillating feebly between
good and evil, lacking force to choose between either, shall become my willing slaves,
obedient to my mandates. Apart from their service to me, the Prince of Lawlessness, each
man shall be a law unto himself. In the individual warfare that will ensue through the
clashing of the elementary, conflicting passions of

--- 379

envy, greed, hatred, and ambition, the strongest and fittest alone will survive.''
Again I prostrated myself in a wild tumult of passionate exultation, from which I was
aroused by my forgotten companion exclaiming - "Arise, there is yet another mirror into
which you must gaze." Guiding me to one side of the double mirror, he pointed to a third
attached to these two, but of such mean proportions in comparison that I had not remarked
it. I then perceived that the mirrors formed an irregular triangle.
Again I saw myself but now as an insignificant pigmy. My familiar features, neither
better nor worse than those of the average man, wore a self-satisfied smirk. This
expression was however quickly replaced by one of chagrin and shame. A deep sense of
humiliation filled me as I realized that, in common with my erstwhile despised fellow-
pygmies, I also had been worshiping at the shrine of Self.
Turning toward my guide, I saw only on his countenance a look of compassionate
interest. In answer to my confused and unspoken thoughts, he spoke as follows: "You
have been shown the possibilities that lie within your own and all human nature. In your
present state you no more resemble that sublime Self you perceived in the first mirror than
the frail shoot pushing its way to light and life from the hidden germ resembles the monarch
oak it is destined to become, if during its growth, it has had strength enough to withstand
the storms that will assail it. Many trials and some joys, many temptations and some
triumphs, many failures and some successes must fall to your share during the probations
that yet lie before you in your earthly pilgrimage ere you attain perfection in good.
"The lower and ugly side of your real nature was revealed to you in the second
mirror. That the monster became a very prince of evil, grand in omnipotent egotism,
dominating the senses by a mirage-like beauty, was an illusion born of self-pity and self-
conceit, for evil is intrinsically hideous and doomed to destruction. Good makes for beauty.
If you finally develop the divine within you, you will also develop the beauty that is its
outward manifestation. But by that time you will no longer be a devotee of self. Arrived at
that period of comparative advancement you will have learned that you are but one atom
amongst countless myriads, a unit in the infinite Universe, a slender ray of light mingled
with numberless similar rays emanating from the Absolute. You will find happiness in self-
devotion to suffering humanity. Although you will receive neither admiration nor praise, you
will no longer crave for, nor derive pleasure from tributes, now so precious to self-love and
to pure desire for human affection. You see yourself in this last mirror, the mirror of Truth,
as it is called, as you actually are. The other two are named the mirrors of Illusion.
"You shrink from knowing yourself as you are in reality, a mere pigmy amongst
others of your kind, all more or less evolved from lower conditions, but although you can
raise yourself to the state of soul-development that enchanted you in the first mirror, know
that, even then, you will have endless heights to climb before you are one with that
Absolute Perfection which is your God. It is within your power, if such be your will, to nurse
the spark of Divine Light within you until it shines forth a beacon of Hope and Life to aid
your struggling, despairing, human brethren. Or you may let it blaze up in fierce, destroying
flames, or let it die out completely. "
Thinking that these words gave me an excellent opportunity to obtain some positive
knowledge upon the vexed and much-discussed question of free-will, I turned suddenly
towards my unknown but friendly guide, and, in the action, I awoke from my dream.

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--- 380

NEEDS OF THE WORLD

by Vespera M. Freeman

SOME weeks since, in a lecture before the War Relief Corps of the I. B. L. upon the
care of the sick and wounded, Dr. Coryn said that the first requisite in the cure of the sick
was to provide him plenty of sunlight, pure, full sunlight. Sunlight, he said, killed the germs
of disease. My mind following the line of analogy ran from the one sick man in his
sunlighted chamber to the sick world and its manifold woes and needs. Might not the
doctor's "first requisite" be a clue to the World's healing also? Might not here be a key to
the solving of all those vital problems which men for centuries past have so blindly and
fruitlessly sought to understand? When one reaches that point in his evolution where the
study of man himself and one's relation to him forces itself upon the mind, at first the needs
of humanity seem overwhelming, innumerable, unrelated - insurmountable.
The compassionate heart aches unceasingly in sympathy with the unceasing pain
and the brain wearies under the strain of endeavor to find not only some infallible panacea,
but to reach to the underlying cause of which all this world sickness is but the effect. One
sees that in no age has the world wanted for physicians who diagnosed the case according
to their schools.
Philanthropists, humanitarians, lovers of their kind have always sought for ways and
means to lift this suffering, struggling human mass above its miseries, - have sought to cool
its fever and to ease its aching, - to cure its blindness and help it onward in such fashion
as seemed right and best to them. Many of these have devoted themselves to the study
of man's physical needs. Seeing him worn with unceasing toil, weak from ill-feeding, foul
with disease and contact with his foul surroundings, they have narrowed their efforts to this
one plane and have set themselves the task of bettering his physical conditions. Others
have studied man's mental ills and have thought to aid him by means of mental training and
development and an universal system of education. Others again have studied man's
moral and spiritual needs and have sought through fear of punishment to force him into
virtue or have striven by prayer and exhortation to lift him into purity and peace.
Through all these various efforts for the world's betterment money has flowed in
golden streams for "Charity," - education has been made free and most exhaustive.
Prisons, Reformatories and Churches have been built and furnished regardless of expense,
- Inquisitions have been established, - Sacrifices have been made on many a strange altar
and Martyrs have been stoned and crucified and burned - indeed, a trail of blood and fire
is traceable all down the centuries of our era, - but the outcome of it all is far from cheering.
We find today that men materially are not less poor and needy, - that mentally they are still
diseased and blind, and that they disregard the Decalogue in word and thought and deed.
Upon such showing simply, the optimist has little basis for his faith in man's Divine
perfectibility and final triumph over evil.
But one may easily find the reason why such efforts fail. They do not touch the
underlying cause. They deal only with visible effects. Study for example plants "wintered"
in a cellar or dark

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pit. Toward Spring they feel the inward impulse that forces growth - they put out leaf buds,
but lacking light all growth is feeble and diseased. Later the plants seem to lose all sense
of rhythm and harmony in their development, and frequently put on grotesque and
monstrous forms. If now one were to cultivate such plants, digging about their roots and
feasting them richly on stimulating food, were to give them water and air in full supply, and
keep them pruned and trimmed and weeded carefully, and leave them still in darkness,
could we expect them to grow well and strong and blossom into fragrant beauty! And so
with man. Charity cannot cure sin, though it is said to cover multitudes. All material aid,
however needful and just, can be but for the moment and superficial. Man's wretchedness
and need on the material plane goes deeper than that plane. It is the outcome of his
ignorance, but all the mental training in all the schools can never educate him into mental
health and wisdom. Wanting the sunlight, plants grow colorless and misshapen and finally
die. It is the same with man. His one great need is light; more light from that Spiritual Sun
of which he now catches reflected glimpses. The illusion of a man's separateness from
fellow-men was the beginning of his blindness and his undoing. That sense of
separateness keeps him blind and ignorant as to himself, the purpose of his life, and its
true goal.
The only vital question seems then to be how to bring all men into the full sunlight
which will kill the very germs of all disease, dispel illusion and heal all pain.
Happily for mankind all through the winter of his degradation there have been some
strong souls among them able to see "Behind the clouds the sun still shining." These Great
ones have formed a channel through which that "shining" might flow downward for the
helping of the world. They have now opened a door toward the light and called it "Universal
Brotherhood," and through this open door a man may if he will, enter into a fellowship of
peace and joy. For only when he begins to recognize that for him there can be no separate
existence, nor purpose, nor destiny, and binds himself in loving service to that greater self,
which is humanity, can he know true happiness. Through this door he may reach the light
and in his turn become a channel for the light. Thus will he reach true stature as a man, -
"man who is roof and crown of things." Emerson says: "A man's health and greatness
consist in his being the channel through which heaven flows to earth. Each man who
passes through this door aids by the full measure of his strength in lifting the burden from
the world, in lighting its darkness, and hastens by just so much the coming of that golden
day, when the "Soul of man purified and healed puts on her coronation robes and goes
forth through Universal Love to Universal Power."

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--- 382

A FRAGMENT
by Zoryan

SOME children, poets and mystics of recent years show by the most unmistakable
signs, that they feel the coming of the new, better, nobler and wider life. The unavoidable
spring is approaching. The wide, wide spaces are opening. Many a heart has the
sensitiveness of a flower, which turns towards the sun and seems to know its ways upon
the skies. A flower, which was, when a small bud, above the will o'wisps and apparitions
of the night, a flower which felt the darkness of the night and knew how to sing upon the
black lyre of sorrow for mankind, when it was time to do so, such a flower is now well
prepared to meet the dawning day. Those who have not seen the blackness, shall not see
the light; those whose heart was not lonely and deserted, as though a heart of an orphan,
shall not experience the immeasurable sweetness of the universal brotherhood. For who
was it longing in the night, if not that divine germ of light, which shines in darkness and
which the darkness cannot overtake? Better still, - it regains in darkness its ideal purity,
its invisible visibility, and when later comes the day, it takes from itself whiteness and
colors, and from the night it takes shadows and outlines, and with these contrarieties it
paints the raiment of the day. For every color is the light shaded in its quality, and every
form is the light outlined in its quantity, and stronger are the lines and shadows upon the
white divine background of the world, greater is the world, more diverse, more powerful.
The blackest spot of the picture has, perhaps, the greatest meaning, if this meaning
is merged in the idea of the whole scene. A whiteness without black lines is only a
background and nothing more. Ormuzd is not able to create the world without Ahriman.
Ahriman is the interpreter of Ormuzd and his best helper, though seemingly he is at war
with his twin brother. The proud and indomitable Lucifer is yet a bright and morning star.
Better still, through this darkness and loneliness and by being itself left therein, the spirit
of a man reaches that self-consciousness, which alone can show to him its immortality.
Indeed, deeper and deeper we look there, more than whiteness we see in that darkness,
and more than Ormuzd. In this darkness dwells an invisible whiteness, hidden in the night,
and rocking, as though in a cradle, a new ideal day; in this darkness is that super-ideality,
from which comes out every being and existence; there reposes an invisible power, higher
than Ormuzd, there rests the infinite and never comprehensible mystery of the light and
shadow, joy and sorrow, beginning and end, alpha and omega; there is the inexpressible
Zeruana Akerne* before which alone we are permitted to bow our heads and which can be
worshiped only in silent adoration.

-------------
* The cycle of infinity, the circle, the zero, o, which contains in it the All, the plenum,
the pleroma.
-------------
--- 383

THIS DAY WE HAVE LIVED!

by Eva F. Gates

MISS ALCOTT in a story for children makes one of her boys say he never knew his
"works" were so interesting as they appeared when illuminated by the explanations of his
uncle, an ingenious physician who wished to awaken in the boy a love for science.
This boy then begins to study his own mechanism, to watch his wheels go round in
beautiful order and rhythm, learning thereby to take a vital interest in physiology and
chemistry.
We of larger growth are also interested in our "works," both as they play in our
bodies in marvelous arrangement, and in our souls, as we vaguely term the immaterial part
of ourselves.
To be sure, we are not well acquainted with ourselves. We learn at school the
thoughts of others as to the way our bodily mechanism runs, but we soon find that our
digestion does not take place quite according to rules, and our nervous system is sensitive
or irresponsive according to its own rules. We find if we are to keep our health we must
learn to adjust rules to ourselves, that we must learn to discriminate and choose what is
best for our bodies and their so-called idiosyncrasies.
 The same with our minds and emotions. Our minds dart hither and thither grasping
and combining certain ideas; holding loosely, or refusing entirely other lines of thought
closely allied. And our emotions also have this curious sensitiveness to ideas, sounds and
even odors. It is not altogether the result of association of ideas, for many times there has
been no experience in this life to give birth to the initial ideas.
Then our aspirations toward the highest ideals, impelling to the greatest self-sacrifice
for what we love, whether it be humanity with its sorrows and ignorance, or our country, or
some individual whose welfare we yearn to assure. These aspirations seem to lift us
skyward, to affiliate us with, the immortals.
But we find also that we have difficulties in living up to these aspirations.
Weaknesses of various kinds beset us. We would climb often but cannot for want of
strength. What a mixture we find ourselves to be, and how intricate the play of our
interblended natures.
Each night, when the day with its activities has ended, we take up this study of
ourselves, and seek to gain an understanding of all the shallows and depths of our being,
reviewing the events of the day, we see wherein we have failed to live up to the point of not
too high excellence we had marked out for ourselves. We observe with surprise that during
the day we have had a glorious opportunity of putting into practice a favorite and much
admired ethical maxim that we had been hoarding for just such an occasion. But - the
opportunity at hand, what had we done? Flustered and forgetful, we failed to remember
our ardently loved maxim and did the reverse of what we should have done. How
humiliating to forget! What can we do with such a nature? Why did we forget? We feel
an urgent need to get at the cause of such a disaster, and "why, why," torments us. We
must know about these things. To know and to control ourselves, to become a rational,
self-governed being, with all our machinery under the influence of our will; with not a cog
out of place, not a wheel that shall start off at its own

--- 384

will, but each subservient, acting in conjunction with its fellows - this is what we desire.
Some day, we feel sure, we shall succeed in regulating our "works" so they shall run
obediently. Of course we shall not find it an easy task - it is an immense undertaking - but
we resolve to watch our processes carefully, and govern them as far and as fast as we can.
Each night we review our progress in the task, and from the books we read, and the
opinions we laboriously evolve from experience in all directions, we come to a few
conclusions that help us in our endeavors.
We learn that the soul, that within us which urges us to know, to think, to feel, is a
pupil in this schoolroom called the world. It seems very ignorant, yet very determined to
learn. Each experience in all the range of life it welcomes because it brings knowledge.
But being outwardly ignorant it makes mistakes, and is often deluded by appearances into
believing that important and valuable which is a hindrance to its progress. Thus it learns
to discriminate between wise and unwise courses.
Often, too, like a spectator at the theatre, it takes such an interest in the play, so
identifies itself with the characters strutting through their parts, that it seeks to participate
in the drama, instead of remaining at its station as spectator.
This soul of ours is in touch with the whole universe. From the spiritual side of
nature flows down all uplifting, ennobling influences; from the material side all degrading,
brutalizing influences. Between two paths the soul must choose its course; it must learn
to resist the pull of the lower and so gain strength to advance on the upward course of
evolution. From the responsiveness of the soul to the influences of these two opposing
forces come all pain and sorrow, caused by the struggle it must make in taking its way.
Term after term it comes back to this schoolroom of the earth to continue its
education; adding always to its acquirements; receiving by the law of compensation just
what it has earned for itself of advancement.
Regarding life and character in this fashion when we make the review of the day, of
some days we can say - This day we have lived! not as a vegetable, not half awake, dimly
perceiving and answering to the life around us; not as an animal roaming here and there,
seeking to satisfy physical needs; not as a savage, grasping only what is sensual and can
add to personal pleasure, - but as a soul, as a gainer of wisdom.
As pupil-souls then, we resolve to meet life, inquiring of each event what it has to
teach us; taking from each circumstance its lesson to add to our store of knowledge, and
wresting from fair and from hard experience the wisdom we have come to earth to obtain.

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THE KINDERGARTEN OF THEOSOPHY

by Marie A. J. Watson

(Concluded)

CHAPTER XI.
CHARACTER FROM AN ESOTERIC STANDPOINT
Paracelsus, the mystic philosopher, says "The spiritual essence of man comes from
the first emanation of God. It is gifted with divine wisdom and divine power, and if the
elements constituting the normal man become conscious of the possession by them, and
learn to realize that power, and how to employ them, they will become, so to speak,
superhuman, and may then rightly be called divine beings or sons of God. Many, however,
live and die without ever coming into full possession, or without entering into a firm
connection with that divine ray of wisdom that alone can transform them into immortal
human beings." Here is food for thought: unless the lower or brain mind of man is united
with the spiritual ray that constitutes his upper triad or trinity, he is not an immortal being.
The lower mind - however well versed it may be in regard to the external appearances of
things, if it has not made this connection with its spiritual ray - is lost as an individual entity;
the spirit cannot assimilate it as it is not of the spirit. The question arises, what must one
do to make this connection? There is but one way: you must work for it. If your interests
are devoted entirely to the physical things of this earth you can not make this connection;
"where the treasure is there is the heart also," is a grain of wisdom given out to the world
by one who had experienced it.
Do you question again, how do you know this is true, with what authority do you
speak? The answer is, we all know certain experiences give us certain results, and if you
have not experimented on such given lines you have no good reason to dispute what to
another has become a reality. Not only should the results following on spiritual lines of
thought, be given out, but it should be held as a sacred duty to the race that this truth be
made known. Another skeptic voice raises the cry: "Ah, but then, every crank may claim
that he has the truth, giving out that his experiences are the particular things that you must
or must not do to be saved." The answer again is "By their fruits ye shall know them.'' The
ring from the bell of truth lives on forever, the echoes of its silvery notes still come to us
adown the ages, while the false, cracked tones vibrate no higher than the physical sphere,
in which they were sounded, and are soon lost or drowned amidst the turbulent uproar of
life's discord.
So man goes on through the long ages from one incarnation to another, acquiring
character; the thoughts, the deeds that the soul has begotten outlive the brain that
conceived them. If these thoughts and deeds were noble, unselfish, or impersonal, the
soul weaves from such experiences the immortal robe of character. Man need not
undertake to become a saint, if he acquire virtue, that indeed will be difficult enough to
attain, even imperfectly.
To do our duty wherever and whatever it is, is to lay the foundation-stone of a truly
great character; for to do our highest duty oftentimes requires the sacrifices of our most
cherished desires. When this is the case, and one nevertheless makes an almost
superhuman effort to do the duty, pain at first ensues; later on, this is abated and finally

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a great peace fills the soul; it is a well-earned bliss born from the sacrificial fires of
suffering. Temptations advance in every shape to ensnare the progressing soul, and what
may seem a trivial thing perhaps upon the lower planes of being becomes crime upon the
spiritual planes. The soul that has entered upon the path of wisdom needs ever to be on
the alert, must ever "watch and pray," as Jesus puts it, which means nothing less than the
need to restrain and guide the lower nature, so only can the connection be made between
the lower man and his higher nature, so only is the son merged into the father.
A man's foes are of his own household again says Jesus; these foes are our
thoughts which work themselves out in time upon the physical plane of being, for a man's
actions are just what his thoughts have been. Here is a potent point where the necessity
for reincarnation must strike the truly scientific mind. The ordinary mind realizes that we
can think far swifter than we can possibly act. In other words, the rapidity of the vibrations
on the mental plane is so far in excess of the possibility of exhausting this force upon the
physical plane that it is thus self-evident that one life-time cannot suffice for the expenditure
of this accumulated force with which the soul is charged, so to speak, and incarnation after
incarnation is required for this conserved energy to become manifest. But to go back, if we
fail in our duty, once we see what that duty is, we not only injure ourselves but some other
soul linked with us, thus do our sins multiply. Our innermost God speaks with no uncertain
meaning, but ever points the way clearly. It often leads up a steep, stony pathway which
the ease- and pleasure-loving feet fear to tread, but courage is the watchword, a heart
loving the right, and a will determined to perform that right shall and must gain the victory
over self.
When we study child nature we must conclude there is something radically wrong
in our civilization. What are the characteristics of childhood before it has become deeply
immersed in matter? The child is truthful; so much so that it often tells what you would
prefer kept secret. It is generous; it will give away everything in the house until you teach
it that it costs money, and you cannot afford it; it is no respecter of persons; it selects its
playmates clothed in velvet or rags; it is trusting, knows no fear, believes every one to be
honest; it is affectionate and loving. This is not because the child is ignorant for it often
puts questions that indicate the philosopher's reasoning: ''Out of the mouth of babes
comes wisdom." It was a child of seven who asked if it was more of a sin to play in the
front of the house than in the back, whose mother told him he must not play ball in the front
but go to the rear. This is a simple illustration how the child's mind is warped as to the right
and wrong. When he has learned to behave himself according to the world's notion he has
generally learned to misbehave most; he has learned to cultivate an outward demeanor
that appears to be all it should be, and this false coin passes current in the conventional
world of ideas as good metal for forming character.
A man, however, is what his most cherished feelings are; if he encourages a noble
generosity, every feeling will be enriched thereby; if he nurses uncharitable thoughts, his
own soul will absorb the poison. If we cultivate the habit of kind and charitable thoughts,
our deeds will correspond thereto, and we will inspire in others the like sentiment that
dwells in our own hearts. Let us make the best use of this incarnation to build that which
shall live. The oaks of the forest may fall, the mountains decay with time, the ocean shrink
and grow full again; even the earth itself may be no more; but our character, if we build
rightly, shall outlive all these.

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THE LAST WORD

by M.J. Barnett

HAVE we the last word on any subject whatever? Mathematics is called an exact
science. We feel that its statements are fixed beyond the possibility of change. Now,
although it may be that however advanced we may become, two and two will never make
anything but four. But do we know how to square the circle? No; and when we attempt
to accomplish it we become lost in a fog of fractions. Yet, the circle may doubtless be
squared somewhere and by some one, it is only that we have not yet attained to it. We
always see farther on than we can reach.
It is easy for a child looking out upon a landscape to believe that there is nothing
beyond the boundary line of his vision; and he is satisfied with it; he looks for nothing
beyond, while he is a child.
Could we enter into the consciousness of a dog, we might perhaps find him perfectly
satisfied with his knowledge of a bone. He can distinguish a bone from any other
substance. He knows how it looks, he knows how it smells, and he knows how it tastes.
He can ferret it out of a heterogeneous mass of rubbish. What more could there be to
know about it? To a scientist, however, such knowledge is mere ignorance, for he can tell
you of the chemical substances of which it is composed. He can classify it and comment
upon its qualities, and he naturally feels that his knowledge is worth having, though in truth
the dog would have the best of it in hunting for a bone among rubbish. Then further on,
may there not be intelligences, looking down from higher planes than the one we habitually
live on, who, in applying nature's forces to matter, preside over the kingdom to which a
bone belongs, and may know just how and why it was called into existence, and possess
a knowledge regarding it that would fill us with wonder and perhaps incredulity.
As much as we live in and delve down into the physical realm of nature now
presented to our material senses, we may rest assured that we have not heard the last
word on even the simplest form of the simplest matter, and does not this seem to testify
that we must have a much longer association with matter in order to gain all knowledge
concerning it. Now, since we well know that our relation to matter is not continuous, that
there is a constant passing away of humanity to another sphere, we may infer that it is
intermittent, that we pass away for a season of rest and then return and go on with our
development, which leads us into further knowledge. We bring back with us all the
potencies of past achievement and all the potentialities for further advance. Each material
season, or physical life, is a season of enfoldment, or evolution.
If evolution means anything, it means that we are constantly unfolding from within
the mysterious recesses of our inner being, certain possibilities always in advance of our
past achievement. It means that, for our humanity, which has not yet on this planet
reached its highest status, the last word on any subject relative to this planet, has not yet
been spoken.
Now, although we may be firmly convinced that growth means change (not change
of truth but change of our view point, and enlargement of our vision) yet, as a lame man
leans upon his crutch, so we, as we go onward, support

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ourselves with the delusion that now, at our present stage we have the last word in our
investigation and can stand on a fixed basis. Doubtless this delusion is a necessity with
some of us, until we become stronger, and, learning that it is a delusion, cheerfully discard
it.
After we seize upon a truth or half truth, it seems necessary for us to pause awhile
in order to digest and assimilate it. And we perhaps can make it all the more a part of
ourselves if for the time being we feel that we have reached the goal in our line of effort,
if we think that now we know it all. We could not work cheerfully if we were conscious that
our efforts were directed toward a great mistake, yet our mistakes are all steps on our way
of advance. Our path of progress towards the light sometimes necessarily leads through
a dark chamber that intervenes on the way, but happily for us we do not realize how dark
it is until we issue forth into greater light, and then we wonder that we were satisfied with
so little. It sometimes seems grievous to us that when we were searching so diligently for
truth, we found error instead, but we may rest assured that when we sincerely search for
truth we shall always gain a little of it even though mixed with much error, and it is only the
error that drops away from us and leaves the grain of truth to be of lasting benefit to us.
We are here to learn to do our life work better and better and we need not expect
to accomplish today that which we can be fitted to do only in the far off future. But we can
always press forward after some high ideal, which we shall find ever advancing as we
advance.
II.
Our highest ideals of the present will become the commonplaces of the future, giving
place to a transcendentalism seemingly unworthy of present consideration. In nothing is
this more true than in what we call brotherhood. We do not yet know what real brotherhood
means, but we are beginning to learn a little about it. The most unselfish deeds of today,
which are yet far short of our present ideals, would have been regarded as quixotic and
sentimental by our people of some fifty years ago. We are growing towards a realizing
sense of Brotherhood, but all too slowly.
France in its well known motto blazons forth in gilded text the words: "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity." Its people shout forth these three magic words until they become
hoarse, and French hearts become kindled with an enthusiasm, easily mistaken for holy
zeal and righteous purpose. Do these emotionally excited people, however, live up to their
grand motto? Does any nation now upon the face of the globe live up to it? We think not.
What would it be for all members of a nation to have liberty, not license, but freedom
to live in harmony with nature's laws and develop every faculty of mind, soul and body, and
employ them for the highest good of all, which would he sure to result in the highest good
for self? What would this be but the perfection of Brotherhood? Do kings, emperors, or
even presidents of republics, bring about such a social condition at the present day? Are
they wise enough, even if so inclined, or would the limiting voice of self-seeking ministry
or senate permit any such broad consideration for a whole nation? But the hindrance is not
wholly in the rulers, it is in all of us who compose the nation, us who make such rulers
possible. Our rulers are typical of ourselves. They are the mass tone of the multitude to
which they belong. We have not yet developed enough, we are not wise enough, or
discriminating enough, or sincere and single-hearted enough, and above all we have not
practiced Brotherhood sufficiently to be fitted for guidance by such unerring divine rulers
as led the pure races of the early golden age. Such have not

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yet risen up among us to become a visible head of our nation, nor will they do so until we
make it possible by purity and loyalty to the divine within us. Loyalty to the highest within
us will result in loyalty to the highest in everything and every individual external to us.
If Jesus were now incarnated among us in all his purity and wisdom, transcending
the purest and wisest of us, would he be universally sought after to rule over and guide us?
Would the seekers after gold, would the monopolists who are trampling on their brothers
for gain to themselves, would the politicians who are clamoring for office, would any of them
vote him into the President's chair? No. They would not approve of his methods. To go
further than this, large masses of the so-called Christian Church would consider his views
too Utopian for our modern civilization, and they would be so in the same way that the
views of a strictly honest man would be too unpractical for a highway robber. It is we who
make it unpractical for us to be led by an unerring guide.
Now, although it may be true that a man is oppressed by unjust legislation, that, as
in some countries, just as he begins to unfold a certain talent he is pressed into a
demoralizing public service, or, as in our own so-called free country, when he is doing his
very best to advance in his line of industry, some monopolizing fiend steps in and destroys
all result of his effort, or, as in myriad other ways, his dominating fellow beings with their
superior power deprive him of freedom to develop in his own way. All this may be true, yet
at the same time he is free on higher planes. He is morally and mentally free. He can think
what he likes and he can strictly obey his own conscience. He can live up to his highest
convictions of right as applied to existing conditions, and if conditions are so bad that it is
difficult for him to do so, it is partly his own fault. He is one of the units that make up the
mass which is moving in a wrong direction. He is one with all his fellow beings and
responsible for the conditions of all with whom he is related in life. Let him set up a counter
force and he will be sure to neutralize some of the badly directed energy, and in time, by
attracting others to his centre he will change the trend of the whole mass. It is thus that all
reforms are worked.
As for equality and fraternity, they are one and the same thing. We consider the
brothers of one family all socially equal, though one may be handsome and another ugly,
one may be a lawyer and another a carpenter, one may be rich and another poor, one may
be upright and another just now in a degraded condition. Can we not enlarge our area and
thus take in the whole human family?
The several tones of a musical chord are all of equal value though one is high and
another is low. One falls upon the ear with more and another with less rapid vibrations, yet
they are equally important to the harmony of the chord as a whole. Monotone is not
harmony, neither is it pleasing if continued for any length of time, in fact it is destructive in
its tendency, as may be exemplified when harping upon one tone of an instrument at length
breaks down a solid piece of masonry. Sameness is not the kind of equality that we want,
nor is it permitted by divine law in our present varying stages of evolution. What we need
is to be perfectly aware of the differences that exist among us as members of one human
family, and yet be able to practice brotherhood, so far as we at present can understand it.
Patriotism is a noble virtue and an immense advance on the method of each one for
himself, but it refers only to our own nation, to a small part of humanity, and is at best only
an extended selfishness. It is true that it takes us on the way to something still

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nobler, and that something nobler should now be our ideal. We have not yet lived up to it,
but we are beginning to do so. The unselfish deeds of today, which are yet so far short of
what we can now conceive of, would have been regarded as quixotic and unpractical by
our race of fifty years ago. We are growing towards a realizing sense of Brotherhood, but
all too slowly. The present time offers us a rare opportunity to extend our limited
brotherliness until it embraces the whole human family. It offers an opportunity to make
every effort tell for the good of all, to recognize the fact that all of our fellow men, however
variously developed or undeveloped, are of equal value in the grand economy of the
Universe, and, whether friend or foe, whether in the front or rear of evolution's army, all are
our brothers and entitled to equal consideration with ourselves.
If we desire freedom for ourselves let us work for the freedom of all, and if some do
not seem ready for it let us help to make them ready. Let the desire for Universal
Brotherhood and Freedom well forth from our hearts in vital currents of force until there is
not one unjustly dominated or oppressed nation to be found on the globe.

------------
 "The will acts through the organs commonly called the five senses, which however
are really one: the faculty of sight.
"Touch like the taste, the hearing, the smell, is an aspect adapted to the changes
in matter which man can seize in its two states - transformed and not transformed.
"All things which through Form, occur in the domain of the only sense - the faculty
of seeing - can be reduced to a few elementary bodies whose principles are in the air, in
light or in the principles of air and light.
"Sound is a modification of the air; all the colors are modifications of air and light;
every perfume is a combination of air and light; so the four expressions of matter related
to man, sound, color, perfume and form have one and the same origin. Thought, which is
connected with light, is expressed by the word which springs from sound. When substance
is absorbed in a sufficient number, it makes man an apparatus of an enormous power
which is in communication with the principle itself of Substance and acts upon organized
nature just as great currents absorb small ones. Volition sets in operation this force
independent of thought, and which by its concentration, obtains some of the properties of
substance, such as the rapidity of light, the penetrating power of electricity, the faculty of
saturating bodies; to all of which properties, we must add intelligence.
"But in man there is a primitive dominating phenomenon which rejects all analysis.
"If man is resolved into principles, we find perhaps the elements of Thought and Will;
but we always find ourselves powerless to solve the problem, - the X against which we
have knocked in vain. This unknown quantity is the Word which burns and consumes
those who are not prepared to receive it. It creates substance forever and ever."

- Balzac, Louis Lambert.

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WHAT ARE WE HERE FOR?

by William Scott

THERE are but three reasons that can be given for our existence here. (1) That the
purpose of our existence is the enjoyment of life. (2) That we were sent here by some one
who had the power, for his glory and pleasure. (3) That we are here for the benefit of the
soul, in order that it may learn the lessons of life by experience and become wiser. There
is a fourth position, but it cannot be called a reason for our existence, viz., that we are here
by chance, which is simply another way of saying that we are here for no purpose at all.
This position damns itself; for if things happened by chance everything would be chaos.
Things would happen one way today and another way tomorrow, and there could be no
certainty of anything. But every change that we know of is the effect of an equal cause.
Never is the effect greater than the cause, nor the cause greater than the effect.
Everything in nature that we know of is governed by this invariable law of cause and effect.
There is nowhere any room for chance, and the hypothesis that we are here by chance
may therefore be cast aside as untenable.
That we are here for the enjoyment of life is equally inadequate as a reason for our
existence, for it is contrary to the facts. If the enjoyment of life is the purpose of our
existence, then many of us have sadly mistaken our calling. To tell them that they are here
for the enjoyment of life would be but a mockery to a vast proportion of humanity, who are
continually beset with the tortures of cruelty, starvation and disease. Even the happiest
existences are constantly threatened by adverse experiences that thwart enjoyment, and
many have no longer stopped with Shakespeare to debate -

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them."

Nor do they, in the language of Burns impatiently long for

. . . . " death! the poor man's dearest friend,

The kindest and the best.
Welcome the hour my weary limbs
Are laid with thee at rest."

But they have decided with Sophokles that -

"Not to be born is of all the best,

But by far the next best is,
If one is born,
To return thither whence he came,
As quickly as possible.''

For in the United States, according to the Bureau of Statistics for 1894, 13,000
people in the short space of 12 months arrived at the conclusion that life was not worth
living, and promptly despatched themselves whence they came without delay. That is,
about one person in every 5000, every year, deliberately prefers suicide rather than endure
the tortures of existence, to say nothing of the numbers who have arrived at the same
conclusion, but have taken no action in the matter. To tell such that they are here for the
enjoyment of life would be the bitterest of irony. The hypothesis that we are here for the
enjoyment of life is therefore contrary to the facts. That we have been sent here by an all-
powerful being for his glory and pleasure is equally incompatible with the existence of all
this misery and suffering if viewed only on the surface; unless we assume that the being
who

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sent us here is a fiend with a morbid desire to witness torture and sorrow, and to ascribe
such propensities and tastes to the beneficent ruler of the Universe smacks of blasphemy.
This theory must also be discarded as untenable and totally inadequate to account for the
facts.
That we are here for the purpose of the Soul; that it may learn the lessons of life by
experience in order that it may become wise is the only reasonable theory of existence that
has yet been given. Christ sounded the keynote when he said, "In the world ye shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The whole secret lies in
overcoming the world, which can only be overcome by overcoming ourselves, that is, to
understand the laws of nature and to cooperate harmoniously therewith. We may break
the laws in trying to understand them and in the breaking there is suffering, but the result
is wisdom.
All nature exists for the purpose of the soul, and for no other purpose. It is without
beginning and has no ending. It is the permanent, conscious, subjective existence which
periodically reclothes itself in objective garments in order that it may gain knowledge by
experience. It constantly alternates between the two states of subjectivity and objectivity.
The states of objectivity are periods of accumulation, and the subjective states are periods
of assimilation. During the objective states it accumulates knowledge by experience, in the
subjective states that knowledge is assimilated and incorporated into its consciousness.
It then becomes instinct, intuition or wisdom. Every new experience adds to the complexity
of the Soul. Life after life it becomes wiser and wiser, rising higher and higher in the scale
of evolution. Aeon after aeon it passes through kingdom after kingdom, rising from infinite
ignorance and ascending to infinite wisdom.
We thus find ourselves in the midst of a series which has neither beginning nor
ending, so that there is neither whence nor whither, for all is an eternal becoming. Before
the soul can leave one kingdom and pass into another it must have learned all that is
possible in the kingdom which it leaves, for until it has reached the highest possible point
of one kingdom it would be utterly unfit to enter the rudiments of the next kingdom above
it.
The whole kosmos is one, just as the human being is one. There is a correlating
consciousness in the human organization which synthesizes the Physical, the Astral, the
Vital, the Sensational, the Psychical, the Mental, and the Spiritual principles into one
harmonious microcosm. That correlating consciousness directs every physical atom to its
proper place in the organism, and whenever there is disorder in any of the parts it
immediately sets to work to restore harmony. In the macrocosm there is a corresponding
synthesizing consciousness which directs every atom in the kosmos to its proper place, and
wherever there is disorder in any of its parts it immediately sets to world to restore order.
All resistance is opposition to the correlating consciousness of the Universe and produces
discord. Whoever produces discord must bring back into harmony the discordant force
which he set into motion.
This is Karma. Christ understood this law when he said, "Resist not evil." Resisting
evil is as much opposition to the synthesizing consciousness of the Universe as the
commission of evil, and brings as much discord; and Karma's demand for harmony is
equally imperative. Indeed all evil is the resistance of evil. This is quite different from
saying that evil should not be heeded. It only means that evil should not he hated. Hate
of every description produces discord.
Only love can produce harmony. The

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Universe is one, hence separateness is a delusion. The most vicious criminal as well as
the saintliest master, is yourself and myself, and we ought to regard the evil act as if
yourself and myself had done it; or as if it had been committed by one who is truly beloved,
and as Shakespeare says -

"Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds."

When one has understood the philosophy of non-resistance he will not feel that the
Universe will go to wrack if he does not assist in catching thieves or in hanging murderers.
Indeed, no one but a murderer can be a hangman, for the very act of hanging is murder.
No one but a thief can catch a thief, for he steals the body of the thief. No one but a fraud
will pursue a fraud. His ethics are in no way different from the ethics of the detective or the
tax collector, for he puts himself forward as the law of purity and justice, which is the worst
kind of fraud. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." This is what Christ meant
when he said, "Let the dead bury their dead." Let the crooked attend to the crooked, you
walk in the straight path. Let the discordant be discordant, for discord is separation and
death, you dwell in harmony with the eternal principal of the Universe, which is love, and
it is only through love that discord and hate can be overcome and harmony, peace, and joy
can be established. This is how Christ overcame the world.
It seems hard lines to have to turn the other cheek to the smiter, but nothing is more
certain than that it is eminently practical if we had but fortitude and courage to do it. But,
what is more to the point, nothing is more certain than that we shall have to learn to do it
before we can get away from here, or before we can get out of the cycle of rebirth; for
every time that we hit back we set a discordant force in motion which we shall have to
harmonize. We must give life for life, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, and we must get blow
for blow and slander for slander whether it was done in self-defense or in any other
defense. We must give measure for measure and service for service, we must pay the
exact price for everything that we get. Nothing can be had for nothing.
The Universe is one and we can only be harmonious when we live in harmony with
the whole universe. There is no other way to escape evil. When we resist evil we perform
evil, for it is to produce discord with a part while endeavoring to maintain harmony with the
rest. It is to divide the universe into two warring factions. And we are here, not only to live
in harmony with all, but to live for all.
It is said that the beings above the human Kingdom are, in a measure, the
correlating consciousness of the Kosmos, that is, they take part in the formation and
maintenance of solar systems. How incompatible is the idea of discord or partiality with the
nature of such beings. To associate hate or jealousy with them would be the very climax
of absurdity. They not only understand the laws of harmony but they have become
harmony itself. They have not only learned how to live for all but they have become all.
This is what we are here for, - to learn to become planetary spirits; and before we can
become such we must get rid of discord and become harmony. Deep seated in the heart
of man is the conviction that love and mercy are facts lying very close to spirit and should
be the law; that 'compassion is the law of laws,' and that the universe rests on -

"A love so limitless, deep and broad,

That men have renamed it
and called it 'God.'"
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STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"What is the theosophical idea of the continuation of the life of a child who dies?
Does it reincarnate as a child-soul in another life?"
This question, an answer to which was given in last issue, recalls the discussion
raised by Mr. C. C. Massey and others when the doctrine of reincarnation began to be
taught in the pages of the Theosophist. The first distinct teaching of this tenet by H. P.
Blavatsky is probably on page 3 of Vol. I of that magazine, in the number for October, 1879,
where she writes:
"Theosophy believes also in the Anastasis or continued existence, and in
transmigration (evolution) or a series of changes in the soul, which can be defended and
explained on strict philosophical principles; and only by making a distinction between
Paramatma (transcendental, supreme soul) and Jivatma (animal or conscious soul) of the
Vedantins."
This was followed by other articles, in which reincarnation of the individuality was
explained and enforced. The distinction between Paramatma and Jivatma - the
individuality and the personality - the immortal spirit and the astral monad - was, however,
overlooked by some readers; and it was insisted that the teaching in Isis Unveiled was
contradicted by these later writings. The crucial text in Isis is in Vol. I, p. 351, and is as
follows:
"Reincarnation, i.e., the appearance of the same individual, or rather of his astral
monad, twice on the same planet [in the same cycle - see below], is not a rule in nature;
it is an exception.... Thus, in cases of infants dying before a certain age.... the immortal
spirit and astral monad must try a second time to carry out the purpose of the creative
intelligence."
This is said by H. P. B. in the Theosophist for August, 1882 - Vol. III, p. 288 - to
contain an error in printing "planet" where "cycle" was meant. The French Spiritists, under
the lead of Allan Kardec, were teaching the immediate reincarnation of the personality
before Isis Unveiled was written; and what is said in that work refers to that kind of
reincarnation. It almost seems, in the light of subsequent events, that the "mistake" was
necessary, in order to bring out and emphasize the distinction between the true doctrine
and the erroneous teaching of the Spiritists. Further explanations may be found in Lucifer,
Vol. III, p. 527; The Path, Vol. I, p. 232; Key to Theosophy, p. 191; and Theosophical
Forum, first series, question 182 (No. 37, July, 1892), question 203 (No. 40, October,
1892), and question 259 (No. 52, October, 1893). The first quotation above, from the first
number of the Theosophist, is in an article headed "What is Theosophy?" which is reprinted
in Five Years of Theosophy, p. 497 of first edition.
From this it appears that while as a general rule the personality never reincarnates,
still there are exceptions, one of which is the case of a child dying in infancy. Not that all
children who die are immediately reincarnated, but that some are. It depends on whether
"the reason has been so far developed as to become active and discriminative"; see Isis
I, 351. A child-soul (personality) may reincarnate at once; and there are instances where
it seems to have returned to the same parents. - G. A. Marshale

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"Is suffering essential to evolution?"

I believe not. I believe evolution to be eternal; suffering temporary. But is this
temporary suffering an unavoidable condition? Or is it abnormal - out of place?
As compared to the highest, that which is high may appear low. As compared to the
lowest, that which is low may seem high. Passing from a temperature of one hundred and
sixty degrees to that of one hundred and thirty, one may experience a feeling of coldness.
Going from sixty to eighty may give an impression of warmth. If one is not in a supreme
condition, by contrast, it may seem to be unhappiness. If one is in utter misery and
reaches a less miserable condition, it may give them the sensation of happiness. In
evolution there must be contrasts - so, in one sense of the word, there must be misery.
Now let us pass to the current acceptation of words. A large part of time suffering
in the world is due to crime. Is this crime necessary? Think of it! Murder, rape, theft,
cheating, unbridled lust; not to speak of the subtler - perhaps more dangerous - villainies.
If progress is not possible without this crime, then the concurrent misery is unavoidable.
But, if the progress can take place without the crime, then, also, it can go on without the
misery. Have we not learned enough? Have we not suffered enough? Is it not time that
we ceased to follow the hard and cruel way? - H. T. P.
-------

Evolution is an unfolding, it is the growth of the essence that is the heart of all that
exists, the coming forth from the centre. Ought there be suffering with such; should any
growth, any progress be painful? I do not think so. Ideal growth is gradual, slow and
gentle. What makes it otherwise? Obstacles on the outside? Yes; also hardness of the
covering.
If we look to Nature for an answer she will show us both easy growth and stormy.
Some of her fruits grow gently from the flower, a gradual unfolding and fruition, others
cover themselves with many burrs requiring a heavy frost to shake and crack them. If we
watch the two kinds in their season, and day after day, we shall mark the growth of beauty
in the one fruit, the touch of color, the mellowing as it ripens; while in the other time brings
hardening, a coating rough, thorny or unpleasant until at last in all impatience Nature will
send her frost, and were we there we could hear an ominous cracking among the tree-tops.
So it is in human evolution. If we work with Nature; let her deal with us as she will,
and she will gradually, gently mold us into her serener moods and our very growth will be
unconscious to us. Instead of that, by resisting her, by substituting what we wish to be our
nature and what we think should be our growth, and we then find the fight grow harder and
the obstacles greater. Oftentimes what we term Nature is not so, but a false image we
have made that is distasteful to us and that gives us pain and troubles, requiring more than
one hard frost of hardship and privation to knock it down and crack it open. - E. D.

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YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE SQUIRRELS AT HOME

by Alexander Wilder, M. D.

IT was my fortune to spend the summer of 1897 at the home of a friend in a Western
college town. Among so many homesteads, thickly surrounded by trees, extending from
College Hill to the middle of the town, it is not wonderful that many creatures that usually
live in the woodland came and lived near the houses. In the country around there are not
many trees where they may build their nests and forage for their families, so they have
forsaken savage for civilized life.
High up in a tall maple at the southwestern corner of the house was a little hutch
tenanted by a mother squirrel of decided points of character. When I first came there, at
the beginning of June, she was about to turn a family of young ones, four in number, out
into the world to shift for themselves. I soon learned to watch her. She was very clever in
foraging for supplies. I am sure she never used any such word as yours, but only mine,
and was very greedy.
More than once, later in the year, I saw her bring home ears of corn taken from the
fields a goodly distance away, and they were nearly always well "shucked," with very few
husks left, by the time she brought them to her nest. She would dismantle a sunflower for
her young ones, leaving it looking most dismal, and like the naughty boy that we used to
read about in the spelling book, she was often found in the apple-tree stealing apples.
One afternoon in June I watched with much interest her encounter with a wren. A
pair of these little birds had made a nest near the porch at the back of the house and were
busily engaged in rearing their young and in pecking the many, many little insects that
infested the shrubbery. It was hot, and I was sitting on the back porch, when along came
the half-tame old mother bunny, looking for whatever she might find in the way of forage.
She had just passed by me when the parent wren, hardly bigger than a humming bird,
attacked her with a desperate fierceness. The squirrel seemed at an utter loss how to
defend herself. A single bite would have killed the little wren, but she had not the wit to give
it. She tried to run away, but every attempt was made fruitless by the incessant attack.
She ran up a little tree that stood near by, but that seemed only to expose her more
completely. The furious bird drove her back to the ground. She didn't know what to do.
At last she managed to make her way to the gate at the eastern side of the house and
escape. The victorious wren came back to her nest to make sure that all was safe. A few
days later a party of little wrens came out of the nest and flew away. I saw them no more.
The juvenile squirrels seemed to live a real holiday life. Day by day, morning and
evening we used to feed the little family. It was an entertaining sight to see the little rogues
ask without speaking. There were three of us and we used to take our chairs under the
chestnut tree. The squirrels were sure to know when we were there and would quickly
come as near to us as in their half-tame condition they had courage. Then standing up on
their hind legs they waited in mute appeal. We would throw

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to them broken pieces of bread and they would run forward to get them and then retreat
to a safe distance to eat. This performance would be kept up till their hunger was satisfied.
Then they would run about and play, hopping from tree to tree, never losing their foot-hold
or missing a branch.
Often when we fed them they showed great greediness or perhaps it was
forethought. Not wishing to eat the morsel at the time, the little animals would go away to
find a safe hiding place, and would bury it there, carefully scratching over the spot to make
it look like the surface around as though no treasure were hidden there.
In the autumn they used to hide chestnuts and other nuts in this way, and
sometimes they would forget all about them and the nuts would sprout and grow up into
trees.
One of these squirrels afforded us much amusement by his lively spirits and his
originality. We called him the "acrobat." He gave us many performances on his own
account, capering, see-sawing, turning somersaults and making a great variety of other
curious movements. Not another of the group equaled him in these topsy exhibitions.
Our entertainments, however, were for a time interrupted. One hot afternoon the
mother squirrel gave her attention to the expelling of the youngsters from the parental
hutch. Suddenly there was a great commotion in the branches. The young squirrels were
chased from tree to tree, and from bough to bough, without any time to rest. One by one
each of them was hurled from some high limb to the ground, and was so stunned as to be
unable to move; presently, however, recovering sufficiently to get up and wander away.
One of them made an attempt before the overthrow to get to the hutch, but met such a
reception from the old Bunny as never to try it again.
For many days we missed our little pets and half thought that in animal style they
had stolen away to die. One by one, however, after some days, they appeared again and
in due time they all came to their meals as before. But they were far less gay, our acrobat
was long in recovering his former reckless vivacity. They were all more staid and serious.
One day a tiny baby squirrel showed itself at the entrance of the hutch and soon
afterwards another and another. There were three of them and they ran up over the roof
of their house. They were not long learning to engage our attention. At first they were very
timid, but their mother was a good teacher and soon had them coming to the ground for
their rations. The chestnuts were now formed and she would pull them from the trees even
while green and milky, then take them out of the burrs and feed them to the little ones.
We were often much amused to witness an obtrusive pair of jays watching their
opportunity to share in the repast. They were bold, expert and entirely unscrupulous.
Again and again, when one of the squirrels was stupid and didn't see his morsel of bread,
a jay, quick-eyed, would pounce upon it and fly to a safe distance to eat it - then come back
again to repeat the theft. The astonishment displayed by the out-witted squirrel on these
occasions was ludicrous. The jays were saucy and very quick and impudent.
Later in the summer a pair of woodpeckers came. Their nest was on the grounds
of a neighbor, but they would come to us to be fed. The red-capped father bird would
fasten himself on a tree, watching a chance to seize a piece of bread and hurry home.
Once or twice he came into collision with a squirrel but not much harm was done on either
side. After two weeks he brought some young woodpeckers to the place. They were at
first very awkward at flying and stupid at feeding. The parent birds

--- 398
had to teach them, and it was by no means an easy task to show them how to pick up a
crumb. But they finally succeeded, and the fledglings learned to come and call for their
crumbs quite regularly. They would scream to attract our attention as if they thought it was
our duty to supply their wants and feed them.
One Sunday afternoon we found the father bird dead under the chestnut tree. How
he came to his end we never learned. It may have been in battle, it may have been from
a school-boy's missile. Even in death he looked gorgeous as when alive, his red cap was
splendid. We picked up his little body and buried it.
October had begun to cast the leaves when I left the west and so I had to say
goodbye to the squirrels and birds. But I hear they are still at their pranks, and perhaps I
shall some day see them again.

--------------

THE PILGRIM AND THE GREAT BEAST

by Heman C. Cooke

Once upon a time (all good stories begin that way) in the land of Maya, a weary
Pilgrim was wending his way along a lonely road toward a wished-for goal. He plodded on
for many long leagues with his head bowed in meditation. Suddenly he looked up. The
road ran between two very high and precipitous hills. And in this pass, sitting upon its
haunches, was an animal of fabulous dimensions. It was of such enormous size, that it
completely closed up the way.
The Pilgrim was in dismay. He knew the country was infested with these creatures,
and in fact he had caught glimpses of them at a distance, but had never been so close to
one of them before. He had heard, also, that one of their peculiar habits was to thus
obstruct the paths of lonely travelers.
The Pilgrim cautiously crossed and recrossed the road in the hope of being able to
get around the great brute, but without avail. He stooped and looked to see if he could not,
unobserved, crawl through under the enormous body; but there was no room whatever.
He looked up at the mountain-like shoulders that towered far above him. He had no
ladders with which to scale them, even had he dared to.
Then the Pilgrim expostulated and argued long and eloquently that he might be
permitted to pass on his way. But unmoved the beast gazed at him in silence. In his great
desire the Pilgrim flung himself upon his face in the dust, and long and earnestly prayed
to the great beast to permit him to pass.
But no answer came from the monster; neither did he move. He only stared at the
Pilgrim with a stony, sphinx-like gaze, as he had done from the first.
"Alas," said the Pilgrim, arising, I erred in prostrating myself before this unfeeling
beast. Entreaties and prayers are useless. My goal lies yonder; I cannot abide here; I will
not turn back. Better, a thousand times better to nobly perish while pressing forward. I will
persistently strive toward my desired goal, and fling my frail form against this gigantic
beast, though he be bigger than the hills on either side."
Then the Pilgrim seized his staff and with high resolve and undaunted will strode
forward - right at the beast, whose name was Doubt.
 But, O wonder of all wonders! He met with no resistence whatever, but walked
directly through the great beast as he would through any other shadow.

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--- 399

THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES

BROTHERHOOD HOSPITAL AT MONTAUK, LONG ISLAND, N. Y.

IT is hardly six weeks ago that our Leader sent out the War Relief Call to all
members of the International Brotherhood League and formed the War Relief Corps. But
the history of those few weeks will stand out in flaming letters in the records of
Brotherhood, of the Society, and of the Century. It was another Crusade, another re-telling
and re-living of true Brotherhood, reaching the hearts of thousands of our soldier boys and
awakening in them an answer that will echo all through the land.
From all over the country came the response to the Call, and nearly every local I.
B. L. organization has aided in this noble work. In a very few days after the call had been
sent out supplies began to come in and the Aryan Hall at the Headquarters, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York, was soon transformed into a receiving, packing and shipping office.
It would be impossible in these columns to give a full report of the work done by our
Leader and her War Relief Corps at Montauk, L.I.; for details the reader is referred to The
New Century, published weekly at this address. All that we can do here is to give a general
account, with a few of the many interesting incidents that occurred at the Camp.
On August 19 and 21 visits were made to the Camp at Montauk to make preliminary
arrangements and to see what was most urgently needed. On August 23d Dr. Coryn, K.
Lundberg, B. Harding and an assistant, Wm. McCormack, went as an advance party to
pitch camp, taking with them a very large tent, medical and general supplies for immediate
use. On the next day our Leader, accompanied by Mrs. Mayer and F. M. Pierce, went and
were almost immediately followed by Miss M. S. Lloyd, Miss I. Morris, of Brooklyn, and Dr.
W. H. Dower, of Syracuse. Tents and supplies were taken and placed on the ground
before permission was obtained for a site for the camp. When all was ready to put up the
tents permission was readily obtained from Major Beach, of General Wheeler's staff. The
tents were pitched on the road leading to the main camp from the railroad station, and near
a branch of the road leading to another part of the camp. As it afterwards proved, no better
site could have been chosen for the work that was to be done. It was about 300 yards from
the railroad station, and nearly all the troops as they came into or left camp had to pass our
tents. It was a march of from one to three miles from the station to the various divisions of
the camp - not a long march for strong, vigorous men, but almost interminable to the worn-
out, exhausted soldier boys who had come in those deadly transports from Cuba or by rail
from Tampa and other camps in the South - too long a march for some who, though eager
to keep up with their comrades, were forced to fall out of line or would fall prostrate in the
road. These our workers would rush out to help, bringing them into the tents and giving
them nourishing food or medicine when needed. To hundreds of such boys the
International Brotherhood League tents have proved a blessed resting place. Many of
them were utterly unable to proceed further, and would be carried by our people to the
hospital tent and kept there to be nursed back to life and strength. These and several sick
sol-

--- 400

diers sent down from the camp and some brought up from the trains soon filled the hospital
beds. And all day long boys would come, singly, or in twos and threes, to see the doctor
or for aid. Many a time one who had been given medicine by the doctor would come back
next day with a sick comrade to be treated also, and so the news of the International
Brotherhood League spread through the whole camp. Truly our little cluster of tents was
an oasis, a haven of rest, like a home to the boys we took care of.
A day's programme would be somewhat as follows: Naturally all rose early; even
those who had been on watch-duty all night could not fail to be stimulated into new life by
the glorious early morning air. We had seven tents, and the doors of all these were
flapping open in the fresh breeze by six o'clock. Then followed an hour or two's work
before breakfast, the washing and feeding of the patients administered with a little chat with
each. Usually Mrs. Tingley herself made an early morning visit to them all, and left every
one with a smiling face, much the better for her cheerful visit. Then came breakfast (a
great institution!) usually, for the workers, bread, often without butter, and coffee, and after
that the soldiers from the last transport from Cuba would begin to be passing our tents, or
a number on furlough would march past from the camp to the depot. Many of these,
whether coming from Cuba or leaving camp, would be actually ill; others deadly tired and
worn. All these the workers quickly learned to mark. Some were brought in, perhaps to
stay the day or a few days. To others iced lemonade, milk, cocoa, beef-tea, or other
suitable refreshment and restorative, was brought. This, with the cleaning and freshening
of the tents, the attention to the needs of the sick, the medical visits, and the invalid
cooking, made up the morning. One or two were detailed through the hours of the day to
drive about the camp in a two-horse conveyance which was exclusively devoted to the free
transport of those soldiers who were too weak or ill to walk from the camp to the depot, or
vice versa, and to picking up those who fell exhausted by the way. It had on both sides the
title of our organization "International Brotherhood League," and became widely known in
a few days throughout the whole camp and at the depot. By the afternoon the rough work
had been done, and the workers were free for lighter occupations, chatting with and reading
to the sick, making the tents more comfortable, communicating with the military and naval
authorities, writing out reports of cases and letters to the relatives of the sick, etc., etc. The
tents were closed early in the evening, and after the sick had been finally attended to and
those who could, had dropped asleep - some were delirious and could not sleep - a
watcher for each occupied tent took up his place, and for an hour before bedtime, the rest
with Mrs. Tingley gathered about one of the large open camp-fires which we lit at night, and
had a great talk on all things in earth and heavens. It was necessary to maintain a sick-
watch all night, and we took spells of two hours each. It was a little trying to be waked up
for this purpose, but one had one's reward. Looking out from the tent into the night, one
heard everywhere the hum of the night insects and the wash of the waves; whilst now and
then a voice from one of the boats in the offing lying clear-cut in the moonlight, sounded
musically across the hills. From the hilltops the camp lay out under the stars, thousands
of white tents, some faintly lit from within, some only reflecting the moonlight; between
them the occasionally visible dark figures of the sentries. All this, the silence, the peace,
the hum of insects, the white sheen on the water, the perfect sky, the dotted tents, the
peculiar sense of myriad

--- 401

sleeping life, made the two hours' vigil an experience never to be forgotten. To this must
be added the indefinable something that gathers about a place where the practice of
Brotherhood is real and constant; where the harmony of the workers is complete; and
where the relief of suffering is a manifest and continual outcome of all the work done. Truly
the atmosphere of this little International Brotherhood League Camp was unique, and to
breathe it became an education to every one of those whose privilege it was to share in this
great work.
The workers learned much during their stay, not only of men, but of the history and
management of the war. They made a practice of having a short and friendly chat with
every soldier who presented himself at the tent doors, and thus fully availed themselves of
a unique opportunity.
As was to be expected there were many difficulties to be overcome and also
considerable opposition from some quarters, but in all cases our Leader's watchful care
and wise forethought brought success along all lines. One great difficulty was in getting
supplies from New York. Although but five hours' distant from the city, in some cases
supplies sent by express did not reach the camp for a week. Each of the workers had his
or her own work to do. Dr. Dower, of Syracuse, was the physician in charge. He made a
great sacrifice to come, but responded immediately to our Leader's call and left his practice
in Syracuse. Dr. Herbert Coryn, who only a few weeks ago had arrived from England, was
Dr. Dower's chief assistant. He was at the camp from first to last and was our Leader's
right hand man, rendering invaluable aid, working night and day. Mrs. Mayer was at the
camp a great part of the time and helped in the nursing. Miss M. S. Lloyd worked early and
late nursing the sick and preparing nourishment and delicacies for them, never thinking of
herself but always of others, and often not getting time to eat. As our Leader said, "She
was a typical Sister of Compassion," and then at night she would be always ready to write
letters for our Leader on the typewriter, or help in other ways. Miss Isabel Morris, of
Brooklyn, soon endeared herself to the sick boys by her gentleness and good nursing, and
her constant watchfulness and care. Burcham Harding's work was to attend to the
commissary department and to look after supplies, transportation, etc. Kurt Lundberg lately
arrived in this country from Sweden was at the camp all the time, helping in a thousand and
one ways, in nursing or putting up tents or doing special work. He was our Leader's special
Courier to General Wheeler and other officials. The name of General Wheeler was almost
hourly brought up by the workers with expressions of gratitude for the recognition he had
given to our work and the aid he had rendered. It seemed as though K. Lundberg and Dr.
Coryn had come over just in time. They both found places which needed them. Thomas
F. Seele from Boston responded immediately to our Leader's call. He is a great worker and
never seemed to tire though he had the strain of night nursing one of the most serious
cases, in fact the only patient who died in the I. B. hospital. He also attended to the laundry
work. Another indefatigable and brave worker and who filled the important part of chief of
the kitchen, was William McCormack, an assistant from E. 14th St. Mission, New York.
Some time ago help had been given him at the Mission and though it might have seemed
doubtful that he had been benefitted permanently, yet the Camp life showed that it only
needed the opportunity to bring out his sterling qualities.
F. M. Pierce and H. T. Patterson, members of the General Committee of the
International Brotherhood League, divided their time between their duties

--- 402

in the city and work in camp, working untiringly and as always helping our Leader to carry
out her plans. Miss Bailey and Miss B. Ljung, both from Boston, came to camp when there
was a great strain on all the workers and rendered invaluable assistance. George D.
Ayers, of Boston, also came when there was a great strain on all the workers and gave
great help in many ways, doing important work for our Leader in seeing various officers,
etc. Others who came for three or four days and helped in the nursing or in the thousand
other things that needed attention were R. Crosbie, of Boston; W. A. Stevens, of Buffalo;
and R. Leslie, J. H. Fussell, and S. F. Hecht, who paid flying visits from Headquarters.
From beginning to end the work was planned and inspired by our Leader. The most
active and indefatigable of all, always seeking to help others, she inspires in all the same
desire to help. We cannot yet tell how wide and far reaching will be the results of the work
at the Brotherhood Camp, at Montauk, but they will send a message of Brotherhood
throughout the land. Our Leader took the greatest care of the helpers and workers in camp
so that all kept in excellent health though naturally all felt the strain and experienced great
fatigue.
Although the centre of activity was at the camp at Montauk it would have been
impossible to carry on this work had not the ready response come to the War Relief Call
from all the local I. B. L. organizations all over the country. The New York Headquarters
at 144 Madison Ave. was a busy scene during all this time. The cases sent by our
unselfish and loyal workers from the various I. B. L. local organizations had to be unpacked
and the articles needed for immediate use repacked and sent off to camp, the other articles
for later use among the refugees in Cuba or Manila had also to be packed separately to be
kept until needed. At this work Mrs. A. Deen Hunt was kept busy from morning till night
assisted by J. H. Fussell, Mrs. Kramer, Mrs. Freeman, S. F. Hecht, Miss Bernstein, Dr.
Emma Wilcox and Dr. Rose Winkler.
A general report of the work at the Brotherhood Camp has been sent by our Leader
by special messenger, who also goes in connection with future work, to President McKinley
and is given below, showing how enormous a work has been done.
-----------

New York, Sept. 15, 1898

REPORT ON RELIEF
- Afforded at the International Brotherhood League Hospital, Camp Wikoff, Montauk,
Long Island, to the soldiers of the various regiments there encamped.
This Hospital, consisting of seven tents, was erected on August 23d, and removed
to its new location in New York on September 13th, having thus been in operation for three
weeks. The whole work of erection and removal, all the nursing, cooking and medical work,
were done entirely gratuitously by members of the League, several of whom volunteered
their services, as physicians, others as nurses (some lay, some professional) and still
others as workers in various other departments of activity.
We acknowledge with pleasure the almost uniform courtesy and aid extended to us
by the officials of the army. In particular, our most grateful thanks are due to General
Wheeler and his staff, whose interest in the work was untiring and without whose aid we
could only with the greatest difficulty have surmounted the many obstacles that were in part
incidental to the situation, and in part placed in our way. We have further to extend our
special thanks to Assistant Adjutant-General McClelland of General Shafter's Staff, to
Quartermaster Major Knight, and to Major Duval of the Commissariat department. But on
almost all hands our

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work was recognized as of immense value to the welfare of the army, and as filling a gap
which would otherwise have been painfully unoccupied.
This work consisted of several important branches of activity.
(1) The giving of rest and nourishing food to exhausted soldiers. Many, just
convalescent or thought to be so, leaving camp on furloughs and on their way for the depot
(in some cases a walk of 2 miles) were, by the time they had reached our Hospital, utterly
exhausted under the hot sun over the rough sandy roads, and, but for the rest and
refreshment which we were able to give them, would certainly have either fainted by the
time they reached the depot, or would have become too ill, on their arrival in New York, to
proceed to their destination. Some of them stayed with us a few days, some longer.
Our workers were many times sent to the depot at midnight, provided with food and
restoratives, for the succor of soldiers arriving by late trains, and left behind too weak to go
on, and so having to remain all night at the depot. Many of these were brought back and
housed as accommodation permitted.
Others again, landing from Cuba at the wharf opposite the depot, exhausted by the
terrible privations of the ten days' sea journey following upon the arduous and deadly stay
in the Cuban climate and the labors incident to the management of the war, were required
to walk from the landing place up the hills to the camp. Many of these dropped from
exhaustion on the road near our Hospital, and to these we extended the same aid and
shelter as in the former case. For all of such needs, wine, milk, fluid meats, etc., etc., were
invariably kept ready for instant use.
(2) The second division of our work lay in giving dispensary medical assistance to
all who applied for it, combined or not, as necessary, with rest and food.
Thousands of the soldiers there encamped, tainted with the malarial and other fevers
incidental to the climate they had left, to the privations of their stay there and the journey
home, though ill enough to enter the already overcrowded general hospitals, yet dreading
to do so, came to us for medical treatment. This and medicines were provided for many
hundreds.
(3) We soon found that many of those who collapsed near our hospital were very ill
and in a few hours manifested definite disease - dysentery, some form of fever, etc., etc.
These, of course, we retained as indoor patients. They received the most careful feeding,
nursing, and medical assistance; they were kept cheerful, prevented as far as was possible
from dwelling upon their memories of the horrors and privations from which they had
suffered; and finally, save in one case (the solitary death that occurred in our hospital)
brought through to such health and strength as might enable them to return to their
regiments (the effort made to do this in the face of real illness was often heroic), to go to
their homes, or to be shipped to other hospitals of the International Brotherhood League,
that their places might be filled by more urgent cases. It was a curious coincidence, that
of these patients a considerable number belonged to the "8th Ohio," the regiment known
as "McKinley's Own."
(4) A certain number of surgical cases were also attended to. These comprised
injuries casually received on the road; some due to wagon collisions; ivy-poisoning in
Cuba, and other injuries to the feet.

AS TO NUMBERS.
We had first to last about 60 patients dangerously ill, whom we cared for in hospital
tents. From these and from the general hospital we sent about 75 to two other hospitals
of the International Brotherhood League. We extended outdoor relief, help, food, rest, and
medicines, to about 9000 soldiers.

--- 404

In transporting soldiers, not only from our own tents, but from the general hospital
to other of the League hospitals, and in particular to that at Bridgeport, we helped the
congestion at the general hospital.
It should be added, that for soldiers too weak to walk we maintained a carriage
constantly in operation. This was kept at work partly in transporting soldiers from the depot
to the camp, and vice versa partly in picking up and taking to their destination soldiers
found exhausted on the road; partly in carrying literature, restoratives, etc., to places
where they were needed; and partly for the use of our own messengers in the discharge
of their duty.
Although treated with scant courtesy in attempting this work by one or two officials
holding authoritative posts on the medical staff, we received, throughout, the most kindly
and cordial aid from General Wheeler in command of the camp.
In conclusion we may venture to hope that our labors have really done something
to lessen the misery, the starvation, and the disease which the war has entailed upon so
many thousands of our comrades in the army.

(Signed) Katherine A. Tingley, President

---------

On Sept. 6th some of the patients in the I. B. L. camp were taken to Bridgeport
together with about 45 sick soldiers whom General Wheeler sent from the general camp.
The following accounts are taken from the New Century:

BROTHERHOOD CAMP

Montauk, L.I., Sept. 5, 1898

 The International Brotherhood League of Bridgeport, Conn., in response to a call for
help from our Leader, set to work at once and in a short time transformed their League
Headquarters into a hospital with accommodations for twenty-six. The appointments and
comforts could not be excelled. Mayor Taylor of Bridgeport secured from the transportation
company a transport with accommodations for carrying seventy-six patients to Bridgeport
to be placed in the Brotherhood Hospital, which is under the auspices of the International
Brotherhood League, and in the City Hospital.
Mayor Taylor wired Mrs. Tingley that he would send the transport on a twenty-four
hours' notice, if she could arrange to have the soldiers ready. She at once communicated
with General Wheeler, who agreed to send forty-five sick and invalid soldiers. In addition
to these, others will he sent from the Brotherhood Hospital, which Mrs. Tingley has charge
of, to complete the number. Mayor Taylor was notified to this effect and at the time of
writing this the transport is tied up to the floating dock, where she arrived this morning, and
an ambulance is passing full of soldiers to be placed on board.
The transport "City of Bridgeport," is commodious and airy and was fitted out by the
Bridgeport I. B. L. with new cot-beds, mattresses and bedding, together with medical and
sanitary appliances for the sick. Mrs. Tingley begged Mayor Taylor to take charge of the
transport and she with one of the Sisters of Compassion, Margaret Lloyd, will accompany
them. The boat will leave at noon Tuesday.
---------

Sept. 7, 1898.
While deaths have been so frequent everywhere in the camps and hospitals, it has
been the lot of those who fell under our good Leader's care, even when taken in in a state
of collapse, to recover. But one death has occurred among those of our boys whom she
has succored. The soldiers were placed on the I. B. L. transport for Bridgeport, and those
who had been under Mrs. Tingley's care begged and pleaded with her not to forsake them.
It is needless to say that she protected them and placed them safely in

--- 405

the I. B. L. Brotherhood Hospital, at Bridgeport, and after nursing one of the most serious
cases most of the night, she made a rush visit to New York, summoned her helpers to meet
her at the station that no time might be lost, and within an hour was on her way again to
Montauk.
-------
Among the patients taken to Bridgeport was Sergeant James Faircloth. Word was
sent down by one of the officers of his regiment that he was seriously ill in his tent. He was
visited by one of the Sisters of Compassion and was brought to the International
Brotherhood League tent to be nursed, and later on was taken to Bridgeport. When the
International Brotherhood transport arrived at Bridgeport and he reached the I. B. L.
hospital he saw a picture of our Leader over one of the beds. He was one of her special
proteges and missed her, as she was not in the hospital at the time. But as soon as he
saw her portrait he said: "Put me in the bed under that picture and then I know I shall get
well." Though having seen her but a few times he had felt the influence of her presence
and had learned to appreciate her work. This touching little incident is but one of many
giving evidence of the trust and hope which our Leader inspired in the hearts of the soldier
boys. She had given little purple souvenirs to all the boys in the I. B. L. Camp and when
they changed their clothing at the Bridgeport I. B. L. Hospital these were inadvertently
taken away. The boys almost too sick to speak called out for them and wanted to have
them with them, for they heard that our Leader was going to say Good-bye, and they
wanted to keep the little souvenirs in memory of her.
On one of the first days in camp Chas. A. Hawk of 16th Infantry, Indianapolis, Ind.,
who had just obtained his furlough was coming down over the hill full of glee at the thought
of going home and seeing his mother as he afterwards told us. But when near our camp
he was seen to stagger, then he sat down to get breath, one of our workers rushed out to
help him and brought him into the tent. He proved to be too ill to proceed on his journey
so we took care of him in our hospital. Several times he became delirious and would live
over again all his awful experiences of the campaign in Cuba, in the trenches before
Santiago. He would sit up in bed and cry out against the Spaniards and call out with
bitterness against the Cubans for failing to help, then falling back exhausted, forgetting all
and crying out only Mother, Mother, Mother. One night there was a severe storm, many
tents in the military camp were blown down; our own tent was threatened and rain came
down in torrents. Our Leader, Mrs. Mayer and Dr. Coryn had all they could do to keep him
from getting wet, holding canvas over his cot, the only light was one candle, and it seemed
as though Hawk was dying. It was a terrible experience, but next morning he improved and
began to gain strength and has since been able to return home. Out of all those whom we
cared for only one died, Dr. Guy Kosht of the 8th Ohio. When he was brought to the
hospital his case was so serious that he was placed in a separate tent that he might have
special care and not disturb the other patients with his delirium. Two special nurses were
provided, but all our care could not keep him alive, he died just as his regiment which had
broken camp were marching down the hill to the station to take train for Ohio.
The boys often asked for things they would like and these would be given them if in
accordance with their treatment. Sometimes, however, we would not have what they asked
for and apparently no chance of getting it: but it several times happened that next day - the
very things came which they had asked for.

--- 406

Indeed our tents were just like a home to the boys and they would ask about the
International Brotherhood League and the work we were doing. They seemed charmed
with the idea of Brotherhood which we gave them and as they got better and able to get
about, wanted to help also and would go out to tell others of our work and bring in those
who needed help. They were brave boys, all of them, noble heroes!
There were no real impositions - and only one case that at all looked like one or
where there was the slightest doubt. This man applied for help at 2 o'clock in the morning,
standing outside the tent and calling out: "Strangers! Help!" Some did not want to take him
in, feeling a little suspicious of his appearance and peculiar manner. But our Leader said,
take him in. So he was given a night's rest but in the morning he disappeared. If he came
with any evil intent, he was disarmed by his reception and kind treatment.
At one time some people commented on our Leader's getting the feel of things, but
certainly true it is that she got at the hearts of the boys and gave hope and courage to them
all.
All the work that has been done and which has been helped by our members all over
the country brings the thought: suppose the members instead of responding heartily and
immediately, suppose they had stopped to quibble as to whether it was the right time for
this work or the right way to set about it, many a poor soldier would have starved and died.
But the ready response came, workers came forward and supplies were sent, and life and
hope and strength has been given to hundreds.
In spite of the newspaper reports, which rather under- than over-rate the true state
of affairs in the army, and among the brave heroes in the ranks, no one who has not
actually seen the suffering of these brave boys can appreciate what they have had to
endure - not only from the actual war and the suffering incident thereto - that they could and
did hear bravely and willingly, but the awful and peculiar suffering that they endured after
the war and in this, the richest and most prosperous country in the world. The following,
which appeared in the New Century signed by our Leader, should be read by all, and we
therefore print it again here:

"Montauk, L. I., Sept. 5, 1898.

"More work being done, more assistance rendered, more sick cared for; such is the
brief general record of the Brotherhood Hospital at Montauk. Changes are continually
taking place in the camp itself, some regiments leaving camp, all the men receiving
furloughs, other regiments taking their place but no cessation of activity, no diminution in
the number of army wagons driven back and forth, or the ambulances or the men passing
our tents; no lessening of the need for help; no change in the silent appeal that goes forth
from the hearts of the thousands of brave heroes in the ranks, speaking in the eyes, in the
hot hands and fevered brow, in the weariness of their marching. With an energy that is
heroic, with a persistence that is sublime, they bear up. Yet what must it be to sick and
fever-stricken men who have aroused their last energies to keep up, so as to go home with
their regiment, to be in readiness to march at 7 o'clock in the morning, to be kept waiting
all day, to be marched down to the railway depot in the evening only to find that the last
train for the night had left! Yet that is but one incident in a whole chapter of what -
blunders? mistakes? accident? mismanagement? - or what? "Is it any wonder that
many of the boys sink down not simply exhausted, but discouraged, hopeless, despairing?
Quite true, a soldier must be prepared to meet all hardships - in war, yes! and our boys
never flinched even at the three and four days which some of them spent without food in
the trenches before Santiago.

--- 407

"But one may well ask, is it true that America was victorious; is it true that America,
the land of Freedom, fought to bring freedom to suffering Cuba and to bring succor and
relief to the unfortunate people of that unhappy isle? A soldier must be prepared to meet
all hardships, and so we bring our soldiers and our sick home in transports such as the
'Concha' and the 'Mobile'; we bring them to a camp hardly more than one hundred miles
distant from the metropolis and richest city of this rich and mighty America only to find
'some one had blundered.' Yet
 "Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die."

And America has let them die, not from wounds obtained in glorious battle, not even
from the sickness that they may have contracted in Cuba, and would willingly have
endured, but from after-neglect, and red tape; from lack of proper care and nourishment
and nursing, which would have been inexcusable even if America had not been victorious.
"There is much talk of fixing the blame here, or fixing it there, but in the end the
blame is America's, and yours and mine individually as well as collectively. Does not the
whole of America claim the victory? Then let the whole of America meet the responsibility
and awake ere it is too late - aye, and it is getting very, very late to honor her soldier boys,
not with medals and parades, it may be, but with tender care and loving sympathy, and as
a mother welcoming her sons home."
---------

The Lodges all over the country are preparing for the Fall work and in talking over
this our Leader has said we should be careful whom we encourage to come into either the
I. B. L. or the U. B. Those who are in full sympathy with our work will come to us of their
own accord and if we strike the true note of Brotherhood, the work of Brotherhood will go
on all around and be taken upon all hands. Some of the members are apt to make a
mistake in thinking that it is essential for the progress of the work that they should induce
and encourage some important person to join the organization and so they seek to get the
name of some politician or other popular man or woman to, as they think, give weight to
their undertakings. There is a danger in this, for oftentimes such people, while not
intentionally wishing any harm to our organizations, place them second to their own
personal ends and use our platforms for that purpose and to obscure the name of the
organization, the Universal Brotherhood or the International Brotherhood League as the
case may be. All work done by the Universal Brotherhood or the International Brotherhood
League is to be so known and to be exclusively under the control of those organizations
and their proper representatives. We beg that all members will carefully read the
Constitutions of the Universal Brotherhood and the International Brotherhood League in
order to avoid falling into this error.
-------

I here repeat the words of our Leader that all International Brotherhood League local
committees should in every way protect the League and in no cases permit our cards or
the name of our organization to be used for the purpose of collecting money in any other
manner than is authorized by the Finance Committee, and that the only authorized agents
for receiving money for any I. B. L. work are the following and no others should be
recognized:
- E. A. Neresheimer, Treasurer, 35 Nassau St., New York,
- H. T. Patterson, Assistant Treasurer, 146-150 Centre St., New York, and those
named below for different districts:

NEW ENGLAND.
Clark Thurston, Box 259. Providence, R. I.
 Robert Crosbie, 24 Mount Vernon St., Boston, Mass.

EASTERN NEW YORK.

E. Aug. Neresheimer, 35 Nassau St., New York City.

--- 408

WESTERN NEW YORK.

W. A. Stevens, 500 Lafayette Ave., Buffalo, N. Y.
Mrs. R. V. Pierce, 653 Main St., Buffalo, N. Y.

CANADA.
S. L. Beckett, 522 Ontario St., Toronto, Ont.

OHIO
Albion E. Lang, Pres. Traction Co., Toledo, O

INDIANA
Judge E. O'Rourke, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Sam'l B. Sweet, Traffic Manager, Lake Erie and Western R.R., Indianapolis, Ind.

PENNSYLVANIA
Wm. C. Temple, Commercial Bank B'ld'g, Pittsburg, Pa.

ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN

Alpheus M. Smith, 100 Title and Trust B'ld'g, Chicago, Ill.
Col. Leroy T. Steward, 3400 Forest Ave., Chicago, Ill.

MINNESOTA
J.C. Slafter, 265 Syndicate Arcade, Minneapolis, Minn.
Mrs. H.G. Stephens, 251 Endicott B'ld'g, St. Paul, Minn.

SOUTHERN STATES
Walter T. Hanson, Bibb Mfg. Co., Macon, Ga.
C.B. Galloway, Peabody Hotel, Memphis, Tenn.
W. Ross White, Macon, Ga.

MISSOURI
Dr. J.P. Knoche, Masonic B'ld'g, Omaha, Neb.

COLORADO
Wm. S. Wing, Colo. Midland R.R., Denver, Colo.

UTAH
Wm. Turton, 259 East 3d St., Salt lake City, Utah
CALIFORNIA
Dr. Jerome A. Anderson, 1170 Market St., San Francisco, Cal.

NORTHERN PACIFIC
Frank L. Blodgett, People's Savings' Bank, Seattle, Wash.
-------

It is very important at this time to accentuate this matter, as some members have
ignored the directions sent out by the Finance Committee and have acted without
authorization.
The experience at the camp at Montauk will be of great service to the workers in any
future work at Santiago or Manila. Active preparations are being made by our Leader to
go to one or both of these places where the needs of the soldiers mid the native refugees
are most urgent.
The War Relief Work is still going on at the Headquarters, 144 Madison Avenue,
where some sick soldiers are being nursed and trains are met and assistance given to the
soldiers wherever possible, on their way through the city. At the time of writing eight of
those who have been in the International Brotherhood League Hospital at Bridgeport are
expected to reach New York en route to their homes and will be met and given rest and
refreshment.
- Recorder
--------

The Aryan Lodge at Headquarters, New York, will begin on Tuesday, Oct. 11th, its
weekly closed meetings and Sunday, Oct. 6th, the evening public meetings.
Following the suggestions of the Leader and official Head which were published in
the June issue of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, the subjects to be treated will be
embodied in a syllabus and embrace an outline of the Esoteric Philosophy beginning with
"Origins''; followed by "The fundamental Postulates of the Secret Doctrine"; "Evolution and
Involution"; "The Sevenfold constitution of the Universe and man"; "Threefold Evolution:
Monadic, Intellectual, Physical"; "Rounds mid Races;" "Unity: Basis of Universal
Brotherhood." Each of these subjects will be studied for a period of several consecutive
meetings and an endeavor made to present them in the simplest form possible, so as to
enable all the members to get a correct grasp and become familiar with the fundamentals
of Theosophy.
Part of each meeting will be devoted to the Heart Doctrine, and above all to the
consideration of the subject: "to demonstrate that Universal Brotherhood is a fact in
nature."
A special feature this season will also be made of having good music at the
beginning and at the close of each meeting: this will be arranged by a committee appointed
for that purpose.
The Sunday evening public meetings will be conducted on the plan of questions and
answers, it being proposed to solicit questions prior to the meeting to enable students to
come prepared with comprehensive replies.
- E. A. Neresheimer, President Aryan Lodge.
-----------------------------

AUM

"There dwelleth in the heart of every creature, O Arjuna, the Master - Ishwara - who
by his magic power causeth all things and creatures to revolve mounted upon the universal
wheel of time. Take sanctuary with him alone, O son of Bharata, with all thy soul; by his
grace thou shalt obtain supreme happiness, the eternal peace." - Bhagavad-Gita

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIII November, 1898
No. 8
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE
by Alexander Wilder, M. D.

I. - CHILDHOOD.

"THE heart of man only remembers what moves and impassions it," says the hero
of our story. The popular taste never looks to details in history, but only to the men who
have associated their own history with these facts. History, as a book, is a dead thing, but
when personified in a living person it becomes itself alive through and through with his vital
forces. Sympathy is the key to memory. The sketch of a career is interesting from its epic
and dramatic features, from what the actor has experienced, from the toil, vicissitude and
anguish that he has encountered. The reader contemplates all these as though actually
enduring them, feeling that he likewise under similar conditions might do the same things.
We may be preached to till we acquire an impervious insensibility; we may attend to
lessons till we are ready to drop them in utter disgust, but when we have a living person for
a model who is of like passions with ourselves, we are never weary.
It is for this reason that the actor on the stage charms us more than the preacher at
his desk, that the novel is read in preference to history, and the biography delights us
beyond other literature. We seem to ourselves to be on a similar plane with the person of
the story.
Lamartine has admirably fulfilled these conditions. He was born when the storm was
rising that should change the whole face of things, shake all existing institutions and the
very ground on which they stood, break up the old arrangements of society, overturn the
throne of France and involve all Europe in commotion.
His family was of a rank sufficiently high to distinguish its members from the
neighboring community, and its representatives had attained honorable position in the
public service. His grandfather won the cross of St. Louis at the battle of Fontenoy, and
was made a captain of cavalry. He afterward married a wealthy heiress, and became the
father of six children. The mother was thoroughly loyal to the ancient customs and the
careers of the sons and daughters were shaped accordingly. The first-born son was the
inheritor of the family property, and was expected to marry and maintain the establishment.
The younger sons and the portionless daughters were required to live single. One
daughter became Canoness at Salles and took the vows, and the other two were placed
in convents as inmates. Con-

--- 412

vents were the asylums of that period for girls of rank for whom there was no other
sufficient provision. The second son, in spite of his profound repugnance to the profession,
was designed by his parents for a priest.
The third son was set apart to the army. Perhaps he, too, might obtain the cross of
St. Louis, become a captain of cavalry and be dismissed with a pension. He could go back
then to his brother's house and vegetate. He would take charge of the garden, dress his
hair, play with the children, make one at a game of chess or backgammon with the
neighbors, living as a domestic slave, contenting himself with existing, loved perhaps, but
overlooked by everybody, and so passing his life unnoticed, without property, wife or
children, till infirmity and disease should banish him from the drawing-room to the solitary
chamber where hung on the wall the sword and helmet long laid aside. Then a day would
come when it would be announced in the mansion: "The Chevalier is dead."
Such was the career marked out for the junior son of the family. He accepted it
regretfully, but without a murmur. His mother was a tenacious adherent to the social
regulations and these in the old France were like the regime of caste in India, and
apparently as irrevocable as the ancient laws of the Medes and Persians. A new
contingency had arisen. The young man had formed an attachment and the eldest brother
had determined not to marry. This was made a plea in his behalf, but it was of no avail.
The suggestion that the cadet of the family should marry was monstrous. It would extend
the family link into obscure branches which would be a crime against the blood. The
mother was unyielding, and the young man was hurried away to his regiment and
anticipated destiny.
M. des Roys was intendant-general of the exchequer of the Duke of Orleans. This
nobleman, the first prince of the blood, was always an innovator. In his Palais Royal, the
reformers of government, the philosophers of the new age, and men of science, were
frequent guests. Among those were Franklin from America, Edward Gibbon from England,
Grimm and others from Germany, Voltaire, D'Alembert, Buffon, Raynal, Sieyes, Necker and
other thinkers, artists and scientists. Madame de Genlis was the governess of his children.
The wife of M. des Roys was their undergoverness, and the generous Duchess permitted
her children to share the lessons and pastimes of the young princes and princesses. One
of these was Louis Philippe, afterward King of the French.
The young girl, Alix des Roys was one of these children. She listened eagerly to the
discourses of the illustrious visitors, and though always a sincere Catholic, she became a
devoted admirer of the writings of Jean Jaques Rousseau.
At the age of sixteen she was appointed by the Duke to the Chapter of Salles, where
the sister of Lamartine's father was Canoness. This situation has been described as "an
elegant and agreeable transition between the Church and the world." The members were
permitted to spend part of the time with their families, and though men were generally
excluded, canonesses received visits from their brothers. In this way the young captain
had met Alix des Roys. The sister encouraged their attachment, but it required all their
constancy to sustain the long years of parental opposition.
Opportunely for their wishes, French Society was undergoing a radical
transformation. The arbitrary caste-regulations gradually gave way, and the obstacles to
their marriage were finally surmounted.
The husband was no longer young. He was thirty-eight, and still held his command.
His regiment of cavalry was

--- 413

as his family; he knew the names of all the officers and members, and was adored by them
all. Every year he devoted a season to hunting. He was like an oak casting off his age and
renewing his strength, till past eighty years, preserving his body sound and his teeth entire
and perfect to the last.
Alphonse Marie Louis de Pret de Lamartine was born at Macon in Burgundy on the
21st day of October, 1790. The Revolution was then in progress, his father was still in the
army, and was afterward placed with the Royal Guard. He barely escaped the massacre
of the tenth of August, 1792, and immediately made his way with his wife from Paris to
Macon for safety.
The other members of the family were partisans of the Constitution of 1791. The
Abbe Lamartine was a personal friend of LaFayette till death separated them; and the
grandfather had entertained Mirabeau. It should be borne in mind that the great movement
in France was not in its inception any uprising of the multitude. "It was not the Commonalty
that made the Revolution," Lamartine avers; "it was the nobility, the clergy and the thinking
men of the nation. Superstitions often have their birth with the common people; but
philosophies are born with those only who constitute the head of Society. Now, the French
Revolution was a philosophy."
The populace, however, came uppermost, and presently those who had first
promoted the movement for the renovation of the social and political system, became the
objects of its rage. The father of Lamartine was imprisoned at Macon, where, by the
kindness of the jailer, he was afterward placed in a room of the building that had been an
Ursuline Convent. The old grandfather now over eighty years old, the grandmother also
aged and infirm, the two uncles and three aunts were arrested as suspected, and conveyed
in a cart to Autun and there placed in confinement.
The wife and infant Lamartine were left at the family mansion under the surveillance
of insolent soldiers. Her condition may easily be imagined. "It is no wonder," says
Lamartine, "that those whose birth dates from those woeful days carry a shade of sadness
and an imprint of melancholy in their disposition."
She employed numerous expedients, remarkable for ingenuity and discretion. The
place where her husband was confined was across the street in full view of the mansion.
She was not long in obtaining a sight of him. She would hold up the infant Alphonse to his
view and then bestow her caresses on the child as representing the father. She wrote a
message in letters of a size large enough for him to read, telling him of her plans. She also
learned to shoot with a bow and sent arrows into his window. To this a thread was
attached by means of which she supplied him with messages, paper and ink. In this way
they carried on a correspondence. She furnished him with a file, which enabled him to
make a passage out of his prison and spend hours in her company.
She, however, strenuously opposed his wish to escape. It would have consigned
the jailer to certain death, and all their opportunities had been due to his lenity. The
Lamartine estates would be confiscated and the other members of the family would perish
on the scaffold.
She took the matter in hand in her own way. Procuring a pass from the
Revolutionary Authorities at Macon, she repaired to Dijon, to lay the case before Citizen
Javogues,* the Representative of the Central Powers. She took the little Alphonse with her.
The official received her courteously, made her sit down, and set the child on his knees.
She made a gesture of alarm, fearing that the infant would fall.
"Do not he afraid," Javogues ex-

-------------
* The Republicans of the Revolution discarded all titles of rank, and adopted for
themselves that of Citoyen and Citoyenne - Citizen and Citizeness.
-------------
--- 414

claimed; "the Republicans also have children."

Little Alphonse quickly gained confidence, and began to play with the official's tri-
colored scarf. This greatly pleased him, and he added:
"Your child is too good for an aristocrat's son. You must bring him up for the
Fatherland, and make him a citizen.''
He made her such encouraging assurances as were in his power, and intimated that
there was hope that her husband would be set at liberty. How far he kept faith in this
matter is only to be guessed. Any official notice of the prisoner would have been the signal
for condemnation and death. But he was forgotten."
Eighteen long months passed in this way. The Ninth of Thermidor came, and
Robespierre himself perished. The Terror ended, and the prisons were opened.
The mother of young Lamartine hurried to Autun with the joyful news. The aged
couple returned to their own home, where shortly after, they died peacefully.
The new laws had abolished primogeniture and released from the vows of poverty.
The family estates were to be divided equally among the six children. But the father of
Alphonse refused to accept his share. A little estate had been given him at Milly on his
marriage, which yielded an income of about five hundred dollars a year. A word would
have made him richer, but he adhered stubbornly to the rule of the former order of things,
and acted accordingly.
Despite an increasing family and narrow financial circumstances, he lived
contentedly. It was always necessary to maintain simplicity and carefulness in expenditure.
His wife, though accustomed to elegance in the Orleans household, conformed cheerfully
to the new conditions. One day as she pointed out their little holdings to her son, she said:
"They are very small, but if we know how to adapt our desires to our conditions, they are
large enough."
The house was plain, the furniture barely what was necessary, and everything was
in humble style. Here Lamartine spent twelve happy years. His parents were his first
teachers. He was not set to tasks, but was ingeniously led to receive instruction as a favor.
"I saw them reading," he says, "and I desired to read. I saw them writing, and I asked them
to help me make my letters. It was all done as play, at spare moments, with smiles,
badinage, and caresses. I thus acquired my taste. I set myself at work with short and
amusing lessons. It is true that I made slow progress in this way, but it was without
remembering how I was learning, and without a severe look to make me apply myself. I
advanced without being conscious of going forward. My thought, always in communication
with that of my mother, was developed, so to speak, in her bosom. "
It was as he describes, like being again gestated in a new term of existence. In this
way his early years went on till he was taken away to live the "vie putride on tout au moins
glacial des colleges" - the putrid or at least the freezing life of colleges.
Madame Alix de Lamartine was not anxious that her son should be precocious. His
attainments were not compared with those of others of like age. She aimed to make his
childhood happy, develop an affectionate temper and religious conviction. Herself
instructed at St. Cloud, in company with the young princesses of the Ducal House of
Orleans which stood at the very summit of the social order in France, she bore in mind that
her own family was in a more lowly condition. In her judgment it was of little account
whether a person was a prince or a common laborer, but whether he was what he ought
to be.
She endeavored to regulate his passion for reading. He had such books as the Holy
Bible Abridged and Expurgated, La Fontaine's Fables, Tasso's Jerusalem De-

--- 415

livered, the works of Fenelon, St. Pierre, Madame de Genlis.

"My education was a philosophic education at second hand," he remarks; "it was
a philosophic education corrected and tempered by motherhood." . . . "In a word the
unconscious instruction which I received was never in the form of a lesson. It was the
action of living, thinking and feeling, which I performed under her eyes, like her, and by
her." In short it was an education flowing naturally after the manner of Pythagoras, as
described by Rousseau. It had as a groundwork the greatest simplicity in clothing, and a
rigorous frugality in diet. She taught kindness to animals, and he was always gentle to
them, and his caresses were eagerly sought by them.
The killing of animals for food was held by her in aversion. She considered it one
of the faults of our human condition, a curse on man either from the Fall or his own
obdurate perverseness. "She believed and I believe with her," says Lamartine, "that these
habitudes of hard-heartedness in regard to the gentle animals, our companions, our
helpers, our brothers in labor and affection here below - that these slaughters, these
appetites for blood, the sight of quivering flesh - operate to brutalize and harden the natural
impulses of the heart. She believed and I believe with her, that this food, though apparently
more nutritious and strengthening, contains in itself stimulating and putrid qualities which
inflame the blood and shorten the days of human beings."
She referred to the inhabitants of India, so numerous, gentle and religious; to the
shepherd population so vigorous and healthy, and to the laboring folk who worked hard and
lived long and blamelessly, and yet did not taste flesh ten times in their lives. She kept her
son from eating it till he left home for college. She did not argue the matter, but relied upon
instinct as better than reasoning.
A countryman at Milly presented him with a lamb. He was in love with it at once, fed
it and took every care necessary. It grew up finely and would follow him everywhere like
a dog. One day the cook remarked to his mother that the lamb was fat and ought to be
given to the butcher. Young Lamartine could not conceive what a butcher was, and when
he was told, he was not willing to believe that anybody would be so cruel. A few days later
his mother took him to a slaughter-house. What he saw there filled him with pity and
horror. He could not look upon a butcher as much different from the executioner at the
scaffold.
From that time he refused to eat flesh, until in later years he was obliged to do it by
the usages of society. He adhered to a bloodless diet. "My health was not less firm nor
was my growth less rapid," he declares; ''and perhaps I owe to this regimen that delicacy
of touch, that exquisite sensibility to impressions, and that serene gentleness of temper and
disposition which I have preserved to the present time.''
His mother took the greatest pains to instil into his mind the religious sentiment.
"Her system was not an art; it was a love." She believed with humility, she hoped
confidently. Like an obedient Catholic, she read little, and believed without attempt at
reasoning.
In her speech, action and example, she taught piety and benevolence to her
children. She inculcated benevolence to the poor, especially to those who were suffering
from disease. She herself studied medicine and administered remedies with her own
hands. Her children were employed to collect medicinal herbs and prepare them for use.
Her name was a household word for leagues around, and they were known as "the children
of the Lady." They were her almoners.
Young Lamartine was by no means innocent of pranks. He went out of

--- 416

autumnal days to the mountain in company with the boys that took charge of the flocks.
While the sheep and goats were feeding, the lads would go to a gorge out of sight of the
houses, and there build a fire and eat their dinner. Sometimes there were chestnuts that
had been left on the trees. These they would bring to the ground with stones skillfully
aimed, and then roast them to add to the repast. Perhaps one of the number would find
some potatoes in a neighboring field. These were promptly placed in the hot cinders, and
when thoroughly cooked, were eaten while still smoking. The seasoning consisted in the
elation of spirits at having found them, and in the charm of the stealing.
When young Alphonse had attained the age of ten, it was decided that he must learn
more than his parents were teaching. In Bussieres, the next town, there was a little school
kept by the parish priest and his assistant. They were men of the former period. The priest
was old and left most of the work of teaching to his assistant, the Abbe Dumont. The
mother of the latter was their housekeeper. Dumont had belonged to the great world, and
had a secret sorrow of his own. He had the tastes of a gentleman, the ways of a soldier,
and the manners of the Court. He had been familiar with them all. To his mother he was
gentle; to his principal, respectful; to his pupils, supercilious. He was passionately
addicted to hunting. Lamartine, who afterward knew him more intimately, thought that he
grudged the time which he bestowed on the pupils.
There was little discipline and little was learned. Lamartine had been sent there to
study Latin, but acquired only two or three declensions. The pupils wasted much of their
time. They skated in winter, swam in the summer, attended social entertainments all
around, and sung serenades. "I spoke the country dialect like my native language," says
Lamartine; "and nobody knew by heart as well as I did, the simple folk-songs which were
sung in the open fields, or under the window, or at the door of the stable* where the
engaged maiden lay."
This state of things created much dissatisfaction at home. The youth was sadly
behind others of his age in mental attainments. The older uncle ruled the family with an
imperious will. He cared little for book-learning, but he feared that the motherly tenderness
was sapping the virility of his nephew 's character, and insisted that he must be placed
where he would receive training in company with young men. The mother pleaded the
dangers which beset students in public institutions of learning. On this account she had
sought to prolong the period of childhood. The father, who concealed an exquisite
sensibility under a cold, external demeanor, was also reluctant to send his son from home.
Nevertheless, he took sides with the two uncles. It was a stormy season in that household.
The mother filially yielded. It was not, however, without much procrastinating, and
many tears, that this was accomplished. A long search was made for a school where
religious principles were inculcated as well as learning. Finally one was found at Lyons
which, it was believed, met these requirements, and thither the mother accompanied him.
Young Lamartine himself was from the first dissatisfied with all that he saw. It may
have been a natural result from the abrupt breaking from home-life, but it seems also to
have been intuitive. "I entered there," he says, "as one condemned to death enters his last
prison-cell. The counterfeit smile, the hypocritic caresses of the teachers of that school,
who for the sake of money, at-

-----------
* Americans are not always aware that in Continental Europe the stable for animals
is part of the abode among the poorer inhabitants.
-----------
--- 417

tempted to imitate the affection of a father did not deceive me. I comprehended that all that
show of affection was venal and mercenary. My heart was broken for the first time in my
life, and when the iron grating was shut between me and my mother, I felt that the
honeymoon of my former years was gone - never to return."
He found it worse than he had feared. He was sensitive to the slightest harshness,
or coolness of manner, and he had never known fear except that of giving pain to others.
He had been rudely transferred into a collection of some two hundred children, all of them
strangers and very many of them untruthful and vicious. His teachers were repulsive in
manners, ill-tempered and selfish. Their more pleasant utterances sounded insipid to him,
and did not hide their lack of feeling.
He regarded them as his jailers. He was repelled and disgusted by his fellow-pupils.
He spent his hours of recreation alone and moping. Everything added to his depression
of spirit, and thoughts crowded upon him to end his sufferings by suicide. He meditated
day and night upon means to lay down a life that was only miserable.
Months passed in this way. He finally determined to escape. He was long in
devising plans. Pretending one day that he had thrown his ball into the street, he contrived
to get outside the place. He hurried to the woods upon the banks of the river Saone, and
there sat down to mature his plans. He knew that his father would receive him unkindly.
He decided to make his way back to Milly, and ask an asylum of a countryman who knew
and loved him, or else hide in the kennel of the watchdog at home. He had lain many hours
with the animal and was on the best of terms with him. He would then communicate with
his mother who would placate his father.
He then set out with three francs in his pocket. He reached a little village six leagues
from Lyons, and stopped for dinner. Here he was overtaken by the principal of the school
accompanied by a policeman. They seized him, tied his hands, and in this plight exhibited
him to the villagers. He was taken back and placed in a kind of dungeon. The principal
alone visited him there, endeavoring to make him repent of his offense. This continued for
two months. Young Lamartine was like many persons apparently yielding and timid,
abounding with an unsuspected reserve of firmness. He was finally sent home. Everybody
there reproached him but his mother. She had her way this time, and he was not sent back
to Lyons.
Thus ended the first period of his childhood.

-------------
--- 418

THE VOICES OF A STILL NIGHT

by Mary Konopnitsky
Translated from the Polish by V. A. H,

AS a murmur of the ocean and as the rumbling of thunder, thou speakest to me, O
stillness of the night! Thy stormy breath plays with the hair of my head; thou strikest into
the corners of my house. My spirit hears thy call, as though of a roaring lion in the wilds,
and my heart burns in me when thy voice is speaking.
As the buzzing of a golden bee, thou speakest to me, O stillness of the night! As a
whisper of growing grass, as the tinkling of the sand of the desert, and as the rustling of a
leaf that sways in the wind. The breath of the life of the whole earth breathes in thy sigh.
. . . And my heart stops in me, when thy voice is speaking.

I.
I will tell thee what is the secret of happiness, O my heart! Die for that which has the
face of death and utters a groan of pain for a passing life; and do not sow thy grain for the
harvest of the grave.
I will tell thee what is the secret of happiness, O my heart! Revive for that which
endures for aye above death and sorrow and above all illusion; and let thy trembling
anchor fall, where is the peace of the depths, and where the silence reigns.

II.
Gain for thyself the seeing faith, O my spirit! Let not slavish fear oppress thee!
Rend the veil, by the movements of which thou now surmisest that there is hidden an ever-
living power. Cross the threshold of the mystery; lift thy eyes and behold the divine truth
of the world!
If thou hadst once been weeping over this suffering world and wast a brother to the
sad ones of the earth, it is possible now that there will open for thee, through the multitudes
of shadows, the gates to the paradise of hope, blooming all over with azure celestial
flowers! Thy soul is there divinely calm; it breathes out the light of peace. which the Angel
of the Future gathers ray by ray in its alabaster urns; and even now, above this gloomy
world, a dawn of a clear day begins to shine, as a purple lustre of a morning moon.

IV.
In a robe of innocence clothe thyself, O my spirit! and in a robe of freshness. As
over the virgin mountain-snow, which has not been touched by the vernal sun, are the
silver-blossomed pure sasana-flowers, such aromas must thou gain, and such a snow-
broidered raiment, O my spirit!

V.
The weakness of hate is this, that upon its skies it sees neither sun nor stars, neither
the iris nor the purple of the dawn, neither the grand cloud of a summer storm, nor endless
milky garlands of the starlit skies, - it sees naught of these but only the veil of self, - a huge
and empty shadow, which so envelopes it, as the torture of an eternal night.
And the power of love is, that upon its skies it never sees itself; but in the morning
or in the twilight of eve, there unfolds before its enraptured sight, worlds of endless
brightness, roses of the suns, deep azure of the starry fields,

--- 419

white lunar asters of the garden of the skies, silver alabasters of the urns, wherein the
altars of the soul burn their eternal fires . . . and upon its shadow it looks as upon a mirage.

VI.
And when thy path thou liftest from the high-ways of this earth, ascend into the
clearest azures, and stop not on the threshold of a phantom-cloud!
And when thou soarest from the nests of earth take an eagle-flight towards the sun
itself, and be not stayed by the fiery sand of meteoric dust.
Let thy track be towards the highest light. . . . So aims a lark its winged course
towards the brightest dawn.
Scan with thy eye the farthest span of space; scorn those goals which lie too near;
and leave for the weak ones of the earth the timid step into the future.
And have no fears, though there be no mileposts on the way, where thy will is set
so straight and free. . . A bird knows whereto it has to fly in its migration.
And the spirit is as the waters of the rivers: both the traveler and the path. It needs
no one to lead it, it finds the current of its own.

VII.
Keep thy soul at peace, as a still and quiet lake, that the depth of the skies may find
its reflection in thee; and a flower of the shore see again in thee its vernal beauty; and that
cloud-boat traveling on the blue with its taut sails and hiding at times the sun; and that sun
emerging from the cloud, shining so radiant above the earth, sweet arid refreshed by the
rain!
Lull thy soul into the endless harmony with the silence of the world, which seems to
buzz as a golden bee. That which is divine, is reflected on thy wave; that which is earthly,
lies on the bottom deep. When thou art still, the radiance of eternity is burning upon thee;
but when a stone of passion falls into thy waters, the blackness of thy deeps will appear,
the blackness of the soil and mud.

VIII.
Advance, O valiant soldier, and do not question whereto the dawns are leading thee
through their ruby-gates, and where will thy golden-azure star emerge aflame from the gray
mists into the eternal skies, shaking off her dying sparks into the ocean of the ever-silence.
The path which will lead thee out of all ways of life, out of all experience of man, out of the
whole horizon of the heavens and of the earth, out of thy own self through the threshold of
the azure light, that path lies neither before thee nor behind, nor on any side; it is not deep,
neither it is before thy sight, and it is neither near nor far.
Advance boldly, and when thy last battle is won, thou wilt find thyself upon this
shining field, walking with such ease among the globes of the world, as now, when on a
morning in May thou didst walk the meadows as a child and pluck its blossoms.

IX.
Desire nothing for thyself, either in the heavens or upon the earth, O my heart!
Strive not after that which can be grasped in thy hand, and is taken away from others, that
it might be in thy house, O my heart! But above all the treasures of the skies and of the
earth and above all actualities of life, desire that inheritance, which may be shared with thy
brothers. Desire infinitely that which can be, as a flame, divided among millions and
millions of fires, - and yet exist undiminished and entire. Desire that, which, as the ocean,
can not be shut in a room, neither put in a box, but above which forever burns the blue light
of the eternal dome of the heavens.

X.
Beware lest thy heart permit its shadow to fall upon the path, the shadow of thy own
desires and trembling fear, and to

--- 420

cover it with a pall of gloom; for then thy feet will be in terror rooted to that darkness. The
sun of spirit will not reach thee then, neither will it disperse the shadows of thy pain and joy
of earthly, carnal substance. These shadows will then grow to a giant size, obscure thy
path with overhanging mists, cut it in twain and fork it in thy eyes, mislead thee, and deafen
with the whispers of an evil doubt, and thou wilt fall, and thy feet not enter into the house
of silence.

XI.
 Though thousands of miles would part thee from thy brothers, if thou shouldst call
to them, thy voice will not be lost; but over rivers, steppes and mountains it will fly with
faster wings than any bird, and nothing will it stop upon its way, till by a mysterious whisper
or a piercing cry it will, with thy language, speak in their hearts.
And though a message thou wouldst send with only a thought, it never will be lost;
but passing o'er the oceans many a league, flying through the great spans of this wide
world, as some liquid flame, it will fall at the threshold of thy brother's dwelling, as a dove
sent out with a far message, and will beat there with its pinions by day and night, till his
door will unclose at last.
For between thee and him throughout the heavens and the earth there is open a
vibrant way for the shooting stars of thought, a road of our common mental atmosphere,
sensitive to the faintest whispers, which fills all space, and penetrates all time and distance;
and, by its mysterious movements, heart to heart it brings, and lips to listening ears; and
though it seems to be a void, in it there calls and lives the spirit.

XII.
Seek for the moment which will make thee a sower - in the desert; free - in captivity;
smiling - in pain; silent - in the storm; full of hope - even when defeated; a king - amongst
the ruins; and holy - though thou failest. Thy angel shall then appear in the fires of the
dawn of infinity. The divine balance leans towards thee for a moment; and as though by
a miracle, thy spirit for that moment is not thine, but of the Great Soul. And it is a moment
of thy cooperation with the immortal labor of the spirit of eternity! Even for a sinner there
may be such a moment. And what, if he is condemned, if he has a scaffold for his bed?
That one moment of his life is saved. And when his body shall have dissolved to dust, his
soul as a bee upon a flower, will alight upon this single moment, and drink from it the
honey-dew of divine dreams, in the morning of an undying brightness.
Do not curse, my soul, thy failures and thy errors; they are steps of the ladder which
thou must climb, if thou wouldst lift thyself from the dust of earth to the sunny skies. . . .
Jacob, the shepherd, had to dream a stairway for the angels!

XIV.
Dost thou fear death, as some cruel executioner? Make thy own the life of the
world; tear down and destroy those walls, with which thou hast fenced thyself from the rest
of nature! In the immensity of the worlds feel thyself with thy own kin, as though in thy
father's home; and as thou walkest from a chamber into a chamber thus pass through the
worlds, pass through existences, and say: "I step from life to life," but not: - "Death
changes me."

XV.
That which thou hast loved and for which thou hast suffered, will appear to thee in
new angelic robes, O my soul! The still, fragrant breeze shall bring to thee thy loves and
hopes, and the mists of thought will bloom, as meadows, into a rosy tint, and into a tint of
blue, O my soul!
It is thyself, in thy silent meditating eves, that breathest these bright glories, paintest
these glad hues, O my soul!
--- 421

Till at last extending thy arms into the air, thou wilt be carried with thy own sigh
through many ages of an endless spring of May, among the flowers which were conceived
and born from thee, O my soul!

XVI.
When all the threads, which were spun by the heart on earth, are broken; when the
pink fingers of hope drop the wilted rose; when the night of life sits down, all veiled in a
cloak of dusk, and sings a song of nothingness, - then are drawing near the white swans
of day, and the ear of the wheat of light is coming to its ripeness.

XVII.
Sweet is this wisdom, which is not censured by the sorrow of the human kind, and
which makes life and death to grasp their hands in the vernal joy of ideal concord.

--------------

SELFLESSNESS AND SELFISHNESS

by N. S.

THERE is one word that expresses all good, and one word that opposes it. The
great - all powerful - up-lifting and up-building word is Love! It is Harmony! There is a light
and warmth, a shadow and coolness, a joy and rest even in the word itself. There is a
tumult and a calm, a combination of the forces that is indescribable.
Love is rooted in eternity and its threads that focus in the present are so powerful
that when the clouds and the corruptions of life are wiped away, revealing the natural self,
that self is God-like.
The opposing power and word is Selfishness. All evil, meanness and crime, all lust
and wordliness are traceable to selfishness as its cause. Ambition, jealousy and the
innumerable ills of life are the outgrowth of selfishness. But this evil is sham. It is on the
outside. Behind all, and underneath and rooted in the past is Love. Covered up with rust
and rot is the divine spark that we all worship! Underneath is the beauty that fires love and
devotion! In the heart of hearts is that Harmony of Eternity, Love!
A kindly thought, a loving deed, is life-giving, and revivifies even a dying spark; it
helps to burn away the dross, and lift the life one step nearer the desired end.
We are always surrounded by affinities. If we will hold Love in the heart, Brotherhood
in the mind and help with our hands, we shall be surrounded by angels and a glorious
golden light.

-------------
--- 422

THEOPHRASTUS PARACELSUS TO HIS FRIEND JOHN

WINCKELSTEINER
 TO the honest and wise man, John Winckelsteiner, of Friburge, his most intimate
Friend, and dear Brother, Theophrastus Paracelsus, wisheth all health.
It is most fit that I should (most intimate Friend and dear Brother) satisfy your friendly
and daily requests expressed in your frequent Letters to me, and seeing that in your last
Letters you do earnestly and courteously invite me to you, if it were convenient (I cannot
dissemble with you), yet by reason of many hindrances I cannot; but as for your other
requests, viz., that I should give you some clear Instructions, I cannot deny you, but am
constrained to gratify you therein.
I know the honesty of your mind, and that you do willingly hear or see anything that
is new or wonderful in Art. I know also that you have spent a good part of your estate and
life in it. Because, therefore, you have expressed much good will and Brotherly fidelity to
wards me, I cannot forget either, but am constrained to be thankful, and if I never see you
more, to leave a Brotherly Legacy to you and yours, as a remembrance of me. For I will
not here only answer but clearly instruct you concerning those points only of which you
have asked me, but will also dedicate a Book to you, which I will call Of the Nature of
Things, and will divide it into nine little Books. In this Book I will satisfy all your requests,
and further those you demanded; although haply you will much wonder and perhaps doubt
whether all these things are true that I shall write. But do not so, yea believe them not to
be speculations and theories, but practical and proceeding from experience. And although
I have not tried all of them myself, yet I have them from, and have approved them by
others, and I know them by that kind of experience, as also by the light of Nature. If in
some places you cannot understand me what I shall say, and in some processes require
of me further explication, write to me privately, and I will declare the matter more clearly,
and give you sufficient instruction and intelligence. Although I believe you cannot well
misunderstand what I shall write, seeing I know you are so well qualified or gifted by God
with Arts and a good understanding.
Moreover, you have known my mind and meaning, and therefore will quickly and
easily understand me. Now I hope, and do not doubt, that you will respect this present
work, commended to you, and esteem of it according to its worth, and not at all divulge it,
but keep it in great secret for your self, and yours, as indeed, it is a hid and great treasure,
an excellent gem, and precious thing, which is not cast to swine, i.e., Sophisters, and
contemners of all good natural Arts, and secrets, who are worthy neither to read them,
much less to have, know or understand them.
And although this book be very little, consisting of few words, yet it is full of many
and great secrets. For I do not here write out of speculations, and theorie, but practically
out of the light of Nature, and experience, lest I should burden you, and make you weary
with many words, etc. Wherefore most dear Friend, and loving Brother, seeing I have
wrote this book out of love to you alone, and to nobody else, I beseech you that you will
keep it as a thing of value, and a great secret, and not let it go out

--- 423

of your hands as long as you live, and at your death, bequeath it in like manner to your
children, and heirs, that they also may keep this book secretly, which also I shall particularly
desire of them, that they will not let it go out of your family at any time, and be made public,
so as to come to the hands of Sophisters, and scoffers, who contemn all things, which are
not agreeable to them, and, indeed, detract from them; these are pleased only with what
is their own, as, indeed, all fools are wont to be, whom their own toys only please, not
anything which is another's, hating all kinds of wisdom. Wherefore, they account wisdom
as folly, because nothing doth them any good, they know the use of nothing.
As one workman cannot use the instruments of another so a fool can use no
weapons better than his own stick or boughs; and there is no sound pleasanter to him than
the ringing of his own bell. Wherefore, most dear Brother, be you faithfully admonished,
as I have entreated you, and do what I have informed you, which I hope you will, and yet
shall do what is right and well. Farewell, with the protection of God.

Dated at Villacum, in the year 1537.

Printed in London 1674.

--------------

"THE CHOIR INVISIBLE"

by Henry B. Monges, Jr.

"O may I join the choir invisible

Of those immortal dead who live again
In minds made better by their presence -
........... feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
He the sweet presence of a good diffused
And in diffusion evermore intense,
So shall I join the choir invisible,
Whose music is the gladness of the world,"
- George Elliot

"PAIN and pleasure, who can say where one begins and the other ends?" Could
one - and some very few can - stand the ultimate of either, they would find a point in which
pain in its intensity becomes pleasure, and pleasure, pain.
Pleasure and pain, good and evil, male and female, positive and negative are the
phenomenal aspects of the two forces in the Universe endeavoring to become balanced;
there is an ever seeking for the line of least resistance - the seeking for the point of rest.
As long as the manifested Universe exists, this state of unrest will exist; but
speaking relatively, man can seek and find this point of rest in regard to this plane. By the
force of the spiritual will residing in himself, he can focus these two forces - make them
balance, and thus reach a high point in the scale of evolution.
The ordinary individual has no conception of such powers, and if he has, does not
possess the strength of character to put them into execution. Few understand the complex
nature of man, which, while complex, is also very simple - in the latter aspect, i.e., simply
considered, man is "god and beast." Few have as yet, even intellectually, been able to
distinguish between the inner and the outer man, and still fewer are able to realize it
actually. Until one is able to distinguish between himself and his body, so long will he be
like a leaf blown about by the wind, unable to control either itself or the wind.

--- 424

Man stands between these two forces, suffering, enjoying, intensely, deeply affected
by both, unable to control either, living in the senses, unable to distinguish between the real
and its phenomena. Yet this suffering and enjoying are a means to an end. So surely as
one enjoys seeing only the external, the form, so surely will he, from reaction, suffer pain;
he enjoys through the senses, merely a channel, thinking that they are the enjoyment itself,
and the form, the cause of the enjoyment - a grave error which eventually causes pain.
The inner man, seeking to contact the outer world, becomes entangled in the myriad
sensations that present themselves through the senses, and thus not only loses sight of
his own inner being, but fails to perceive the inner being of the object he sought to enjoy.
It is good to enjoy through the senses, not in them; to enjoy the soul in the form, not the
form itself - then, and then only, can man experience real joy free from pain, and every
added enjoyment will become more intense, a drop of the "ambrosia of the gods" - not a
stupefying process as is the case with the sensualist, who finally kills all capacity for
enjoyment by the dulling in of the Soul nature, and thus sinks into misery, suffering and
pain.
The Soul, the real man, would enrich itself with knowledge on all planes, and it must
learn by experience many times repeated, until it knows its lesson by heart, and when at
last it has learned to distinguish between the real and unreal, the permanent and
impermanent, the soul and the form, then in proportion to its realization of this truth, will be
its capacity for real enjoyment.
Is it selfish to wish to enjoy? If one can reach that point where there is no desire for
joy, then existence for that individual ceases.
Every act, voluntary as well as involuntary, is accomplished by an effort of the will -
the involuntary processes are to us now unconscious efforts, but each had to be learned
step by step and repeated until it became unconscious. We had to learn to breathe, to
circulate the blood, to digest and assimilate food, by a conscious effort of the will, just as
the child learns to walk and the bird to fly - until at last, after ages, each of these processes
becomes what we call involuntary. Could we at any time withdraw the will from that effort
on its part to perform involuntary actions, that process would at once cease. If we really
ceased to desire to live, that moment we would do so; saying that one wishes to die and
really desiring to are different things. The fact that one continues to live and to carry on the
functions, even where there is great pain and suffering, shows that there is still pleasure
in living, though it be full of pain; therefore existence is joy, and is selfish only when the
motive for existence is for individual advancement and attainment; it is unselfish when it
is for the good of the whole of which it is a part.
Virtue if worshiped in itself as an end will not lead to the goal. The anchorite who
shuns pleasure as something evil, is as far from the goal as is the sensualist who burns his
life away in the gratification of passion - each are the extremes of selfishness and can only
be continued in until the Soul finally rebels and then extremes meet, and the path of peace
is before the weary soul.
The road to Hell is as hard as the road to Heaven - in the worst character there is
always that Spark of the Oversoul, dimmed though it be, but not entirely obliterated.
The selfish man seeks the road of pleasure, sense enjoyment, fancies himself
separate from his fellows; he is told that he is traveling the broad, easy road to Hell. Let
him who says it is easy, try the journey - nature is kind - she will not let her children cast
themselves into the burning furnace unless they fight long and strong. Pain, sor-

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row, death are her agents and strong indeed is he in his selfishness who can overcome
them.
Some who talk loudly, would gladly try the lower path, but indolence and fear hold
them back.
The man who would attain the heights, must be able to enjoy deeply and strongly
but must also be able to refrain from that enjoyment in sense gratification, must be able to
be intense in love, in hate, in passion, but also be able to be master of these capacities,
and not be their slave; then will his nature, his life, partake of the godlike, the impersonal -
he will become a vehicle for the manifestation of the divine.
He who begins to aspire, to sacrifice the selfish longings, lights anew the spark of
divinity within himself. His faults stick out in all directions like quills of the porcupine; he
hates himself - can see nothing but his own faults and evil doings and they also appear
more evident to those around him. The deeper the aspiration the hotter the fire of trial
becomes; the animal becomes more beastly in its endeavor to control the god within.
From long flights in the soul realms the soul returns to earth and to the fierce
struggles of lust and passion.
The man - always dual - becomes more evidently so. The good and evil in him fight
for supremacy, and sad as it is the way is strewn with many who have fallen prey to the
beast of self. Others and stronger ones reach the goal; they were equal to the power they
invoked, for potent is that power one calls up when he demands the right to step out from
the ranks and lead the way, and all the shafts of the enemy are trained upon him.
The scum always rises to the top in the boiling pot and must be thrown off ere the
liquid is pure and clear - the greater the heat the faster the dregs rise to the surface; so
with aspiration, producing self-sacrifice - where the motive is pure - all the latent faults as
well as the virtues, come to the surface more or less rapidly, in proportion to the intensity
of the aspiration and consequent sacrifice.
This power to sacrifice the gratification of our personal wants has been the aim and
teaching of all the world's saviors, and not only their teaching but exemplified in their lives -
the true and only method of teaching; - sacrifice of the personal desires to the great Self
of all things.
In all ages, every individual who has stepped to the front has had this power - the
fruit of experience and pain - to a greater or less degree. All true leaders and pioneers of
higher thought have attained to it and this self-sacrifice is to them a spontaneous,
unconscious, involuntary act, as unconscious to them as breathing is to us, attained only
by long and repeated effort through ages of time until it has become unconscious.
Much so-called sacrifice is not sacrifice at all, because of the conscious effort on the
part of the individual in having performed the act, and the want of spontaneity. It is
however, the stepping stone, the first step in conscious willing which will eventually become
unconscious and involuntary. What at first required great effort and perhaps pain, becomes
easy and a pleasure.
Glance down the long vistas of time - of such as we have written records - some
events are merely historical data, recorded only for reference and comparison - events that
but for the carefully written records would be lost and no one be a whit worse off for the
losing; but there are events in history, in the history of all ages and peoples that have lived,
which will live whether they are written or not. These events and the actors themselves -
symbols for all time - live in the consciousness of the world, in the consciousness of the
whole human race, indelibly written in the soul of things. No change, political or social, can
affect

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their immortality. They seem as alive and vital as truths today as on the day they were
enacted. They seem to have being - immortal being! The poets and bards have sung them
in their myths and legends. I speak of those occurrences that stir the hearts of the coldest,
that make the blood course more freely through the veins and make men eager to imitate
them - those deeds performed through sacrifice to the Self; of individuals who were willing
to offer themselves on the altar of unselfishness, willing to give all that was considered
most dear, even to life itself - spontaneously and wholly. These acts are recorded not only
in books and legends but in the hearts, minds and souls of the whole human race, - 1st,
because the actors were and are a part of the whole, 2d, because these acts were an
expression of the "soul of the world," the "divine man" residing within everything, and thus
they gained not only individual immortality for themselves but what is greater brought the
whole of humanity a step nearer the goal.
All will have, or have had, opportunities for some great sacrifice. Few, very few,
know the opportunity when it presents itself and turn it to account, but let it slip and then
perhaps centuries will elapse ere another one is gained. Unless we watch and pray for light
the hour may pass us as a thief in the darkness.
Man and races of men, toil through great hardships and peril to gain the mountain
height and when the first height is reached, fancy that it is all to be striven for, that it is the
time to rest - failing to look upward into the distance where peak on peak rises to the
eternal blue of heaven. They are blinded by the success of having reached so great a
height and blindly stroll down into the easy valley, losing the golden opportunity to reach
greater heights at the time when they were strong and hardy, and accustomed to peril and
toil. Still, in reaching even the lowest peak, they have left marks on the steep sides of
human life through self-sacrifice, which will guide the next weary traveler and perhaps
enable him to reach greater heights.
Thus civilizations rise and fall and individuals leave their shining marks on the
pathway of life.
Great and vast are the multitudes who have beaten down the path, hundreds who
have lived and died, to the world unknown, giving their lives on the altar of humanity -
swelling the great symphony of life - leaving behind a new hope, invisible as yet, to the on-
coming host, building a living bridge with their souls over the great chasm of selfishness
and separateness, cutting with their hands and feet till they bleed, a pathway to the
entrance of the "mystic portal" - writing messages of warning and swelling the great "song
of life."
We may read the names of many, many turned out into the darkness, or what
appeared darkness to the scoffers - beaten, scourged, crucified, yet unmurmuring, pitying
the ignorance of those who beat them - who knew not what they did.
Bring your Soul in accord with the Souls of others and human testimony will not be
necessary to prove to you who are the Saviors of the Race.
To us in the western world there is no figure so prominent or familiar as the lowly
Nazarene - humble but majestic in his humility - truly a King. Many such had come before
him, many have come since - some we know well. Their lives speak the great lesson to
be learned.
The World is a great Orchestra and choir, and each one of us a living instrument that
must be properly tuned or be cast out.
The strong have reached the mystic portals - some have passed through, behind
which as a vast choir all the good they have done bursts forth in a great symphony - "the
gladness of the world" - each instrument of well tempered

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metal, each string of well proven strength - proven in the great fire of self-sacrifice, of
renunciation, of the personal to the impersonal, of the individual to the Self of all.
Each planet sings its song whirling through space and all make the music of the
spheres.
I think a quotation from the little book entitled "Choir Invisible," by James Lane Allen,
will complete my idea, which was inspired by the reading of that book.
"Have you ever thought how much of life can be expressed in terms of music?
Every civilization has given out its distinct musical quality; the ages have their peculiar
tones; each century its key, its scale. For generations you can hear nothing but the pipes,
during other generations nothing but the lyre. Think of the long, long time among the
Romans when your ear is reached by the trumpet alone.
"Then again whole events in history come down to me with the effect of an
orchestra, playing in the distance; single lives sometimes like a great solo.
"As for the people I know or have known, some have to me the sound of brass,
some the sound of wood, some the sound of strings.
"Only - so few, so very few, yield the perfect music of their kind.
"The brass is a little loud; the wood is a little too muffled; the strings - some of the
strings are invariably broken.
"Martin Luther, he was a cathedral organ, and so it goes. And so the whole past
sounds to me; it is the music of the world; it is the vast choir of the ever-living dead.
"Plato! he is the music of the stars.
"The most we can do is to begin a strain that will swell the general volume and last
on after we have perished."

---------------
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OUR PYGMY BROTHERS

 by F. M. G. Camp

ACCORDING to that eminent man of science, M. de Quatrefages, the pygmies or

dwarf tribes of the human race may be divided into two great divisions - the Eastern and
the Western. The Eastern comprises all those tribes found among the South Sea Islands
and on the Asian Continent and in Japan. The Western, those of Africa. Of the two
divisions the Eastern is somewhat better known, owing to the efforts of the English traveler
- Mr. Man. This gentleman resided among the Mincopies, the dwarf tribe found among the
Andaman Islanders, for a number of years, and his observations are largely utilized by M.
de Quatrefages in his work on "The Pygmies."
What Mr. Man did among the Mincopies Mr. Hahn did among the tiny Bushmen of
South Africa. The testimony of these two men in particular refutes the generally accepted
opinion that all these dwarfs races are a little less than human, and scarcely superior to the
ape. In his work, M. de Quatrefages collects an enormous array of facts to prove the
contrary. The true pygmy, he declares, should not be confounded with the men of short
stature (a very common error*); nor with hairy peoples; nor with the negro proper. For
though black, and having kinky and woolly hair, they have none of the other racial
characteristics of the true negro; they are a smooth-skinned and hairless people as to
body, and the Eastern pygmies are generally remarkable for well-proportioned stature and
good features. The skulls of all are broad

-----------
* The average height of the true pygmy is from 36 to 38 inches.
-----------

rather than long; jaws very slightly - if at all - prognathous; hands and feet very small and
delicate. All these and other points, taken along with their primitive ideas and customs
stamp them, according to M. de Quatrefages, as "truly human - true men," - and thus
entitled to our brotherly interest and sympathy. We will let his facts speak for themselves,
presenting the most important.
------

RELIGION
Among the Mincopies [Andamanese] there is a universal belief in a Supreme Being.
Here are their own terms describing this belief, as translated literally by Mr. Man:
"Although He resembles fire, He is invisible.
"He was never born and He is immortal.
"By Him were created the world, all things animate and inanimate - except the
powers of evil.
"He is angry when one commits certain sins, and full of pity for the unhappy and
miserable and sometimes He deigns to help them. It is He who judges the souls after
death, and pronounces for each of them its sentence."
"His name is Puluga. He dwells in a great stone mansion in the sky; when it rains
he descends to gather food - grains, fruits and seeds. It is from the hands of Puluga that
we receive all that supports us.
"Puluga himself never kills the guilty; He points them out to a class of bad spirits
called Chol,
"Puluga is not alone in His palace. He lives with a woman of green color whom He
has created for Himself, and

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who has two names, one of them signifying 'Mother Eel.' By her he had a son who lives
with his parents and is their prime minister. There are many daughters. They bear the
name Moro-win (spirits of heaven). They are a kind of good angel or power. Besides these
are many spirits of evil - self-created, that have existed from time immemorial.
"The chol, however, - executors of Puluga's vengeance, have a totally different origin
- a common ancestor, mainchol - a man, who perished miserably after committing the crime
of stealing a pig killed by one of his fellows. 'He lives on the invisible bridge' between earth
and heaven, and he and his descendants are under the form of black birds with long tails.
"The sun and moon figure as secondary deities among the Mincopies. They do not
appear to worship them, but (like the Bushmen) honor them with certain observances. The
Bushmen also celebrate the rising of the Pleiades with something like a religious festival.
Though both divisions of the Pygmy race do not appear to worship trees or rocks, yet they
seem to attach significance to certain localities legendary or traditional. Moreover, the
Bushman hails the rising of the sun by a few moments of silent meditation, paid in a solitary
spot, just before dawn.
"Among the Mincopies even Puluga does not appear to be the object of any external
worship. He is sometimes prayed to as the 'Giver of Life,' and during a tempest He is
recognized as a sort of Thunderer or Jove, and the leaves of the Mimusops Indica are
sometimes burnt in his honor or as a propitiation."

MORAL NOTIONS.
"These little negritos," says Mr. Man, "have moral notions similar to our own, and
their conduct is generally in accord - when not contaminated by intercourse with the whites.
"Rape, seduction, and unnatural vice appear to be unknown among them. Adultery
is very rare. Marriage is strictly monogamous - and usually happy.
"Lying, theft, murder, adultery, etc., are all regarded as crimes which arouse the
wrath of Puluga. The children of both sexes are carefully looked after as to morals. They
have what they call a 'guardian of the youth.' Boys and girls, husband and wife - all have
equal rights. A father calls his son 'He whom I have begotten.' A mother calls him, 'He
whom I have borne.' This in itself shows an intelligent conception of parentage.
"The rights of property are strictly respected. Hospitality is one of the characteristic
virtues of the Mincopies. Children from the most tender age are taught to respect guests
and friends. In each family there is constantly kept an amount of food for visitors who may
arrive.
"Of course they have their share of human weakness and sometimes quarrel and
fight among themselves. Charges of cruelty to shipwrecked strangers have a basis of truth,
but the fact that they have always suffered at the hands of invaders, pirates, thugs, etc.,
has made them unduly suspicious of newcomers. Once treat them fairly and they lay their
enmity aside. Cannibalism is not practiced among them. It is the last resort of desperate
starvation - and rare at that.
 "Their social state is communal. The influence of chiefs is principally moral. They
have wise men, and a sort of magic is practiced by the latter..... As a whole the little people
are honest, kindly, industrious, morally upright, and governed by religious ideas which are
in part as lofty as any held by their more civilized brethren."

NATURE OR MAN: THE OTHER LIFE

According to the Mincopies man is a triple being, constituted of body, soul and spirit,
the latter two invisible. The

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spirit is black (with them a good color) and the soul, red. "From the former proceeds all
good, from the latter, all bad." "The soul quits the body in dreams - the sleeper being
conscious of what it, the soul, sees and does." They therefore pay especial attention to
dreams.
"At death the soul and spirit are separated. The spirit goes to heaven where it
continues all its earthly occupations. The soul being guilty of all the wrong doing of the
man, goes to a sort of purgatory, a place of punishment which however, does not endure
forever." Their purgatory is ice-cold, and queerly enough is located above heaven.
Between earth and heaven is an "invisible bridge of rushes."

REINCARNATION.
"If the dead person be a child under six years of age, its soul and spirit do not
separate. They betake themselves to a certain locality - subterrene, and are placed under
a fig tree, the fruit of which serves as their food." They return to earth and are again
reborn.
Every woman who has lost a little child looks for its return as the soul of her next
child, and if that child be of the same sex, she is sure it is the same one and gives it the
same name.
"The Mincopies have some vague teachings that their early ancestors could take on
the form of marine and terrestrial animals. They have traditions of a Deluge. A very
interesting tradition connected with it is that after the deluge one of their ancestors returned
from the subterrene world with the gift of fire which he had stolen from Puluga.
"The world, the Mincopies regard as flat. It rests upon an immense Palm Tree. Its
roots are below the earth.
"There will be a general resurrection, which will be ushered in by an earthquake
brought about by Puluga. The Palm Tree which supports the earth will be broken; the
earth itself will turn. Then all living will change places with their deceased ancestors. For
the latter a new life will begin like the present - but sickness and death will have
disappeared, and there will be no more marriage.
"Experiments in education show that the Pygmies are capable of great intellectual
development - on a par with the average white. The language of all is of the agglutinative
order, and very rich in words. But every little tribe has its own language differing from that
of adjacent tribes as much as Russian does from English. This separation as to languages
occurred after the deluge - by order of Puluga."
The pygmies of the Philippines, are called Aetas. Such first-hand knowledge of
them as we possess shows them similar to the Mincopies in character and disposition. But
contact with the whites has caused them to degenerate sadly. So with those also in all the
other parts of the world where they abide. Disease, moral and physical, has set in to their
undoing. Soon, like the Tasmanians and other South Sea Islanders, they will pass away
as a race and the world will know them no more.
As they are, the Universal Brotherhood Organization embraces them in its intent,
and as an integral part of humanity, we owe our pygmy brothers our fraternal interest,
sympathy and service.

------------
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WILL AND IDEA

EXTRACTS CONDENSED FROM BALZAC'S "LOUIS LAMBERT"
Translated by Harriet Green Courtis

THE next day after dinner we started for a walk, our goal being the celebrated castle
of Rochambeau. We walked rapidly until we reached a little hill from which we could see
both the castle half way up the mountain and the winding valley where the river ran
sparkling through the gently sloping meadows. A beautiful landscape! so full of charm! My
companion cried out suddenly, "I saw all this last night in my dream!" I asked him if he
might not have come here in his childhood; my question startled him, but after thinking
awhile, he answered in the negative. From this strong impression analogous to some
phenomena of sleep known by many people, he later deduced a system resembling
Cuvier's in another order of things - i.e., seizing a fragment of thought and building upon
that basis a whole structure. Seated upon an old oak trunk he said to me, "If the landscape
did not come to me, which is absurd to think of, I myself came here, to it. If I was here
while I was sleeping quietly in my bed, does not this fact prove a complete separation
between my body and my inner self? Does this not attest to some locomotive faculty of the
mind? or to an effect equivalent to the change in location of the body? Now if my soul and
my body could leave each other in sleep, why should I not be able to separate them while
awake? I see no middle term between those two propositions. But to go farther into
details: Either these facts are brought about by means of a faculty which makes use of a
second being for which my body serves as an envelope, since as I lay in bed I saw this
landscape, - and this idea upsets many systems; - or, these facts took place either in some
nervous centre, whose name is unknown to me, where sensation arises, or in the cerebral
centre whence come ideas. This last hypothesis raises strange questions. I walked, I saw,
I heard. Motion is inconceivable without space, sound acts only in angles or over surfaces,
and color is caused by light. If during the night, with my eyes shut, I have seen within
myself colored objects, if I have heard noises in the most absolute silence and without the
conditions for the formation of sound, if, in a perfectly motionless state I traverse space,
there must be internal faculties, independent of physical, external laws. Material nature
must be penetrable by spirit. How is it that man has not thought that these events during
sleep prove a double life?
"If there is not a new science in this phenomenon, it shows enormous powers in
man, and also a frequent separation of our two natures. I have at last discovered a proof
of the superiority of our latent senses over those that are apparent! Man is duplex! Sight
and hearing are the sheaths of a marvelous tool perhaps."
After a pause, with a doubtful gesture, he went on "perhaps we have not in us these
two natures. We may be simply endowed with hidden and perfectible qualities whose
exercise, whose development, produce in us two phenomena of activity, of penetration, of
vision hither-

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to unnoticed. In our love of the marvelous, a passion created by our pride, we transform
these effects into poetic creations because we do not understand them. It is so natural to
deify the incomprehensible! Ah! I confess I should weep over the ruin of my illusions. I
long to believe in this double nature of man. Will a new knowledge prevent? Examination
of our unknown faculties implies an apparently materialistic science, for the Spirit employs,
divides, animates substance, but does not destroy it." This day's thought led to a treatise
on the Will, just as the electric sensation always felt by Mesmer when his valet approached
him, proved to be the origin of his discoveries in magnetism hitherto hidden in the depths
of the mysteries of Isis, of Delphi, or of the Cave of Trophonius. His ideas began to extend
to grand proportions; he separated scattered truths and brought them together; then like
a smelter, he fused all in one group. His philosophical speculations ought to admit him
among the number of those great thinkers who appear among men to reveal principles of
a coming science, whose roots grow slowly to bear some day rich fruitage in the domain
of intelligence.
He held that the word Will served to denote the centre whence Thought evolved, or
to speak less abstractly - the mass of force by which man can reproduce, outside himself,
actions which make up his external life. Will and Thought are the two generating powers,
Volition and Idea are the two products. Volition seemed to him to be the idea, having
passed from an abstract to a concrete condition, from fluid to a solid state, if one can
express by such words, subtile perception. Thus Thought and Ideas are the movement and
acts of the inner organism as Volition and Will are those of the outer man. He often asked
himself whether the principles of electricity did not enter as base in the very fluid from
whence rushes forth ideas and volition; whether the human hair which becomes
discolored, fades, falls and disappears according to the different degrees of decay, or by
the crystallization of thought, whether it did not form a system of electric capillarity either
absorbing or exhaling. If the fluid phenomena of our Will - a substance procreated in us
and so spontaneously reactive at the Will of unknown conditions, were more extraordinary
than those of the invisible fluid produced by the voltaic pile upon the nervous system of a
dead man.
Whether the formation of our ideas and their constant exhalation were less
incomprehensible than is the evaporation of the imperceptible atoms of a grain of musk
which loses no weight by the action?
Whether - allowing to the cutaneous system a defensive, absorbing, exuding and
tactile purpose - the circulation of the blood and its apparatus does not answer to the
transubstantiation of our Will, as the circulation of the nervous fluid responds to that of
Thought?
Finally, whether the influence of these two real substances does not result from a
certain perfection or imperfection of organs whose conditions must be studied in all their
phases?
These principles established, he classed the phenomena of human life in two series
of distinct effects, and demanded for each of them an especial analysis. After admitting,
after long observation, two separate motions in all creation, he named this antagonism,
which is vital: Action and Reaction.
He said: "A desire is a fact accomplished in our Will before becoming so externally.
This the totality of our volitions and of our ideas constitutes Action, and the totality of our
external acts is Reaction. Nature has delighted in having a double design in the different
constitutive apparatus of her creatures, and the double action of our organism

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supports by proofs of daily occurrence these deductions relative to Action and Reaction.
The inner being - the active one - the hitherto unknown species - designates the
mysterious ensemble of little fibres to which are due the different powers - not yet
completely observed - of Thought and Will; in fact this unnamed being, acting, bringing
everything to a conclusion, accomplishing all before any bodily demonstration, this inner
self should not, conformably to its nature, be subjected to any of the physical conditions by
which the visible man - the external being - is hindered in his manifestations. Heaven
perhaps is the survival of our perfected faculties, and Hell, the abyss into which our
imperfections fall.
In the centuries between Christ and Descartes, between Faith and Doubt, why not
explain the mysteries of our inner nature by a divine intervention? Of whom, if not of God
himself, can the savants demand reason for an invisible creature, actively and reactively
sensitive, gifted with such extended faculties, so perfectible, so powerful under certain
occult conditions that often he is seen, by means of phenomena of vision or of locomotion,
to annihilate space, that is, its two modes of Time and Distance, the one intellectual and
the other physical space? Again the past is reconstructed, either by the power of
retrospection or by the mystery of a palingenesis quite like the power a man may exercise
of divining by the covering, lineaments, roots of a grain or seed - its former blossoming time
with all the varieties of the tints, the perfumes and forms; and finally, sometimes he may
be able to divine the future, either by discernment of first causes or by a phenomenon of
physical foresight.
Other men less poetically religious, cold reasoners, charlatans maybe, enthusiasts
through the brain, at least if not the heart, recognizing some of those isolated phenomena,
consider them as true without seeing them to be radiations from a common centre. Each
person wishes to convert one simple fact into a science. Thence arise demonology,
astrology (judicial), sorcery, finally all divinations founded on essentially transitory accidents
which vary according to temperaments, at will of circumstances still entirely unknown. But
from these learned errors, church trials and lawsuits to which the martyrs succumbed,
resulted splendid proof of the enormous power of the inner being (astral), translator, which
can isolate itself completely from the outer reactionary man, break its envelope, cause its
walls to fall before the all powerful sight of this inner man; then by use of another faculty,
can seize in the brain, in spite of its thickest circumvolutions, the ideas which have formed
or are forming there, as well as the past of the consciousness.
 Following step by step, the effects of thought and of will in all their methods, a crowd
of phenomena can be explained which justly have been considered incomprehensible.
Thus sorcery, the possessed, second sight, demoniacs of all kinds, can be explained so
naturally that this very simplicity seems the stamp of truth.
The marvelous gifts of powers which the Romish Church punished by the stake were
the result of certain affinities between the constituent principles of Matter and those of
thought, which proceed from the same source. The man with a hazel wand, finding springs
of living water by its aid - obeys a certain sympathy or some antipathy unknown to himself.
Phenomena of sympathies have rarely been verified but those feelings which arise from
thwarted or opposed affinities have been very fortunately noted whenever they occurred
to celebrated persons.
Erasmus had fever from the smell of fish, Bayle fell into convulsions if he heard
water running, Scaliger turned pale at the sight of water cresses; all

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these three antipathies arose from aquatic substances. Marie de Medici always fell ill on
seeing a rose, even a painted one. Tycho Brahe fainted if he saw a fox. Bacon was
always ill during an eclipse of the moon and could not be said to be alive even, yet when
the phenomenon had ceased he rose and felt no inconvenience or effect afterwards. A
logical and simple deduction from the principles of the Swiss Dr. Mesmer, caused my friend
to see that Will, through some movement of the inner being, might collect itself, then project
itself outside even upon material objects. So the entire force of a human being might have
the property of reacting upon others, penetrating them with an essence foreign to them,
unless they defend themselves against this aggression. Will and Thought are living forces
in a way visible and tangible.
Sometimes in the midst of calmness and silence when our inner faculties are asleep
or when we fall into a reverie contemplating external things, suddenly an idea darts, passes
with the rapidity of lightning through infinite spaces into which our inner sight gives us
vision. This brilliant idea, like a will o' the wisp, never returns. It is an ephemeral existence.
Often, the idea instead of springing up with force and dying stillborn, begins to peep forth -
it balances itself in the unknown limbo of the organs that give it birth, it develops, becomes
fruitful, grows in its youthful grace and commands the admiration at last that carefully
elaborated works excite. Sometimes ideas come in swarms, one leads to another; some
ideas are a complete system like a sort of blossoming. Everything in us and without,
proves the life of such creations that I call flowers. Their production as object of man, is
besides no more astonishing than that of perfumes and colors in the plant. Perfumes are
ideas perhaps! Thinking of the inexplicable and invisible mystery of the constant
transformation of our fluids into horn which takes place at the line where our flesh ends and
the finger-nail begins, we must admit that nothing is impossible in the marvelous
modifications of human substance. Do we not notice in moral nature phenomena of motion
or weight like those in physical nature. Waiting - to choose an example all can sympathize
with - is tiresome only by the effect of the law in virtue of which the weight of a body is
multiplied by its velocity. The burden of the feeling of fatigue which waiting produces, is
increased by a constant addition of past sufferings of the kind, to the pain of the moment.
To what, if not to an electrical substance, can we attribute the magic by which Will
enthrones itself so majestically in a look, beating down all obstacles, at the command of a
strong soul? The current of this king of fluids is the occult minister to whom are due the
fatal or benevolent efforts of the arts and of passions, whether the intonations of the voice,
rude, suave, terrible, blood-curdling or seducing by turns - vibrate in the heart, in the
entrails, or in the brain, at the pleasure of our will; - again all the delusions of touch, whence
proceeds the mental transfusions of artists whose creative hands evoke nature after many
passionate studies; then the infinite gradations of the eye from the absolute inertia at first
to the most terrible of glances. God loses none of his rights. Material thought adds new
grandeurs to our conceptions.

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GEORGE WASHINGTON
by G. A. Marshall

IF it be true, as Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll has said, that Washington has become
to the American people only a steel engraving, it is high time that those who have the
welfare of the country at heart should bestir themselves to revive and arouse a living
memory of his life and character. Let me first call your attention to a short quotation from
the Encyclopedia Britannica:
"It was more than appropriate that he who had been the mainspring of the war, and
had borne far more than his share of its burdens and discouragements, should end it with
the campaign of Yorktown, conceived by himself, and the surrender of Cornwallis. The war
was then over, but the Commander-in-chief retained his commission until December 28,
1783, when he returned it to Congress, then in session at Annapolis, Md., and retired to
Mount Vernon.
"By this time the canonization of Washington had fairly begun. He occupied such
a position in the American political system as no man can possibly hold again. He had
become a political element, quite apart from the Union, the States, or the people of either.
In a country where communication was still slow and difficult, the general knowledge that
Washington favored anything superseded argument and the necessity of information with
very many men.... On resigning his commission.... he was able to do what no other man
could have done with propriety or safety: he addressed a circular letter to the governors
of the States pointing out changes in the existing form of government which he believed to
be necessary.... He might have had a crown if he had even been willing. The army, at the
end of the war, was justly dissatisfied with its treatment..... His influence, and that alone,
secured the quiet disbanding of the discontented army. His influence was as powerful after
he had retired to Mount Vernon as before his resignation. He was in constant
correspondence with public men in every part of the country.... The current of events
leading into the Annapolis convention of 1785, and the final convention of the next year [in
which the Constitution was framed], show Washington's close supervision at every point." -
Enc. Brit., Stoddart ed., vol. xxiv., p. 410.
Such is the estimate by a foreign writer of Washington's character, position and
influence at the close of the war of the Revolution, and during the time of the formation of
the Constitution. This estimate is a lofty one; let us recall briefly some of the events of his
life, and see if it is not just.
He was the son of a Virginia planter; and although one biographer has traced his
genealogy back to Odin, it cannot be satisfactorily shown beyond the emigration of his
great-grandfather to Virginia in 1657. His boyhood life was like that common in the colony
among families in easy circumstances. "Hunting, fishing, plantation affairs, and a little
reading made up its substance. His education was but elementary and very defective,
except in mathematics, in which he was largely self-taught." At the age of sixteen, he was
appointed surveyor of the vast Fairfax estates, and followed that pursuit three years. At
nineteen, in anticipation of the outbreak of the French and Indian war, he was

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appointed adjutant of the Virginia troops, with the rank of major; in 1753, when barely of
age, he was made commander of the northern military district of Virginia; and his gallant
conduct in leading the troops that began hostilities gave him such distinction that in 1755,
at the age of twenty-three, he was commissioned Commander-in-chief of all the Virginia
forces. In 1758 he commanded the advance guard of the expedition which captured Fort
Du Quesne. "The war in Virginia being at an end, he resigned his post.... and settled at
Mount Vernon."
"His life for the next fifteen years was that of a typical planter, a consistent member
of the Episcopal Church.... a strict but considerate master, and a widely trusted man of
affairs..... His diaries show comparatively little reading, a minutely methodical conduct of
business, and a wide acquaintance with the leading men of the country."
He was modest and unostentatious, and did not seek personal advancement or push
his claims for place, but he kept closely in touch with all public events, and he was
repeatedly elected to the Virginia Legislature. He was one of the delegates from Virginia
to the Continental Congress in 1774; and after the battle of Lexington he was selected as
Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the United Colonies. He refused a salary, but
accepted payment of his expenses, of which he rendered a strict account. He was
commissioned May 19, 1775; reached Cambridge July 2 in that year; employed the
autumn and winter in organizing and disciplining and equipping the army, and in March,
1776, he drove the British army out of Boston. "From that time until his death he was the
foremost man on the continent."
The colonies were poor, unaccustomed to act together, and jealous of each other;
the congress was without authority to enforce its requisitions for men or money; and the
different sections were settled by men of different traditions, habits of life, and purposes.
Personal as well as local ambitions and jealousies must be met and overcome. Nothing
but the weight of his personal character, made effective by constant correspondence and
earnest appeal to the leading men of the several colonies, enabled him to keep alive the
love of liberty among the people and sustain the flagging zeal of his discouraged followers.
The same personal influence enabled him to disband at the end of the war his unpaid and
ill-clad troops, and send them without mutiny to their homes.
He retired to Mount Vernon, to be again called out in 1785 to attend the convention
to form a more perfect union, which resulted in the formation of the present constitution.
He was offered a crown, but refused it; he was active and influential in the foundation of
the Republic, and with reluctance accepted the presidency in the new government; he
wished to retire at the end of his first term, and insisted upon doing so at the expiration of
the second.
Always reluctant to take office, either civil or military, he was zealous, painstaking
and efficient in every official duty after it was once assumed. Impelled by the force of
circumstances, and in virtue of his towering and overmastering ability and influence, he
held really, though not in name, a dictatorship from the time of his commission as
commander-in-chief in 1775 to the time of his election to the presidency under the
constitution in 1789. He was in very deed
"first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow citizens."
Where shall we look for the secret of his power? Was it in his magnificent physical
development? He stood six feet three in height, and had a frame and form proportional to
his stature; but we know that many well-built giants are noted for nothing above the
reputation of a John C. Heenan. Was it in his intellectual acquirements? He was al-

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most entirely without scholastic training and the lore of books and teachers; his training
was in the school of experience, a school which he shared with a multitude of pioneers and
frontiersmen who have shown no such ability. Was it in a direct spiritual intuition, a gift
from God as the Father of spirits? He never manifested any such spiritual qualities; and
in fact devout spirituality is not generally considered a stepping stone to military or political
preferment. Nor will the fact that in him was an unusually perfect balance of the three
factors, of body, soul and spirit, furnish a sufficient and satisfactory explanation of his
greatness. If any choose to believe that George Washington was created and endowed
with his superlative qualities by direct, miraculous intervention of Almighty God for the
special purpose of establishing a free nation in America, it is only necessary to say that the
character thus created was worthy of its creator. This doctrine of special creation has been
and doubtless still is held by many; but the trend of opinion now is toward looking for the
explanation of all events in the operation of natural forces working in obedience to
immutable laws. This does not mean to dethrone Deity and to deify Law, but to consider
that God is, as the apostle puts it, "without variableness or shadow of turning," and that Law
is only the manifestation of Divine Order in action.
Especially is much stress now laid on the law of heredity in accounting for individual
characteristics. Evolution has come to be the generally accepted doctrine of the origin of
humanity as well as of all else in nature. Undoubtedly Washington inherited his large
degree of physical perfection from his physical ancestors - but is there anything in his
known genealogy that will account for him as a native, untaught intellectual giant? No; and
in this he is not unique. In the greatness of his manhood - an equal and uniform greatness
in all qualities of mind and heart - he is unique; but not in the utter inadequacy of his
ancestry to account for that greatness. We need only recall the names of Lincoln, Franklin,
Shakspere, Milton, and many others who, so far as mental heredity is concerned, are as
utterly without visible ancestry as was Melchisedek of old. That there is a genuine heredity
of mind and spirit as well as of body we may well believe; but it is a heredity whose course
is, figuratively speaking, mostly under ground, and only comes prominently into view when
a great man is raised up to meet an extraordinary occasion.
The whole truth in regard to this complex, triple heredity of body, soul, and spirit is
not yet discovered. Glimpses of part of the truth have been caught, and profound theories
of survival of the fittest, of atavism, etc., have been enunciated, but these do not account
for all the facts. Larger and juster views may perhaps be reached by comparing the
observations of men of different times and of different nations and races. Students of
mythology agree that many of the personages worshiped as gods in the several pantheons
are the exaggerated representations of divinely endowed men, who by their superior
powers wrought deliverance for their people, or led them out into a higher and better life.
In the Hindu mythology perhaps no manifestation of deity holds a higher rank than
that of Krishna, the friend and counselor of Arjuna in the civil war which in so-called
prehistoric times resulted in the overthrow of usurpation, the uplifting of the nation, and the
restoration of the rightful claimant to the throne. Indeed, the similarity of the name and of
several incidents in his life led many to suppose, when the Hindu records were first
rendered into English, that the life of Krishna as there given was merely an adaptation of
the biography given in the gospels of the founder

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of Christianity; but later investigations by the best Sanscrit scholars carry these records
back many centuries before the Christian era. Krishna is worshiped as a god by millions
of people in Hindustan, and the date of his death, the 17th day of February, 3102 B. C., is
commemorated as the beginning of the black age of misery and iron. But Krishna himself
is represented in the great epic which gives the history of the war just now referred to as
saying that his wisdom was not a divine gift, but was the result of the training and
experience gained in many previous lives as a man on earth. This feature of evolution
sounds strange to our ears, but it was a common belief among the nations of antiquity, and
is still maintained by a majority of the inhabitants of the earth. It is implied in the expression
of Horace, "Late may you return to heaven," in his ode to Augustus Caesar, the ruler of the
Roman world in its Augustan age of highest glory. It is also recognized in the writings of
several of the Christian fathers. Taken in connection with the fundamental law of evolution,
that every effect presupposes a cause, or rather a combination of many causes, it seems
indeed the most natural thing in the universe that a man who has improved the
opportunities of many lives, who has, as Browning puts it,

"Given up [him]self so many times,

Gained [him] the gains of various men,
Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes,"

should follow the "gossamer links" of the higher heredity "out from the shores of the great
unknown," and in a noble form prepared by a suitable physical heredity, take the helm and
pilot a struggling nation into the safe harbor of higher privileges and greater opportunities
for the development of humanity. Such a man was Washington; his body received the
possibility of manly perfection from his ancestors; that body was merely a recombination
of material elements under the laws of material development; but it is incredible that the
real George Washington, the imperial soul that informed and controlled that body, and
conducted the American colonies through all the discouragements of oppression,
selfishness, jealousy and treason to independence under a free and stable government -
it is incredible, I say, that such a soul began its existence on February 22, 1732, and
reached the zenith of its power within three score years and ten. No; George Washington
claims and holds a place in the ranks of those great souls who have

"Gained the gains of various men.

Ransacked the ages, spoiled the climes,"

and reappeared upon earth from time to time gaining new experience and helping the
upward march of humanity. Human nature shows an infinite possibility of growth,
expansion and perfection; and George Washington, unapproachable as he may seem to
be in virtue of his supreme ability as a leader of men, and yet more in virtue of his self-
sacrifice and altruism, furnishes a model toward which we may all strive to attain.

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SELF-KNOWLEDGE
by Herbert Coryn

THE Delphic injunction "know thyself" implies the possibility of the achievement, and
there is no one with so little time and power that he cannot go some way upon this path.
Each of us has to look into himself, and each is helped by learning from others what they
have found in their attempts. Each soul will find parts of itself that are beautiful and parts
that are hideous, and it is necessary to face them all. It is easier to deal with the baser
ones when we have thoroughly exposed them. The classifying is not easy; some of the
parts cannot be instantly labeled "good" or "bad"; there is a mixture, and it is subtle. Some
of the parts seem to have a consciousness and independent life of their own; they argue
or appear to be pained when we label them "bad"; they take subtler forms and creep in
closer; sometimes they masquerade under the guise of some virtue. A man may decide
that the wish to go to theatres is bad and must be killed. But it may refuse to die and thus
explain itself - "I am not the wish to go to the theatre for myself, but that I may raise the
tone of theatrical performances and benefit the people." The members of the "Church and
Stage Guild" might perhaps look to this little point. All the lower wishes are infinitely tricksy.
It is much simpler for the Demon to imitate the Deus or add a small percentage of Deus to
himself than to reverse himself and become the Deus. So we have to work firmly, carefully,
and honestly. Then we get the help of the higher parts, those that see in truth.
Some of the old writers prayed to the Lord that he would be adjuvant, before they
entered on any philosophical investigation. They said "may the sight of That One who is
vision itself be also our sight." We could not do better than imitate, raising the same
petition, if our dissection is to be solemn and real. The naked truth about our lower nature
is seen long before we can fully act upon what we see. There need be no discouragement
in that. For a long time after we know the good we do the evil things as usual. Knowing
the fiend to be the fiend, we yet obey. No one is strong enough to erect a dead wall
against which the forces of old habit shall at once wreck themselves utterly.
Let us enumerate at random a few things discoverable on dissection and state a few
problems that come up for solution.
 Suppose a man sits thinking over something that excites high feeling and takes his
consciousness to its highest levels. His cigarette is half burned through as he meditates,
and the long ash is bending over. He finds that whereas one part of his consciousness
remains loftily occupied, there is also a part which from time to time says trivially to itself
"How long will it be before that inch of ash falls off?" It is concerned for the welfare of his
trousers and takes precautions that it shall not fall there. Then perhaps comes a whisper
from another dark corner of consciousness. "How far above the common run of men am
I!" So, although he is really in a state of high feeling, part of him is in a state of vanity, part
occupied with the welfare of his trousers. Which are his thoughts and feelings, or are they
all his? And where are the separate parts of him, so to speak, to which they can be traced?

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Or suppose our man is rather addicted to alcohol, and is trying to give it up. In the
morning, it may be, he has no trouble. But in the afternoon he is suddenly swept away by
the impulse to have some. He resists; within his consciousness are two contending forces,
and after awhile he is led, against his wishes, his legs actuated by an enemy, towards a
place where alcohol is obtainable. It would seem that human consciousness is the
battlefield of many entities, distinct and often contending.
I once knew a woman who began to imagine that her children were ceasing to care
for her, but intermixedly with this she knew that their affections had not changed. Then she
thought, whilst simultaneously knowing that it was not true, that they were plotting against
her. The fight went on for months, but at last she gave way, and that in her which
suspected the plots quite absorbed her consciousness and blotted out that which knew that
her children loved her as of old.
So it looks as if there were at least two beings in each of us; a higher, who should
be onlooker at the impulses, thoughts, and doings of the lower, but who often or usually
gets drowned or self-forgetfully absorbed in these; and a lower who is the seat of
sensuality, vanity, suspicion and the lower aspects of consciousness generally, and who
interpolates trivialities when the higher part wants to think worthily.
This was Arjuna's problem. "By what, O Krishna, is man propelled toward offences;
seemingly against his will and as if dominated by some secret force?" And Krishna
answers, "It is passion, the enemy of man on earth," treating it thus as distinct from, though
present in, man.
The problem is pictured in Wagner's drama, Lohengrin. The human soul, Elsa, is
communing in divine rest with Lohengrin, Lohengrin standing here for the spirit of the soul,
its inspiration and the prompter of its "dreams"; just as sometimes we lay down some high
book and stay awhile, floating on the wings of thought. Yet at that very moment in the
darkness without the chamber, Ortrud, representing the dark elements in consciousness
below the human soul proper, is plotting an evil to ripen in the immediate future and
overthrow the union of Elsa and Lohengrin.
The seeds of our conscious failings are often sowed in the fields of
unconsciousness. Happily it is the same with the seeds of good. Lohengrin, Elsa, and
Ortrud have each their level of consciousness. When we are most utterly at peace with our
better nature, the forces of evil within us may be making ready for their next completely
victorious attack, called by us "the reaction." Often two currents are to be felt. Let some
calamity be impending, say a bankruptcy. We may give our "whole attention" to some other
matter, but all the time we are conscious of an uneasy background, a cloud over the heart,
as if some one muttered ceaselessly "bankruptcy, bankruptcy." The undercurrent may not
always be so unpleasant. For instance we occasionally become aware that for the last ten
minutes we have been dimly hearing a phrase of music or a melodious line of poetry, and,
in addition to our proper color of consciousness, it has a subshade of the color of the
phrase of music.
The lower thing or being, in consciousness, seems to be always watching us. You
say a neat thing in conversation. You hear it echoed in your mind; then that other tenant,
in the basement, adds on his own account "That was rather clever; how neat a
conversationalist am I." If you accept that, if you, the thinker, take up that wave of self-
approval into the permanent structure of your self-picture, you are lost. It will have to be
painfully dissected out by the sharp, slow knife of karmic circumstance. Just as mistaken,
from the same

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lower source, and more paralyzing to our work, is it to accept the thought, I am a complete
failure, useless, ignorant, uninteresting, unimportant. Humility and vanity are two poles of
the same vice, the hooking of the soul down to the level of a false self-estimation.
But whence come these things? What is this which against our wish is vain and
snarlish and suspicious, which is sometimes insane and irritable and selfish, forcing us
where we would not go; this evil conscious echo who waits outside the divine chamber of
thought, shooting malodorous vapors through the keyhole; the promoter of reactions of
jealousy, of ambition; the trifling elf who skips about disturbingly in the deeply thinking
brain; who reminds us of calamities to come and makes memories ferment into fruitless
and paralyzing remorse; who fears, who hates, who doubts where we know; who is full
of passion; who may lead on his victim to insanity, suicide, or murder?
Perhaps if we studied this creature or nest of creatures the path would seem a little
less formidable. It is sometimes formidable because of a number of injunctions written in
many places, all of which begin with the words "kill out," or "give me." It is hard to be told
that in order to live spiritually it is necessary to give up all that was hitherto accounted
pleasurable, and to kill out that which enjoyed the pleasure. Moreover it refuses to be
"killed," and cannot recognize that it is the same creature whose obviously evil courses we
have been considering. What will be left when the "giving up" and "killing out" is over? Will
anything remain to have, or will anything remain alive to have it? There are hearts that
well-nigh stop beating at the mere prospect.
Let us try and restate the case. It is just as well to have the shadow out in full view.
To classify pleasures as innocent and sinful is usual, especially in the churches.
It makes life very easy. Drink deep of the pleasures that are innocent, in their proper
degree and place; be honorable, and sin not, as men count sin; be religious in talk and
thought at the appointed times and places; be kindly. So run the injunctions of the
churches. By so doing you will lay up a sufficiency of treasures in heaven; and you will not
have denied yourself a reasonable amount of pleasure on earth. This is doubtless a fairly
easy programme, but if all men held to it, life would be a much better thing than it is.
It is however by no means a life of "giving up" and "killing out." If we are asked to
explain these hard sayings, what answer have we? If then, these and all similar emotions,
distract the attention of the soul from its proper aims, they must be "killed out" and "given
up." The saying is hard and we resent the inference. But when the process comes it may
not be so painful as it looks at first. Preliminarily it may be noted that the tunnel we are
actually going through is never so black from within as it looked from outside before we
entered it. And secondly, there is the continued tendency to grow out of pleasures and
thus to make the "giving up" superfluous. But some amount of conflict is inevitable, at
some point. We all gain the wish to work at our best, and to grow to our utmost. This may
not come at once. We preserve for a long time a degree of compromise, turning back from
time to time to the old methods of pleasure; some of them "innocent," some of them less
so, some of them positively approved and enjoined by the common judgment. But
throughout the times of work and of aspiration the soul has been growing in power and
wisdom, and of this the due recognition comes indirectly.
First is the sense of incongruity between the old pleasures and the new levels whose
attainment has begun.

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Then begins the suspicion, ripening to knowledge, that the work and the aspiration is the
feebler for each recurrence to pleasure. Then the pleasure begins to feel wrong, and the
rift in consciousness widens apace. Two warring elements are declared; one, longing for
the pleasure the more keenly that it is about to be denied it; the other, engendering at last
a sense of positive guilt when pleasure is allowed a place amidst our aims. These two are
henceforth irreconcilable, and the candidate faces his own dual nature. Now may come
his revolt, a fully chosen relapse upon the lower levels of his nature, or some disastrous
attempt to blend sensuality and spirituality. Putting this aside, there remains henceforth
nothing but a fight till one of the combatants is destroyed, a fight that for a long time turns
now this way and now that. The theatre of the fight is the mind; the candidate is himself
the general in both camps, and the armies are the upper and lower desires. All these have
to be studied, and the whole of the study is done by each upon himself. Wisdom in shilling
manuals will not suffice.
The mind will continue to deal with any subject upon which it is placed, until
disturbed, just as a cannon shot will continue to move in a straight line till something pulls
or pushes it out of that line, or interrupts it. In the case of the mind, the disturbing factors
are the desires, and because of these the mind remains but a little time quiet upon
anything.
Being in touch with the body, we are all of us in touch with the life of matter, for the
life of the body is the life of matter at its vividest. The life of the body sums up the other
kinds of matter-life, and also transcends them. As food and as air and otherwise, the
matter of the planet constantly circulates through it, and all the forces of matter constantly
play in it. Speaking from a deeper standpoint, for all matter is conscious in its way, we
learn and know concerning the consciousness of physical (including astral) nature by that
complete set of samples of it that exists in our own body.
Let us look at another possibility. The mind is not only open to influence from below,
but also to influence from above. But from above comes, not pictures, but something much
less defined, a subtle inspiration, a wave, a formless vision or feeling of possibility. "Thou
too, if thou wilt, canst be immortal." Such waves come to us all, even when we are but
casually thinking. They are inspiration, undefined promise, sight of possibility, half
realization of the unity of men, a far off view of the life to come on earth, a pressure
outward of the fire of Brotherhood, a breath from the Over-soul.
These things are not of the mind, but they come for a second down into it and awake
divine desire; as the others come up into it and awake fleshly desire. And unless these
two, the divine and the fleshly, came from consciousness, they could never be known by
and appeal to consciousness. Above and below the mind are two unending, unmixing
rivers of consciousness, and the mind of man is their meeting point. And for each mind
comes the conflict; which of the twain shall be desired in full. If the upper alone be finally
desired in full, then will come wisdom concerning upper and lower and of the lower, due
use in appointed ways according to the wisdom; but if the lower be finally desired in full,
then the mind becomes clouded, at last inchoate, dissolved away from its selfhood and lost
to humanity.

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MUSIC
by Edward C. Farnsworth

JUDGED from the standpoint of the occultist, music in its essential nature is a
subject whose full elucidation would demand an investigation into, and explanation of,
some of the greatest secrets of microcosmic and macrocosmic life.
It is therefore with some feeling of incompetence that I shall endeavor to present
what, at best, is a poor and incomplete statement of facts lying at the surface; leaving
unexplored many veins of thought whose following out would certainly lead to rich and
varied results.
In early days, much greater significance was attached to music than obtains in our
own time, notwithstanding the enormous development this art has reached both in
structural form and polyphonic complexity since the era beginning with Sebastian Bach.
To the wise among the ancients, music was not to be separated from Mathematics
and Philosophy; they formed an inseparable Trinity, whose final expression was Unity.
And because of this inter-blending, each contained within itself the full explanation of what
the others demonstrated. The modern science of Acoustics shows that every tone
represents a mathematically fixed number of vibrations. When sounded as single notes,
as chords, or combined with all the contrapuntal skill of Bach, or the knowledge of subtile
tone relations displayed by Wagner, the seven, or possible twelve, notes of the musical
scale represent a conglomeration of figures that should delight any mathematician. The
relation of music to mathematics is thus hinted at.
Science has shown everything in the material universe to be in a vibratory state;
color for instance represents a higher vibration than audible sound. It has also been shown
that color is sound though inaudible to us; and we may add without stretching the
conclusions of modern physics that all vibration is sound. Ancient wisdom declares the
manifested, - not merely objective, - universe to be made up of vibrations and their mutual
contacts; thus declaring the universality of sound.
 Philosophy was to the ancients no single department of knowledge, leaving religion
to be the plaything of dogmatists, for it synthesized in one grand harmonious whole the
Trinity of Science, Religion, and Philosophy. The relation of music and mathematics to
philosophy becomes apparent if we consider that each deals with vibrations, and that the
manifested universe is vibrating life and being. The great universal truths of philosophy
were perpetuated by the Mathematicians in various symbols, and it has been said the
Arabic numerals symbolize, especially in their original form, long forgotten truths made
public only within the last quarter of this century.
Having by way of introduction briefly indicated the mutual relations of music,
mathematics and philosophy; I shall proceed directly to more particular conclusions as to
the important part music plays in our human development. That music does play this
important part was fully realized by the old philosophers, consequently a theoretical
knowledge at least, of the art was an indispensable preliminary to admission into the
highest of their schools.
It was known to those qualified to impart wisdom, that an appreciation of

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harmonious sounds and a technical knowledge of their mutual relations, was no mean aid
in bringing the student into sympathetic vibration with the great harmonious laws of being;
quickening his perception of those spiritual laws and conditions of which the material plane,
the objective Universe, the field of modern scientific research, is but a distorted and
deluding reflection, and subject as such to radical change should man's power of cognition
suddenly be enlarged or diminished.
It was the conception of Pythagoras that the planets speeding on their circular paths
represented, each in its totality of vibratory force, and gave utterance to, some particularly
sound. These tones in their varied combinations produced, for beings capable of
perceiving them, the "music of the spheres." This is derided today by some, and yet, that
branch of science dealing with sound is working unconsciously toward the same
conclusion.
The ancient Chinese, Hindus, and some others, understood the seven and twelve
divisions of our diatonic musical scale. It was also known to ancient wisdom that each note
of the seven is capable of seven sub-divisions, making the total number forty-nine.
Moreover, the occult relations of the minor and major scales each to the other were known,
and that the seven and forty-nine divisions corresponded to other septenaries - some
secret - in nature and man. But the twelve notes of the chromatic scale are sufficient for
practical musical effect.
Could we, while acknowledging the universality of sound, extend the domain of our
observation beyond the limits of the physical organs of hearing, we should undoubtedly
know the varied harmonious forms of nature to be the outward expression of an euphony
having its origin in the beneficent laws guiding the atoms in their evolutionary progress.
The humble flower, with its perfection of color and symmetry of design, is a revelation of
harmony, an unheard musical idyl or lyric; or perchance it is some delicate instrument
unnoticed in the rush and sweep of nature's mighty symphonic crescendo; but in those
quieter, serener moments when the roar of brass and the roll of kettle-drums has ceased,
its peculiar penetrating power finds a way to the heart, there revealing its own individual
message. The potent if inaudible voices made manifest to the eye in the beauties of cloud
and sky; in the manifold marvels of budding springtime life; Summer's mature growth;
Autumn's ripening realization of earlier promise; and even Winter's season of recuperative
rest - all sing their song to the inner ear.
The winds, whispering their secrets through the dancing leaves; the artless calls of
forest birds; waves wheeling landward, breaking on the sandy shore, or encountering in
full course some defiant rock or promontory - all are vocal in that universal chorus. These
heard and unheard voices repeat with ever varying rhythm, polyphonic device or subtilely
graduated effect, one theme, "The essential underlying unity of all things." But, "while this
muddy vesture of decay doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."
It becomes the specific province of music to interpret these voices of the world
around us, but its power would be unfelt in human life, did not man, as the microcosm,
synthesize within himself at least potentially the Macrocosmic whole. If the great
mathematicians of the past perpetuated universal truths through glyph and symbol,
appealing therein to all future time, it becomes the province of Modern Music to bring home
to the very heart, in a manner particularly adapted to our own day and condition, the old,
always new axiom reiterated by Sage, Philosopher and Poet in every age - the mutual
interdependence of each and all, and the consequent necessity of brotherly feeling and
practice.

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Music, of all the arts, most completely brings about that mental state, that touch of nature
which, as the poet philosopher says, "Makes the whole world akin."
Modern Music! What visions of beauty, what enchantments spring to life before the
potency of those magic words? Hark! A practiced hand indeed touches the keys; the
mighty organ responds in tones of ever growing complexity. Surely it is he, the great
master of fugue, the humble, unostentatious Leipsic Choir-master. Now Heaven and Earth
are singing in prophetic tones Hallelujahs for a regenerate world. 'Tis "The Messiah," the
great Oratorio, we hear, and its culminating chorus. A feeling as of perpetual youth, of
gladness and spontaneity lays hold of us. Why should we not rejoice with Father Haydn
at "the marvelous work" while "the heavens are telling the glory of God"? Now there is a
peace and calm in the air, the landscape takes on richer color, glowing in a purer light than
Earth's sun has ever shed; for the spell of Mozart's versatile genius is over all; but as we
listen to his limpid notes of diamond purity, scintillating from Opera, Mass, and even the
humble peasant dance, we feel a strange mesmeric power drawing us to diviner beauties;
visions of Edens yet to be, wherein no sophistry, no serpent guile can harm, for the
necessary fruit of the tree of knowledge has strengthened us: bitter experiences have we
known, but we have learned the true lesson of life, - compassion for all.
"The scene by the brook," a simple pastoral scene! - hear Beethoven, sublime
Master, in this new Eden he has pictured for us; Man, the lord, realizes his true position
as guide and helper to those lower forms of life he was wont to believe existed simply for
his own convenience. Alas, these glimpses of Edenic bliss are only glimpses, and a deep
mysterious yearning has seized us, a longing with Schumann's Mignon to return and make
once more our own that land where the citrons grow - the Fatherland, as it was to
Schubert's wanderer, heartbroken, for his mortal eye shall ne'er again behold his childhood
home; to us, the imperishable sacred land where the first race in the purity of ignorance
started on its evolutionary way around the world.
Hush! let us listen still more intently, for we may even then lose the elusive quality
of this most unique yet searching voice, in its sinuous chromatic windings. Chopin, if thine
was no Organ tone, it was nevertheless a revelation of subtle evanescent beauty - the
bloom upon the morn-awakened flower.
But while we stood so rapt, oblivious; dark clouds have gathered overhead. That
harsh reverberating thunder must be the din of battle. Woden and all the warriors of
Valhalla have met their ancient adversaries upon the long fore-told and fatal field. But no,
the world still moves, for we hear at intervals the gentle cadence of some shepherd's pipe,
mingling its artless joy with the weird grief-laden chant of the penitent pilgrims seeking the
sacred shrine at Rome.
Having thus very briefly characterized the different epoch makers in musical history,
from Bach to Wagner, I would say in concluding that the creative Musician should, like the
Poet, keep himself in constant sympathetic touch with nature. Thus will he, understanding
in his inner being her hidden ways, be better fitted for his office as interpreter. How can he
more surely bring about and preserve that harmonious condition so necessary to his
mission, than in the practice of unselfishness? No selfishness or partiality is displayed in
the working of nature's laws. The fructifying shower softens the sun-dried soil and
completes the conditions necessary to the germinating seed; but it recks not who shall be
the harvester. Deep in

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the human heart a seed lies buried, though too often the soil, dried and hardened by the
fires of passion and selfishness, refuses to yield, and the imprisoned seed helplessly awaits
the beneficent rain of sympathy and compassion.
Modern Music with its infinity of rich and varied effects is more potent, it seems to
me, than the idealized forms of sculpture and the painter's art, and even the inspired
language of Poetry, for these all convey to the mind conceptions of conditions more or less
fixed, while music whispers of the spiritual, of what is beyond our finite, form-limited
conception. Thus it reaches the inmost heart, quickens into life the germinating seed, and
softens the reluctant soil with its harmonious rain. Who can tell what that mature growth
will be when, at the close of the great day - the seventh round and seventh race completed
- the perfected humanity of this globe, shall stand by the shore of the calm unfathomed
waters, the boundless ocean of the unknown.

--------------

FRAGMENT - INTELLECT AND INTUITION

by Adhiratha

IT is always difficult to know what we are doing, and more difficult yet is to know how
we do it. The thousand and one functions of our body take place without ourselves being
conscious of having given the necessary orders, nor do we know how these orders are
given and executed. The reason of it is that our thoughts are on a different plane from our
instinct, and the latter can only be understood when we become conscious on the plane
of instinct.
The action of our intellect is thinking. This comprises observing, coordinating and
concluding. Now, what is a conclusion? It is a supposed fact on the thought plane. Thus
we start from real facts and arrive at supposed facts, either by going backward by
considering the real facts as effects and trying to find the causes, or by going forward by
considering the real facts as causes and trying to find out the effects. When we start from
supposed facts instead of from real ones, the thinking lacks a real base and is less sure;
but if we once start from a given fact, our conclusions become realities for us and also
causes for new conclusions, and so forth. By "real" I mean that of which we are sure of
having taken place.
We thus see that thinking is a process by which we try to establish a tie which
connects two facts of which one is a reality and the other a supposed fact. We call the tie
between facts "Karma," and thus thinking is a search after Karma, and correct thinking
must be one with the law of Karma. Thinking takes time because the physical modifications
in the brain, by which thought-images become conscious to us, require time to take place.
Intuition is something like thinking with the difference that it takes no time, and thus
cause and effect are simultaneous. Intuition therefore is the absolute knowledge of the law
of Karma, and for the intuitive faculty time cannot exist whereby cause and effect are
separated when thought of.
Of our thinking we mostly know only a series of brain-pictures, but how these
pictures are really connected we do not know. This connection is also intuition as it
absorbs no time. We instantaneously jump from one image to another across an
unthinkable abyss. We could

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not think if we had no intuition, because our thoughts or mind-pictures would be without
connection. Now, if we arrest the modification of the thinking principle and stop with the
last mind picture without adding a new one, then if we can do this, we are on the intuitional
plane and live outside of time and consciously within Karma. Nothing of it can be
expressed in time and mind, and therefore it is incomprehensible to the intellect.
It is easy enough to form mind-pictures, but by intuition alone such pictures are
formed which follow each other in true karmic order, and by even a little intuitive faculty the
thinking is immensely intensified.
A word about instinct. We say that animals have instinct, because naturally, without
thinking, they do the right thing according to their species. This is simply the result of their
obedience to laws and orders provided for them by the devas who preside over them
respectively. They could not think of doing otherwise, because they have not yet the
faculty to think. Even we, when mindless, act the same; for instance a person during
sleep-walking will pass the most dangerous places without hesitation, where when awake
and in possession of his mind, he would never dare to pass. But we had to give up our
obedience to our (let us call them) instinct-devas, in order to develop our thinking principle,
just as we have to give up the latter for the time during which we want to concentrate on
intuition. But of course no step of the ladder can be left out, and unless we have done with
our mind plane we cannot rise to the plane of intuition. Far be it from me to say that we
have to live in intellect or dry-reason alone, before we can get ready for a higher plane; we
know that Manas (the principle of Mind) has a double aspect and that the real intellect is
the higher Manas, which overlaps already into Buddhi (the principle of Intuition).
Man cannot go back in development, and when he has reached the buddhic plane,
he cannot possibly lose his faculty of free will and begin again, like the animal, to blindly
obey some presiding deva. Thus, even on the plane of intuition he has a choice, and
Buddhi must then necessarily become to him a duality. What these conditions may be we
cannot even guess at; we can only think with rapture of a condition which awaits us, in
which we shall have an absolute knowledge of cause and effect without the least hesitation
or doubt.

-------------

THE VEIL OF MATTER

by W. E. Gates

TO raise the veil of matter and to understand the hidden meaning of sacred books -
how great an undertaking, for those who did not even know that aught was hidden. And
yet who can look back over the century now closing without seeing an unfolding
comprehension on the part of the world, which would seem most truly to bear witness to
our having been at school, guided all unconsciously to ourselves in courses that lead to this
unveiling. One of the first distinctions drawn between the ancient and modern materialistic
methods, was that the former did not seek to impart a formal instruction, but rather only
offered a key, which the student must use and try himself. And men forthwith wondered
where that key could be found, what it was like, and

--- 448

what sort of a door it unlocked. But many became interested in the ancient philosophy now
again presented to the world and the interest grew, and with it came new (to us) ideas,
ideas which men perforce had to treat and consider in a different manner from the old
classifications and labelings, and in the handling of which men learned new methods, and
had to break out of many habits of mind, abandon many hard and fast conventions of
thought. Knowledge came to be seen as different from learning, form (mental and physical)
as one thing and reality another. Old ideas full of meaning and value in the life of the race,
long buried and encrusted till they passed for dry nothings, came again to life and influence.
Nothing could show this more clearly than a study of the language of today
compared with that of fifty years ago. The enlarged vocabulary required by our increasing
dominion over material things is not more wonderful than the expanded circuit of ideas now
involved by the words we use, fifty years ago as latent and unrealized as were the
telephone or X-rays. Almost every distinctive word in the realm of philosophy and
sentiment has suffered some modification, in every case in the way of greater manifestation
of the underlying reality behind the "fleeting show." The very words "fleeting show" mean
a great deal more to us than when we then used them - mere counters, for we thought the
matter that composed the "show" was anything but fleeting. It begins to dawn on us that
a show "shows'' something, and that all of nature is worth something, mirroring and working
out a great conscious life within.
"Religion" is no longer a thing of form, the expression of the bondage - as by chains -
of man to some god imposing his fiat law upon him; it begins to connote the inter-relation
of real planes of consciousness and activity. Brotherhood is ceasing to be an unscientific,
unbusinesslike sentiment, and is becoming an actually sufficient reason for conduct, more
and more a recognized fact in the universal economy.
And the greatest wonder of all would seem to be the additional raising of the veil of
matter which is involved in the evidence accumulating through it all of a guiding, helping
hand, leading the human race by the infiltration of ideas which necessitate the use of divine
methods of study and develop divine consciousness by their very presence in our minds.
Who would have believed that the great nineteenth century, the most physical and
materialistic in thought of all, would so unveil the divine, give reality to consciousness, show
a unified evolutionary progress inside the manifested, and suggest to human beings that
each one's soul is the real working part of him, his actual conscious self, while what he has
regarded as his self-centre is only a make-believe, the protege of the real.

--------------
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THE SOKRATIC CLUB

by Solon

THE summer vacation was over and members of the Sokratic Club were coming
back to the city. But though many had been away and the meetings had been
discontinued, the members who had stayed in town had been more active than ever along
practical lines of Brotherhood work. As was my habit I dropped into the club on Saturday
afternoon to see who was there and found Dr. Roberts, Mrs. Miller and Miss Holdy.
Dr. Roberts had just come back from the country and was asking if the interesting
discussions in which the Professor used to join had been kept up. He said how helpful it
had been to him in his profession and every part of his life. "It has given me such an insight
into character that the whole world has taken on a new aspect."
Mrs. Miller. - "I think those little discussions were beneficial to us all, it showed me,
at least, how much we can learn if we are only observant and try to get beneath the surface
of things. If we do this we can learn not only from our own experience, but from the
experience of others."
Just then the Professor came in, and after greetings and exchange of news, a
discussion sprang up between him and Miss Holdy and the Doctor, which I reproduce here.
Mrs. Miller and I took the part of listeners.
Miss Holdy. - "Professor, I have so often heard you say that Brotherhood is a fact
in Nature, but have never been quite able to understand in what sense you mean it. I do
wish you would help me to understand it."
Dr. Roberts. - "Yes, Professor, and I join in Miss Holdy's request. I cannot see why
you put forward the statement as being so important and fundamental when the very
opposite is at the same time true, that non-brotherhood, or if you like to put it so, enmity
and hatred are also facts in Nature. As I recently heard a friend of mine say in discussing
this statement, death is also a fact in nature. No one will deny that Brotherhood may be
found practiced by some, and that in the lives of some there is a sincere attempt to attain
to the realization of this high ideal. Perhaps it may be found completely exemplified in rare
instances, and this would then be, as you say, a fact in Nature."
The Professor. - "I am very glad that you, Miss Holdy, and you, Doctor, have brought
up this matter, for I esteem it of the highest importance, and I think that spreading
broadcast the knowledge of Brotherhood as a fact in Nature will do more than anything
else, more than any legislation or reforms or preaching or charity to lessen the misery in
the world and to bring sunshine and happiness into the lives of all the sorrowing ones of
earth. But pardon me, Doctor, I am using the statement as though completely understood
by you, whereas you have asked me to explain my meaning."
Dr. Roberts. - "Yes, Professor, that is what I would like to hear, for I cannot see that
the knowledge of the fact that a state of Brotherhood exists among certain people, whether
few or many - it matters not - will have the effect you anticipate, offset as it is by the greater
fact of the manifest unbrotherliness also existing in the world."
The Professor. - "The question turns on what is a fact in Nature. You will agree with
me that there are different classes of facts; such as, Washington

--- 450

was the first President of the United States; the earth revolves in an orbit around the sun.
Each of these is particular, but there is a third class that is universal both as to sphere of
operation and duration; absolutely independent of time and space; inherent in the nature
of things; a sine qua non of the manifestation of Nature herself. In other words, it is not
only a universal fact but a universal law. Such a fact and such a law is Brotherhood. Such
a fact is a fact in Nature, inherent in Nature and a fact of Nature. Neither death nor
unbrotherliness come in this category."
Dr. Roberts. - "Why not death Professor? I don't follow you. And I should certainly
call the fact that you mentioned, etc., that the earth moves around the sun, a fact in
Nature."
The Professor. - ''Of course in one sense both of these are facts in Nature, i.e.,
taking place in the realm of Nature. Nothing can, in fact, act outside of Nature. I will try to
explain a little further. Death does not come within the same category as Brotherhood, for
the reason that death is not to be found on all planes of existence, whereas Brotherhood
is on all planes. There is no death on the higher planes of being, it is only to be found on
the lower and may even be overcome by man on these lower planes. Indeed, I believe it
is the destiny of the human race as a whole, in the future, though perhaps far distant, to
conquer death."
Dr. Roberts. - "You are taking me beyond my depth again, Professor, and I must beg
you to return once more to more material things. How about the earth and the sun? Let
us touch solid ground once more and deal with scientific facts."
The Professor. - "Yet, after all, Doctor, it may be found some day that what I have
said about death is scientific although not as yet found in your science. But as for the sun
and the earth, the fact I mentioned is in a different category for this reason, conceded by
your science that both the earth and the sun had a beginning and will pass away. Yet this
relationship, expressed by the earth revolving around the sun, is in a deeper sense and
taken as a type, a fact in Nature and in the same category as the fact of Brotherhood;
indeed, it is an expression of the fact of Brotherhood."
Dr. Roberts. - "Well, Professor, you astonish me more and more."
Miss Holdy. - "Professor, I wish you would define Brotherhood. I think I know what
meaning you give to it, but I want to understand you fully. Don't you mean by Brotherhood
that we are all as intimately connected and related as are the members of the same family,
or as are the different parts and cells of the body, so that what affects one, affects all?"
The Professor. - "Precisely. That is a very good definition, Miss Holdy. And, Doctor,
you know Newton's statement of the law of gravitation, that every particle of matter attracts
every other particle with a force depending on mass and distance. Now, that statement is
nothing more nor less than a statement of Brotherhood on the purely material plane.
Displace one particle of matter in the Universe and the whole Universe is affected and a
readjustment must take place to preserve equilibrium. If you could entirely remove or
destroy one particle you would shatter the whole cosmos and reduce it to chaos. That is
strictly in accordance with modern science, if you please. But modern science has not
been able, perhaps has feared, to assert the same law in respect to the subtler thought-
world and to show the same interdependence and mutual relationship existing there. And
yet they have attempted to solve the most difficult part of the problem, thus making it the
more strange that they should have neglected the more obvious part, I mean the
Brotherhood that exists through the mind and heart."

--- 451

Dr. Roberts. - "But, Professor, so many are not brothers and even those belonging
to the same family are brothers only in name and not in fact - i.e., not brothers in mind or
heart - which is directly contrary to your statement."
The Professor. - "I think we should draw a distinction between Brotherhood as a fact,
and brotherliness arising from a recognition of the fact and a striving to act in accordance
with it. Because two brothers are enemies, they are none the less brothers, though there
be little brotherliness between them. And I feel sure that the surest way to bring about a
true brotherliness is to teach the fact of Brotherhood."
Miss Holdy. - "But what did you mean, Professor, when you said that the
Brotherhood that exists in the mind and heart is the more obvious part of the problem?"
The Professor. - "Simply that the strongest ties that bind people together are those
of the mind and the heart and also that it is through the mind and heart that the masses of
the people are most easily affected and also through the passional nature. It is on this
outermost plane of matter that we find the most differences and yet Science has
recognized the intimate relationship existing between all force and all matter. Only a simple
consideration is needed to recognize the much closer links that bind us together on the
inner planes of the mind and heart.
Dr. Roberts. - "Do I then understand you to mean that Newton 's statement of the
law of Gravity applies mutatis mutandis to the realm of thought, and that every one
throughout the World is affected by every thought and to a degree according to the intensity
of the thought? Why, what an awful responsibility it places upon one!"
The Professor. - "This is quite true and it shows also that by our thoughts we aid or
retard the progress of the whole of humanity."
Miss Holdy. - "I think I begin to understand now what you mean by Brotherhood as
a fact in Nature."
Dr. Roberts. - "Yes, and I too, but the thought of the awful responsibility is simply
appalling, Professor. According to that kind of Brotherhood which one cannot help but
recognize once he begins to think of these things, - and the logical outcome of the
proposition - every evil thought even if not carried into act by the person thinking, must go
to swell the evil thoughts of the world and perhaps help to incite some poor devil, less
strong than ourselves, to commit some crime.''
The Professor. - "And that poor devil is one of our brothers and so we owe it to him
and to ourselves to help him and not push him farther into the mire."
Miss Holdy. - "It is an awful responsibility, but surely the other side is true also and
should give hope to everyone. Isn't that so, Professor? I mean that in times of difficulty
and sorrow, what a help and comfort it must be to realize that there is an inexhaustible
store, as it were, of all the helpful, loving and unselfish thoughts of the world, on which we
may draw and to which we are linked by our own efforts to do the right."
The Professor. - "Yes. Brotherhood exists in both of these directions, it exists in all
we may do or think and in all that we are. And you are right, Doctor, that the responsibility
is appalling, but at the same time we must not permit ourselves to be appalled. Each of us
has his simple duty to perform and nothing more, but each should remember that that duty
concerns not himself alone but every human being. The duty of everyone faithfully
performed will bring to him opportunity to help the sorrowing and suffering, and
innumerable ways of performing true brotherly acts will present themselves. If we permit
ourselves to be appalled we are hampered, but if we seek each moment to do the duty of
the moment our way

--- 452

will open out to wider and wider spheres of usefulness."

Miss Holdy. - "Oh, here come Mrs. Wilding and Mr. Turner. I do believe they have
some news. They certainly seem very much amused. What's the news, Mrs. Wilding?"
Mrs. Wilding. - (After exchange of greetings.) "The news. Oh! only a continuation
of the same old story, but it always has its funny side so that one cannot help laughing."
Miss Holdy. - ''Oh! do tell us then."
Mrs. Wilding. - "But it would be a pity to break in on any discussion you may be
having."
The Professor. - "Not at all, Mrs. Wilding. We have been talking on Brotherhood, but
really we have come to a very good stopping place. Besides it does one good at times to
turn from the serious to the more humorous side of things and flit from grave to gay,
occasionally."
Mrs. Wilding. - "It certainly is humorous to us. Pity 'tis, it is not humorous to the
principal actors in the little tragico-comedy. They take it seriously enough. But you tell the
news, Mr. Turner, wont you?"
Mr. Turner. - "Well, it is merely another case of failing to appreciate the eternal
fitness of things, and that there is sure to be a mix up if one seeks for fame while trying to
do this work for Brotherhood. You know the practical Brotherhood work the Sokratic Club
is doing all over the country, and how much has been accomplished through its united
efforts and following the course laid down by our Leader. Well, to make a short story of it,
a few in a little town in a neighboring State, who had never taken any very active interest
in the work, suddenly conceived the idea that here was their chance - or rather one person
particularly did so and the others fell in with his plans. But unfortunately for themselves and
for their local work, they wanted everything to run their way without regard to the rules of
the club or its work throughout the country. Whether this man wanted to make political
capital out of it or not, is not for me to say, but he certainly overreached himself and the
whole thing will probably work out the exact contrary of what he expected."
Mrs. Wilding. - "Yes, and not content with that he turned around just as some few
others whom we know, and attacked our Leader. It is pitiable, indeed, but we can't help but
rejoice at the way our organization has been safeguarded. When will people learn that they
cannot do real Brotherhood work if at the same time they are seeking fame and self-
glorification?"
The Professor. - "And yet that man, for I know whom you mean, has a good side to
his nature and generous impulses, and after all this is his opportunity even now if he only
has sense enough to climb down. True Brotherhood work is a more serious matter than
many think, and those who wish to help in it must be willing to lay aside their personal
ambitions or else they will get some pretty hard knocks."
Mr. Turner. - "But how foolish such people are to think that it is a personal matter.
Our Leader doesn't defend herself - though we would ever do that - but seeks merely to
protect the work and cares only for the work. When will people learn that no obstacles can
withstand the work of the Universal Brotherhood? Surely people will soon learn the wisdom
of putting aside and rising above their little personalities, and living in the pure sunlight of
unselfish work for others."
The Professor. - "Until that is done, no one can know what the joy of life is and what
glorious opportunities lie before the human race. But that day is fast coming and we all can
hasten its approach."
Dr. Roberts here said he had a patient to see, and the party broke up.

-------------
--- 453

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"If Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, why do we see so much cruelty, the stronger
everywhere oppressing and living upon the weaker; birds living upon insects, beasts upon
other beasts, fishes upon smaller fishes, man upon all; and even so much unnecessary
cruelty, as when a cat plays with a mouse before killing it?"

BROTHERHOOD is a fact in Nature just as health is and so also un-brotherhood

and un-health are facts in Nature. The conditions of brotherliness and healthiness are the
result of living in harmony with the law of brotherhood and the law of health while the
conditions of un-brotherliness and un-healthiness are brought about by violating the law of
brotherhood and the law of health, as the case may be.
 It is a well recognized fact that any infraction of the law of health results in
inharmony and antagonism between the different organs and functions of the body, for
such infraction is always due to the undue absorption by one organ or function of more than
its share of the powers of the whole organism and then each other organ or function must
struggle to gain its own proper share. "Helping and sharing is what Brotherhood means"
but helping one's self to more than one's share is un-brotherhood.
The cruelty and oppression that is to be found in the animal kingdom seems to
negative the fact of brotherhood and so it truly does in a sense for it asserts the equal fact
of un-brotherhood.
But it does not negative or disprove the law of brotherhood, quite otherwise. The
struggle to maintain any one of the partial brotherhoods - which are each species and race
of beings - is a demonstration that a law, universal in its application, really exists. If we are
to understand the wherefore and the why of these things we must seek for the law
underlying the apparent facts.
Man as the highest physical being dominates - if he realizes it or not - the kingdoms
below him in the scale of evolution. The physical and mental matter that has become
impregnated with his qualities and tendencies is thrown off by him all during life and during
the decay of the body after death. This matter is in part absorbed by the bodies of those
entities evolving through the animal kingdoms and is built into their animal and mental
bodies and thus it is that the animals reflect to a greater or less extent the qualities and
tendencies with which man by his power of thought has impregnated the material that they
are obliged to make use of.
Cruelty, oppression and tyranny are things of which the animal as such has no
conception; man alone conceives them and gives them birth. The cat that chases and
cruelly tortures the mouse but reflects on its plane the far greater, because more intelligent,
cruelty of the man who cruelly chases with dogs trained by him for that purpose, the timid
hare, whose long spent agony of effort to escape a cruel death on the course, is hailed as
furnishing fine sport to the cruel instincts of perverted men. And so also the bull-fight, cock-
fight, fox chase, pigeon match.
And the slaying of one class of animals by another and feeding upon them, may not
this have been brought about by perverted desires? There seems to be no good reason
why one animal should feed on another, and this all

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seems to have been brought about by diseased conditions.

Perverted desire has brought about a condition where the One Life must needs
manifest in a certain way and one that causes pain and sorrow, but there was no a priori
reason for such a state of things to be. After the diseased condition has been established
it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of the individual that the Life energy shall eat up
or burn out or throw off that diseased condition, so that after it has been eliminated or
transmuted, the healthy condition may be reestablished.
Just so with the apparent cruelty and suffering in the whole animal kingdom.
Humanity (one whole) has introduced into the animal kingdom, of which it is a part, a
diseased condition. The Life energies of the whole must work through and transmute this
diseased condition into a healthy one, and the process brings pain and suffering to the
whole animal kingdom.
The cruel animals are the progeny of man's cruelty, and he is the greatest sufferer
from their cruelty though he never saw one of them.
The loathsome animals are the progeny of man's loathsome qualities. Vermin are
also his offspring, products of his sin and folly, torments and parasites that must teach him
of his follies, until he transmutes his diseased qualities into healthy, living matter. Slowly
mankind begins to recognize all this, and by sanitation seeks to prevent diseased causes
producing filthy conditions that may breed disease germs.
The Life essence will always manifest, but mankind can establish the method of its
manifestation on this Earth, or at least in the animal kingdoms and when he recognizes that
he is Lord of all flesh, and that all flesh is one and ensouled by One Soul, of which he is but
a larger part, and that the law of Brotherhood is the Law of Compassion, the law of mutual
dependence and inter-dependence, then he will do even more than he is now doing to
make this "Law of Love reign king of all." - M. H. Bridle
--------

There are several ways of answering this question: (a) by asking another - in what
way is the cruelty referred to in the question inconsistent with the fact of Brotherhood?
Such a question confuses ethics with physical facts - what ought to be with what is, the
Ideal and Real (philosophically speaking) with the objective and actual. The idea
Brotherhood connotes that of an essential unity in which otherwise diverse or apparently
diverse things unite. The idea Brotherhood also connotes an ideal to be aimed at - the
harmoniously working together of all the brothers in the Brotherhood in carrying out the
purposes of the Brotherhood. But the very fact that this is an ideal carries with it the further
fact that the ideal is not yet actual in objective life. Where or when was it found, outside
perfected beings, that brothers never quarreled? When objective nature shows everywhere
the harmony of an ideal and therefore real as distinguished from an actual Brotherhood the
"Peace which passeth all understanding" will be everywhere and the reason for objective
life will have ceased.
(b) All that seems cruel is not so in fact. Essential cruelty is not consistent with
essential harmony. And if there were not an essential harmony underlying the world's
apparent disharmony, the great forces of nature would produce such a clash as either at
once to destroy all things or else (what amounts to the same thing) to bring all movements
in life to a standstill. The mother often seems cruel to the child in correcting transgression,
and mother nature is continually teaching by objective illustration that "the way of the
transgressor is hard." The Great Mother acts and can act only through her instru-

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ments, and oftentimes those instruments appear to be cruel when not in fact so. c) There
still must remain numberless cases of actual cruelty, whether resulting from ignorance or
deliberate intent, being unessential to the question and answer. Reflection however will
show that this is necessary for the present, and instead of being inconsistent with the idea
of Brotherhood being a fact in Nature it is an essential part of the process so far as present
outward life is concerned. The Gita says that all actions are stained with faults, and one
can see that this must be so. The Infinite only is perfect. And the Infinite never is wholly
expressed. All expression is limitation and all limitation is imperfection. Cruelty from this
point of view is only a phase of imperfection.
All nature is partly conscious, but even the whole of nature in action does not reach
completed consciousness. Imperfect consciousness is, to the extent of that imperfection,
ignorance. From ignorance come various forms of fault, cruelty among them.
Again, if we ask ourselves which is the most perfect universe, one in which good
things and creatures are ground out mechanically like good sausages from a machine, and
in which consequently there is no more intelligence from the beginning to the end of the
process than is found in the sausage, or on the other hand one in which there is intelligence
and free will, we must prefer the latter. But with the freedom of choice must come the
opportunity to do wrong, and in many cases wrong action results and therefore in some
cases cruelty.
An essential Unity is necessary to make a Brotherhood, but equally necessary is an
apparent outside diversity. Otherwise there would be only one thing - not a Brotherhood
of things. In the most perfect form of Brotherhood of which we can conceive there must be
an increasing intelligence on the outside, a continual evolution from the less perfect into the
more perfect forms of life, and a learning from the results of imperfect action to look to the
light in the Heart and to the Great Heart of all things, there at last to learn that we are all
linked together, that Brotherhood is a fact in nature and that helping and sharing is what
Real Brotherhood means. - G. D. A.
--------

The proposition does not justify the query in this case. There is no relation between
the "If" and the "Why." One could as logically ask, "If Death be a fact in Nature, why are
we not all dead?"
The answer to both questions would be "wait." In due time we shall all die, and the
day will come when such problems as why unreasoning animals, reptiles and insects fail
to comprehend the universal brotherhood of humanity will cease to perplex anybody.
If men have not yet learned the truth regarding their spiritual relationship, we may
naturally conclude that it is because they have not progressed far enough, and we may
therefore regard charitably the inferior animals who also prey upon each other.
Besides, a Fact is not necessarily an active Law. Furthermore it is not argued that
Brotherhood is universally recognized as a fact in Nature. Few such facts are widely
discussed among the lower orders of being. And the inferior animals are not always
warned even by instinct. It is both a fact and a law in Nature that contact with fire is
destructive to insect life, yet it is seldom that a prudent consideration of that truth deters a
moth from flying into a flame.
It is now a generally recognized fact in Nature that all life should be held sacred from
wanton destruction; yet we heedlessly destroy myriads of Iiving creatures every time we
move a muscle, draw a breath or eat a meal. And most of us demand the slaughter of
certain of the

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superior animals so that we may have a wider variety of choice in our foods. Shall we
expect reptiles to be more considerate?
 Can we not do better than speculate upon whether or not Brotherhood is a fact in
Nature? If it is not, we have the potentiality to make it so. And if it be so, as all the Saviors
of men have declared, may it not be well for us to follow their example and spread the glad
tidings of solace and comfort to tired and discouraged humanity whenever we can, and
show in our daily life that we accept the teachings? - H. A. Freeman
---------

This question is certainly at first sight a perplexing one. The cruelty in the world
does apparently negative the statement that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature. But if we look
below the surface I think we shall find the fact of Brotherhood in spite of the cruelty. I do
not think we should confuse Brotherhood with Brotherliness, though when understood and
practiced the former must result in the latter. The former is a fact and a law of Nature, the
latter is the outcome of a recognition and realization of the fact in one's individual life.
Hence I do not altogether agree with the first statement in the answer by Bro. Freeman and
do not think that Death as a fact is in the same category as Brotherhood as a fact. Death
is a fact of time and condition, occurring at a particular period of the soul's career - though
this may vary and does vary for every individual. Brotherhood is a fact independent of and
beyond time and existing on all planes and in all conditions.
I understand the fact of Brotherhood to consist in the interrelation and
interdependence of all human beings, and between human beings and all other creatures;
and that what affects one, affects all; that no act and no thought of any one person but
affects to greater or less degree all others and helps or retards the progress of the whole.
Neither cruelty nor suffering negatives this fact of Brotherhood, nor can imprisonment or
isolation prevent the operation of the law of Brotherhood. All are linked together, not one
can stand alone.
However, there still remains this to be done: to bring about a recognition of the fact
of Brotherhood and a conscious endeavor to act in accordance with it. Then will cruelty
and suffering cease and brotherliness and love prevail. - J.H.F.

"Do Theosophists believe in prayer? If so, what meaning do they put upon it? To
whom or what do they pray?"

Few Theosophists, I trust, believe in a selfish petition for one's own benefit,
especially if to the detriment of others. The object of a Theosophist should be to make
brotherhood a living power in the life of humanity. How can he do this if pleading selfishly
to a higher power? No! Theosophists do not believe in such prayers; nor in prayers to
personal deities for favoritism or special benefits or exceptions. What they do believe in
is a steady aspiration for the enlightenment of humanity and the intense desire that they
may perform their part in the uplifting of the world. They know that in doing this they lift
themselves to higher planes of activity and consciousness and become channels through
which the great cry of distressed humanity can be heard and through which, also, help and
relief can be sent. - H. T. P.
--------

I think every man in some sense believes in prayer, for I take prayer to be a putting
forth of one's energies to attain a given end, whether that end is consciously striven after
or not. Thus there is a prayer of the lips, and a prayer of the heart, and also a prayer of
hands and of the brain. But surely true prayer, the highest, is a prayer of the whole life.
Every spoken word, no matter how idle or how earnest, is an invocation; every

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thought, every action, every desire, is an invocation. There is nothing we may do or think
that does not invoke and call to our aid - or to our harm - some one of the powers of
Nature. There is then conscious prayer and unconscious prayer, but usually where prayer
is spoken of, conscious prayer, i.e., prayer directed to some end, is meant.
To whom or what should we pray? Each man prays to that which is in accord with
his own nature and his ideal. Surely it should be our aim to seek ever higher and higher
ideals, even the highest, and that highest will be to express perfectly in our lives the divinity
which is the root and mainspring of all life. That should be the object of our prayer; let us
invoke that and all our life will become transformed into a beauty and a glory.
Some men have conceived the divinity to be outside, external to them, and so have
thought of a God dwelling apart from them. Hence they address their petitions to this far-
away power and all-doubtingly look for an answer, looking for aid to come from without
instead of from within. Truly there are powers external to man, and these he awakes by
his prayers for good or ill. But the highest power is to be found only within, in the heart of
each, and in the heart of all our fellow-men. If we invoke that power, then all the beneficent
forces in the Universe are ours and all the evil forces become powerless to harm us, but
transmuted become our servants for good. What a tremendous power is conscious prayer,
for it is a bond that unites the one praying with that Power towards whom the prayer is
addressed, and contains within itself the seed of that which is prayed for and which will
ripen into fruit according to the intensity of the prayer and the knowledge of the one
praying. It will be seen then that that which determines the character of the prayer is the
motive, and only that prayer can lead to good which is unselfish and says, addressing the
Divine Self within: "Thy will, not mine, be done." This surely is the highest prayer and not
any prayer for any particular end, though it may appear to us to be the greatest good.
None of us can see all the links of our lives or read our own natures truly, and that which
may seem to us good, might, if granted, become the greatest obstacle in our path. Hence
it is the Good, the Beautiful, the True, we should desire, content to live each moment as
it comes, knowing that all things work together for good for those who trust the Divine Self
within and seek to make their lives radiant with its Light.
"Unveil, O Thou from whom all proceeds, to whom all must return, that face of the
true sun, now hidden by a vase of golden light, that we may see the Truth and do our whole
duty on our journey to thy sacred seat." - J. H. F.

---------------
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YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

A NATURE STORY
by L.H.F.
 IT is not every day that you meet with a soul who will let a fly talk as if it, too, had
many lives. Why, if it were not for a piece of bad luck (or was it good?) I had today, I could
not be telling you this tale.
I am not an old fly, but I have seen some queer things in my time, and heard more.
When I was quite tiny an old blue-bottle gave me some of his life talk, and it was sad to
hear. He said the great wingless flies who build the big nests they call houses, are hardly
ever known to be kind to flies, or to take a hint from our wisest ones. Yet, he said, we
never stop buzzing round, doing our best for them, eating up their bad smells and trying to
warn them as well as we can.
The house I live in is not in a town, but near enough for town news to reach us now
and then. It has a garden round it which we flies go in and out of all day long. One day I
was so happy and skippy, as if some nice thing were coming to me, and, sure enough, I
heard such a sweet singing, and flew out of the open window to find myself in a great cloud
of flies. They were not strong, black fellows like me, but ever so small, with wings and
bodies like fine clear gauze. I said they must be fairy flies. The sound of their wings was
like the hum of a light wind in the silk harps the spiders build in the flowers. They told us
they were going to tell the great wingless flies in the town that the river was nasty, and all
that day our garden was thick with them.
They told me so much that I can't begin to repeat it: - Of the fate of flies everywhere,
and how the big humans give neither help nor pity, but spread traps that torture us. This
I could not believe as I had never seen one thing in our house that was meant to hurt a fly.
But I must get on with my tale. One of the wingless ones in our house has been ill, and as
she is always good to us I stayed in her room with her, and at last a strange thing took
place. She had in her hand a nice large sheet of what they call paper. It was smooth and
cool for my feet, so I was putting myself to rights on it, when she spoke to me. I stopped
just as I was with my back legs on the top of my wings, I was so startled and glad.
Then I knew that what the fairy flies said was true, and the terror of it went through
me from wing-tip to foot.
After that I never went far from my friend, and as she had by her bed a cup from
which she kept sipping, I thought it would be civil on my part to taste it too. And then came
my bad luck. I fell in, and as she had gone back to her paper I thought I should die before
help came. Just as I was giving up hope I was lifted out, and found myself resting on soft
white cambric that soaked up some of the stuff, but alas, two of my legs were so stuck to
each other that I could not get them free. My friend lay quite still to watch me, only now
and then giving me a touch with a fine pointed thing that helped to lift the sticky stuff away
that clogged my wings. Once, when she said "I think you'll come round now" she began
to laugh gently as if my antics were funny. Perhaps they were, they tired me badly. At last
I had to ask another fly to keep me. He came and sipped the stuff from my two helpless
legs, and at last, alter a long and weary

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time, I half flew, half hopped onto the wingless one's pillow. I felt I must tell her what the
old blue-bottle said, and the great cloud of tiny flies, and how I did not think all of her kind
were cruel, so my friend said she will write down for the Young Folks how the fly helped
me, for if one fly helps another she thinks there is a U. B. for flies, and if that is so, all the
children will like to know about it. That is all. Only you may be sure I am very wary now
when I taste things. My friend may not be there to save me next time.

------------

THEOSOPHICAL ACTIVITIES

A NEW CRUSADE.
IN the New York Herald of October 18th, is an appeal for help for the sufferers from
the War, in Havana. The American Evacuation Commission has stated that it will be glad
to aid in this work and four ports in Cuba have now been opened for the free entry of relief
supplies.
Mrs. Tingley had already been making preparation to go to Cuba not later than Nov.
15th, but the need is so great that in response to the appeal for help she has decided to
push forward the preparations and hopes to be able to start within a week. At the
Headquarters of the League there are a quantity of supplies and these will be made ready
for shipment at once.
Our Leader and President of the League has obtained recognition of the
International Brotherhood League from the President of the United States and also free
transportation for all supplies and workers. There are sufficient supplies on hand to begin
with, but more will be needed, for the work will have to be continued for some months. This
is an opportunity that all the members of the Organization have been looking and hoping
for, to reach and help our suffering fellow-men and practice true Brotherhood. We know
there is suffering all over the world, in every large city, but Cuba is the central suffering part
of the world at the present time. It is there that the need is most urgent, the heart cry of the
whole world is in the appeal. Our Leader will probably take with her two physicians and
several nurses, and, as we who have worked with her know, she is a host in herself. But
we also know that for the work to be successful, we have to do our share at this end of the
line. The united efforts of all the members sent the Crusade around the world in 1896.
This expedition to our suffering Brothers is another Crusade and in it we all must and, I
know, we all will, share. Some have already done much to help the Relief Work already
done for our soldiers at the Camp at Montauk, but some perhaps have not helped. And no
matter how small may be the power of one, it is the united efforts of all that makes our work
successful.
Then too we know that the aid which our Leader gives to the suffering is not merely
physical aid, but it is help to the soul, reviving hope and courage in the heart and
awakening new life. In this way the assistance given is not merely temporary but
permanent.
At the Headquarters the War Relief Corps are more busy than ever and it will require
all our energy night and day to make all the necessary preparations for the departure of the
Relief Expedition. When Havana is reached it will be necessary to hire some native help.
This will of course require money, and

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money will be needed for other things, but if we believe in Brotherhood we know this is the
best possible investment, to use our money in this way for the purpose of helping others.
Some people are apt to connect the International Brotherhood League with other
organizations, but it should be distinctly understood that it is entirely separate and distinct,
it is connected with no politics, no religion, no party. It is entirely unsectarian and for
humanitarian purposes alone, helping all without reference to any distinctions of nationality
or creed. The members of the I. B. L. should at all times insist on this.
- E. Aug. Neresheimer
---------

Letters of inquiry come from members from all over the country and from Europe,
Australia and India, asking about the Leader's health, and expressing anew their devotion
and loyalty to her. It may not come amiss, then, for one who has had recent opportunities
for observing her, to say that never has she seemed so well and so full of energy, and this
despite the daily increasing rush of work. Even as long as a year ago the future of the
movement appeared so great that one scarcely could comprehend all that it meant and
now the work is more than doubled. And as they did then so now the members pledge
their faith in the Leader and by deed and by letter show their loyalty to her, and their desire
to help her in every way possible. We cannot tell how much her burdens have been
lightened by sympathetic thoughts sent her by the members. But we all realize our
privilege and opportunity in being thus permitted to help in this glorious work for Humanity.
In this connection a letter, written by our old friend and comrade, J. D. Buck, of Cincinnati,
to the Leader, less than ten months ago, comes in very apropos. It expresses what all the
workers feel today. The writer came across it in looking over some old letters, and begged
permission to use it, as it touched a deep chord of feeling. It was intended to have
published it in the Search Light, but at the last moment it was mislaid. Here it is, in part:
--------

DECEMBER 23, 1897

As the holiday season draws near and the old year fades into history, I want to
express to you my deep sympathy and appreciation of the heroic work you have been
doing since Judge put off his armor and joined the Immortals. I have wished a thousand
times that I could have been nearer and helped to bear the burden. You have undertaken
herculean tasks and at great odds and worked with entire forgetfulness of self. What the
results may be neither you nor I can know. I am sure not only that you have done your
best, but no one has or can do more.
It may seem a trifling thing to say how firmly my heart has upheld you, but I want to
say it. I only wish the saying of it may convey to your weary body and overtaxed energies
one little ray of comfort. It requires a brave soul, a Lion heart to stand in the front of such
a battle and take all the poisoned darts aimed at the Great Work. To know that this is
realized and appreciated may make the task a little lighter.
Different as your work has been I hold it in my heart, and you as the great promoter,
side by side with H. P. B. Not idly and as a mere sentiment do I wish you all the
compliments of the season, but from my heart of hearts do I send you love and sympathy,
confidence and support. May you be strengthened from the Great Fountain of Life and
may your work prosper. May the Great Ones bless and keep you in unwearied courage
and in perfect peace.
Sincerely yours,
- J. D. Buck
--------

Sunday, October 9th, was a great day for the Bridgeport Local Centre of the

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International Brotherhood League. Following the work done in the I. B. L. hospital in caring
for the sick soldiers, who through our Leader's efforts had been sent to Bridgeport, and in
which work the citizens had so generously helped, our Leader determined to hold a public
meeting in order to acquaint the inhabitants of Bridgeport more fully with the aims and
objects of the League.
Dr. Herbert Coryn, K. Lundberg and B. Harding went on an early train Sunday
afternoon to Bridgeport, taking with them the Crusade flags, and they and Mrs. Butler, the
Misses Hall and Miss Whitney - who had also gone from New York - decorated Varuna Hall
with flags and flowers and plants, so that it was all ready when our Leader and the others
arrived two hours later. Those accompanying our Leader were Mrs. E.C. Mayer, the two
Misses Fuller, F. M. Pierce. H. T. Patterson, D. N. Dunlop and J. H. Fussell.
The meeting began at 8.15 with a musical selection on piano and violin by the
Misses Fuller. Mrs. Butler, of Bridgeport, welcomed the visitors, and then H. T. Patterson
took the chair and introduced our Leader as the first speaker. In a stirring and sympathetic
address she said that the present time was one of the greatest opportunities to get in touch
with our fellow-men, especially with the heroes of the war; that if she had a thousand lives
she would give them all to this glorious cause of Brotherhood. The other speakers were
J.H. Fussell on The Necessity for an Organization; Dr. Herbert Coryn on The Divinity of
Man; Mrs. E. C. Mayer on Woman's Work; B. Harding on Brotherhood and the War; F.
M. Pierce on The Meaning of Brotherhood; and D. N. Dunlop on The Hope of the Future.
The hall was crowded. Circulars giving a brief account of the work of the I. B. L. and
the Constitution were distributed as the people entered the hall. The circular is as follows: -

INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE

To Advance the Cause of Human Brotherhood - Branches Throughout the World -
Unsalaried Officers and Workers
The International Brotherhood League, through recent events, has been brought into
great prominence in America. The very successful work carried on at the Camp Montauk
Point, L. I., among the sick soldiers, endeared it to the hearts of many thousands in all parts
of the United States and we therefore offer to those hitherto unfamiliar with it some account
of its work.
This League was founded in New York in April, 1897, by Katherine A. Tingley, its
President for life, and during its short term of existence it has already entered upon many
lines of active work. Directly after its formation it saved from starvation through its
unsalaried agents thousands of famine-stricken sufferers in India, especially at Benares.
In several of the largest cities of England, including London, work among the poor
has been in continuous progress, and the same is true of the branches of the League in
Holland, Sweden, Ireland and Australasia. In America alone, there are over one hundred
active branches, where the same important lines of work have been carried on, and in
addition special Brotherhood work has been done in the prisons, for those by whom the
warmth of human sympathy and encouragement is so urgently needed.
To enumerate all the special activities conducted by the International Brotherhood
League would occupy too much space. The following, however, will serve as examples of
some of the chief lines of work, all of which have been, and are, in full and increasing
operation.
The treatment of Alcohol and Morphine inebriates; work among the children in the
overcrowded districts of New York and elsewhere; the shelter-

--- 462

ing of homeless and friendless women; the establishment of a temporary summer home
("Lotus Home"), in New Jersey; a permanent "Lotus Home" for unclaimed children, in
Buffalo; the work for the newsboys and bootblacks of Toledo, Ohio; Brotherhood Suppers
in many of the large cities in the United States, Sweden, Holland, and England, where the
laws of life and conduct are taught simply, on wholly unsectarian lines. In all the countries
mentioned there are also established International Brotherhood League Lotus Groups,
unsectarian Sunday Schools, where thousands of children are trained.
One of the most important forms of work which has fallen within the province of the
League, and upon which so much public attention has been concentrated, is the vitally
needed assistance which the League was privileged to render to the sufferers from the
Cuban war, the soldiers and refugees. This consisted not only in sheltering and caring for
sick and wounded soldiers, but in removing from their minds the memories of the awful
scenes of the recent war. To carry on this work of the International Brotherhood League
three temporary hospitals were established; one at Montauk Point, Long Island, consisting
of seven tents, one in New York City, at 144 Madison Avenue, and a third in Bridgeport,
Conn. The League also had a volunteer staff of representatives in Boston, New York, and
other cities, to meet and care for exhausted and sick soldiers arriving at the railway stations
on their outward or homeward journey; both in New York and Boston, many were
accommodated for the night at the Headquarters of the League, 144 Madison Avenue, New
York, and 24 Mt. Vernon St., Boston.
At Montauk a special conveyance was provided for the free transportation of
collapsed and tired soldiers between their camp and the depot. At the depot hundreds of
soldiers were given food and necessary medicines, and wherever needed, further aid was
carried from the International Brotherhood League Hospital.
With one local exception, practically all the aid, monetary and other, come from the
members of the I. B. L. in America and England, but few of the Centres having appealed
to the public for aid in this genuine Brotherhood work. There is, however, no question that
had the public been made better acquainted with this unique and direct channel through
which their generous sympathy and patriotism could have found expression, greater good
could have been done and many more heroic lives saved.
Mention must not be omitted of the work among the so-called savages, especially
among the Maoris of New Zealand, with whom the President, Katherine A. Tingley, came
in contact during her trip around the world in the interests of Brotherhood in 1896, with the
result of reviving the high ideals of this ancient and noble race.
Much other work outside these lines has also been done, consisting in the relief of
individual cases of need. To classify and enumerate these would occupy too much space,
but the thanks of the League must be extended to many noble-hearted friends who
rendered help in this and other parts of its work.
It should be noted that the officers and workers of the International Brotherhood
League are unsalaried and receive no remuneration, and this, as one of the most binding
rules of the organization, effectually excludes those who would otherwise enter from
motives of self-interest.
None of the Officers hold any political office, the League is not connected with any
political party or organization, nor has it any political character, it is wholly humanitarian and
unsectarian.
The following are the objects of the League under which these lines of work are
being carried on:

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1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling, and their true
position in life.
2. To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal Brotherhood,
and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for humanity.
3. To ameliorate the condition of unfortunate women and to assist them to a higher
life.
4. To assist those who are, or have been, in prisons to establish themselves in
honorable positions in life.
5. To endeavor to abolish capital punishment.
6. To bring about a better understanding between so-called savage and civilized
races, by promoting a closer and more sympathetic relationship between them.
7. To relieve human suffering resulting from flood, famine, war and other calamities;
and generally to extend aid, help and comfort to suffering humanity throughout the world.
It will thus be seen that these objects naturally fall into two groups, one of temporary
application, one of far-reaching and permanent results.
Of temporary application is the last, the relief of such forms of suffering as are at
present inevitable in modern life.
The other objects aim at the bringing about of a better state of society, and the
development of a nobler, higher humanity. Working for the future by providing for the
training of children and their education along the noblest lines, the League also works for
all, of whatever age or sex or position, whose errors or misfortunes constitute their claim
and our opportunity.
At the present time active preparations are being pushed forward for a relief
expedition to either Cuba or Manila, - investigation now being made as to the needs in
these places by the representatives of the League. Contributions of supplies and donations
should be sent to either of the following officers of the League: E. A. Neresheimer, or H.
T. Patterson, and addressed to 144 Madison Avenue, New York.
PERMANENT INSTITUTIONS BELONGING TO THE LEAGUE IN NEW YORK STATE.
"Lotus Home" for friendless and unclaimed children, Buffalo, N. Y.; "The Wayfare"
for friendless and homeless women, Buffalo, N. Y.; "The Do-good Mission," 607 East 14th
Street, New York, for general Brotherhood work; special attention here paid to work among
children.
Although the League is not yet two years old the above institutions are permanently
established and in full working order.
- Katherine A. Tingley, President

International Brotherhood
League.
Headquarters, 144 Madison Ave.,
New York.

Copies of above circular may be obtained from H. T. Patterson, General

Superintendent of the I. B. L., 144 Madison Avenue, New York, to whom all inquiries
regarding the work of the League should be addressed. I. B. L. Committees and Centres
will find the circular valuable for propaganda; single copies, 5 cents, 50 copies for $1.00.
An entertainment for the benefit of the Relief Corps of the International Brotherhood
League was given in New York, Thursday, Oct. 13, under the auspices of Universal
Brotherhood Lodge, No. 10 (H. P. B. Lodge, Harlem).
Stereopticon views illustrating the war were shown. The views were very kindly lent
for the purpose by Mr. Keith of the 14th St. Theatre, New York, and the stereopticon by
Messrs. Riley Bros., of 16 Beekman St., New York, Mr. Frank Raymond of Messrs. Riley
Bros. operating the lantern. Messrs. Clark & Zugalla, of New York, furnished the tickets
and all the printing. Bros. Schenck and

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Hermann and Mr. Falkenstein furnished most beautiful music. D. N. Dunlop, President of
Lodge No. 10, described the views and gave a brief account of the progress of the war.
The views ended with pictures of the International Brotherhood League Camp at Montauk,
L. I., and a portrait of our Leader. The Hall was crowded and the entertainment in every
way a success.
--------

The Fall work has now fully begun all over the country, and everywhere the Lodges
report renewed activity and bright prospects for the future. Many of them have written for
a new stock of application blanks, and are expecting a large increase in membership.
There has been a surprising increase in membership since last spring, a steady
stream of applications coming in all the time. All this will be told in the record of the work
at the first annual Congress of the Universal Brotherhood Organization at Point Loma, next
spring.
We have received the monthly report of the Pacific Coast Committee for Universal
Brotherhood. The following is an abstract of the Lodge reports. California Academy of
Sciences Building, room 30xx, 819 Market Street, San Francisco.
OCTOBER, 1898.
ALAMEDA, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 17. - The Lodge work goes on as usual, and a great
deal of interest is taken by members and visitors in all our lectures, papers, and
discussions. September showed a substantial increase in attendance over the same month
in 1897. During the month three new members came into the Lotus Group. On September
15, an entertainment was given by the Lodge, and a fine literary and musical programme
was presented, followed by refreshments.
DENVER, COL., U. B. L. No. 104. - The Lodge has now moved into new quarters,
in a new building, No. 214 Enterprise Block, corner Champa and Fifteenth Streets, where
it will proceed with the Brotherhood work in a vigorous manner. The first meeting held in
the new home was a business meeting, September 19. The rest of the evening was spent
in discussing plans for the winter work.
GILROY, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 14. - Gilroy Lodge meets every Wednesday as a
study class. The Lotus Group is growing and much interest is shown by the little folks;
they meet Sunday afternoon.
LOS ANGELES, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 62. - We have just expended $60 in fixing up
our hall; new carpet, new gas fixtures, etc. It is much more attractive and home-like. The
War Relief work is going on nicely. One box of clothing has been sent and another will
soon be ready.
LOS GATOS, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 138. - We have so far only adopted the regular
work of the society, our membership being scattered over a large territory. We have,
however, kept our meetings through the summer with varying success.
MERCED CITY, CALIF. - A Brotherhood conversazione was given here on
September 8, by Mrs. M. C. Skelton.
PETALUMA, CALIF., U. B. No. 6. - We are keeping up the work in the usual manner.
REDDING, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 2o. - Lodge No. 20 met as usual in the month of
September.
SALT LAKE, UTAH, U. B. L. No. 51. - We have taken more commodious quarters
in the Dooly Block. Attendance is gradually on the increase.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 7. - The Lodge has just purchased a new
piano. Instrumental and vocal music is now a feature in the Sunday lectures as well as in
the U. B. L. meetings. Attendance is good at all meetings. The monthly lecture was given
at San Quentin Penitentiary, September 25, by Dr. J. A. Anderson. The ladies of the Re-

--- 465

lief Corps have been busy during the month.

SAN JOSE, CALIF., U.B.L. No. 4. - We resumed Sunday meetings the first Sunday
in September, after a vacation for the summer. We are trying to find a practical side to all
our work. We are few and arouse no excitement, but have perseverance, which will
sometime show a result.
SANTA CRUZ., CALIF., U.B.L. No. 19. - Work seems to be booming here now. We
had no regular Lodge studies, but took up what seemed necessary. A visit from Mrs.
Bostwick of Stockton, was much appreciated. Sunday evening meetings are held in a more
interesting manner than heretofore, including music and recitations, concluding with short
talks on Theosophical subjects, and questions and answers. Lotus work is as prosperous
as ever; the membership is large and great interest shown; plans are being laid for
another entertainment in the near future. The Beginners Class has a large attendance, and
genuine heart interest is felt by all in the work. In War Relief work a large box of
contributions is being prepared, and the general public is being interested in this as much
as possible. Mrs. L. A. Russell, one of our best workers, leaves us soon at the call of duty,
and we shall miss her very much.
SANTA MONICA, CALIF., U. B. L. No. 75. - Our Lodge meetings were discontinued
during the summer, but we have begun our study class again and will continue it regularly
during the winter.
SEATTLE, WASH., U. B. L. No. 100. - Brother Sidney G. P. Coryn was warmly
received everywhere. We are having good meetings in Seattle. It is proposed to
inaugurate a system of leaflet distribution on one of the boats between here and Tacoma.
STOCKTON, CALIF., U.B.L. No. 3. - At the end of our vacation we reassembled on
Friday, September 27, somewhat refreshed after the rest. We will reopen the Sunday
evening meetings at headquarters the first Sunday in October, and the regular Tuesday
evening meetings will be resumed.
TACOMA, WASH., U. B. L. No. 116. - The fall activity at Tacoma has commenced.
Great earnestness is shown at Lodge meetings by the members and the public meetings
are well attended. We were very pleasantly surprised by Sidney G. P. Coryn, of London,
England, walking in on us on September 12. That night he met the members and brought
a strong "headquarters-breeze" with him.
VANCOUVER, B. C., U. B. L. No. 11. - We are happy to report progress this month.
Sunday afternoon meetings are much better attended since the cold weather set in. There
is a growing interest in the meetings in which we endeavor to make Brotherhood the
leading idea. On September 11 and 20 we had special lectures by Brother Sidney G. P.
Coryn, of London, England. These lectures and Brother Coryn's presence among us gave
us a tremendous lift, and the people were all more than delighted and free in their
expressions of appreciation.
VICTORIA, B. C., U. B. L. No. 87. - Brother Coryn's lectures were splendid. On both
occasions, in spite of the very short notice we received of his coming, good audiences
gathered to hear him speak and manifested great interest in his addresses. The Lodge has
been busy in the work gathering clothing and money for the relief of the sufferers by the
disastrous fire which occurred at New Westminster, B. C., bn September 11, which
destroyed the greater part of that city, rendering hundreds of people homeless and
destitute. The relief was immediate and most liberal and came from all parts, indicating the
fact that Brotherhood is fast becoming a living power in the lives of mankind. Especial
credit is due to the U. B. Lodge at Vancouver, which did noble work in the cause of the
sufferers.
--------------
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OUR PUBLICATIONS
HOW MEMBERS MAY HELP

Many do not fully realize the great influence which our literature plays on the thought
of today, and the opportunity for work in this direction is increasing all the time. This is one
of the most important features of our work. Every Lodge and every member can help in
this, and no effort should be spared to circulate more widely, so as to reach all classes of
people, both the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD magazine and The New Century.
Not only are these the best propaganda publications, but they are used for the sole
purpose of furthering the work, and any success that may accrue to them from increased
circulation will but increase their usefulness and benefit the whole organization. The
present time affords the best opportunity of doing this, and it is earnestly hoped that all
members will help. The Lodges as a whole should consider this, that the work in their cities
or districts may be done systematically and all news-dealers be supplied with both
publications, and also the public appealed to directly. An enthusiastic effort made at the
present time will bear a great harvest.
For further particulars as to special rates, etc., apply to UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD Magazine and The New Century, both at 144 Madison Avenue, New
York. But do not delay, the present time is the best for this work.
We much regret to hear of the death of Brother John Fitch McEwen. The members
of the Youngstown Lodge of the E. S. T. passed the following resolution:
"By the death of our dear Brother and Co-worker John Fitch McEwen, the
Youngstown Lodge, E. S. T., feel that they have met with a great loss, and that the
community generally has been deprived of a benefactor. Bro. McEwen was really the
father of the local organization, the Theosophical Society in Youngstown, and although a
constant sufferer he was untiring in his efforts to make practical the brotherhood of man.
It was his earnest endeavor to help everyone towards that larger life leading to
contentment, which is the result of a knowledge of the true science of nature and of
Universal Brotherhood. His was a heart that beat in sympathy for all who were unfortunate,
his hand was ever stretched out to give relief.
- L. F. Barzer, A. L. Acheson, Nina B. King, H. Parrock,
Committee.
Recorder [sic]"

-----------

Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right
use? What is the one end, which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to
inspire. I had better never see a book, than to be warped by its attraction clean out of my
own orbit, and made a satellite instead of a system. The one thing in the world, of value,
is the active soul. This every man is entitled to; this every man contains within him,
although, in almost all men, obstructed, and as yet unborn. - The American Scholar,
Emerson

-------------------

"If thou defile the sparkling water, thou no drink shalt find.
"Nor anarchy, nor tyrant's lawless rule, commend I to my people's reverence." -
Aeschylus, Eumenides.
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIII December, 1898 No. 9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE
by Alexander Wilder, M. D.

II. YOUTH.
THE Revolution had finally broken up the institutions of learning in France. To be
a scholar was considered as being an aristocrat. "You who were beneath place yourselves
above," said Danton, - "that is the whole secret of a revolution." When the appeal was
made to spare Lavoisier from the general slaughter, the reply from the Revolutionary
Tribunal was that "the Republic has no need of savants." The populace in power permitted
only physical indulgence and decreed the noble and worthy to its own abysm. Under the
dominion of Bonaparte a system of Imperial Lyceums was established which chiefly
dispensed a kind of military instruction but were repugnant to friends of liberal and
philosophic culture.
The "Fathers of the Faith," a Jesuit association, founded a college at Belley in
Savoy, just beyond the French frontier, which was attended by sons of the nobility and
burghers of France, Germany and Italy. Lamartine was conducted to it by his mother.
It was everything that the seminary at Lyons was not. "I did not find my mother
there," he wrote in his journal, "but I found God, purity, prayerfulness, charity, a
guardianship at once grateful and fatherly, kind regard of one's own family, children with
happy faces, beloved and loving. I was sour and hardened, and was permitted to look out
for myself and to please myself. I yielded to a yoke which excellent teachers knew how to
make easy and light. Their peculiar art consisted in making us interested in the prosperity
of the establishment, and leading us by our own will and our own enthusiasm."
Early religious impressions were deepened into the quietude of mystic rapture. "In
renewing piety," says he, "I found calmness of mind, entire submissiveness of myself,
principle by which to live, love of study, the sentiment of duty, the sense of communion with
God, the delights of meditation and prayer, the love of interior contemplation, and the
ecstasies of devotion in the presence of God. There can nothing on earth be compared to
these, except the ecstasies of a first and pure love. Yet even then the divine love has not
only the intoxications of the lesser love, but it has beyond these, the infinity and eternity of
the Being who is adored."
In his poem entitled Jocelyn, Lamartine depicts the ideal which he contemplated:
the passions, the faculties, the delights and sources of our existence condensed into that
divine passion and

--- 470

enthusiasm, and offered to God in the springtime of life as the first-fruits, the fire and
perfume of a life which had been profaned, smothered and wasted before.
He now made wonderful progress in his studies. When he first came to Belley, he
was placed in the lowest classes, but he quickly made his way to the first. "In three years,"
he says, "I had learned the whole. Every year I won the first prizes of my class."
His personal bearing and qualities were developed and brought into full view. He
grew into a youth of dignified manners, seriousness and concentration. His fellow students,
while esteeming him, were conscious of a certain superiority and treated him with
deference.
Yet his earnest gratitude and awakened religious feeling did not prevent him from
sharp criticism of what he saw. "I do not like the establishment of the Jesuits," he declared.
"While I was being educated among them, I could perceive the spirit of seduction,
arrogance and domineering which was concealed or revealed as occasion might require;
and which, sacrificing every member to the body, and confounding the body with religion,
practically substituted itself in the place of religion and aspired to give to a superannuated
Sect the government of individual consciences and the universal monarchy of conscience
itself."
Nevertheless he discriminated carefully between the institution and individuals. "I
detest Theocracy," he says in his journal, "because it sanctions tyranny in the name of God
and because it perpetuates it by making it sacred. I fear on account of the human mind,
the influence of the priesthood in governments; but none of these considerations shall
prevent me from acknowledging and proclaiming what is true. I will not be made to disown
goodness wherever it is."
He never ceased to regret his mother and his home. All the while that he was at
school he felt himself a prisoner and counted the hours till he should return to liberty and
the open fields. When the day came it seemed to him as one of the most beautiful of all
days. He says: "After the year which was called that of philosophy, and the year following
in which they tortured the natural good sense of youth by stupid and barbarous sophistry,
bending it to the reigning tenets and accepted institutions, I went forth, never to return."
The return home was to Lamartine somewhat like a triumph granted to a victorious
Roman general. His mother had fitted him up a room with furniture arid shelves for books,
and his father purchased for him a watch, a gun and a horse. He took possession of his
new independence with a rapture that lasted for months. The days were given to the chase
or the gallop, and the nights to social intercourse or to reading aloud from history or poetry.
There was a circulating library at Macon and he entered it as an Eden. He was,
however, sadly disillusioned. The foul materialism of the Revolution and the Empire had
filled the libraries with books of a depraved and corrupting character. He opened them but
to close them speedily in horror and disgust. But romances he read with avidity. He lived
in dreams of what might have been, of loves that were personified in ideal forms and above
all with a melodious voice, that had been called into life by the magic evocation of authors.
Tasso, Dante, Petrarch, Shakespeare, Milton, Chateaubriand, and above all, Ossian, then
newly brought into notice, were such magicians, and he read their works with insatiable
eagerness.
His father often entertained guests, chiefly those who had been exiles during the
Revolution. The older persons would amuse themselves with chess, backgammon or
cards, while the younger ones played by themselves in a corner, or went into the garden
and drove the robins and linnets from the rose-bushes, or recited poetry and pieces of
dramatic composition which they were to declaim before their elders after supper.
One of these was Lucy L. the only daughter of a land-owner on the mountain-side.
She was sixteen, and had been educated in Paris in a manner above her station in life.
She knew languages, was expert in poetry, and was passionately fond of Ossian.
Lamartine was of the same age and had similar tastes. They soon came to a silent
understanding. He often escorted her through the valley up to her home, neither of them
speaking, but bidding farewell with a sigh and a blush. The families smiled at their
movements, not apprehending any serious result. They met at church, and Lamartine
when hunting would come near her father's residence. He began to use a volume of
Ossian for a medium of correspondence.
At length an arrangement was made for an interview. It was to be at night when her
nurse would be asleep and off from guard. When Lamartine descended from his window
to the ground, his dog was watching him and came bounding forward for caresses. He
drove the animal back with difficulty. Arriving near the terrace beneath the maiden's
window, he made the signal, and she responded. Lamartine climbed up and she came out
to him. He declared in glowing terms his good fortune at being able to view the moonlit
landscape in her company. She was replying with equal fervor, when the dog, which had
followed him unobserved, came leaping forward and saluting him. Immediately all the dogs
about the place set up a general barking and the girl, in alarm, hurried into the house.
Lamartine went home in a state of mind easy to imagine.
The parents were now aware that it was time to act. Lamartine was sent to Paris
and other places on the pretext of becoming familiar with the world.

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Their plighted affection soon died out. In his eighteenth year, Lamartine was sent
to Tuscany to transact some business with a relative of his family at Leghorn. He set out
full of enthusiasm which was increased by the objects on the way. The business dragged
on very slowly, and he wrote to his father for permission to visit Rome and Naples. Without
waiting for a reply he set out. He might be denied; but nevertheless he would have seen
the places. His mother had a relative at a Convent in Naples who would lend him money
to go home.
His youth, enthusiasm and ignorance of the country attracted the notice of a fellow-
traveler. This was a youth a little older than Lamartine, and was supposed to be a son or
nephew of the singer David, whom he was accompanying to meet an engagement at
Naples. It was a three days' journey to Rome and they sought to make it pleasant for
Lamartine. The young man was his interpreter at the inns, served him first at the table, and
gave him the best seat at his side in the coach, letting him when weary, sleep with his head
on his shoulder. He explained everything as they journeyed, gathered flowers for him and
filled his hands and hat with fruit. The old singer looked on, evidently enjoying it, and often
smiling slyly.
They arrived at Rome in the night and took lodgings at the same inn. Lamartine was
awakened in the morning by his friend rapping at his door. Coming into the breakfast room,
he looked for his fellow-traveler. A laugh from the company greeted him. There sat at the
side of David a Roman girl, elegantly dressed, her black hair in tresses bound by a fillet
fastened behind by two golden pins with heads of pearl. This was his companion on the
journey. She blushed as she addressed him.
"The dress does not change the
--- 472

heart," said she. "This adventure will serve to teach you not to trust to appearances of
friendship which you should be more slow to accept; they can be something else."
She was herself a singer, a pupil and favorite of David, and assumed this disguise
to avoid captious remarks when traveling with him. He remained several days at Rome,
and she, resuming the dress, took the opportunity to show to Lamartine the grand sights
of the city. St. Peter's Church, the Colosseum, the Francati, Tivoli, Albano. She knew how
to show the best places at the best points of view, and the best hours for contemplating the
remaining monuments of the Ancient Rome; as for example, under the pines by the large
domes of the Pincian mount in the morning, under the grand shadows of St. Peter's at
night, at the silent enclosure of the Colosseum by moonlight, the others in the bright days
of autumn. There was no warmer sentiment than a calm friendship; her masculine attire,
contralto voice and freedom of manner made her seem like a man, comrade and friend.
After their departure, Lamartine lived at the house of an old painter. It was quiet, like
his own home, and he had no letters of recommendation to enable him to do more. The
painter had a brother who had borne part in the attempt at a Roman Republic. He had
been imprisoned when General Mack and the Neapolitans suppressed the movement, but
was released by the French army. He adored France the revolutionary and philosophic,
but abhorred the Emperor and the Empire, and regarded Bonaparte as the Caesar of
liberty.
"The proof that liberty is man's divine ideal is found," says Lamartine, "in the fact that
it is the first dream of youth, and that it vanishes only when the heart is withered and the
spirit debased or discouraged. There is not a person of twenty who is not a republican.
There is not a wasted heart that is not slavish."
Under these impressions he studied Rome, its history and monuments. Its antiquity,
so far from being wearisome, was for him a topic of deep interest. He went from the
ancient to modern Rome, taking notes, writing and discoursing on the subject with the
family. In this way he spent the season from October till April.
Lamartine next visited Naples, to him the City of Vergil and Tasso. He arrived there
the first of April. He was in company with Aymond de Virieu, a fellow-student at the college.
Their fathers were with the Royal Guard on the fatal Tenth of August and succeeded in
escaping with their lives. The two rambled together over the city and vicinity. The fancy
seized them to engage with a fisherman. They made an arrangement with one who with
a grandson lived in a humble dwelling on the shore of Margellina. They were delighted with
the new experience. Both had been accustomed to the plain life of countrymen, and found
it easy to live like fishermen. They were several times recalled to France, but found this
life too fascinating, and did not stay.
In September there came violent storms. They had set out to fish for roaches and
tunnies, off the coast of Cuma. The sea was smooth and the fishing all that they could
wish. Suddenly the wind fell on them, when they were far from any shore. They
endeavored to double the cape of Misena, but the storm prevented them. They were
obliged to steer for the open sea. The old fisherman was familiar with peril, and calm even
in the presence of death. It was night, and the grandson lighted a torch, to apprise all who
saw it that they were perishing. The wind became more furious. Everything in the boat
was thrown overboard, and the fisherman's entire wealth floated away on the
--- 473

water. Finally they were able to reach the island of Procida and to land.
The fisherman had also a dwelling here where his wife and grandchildren were
living. When the old man told the story of their danger and wonderful escape his young
granddaughter, Graziella, prepared a bouquet of rosemary and orange blossoms and
suspended it before a little statue of the Madonna. The two young men observed this and
crossed themselves.
Next morning, before rising, they overheard the aged wife lamenting their losses and
berating her husband for having two pagans with him. It was a punishment she said. Then
Graziella protested. She had seen their act of devotion, and that the younger had a tear
in his eye.
When they went down to view the boat, they found that the waves had broken it to
pieces during the night against the rocks. Every one of the family wailed aloud, beating
their breasts and casting themselves violently on the ground. The boat was their wealth,
and was loved as a friend.
The young men gathered the broken pieces and carried them beyond the reach of
the waves. They then quietly stole away and went to the village of Procida, some miles
away, where they found a barque very similar to the lost vessel, and purchased it. De
Virieu insisted on paying for it, knowing that his friend had little money. It could be made
right in France he said. They sent two men around with the boat, and returned by land,
purchasing some provisions and oranges on the way. It was yet day but they found the
family fast asleep, exhausted by grief, and in attitudes expressive of their terrible despair.
They were speedily roused and the purchases of fruit and food placed at the feet of
the young maiden. The old man thanked them, but his wife was morose.
"Come Andrea," said De Virieu, "a man should not mourn over what can be regained
by work and courage. There are boards in the woods and sails in the growing hemp. A
day of weeping exhausts more strength than one of hard work. Come down with us to the
shore with your wife and children. We are your sailors, and will help you bring up tonight
the remains of the wreck. You can make from them, enclosures, beds, tables and furniture
for the family. You will enjoy one day in your old age, the sleeping quietly in the boards
which rocked you so long on the waves."
"They will only do for coffins," the old woman muttered.
When they came in sight of the new barque, De Virieu said: "This is yours." They
all fell at his feet as if struck by lightning. They had lost everything: he had made them as
rich as ever. First of all they thanked God, and then they blessed their benefactor. It was
hard to believe themselves so fortunate, they were almost afraid to go on board, lest it
should prove a phantom. and disappear.
The lad Beppo went first. He displayed everything; they wept as they admired.
Graziella bowed her head, and then addressed her grandmother.
"You said they were Pagans, though I told you they were more likely to be angels.
Which was right?"
The grandmother then humbly besought their pardon and never afterward failed to
trust them.
The boy Beppo affixed to the new barque a piece of board from the wrecked vessel
on which a figure of the Madonna had been rudely carved. It was a custom in ancient time
to bring earth from an old town to a colony or new settlement, or to place something from
an old structure upon a new one to signify that the old existence was thus continued.
The inhabitants of Procida were all of Greek descent. The grandfather of Andrea
was a merchant of Aegina who had emigrated because of religious persecution. Adverse
fortune had followed,

--- 474

till the family fell into its present reduced condition.

The stormy weather compelled the young men to remain many days. They explored
the island and of nights were entertained by music with the guitar and tambourine.
Why should they leave their homes to come and row, read, write, muse in the sun
and lie on the ground by the Bay of Naples, was more than this simple family could
understand. They said they were poets.
"You are laughing at me," said Graziella; "you do not have your hair in disorder, and
your eyes are not wild, like those whom they call poets on the quays. You do not even
know how to play a note on the guitar. With what do you accompany the songs that you
make?"
But to her grandmother she said: "It cannot be that they are refugees driven from
their own country for some crime. They are too young and too good for such badness."
They teased her with accounts of the naughty things they had done. Their smooth
faces, however, their quiet eyes, laughing lips and open-heartedness, were in such contrast
with the crimes which they described as to provoke her and her brother to laughter and
banish distrust.
They had rescued from the wreck a copy of Tacitus, the Letters of Jacopo Ortis, and
Paul and Virginia. She supposed them to be prayer-books, and wondered why the young
men did not become priests or monks. To undeceive her they read from the books,
translating as they read. Neither Tacitus nor Voscalo created any interest. Lamartine
remarks; "The sentiment of political liberty, the aspiration of men for leisure, does not
descend so low among the people."
She could not understand why Ortis should despair and kill himself when so much
opportunity for enjoyment was at his hand. Whether Austrians or French ruled in Milan was
little matter. Nor did Tacitus interest them. To them it seemed of little account whether it
was Empire or Republic, virtues for glory, or death for prosperity.
But Paul and Virginia roused all their attention. "The note was struck which vibrates
in unison in all of all ages and all conditions - the universal note which includes all in one
sound alone - the eternal verity of Art: Nature, Love, and God!"
The old fisherman forgot his pipe; his wife sat as though fixed to the seat. Graziella
drew toward the reader as one fascinated. It was a revelation to her. She was revealed
to herself in Virginia. In that half-hour she had matured six years.
Lamartine closed the book and refused to read more till the next night. She implored
him but in vain. All next day she would not speak, but she watched for the sunset. At the
close of the reading no one spoke; the lamp went down, and each one stole silently away.
The stormy weather ceased. Letters summoned De Virieu home, and Lamartine
returned to Naples. He took up his solitary life as before, moped incessantly, and finally
fell ill with the mal de pays. His relative was away, and the physician who came to the
convent could find no technical ailment to prescribe for.
Lamartine sent word to Andrea at Margellina. Only Graziella happened to be at
home. She came with the messenger and hurried to his room with reproaches because
he had not sent before. But glancing at her humble dress she added:
"Ah, I see. We are poor and you would be ashamed to let us come into this fine
mansion. Yet for all that, though we were scorned by you, we would always have come."
Immediately, without affectation or shadow of a false modesty, she began

--- 475

to wait upon him. She purchased oranges, squeezed the juice into a glass and gave it to
him. Before going away she took a silver image of the Madonna from her neck, fastened
it to the curtain of the bed and charged him repeatedly to pray to it. Then she left.
He began to mend at once. He slept sweetly, and the next day procuring a curricle
he rode to Margellina. He found the family all there, about to go and visit him. Graziella
clapped her hands, declaring that the silver image had cured him.
She was now employed by her uncle, the foreman of a coral manufactory. He and
his son Cecco, an amiable youth, but sadly deformed by rickets, took turns in teaching her
the work. She was able to earn enough to clothe the family and send her brothers to
school. She took Lamartine to her room and showed him how the work was done.
As night approached he was reluctant to leave. Graziella whispered to her
grandmother, who at once invited him to stay and live with them. All joined in the proposal
except Graziella. A room was fitted up for him, and he remained through autumn and
winter.
He resumed his habits of reading and attempted writing in French and Italian. He
would read over what he had written, and throw it away. This excited the girl's curiosity.
She would steal in, peep over his shoulder, and snatch away his book or pen. He would
frown and affect to scold her, but she would only laugh. She asked what the book had
said, whether the black lines on the paper ever stopped talking, and why he wrote at night
and threw it away in the morning. Why not talk to her? She had more mind than the leaves
of paper, for she could tell him what he asked, and then he would not spoil his eyes and
burn up the oil.
She also began herself to learn to read and write. The affection which he had for
his comrade, so he declares, ebbed back upon her. He describes it as a similar sentiment,
but more vivid and tender, - a delightful repose of the heart, without agitation, jealousy or
passional preoccupation. On her part there were exhibited no dreads, reserves or
bashfulness; but she acted as a sister with a brother. They lived like two children.
The cousin, the instructor in coral working, came day after day to spend the long
winter evenings. She was indifferent toward him, but he was kind and patient. On
Christmas eve, however, Lamartine found everything changed. He came late to supper
and found everybody constrained in manner. Graziella had been weeping and did not eat.
Cecco's father had asked her in marriage for the son, promising a generous care of the
family. They had accepted, agreeing that the nuptials should take place after the holidays.
Lamartine had never accounted to himself in this matter. Whether he loved her, he
did not know. The thought now forced upon him of the change in their relations, made him
conscious that these were more than simple friendship. "I perceived something of the
infinity of love," says he, "by the infinity of sadness into which my heart felt itself suddenly
submerged."
He could not sleep. He arose before the family and went away, remaining for days.
He roamed about Naples, visited other places, and ascended Mount Vesuvius. Everything
failed him; he returned hesitating to Margellina.
Graziella, he learned, had shut herself in her chamber, neither answering a call,
coming to meals, nor working in coral. The uncle called often for his answer, the old people
urged her compliance. She only replied that she would rather go to Geneva. To Catholics
this threat was as awful as that of suicide. A consent, however, had just been procured,
and the betrothal was to take place on the morrow. He welcomed

--- 476

Lamartine back, declaring that his presence always brought them good luck.
He felt that this was not true. He went to his room and fell into a heavy sleep.
Awakening several times, it seemed to him as if she had opened his door; also as if he
heard sobs and smothered cries in the storm outside, and his own name pronounced with
a call for help. He listened but hearing no more, supposed it an illusion.
In the morning he found the family plunged in the deepest grief. She had fled away
in the night. Her clothes, ornaments and money were left, and in a little note she asked
forgiveness, naming Lamartine and returning to Cecco his ring.
Lamartine found in his own room a pomegranate blossom which he had admired in
her hair, and the little silver image which she had left with him when he was ill at the
convent. She had, then, opened his door; and traces showed that she had spent an hour
on the terrace in the storm, kneeling or lying down, groaning and weeping.
The monasteries and houses of friends were searched in vain. An inspiration
prompted Lamartine to go to the grotto of Pausilippa. There he took a vessel for the island
of Procida and hastened to the cabin where Andrea had lived. He knew where the key was
kept; but it was not there. The door was fast, but there was a faint glimmer of light inside.
He uttered her name in a low voice. A feeble cry was the answer. He besought her to
open the door; he had come, guided by her good angel, to find her.
"God!" she exclaimed wildly, "it is his voice!"
He spoke again: "Graziellina!"
"It is he!" she cried. "I am not mistaken; it is he!"
He burst open the door. She was lying on a pile of heather, too weak to rise. She
was chilled through and her teeth rattled. He chafed her hands, covered her with his coat,
put fagots on the fire, replenished the lamp, and then sat down. Finally she spoke. In the
glowing language of the South, she declared her unconquerable love for him. She would
die, but would not love another. She was his on earth and God's in heaven. She was poor
and unworthy; she would never ask him whether he did or would love her. Scorn her if he
would, rail at her, tread her under foot, deride her as one in rags setting up for a queen,
deliver her to be laughed at by everybody, yet she would say it. "If you had been in my
place you would have done as I have," said she.
She had come to Procida in the storm expecting never to see him again, as one
dead going to the grave. She would be a "religieuse." But the monastery was closed for
the night; so she wrote to her friend there to come for her the next day. Coming to the
house, she went in and lighted the lamp before the Madonna. Then on her knees she
made a vow, a last vow, a vow of hope verging on despair. "You will know if you ever
love," said she, "that there always remains a last glimmer of fire in the depth of the soul,
even when one believes it all extinguished."
She asked the Madonna for a sign. No one knew where she was. If the friend to
whom she had written should come first for her, it would mean for her to go to the
monastery. But if he should come, guided by her angel to find her, she was to go with him
and love him the rest of her days. To obtain the fulfillment she had cut off her hair as a
votive offering.
The Madonna had performed the miracle. "She sent you," she added: "My hair is
for her; my life for you." Lamartine here remarks: "I surmised what it is to love, and took
that for love. Alas! I was too young and inexperienced not to deceive myself."
They continued in discourse till the morning. Her piety and his modesty

--- 477

protected both. Then came her parents for her. The friend had guessed her despair and
apprised them. All went back to Naples. Cecco bravely yielded his wishes, but no one
thought of Lamartine.
Graziella now feared the summons that would recall him to France. Many were her
devices to detain him in Italy. She was often moody and sad, sitting in silence for hours,
looking as if beyond the sea. "I see France beyond those mountains of ice," she said to
him one day. "I see one who looks like you going, going, going on a long white road that
has no end. He goes without turning back, and I wait whole hours hoping all the time that
he will turn and come back. But he never does."
As she said this, she hid her face in her apron and would not look up. Lamartine
went to his room. He attempted to read, but only wept. He never let her know it. "I was
wrong," says he; "a tear from me would have done her much good."
On one occasion she was dressed by girl friends in French style, hoping that by this
means he would be less ashamed of her if she followed him home. He made sport of her
rudely, and she stripped off the strange attire. She sadly presaged that it was her lot to
stay and die where she had lived.
When letters came to him, she would take them before he knew it and hang them
for nine days or so, under the Madonna by her bed. She seemed to think that this might
change their contents, and perhaps transform a summons home into permission to remain.
But the dreaded blow fell. One night in the last days of May when all in the
household were asleep, a knock came to his door. De Virieu was there with a summons
from his mother. "The horses are waiting," said he. "It is eleven o'clock. Set out at once,
or you never will. Your mother will die in consequence. You know your family hold her
responsible for all your short-comings. She sacrifices herself for you; for once sacrifice
yourself for her. I swear that I will come back with you to spend the winter and another year
here. But you must now act with regard to your family and in obedience to your mother's
orders."
Lamartine felt like a man utterly lost. He packed his valise in haste, and wrote a
note to Graziella telling her of his peremptory summons from his mother, and promising to
come back in four months never again to leave her. He confided their future to Providence
and love.
He left his purse for her parents and slipped the note under her door, stifling a sob.
De Virieu pulled him away. At this moment Graziella came out. She had heard a noise.
She recognized De Virieu, and saw the valise on a servant's shoulder. She shrieked and
fell insensible. They carried her to her bed. The family now came to her relief. As
Lamartine spoke to her she recovered consciousness. At that instant De Virieu drew him
away, and in an hour they were on their way to Rome.
He had told her where to address letters to him. At Milan he found one. She was
well, she said, but sick at heart, and she trusted his word that he would be back by
November.
At Lyons there was another. In it were leaves of a carnation which had grown near
his window. She said that she had had a fever, and that her heart ached. She went out
less every day, and had been sent for change of air to the house of Cecco's sister, on a hill
above Naples.
Three months now passed. Lamartine did not go back to Italy. Her image seemed
often to appear to him as a regret and tender reproach. He did not forget her, but she was
vailed in his life. He cherished her memory when alone; it followed him into society almost
like remorse.
He thus describes himself:
--- 478

"True love is the ripe fruit of life. At eighteen, it is not known, but only imagined. In
the vegetable world, when the fruit comes, the leaves fall; perhaps it is so in human nature.
I have often thought this since I counted the hairs whitening on my head. I have
reproached myself for not having known the value of that blossom of love. I was only
vanity. That vanity is the most besotted and the most cruel of vices, for it causes the better
nature to blush."
One night in the first days of November, Lamartine was returning from a ball. A
letter and a little package were handed him, which a traveler had brought from Naples. The
foreman of the coral manufactory, Cecco's father, had sent it. With a trembling hand,
Lamartine opened the letter and read;
"The doctor says that I will die in three days. I will say adieu to you before losing my
strength. O, if you were here, I would live! But this is the will of God. I shall speak to you
soon and always from the height of heaven. Love my soul! It will be with thee all thy life.
I bequeath you my hair that was cut off for you one night. Consecrate it in a chapel of your
land so that something of me may be near you."
Lamartine sat immovable like one paralyzed, with the letter in his hand. It was day
when he stirred, and had strength to open the little package. There was the hair as she
had cut it off in the cabin at Procida, the leaves of heather still entangled in it.
He did as she directed. But from that time, a shadow from her death cast itself over
his visage and darkened his youth.
Wherever he went, he was reminded of her by innumerable incidents. When alone,
her image and her memory were before him. She kept her word. She spoke to him, and
he could not forget.
In 1810, he wrote: "I have entered today on my twenty-first year and I am as weary
as if I were a hundred. I never thought that to live was so painful. Why? I have been a fool.
I met felicity and did not perceive it; or rather, I did not till it was borne out of reach. I had
not willed it, I let it slip. Death took it for her. Graziella, Graziella, why did I forsake thee?
The only delightful days of my life, I spent with thee in the poor abode of thy father. Why
did I not understand at first that thou lovest me; and when I did, why did I not love thee
enough to prefer thee above everything, no more to blush for thee, but to become a
fisherman with thy father, and to forget in that simple life and in thy arms my name, my
country, my education, and every garment of chains to which my soul was bound, which
shackled it at every step? Now it is too late. Thou hast nothing more to give me except
eternal remorse for having deserted thee. And I have nothing for thee but these tears
which come to the eyes when I think of thee, tears of which I hide the source and object."
Twelve years later, Lamartine visited Naples. He sought for traces of Graziella. He
could not find any, either at Margellina or Procida. The little house on the island was in
ruins.
"Poor Graziella," he apostrophizes, "fortunate days have passed since that time. I
have loved, I have been loved. Other rays of beauty and tenderness have shone on my
dark path. Other souls have been laid open to me, disclosing in hearts of women the
mysterious treasures of beauty, saintliness and purity which God has animated on the earth
in order that we may understand, perceive and desire heaven. But nothing has blurred thy
first apparition in my heart. I have lived longer, but I am brought nearer to thee by thought.
Thy memory is like the fire on thy father's boat which the distance separates from the
smoke, and which shines more distinctly the farther it is from us. I know not where thy
mortal body reposes, nor whether any one weeps for thee in thy own land; but thy true
sepulchre is in my heart. There

--- 479

thou art enshrouded. Thy name never occurs to me in vain. I love the language in which
it is uttered. There is at the bottom of my heart a tear which escapes, drop by drop, and
falls sweetly on thy memory, renewing it and embalming it in me."
One evening in 1830 Lamartine went into a church in Paris. A coffin was borne in
containing the body of a young girl. At once he thought of Graziella and wept bitterly. He
repaired to his chamber and wrote the verses "The First Regret." Twenty years had
passed, but the wound had not been healed.
"It is thus," he adds, "that I would by these written tears, expiate the hardness and
the ingratitude of my heart at eighteen. I am never able to read these verses over without
adoring that new image which constantly brings up for me the transparent and mournful
waves of the Bay of Naples, and leads me to hate myself. But souls on high forgive. Hers
has forgiven me. You also must pardon me. I have wept."

--------------

THEORY AND PRACTICE

by Vespera M. Freeman

FROM the foundations of the world, before literature was, all great Truths have been
orally transmitted and finally embalmed in Legends. These legends speak an Universal
language, for the truths conveyed are universal and each man hearing, receives and
comprehends according to his merit or the degree of his development.
We find in the Legend of the Holy Grail as retold by Tennyson with all the magic art
and flowery setting possible to modern language, one of these old truths which at this time
specially seems to press forward for recognition and assimilation. One asks here:

"What is this phantom of a cup that comes and goes?

For on a day she sent to speak with me.
And when she came to speak, behold her eyes
Beyond my knowing of them; beautiful
Beyond all knowing of them; wonderful.
Beautiful in the light of holiness. She said,
Sweet Brother, I have seen the Holy Grail.
For, waked at dead of night, I heard a sound
As of a silver horn from o'er the hills
Blown - and the slender sound
As from a distance beyond distance grew
Coming upon me. Oh never harp nor horn,
Nor aught we blow with breath or touch with hand
Was like that music as it came; and then
Streamed through my cell a cold and silver beam,
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail,
Rose red with beatings in it, as if alive,
Till all the white walls of my cell were dyed
With rosy colors leaping on the wall:
And then the music faded, and the Grail
Past, and the beam decayed, and from the walls
The rosy quiverings died into the night.

--- 480

So now the Holy Thing is here again

Among us, brother; fast thou too and pray
And tell thy brother knights to fast and pray,
That so perchance the vision may be seen
By thee and those, and all the world be heal'd."
.........
"Then leaving the pale nun, I spake of this
To all men; and myself fasted and pray'd
Always, and many among us many a week
Fasted and pray'd even to the uttermost,
Expectant of the wonder that would be."
.........
Then on a summer night it came to pass,
While the great banquet lay along the hall
That Galahad would sit in Merlin's chair.
 And all at once as there we sat, we heard
A cracking and a riving of the roofs
And rending, and a blast, and overhead
Thunder, and in the thunder was a cry,
And in the blast there smote along the hall
A beam of light seven times more clear than day:
And down the long beam stole the Holy Grail
All cover 'd over with a luminous cloud,
And none might see who bare it, and it past.
But every knight beheld his fellow's face
As in a glory, and all the knights arose
And staring at each other like dumb men
Stood, till I found a voice and sware a vow."

One great difficulty always presents itself to me, when I attempt to deal with any
single subject. I can never find a good beginning point where that subject may be wholly
detached from any other. Live tendrils cling and pull in every direction, showing more
clearly with every effort that nothing is anything in itself but only is, as it is part of something
else. Its meaning lies in its relation to other things. Cut off its clinging tendrils, separate
it by force from its relations, you find its horn of meaning, mutilated, dead. There are no
beginnings. All beginning is assumed. There is no detachment. All things are but parts
of one thing.
I will not try then, to find a beginning. I will not try to separate one thing from
another, but just tell you clearly as I can, what I have been thinking lately about theory and
practice in their relation to the moral health and consequent happiness of all mankind. That
the sorrows of the world are grievous, is but too well-known. I need not stop and try to
picture them; they show too plainly and speak too loudly for themselves. Their daily
burdens seem too heavy to be borne by those who have no true theory of life - no light -
no guide - no refuge - no sure goal.
All those who have passed beyond this condition, who have won through even to
that point of vantage where they know that there is light and help, if they are men, must feel
constrained to give what aid and cheer they can to those who still are in this greater stress
and darkness. How is it then with those to whom the message has been given to "fast and
pray," and pass the word on to the brother knights that they too "fast and pray," so that the
Holy Vision may be seen again by men and all the world be healed?
Always in learning anything, first comes theory - basic rules - formulas. Then follow
examples to demonstrate, explain and prove. Then certain ques-

--- 481

tions or problems are put to the pupil which he must analyze and adapt for himself, to that
particular rule or formula under which it properly falls. That is, he puts into practice what
he learns in theory. It seems clear to me that in such practical application of theory the
benefit lies. I will not say all benefit - but much of it. Let us suppose for instance that music
were left to theory and all its strings were dumb; that artists studied light and shade, color
and form and picturesque effects, leaving the canvas bare; that men learned in navigation
were to sail no ship across seas to its happy destination; that men knowing seasons, soils
and seeds were never to sow nor reap; that no miner, mine, no builder, build, no potter
turn his wheel.
In short, suppose no knowledge were applied. Could benefit and progress come
from theory alone? What a naked world we should find it and sadder than it seems even
now. And after all, is the knowledge our own and can we hold it unless we put it to the test
of use and prove our right? The very meanings of our words are lost if we neglect to keep
them well applied and used. A word repeated, parrot like, soon turns into an empty form
and stands for nothing, or like a house dismantled, shelters unworthy tenants. Look at the
words Religion, Brotherhood, Faith, Love, Justice. What have these come to stand for, to
the world at large! Have not the most atrocious crimes all been committed in these sacred
names? Nothing is truly ours except through use. No song of bird, no scent or bloom of
flower, no poet's thought is ours or can remain and help us, unless we seize upon its
meaning and relate it to ourselves and apply it in our daily lives.
We have been studying a great and beautiful philosophy. I should say the great
philosophy, since there is only the one in reality. Its basic principles appear self-evident
truths. It satisfies the mind and gives the key through use of which the complex problems
of existence may be solved. Understanding even the outlines of this Philosophy, the Chaos
which the world presented, falls into perfect order, governed by perfect law. Now comes
this question of theory and practice.
Our burdens have been eased through even this partial understanding. Shall we
now study further detail and hurry on for more relief and greater freedom, or shall we put
to use what we have learned in helping others? Can we go on and leave these others who
have no understanding of life or why they suffer, to sink under their heavy loads or struggle
on unhelped? I do not think we can. I think the only path to greater knowledge lies through
our effort at application of what knowledge we already have. For the keynote of our
philosophy is that all men are simply different presentations of one thing. That the Soul of
all Humanity is the One Great Soul manifesting itself to itself, through the medium of matter
in individualized centres and forms, for a purpose of Its own. Here is the true basis of
Religion, of Brotherhood, of all ethics and of moral law and of the proper conduct of Life.
If this be true, then the real aim and purpose of each man must be the same. That is to
learn to understand and consciously carry out in his own particular way the purpose of the
one Soul. There can be no conflicting interests, no opposing duties, no good for one that
is not good for all - no unequal gifts or unmerited awards. There can be no injustice in the
Soul. The only way a man may gain or merit a reward lies in his conscious obedience to
the impulse of the Soul. And the reward he gains is only a more enlightened understanding
and an increased ability and power to work more surely toward universal ends.
We are all here for each other - each for all. We are object lessons for

--- 482

each other, but what we learn or what we gain is equally for all - no other gain is permanent
- it is Dead Sea fruit. We must rise and fall together as we advance through fiery trials and
crucifixions of earthly life to a common destiny. This doctrine, of course, is nothing new.
It has been repeated from age to age. It is the underlying meaning in legend and fairy tale,
in the folk lore of every people, in the old tragedies and in the great world epics.
 At the Centre of his being every man recognizes its truth, but he is not helped if he
lets it pass as theory and does not apply it in his life, nor can he help others; until he in
some measure delivers himself, he is powerless to deliver others.
The trouble is, so few believe. The pity is, there is so little Faith. Even the good
knight. Percivale lacked faith enough to carry him safely through his first trial. After he had
made his vow and started on his Quest he said:

"Thereafter the dark warning of our king,

That most of us would follow wandering fires,
Came like a driving gloom across my mind.
Then every evil word I'd spoken once
And every evil thought I'd thought of old
And every evil deed I ever did
Awoke and cried 'This Quest is not for thee.'
And lifting up mine eyes, I found myself
Alone and in a land of sand and thorns.
And I was thirsting even unto death
And I, too, cried 'this Quest is not for me.'"

Man holds himself too cheap, seeing and recognizing the truth he is ready to yield
when difficulty presents itself.
He will not see that in the very struggle lies his opportunity; that strength and
courage and all noble qualities develop and strengthen only through his efforts to overcome
these evils in his nature and in the adverse circumstances of his life. He is still too ready
to cry out "this Quest is not for me." But the Quest is, indeed, for every man at every
moment; by different paths perhaps, but the same Quest.
Into his daily life, into each word and thought and act must enter the recognition of
this living truth. No question of right or duty or propriety in our relations with each other,
no matter how great, no matter how small, but will fall into its proper place and find its
answer if we simply apply this test: "Will it help on or will it obstruct the purpose of the Soul
manifesting through me?" If it help, it is right, if it hinder, wrong.
This is the only path toward happiness, for true happiness is the conscious approval
of the Soul. It has nothing whatever to do with outward conditions and environments, with
the so-called failures and successes of life. The individualized Soul, the real man, is
swathed round and in a way imprisoned in material forms while on this earth. He has a
body and a physical brain and senses and organs, which he has assembled for himself that
he may carry on his investigations in matter. It is in this contact with physical nature that
the trouble lies - also the opportunity.
There is an element of delusion inherent in Nature. She is full of temptations. She
is all the time trying to lead a man up into some mountain to show him some shining
possession or other, and saying to him "All this will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and
worship me." The senses say to him "you certainly are separate from these other men."
The mind reports to him that his good is separate from the universal good - that he certainly
can gain riches and fame for himself - that the body must be fed and clothed and taken
care of and
--- 483

that it must not be overworked or lack sleep or risk illness for anything but his own pleasure
- that he must compete for possessions and place and power in order to exist. It insists
that the present life is all the life he knows and that he must believe nothing he cannot see
proved. All these combined efforts on the part of Nature more or less involve the man. He
imagines he is identified with the mind that doubts and hesitates and with this brain that
reasons and speculates and with these senses that make false and faulty presentations
and with the body that feels heat and cold, hunger and thirst. Thus is the man beguiled and
bound and loses command of his own servants in his own dwelling place. Then does he
need a trumpet call from some good brother that will rouse him to exert his strength in
battle. For he must fight or quit the field. He must win free and take command or the
purpose of his life can never be accomplished.
Identifying himself with the soul alone what doubt or fear can reach him? What evil
thing can touch him? What good, either of beauty, truth or love can miss him? These
passing shadows which the lower nature casts upon him cannot affect him permanently.
They cannot affect us now if with our whole heart and mind and strength we work on
steadily until Brotherhood is recognized in the world for what it is and humanity is
humanized. This is the proper application and real use of what philosophy we already
have, - and for the present it seems enough.
"Fast and pray," the message came to Sir Percivale. Brothers, let us too fast and
pray. Jesus said "Watch!" We have been told "Work!'' The words do not matter, - the
meaning is the same in all. Let us then fast and pray and watch and work, "that the Holy
vision may be seen again of men and all the world be healed."

------------

"A great difference exists between the Theosophical Movement and any
Theosophical Society. The Movement is moral, ethical, spiritual, universal, invisible, save
in effect. A society formed for Theosophical work is a machine for conserving energy and
putting it to use. . . . Organized theosophical bodies are made by men for their better
cooperation, but being outer shells they must change from time to time as human defects
come out, as the times change, and as the great underlying spiritual movement compels
such alterations. One can see that to worship an organization, even though it be the
beloved theosophical one, is to fall down before form, and to become the slave once more
of that . . . which the T. S. was meant to overthrow. Some members have worshiped the
so-called T. S., thinking it to be all in all, and not properly perceiving its de facto and
piecemeal character as an organization ..... H. P. B. herself declared that it were better to
do away with the Society rather than to destroy Brotherhood. . . . We have not changed the
work of H. P. B. but enlarged it. . . . It is not Theosophy, nor conducive to its spread, to
make legal claims to theosophical names, symbols, and seals, so as to prevent, if possible,
others from using them. Those who do not know true Theosophy, nor see the difference
between forms and the soul of things, will continue to worship form and to sacrifice
brotherhood to a shell."
 - W. Q. Judge.

August, 1895.
------------

THE REBIRTH OF BEAUTY

by H. T. Edge

JUST before the death of our great Teacher, H. P. Blavatsky, there appeared in
Lucifer one of her thundering editorials, entitled "Civilization the Death of Art and Beauty."
In it she referred to the desolation of landscapes by smoke and refuse-heaps, the
meanness of modern architecture and decoration, and the dreary, prosaic, and desecrated
aspect of modern life in general. Surely, in this swan-song of hers, she struck one of those
key-notes which she was sent to strike, and which it is the duty of her pupils to echo.
Beauty is one of the age's departed glories that it has to win back, for ugliness is a thing
of evil.
Modern ugliness is the expression of internal discord and gloom, and cannot be
altered until harmony is felt in the souls of men. Artificial attempts to produce beautiful
forms only lead to greater incongruities; for scenic and decorative beauty are like human
beauty - not to be won by cosmetics, but the symbol of a healthy vitality within.
It is said that the beautiful has been sacrificed to the useful, but never was worse
blasphemy uttered. As if the truly useful could ever be dissociated from the truly beautiful!
But "useful" and "beautiful" have come to have quite different meanings nowadays. Nearly
all our "useful" things are ugly, and very many of our beautiful things are useless to us. But
this is only because we have lost that canon of art and construction which can produce
objects that combine the greatest utility with the greatest beauty. Surely this canon is of
universal application; if it is recognized in bridge-construction, why could we not also make
our grand-pianos and steam-rollers beautiful? But this is a question for artists.
The first essential to beauty is harmony or concord. In music, painting, sculpture,
architecture, this principle is obvious. In Nature, whether in her mineral, plant, or animal
kingdoms, harmony is preserved. But civilized humanity is like an orchestra in which each
instrument plays a different tune. The members of our human choir must be trained to
have one ear for their own part and one ear for the general effect, or they will get out of
time and tune. Which of our great money-makers ever has an eye to the effect which his
doings will have upon society generally?
This exclusiveness, pushed to extremes, may become very ridiculous, even to our
hardened eyes. For instance, we often see two semi-detached houses with a common
portico, one half of which is painted red and the other half green; or two members of the
same family in church, one turning to the east and the other to the north. Sights like this
make one say, "Verily, unbrotherliness is the insanity of the age."
To achieve beauty, then, we have to practice harmony. We may as well begin at
home, in our family circle. We can make the experiment of living henceforth with a view -
not to our own personal interest - but to the general harmony. To try to fit in to the general
pattern, instead of shouting our own favorite note regardless of other notes - this will be a
first step in the direction of practical harmony. This harmony does not mean subjection to
prevailing prejudices, for harmony is not the same as unison.

--- 484

There is need to welcome back the old mystic idea that every family, as also every
community, has a special Over-soul of its own, apart from the souls of the individual
members thereof. We speak of the "family interest" and the "commonweal," but the ideas
are not concrete enough to furnish strong motives for collective action. If we could look
upon a family as an actual conscious being, of which each member is a part, the motive for
harmonious action would become more real. Such a being could be invoked in cases of
disagreement among the members, and thus the family would become a unit and its parts
would be in mutual adjustment. I have taken the family merely as a type of communities
in general, and the same principle applies throughout.
It is in Individualism and Selfishness, therefore, that the cause of ugliness lies; nor
will beauty reign again in our midst, until harmony rules our lives. Aesthetic movements,
artistic, musical, or what not, will fail, as they have failed, unless the basic truth of soul-
harmony is made their foundation-stone. In default of this, they fall an easy prey to the
harpies of greed and sensualism. Lovelier far a cottage, where love reigns, than the most
esthetic mansion that rots in stifling atmosphere of selfish seclusion.
Oh! let each of us who loves beauty keep his great, angular, jarring personality
muzzled, and blend unobtrusively with the mass. Let us not ask the beauties of Nature to
degrade themselves by clustering around our personality in some isolated palace-prison.
Let us devote our humble life to the endeavor to sing in tune in whatever choir we may find
ourselves. Thus we may do our part in restoring that lost harmony which is the soul of
beauty.

-------------

Whereby, however, as we often say, shall one unspeakable blessing seem

attainable. This, namely: the Man and his Life rest no more on hollowness and a Lie, but
on solidity and some kind of Truth. Welcome the beggarliest truth, so it be one, in
exchange for the royallest sham! Truth of any kind breeds ever new and better truth: this
hard granite rock will crumble down into soil, under the blessed skyey influences; and
cover itself with verdure, with fruitage and umbrage. But as for Falsehood, which, in like
contrary manner, grows ever falser, - what can it, or what should it do but decease, being
ripe; decompose itself, gently or even violently, and return to the Father of it - too probably
in flames of fire?
- Carlyle

--------------
--- 486

THE VANISHERS
by John Greenleaf Whittier
 (Selected )

SWEETEST of all childlike dreams

In the simple Indian lore
Still to me the legend seems
Of the shapes who flit before.

Flitting, passing, seen and gone,

Never reached nor found at rest,
Baffling search, but beckoning on
To the Sunset of the Blest.

From the clefts of mountain rocks,

Through the dark of lowland firs,
Flash the eyes and flow the locks
Of the mystic Vanishers!

And the fisher in his skiff,

And the hunter on the moss,
Hear their call from cape and cliff,
See their hands the birch-leaves toss.

Wistful, longing, through the green

Twilight of the clustered pines,
In their faces rarely seen
Beauty more than mortal shines.

Fringed with gold their mantles flow

On the slopes of westering knolls;
In the wind they whisper low
Of the Sunset Land of Souls.

Doubt who may, O friend of mine!

Thou and I have seen them too;
On before with beck and sign
Still they glide, and we pursue.

More than clouds of people trail

In the gold of setting day;
More than gleams of wing or sail
Beckon from the sea-mist gray.

Glimpses of immortal youth,

Gleams and glories seen and flown,
Far-heard voices sweet with truth,
Airs from viewless Eden blown, -
 Beauty that eludes our grasp,
Sweetness that transcends our taste,
Loving hands we may not clasp,
Shining feet that mock our haste, -

Gentle eyes we closed below,

Tender voices heard once more,
Smile and call us, as they go
On and onward, still before.

Guided thus, O friend of mine!

Let us walk our little way,
Knowing by each beckoning sign
That we are not quite astray.

Chase we still, with baffled feet,

Smiling eye and waving hand,
Sought and seeker soon shall meet,
Lost and found in Sunset Land!

--------------
--- 487

THE ART OF FORGETTING

by M. L Guild

I HAVE never spoken of it without raising a laugh and the assurance that, as one
bright woman put it, "My forgettery is all right; it's my memory that needs training."
Ah, indeed? Is it truly so? Let us examine ourselves a moment carefully, honestly.
Most of us will then be obliged to acknowledge that, difficult as we find it to remember when
we wish, it is still more hard and often impossible for us to forget at will. As a usual thing
we remember because we cannot forget and, vice versa, forget because we cannot
remember. Rarely are remembrance and forgetting, as they should be, acts of direct
volition on our part. This is most true of forgetting because, though we often wish,
sometimes vaguely, sometimes bitterly, that the unpleasantness of the past might be wiped
out, yet the actual need of it has not been pressed upon us, as has that of remembering,
by the loud-voiced calls of physical existence. To remember is needed if we would get on
in the world; to forget concerns, we think, but our heart's repose. So as usual the harsh
insistence of the outer drowns the gentler pleading of the inner, and we struggle and strain
in our efforts at a one-sided development, forgetting that all one-sided growth carries within
it its own destruction.
We look wistfully at Mr. A., a splendid man of business with every detail of his vast
undertakings at his fingers' ends, and we covet his marvelous control over his affairs, due
we think to his splendid memory. Control! Poor Mr. A..! He does not see any more than
we do that he is the veriest slave on earth. Control his business? Not he! It is the
business that controls him, and that like some evil genius haunts him day and night. He
may lock the door of his office; but his business walks home with him. It dines with him,
and if after dinner he smokes a cigar, hoping to quiet himself, the scent of it recalls one
smoked by Mr. B. when making a new business proposition, and away the tired brain goes,
over and over details and figures. For hours, perhaps, after he has gone to bed he tosses,
reckoning, planning, calculating, and when at last his eyes close the brain dreams on. Yet
the next day he accepts at the office some envious compliment on his wonderful memory,
feeling quite sure that he deserves it. Does he? Ask his family and they will tell you, if they
are not too loyal, that his wife has always to remind him of their social engagements, that
it is never safe to give him a letter to post or to trust him with an errand he will surely forget.
In other words: the man has no memory at all. What seems a memory of business matters
is simply an inability to forget them; for they have possessed his whole nature. He is
simply possessed by the spirit of business and what seems like a memory-of business
details is in truth, but an inability to forget them.
But a business life is so full of strain! Yes; but the same conditions belong to almost
all men. Take Mr. C., a musician. We laugh at and excuse his absent-mindedness as only
a proof of genius. "He has such a wonderful musical memory." He has nothing of the kind.
He as much as the business man is controlled; controlled by his music which will not leave
him and which like the other's ledgers haunts him day and night. He does not remember

--- 488

his music; he simply cannot forget it. Try him. Ask him to put one little tune out of his
head. That particular tune will ring in his ears all night.
And so it goes with all of us, whether business man, scientist, musician, or woman
of fashion, we remember only those things which have taken possession of us. The brain-
cells change and move, open and close, and like the biograph give forth over and over the
scenes of the near or far past while we perforce sit still and watch; watch, in renewed
agony at past woes or regretfully at past joys, but always watching. Yet are we machines
that we should thus tamely submit to giving forth the impressions on any cylinder that may
be shoved into us? No; we are human beings with the divine gift of free-will, and the holy
mission of continuing our evolution by "self-devised and self-induced effort." But evolution
means betterment; and betterment means change; and so we find one who knew whereof
he spoke saying;
"Memory is the great foe to occult development."
Not the true memory, the ability to remember; but the false memory, the inability to
forget. Not memory in the sense of deliberate retrospection for a distinctive purpose; but
the automatic and often unwished-for reviewing of the past. The former is usually helpful;
for in it we retain our will and consciousness, and are able to learn from it; but in the
second we lose our present self and become once more the toy of the emotions and
passions of the past, retarding our growth. None of us would deliberately seek out the man
or woman who, we knew, was going to do that which would anger or distress us. Yet we
sit still and allow the denizens of our waking dream-world to arise again and again before
us, stirring up each time, and with no fresh cause, the sorrow or anger that their originals
had aroused in the past. We are so indignant at past wrongs (which we then deserved or
they could not under the Great Law have come to us) that we continually re-inflict them
upon ourselves; like a kitten that has bitten its own tail and bites it again in anger at the tail.
Or it may be it is the happiness of the past that we dwell upon; and, because we surround
that past with a glory that does not belong to it, the memory of it brings sorrow instead of
joy, makes the present seem blank and mean, so that when perforce we arise from our
dreamland we find ourselves enervated for the present.
And all because we have not mastered the Art of Forgetting; because, indeed we
have not realized that there is such an art and that it is but the other half of the true Art of
Memory which consists in an absolute control of our brain-cells, in compelling them to give
forth at our bidding, and only at our bidding, the impressions made upon them. T his is
easily seen; for the man who cannot remember at will is usually the man who cannot
forget; in other words the man who has not his brain in his own control. Nor is this
materialism; for there is none possible in Theosophy. The control of the brain-cells, like
that of the cells of our entire body, is possible only because, after all, they are not blind
matter, but evolving entities with a consciousness and memory of their own and, because
of that, capable of answering to our higher mind and consciousness and will. It is one of
our duties on the great ladder of evolution to stretch down and help these lower
intelligences to develop; and, so perfect is the law of compensation, so absolute the
interdependence of all nature, that only thus can we develop ourselves.
The past, the whole past, both near and far, must be forgotten, as it can be,
deliberately forgotten; else while we sorrow or rejoice over it the present too becomes past
and we have gained nothing from it.
But shall we not in thus forgetting

--- 489

lose the lessons of the past? Lose? We can lose nothing that truly belongs to us.
Forgetting does not mean wiping out the past, for that cannot be done; but only closing of
our own will the doors of the cabinet that holds its records. No impression is ever wiped
out as is shown by the visions of the dying and the dotage of old age prattling of that which
belonged to childhood. As for the lessons of life; learning them does not consist in an
intellectual recognition of them, but in assimilating them and making them part of our own
nature. If this were not so the Law would not throw the veil of oblivion over our past lives
and send us with clean tablets into each fresh incarnation. Let us of our own choice do for
the little past of this one life what has been done for us with the ages that have gone by.
But besides helping us in our own growth, the Art of Forgetting serves us greatly in
our dealings with others.
Does one come to us, and because of the influences of time, place, and his own
temporarily weakened will, tell us that which we know in stronger mood he would not have
revealed? Forget it. It can be done. If we do not, he too will remember and, if he be not
of a generous nature, shame of himself will presently turn to dislike of us. Our own
forgetting will help him to do likewise. Is it an act, weak or wrong or foolish, that we have
witnessed? Forget it; and the actor will also. But if we remember, then will he too; with
shame, then anger, and close himself against us so that we shall find it very difficult to help
him.
Concerning our own actions too is the Art of Forgetting necessary in our dealings
with others. As long as we remember our past, so will they. But if we have the strength
and the courage to forget it, both the bad and the good, the failures and the successes and,
resting neither on the thorns nor the laurels of the past, free ourselves from that past and
live in the mighty present; then will our friends too forget that which has been and take us,
as they should, either better or worse, as we now stand. For these human hearts that
surround us are kindly in their depths and ready to agree that, as has been said:
"The Past! What is it? Nothing. Gone! Dismiss it. You are the past of yourself.
Therefore it concerns you not as such. It only concerns you as you now are. In you, as
now you exist, lies all the past."

----------------

PALLAS ATHENA
We give as our illustration a reproduction of a photograph - one of the Crusade
Collection procured at Athens - of one of the most beautiful statues of Pallas Athena. This
has already been reproduced in the New Century, but in view of the interest aroused in the
Greek Drama, Eumenides, given by the Isis League of Music and Drama, and as some of
the readers of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD do not see the New Century we give it again
here. - Eds.

--------------
--- 490

EDUCATION, TRUE AND FALSE

by Herbert Coryn

AS we get further and further into an examination of what education really is, we
shall find ourselves to be giving the word a meaning further and further from that ordinarily
assigned to it. At the very outset of our study, in the definition of the term Education, we
diverge from that assigned to it in popular thought. Let us, for the purposes of our study,
define it as "The causing to come forth from latency of the highest qualities of the soul."
Any amount of small criticisms could be lavished on such a definition. A just criticism from
the standpoint of today, but one that would not be leveled at it is that education now
consists mainly in ramming things into the pupil. That definition, however, takes the form
of practical fact, never that of words.
What are the "highest qualities" of the soul? They are those that make for the
highest kind of life, not only in him who has them, but in all whom he touches. As
everybody knows, in some sort of practical way, what the highest kind of life is, we need
not stop over that. In passing, and by way of negative illustration, it might be remarked that
intellectual qualities, however high, are manifestly not the highest qualities of the soul, since
in their completest degree they do not necessarily benefit the possessor or anyone else.
They are compatible with the make-up of a fiend.
If not the intellectual, then what?
For our present purpose we may consider the elements that make up man as:
(1) Intellectual powers.
(2) The feelings, from low to high.
(3) Desire for feeling.
 Let us consider them in order, that we may see which to educate.
(1) The Intellect. This is the power that comprehends whatever is conveyed to it by
any of the senses; that analyzes and remembers and compares these data; that
reproduces them on occasion, and recombines them in various ways. It is therefore,
almost the sole instrument required in learning what is taught in schools: the sciences,
languages, etc. It is the chief requisite of the general on the battle-field, of the chess-
player, of the man of science, and of the Wall Street operator. It is consistent with any
degree of moral baseness, any amount of selfishness; it does not necessarily increase the
happiness of its owner or anyone about him, and it is as unreservedly the servant of evil
as of good. It is therefore clear that the causing of it to grow is not education as we have
defined that process.
(2) The scale of feelings. This is a scale which has probably no bottom and certainly
no top. A good way down is the feeling, for instance, of hunger, or of bodily comfort. A
little way higher is the feeling of physical health; still higher that of superiority, in any
respect, to one's fellows; much higher are the feelings excited by high music; then those
of the "ecstatic contemplation" of the mystic; highest is that of compassion or Brotherhood.
Manifestly we have here something capable of education, in our sense of the word: -
"the causing to come forth of the highest qualities (that is, states of feeling) of the soul from
latency." And these high feelings (such for example as that of Brotherhood) "make for the
highest kind of life, not only in him who has them, but in all whom he touches." The
learning of the molecular weight of Osmium, of the Latin lan-

--- 491

guage, of the judges and kings of Israel, and of the capes all around Africa, does not
necessarily make for the highest kind of life, admirable as may be these pieces of
knowledge from other points of view.
(3) Desire. Desire is the active power, or motor, of consciousness. Desire is, in all
cases, for a state of feeling. We say we desire a thing. We really desire the feeling that
arises from the possession of that thing. We desire a meal, or rather the feeling of satiety.
We desire a bicycle, or rather the feelings that come from owning one and from riding one.
We desire the governorship of a State or rather the feeling of importance (or potential
usefulness occasionally) that such an eminence inspires. And so on. It is desire that
moves us to all actions, desire either for one feeling, or not to have another. Desire is
clearly an educatable thing in the fullest sense of our word education.
Now arises what is almost an axiom, and one that we shall presently need. Any
state of feeling is pleasant, and will therefore be desired, that causes a rush of life unto
some part of our being; this desire, once gratified, will tend to arise at decreasing intervals,
and may become permanent.
The feeling of reasonable satiety after a meal is pleasant, because it is accompanied
by a rush of life throughout the digestive organs, where part of man's consciousness has
its headquarters. The feeling of fear is unpleasant, because it is the departure of life from
the organism. Pain is the feeling of inadequate life somewhere. The feelings connected
with music are pleasant, because they mean an accession of vibratory life to some part of
the soul's being. The feeling of Brotherhood is pleasant, because it is an accession of life
to him who has it (as also to him for whom it is felt) and so on. Any of these pleasant
feelings, once experienced, is desired again, and may come to be always desired. But now
for the practical part, the method of education.
The body is the reflector and registrar of our feelings, and conversely, our feelings
reflect the condition of the body. A piece of good news makes the heart beat quickly and
firmly; and similarly a quick, firm heart-beat tends to have the same exhilarating effect on
the feelings as a piece of good news. A fit of anger may determine an attack of gout, and
an attack of gout strongly predisposes to fits of anger at slight provocation. Every state of
feeling produces a definite effect upon the body. That effect, once produced, tends to recur
periodically, and when it recurs, it will re-awake the feeling that originally gave rise to it.
This is true of adults whose bodies are formed, whose tissues are more or less rigid with
years of service. The liver, the spleen, the blood, the heart, the cells generally, are, in a
measure, what the tenant of the body has made them, as his feelings constantly throbbed
and vibrated out from his soul into the corresponding portions of his body. If, then, the
feelings do actually thus affect the adult body, fully grown and formed, if even the hair may
be bleached in a night of terror, if anaemia may result in a day or two from shock, if horror
at the sight of an injury may reproduce in the onlooker the manifestations of that same
injury at which he merely looked, how much more is this true for the tender, newly-formed
and forming cells of the body of the child that is not yet born? On such cells and tissues
as these, every mood, every feeling, every emotion of the mother must stamp itself with a
hundred fold the force and molding power with which it impresses her own fully-formed
body. And since, in each of us, a change once worked upon the body by an emotion, say
anger, tends to recur, as it does, cyclically, and to reawake in the feelings that one which
was its primary cause, it must again follow that this is true

--- 492

with far greater force in the plastic vital soul, new created for the forthcoming life of the
child? For though it is true that no one of us, as a spiritual entity, was ever born or could
ever die, yet that vital emotional feeling soul wherewith we touch body, whose emotional
range is limited to the octaves of possible physiological vibration, is born, does become
adult, passes to senility, and does go out in death. It is the terrestrial instrument of the
spiritual man, the seat of common selfhood. This terrestrial self can select among the
vibratory feelings possible to him those that will take him higher, or nearer to the real; or
he can, as most do, drift almost passively upon the waves of sensation; upon the
suggestions of his body. It is no wonder that heredity seems so utterly true, since the
fashion of the child's feelings is set for him by the parent in the same way as she sets for
him the inner and outer, subtle and gross, types of his physical configuration; doing this
in the same way, but, by reason of the nascence of his tissues, more profoundly, as that
by which she slowly molds, from year to year, her own inner framework and subtle
microfunctionings.
So education should, and can, begin, long before birth. For the tissues of the infant
can be surrounded by, and molded in accord with, faithfully registering, a garment of
parental feeling that may be kept pure, high, serene, loving, unselfish; that may be
sustained by music, by act and thought of Brotherhood, by pure and harmonious color, by
contemplation, prayer, or by whatever contact she can gain with the highest written thought
of others. To a body thus patterned, the registrar and reflector of all such states, comes
the infant soul; and such a body from the very first, leads, helps, tempts, compels, its little
tenant into the same states of feeling (in degree) as those under which the mother day by
day laid down the nascent cells and added fibre after fibre to the nerves as to a harp, string
after string is added. The child's education, and one of the noblest, is far ahead at birth.
Something of this divine work is possible for every mother, and it is for those who have
thought out something of its meaning and something of its vast significance for the future
of humanity to teach what is possible of it to those who have not, to those whose unceasing
whirl of common duties and harassments well nigh prohibit thought.
And after birth?
Look at the way in which the de-education of a child is allowed to effect itself. During
its early months and years its main business is to make perfect its senses. Running on
unchecked, this process will develop a little sensualist. Not till it is almost or quite too late
is the average child taught or compelled to find out that the pleasures of sense and bodily
contact are bars against real life. Often, perhaps usually, he is neither taught this nor does
he ever come to know it. Later on, in school life, education is competition, and the positive
lesson is learned that real life consists in getting ahead of others in disregard of their
interests. With these two universally permitted. tendencies, sense-pleasure seeking, and
self-interest seeking, adult life is entered.
All this is obviously wrong. But it is easy to prevent. Let us remember that
happiness arises from the filling up with life of any of the centres of consciousness. This
is as true of the higher centres as of the lower; only the lower are those first reached after
birth, those connected with the senses. But from the very first the higher senses could be
reached, and their centres allowed to open to vibrations of harmony. Music, color, form,
all these could be employed from the very first, and the child could as easily be trained to
have pleasure in them as in the appeals to his palate. And it would probably be equally as
easy to tempt him, a little later, into as deep an interest in the welfare of others as in the
pleasures of his own senses. Thus the foundations would be laid of the noblest education,
and the laying would be full of happiness; the hard lessons of Karma, later, would be
anticipated and made unnecessary by true and exquisite anterior growth of soul. And
about the child through all these earlier years would be the light of the parents' thought,
interpenetrating itself with his nascent intellectual and sensuous being, and thus powerfully
aiding, on interior spheres, the work done objectively by the influences of sound, form, and
color. That "education" is painful, and that anything acquired in the early years has

--- 493

to be subsequently fought with and overcome, is evidence enough that we are on the
wrong track. Reversing this track, we should find that the children of future generations
would grow up with every permanent centre of consciousness, that is, every divine centre,
throbbing with a vibration almost unknown as yet on earth; not won by pain and tears and
punishment, but ripening under the sun of quiet happiness. Children would see from the
first that in the consciousness of Brotherhood were included all other of the highest forms
of consciousness, and that life was only artificially and transitorily linked with pain.

-------------
TWO STREAMS
by Zoryan

TWO movements arise always, when a star of hope begins to shine upon the human
skies.
Both are the movements of tearing the bonds, and of a glorious feeling of the
freedom gained, when a world is found beyond the senses, when a satisfaction is achieved
above the burning fields of passion, when the inner knowledge has begun to blossom, as
a flower of the soul awakening in her own kingdom.
But a few steps taken are sometimes sufficient to spread a cometic agglomeration
into a thin thread of meteoric dust.
Who are so hastening forward, and who are remaining with the central group?
The first are those who feel repulsion to the forms left behind, who disavow the
earth, which gave them birth, who drop all ties, which had taught them and, which perhaps,
may be lessons unto others.
"Forward and forward" is their cry. "Drop all your nonsense" is their advice to the
weaker brothers, who by being weaker are not so quick-witted. They preach the utmost
simplicity and peace and try to quench the illusion by smashing it. Charming and enticingly
swift are they, the advance runners of the world of hope. "Not so fast, brothers, that we
may see you yet and enjoy your sight." When they turn back to answer with their
enchanting smile and their cry "forward," the sky around them burns like a budding rose.
But the weaker brothers cannot follow yet.
Books have they discarded, theories, have they broken, the human intellect flung
to the four winds (those winds, whose Karmic waves deal even with such a food, and
without spurning it). They seem some angels of simplicity, not men. To help our troubles?
They can do that. They say: "Harsh lessons, must be taught those foolish men, who,

--- 494

are so stupid as to have any troubles!" Is not that a radical answer? - "How can we help
you" - add they - "bothering our heads with your illusions and producing a false impression
that there is any cure for foolishness except wisdom? And wisdom is: renounce the world
and follow our flying footsteps, or meditate on the stern alternative of Karma to be left
behind."
The cure is really so strong, that many follow them, before the last regret for earthly
things dies in their hearts. Many fall back, many shoot forward. The secondary meteoric
thread is following their steps. Sometimes it breaks, and the advance guard seems to be
lost and lonesome for awhile.
The second are those, who enjoy also the forward movement, but their hope is so
great, and their scheme is so wide as to dare the inertia of the whole body of mankind.
With gratitude they look upon the earthly friends and comrades and thank them even
for their illusive smiles, which cheered them and made the journey easier, when the night
was dark and thick.
They have now a chance to smile sweetly back with a smile of wisdom, and yet with
a return of gratitude for the illusive help of the past, and for that love, which, who knows,
perhaps, was not a phantom after all, though only phantoms are remembered on the
screen.
Ay! sweet is the divine centre even in their dreams. A common centre do they feel
with the weaker than themselves, a centre of the roundness of their present comet, of a
new world of hope in the free celestial space, and a centre, perhaps, of a future planetary
sphere, and even, after ages, of a blazing sun.
This is why they do not scorn to look on any form discarded. Illusive are the
wrappings, and even their evil is illusive, and sweet is that bright essence, around which
they cloud and roll. And thus they say:
"Together had we woven this bright shining spell of the appearance of the world.
Together had we suffered, rejoiced and hoped in truth. Together had we sinned and
together shall we rise."
And the addressed weaker brothers understand their speech. Perhaps there is not
in it a loftiness of an ideal starry flight into the lonely azure atmosphere - but the sublimity
of true and faithful love, what heart exists that will not feel?
Forgiveness for the illusions of their friends and a patient hand! No chances of a
reaction of a "nonsense" in which the "non-sense" is hidden. The world of hope has
dawned in the whole length and breadth of the illusive life for its bright inner essence.
The helping words of the true wisdom speak through a speaker, but not for the
speaker alone. Thus when they sound, every angel, man and creature hears the word
spoken, as though directly to his inner ear, and this they understand.
These helpers, instead of taking an independent flight, tarry yet in the illusive fields,
even though their soul is free. Freedom from action for our own sake, this they find and
proclaim, but for another's sake they dare to enter into a net of spells and winds of a dark
stormy night, and calm the terror stricken brothers with an assurance that all will end well,
if they so wish. And they are glad to do at a time even so much.
They quicken the rising flame in every mind they touch. They send it to the
uttermost limits of the earth. The blessed fire burns in flaming ribbons around the planet.
The sparks descend into the deepest pits, even into places of torture, despair and shame.
To the service of the tables they attend, gathering the sorrow-stricken who crave for
bread and a sweet word. To the ordered life and march of progress, even through illusions,
they lend their labor. Wrapping after wrapping gently they remove from humanity's
sleeping

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soul, opening a way for the golden Heart-light's cheering glow.

The mazes of the intellect they do not fear, neither sound they an alarm for all to run
for life, but quietly and with a wise assurance and a faithful heart they gather those who
wish the light, and point the way to many and to all who are entrapped in this seemingly
measureless labyrinth.
Wall after wall is broken, channel after channel is formed towards outside; orderly
movements start, - all the halls merge into a system, that by escape might profit not a
handful of the alarmed few, but all the hosts of captives, those hosts who were once free
among the stars of heaven.
And when all unite in the great work, a thunder is heard right in the centre of the
earth, and even the laws of nature undergo a change, and all creatures rejoice at the
approaching liberation.
Two movements rise, when a star of hope begins to shine.
Upward mounts the first one, driven by its own propelling force, lifting itself to the
blue fields of the infinitudes, caring more for freedom than for love.
The second starts at a slanter angle above the useless inertia of the lower world,
and watching with a loving eye those it leaves behind. Flying it turns to them and turns
again, and makes a circle around their common centre, ever helping on. Thus in it, two
forces, one propelling, another centre-seeking, tend to equilibrize, and this is what the
Teacher calls the Middle Path.
More and more of rings are formed by joining new companions of the workers of
Compassion. Closer become their trajectories, swifter grows the motion of their flight. Life
becomes intense and bright beyond all dreams and blazes like a sun.
They will also earn their rest, but not in the far distances, where all motion dies.
Attracted to the centre, revolving closer to it, though their circles will ever faster move, yet
the great Peace will they surely gain, because, - before a man, a planet, or a world can
reach the Realm of Silence, he must merge all his swifter and swifter lines of motion into
a single point - the burning divine centre of the universal Heart.

------------

The best thing that hath been given to man in this world is wisdom; the most goodly
gift that can be given to him in the next world is pardon. The best disposition for him is that
he should have a lively appreciation of the high and godlike character of his own nature,
so that the thought may keep him from evil, or cause him to repent if he has done wrong.
- Hushan (From the Persian)

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--- 496

BROTHERHOOD *
by T. B. H.

THE Theosophical Society has always placed in the forefront of its programme, as
its first and most important object, the formation of a nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood,
without distinction of race, creed, caste or sex. It would doubtless be incorrect to say that
this object of the Society has been entirely overlooked in the West, but it is to be feared that
not a few members of the Society have accepted it as an amiable formula, to which no
objection could be raised, and have turned their attention almost exclusively to the two
remaining objects. And yet, without some attempt to understand the true meaning of this
Universal Brotherhood, it is idle to expect that any great services can be rendered to the
cause of Theosophy. It may be useful to see whether any explanation can be given of the
reason for the neglect of this first object, and whether such light may be thrown on its
meaning, as may render the idea a living reality to many who now but faintly grasp its
significance.
In the first place it may be said, that in many enlightened Western minds, there was
already a familiarity with the idea thus enunciated. Christianity has always taught the
"theoretical" equality in the sight of God, of all true believers, and politically the dogma of
"equal rights" is practically beyond the reach of attack. The abolition of slavery, the
extension of representative government, the spread of education, and perhaps also in
some degree, the influence of the scientific as opposed to the religious theories of the origin
and destiny of man, have all combined to render this idea by no means difficult of
apprehension, at least intellectually.

------------
* Reprinted from Lucifer, Vol. I, No. 3, Nov. 1887.
------------

Further its acceptance in this sense has not necessarily entailed any different view
of the duties and responsibilities of life. In the East it cannot be said that this is the case.
In India, the stringency of caste regulations causes class distinctions to assume a very
definite form, while religious hatreds, if not more bitter than with us, enter more directly into
the life of the people, and interpose stronger barriers between man and man than in Europe
or America. Hence an Indian theosophist must, before he can accept the first object, even
in its outward form, modify to some extent his intellectual conception of the relations in
which he stands to the rest of mankind, and he will in his life give practical proof of the
change. In his case the acceptance of the outward form can only follow on the appreciation
of the inner meaning; that which results is that his theosophy is firmly founded on the
principle of the Universal Brotherhood.
On the other hand, in the West, a familiarity with the external side seems, in many
cases, to have prevented any attempt to go below the surface, and to have caused men
to be satisfied with vague philanthropic sentimentality, effecting nothing, and leading
nowhere.
What then is this Universal Brotherhood, which is the main spring of Theosophy?
and what are its results?
Socialism as preached in this 19th century it certainly is not. Indeed, there would
be little difficulty in showing that modern materialistic socialism is directly at variance with
all the teachings of Theosophy. Socialism advocates a direct interference with the results
of the law of Karma, and would attempt to alter the denouement of the parable of the
talents, by giving to the man who

--- 497

hid his talent in a napkin, a portion of the ten talents acquired by the labor of his more
industrious fellow.
Neither is it true that in practical benevolence is the whole idea of universal
brotherhood exemplified, though doubtless that unselfish and unceasing work for the good
of mankind, which is true philanthropy, must of necessity be one result of it. The
philanthropist may be, and no doubt often is, a true theosophist in all but name, though
there is still much of what may be called unintelligent benevolence, the result of a mere
emotional impulse; and again there is much that is the result of very decided and very
narrow sectarian views, to which it would be absolutely impossible to apply the epithet
universal. The devotion and self-sacrifice shown in many individual instances by Christian
missionaries of various denominations, may be taken as fairly exemplifying philanthropy
both of the unintelligent and the narrow type. They are prepared to make any sacrifice for
what they believe to be the ultimate good of humanity, and in that sense are practicing what
some others only preach, namely true unselfishness, but they are often hampered by an
intellectual inability to view both sides of the question, and fail thereby to acquire that
understanding of, and sympathy with the difficulties and the wants of those whom they are
endeavoring to aid, which are necessary preliminaries to any work of lasting usefulness.
In a word, they too often fail to realize that unity in mankind which truly underlies all
individualism. But having said so much, it must be added that an understanding of the real
meaning of "Brotherhood" must entail active benevolence, that is to say, work for others
in some form or other, upon every one who does not wilfully thrust aside the obligation.
Where then are we to look for the explanation, and how are we to understand the
spirit which must animate all true theosophists, if they are to realize and follow out the first
rule of the Society? Not surely on the physical plane. Not by an attempt to force on the
intellect as a fact to be accepted, or more truly a pill to be swallowed, a belief in similarities,
equalities or identities, which have no existence. Only a realization of what truly constitutes
man can help us to form a conception of what brotherhood means.
Man is a complex organism as he exists on our earth today. He is partly transitory,
partly eternal; in one sense the creature of circumstances, in another the creator of his
own environment. But the true man, the underlying individuality is a reflection of the Divine.
We are able to discern physical beauty, even when clad in rags. Is it impossible that we
should also recognize the beauty of the soul, though it be for a time veiled beneath a gross
material body? The physical body is indeed nothing but the garment of the ego, the true
man; that momentarily suited to his needs and his deserts, the livery of his servitude,
which must be worn, in ever changing forms, till the moment of his final emancipation. It
is then beyond the physical, beyond the intellectual man, that we must look for that
fraternity, arising out of unity and equality, which cannot be found on the purely material
plane of existence. The divine soul of man, in which is posited his true individuality, is the
real man, the immortal ego, which, through the accumulated experience of many earth lives
is marching onward through the ages to its goal, reunion with the Infinite. What matters
then the outward semblance, which our senses know as man? Our esthetic perception
may shrink from the rags, the dirt, the ugliness which belong to the physical environment.
Our moral nature may revolt at association with vice, with low, selfish courses of life, but
within and behind all this we must endeavor to realize the continual presence

--- 498

of the immortal ego, one with us, as with all humanity, as sharing the divine nature, and
ever struggling, as we are struggling, on the upward path that leads to the realization of the
Absolute. As Carlyle says in Sartor Resartus: "Mystical, more than magical is that
communing of Soul with Soul, both looking heavenward; here properly Soul first speaks
with Soul; for only in looking heavenward, take it in what sense you may, not in looking
earthward, does what we call Union, Mutual Love, Society, begin to be possible."
It may be objected that in some cases it is impossible to recognize even the
glimmerings of those higher aspirations, which are the tokens of the presence of the soul,
the immortal ego. Such cases, however, must be comparatively rare. Still there are beings
- it is impossible to call them human - who have so persistently concentrated all their efforts
on the gratification of their lower consciousness, as to severe the frail link which binds their
higher selves. Then the true man is no longer present in the human form, and brotherhood
becomes an impossibility. But we may in truth almost ignore the existence of this type of
mankind, for even when an intellectual materialism seems to be the sole ruling principle,
we dare not deny the presence of that capacity for higher things which must exist in all who
can still truly be called men.
Surely then it is in this view of our relations to our fellow men that we shall find that
guiding influence which may enable us to rise above the sordid considerations of our
ordinary earthly existence. It is no sectarian belief that is here advanced; it is the essence
of the teaching of Jesus, as it was of Gautama; nor is it a mere formula, to be accepted as
an article of faith, and then laid on the shelf. Once understood, it must influence all who
have sufficient strength of purpose to fight their own lower selfish personalities, and must
lead them to the practical realization of their aspirations towards true unselfishness and
active benevolence.
But there lurks a danger even in the use of the word unselfishness. It has been the
text of sermons from every pulpit in Christendom for centuries, and with what results? No
doubt the duty nearest at hand must not be neglected, and it is the duty of every one to do
what he can to render those about him happier. But many stop there and consider that all
their work consists in the practice of self-abnegation in their own small circle. Does not the
broader view of human life here set forth suggest a new sphere of usefulness, and,
therefore, of duty? It is for every man to determine what he can do for the good of
humanity, all are not equally gifted, but all can do something. Some theosophists appear
to be satisfied with intellectual study, or the development of their own spiritual nature; and
neither of these two courses is to be neglected; but something more must be done. "It is
more blessed to give than to receive," and the acquirement of knowledge brings with it the
obligation of spreading it. This is work from which none need shrink, and all who truly
desire to work for Theosophy, which is in the highest sense "the religion of humanity," will
find the work ready to their hand, and be able to assist in bringing the Light "to them that
sit in darkness."

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--- 499

THE NECESSITY OF SACRIFICE

by Hubert S. Turner

THE necessity for sacrifice in all domains of nature is shown by a study of evolution.
Sacrifice, conflict and a ceaseless struggle have made the world what it is. Life began with
self-sacrifice, and self sacrifice will have to continue as long as there is a single cell of life
to evolve into something higher.
The most rudimentary form of life we know of is the single cell. This cell had a duty
to perform, as we all have, namely, to divide itself into two. Upon this basis all evolution
rests. Life here gets its first instruction from Nature to sacrifice itself in order that Life's
higher aims may be accomplished. These cells in turn sacrificed themselves, dividing
again, that other forms might manifest from the invisible into the visible. For centuries and
centuries this continued. Then nothing but these almost homogeneous forms existed.
Their period of manifestation was limited; their duty apparently insignificant. For them,
what was their reward? If they had had the power of thinking, would not they have had
good grounds for doubting the justice in placing them there, and the uselessness of their
avocation? The great law to them would have seemed monstrous, nothing before them but
death, no future, only the past to look to, which but showed the same thing as they were
enduring, nothing but sacrifice, without hope of gain. Yet if it was not for the sacrifice of
these, the simplest yet the most wonderful of all manifested lives, we would not have the
different evolving kingdoms and the many species that we see around us.
If the cell was a complex organism it would not be so wonderful, but here we have
a homogeneous substance performing all the duties of a complex one. Truly we can learn
a good deal from the cell. If we all did our duty as the cell does, this globe would soon
change its appearance. The cells did not realize their own powers, that they alone were
preparing the way for more experienced entities. All this was not wasted; this
homogeneous substance began to show differences, the differences increased and
multiplied, the apparent uselessness of the cell's development vanished. The differences
continued until at last we had the mineral kingdom fully developed. By this time the
vegetable kingdom appears in its rudimentary stages. Nature continued her efforts; more
sacrifices, then the animal kingdom makes its appearance. Now the vegetable has to
sacrifice its life that Nature's higher form, the animal, may have food to live on. The
vegetable here reaps its reward in that its molecular structure is converted into the higher
animal structure. As the Kabalah puts it: "The stone becomes a plant, the plant an animal,
the animal a man, the man a God." Species then began to develop; these species
differentiated, then we find them warring upon each other.
This apparent unnecessary sacrifice appears to be one of the necessities of
evolution. The opponents of the claim that "Brotherhood is a fact in nature
harp very strongly on this warring proclivity both of the animal and the human
kingdoms. Yet, it seems to me, that until absolute self-consciousness and a full knowledge
of the spiritual side of evolution is reached, this is the only way nature can force
progression. If it was not for this sacrifice we would

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not have any birds, nor animal or human life. Man alone has the power of reasoning and
thinking.
Nature developed this power in him through countless sacrifices and at fearful cost.
This is why nature does not entirely force him to evolve as she does the lower kingdoms.
Having developed this she expects man to evolve and to make all necessary sacrifices
voluntarily, as he is now in a position to know why he should do so. Unfortunately he has
not yet realized this.
Whenever we see a variation from any type in any kingdom, there we will find a
conflict and necessarily a sacrifice demanded. When the increase of any species had
arrived at the time when they were forced to occupy the same localities, the struggle
became harder and harder, until the greatest law of Nature, "self-sacrifice" was in
operation. Up to and including the present time, that law of conflict was compulsory on
everything that lived and lives. Nature has ever been seeking "workers," the idlers she
casts out as the drones are cast out of the bee-hive. It was work, or else give way to
another, to await for a chance again to progress. Darwin's law "of the survival of the fittest"
reigned supreme. This compelled all who wanted to live, to more perfectly adapt
themselves to their surroundings; to change themselves as conditions changed; to
progress.
Unless nature had forced these entities to evolve they never would have succeeded.
How fortunate they had not the power of reasoning. The reptile might have been perfectly
satisfied with its lot unless the receding of the waters had not compelled it to adapt itself
to living on the land. It might still have been satisfied unless others of its kind warring on
it had not simply forced it to protect itself some way. Ages and ages must pass; hundreds
of reptiles must be the prey of their enemies before between the entity and its bodily
habitation there was formed a closer tie and gradually the body changed little by little until
our reptile has changed to a bird of the air. Does it seem possible that the reptile could
have evolved into a bird any other way?
This method of evolution looks severe until we begin to fathom nature's ways a little
more deeply. View it from the standpoint that when the reptile was killed, that was the end
of that particular entity and the necessity and purpose would vanish - for what could be
gained? - in this case the reptiles would have always remained the same. But look at it
from the view that the entity will profit by the experience it has just had and when it again
incarnates its body will be different, a mere trifle assuredly, but still enough so that in the
course of time the entity that was a reptile now manifests as a bird, and is safe from attacks
from that source. See how the law of reincarnation throws a light on evolution and the
necessity for sacrifice. This is only an isolated case, but a few moments' thinking will show
that this is the only way the lower animal kingdoms progressed.
To take up our evolving reptile again, it has escaped its old enemies only to meet
new ones, more sacrifices are demanded as the price of further evolvement. The bird is
still in the struggle for life; a continuous war with other species of birds is his lot. If he has
not gained strength enough to conquer, then he is conquered and slain, and has again to
appear, only the next time a little stronger. In this way our defenseless bird increases the
strength and size of its beak, the sharpness and strength of its claws, its fleetness of wing,
its power of endurance and keenness of sight, until at last we have after countless
slaughter and sacrifice such a bird as the eagle.
It is useless to say nature might have taken another way of evolving, we know she
did not, no other way could have succeeded. We have here an illustration of

--- 501

the fate of those who idle and do not profit by their opportunities, there is one such example
in the bird family that I happen to think of, there may be more. The Dodo was once a
powerful bird that for some inexplicable reason had advanced so far and became satisfied
with its lot, but declined to take advantage of its opportunities for still further advancement.
Not caring to fly, its wings gradually grew shorter and shorter and lost their powerful
muscles; contented to stand and sleep all day long, it lost its keenness of sight, its beak
grew shorter, its claws contracted. Slaughter of its kind by other birds did not awaken it
from its stupor. Gradually degenerating, suffering under the curse of inaction, what
remains of the Dodo today? - not a single known specimen is in existence. As one of the
Scriptures has it "Nature spews up the luke warm." Here again Nature shows us the
"necessity for sacrifice," this whole species had to be sacrificed to save it from still further
degeneration, to save it from itself. Truly "Justice rules all."
We find a parallel to this in the human kingdom, in those who advance so far along
the "Path" that they think they have reached the goal, and instead of toiling on, stop and
rest contented. They think they have done enough, that no more sacrifices ought to be
demanded of them, refusing to listen to those who know. Then the door closes in front of
them and they have to await another opportunity in a future incarnation. They, like the
Dodo, have been saved from themselves. Suppose the rabbit had never been chased by
its natural enemies, where would have been its fleetness of foot, its long ears to catch the
slightest sound? If it had not been forced to be constantly alert it too might have thought
it had reached the "Supreme," rested, and also degenerated.
Man is the climax of life on this planet and his physical body represents the
perfection of all the kingdoms of nature adapted to his needs. He has now almost grown
out of the necessity of being forced to evolve, yet conflict and antagonism still hold their
sway over him. What a struggle man has to conquer the lower and to develop the higher
nature! How many times must that lower nature be sacrificed before he succeeds; a
constant struggle and conflict must be kept up all the time. What is this life to most of us
but a bitter struggle, sometimes against almost unsurmountable obstacles? How hard it
all seems; every bit of experience and knowledge gained only by a series of hardships?
Nature is taking good care that when we do learn our lesson, we will know it well. When
everything looks desperate, when you think as the cell might have thought, of the
uselessness of it all, and the apparent injustice of life, just look back at what the lower
kingdoms suffered, and how you profited by their sufferings which were really yours and
how you will eventually profit by your present sufferings. Do a little thinking and you will
soon see how necessary it is, this eternal goading onward and yearning for something
better.
The restless energy we see in this country, especially lately, is but another
manifestation of this same force. We are always wanting something, never satisfied,
constantly seeking change and variety. This is one of the results of the schooling we have
been through. Is it not this that has made this country what it is? Again, we see, if it was
not for this conflict and sacrifice, man also would be liable to degenerate. We unfortunately
have too many men who are degenerates like the Dodo. For years and years we have
been striving to find the origin of evil. The most wonderful thing is the origin of good, not
that of evil. Where and when did man get the ability to say, "this is good, that is evil," if not
in the struggle and sacrifice of the lower nature, and the higher self ever striving to
manifest. Primitive man gradually awakens from his useless paths, slowly he realizes his

--- 502

mission, gradually he begins to know what is right, and what is wrong. "Slowly the Bible
of the race is writ, Each age, each kindred, adds a verse to it."
Man's proclivity to fight is a relic of the lower animal self, it will cease as he becomes
more spiritual, and as the necessity for it ceases. Man now, ought to have enough
intelligence to evolve himself willingly, aided but not forced by Nature and her laws. Here
is his necessity for sacrifice. H. P. Blavatsky says in the Secret Doctrine, "The sole
purpose of nature on this globe is to evolve men; and, from men, Gods." Man from his
present position having profited by all sacrifices in the past and being in a position to
appreciate it, should now sacrifice himself and endeavor to assist "Humanity and all
creatures" in their evolution to a higher state. He can do it or not as he pleases, the penalty
for not doing is stagnation, for himself, as he can not leave this plane of action until his duty
is done. Ceaseless reincarnations will be his lot until by hard experience he learns Nature's
great law "that by compassion and self-abnegation only can he progress."
We see the working of the "law" again, when anybody is strong enough to come out
and say what he thinks when it is different from what people have been in the habit of
thinking. Look back through history and see what has been the price of all reforms. When
a Society such as the Theosophical Society was formed with its radical change of thought,
what is the result? Nature again enacts her law that "any variation of a type must be
capable of sustaining itself against the old forms," we find it not only in the animal but in all
domains of life. Think of the sacrifices made by the Founders of the Theosophical Society,
and how we are all benefitting by them, how necessary was that movement they began,
and which has now culminated in the Universal Brotherhood. We and all creatures benefit
thereby. If it was not necessary to make some kind of sacrifice to hold up such a
movement, what would be the result? If it was not for the law of conflict compelling us to
fight every inch of the way it would have been the same as with the Dodo and we would not
have carried it to the point we have. Events just passed through in the history of the work
show the result of thinking sacrifice is unnecessary. The fate of the inactive and over-
confident is always to be thrown out in every work that is along the lines of Nature. Like
everything else in Nature, man has to learn by hard experience and sacrifice, consciously
or unconsciously, how to properly use the powers he is developing. Yet the majority of
people today live solely for individual gain; they have not yet learnt the law. All men are
still under the "necessity for sacrifice," and until they learn this, the law of cause and effect
will bring them again and again back to this plane of action, until at last all will realize it and
fulfil their mission. How long this will be is hard to tell, though we find the beginning of this
universal recognition of the law in the formation of the Universal Brotherhood Organization
formed "for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures." What better
opportunity can be had for all those who realize the "necessity for sacrifice." Here certainly
is a chance for all to help, however little it may be. Let us keep in consideration the "cells"
performing their duties as they find them however insignificant, remembering that therefrom
springs the welfare of the whole and our own true development. Let us do our duty and
remember the advice given in the Bhagavad Gita "Be not attached to the fruit of action,"
"the duty of another is full of danger." If we all do this, eventually the movement will truly
become universal and everything then will be beyond the "necessity for sacrifice."

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TIME AND SPACE

by Edward C. Farnsworth

MANY students of philosophy recognize time and space as illusionary aspects of

one eternal unity, each manifesting to finite conception in a threefold manner.
Owing to the limitations of the human mind, we divide time into past, present and
future; but on the highest plane all time-limitations melt into one eternal Now. Our
conception of space on this physical plane is the result of the imperfection of the human
organs of physical sight, and therefore is restricted and imperfect. Gazing at a landscape,
we say that such an object is five, ten, or twenty miles distant; our knowledge of
perspective, gained from experience, helping us to guess more or less correctly apparent
distances; while the child reaches for the moon as confidently as for the nearest toy. A
painter, who causes that to appear near, which he intended for a distant object and vice
versa, violates the laws of perspective.
Imagine a straight row of houses extending for ten miles across a level plain, all
precisely of the same size, and fifty or one hundred feet apart. An ignorant observer
stationed at one end of the line, at an angle where the houses can all be seen, might say
that they grow smaller and nearer together while receding from him. Neither conclusion
is true. The eye is an imperfect organ and deceives the observer, as he will find by calling
to his aid a good field-glass. Now objects eight or ten miles distant appear to be close at
hand; and if the glass is reversed, they seem perhaps twenty or thirty miles away. From
this we gather that an eye superior to the illusions of perspective could see the last house
in line as minutely as the nearest one, and it would appear to be no further away.
Similarly in regard to what we call time. Events transpiring at the present moment
are mentally viewed at close contact, like the first house; those of yesterday are not so
distinct, and may be compared to some house farther down the line. Yet some one may
say, "I remember a certain event which took place years ago and it seems but yesterday."
Exactly! - for now he is using his field-glass so to speak. It is said, that at the moment of
death the whole past presents itself in successive details to the mind. Why? Because the
soul is shaking off those vibrations which make up the physical body and which, having
their origin in the physical brain, hold it to our distinctions of past and present, through the
illusions of mental perspective. Then the soul losing its grasp on outward things, turns
inward, and in that temporary concentration on its own personality is enabled to focus its
whole past in the present moment. On the other hand, the present fleeting moment may
become for us indefinitely lengthened thus showing our almost complete servitude to time;
but by him who has mastered the secret of time, a lifetime can be measured at a glance.
It is held by some that it is possible to bring to the minds of men so vivid a realization
of a past event that the illusionary veil dividing the past from the present may be rent
asunder, and the event itself projected onto the physical plane. This may be in part
mentally realized while witnessing, for instance, the play of Julius Caesar.
Transported by the magic power of sympathy to those stirring times, we are now in
Rome and do as the Romans do. We thrill with the splendid rhetoric of Marullus, and, while
we listen to the wily eloquence of Antony, the fate of

--- 504

Brutus trembles in the balance.

The father of song strikes the bardic string, and that heroic note vibrating down the
ages finds responsive echo in the heart today. Again the Grecian watch-fires are blazing
round the walls of Troy. Yet once again sounds forth the voice of Andromache, as she
stands beneath the towers of wind-swept Ilium and bids farewell to Hector, going forth to
meet his doom.
Time appears to move in cycles, but all so-called circular motion is in reality spiral.
A circular saw revolves on its axis and at the same time is carried from west to east by the
rotating globe. The Earth moves round the sun in its orbit but because the sun is traveling
in its own path, the earth is never twice in the same place. So too on a higher plane than
the physical, the plane of mind, for instance, motion is spiral and each mental experience
is different from its cyclic predecessor.
I have spoken of the past and present, but what of the future? If the first two are
illusionary aspects of one eternal Now, it follows that the future belongs to the same
category. The old saying, "There is nothing new under the sun," expresses a deeper truth
than some may imagine. If everything progresses in cycles then knowledge of the past
may be a key to knowledge of the future and the future, a projection of the past.
Remembering that the Universe as a whole is on an upward spiral trend, it follows that the
future will resemble the past in general outline, though fuller and richer in detail; or we can
consider it to be the past seen from a higher and better point of view; in other words its
correspondent on higher planes.
Again, if the manifesting trinity, past, present, and future, are merely finite divisions
of one eternal Now, it necessarily follows that the spirit existing in man today, existed in the
past and will continue in the future, and what applies to man must apply to everything in the
universe. The form or garb of every entity in the different kingdoms of nature undergoes
change; for form expresses the degree of evolutionary progress attained by the inner entity
in its usually unconscious attempt, - under the guiding power of higher intelligences - to
recognize its unity with what is above and beyond finite conception of form.
If such finite conceptions as time and distance are only limitations we put upon
Divine Unity, it follows that there are no distinctions of great and small to the divine mind
and vision. The microscope bears witness to the wonderful perfection of detail in the
smallest things, and rivals as a revealer the telescope itself.
Man in his evolutionary progress toward that goal which stands at the apex of the
spiral, has been constantly taking thought of the morrow and its new sensations, and, like
the traveler circling the globe, he seems to himself to move in a straight line. And yet, man
has circled the globe many times in previous rounds and races; and if everything appears
new to him now, it is because he then failed and still fails to comprehend its real
significance; for, mark well! as everything is a seeming part of a real indivisible whole; a
true knowledge of one thing means a knowledge of all.
He who is driven round the spiral of past, present and future, by selfish desire,
contacts at every point the results of past causes; but for him who has freed himself from
the disquieting and blinding results of passion, the sun never sets. Morning, noon, and
midnight are the same, for the eternal spiritual Sun sheds its beams upon him; and, in its
pure light, illusion vanishes; past, present and future present themselves simultaneously
to his mental vision; distance vanishes. Starting at the centre his eye sweeps the
circumference of the circle, and he knows that the centre and circumference are one.

-------------
THE SOKRATIC CLUB
by Solon

(Continued)

THE next time I dropped in at the Club there happened to be a social gathering and
afternoon tea and many of the ladies were present. It was also expected that Madam
Purple, who had just returned to the city, would be there. I found Mrs. Wilding, Mrs. Miller,
Miss Holdy and several other ladies present, also Dr. Roberts and Mr. Turner. Soon
afterwards Mme. Purple and the Professor and Mr. Pease came in together.
Mme. Purple wore a very rich and beautiful gown, evidently a costly one, but
everything in good taste and harmonious. Miss Holdy, who was inclined to be rather
ascetic, going somewhat to an extreme in simplicity and also cheapness, though formerly,
before she became a member of the Club, she had been extravagant, had quite strong
views on the subject of dress and economy. She had the greatest love and respect for
Mme. Purple, but could not understand what seemed to her the latter's inconsistency in
wearing such an elegant dress when at the same time she was devoting all her energies
to benefit all people, and especially to help the poor and outcast. Miss Holdy had often said
she would ask her about this, and the present occasion offering an opportunity she said:
Miss Holdy. - "I have for a long time wanted to ask you, Madam Purple, about dress
and how much attention we ought to pay to appearances. It has greatly perplexed me
since I joined the Club, for I used to be quite extravagant and I really do like beautiful
things, but it often seems so wrong when the money one spends on dress might go to feed
a starving family."
Mme. Purple. - "Yes, my dear, I know it is a subject that perplexes many, but many
things have to be taken into account if we wish to act rightly."
Miss Holdy. - "I know that is so and sometimes I haven't been able to tell what was
right. Once I wanted some money to help some poor people and I had to get a dress at the
same time, so instead of using the money to buy a dress, I got some cheap material and
made it up myself and used the money for those poor people. But even then I wasn't
satisfied, for I can't help thinking I might have perhaps helped them in some better way."
Mme. Purple. - "Perhaps so, but at least you acted with a good motive and no doubt
you did help them."
Miss Holdy. - "That at least was what I wanted to do, but it is so hard to know how
to help."
Mme. Purple. - "That is just it. The true way to help is to help people to help
themselves, and to take this particular instance of dress - though I don't do it to criticize
you, dear, perhaps if you had had it made at your dressmaker's it would have given
employment to some one who needed help just as badly as the family to whom you gave
the money. It is often necessary to take extreme cases in order to find out the justness of
a particular line of action. Suppose every one should at once be seized with a fit of
economy and proceed to make their own dresses, what would be the result? Untold misery
in thousands of families, a whole class thrown out of work."
Miss Holdy. - "But of course no such thing is ever likely to happen."
Mme. Purple. - "Certainly not, but
--- 506

don't you see, dear, what it is I wish to bring out?"

Miss Holdy. - "No, I don't think I do; please tell me."
Mme. Purple. - "Just this, that we must learn to take the middle path."
Mrs. Wilding. - "But that is just the hardest of all. It seems to me easy enough to go
to either extreme, whether of self-indulgence and gratification or of asceticism and
renunciation; to live just as the world lives on the one hand, or on the other to run away
from the world and live the life of a recluse. But to live right in the world and take the
middle path of right action is the hardest task of all."
The Professor. - "And to do so we must use methods that appeal to the world, and
conform in some measure to the customs and habits of those among whom we live in so
far as these customs involve no violation of principle. We must do this if we wish to get into
close touch with them so that they will understand our work."
Mme. Purple. - "Let me give you another extreme case, and tell you an experience
of my own. When we reached Australia on our tour around the world, having just come
from India, I couldn't help but feel the greatest pity for the so-called civilized people and the
same feeling came to me when we reached San Francisco, having stopped for a short time
at the Samoan Islands - to think that we were compelled to follow all the cramping
conventionalities of civilization. If I had only myself to consider I would dress and live in the
simplest manner possible, and would advocate this for all."
The Professor. - "I have always thought that much of our conventionality is simply
a cloak to hide man's vices."
Mme. Purple. - "And it is a fact that with the adoption of the conventionalities of
civilization by the so-called heathen and savages have been developed also many of the
Western vices. I am fully convinced that if men and women in the Western civilized world
would only live simpler lives much of the immorality of our social life would disappear. As
for dress, look at the simple clothing of the ancient Greeks, for instance, what more
beautiful and graceful and at the same time conducive to health and morality."
Miss Holdy. - "How perfectly lovely it would be if we could dress like the old Greeks,
but we could never stand it in our climate in the winters we have."
Mrs. Wilding. - "No, it would be all very nice for the summer, but would never do for
the winter."
Mme. Purple. - "Don't be too sure of that. If people lived more wholesome and
natural lives they wouldn't feel the cold."
Miss Holdy. - "But anyway, nobody could dress like that now, almost everyone would
ridicule it. The people aren't educated yet to that point where they could appreciate it."
Mme. Purple. - "That is just what I wanted to bring out. There are many things that
are altogether desirable, that would be in every way conducive to the health and happiness
of the people but which are yet incapable of being put into practice. People have to be
educated slowly and to advocate a sudden change would in many cases but make the
masses of the people hold the more tenaciously to their old customs, and even if adopted
would cause a shock to trade and bring about much misery as would be the case were
everyone immediately to adopt a simple kind of dress. And on the other hand I think it one
of the greatest crimes that civilized people have committed in their dealing with the so-
called savage and heathen peoples, in endeavoring to force our conventionalities and
customs upon them. To take this matter of clothing - since we are talking about it - think
of the false shame and false modesty which the missionaries have induced among
pure-minded and innocent savages, introducing among them ideas of vice hitherto
unknown. I say it is a crime. But to come back to our own country. No matter how high
our ideals may be or in whatever direction, we cannot expect others to jump at them and
grasp them at a bound. No, the loftiest heights are only reached step by step, and as in
climbing a mountain it is often necessary to wind round and round and sometimes
apparently (to some) to lose sight of the very goal we wish to reach; so in seeking to help
the masses we must show them as far as we can the next step in advance and sometimes
take what may seem to some a roundabout way."
The Professor. - "Each step must be something they can appreciate and see the
possibility of attaining."
Miss Holdy. - "But I don't see that this has much to do with my making that dress or
that I did wrong."
Mme. Purple. - "Not at all, my dear; I didn't say you did wrong, but I want you to take
a broad view of things and see how much even a simple act such as yours involves."
The Professor. - "And don't you see that what is true in regard to this question of
dress applies also to each department of life and to life as a whole? That is the beauty of
following out any question along the right lines; we are bound at least to refer it to the
broad principles underlying all right conduct."
Mrs. Wilding. - "That is just what I was thinking, Professor. Both you and Mme.
Purple have such a way of getting down to fundamental ideas that it seems to me we are
forced to see their general application."
Mrs. Miller. - "Yes, that was in my mind too, and I couldn't help thinking of some of
the old members of the Club who have studied and studied, and with all their study of
Brotherhood and their preaching of toleration, seem to have become more dogmatic and
selfish. They have made a fetish of the philosophy and seem to have entirely lost sight of
the plain injunctions of all the teachers of all the ages that it must be brought down into
every-day life. They talk Brotherhood, but are afraid of any broadening of our work along
practical lines of real helpfulness to the masses. They think more of meditating in a dim
light on some symbol, colored rings or a picture, or trying to locate their consciousness in
the various chakrams and centres and watching for something to appear, than of helping
to nurse a sick soldier or of putting their shoulders to the wheel to enable others to go to
our Brotherhood Camp which Mme. Purple established for the soldiers."
Solon. - "And when some were brought here and the Club rooms turned into a
hospital, some were afraid to go near lest they should catch the fever."
Mrs. Miller. - "Yet they profess to be students of occultism and have pledged
themselves to work unselfishly for humanity."
Solon. - "Well, I don 't want any of that sort of occultism. Here 's another instance
of it. Some few months ago, Mrs. Mayber wanted some plants to brighten up the office and
bring a touch of nature into it to make it more attractive to visitors and enquirers. As you
know, the best place to get plants is the Union flower market held from four till six o'clock
in the morning, and, wishing to have some one to help carry the plants, she asked one of
these would-be yogis to accompany her, but he refused, though he knew it was for the
good of the work. But he said it would interfere with his six o'clock meditation, and he
wouldn't give up that for anything. A pretty selfish sort of meditation, I should think."
 Mrs. Wilding. - "I wonder if in his last incarnation he was the one referred to by
Christ, who, if his ass had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath day, he would wait until the next
day before getting it out, because he had to go to prayer, and would not forego the
pleasure of attend-

--- 508

ing to what he thought was his spiritual development, even though it were to do a good
act."
Mr. Pease. - "Thank God, since Mme. Purple started this practical work of true
Brotherhood which H. P. B. sacrificed her life to establish and make a living factor in the
hearts of all, all these people are finding their places and showing their colors."
The Professor. - "So long as the work consisted mainly of study and meetings and
discussions, it allowed room for all manner of selfishness in seeking individual progress and
development, appealing to the vanity of mental attainment. But when the time came for the
members to put their theories into practice, as it did through the opportunity given them by
Mme. Purple, then it became evident who had assimilated the true spirit of the teachings
given by H. P. B., and who had merely gained an intellectual conception of them but had
failed to make them a part of their heart-life. The study period was necessary, but it was
only preparatory. Meditation is necessary but the need of today is for a practical realization
in everyday life of true Brotherhood, and unless our study and meditation can bear this fruit
they have been worse than useless, for they have then become the most subtle garments
of selfishness."
Mr. Pease. - "We are also having another example of the saying that extremes meet,
all brought into view by this test of practical work. The phenomena hunters deluded by
bogus red chalk messages, the pessimistic would-be guru, who as long as the Club would
keep him consented to be loaned, so he says, by some superior guru to the Club, but who
at the same time wasn't willing to turn to and work along the lines of work now being carried
on by the Club, and the political agitator who believes the only way to bring about
Brotherhood is with powder and shot, have formed what they call the "Brotherhood of Man,"
and are preaching a new gospel of an Adept-king who will soon appear to rule over
America."
Mr. Pease. - "Ye gods, what fools these mortals be, and all this in the Nineteenth
Century!"
The Professor. - "Yes, and none of them save one or two know that it is Mr. Grover's
long hand behind the scenes pulling the wires. You may well say, what fools!"
Mme. Purple. - "Well, it is a fact that there are all sorts of Brotherhoods in the world -
so much is that truly sacred word misused. I know of a Brotherhood in Italy whose
members belong to some of the worst elements in the country, and in keeping with their
deeds and principles they have to meet in underground cellars and dark places, ashamed
and afraid of the light. For a long time Mr. Caine has been planning and planning to use
the Club to aid him in his political schemes and he has finally placed himself openly."
Dr. Roberts. - "But surely he doesn't think the members of the Club are so gullible
as to fall in with his plans."
Mme. Purple. - "This is just what he and Mr. Rise do think, but I notice they take care
not to try to get hold of any of the real workers, except in one or two instances, as in the
case of Mr. Berger, whom they tried to get hold of through Dr. Rower and some woman
whose name I cannot recall, but who never took any prominent part in the work. But with
very few exceptions they carefully pick out any who may, like themselves, have been
disappointed in not receiving the amount of notice they thought they were entitled to, or not
having their selfish schemes endorsed, and any whom they think to be gullible and able to
be deluded by phenomena, or a bribe of receiving occult instruction or being appointed
special agent. But the promoters of this new Brotherhood of Man are careful to keep their
real motive, which is political, in the back-

--- 509

ground."
Dr. Roberts. - "But surely they must have known that Mr. Berger would never be
caught by such folly."
Mme. Purple. - "That is the joke of it. There are two Mr. Bergers, or rather Mr.
Berger in two aspects. The first Mr. Berger whom you meet is a man that one might
imagine could be easily influenced and indeed there may sometimes have been indications
that he was, but the other Mr. Berger, the real honest, upright, clear-sighted man is the last
man that could be moved from his position when be was once convinced he was right and
any attempts made to swerve him from his course have but made him stronger for the
right."
Mr. Pease. - "How many times will these people have to knock their heads against
the wall before they learn the true nature of this work. Surely one would think that if they
would but open their eyes they would recognize what has been the result of all previous
attempts to go against the Leader, whether it was H. P. B., the Chief, or our present
Leader. It is nothing but blind folly where it is not malicious antagonism and I fear the only
thing to awaken them is some great shock which they are preparing for themselves and
towards which they are rushing headlong."
Mme. Purple. - "And just for that reason it is our duty to point out to others this ignus
fatuus and warn them against following what will only lead to untold misery for themselves
and others if persisted in."
Mrs. Wilding. - "Well, I do think this Club unique. One day we discuss metaphysics,
art, the basis and practice of Brotherhood, another day, woman's dress and pseudo-
occultism. Indeed all subjects seem to have a place here, yet I think it is this very fact that
makes our little meetings valuable, for to understand life - which I believe we all try to do -
we must be able to apply our philosophy to everything and at all times and I am sure that
today I have learned a great deal that shows how practical our philosophy is."
The Professor. - "Yes, and it is just in this way that we come into closer touch with
our fellow men, we must not be afraid of getting at the roots of things both in our own
natures and in the natures of others for we are all part of one another. We must act from
this as a basis if we would learn truly and must exercise always the highest compassion
and love."
Dr. Roberts. - "What is on the cards for the next meeting?"
Mrs. Wilding. - "The subject is, The influence of Art in modern life, with special
reference to the Drama, I believe."
Dr. Roberts. - "Well, I shall look forward to it, I expect to be in town and shall try to
be present."

--------------
--- 510

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"Whence arises the sense of duty? In what does it originate?"

IN considering every proposition of life, the method of its ultimate correct solution
will always suggest a paraphrase of the ancient axiom that "all roads lead to Rome."
In seeking to follow the pathways of truth, the burden of the search has ever been
the discovery of a new "Rome," which shall prove to be the common centre of all ethics and
religions, whence emanate the varying aspects of truth which through the ages have
brought hope to discouraged humanity and confidence in an eternal existence.
That such a common centre must exist is evidenced by the fact that whether the
sincere person be Christian, Buddhist, or what not, his belief regardless of outward label
can and does at the crucial moment bring that calm and "peace which passeth
understanding," which at trying times constitutes the chief and only desideratum.
If we can discover the reason for this common experience, it is very possible that the
real centre of truth may be found to be within our apprehension.
Examining, then, the various religions with special view to discovering tenets
common to all, the most manifest similarity is in the universal enunciation of what today is
called the "Golden Rule."
There was a time, perchance of not exceeding antiquity, when precepts and
injunctions were accepted by the masses and followed in the letter with varying exactness
by reason of their confidence in the dicta of their leaders. But as the world is learning to
think, it recognizes that good rules of conduct cannot be arbitrary in their origin, but of
necessity must be founded upon natural law and formulated with the sole purpose of
conforming therewith.
That it is an excellent thing, even good business policy, to do as one would be done
by, is plainly apparent, and it must be admitted that the universal observance of the rule
would speedily remove every mundane difficulty; but it can require no argument to satisfy
us that such fact is by no means a mere happening or sentimentality. Rather is it and must
it be the result of Law, and that, too, of a character which is inflexible, in that it is nature's -
that which originates in man's puny intellection being the only type which requires an
exception for its proof.
Finding, then, that action and reaction are always equal and opposite; that bread
cast upon the waters invariably returns, even as our "chickens always come home to roost,"
the observing mind marvels and asks with holy awe: "What is this universe?" and in the
final word of the question does its answer appear.
The universe is indeed correctly so named, for it is a unit, a single, all-
comprehensive One. This does not imply an aggregation of multitudes, but as tersely
stated by St. Paul, "members of one body." Then does it appear why brotherly action is
profitable. Then do we learn the reason why true love is a magic solvent, or rather
amalgam. Then does the sun of enlightenment pierce the gloom of blindness and gradually
unroll before our vision the fullness of truth.
Unconsciously the various portions of the physical body, which is perhaps the
readiest analogy, give evidences of this

--- 511

great law in their constant cooperation for the well-being of the entirety. Likewise
unconsciously, at least for some reason not generally understood, but quite as naturally,
do we, the members of the larger body, at times feel impelled to cooperate in some uplifting
effort; and to satisfy our groping reasons for this tendency we have coined the label "duty,"
which really designates our, so to speak, unconscious consciousness of unity and the
necessity for governing ourselves in accordance therewith.
Therefore do we find that, even as in the past, "all roads lead to Rome," so today
does every ethical or, for that matter, business or other practical proposition lead to and
centre in unity, with full exemplification in Universal Brotherhood, by reason of which fact
in nature our sense of duty arises and reveals its origin.
- Lucien B. Copeland
--------

"I slept and dreamed that Life was beauty,

I waked and found that Life was duty."

Whence arises the sense of duty? In what does it originate? I cannot be expected
to answer categorically these questions that go to the very root of all morality. I can at best
simply give my own impressions regarding them and add a few resulting thoughts. It
appears then to me that a man's sense of duty is his personal perception or consciousness
of the fundamental law of his own complex nature. It is his recognition of that "Power
Divine which moves to good" and of his relation to it. It must originate for him in that divine
centre of himself which is also the divine centre of all other men; in that divine unity which
is the basis of Universal Brotherhood, Duty is the "Noblesse oblige" of his own Soul. Being
divinely descended and related, he owes it to himself to be and to do that which is in
keeping and harmony with such descent and relation.
In my own mind I have pictured the path of duty as a man's peculiar orbit round the
spiritual sun. Each man has his own orbit, but all have a common centre. Thus it becomes
clear to me why we have been warned to attend strictly to our own duty and that "the duty
of another is full of danger." That mysterious and elusive thing we call conscience is the
channel or medium through which we get our light from the sun to perceive our own path
of duty. This path is not clear nor easy to be seen, for though the Soul sees, the
personality is beclouded and befogged by his thoughts and desires and the earthly
illusions.
The more the Soul dominates the lower mind and through it, the body, the more
clearly he can "see his way." The more he aspires, the more conscience speaks.
In the Gita we find Arjuna demanding of Krishna that he tell him distinctly what is
right to do. "I am thy disciple, wherefore instruct in my duty me who am under thy tuition."
Krishna declares that he is not to regard the "outcome of action," but to make ready for
battle and do the present apparent duty, "seeking an asylum in mental devotion."
So it seems to me that our whole duty is to follow along our own path as we see it
from moment to moment relying upon intuition or conscience to guide, until through mental
devotion we reach spiritual illumination and become one with

"The Law that moves to Righteousness

Which none at least can turn aside or stay;
The heart of it is Love, the end of it
Is Peace and Consummation."
- V. F.

------------

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE STORY OF BUZZ

FOR THE LITTLE ONES.
by M. H. W.

YOU want my story, do you? Well, although you do belong to the canine race, my
heart has grown so big lately, that I do not scorn a chat with you, as we ride along together.
You see, my mistress and little Master David and myself are just returning from our
vacation and thereby hangs a tale.
Just six weeks ago today I heard my mistress say, "David, what shall we do with
Buzz this summer? He is a perfect wreck from fighting with the neighbors' cats. I have a
good notion to send him to the cats' home at Roxbury. If we should leave him here while
we are gone away he would surely die at the rate he is going on."
I was lying behind the kitchen stove when she said these words, and, oh! my soul
was filled with terror at the thought of never seeing her again. Of course she had no idea
I was there, or she would not have said it.
But my dear little master answered at once: "Let's take Buzz with us, mama. The
sea air will do him good and I will promise to carry him both ways. You shan't have a bit
of trouble!"
Bless his dear, good heart! He did not scorn me, even though there was a big slit
in my ear and a piece taken right out of my jaw in a fight the night before.
So it was arranged. The next day we started, big box, little box, bandbox and
bundle, as well as the basket in which I was safely stowed and which my little master held
tightly as we were whisked along in an electric car.
Rumble rumble! clang! clang! It took all my faith in both cat and human nature to
keep me from dying of fright. You must remember that I was terribly shattered in health.
Another change now to the steam cars and this was less of a nervous strain,
although when the engine gave a sudden shriek, my heart would fairly stop beating.
After two hours, that seemed like ages, we stopped at a little station and were
hustled into what is called a "barge" in this part of the country. The people were all
crowded together, while I in my basket was wedged in between David's legs. Away
galloped the horses over a stony country road. "Hurrah! I smell the ocean," exclaimed my
master.
After a little while the passengers began to drop out. (I could see everything, you
know, through the holes of the basket, just as I am now looking at you.)
At last our party was alone in the barge. We left behind us a long row of beach
cottages, and turning out upon a back road we came to a little bluff up above the ocean.
We stopped at a cottage in the midst of a pine grove, with only one other house near us.
It was a lovely spot and a chorus of birds greeted us.
I heard my mistress say, "Well, David, Buzz ought to thrive here! No cats to fight
with, and plenty of birds to catch. He will grow fat and look once more like a respectable
puss."
There were no cats, it is true, and I was fairly stuffed from morning till

--- 513

night with all the dainties that are dearest to a cat's stomach, - lobsters, well-cooked fish,
fresh milk, and besides these, there was always plenty of catnip, that most strengthening
of all things in the world, growing about us in abundance.
Did I grow plump and beautiful, you ask? Did I feast upon the dainty food which
birds always afford, and which I could have obtained by merely reaching out my paw (the
little creatures were so tame and unsuspicious)? No! a thousand times, no! I answer to
both questions.
It seemed a miracle to my mistress and David, for I often heard them talking about
me. "How quiet Buzz does keep!" they would say, or perhaps it would be, "What can be
the reason Buzz keeps so thin, when he eats so much?"
Often I would go and rub against my mistress' dress and try to explain to her how
I felt, but she could not seem to understand. Although my wounds and scratches healed
up, yet I actually grew thinner for I was being devoured by grief. For the first time in my life
I began to realize the beauty of the great cat world, now that I could no longer look upon
one of my own race. I, who had sought to injure and destroy my fellow-beings whenever
they had come in my way! I, who would not allow another cat to even jump over our
garden wall at home without a desperate encounter to the teeth. This was the first chance
to think which had come to me. Do you wonder why I did not gain flesh? Do you see now
why it became impossible for me to kill a bird or even to torture a field mouse? I began to
realize that other birds and other mice would miss them if they should disappear down the
throat of a monster cat, and I commenced to feel interest even in them.
One night (it was moonlight, I remember) I could not restrain myself any longer. I
went out among the trees and cried out in anguish to the great yellow moon. (I heard
afterwards that I greatly frightened some people passing by. They thought there must be
an escaped lunatic in the woods.)
But that night I made a solemn vow that if I lived to return to my own dear home
once more, my fellows would find me a reformed cat. I had come to see that just so far as
I should injure or destroy any one of my own race or another, just so far I would be injuring
myself.
Poor stupid little pug dog! you can't understand such lofty ideas, I suppose, but they
may do you some good anyhow.
 Ah! the train is stopping. We have reached Boston. I see my master coming to get
me, so I can't talk with you any longer. By the way, I heard David say the other day he was
going to change my name to Sampson Schley Hobson Dewey. I hope he won't with all my
heart, for though it would confer great honor upon me, yet I dislike anything that could
remind me of my old fighting days. Good by!

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--- 514

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATION *

[[seal]]

UNIVERSAL Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Humanity is an organization

established for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures.
This organization declares that Brotherhood is a fact in nature,
The principal purpose of this organization is to teach Brotherhood, demonstrate that
it is a fact in nature and make it a living power in the life of humanity.
The subsidiary purpose of this organization is to study ancient and modern religion,
science, philosophy and art; to investigate the laws of nature and the divine powers in
man.
This Brotherhood is a part of a great and universal movement which has been active
in all ages.
Every member has the right to believe or disbelieve in any religious system or
philosophy, each being required to show that tolerance for the opinions of others which he
expects for his own.
The Theosophical Society in America is the Literary Department of Universal
Brotherhood.
The International Brotherhood League is the department of the Brotherhood for
practical humanitarian work.
---------

A LETTER FROM AUSTRALIA.

We have received the following enthusiastic letter from Bro. Willans, of Sydney,
Australia. It is so full of life and vigor and shows that the same suggestions sent out to
Lodges from the Central office and which where followed, have brought success here have
also

-----------
* For further information address F. M. Pierce, Secretary, 44 Madison Avenue, New
York.
-----------

been followed and brought like success to our comrades' work at the antipodes. - E. A.
Neresheimer, Ed.

SYDNEY, N. S. W. The work is going ahead well. The effect of our Leader's
"suggestions" has transformed our meetings of Universal Brotherhood into intelligent,
brotherly, and instructive evenings by which all gain, and progressive life steadily proceeds,
with a firm promise for the future. The tiring twaddle of soulless wrangle that went by the
name of "discussion" in the past has gone with that past. From my own experience as
chairman for many years, the "suggestions" were just what was required to put our teaching
in positive position and to get a true value for time used, and a legitimate return for
expenses paid in room hire.
The firm ruling "out of order" of all efforts to destroy our objects and ideals by
poisonous imbecile criticism and the sentimental support of this inane foolishness, on the
plea of Brotherhood, has a most wholesome effect.
The Leader's word (which is the word of every Theosophist with honest intelligence)
is Law now, thank God! And just, straight-out firmness in the chair meets with the strongest
approval of all members, and herein is the great value of an Official Head. The simple,
straight directions issued by that Head and verbally followed simply and honestly by the
subordinate officials, meets at once with the loyal and warm-hearted support of all
members. The great difficulty, to my mind, in the past was a most natural want of
discrimination. All members could not possibly be expected to acknowledge methods that
had not the endorsement of an Official Head, and we had no properly-acknowledged Head;
therefore each member had his or her own methods by virtue of necessity, and

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from that, disorganization must result. Good and severe lessons have been learned, no
doubt, and surely not one would not care to have had the splendid experience. But this
was all individual preparation for earnest, organized work - the breaking down of the many
hallucinations of the personal view.
This training in self-abnegation and working for others is the lesson that has been
learned and all who have not learned it sufficiently to instantly grasp the value of the
Leader's suggestions and joyfully and promptly obey them from their own true nature, will
at any rate offer no objection to a quiet determined following out of those suggestions by
the responsible officials. Of course if the officials make personal deductions and fancy
additions to the Leader's suggestions they will surely meet with opposition from
commonsense members. But if they have the sense not to do this but to quietly carry out
without hesitation or delay the plain simple rules, their whole branch is certain to swing into
line and all will go well and merrily. Once a Lodge gets used to our Leader's plans they
would fire any one down stairs who tried to upset them for they know the method is right
and true from experience and their hearts will be in it. Once the heart is truly caught then
good-by to all opposition.
Advantage should be taken, I think, by all Presidents of Lodges of the heart loyalty
now given to the Leader; for by acting promptly as above, a loyal Lodge will be
permanently secured. I feel sure of it and the enormous advantages now at the back of the
Leader should surely be clear enough now to all earnest hearts in our body whose souls
are in the work for the uplifting of humanity.
 I am delighted to be able to tell you that on the invitation of Bro. Minchen, I went to
the little country place where he lives, about twenty miles from Sydney and gave a lecture
on the Movement. The result was that ten people came forward and made application for
membership in the Brotherhood and to establish a Lodge with Mr. and Mrs. Minchen. They
are naturally delighted about it and simply full of enthusiasm. With all good wishes, as
ever,
- T. W. Willans

The public meetings of the Aryan Lodge on Sunday are proving of great interest.
The meetings open with music, then follow questions and answers and an address of about
20 to 30 minutes. On Nov. 6th Dr. H. Coryn lectured on "Education, True and False," and
on Nov. 13th, Mrs. Freeman on "Theory and Practice," both of which aroused keen interest.
The H. P. B. Lodge (No. 10) of Harlem, New York, has received a new impulse in
its work. On Sunday, Nov. 20, some of us went up there and heard Bro. Dunlop, the
President of the Lodge, deliver one of his splendid talks on "Universal Brotherhood, the
Future of Humanity." Following is a report of the lecture:
A number of striking facts were brought out in a lecture last Sunday evening by Mr.
D. N. Dunlop, President of the U. B. Lodge No. ro, in Harlem. It was the regular public
meeting of the Lodge and a large number of strangers were present, beside the regular
members. It may here be remarked that the attendance of strangers at the public meetings
has been particularly noticeable in connection with the work of this Lodge and more
especially has this been the case since Mr. Dunlop assumed the presidency. This is his
second term and public interest in the Lodge is increasing all the time.
The subject on Sunday night was "The Future of Humanity," and the speaker dwelt
particularly on the divinity of man and of the never-ending effort of the soul toward
recognition of itself. He spoke of the various movements past and present, wherein man,
the thinker, has

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sought to find the Truth by creeds, by philosophies and the sciences. Mr. Dunlop went over
the ground briefly but comprehensively and made it clear that man in himself evolves, and
this independent of creeds and forms. All great teachers such as Buddha, Jesus, Plato,
Madame Blavatsky, have left us a philosophy which is grand and true - but no philosophy
amounts to anything save as the individual makes it live, save as it finds expression in him.
He said that every bible in the world was simply an attempt of man to write down as best
he could his gropings after the Infinite. No philosophy can satisfy a man's heart, if it be not
founded on the basic principle of man's immortality - man as a soul, who has never had
beginning nor will ever know end.
The lecturer brought out clearly the particular weaknesses existent in some of the
movements of the day. In reference to materialism he said that it had long since lost what
real influence it may have had over the minds of people by its denial of immortality. Man
knows within himself that he is immortal, nor can he long continue to be satisfied with that
which his soul repudiates. The speaker said concerning the efforts made toward social
reform, that of one, Anarchy, it was futile and even dangerous in that it sought to make men
just by means of injustice, violence, and murder. As to Socialism, which would bring about
a change by reforming the laws, and by making all have share and share alike, it too, was
but a partial means, it could not bring about a lasting reform, for it ignored the most
important fact of all, that legislation will never make men just, any more than brute force,
for only by going down to a man's real self and developing what is latent in him, can we
bring about a change. Spiritual growth is not a thing of an instant, it is gradual, and
therefore we must have patience, realizing that humanity will be saved. It has taken ages
for man to build his present physical organism, ages in which he has slowly built his outer
form. It takes a long, long time for the curious marks to be sculptured in the stone of the
mountain-side, but it finally stands, carved by the slow, unceasing drops of water. It takes
an age to perfect a flower. Remembering these things, said the lecturer, we shall not be
despondent if we have many a weary struggle before we realize our divinity, but we shall
arise from each failure more fully awake, more joyous to continue the fight.
In times of despondency we seem to be in the gloomiest of dungeons, but,
nevertheless, outside the sun is still shining, and that sun is brilliant and unchanged, even
though we sometimes view it through red or green glasses, and, because our vision is
marred, fancy the sun is changed. The Sun never is changed, the eternal verities ever
remain, and in his true moments every man recognizes these things and knows himself a
soul. This is taught in all philosophies, in whatever time or language they were written.
Nature is one and indestructible. Man is one - united to all his brothers, and these are the
truths that great souls in the world ever seek to keep before the minds of mankind.
The lecturer here spoke of these great souls, Brothers to all humanity, who in the
past have slowly and painfully toiled step by step until they had become wholly divine and
now only lived to help the rest of humanity. All must attain to the evolution of such great
ones.
After the lecturer had referred to the different philosophies and religions as offered
in the world today, he spoke more particularly concerning the Universal Brotherhood
Organization and of what it had to offer humanity as hope and inspiration. He said that to
him the U. B. stood for three things, Brotherhood, Wisdom, Power. That Brotherhood was
the first and essential purpose

--- 517

of the organization; that by gathering a nucleus of devoted people in full harmony with such
a purpose, we would carry the movement over to the next century. We would never rest
while one soul in the world was in darkness; that, as all men are by nature brothers, so
some day, all would recognize this great truth and humanity be one. We are brothers not
only to each other, but brothers to the mineral, the plant, the pine tree and the star. The
one golden spark runs throughout all creation; this divine spark is not excluded from
anything; we are it and it is in us and has been since before we came from the elementary
forms of nature.
Our organization includes Wisdom in the second object and seeks to synthesize for
humanity those universal truths which have been scattered among us like seeds since man
first appeared on this planet. These truths are to be found in all religions, ancient and
modern. We did not seek, said the speaker, to formulate anything new, but to bring
together in one philosophy all that was of eternal truth. We have never been left alone, for
the Elder Brothers of the race, 'mid the rise and fall of nations, have ever guarded the truths
scattered among man at the dawn of the world, and these truths the great ones have ever
saved from destruction.
Power was to be attained through the third object. As man lived to benefit mankind
he would gradually develop those higher qualities which would make him one with nature,
and thus, working with her, he would gain true power.
"Is it not worth while," said Mr. Dunlop, "for us to array ourselves on the side of the
Saviours of humanity?" All the sages have lived with this sole purpose in view, Buddha,
Jesus, and many others - for the links have never been broken, - have drawn all humanity
to them, and in drawing all lesser souls, it was not to a personality, but to a recognition of
the Divine in their own natures.
A great deal is said these days about Leaders, and there is much talk about hero
worship. Said the speaker, "I have often been accused of hero worship, and I am glad of
it." It is something that every one feels, and we have had no better examples of it of late
than the enthusiasm with which Dewey and Hobson are hailed by the American people.
Let any man prove himself a hero, let him do some nobly unselfish deed, plunging into
danger for the sake of a principle, and he straightway becomes a hero in the minds of the
people and is hailed by them. Of itself, the mass of people never does anything great. It
needs a synthesizer to bring into one all their forces and to express them. This has ever
been throughout the world's history, and in every department of life. The speaker cited the
poet, whose words, we say, express just what we feel. But it is the poet, and not we who
read, who can synthesize what we read. Mankind must have leaders, they are a necessity
of evolution.
The hearts of the members of the Lodge were gladdened by the presence of the
Leader of the organization, Katherine A. Tingley. Our old friend Frank M. Pierce, secretary-
general of the U. B., was also present.
- Margaret S. Lloyd

At the East 14th St. Lodge, New York, arrangements are being made for a
kindergarten to still further carry on the work of the East Side Mission, which Mrs. Kramer
and Brother Leonard assisted by Miss Lloyd have conducted with unflagging zeal all during
the summer. Preparations are already being made for an entertainment for the children for
Christmas.
Recent visitors to Headquarters have been Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, of Buffalo, always
bright and enthusiastic about the work in the Buffalo Lodge; Mr. and

--- 518

Mrs. Richmond-Green, of Easthampton, Mass., who came over to see the play
"Eumenides" and are anxious to have it reproduced at Northampton; and Bro. W. H. Todd,
of New Britain, who turned up unexpectedly on a flying visit, bringing good news from
Connecticut. Miss May Hall, of Bridgeport, came to take part in the play. Mrs. I. H. Butler,
also from Bridgeport, came on to help with the preparations for the play, and Mrs. Kramer,
who has endeared herself to everyone, and Mrs. Shuler-Shutz and all the ladies have been
busy making the costumes for the Furies, Torch-bearers, Escort of Women, Areopagites.
Indeed, Headquarters has been a very lively place the past three weeks.
Preparations are now being made to give the "Eumenides" in Buffalo the first week
in December, for the benefit of Lotus Home and Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, and all our friends
there are now actively engaged making necessary preparations.
Bro. A. A. Scholfield, of Westerly, has also paid us a flying visit on his way to Point
Loma, where he is going to assist Dr. L. F. Wood at Point Loma House.
Very soon the alterations of the Headquarters building at 144 Madison Avenue will
be begun, but details of this must be held over until next issue, when also we shall have
some interesting news about the Lotus Home at Buffalo.
Letters from Bros. Anderson and Griffiths tell of the continued good work being done
on the Pacific Coast, the meetings of the San Francisco Lodge are always well attended
and attract much public attention.
Brother Lucien B. Copeland, of Omaha, Nebraska, has been paying us a ten days'
visit in New York. We were all glad to renew the personal acquaintance begun at the last
Convention in Chicago.
We greatly miss Bro. Clark Thurston, who has been in Europe the past six weeks,
and are looking for his return, which is expected to be soon.
Bros. Neresheimer, Patterson, Pierce and the other members of the Cabinet in New
York are already considering arrangements for the Brotherhood Congress to be held at
Point Loma next April, and several inquiries have been received in regard to it, and
members all over the country are looking forward to the event and expressing their intention
to be present.
-------

The following letter has been received from Mrs. Richmond-Green:

EASTHAMPTON, MASS.
November 8, 1898.
DEAR COMRADES:
We are one and all looking forward to Point Loma and cherishing the hope to meet
and greet there, for our next Brotherhood Congress. The articles that have been written
to that fulfillment, the fascinating accounts and pictures of the beautiful shore appeal
strongly to each one of us - kindling the fire of a great enthusiasm. A solemn mystery
enshrouds the School, whose cornerstone was placed under difficulties and obstacles
known at the time to but the few, difficulties and obstacles which the present age cannot
appreciate; which, to overcome, demanded a Leadership previously undreamed of in our
humanity. For this sacred service the gods had wrought - had smelted and forged, Thor
had thundered, Vulcan hammered - all the kingdoms had labored - and sweet influences
brought from every element to prepare the instrument, to temper and test the mettle of the
chosen "Ark of our Covenant." Dear Comrades - some of us knew it not, but now we know.
Let us rejoice that the scales have dropped from our eyes, that the veil has lifted long
enough for us to discern truth.
From our present high point of vantage let us recall some of the scenes of the
Convention of Feb. 18, at Chicago. Behold, this precious ship - the hope of humanity -
exposed to such tempest of

--- 519
wind and rain, recall how calmly it rode the threatening waves; listen once more to the
divine message our Leader then gave to the world:
"For the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures."
Feel once again the vibration of that song of freedom. The lost chord was found,
every heart-string responded.
Now our hearts and faces are turned towards Point Loma; and will we not sacrifice
that we may meet on that sacred spot, each one conscious of the education of the great
experiences of the past, culminating in the ever-memorable convention at Chicago -
conscious each one of quickened intuition and of the dawn of that true discrimination which
rests in the law - which builds not upon the sands of sentiment but upon the rock of
absolute Justice and true Brotherhood.
Faithfully yours,
- H. K. Richmond-Green
---------

There will no doubt always be one or two who seek to hinder the work, but if we
watch we can always see that such is due either to self-seeking or animus. The true
worker is always known.
Here and there a few people complain they do not hear direct from Headquarters,
but surely if they would read the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD and the New Century they
could not fail to keep in touch with the work. The organization is growing so rapidly that it
is impossible to write individually to all the members as used to be done when they were
but few, but there is a closer fellowship of the heart which all may feel and which all
experience who enter into the spirit of the work and the new time.

------------

THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE *

(Unsectarian)

This organization affirms and declares that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, and its
objects are:
1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their true
position in life.
2. To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal Brotherhood
and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for humanity.
3. To ameliorate the condition of unfortunate women, and assist them to a higher
life.
4. To assist those who are, or have been, in prison, to establish themselves in
honorable positions in life.
5. To endeavor to abolish capital punishment.
6. To bring about a better understanding between so-called savage and civilized
races, by promoting a closer and more sympathetic relationship between them.
7. To relieve human suffering resulting from flood, famine, war, and other calamities;
and generally to extend aid, help, and comfort to suffering humanity throughout the world.
It should be noted that the officers and workers of the International Brotherhood
League are unsalaried and receive no remuneration, and this, as one of the most binding
rules of the organization, effectually excludes those who would otherwise enter from
motives of self-interest.
None of the officers hold any political office, the League is not connected with any
political party or organization, nor has it any political character, it is wholly humanitarian and
unsectarian.

-------------
* Address all enquiries to H. T. Patterson, General Superintendent, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York.
-------------
--- 520

REPORT PROM SWEDEN.

Stockholm, Oct. I, 1898.
The summer is now over and the Theosophists have hastened back from the woods
and meadows of the country, where for a season they have yielded to the urging needs of
recreation. Once more have they returned to the field of battle to take up the ancient fight
for truth, light and liberation for discouraged humanity.
Last Sunday the Lotus Circle unfolded their banner for the ensuing season. After
having learned, from the experiences of last year, that ladies are more qualified to win the
hearts and sympathies of the children than men are, it was unanimously agreed to
exclusively engage ladies for the work, both as teachers and as managers. In accordance
with this agreement Mrs. Myhrman was elected as President, Mrs. Ellsen, Vice-President;
Mrs. Nystrom, Corresponding Secretary, and at the same time instructor in music.
Splendid translations of the American Lotus leaflets have been furnished by Mrs.
Lotten Holmberg, and the Swedish Lotus Circles can now follow the same lines as those
in America.
The International Brotherhood League has continued its work during the entire
summer without missing a single one of the weekly lectures. The range of public workers
in this great organization is continually widening. Oscar Ljungstram, who has recently
returned from New York, is often heard from the I. B L. rostrum, whence he sends out some
of the soul-refreshing breezes he brought along with him from Headquarters.
To the extent the worker merges himself in the I. B. L. work, appears to him the real
aim and area of its gigantic scheme. Few of its workers, if indeed any, discerned this at
first. Yet they neither questioned nor doubted, but proceeded to work on, full of unshakable
trust and reliance on the wisdom and capability of the Leader to carry out the plan and to
guide the work. Gradually, however, as the movement went on, and the workers did their
duties, their trust and faith were rewarded by a constantly widening and deepening
knowledge of life's meaning. The work of the I. B. L. has taken root in the hearts of men -
has embodied itself in the midst of the cries and groans, the sorrows and vows of our
nineteenth century, to shed light and radiance throughout the world and inspire all with
hope and fortitude.
The audiences, which largely consist of the laboring classes, begin to realize and
appreciate the great effort made in their behalf. They listen with the greatest interest and
attention and are realizing the encouragement that the League has brought to them and
all men, to the poor as to the rich, the low as well as the high. What a transformation of the
audiences which used to gather during the old days of the Theosophical Society and listen
to long-winded disquisitions of metaphysical hair-splittings and brain-cracking technicalities.
They strained their minds to the utmost in order to follow the intricate windings of cold
metaphysical abstractions - while their hearts and sympathies remained untouched. Now,
how different! The standard of Theosophic lecturing is entirely metamorphosed. Rounds
and Races, Pralayas and Manvantaras, are left to the study-chamber, and referred to in
passing only as elements in the great process of the evolution of humanity, comprehended
as the framework which surrounds the living canvas, the precious, invaluable picture - the
human race. And the audience responds with heart and soul to these new, warm, inspiring
currents of love and helpfulness that well up from the deep recesses of the heart.
We need to turn, again and again, to the brotherhood in daily, practical life and we
can refer to every movement and aspect of the Universe and Nature as

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living proofs of the existence of this fact of Brotherhood. The subject so treated opens up
new avenues of thought and new gateways to the hearts of our fellow-men.
We must appeal to the human heart. Speak to the heart of a man and he becomes
suddenly earnest. He throws off the cold, disinterested air of conventionality and warms
up. He catches the inspiration and feels himself as a shareholder in the undertaking. The
human heart is a sounding board on which every tone and shade of a tone of all the world's
melodies can be evoked. This is the secret of magic - of growth - to touch the human heart
with the witchcraft of love. The man sees then, must see, the truth about life's real worth
and destiny. He will then rise above the illusory worries and cares of worldly existence and
with a feeling of boundless hope and triumph, his heart will expand with sympathy towards
the entire human race.
The I. B. L. meetings which hitherto have been held every Thursday evening show
a constant increase in attendance and promise to be a focus for the mental life of the
nation. A remarkable change has taken place in the attitude the newspapers take to the
movement. Not long ago - before the formation of the Universal Brotherhood organization -
the Stockholm press did its utmost to destroy the Society, utilizing every opportunity to
ridicule and smother it. Now the leaf is turned. Our I. B. L. lectures get not only free
notices in the most prominent papers, but also regular press-reports. Tempora mutantur!
It would be ingratitude to give a report of the I. B. L. activities in Stockholm without
mentioning the name of the man who has stood at its helm from the hour of its first
inception. It is the name of Congressman M. L. Nystrom, whose untiring and self-
sacrificing efforts have done so much towards strengthening and aiding. It should be noted
that in accordance with the suggestions made by our devoted Leader, musical selections
are rendered at every meeting, interchanging with the speeches. Mrs. Nystrom and Mr.
Lidman provide the music. Nor do we lack flowers at the meetings. Mrs. Piltz has during
the entire summer supplied our I. B. L. meetings with baskets of beautiful flowers.
Everybody is conscious of the great heart who stands behind the movement and gives to
it her life and genius; everybody is devoted and grateful to our dear beloved Leader. The
U. B. members of all Sweden send their love and greetings to her and all the comrades in
America. - A. E. G.
 A new activity has recently been begun in Toledo, Ohio, under the International
Brotherhood League. A house has been secured on Nebraska Avenue and is being used
as a Kindergarten. The I. B. L. Committee is in charge of this work which was begun some
time ago mainly through the efforts of Mrs. Breckenridge and Mrs. A. E. Lang. Miss Leila
Law is the teacher in charge. It is very significant to note how much is being done among
the children and young people. In them lies the hope of humanity for the future, and if we
can help to start them in the struggle of life along the lines of Brotherhood, teaching them
that "helping and sharing is what Brotherhood means," we shall awaken in their hearts a
power of love that will transform the world and herald the dawn of a new civilization.
---------------
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THE ISIS LEAGUE OF MUSIC AND DRAMA

(Of the Art Department of Universal Brotherhood)
The Isis League of Music and Drama was founded June, 1898, by Katherine A.
Tingley and is composed of persons selected by the Foundress who are interested in the
advancement of music and the drama to their true place in the life of humanity. Its objects
are:
(a) To accentuate the importance of Music and the Drama as vital educative factors.
(b) To educate the people to a knowledge of the true philosophy of life by means of
dramatic presentations of a high standard, and the influence of the grander harmonies of
music.
The students of the Isis League have for some time been studying the Eumenides
of Aeschylus and enacted this old Greek Drama at Carnegie Lyceum on Nov. 15 and 16.
The play was so successful that it was decided to repeat it on the following Saturday, Nov.
19, afternoon and evening when appreciative audiences again witnessed it.
The program was as follows:

CARNEGIE LYCEUM.
Saturday afternoon, Nov. 19, 1898, 2.15 p. m.
--------
THE EUMENIDES.
The Famous Greek Play of Aeschylus
(Anna Swanwick's Translation.)
To be Enacted by the Students of
THE ISIS LEAGUE OE MUSIC AND DRAMA,
(Of the Art Department of Universal Brotherhood. )
With appropriate archaic music and costumes. Unique setting and choral figures.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
Pallas Athena.
Apollo.
Orestes (Son of Agamemnon.)
Hermes (Appointed by Apollo to protect Orestes.)
Pythian Prophetess.
Ghost of Clytemnestra (Mother of Orestes.
 Leader of Chorus,
Chorus of Eumenides or Furies. (The pursuers of Orestes for the murder of his
mother. The Eumenides represent the dark powers of Nature and the lower forces in man,
which are at last transformed into beneficent powers.)
Twelve Areopagites. (Appointed by Athena to adjudge the cause of Orestes.)
Escort of Women with torches.

SYNOPSIS.

ACT I.
Scene 1. - The Temple of Apollo at Delphi. In the background, the summits of
Parnassus. The Pythoness is seen praying at an altar. She retires into the Temple, and
after a brief pause returns terror-stricken.
(Between Scenes 1 and 2 the recently discovered Hymn to Apollo will be sung.)
Scene 2. - The interior of the Temple. Apollo is standing beside Orestes, who is
seated. The Eumenides or Furies are reclined on seats fast asleep. Hermes in the
background. Apollo urges Orestes to seek the shrine of Pallas Athena. Orestes goes out,
accompanied by Hermes. The Ghost of Clytemnestra appears behind Apollo and strives
to awaken the Furies. Apollo declares he will save Orestes. The Furies awake and pursue
him.

ACT II.
The Temple of Pallas Athena on the Acropolis at Athens. Orestes is seen
embracing the sacred image of the Goddess. The Leader of the Chorus enters, followed
by the Eumenides. They weave their spells around Orestes. He calls on Athena,
representing Wisdom, Truth, Justice and Love, who presently appears. Orestes and the
Eumenides respectively present their case to Athena. She appoints twelve Areopagites
as a jury. Apollo appears and defends Orestes. The Areopagites give their verdict by
dropping pebbles into an urn. Six are for acquittal, six against. Athena gives the casting,
thirteenth vote, and Orestes is saved. The Eumenides then threaten to lay waste the land,
but Athena's appeal diverts them from their evil purpose and they are transformed into
beneficent powers. Athena leaves the Temple, accompanied by an escort of women with
torches.
--------
Produced and conducted under the direction and general management of Katherine

--- 523

A. Tingley, Foundress of the Isis League of Music and Drama; assisted by Elizabeth C.
Mayer, President of the Isis League, and Albert Operti, Artist.
Music specially composed for the play by
Wenzel A. Raboch.... Musical Conductor, Frederick Brumm ...... Organist..... Wenzel
A. Raboch, Scenery by ..... Albert Operti, Artist
Choral Figures under the direction of Professor H. Fletcher Rivers.
The Mason and Hamlin Liszt Organ used.
-------
 For Humanitarian Work among our Soldiers and the Cuban and Spanish Sufferers
from the War. Preparations have already been made to establish this Brotherhood Work
at Santiago, Havana and Manila.
FINANCE COMMITTEE:
E. A. Neresheimer, 35 Nassau Street.
F. M. Pierce, 26 Cortlandt Street. H. T. Patterson, 146-150 Centre Street.
--------

THE REVIVAL OF ANCIENT DRAMA

As an Educative Factor in Modern Result

"I sometimes wonder whether the best philosophy and poetry, or something like the
best, after all these centuries, perhaps waits to be roused out yet." - Walt Whitman
It is known that among the people of ancient Greece a higher general culture existed
than has since been reached in Europe. This expressed itself in many ways, and amongst
others in a dramatic literature of wide range and immense power. Their drama reflected,
less than does ours, the common life of the people; but it dealt much more than ours with
great philosophical and mystical tenets, and with esoteric teachings concerning the origin
and destiny of man that appear to have been at that time matters of deep interest and
discussion. These teachings were unfolded majestically, imparting the simple truths of life
to the multitude, and at the same time revealing the deep secrets of Nature to those who
had eyes to see. They were presented in the form of magnificent tragedies and
spectacular performances wherein the persons and events, half historical, half mythical,
served in part to embody and illustrate the profound philosophy that the great Grecian
dramatists often desired to convey. The tragedies were works of art of the highest
character and have never since been surpassed in power and grandeur.
Whatever is of value, whatever is noble and elevating in the drama that flowered in
the civilization and thought of earlier nations should be still accessible, and should be more
and more so as the general consciousness and dramatic taste of today rises to the level
of the past.
A few of the best dramas of Egypt and Greece have been selected and will be
reproduced in such a form as shall make evident their profound beauty and inner meaning,
and enable them once more to manifest their ancient power and life which time has to a
degree obscured. The first of these works selected for this purpose is the "Eumenides,"
the famous drama of Aeschylus.
The Eumenides is the last of a Trilogy, or set of three plays with one plot running
through the set. In the first, the Agamemnon, Agamemnon returns home from the siege
of Troy, bringing with him Cassandra, a captive prophetess. He finds that, during his
absence, his queen, Clytemnestra, has been ruling the kingdom in conjunction with
Aegisthus, her lover. Clytemnestra welcomes her returned lord, but, when she discovers
Cassandra, she treacherously murders her husband, and also Cassandra. In the second
play, the Choephorae, Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, is ordered by Apollo to avenge his
father's murder by slaying his mother, Clytemnestra; and does so, urged on by his sister
Electra. In the Eumenides, the Eumenides, who are the agents of avenging Nemesis,
appearing as hideous hags, pursue Orestes for the murder of his mother. But Apollo
protects him, Orestes being Apollo's suppliant, and having acted under the god's orders.
The Eumenides being obdurate, the matter is tried before a jury of Athenian nobles, with
the Goddess Athena as judge. The votes for and against Orestes are equal, and Athena
casts her vote in his favor, decreeing that in future all people in similar circumstances shall
be similarly acquitted. The Eumenides rage in baffled spite, and vow to blast the earth with
barrenness and pestilence. But Athena soothes away their anger by promoting them to be
the agents of prosperity and beneficence, so that henceforth these avenging furies become
the bestowers of happiness and peace.
------------
--- 524

THE ISIS CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC

As one of the initial steps in the educative work of the ART DEPARTMENT of the
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, the Foundress has established at Point Loma, San Diego,
California, the Isis Conservatory of Music, and Placed it under the direction of Mrs.
Elizabeth Churchill Mayer, the well-known teacher of singing in New York, and pupil of the
European Maestro William Shakespeare. For information address Mrs. E. C. Mayer, at 544
Madison Avenue, New York, or after December 1st, at the Isis Conservatory of Music, Point
Loma, San Diego, California.

Some of the New York papers gave very good notices of the play, especially the
Tribune. This paper quoted from a letter from Dr. Alexander Wilder, as follows: "Dr.
Alexander Wilder, one of the best known Greek scholars in the country, speaking of the
performance on Wednesday, says of the performers - all amateurs: 'They acted their parts,
as a whole, exceedingly well, and I was much pleased to obtain some conception of how
a Greek tragedy looked. With all the shortcomings that may be attributed to the performers
and the modifications to conform to modern style, there remained the aroma of ancient
Athens.'"
Musical America of Nov. 19th gives a long notice with illustration of the play. It says:
"That the League is in deep earnest cannot be doubted by anyone who was at last
Tuesday's performance. The mere work of memorizing the lines of Miss Anna Swanwick's
translation must have called for mental exertion in which only the best of will could have
persevered to the very satisfactory result shown on the stage. Then there was complicated
business and intricate choric figure-dancing, and this too was brought to a perfection on
which the League is to be congratulated. And all this had to be done without the stimulus
of personal vanity, for not one name of all the players was printed on the program.
"[The foregoing is a point to which I would respectfully call the attention of
professionals who care for Art and Art alone.]
"So carefully had the play been rehearsed that, in spite of its archaic peculiarities,
and in spite of the inevitable lack of dramatic fire in the dozen young ladies who played the
Furies, it never once seemed to drag. Dialogue and choruses went smoothly from first to
last."
"It was a very interesting performance, and in some parts, very beautiful. The most
exoteric person, if only fair-minded, must recognize that the aim of the Isis League, to
utilize the ancient drama as an elevating and purifying influence in modern life, is a noble
one, and their efforts both disinterested and strenuous."
Several letters have also been received from prominent educationalists expressing
their appreciation of the performance and the educational value of the work of the League
which has indeed begun under good auspices.
---------

OBITUARY
It is with deep regret that we record the passing away of our comrade, Annie C.
Copeland, wife of our Brother Lucien B. Copeland, whom many met and greeted at the
Convention in Chicago. She was one of the devoted workers of the U. B. Lodge in Omaha,
and will be greatly missed by all the members there. We cannot but feel the deepest
sympathy with Bro. Copeland in his loss.
We have also received notice that Mrs. Cora G. Mix, a faithful member of U. B.
Lodge, No. 66, Sioux City, Iowa, passed away November 16, after a long and painful
illness, and we send our heart's sympathy to all those near her and her comrades in the
Lodge.
- J. H. Fussell

--------------------

AUM

"Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your
elbow. Be good for something, while you live, and it is in your power."
"The first duty taught in Theosophy, is to do one's duty unflinchingly by every duty." -
Gems from the East.

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIII January, 1899 No. 10
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A HAPPY NEW YEAR

ONCE more we enter upon a new year, and the Greetings of our hearts rise
spontaneously and go out to our loved ones and comrades throughout the world, to all the
people of the earth, and to all creatures. We look back through twenty-three years and we
see that lion-hearted pioneer H. P. Blavatsky standing alone, proclaiming her message to
the world. Then a few gather around her and among them is our beloved Chief, William
Q. Judge. A little later, H. P. B. leaves America for Europe and India, and the picture
comes before us of W. Q. Judge meeting in New York, night after night, often alone,
sometimes with but one or two. We know now what he was doing. We can see now how
faithfully he tended the seed that has grown to a tree which is for the healing of the nations,
and how he watched the spark that is now bursting into flame, a beacon of Truth, Light and
Liberation for discouraged humanity.
 How small a beginning! How glorious the result even now! But could I show you the
picture of a few years hence you would say it is beyond belief. But it is not. The tide has
turned. The sorrow and suffering which have oppressed Humanity for ages are nearing
their end, the day of hope has already dawned, the new age and the new year of Universal
Brotherhood has begun.
How glorious then is the opportunity of all today, and how great the responsibility of
each one to help and not obstruct or hinder this work for humanity. Success cannot be
attained without effort. The evil in the world and in man 's own nature cannot be overcome
without a struggle. But is it not a glorious thing to fight on and still fight? Some, perhaps,
may fall, some have fallen in the struggle, but the victory is certain, and if all, when they are
sore-pressed, would but remember the words of H. P. B., they would take new courage and
new strength to go ever forward.
"Trials you must pass through or you will not be purified."
"Twenty failures are not irremediable if followed by as many undaunted struggles
upward! Is it not so that mountains are climbed?"
And can we not see already how glorious is the work that has been accomplished.
But two short years to the end of the Century and we shall see the Sun shining gloriously.
The battle is already won, the darkness is already fast disappearing before the light of day.
The work of H. P. B. and W. Q. J. has spread around the world and with each New Year
the note of Brotherhood resounds more clearly and the Happy New Year shall be realized.
What a Greeting the Chief would, and I know, does send to all. This UNIVER-

--- 528

SAL BROTHERHOOD Magazine is the outgrowth of The Path in which year after year he
sent out his Greetings to the members and once again that our new members and friends
may become as familiar with him as those of us who knew him personally and worked with
and loved him we send his portrait as a New Year's Greeting.

- Katherine A. Tingley
----------------

COMRADES: GREETING!
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, the keynote of the coming cycle! Let its melody be
diffused to the four points of the compass from the very depths of our hearts at this
important hour at the closing of the year 1898, that it may reach the hearts of other men
and women. The time is opportune and propitious, for the whole race has already been
touched by the virtue of compassion.
Our organization, firmly founded on this high ideal, has sent its tendrils from the
bosom of love and sympathy to discouraged humanity through its many channels of
dissemination of the sublime philosophy of solace and happiness.
This greatest movement for the redemption of all mankind has been led through the
initial stages of development with great success by the Master-hand of Wisdom; all
brethren in the work may now take heart and strength from the certainty that the possibility
of accomplishment is in sight. Signs are not wanting that the truths of our ideals are
breaking through the strong crust of conventionality, and that the world has already been
brought nearer to the realization of it by the efforts of this organization. Love to all workers!

- E. Aug. Neresheimer
---------------

"Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow.
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

"Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind."

- Tennyson, In Memoriam.
--------------
--- 529

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE
- by Alexander Wilder, M. D.

III. EARLY MANHOOD.

GOETHE has pictured Faust as having first acquired the learning of the schools,
philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence and theology; then as going forth with Mephisto in
quest of excitement, to which comes a tragic ending. The shock of this paralyzes him for
a time from further endeavor. In the Second Book of the drama, he again rises up with
strong resolve to begin an active career in the busy world.
Somewhat in analogy with this is the history of every one who leaves adolescence
behind and attempts without the discipline of experience, to find a place and engage in the
future work of life. Too often, however, it is more the varied wanderings of a Jung-Stilling,
requiring the vicissitudes of years of preparation.
Lamartine desired to enter upon a military life, but it was repugnant to the wishes of
his family that he should take service, either in the army of Bonaparte, or of any country
that might he opposed to France. His father retained his royalist sentiments with
characteristic stubbornness, and his older uncle, the recognized head of the family, though
a former friend of Mirabeau, had refused the office of Senator when offered to him by the
Emperor. Young Lamartine was thus handicapped and forced to idleness.
He spent some winters in Paris, and mingled with the gaieties and dissipations which
young men encountered at the metropolis. The result was self-abasement. He incurred
debts at the gaming table, which his limited allowance though eked out by secret
contributions from his mother, were insufficient to meet; and he formed acquaintances that
were a serious drawback to him in later years.
Perhaps he, like Runyan, depicted himself in darker colors than there was really
occasion. "There was not," says he, "air enough in the sky, fire enough in the sun, or
space enough on the earth for the want of breath, excitement and burning that consumed
me. I was a living fever; I had the delirium and inquietude of it in every part. The sober
habits of my years of study, and the tranquil piety of my mother and our teachers, have
been put far away from me. My friendships were as unworthy as my feelings. I had
become intimate with the most giddy and turbulent young men of my country and period."
Nevertheless while he was going forward so readily in disorderly ways he was
actually repelled by them. Indeed, he was only imitating others, and not really following his
own natural disposition. When he came to be alone, the solitude purified him.
In 1813 he again visited Italy. His first opportunity for activity now came. Paris
having surrendered and Napoleon having abdicated, the Allied Powers of Europe placed
Louis XVIII. on the throne of France. This prince had always been liberal in his views, and
he now proclaimed a constitutional government. This conciliated all parties, royalists and
republicans alike, Lamartine was enrolled in the Royal Guard, and was of the force that
marched against Bonaparte upon his return from Elba.
The statement has been generally accepted and believed that the reception of the
Emperor on this occasion was of the nature of a triumph. Lamartine declares

--- 530

that this was unqualifiedly untrue. The enthusiasm, he affirms, was confined entirely to the
soldiers and to the dregs of the population. France, itself, the real France, had become
utterly weary of this fighting for the aggrandizement of this one man. It had welcomed
Louis XVIII., but not as the king of a counterrevolution. It did not contemplate any going
back to former conditions. The king was received as the king of the Liberal Constitution.
"All the movement of the Revolution of 1789 which had been interrupted was
commenced anew by us after the fall of the Imperial Government. The entire France, - the
France that thought and not the France that clamored - was perfectly conscious that the
return of Bonaparte meant the return of the military regime and tyranny. Of this it stood in
dread. The Twentieth of March [1815] was a conspiracy of the army and not a movement
of the nation. If there had mot been an army organized in France that was ready to fly
under the eagles of its Emperor, the Emperor would never have reached Paris."
Nevertheless Lamartine was confounded by what took place. In the brief space of
eight days apart, he saw one France ready to rise up in mass against Bonaparte, and then
another France prostrate at his feet. From that day he despaired of the omnipotence of
opinion and believed even more than he ought in the power of bayonets.
Louis XVIII., the Count d'Artois and son, with Marshal Marmont and the royal forces
left Paris the night before Bonaparte made his entry. As they passed the cities on their
retreat, the citizens brought them food, execrating the "Pretorians" who had overturned the
institutions and peace of the country. Royalists and Republicans alike participated in this
denunciation of the treason of the army.
At Arras the king left the troops and went on by himself to Belgium. The Count
d'Artois and Marshal Marmont, the commander of the forces, followed soon afterward, after
having issued a proclamation absolving the men from their oath. Thus abandoned, the
question arose, what was next to be done. After a desultory discussion, a musketeer
declared that the true and safe course was to leave France and take service abroad.
Lamartine opposed this proposition. Though but twenty-four years of age, he had
won the respect of his comrades. Stepping on the wheel of a wagon he addressed them.
It was his first attempt to speak in public. He referred to the significant fact that his family
had been loyal to the monarchy, but had not emigrated during the Revolution. He had been
nurtured in such sentiments. Louis XVIII. had now given France a representative
government. The cause of Republican Liberty and the cause of the Bourbons had thus
become united. If now the two parties should continue to act together, the reign of
Bonaparte would be short and his fall complete. But if the royalists should now emigrate,
they would, by so doing abandon the Republicans to the army. The blood of the
Republicans would smother all resistance to the Empire. The duty, therefore, of those now
present, both to their country and to their families, forbade that they should follow the king
out of the French territory.
Most of the men voted to remain; a few rode away. Being now without officers, a
temporary organization was effected, posts established around Bethune and a patrol
provided. Four days later a capitulation took place, by which they were permitted to go to
their families, but excluded from Paris.
Lamartine, however, put on the dress of a citizen and went in a cabriolet to Paris.
A few days later he was present at a review of the troops.
The Emperor, he observed, exhibited none of that ideal of intellectual beauty

--- 531

and innate royalty, which writers had so often depicted. He seemed to be conscious that
the ground was not solid under his feet. His movements indicated distrust and hesitation.
As the troops defiled before him they cheered with "a concentrated accent of
hopelessness."
Lamartine went home with renewed confidence.
The Imperial conscription filled the Chevalier, his father, with dismay. Lamartine
declared to him that he would in no case enter the ranks himself or procure a substitute.
He would sooner be shot to death. Leaving home, he put on the dress of a peasant
laborer, and eluding the videttes on the frontier, crossed into Switzerland.
For some weeks he was the guest of the Baron de Vincy, an emigrant nobleman
whose property had been confiscated. Himself almost without money and his entertainers
impoverished, he could not bring himself to burden them longer. Leaving them abruptly,
he made his way to Geneva. He was actually considering the project of applying to be a
tutor in a Russian family and traveling to the Crimea, Circassia and Persia, when the final
overthrow of Bonaparte called him back to France.
He became again a member of the military household of the king. Here he found
his oldest and most beloved of friends, the Count Aymon de Virieu. They had been in
college together, had traveled in Italy, their fathers had shared danger together in the Royal
Guard on the fatal Tenth of August. They were ever after as two brothers, one in thought,
one in soul, one in purse. They continued members of the Guard till it was disbanded.
Some years afterward Virieu made Lamartine acquainted with several persons of
distinction whose good offices indirectly facilitated Lamartine's entry into public life.
Virieu was boisterous, full of jest, and a skeptic in religion. He was through his
mother, descended from Montaigne, and he had inherited that author's disposition. He
quoted him incessantly.
 Lamartine, on the contrary, had inherited from his mother, a melancholic
temperament, quiet, serious and religious. He could not bear Montaigne's skepticism, nor
his salacious utterances. "Man is born to believe," he declared. "To believe in nothing is
the way to accomplish nothing, and impurity in speech is a soiling of the soul.''
He spent a summer with Virieu and his family in Dauphine. Their way of living was
a reflection of his boyhood life at home, and brought calm and repose to his mind.
Virieu afterward became serious like his mother and withdrawing from public life on
account of his health, died some years later. "In him," says Lamartine, "I lost the living
witness of the first half of my own life. I felt that death had torn out the dearest page of my
history, and that it was enshrouded with him."
Another fellow-student whom Lamartine repeatedly mentions, was the baron Louis
de Vignet, of Chambery, in Savoy. They were often competitors for the prizes. Vignet
gave up the profession of law and accepted a life of poverty for the sake of his mother and
sister. He had been a skeptic and scoffer in religion and repulsive in temper, but watching
with his dying mother, he became changed and was modest, pensive, gentle and
melancholy.
He had hesitated to renew his acquaintance with Lamartine during the latter's wild
career in Paris, but now, meeting accidentally, the two were drawn together at once.
Vignet greeted Lamartine more as a father than as a comrade, and they quickly formed a
compact of friendship. As if to seal it they went together to Charmettes to visit the house
where Rousseau had lived, and afterward went to Servolex together.

--- 532

Vignet was a nephew of the Counts de Maistre, two of whom were distinguished in
the political arena and world of letters. Lamartine was received by the elders as a son, and
the younger members of the family as a brother. He remained with them during the
summer. The wholesome influence took his mind away from the philosophy of the
guardhouse and the effeminate literature then current in France. It was indeed an
important epoch in his history. Time, death, difference of country and opinion afterward
separated them, but he always vividly remembered that summer at the house of Colonel
de Maistre and Louis de Vignet.
A diversion of the household consisted of recitations of verse. Vignet had collected
a large number of effusions which were current among the Savoyards. Lamartine also
ventured to recite his own verses before Colonel de Maistre and his daughters. The old
man admired his pure French diction and predicted to his nephew that Lamartine would
become distinguished.
Another summer found Lamartine at home in Milly. The family had gone away; the
father and uncles to a hunting party in Burgundy, the mother on a journey, and the sisters
on visits to friends, or to the convent. He was left alone with no companionship but an old
servant-woman, his horse and his dog. The silence, the loneliness of the garden, and the
empty rooms reminded him of the tomb. It was in keeping with his state of mind. He felt
himself, or rather he desired to feel himself dead.
In this mood he again resumed familiar relations with the Abbe Dumont, his former
schoolmaster at Bussieres. The abbe had himself become the parish priest. There had
been a tragedy in his life before he gave up his place in the world to take orders. He was
the original of Jocelyn in Lamartine's little poem.
Lamartine rode daily to the parsonage. The two discoursed on topics more or less
abstruse, such as the state of man on the earth, the vanity of ambition, the religions,
philosophies and literature of different peoples, the esteem bestowed on one great man
over another, the superiority of certain authors to their rivals, the greatness of spirit in some
and littleness in others. To set forth their views they quoted authors of every age, like
Plato, Cicero, Seneca, Fenelon, Bossuet, Voltaire, Rousseau.
Poetry was more severely handled. Dumont appreciated only the sense of
language, and did not care for the musicalness of what was uttered. They both agreed that
in the study of rhythm and the mechanic consonance of rhyme there was a puerile attempt
to associate a sensual delight of sound to some grand thought or manly sentiment.
Versifying pertains to the speech of a people's infancy, prose to that of its maturity.
Lamartine conceived that poetry does not consist in the mere sensuousness of
verse, but in the ideas, the sentiment, the image. "To change an utterance into music does
not perfect it, but materializes it. The simple sentence justly and forcibly expressing the
pure thought or naked sentiment without a dream as to the sound or form of phrase, is the
genuine style, the expression, the WORD."
These conversations naturally drifted to the supreme questions of the time - to
politics, philosophy and religion. Dumont was that contradictory character, found so often
in many countries - a royalist although a democrat, and opposed to the Revolution,
although he detested the ancient regime and actually accepted the very aims and
doctrines which the Revolution contemplated. Both he and Lamartine had been "fed with
the marrow of Greek and Roman literature." They adored Liberty as a well-sounding term
before they came to consider it as a holy thing and as the moral quality in every free man.
Dumont was philosophic, like the century in which he was born. In his house

--- 533

there was no token to show that he was a priest - neither breviary, nor crucifix, nor image
of a saint, nor priestly garment. All these he relegated to the sacristy. He considered the
mystic rites of Christianity which he performed as belonging to the routine of his profession,
to be little else than a ritual of no importance, a code of morals illustrated by symbolic
dogmas and traditional practices, that did not encroach on his mental independence and
reason. He spoke of God to an infantile people, using the dialect of the sanctuary. But
when he returned home he discoursed in the language of Plato, Cicero and Rousseau. His
mind was incredulous, but his soul, softened by his sad fortune, was religious. His great
goodness of heart enabled him to give to this vague piety the form and reality of a precise
faith. He constrained his intelligence to bow under the yoke of Catholicism and the dogmas
of religion. He read and admired the writings of Chateaubriand and others of the time, but
he was not convinced; he did not believe what they taught.
Lamartine, on the other hand, was influenced by the religion of his infancy. Piety
always came back to him when he was alone; it made him better, as though the thought
of man when he is isolated from others was his best counselor. It was not so much a
matter of conviction, as a wish that it should be true. The poetry and affectionateness of
religion swayed his will. He could contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation as filling, or
at least bridging over, the unmeasurable space between humanity and God. If he did not
quite admit this as actual fact, he revered it as a wonderful poem of the soul. He
embellished it with the charms of his imagination, he embalmed it with his desires, he
colored it with the tints of his thought and enthusiasm; in short, - he subordinated his
rebellious reason to this earnest desire to believe, so that he might be able to love and
pray. He put away from him, as by force, every shadow of doubt and repugnance, and
almost succeeded in producing the illusions for which he was so eager, and in conforming
the habit of his soul to the current sentiment of the epoch. If he did not really worship his
mother's God as his own God, he at least carried him in his heart as an idol.
The cordial relations of the two friends were maintained for years. The priest
continued to minister in his little church and gave much assistance to the mother of
Lamartine in her charities. Above his grave in the cemetery is a stone with a brief epitaph,
and beneath it the words: "Alphonse de Lamartine a son ami."
The mental depression under which Lamartine labored, seriously affected his health.
The family physician was alarmed. Plainly enough it was from causes outside of the
province of medicine and so instead of prescribing medicines he ordered the young man
to go to Aix in Savoy, to the hot sulphur springs. He borrowed money from a friend of the
family and went. Vignet procured a room for him, and paid him several visits during his
sojourn. It was early Autumn. October had just begun, and the leaves on the trees had put
on their colors. The bathing season was over, and the usual guests had gone away,
leaving the place solitary.
There was another patient in the house. This was a lady from Paris. She was in a
decline and had been at Aix several months. Lamartine, however, had no inclination to see
her.
An accident on the lake brought them together in which he rescued her from
imminent peril of life. The acquaintance thus begun became at once an ardent attachment.
Lamartine describes it as "repose of the heart, after having met with the long-sought and
till then unfound object of its restless adoration; the long-desired idol of that vague, unquiet
adoration of supreme beauty which agitates the soul till the divinity has been discovered."

--- 534

This lady, the "Julie" of his story, was the wife of an old man, a friend of the Emperor
Napoleon. He had first seen her at the convent where she was receiving her education.
She was a native of the island where the Virginia of the romance was said to have been
born, and had been brought to France. She was without friends to protect her or the
necessary dowry to attract proposals of marriage. The old gentleman in pity for her
friendless condition, had married her, receiving her as a daughter and not as a wife. Her
health had given way, and he sent her to Aix in hope that the mountain air and bathing
might restore her.
She had no liking for gallantry. Yet she did not affect prudery or reserve. She
declared her understanding of their peculiar relations in terms the most forceful: "Eternity
in one instant and the Infinite in one sensation." Then she said further: "I do not know
whether this is what is called love; nor do I wish to know; but it is the most supreme and
entire happiness that the soul of one created being can draw from the soul, eyes and voice
of another being like herself - a being who, till now, was wanting to her happiness, and
whose existence she completes."
 She had lived among philosophers of the French school, and did not have views like
those of the women of Europe who bowed before another criterion than their conscience.
"I believe,'' said she, "in the God who has engraved his symbol in Nature, his law in our
hearts, his morality in our reason. Reason, feeling and conscience are the only revelation
in which I believe." She then asked that this their mutual affection should remain "like a
pure thought " and so be in no way blended with any other relations.
In this way six weeks passed by. They adhered strictly to their line of action, yet she
fretted jealously at the thought that Lamartine would love another after her death, and even
attempted suicide; but presently yielded the point, and even predicted that he would yet
find another like and as dear as herself.
Winter drew near and they left Savoy for their respective homes. Unknown to her,
Lamartine followed her traveling coach to Paris, and then went to Milly where Vignet was
awaiting him.
He remained at home till January. He had exhausted his allowance of money. His
mother observed his restlessness and attributed it to want of diversion. She presented him
with a diamond, the last jewel which she had retained from her young girlhood, and bade
him go to Paris. "It is the last token of my love," said she, - "and I stake it in the lottery of
Providence."
This gift had a wholesome influence. He became thenceforth more prudent in the
expending of money, and never parted with the gem till his other resources were
exhausted. He no more affected to be engaged in study while actually spending his time
in dissipation. He directed his days to reading in history, science, political economy and
diplomacy. The Count de Virieu was in Paris and received him to share his modest
lodgings.
Nevertheless, his money though now carefully managed, was finally exhausted. He
was called upon by old creditors to pay the "debts of honor" that he had incurred in former
years. He had renewed his intimacy with Julie, and her husband gave him the warmest of
welcomes. Her health was failing fast, and he took frequent excursions with her about
Paris in the hope of benefit. At the end of the winter the alternative was presented to
support himself or go back to Milly,
When in college he had written verses which his friends there greatly admired. He
continued to do so at different times, and had brought a collection of them to Paris. He now
offered them to publishers but without success. He was obliged to submit. He made a
farewell excursion

--- 535

with Julie to St. Cloud, and left Paris the next morning.
That summer was for him more terrible than ever. He saw no hope of emerging
from poverty and obscurity. Crops failed that year and the resources of the family were
straitened to actual penury. His health suffered and serious results were apprehended.
He was again ordered to go to Aix. His mother procured the money for him by
surreptitiously selling trees that were growing on their little farm.
A note from Julie informed him that her husband was ill, but told him to go to Aix and
wait for her. When he arrived there, there came a package forwarded from Chambery
enclosing letters from Paris. One of these was from Julie* containing a lock of hair and
bidding him farewell. It had been herself and not her husband, that was ill and dying. She
had given up her former disbelief. "God will send you another sister," she wrote, "and she
will be the pious helpmate of your life. I will ask it of him."
A letter from the husband asked Lamartine to continue to him as a son. The shock
almost bereft him of reason. He wandered for months over the mountains of Savoy and
Switzerland, as he describes, "like a darkened soul that had lost the light of heaven and
had no mind for that of earth." His mother secretly procured money for him in the hope that
travel would alleviate his condition, the cause of which she did not imagine. Autumn was
passing, however, and she could no longer frame excuses for his absence. He must return
home.
As he was returning in the boat from Lyons, he contemplated the prospects before
him. He had chafed for an active life, and destiny was compelling him to fold his wings in
the nest from which he had been eager to escape. Now, in

------------
* In the Meditations, Lamartine names an Elvire who has been conjectured to have
been the same person.
------------

his exhaustion, he was willing to give up, hoping soon to die. "I was convinced," says he,
"that in those months of love, of delirium and of grief, my heart had exhausted all the
delights and bitternesses of a long life; that I had nothing more than for some months more
to bury the memory of Julie under the ashes of my heart; and that the angel whose steps
I had followed in thought into another life would soon call me to shorten my absence and
begin the eternal love. The feeling that this was sure, now gave me comfort and enabled
me to accept with patience the interval which I believed would be a short one between the
parting and the reunion."
When the boat arrived at Macon, Lamartine saw nobody at the landing to welcome
him. But as he picked up his valise he found himself suddenly embraced and almost
smothered by the caresses of a dog. It was Azor, the same that had so abruptly broken
up his Ossianic interview, seven years before, with Lucy, on the terrace. It was necessary
to give him a strap of the valise to hold to keep him from getting under the feet of other
travelers.
The Chevalier, his father, however, was only a little way off. He was watching with
an opera-glass to see whether the dog had found his son. He now conducted him home
by the most frequented streets, as if to show him to those whom he met. The dog had
already gone to announce him, and Lamartine found his mother and sisters at the door.
The house had been recently purchased for a winter residence. The mother had
besought this outlay for the sake of her five daughters, to be able to provide them with
tutors and governesses and to introduce them advantageously into society. The Chevalier
lost no time in showing his son the various rooms and conveniences and bringing him to
the apartment for himself.

--- 536

Lamartine had retired for the evening when his mother came into the room. She had
noted his profound depression and now silently caressed him.
"Who would have told me," said she, "that in twenty-two years I would see my child
blighted in the vigor of his soul and heart, and his countenance enshrouded in a secret
grief?"
Then, forbearing to enquire further, she explained the embarrassed condition of the
family. Their property, always small, had been greatly reduced by the expenses of his
education, travels, and wayward adventures. "I do not mention this to reproach you," said
she; "you know that if my tears could have been changed into gold for you, I would have
put it into your hands."
The purchase of the house, the saving of money to furnish dowries for his sisters,
and bad harvests had narrowed their circumstances. His father had worried at the thought
of leaving his children without a patrimony; and though he had taken great delight in them
in their tender years, he reproached himself now for their existence.
What she could do to help, she had done. In their various exigencies she had been
generously helped by Madame Paradis, their neighbor. This lady had done this from
affection, only stipulating that their father should not know. She had furnished the money
for Lamartine's expenses.
"I had hoped," she continued, that your father's family would perceive the craving
for activity which is wasting your youth, and be prompted to the outlay necessary to enable
you to enter and go through with the preparatory course for an administrative or diplomatic
career. I have reasoned with them, prayed, conjured, wept, humbled myself before them
as it is glorious and agreeable for a mother to humiliate herself for her son. It is in vain.''
As he was to be the heir to their estates, they saw no necessity for him to desire or
be ambitious for an active career beyond their sphere of life. Hence her pleading had only
brought harsh words and unkind feeling toward herself without doing him any service.
If Providence had granted her wish she would have made use of every opportunity
to open for him a larger horizon, and a career worthy of him. But he must wait. She also
asked him to make her his only confidant. A complaint to his father would drive him to
despair, because he could not help. "Accept this obscure and unoccupied life for a few
years," she pleaded. "I will pray God to move the hearts of your uncles and aunts, and to
open for my son that field of activity, extent, glory and happy fortune, which he has
permitted a mother to desire for such a son as you."
To such an appeal Lamartine could only acquiesce. The life upon which he thus
entered has had many counterparts. The older uncle gave law to the whole family as its
recognized head. He and his nephew had many angry encounters. The mother would
endeavor anxiously to reconcile them. The Chevalier, bearing in mind the interest of all his
children, remained neutral.
The uncle, regarding Alphonse as his prospective successor, desired him to remain
quietly at home, cultivate science, apply himself to agriculture and domestic economy, and
in time become the head of a family in the province. Lamartine acknowledged that such
a career would have been the most natural and happy. "But," he adds, "everyone when
coming into the world has his allotment marked out in his nature. This career was not for
me, and my uncle had not been able to read the fact in my eyes."
His life at Macon that winter was as monotonous as that of monks in a cloister. He
spent the forenoons in his room with his books and dog. Dinner was at noon; and after
that all assembled at the mansion of the uncle. This was a
--- 537

season to be dreaded. His mother was then subjected to reproaches and remonstrances
from every one for every trifling fault of her children. The aunts seemed to regard them as
their own, and actually loved their brother's wife; but they desired to exercise the rights of
motherhood without the burdens. Sometimes she would repel their attacks, but oftener she
only wept. Then would follow explanations, excuses and caresses; and so it would go,
only to be resumed the next day.
She was a woman superior to them all, high-spirited and dignified; but the future
interest of her children depended on their good-will, and for this reason she was
submissive. "We called this the Hour of Martyrdom," says Lamartine, "and we sought to
make it up to her by redoubling our tenderness after we came out."
In the afternoon, she helped the tutors with her daughters, or herself received
visitors. Her house and discourse were to her neighbors an attraction far exceeding that
of the majestic austerity at the great house, the Hotel de Lamartine. The Chevalier would
go out to visit some former comrade, or one of the older inhabitants, when they would
amuse themselves with playing at checkers, backgammon or "Boston."
Lamartine himself would repair to his room, or walk out with his dog in the paths that
intersected the fields behind the Alms House. There were grand views in the distance, but
he only gazed on the Alps as the prisoner looks on the wall beyond which he has tasted
of sunshine, love and freedom.
He also visited a comrade of his father's at the place. The man was unable to use
his limbs, and kept himself cheerful by working as a jeweler and repairer of watches.
Lamartine helped him and became daily a welcome visitor.
The leading families of Macon cultivated social relations, and there was a drawing-
room party somewhere every night. Lamartine accompanied his mother and sisters, but
made his escape before diversions began.
At his uncle's, however, it was different. The visitors included the most eminent men
of the district, diplomats, scholars and others of distinction. Ten of these, with his uncle,
organized the Academy of Macon. It held meetings in the library which were usually
attended by thirty or forty members. Papers were presented on subjects of importance,
social, industrial or scientific.
Lamartine was admitted to membership despite his youth at the proposition of his
uncle. He delivered his first discourse upon the Advantages Derived from Interchange of
Ideas between Peoples by Means of Literature. Years after he burned this paper in disgust
at its commonplace character.
One of the most interesting members of this Academy, M. de Larnaud, he describes
as "a Universal Dictionary in a human form, all the ashes of the Alexandrian Library
contained in the skull of a living man." M. de Larnaud, he declares, "knew everything and
impassioned everything." He had engaged in the Revolution in 1789 with the ardor of a
delirium, but after the massacre of the Tenth of August, he turned his sympathies to the
victims. He was intimate with the Girondins, - above all with Madame Roland and
Vergniaud and he accepted heartily their doctrine of a free Republic which should be wise
and pure. He did not mourn their fate on the scaffold which was their pedestal for history,
but he mourned that vote which they gave "for the death of the king to save the people."
Although a nation is often saved by a martyrdom, he knew that it is never saved by a crime.
 M. de Larnaud had no less enthusiasm for poetry and literature than for politics. He
was a comrade of Rouget de Lisle, the author of the Marsellaise

--- 538

Hymn; he had taken part at sittings of the Academies; he was a member of all the
Cercles; he followed all the Courts, visited all the Salons, attended all the theatres,
absorbing all that was knowable, all that pertained to the two orders of things. He
remembered everything and would tell it with a manner and gesture that made the hearer
understand and behold it all. Everything - antiquity, past history and present - was to be
learned from him.
He was quick to perceive the bent of Lamartine. He visited the young man in his
chamber and discoursed familiarly with him, as though both were of the same age and
plane of intelligence. He did not venture, however, to speak with like freedom in the
drawing-room in presence of the uncle, the pious aunts, and the various classes of visitors.
But in young Lamartine's chamber he would display his old-time enthusiasm for the great
men and great achievements at the beginning of the Revolution before the period of the
ascendancy of the populace, the Commune of Paris, and the Terror. The philosopher was
again manifest in him under the simulacrum of the man of the world, and he denounced the
Imperial regime of Bonaparte with fierceness.
From him Lamartine derived the conception of the scenes, the men and characters
which he set forth so admirably in the History of the Girondists. His friendship remained
constant till his death.
One day as Lamartine was walking in the street his dog made the acquaintance of
another dog belonging to a physician of the place. The owner was M. de Ronot, who had
been a fellow-student at College. Warm friendship now sprang up between them.
Lamartine pays him this tribute: "I was often absent from the land of my birth, especially
after death had blighted all the roots of my family; but I knew that there was one who
watched for my return, who followed with his eye my adverse fortunes, who fought against
the envies, hatreds and calumnies that groveled on the soil of our homestead - alas, about
our gravestones, and who received with delight everything in my life that was good fortune,
and with grief everything that was sad."
He died many years afterward with the name of Lamartine on his lips. It was at the
period when Lamartine was in deepest adversity, and abandoned by the many who in
brighter times had ardently professed their friendship.
When the time came in spring for the family to go back to Milly, the whole family
welcomed this modest abode as an asylum. The mother resumed the instructing of her
daughters, and her visits to the sick and poor. Lamartine often went with her. He always
found living in a city to be intolerable, but he brought his melancholy with him. He renewed
his intimacy with the Abbe Dumont at the garden of the parsonage, and gradually
recovered health and spirits.
Translations of Byron's poems appeared that season in French journals. Lamartine
was prompted to endeavors of similar character. That autumn he wrote several of his
Meditations, and read portions of them to his father. The old Chevalier, who knew nothing
of the new school of poetry, was deeply affected, but feared to utter praise, lest it should
be from parental partiality.
 The second winter at the new house in Macon was passed like the first. Lamartine
had no liking for the social entertainments. When Lent came, he left home and spent the
spring and summer with his other uncle, the Abbe Lamartine, at D'Urcy in Upper Burgundy.
This uncle had been compelled, by the accident of having been a second son, to
take priest's orders. Thus interdicted from having a family of his own he bestowed his
affection richly upon his younger brother and children. He con-

--- 539

sidered them as his own, and Lamartine was recognized as his heir. They spent the
summer and autumn in their younger years, at his patriarchal mansion, and he took an
actual part in their education. It was here that Lamartine acquired his passion for life in the
country.
The abbe had spent his noviciate at Paris, and mingled in society in the time of Louis
XV. He was a man of the world rather than of the Church. Relinquishing the priestly
functions at the Revolution, he now lived by himself on his share of the paternal estate, a
Homeric life, hermit-like, as a philosopher and cultivator of the soil.
His housekeeper, herself formerly a nun, persuaded him to purchase dogs and a
horse for his nephew. Lamartine had always been beloved by all the domestics, and his
uncle, who was the most affectionate of men, treated him as a personal friend rather than
as a kinsman.
One afternoon in the latter part of July, he was riding back from a jaunt in the
neighboring forest when a letter-carrier delivered him a note from two Roman ladies at an
inn at Pont-de-Pany. His uncle, in whom humor was a prominent quality, demanded at
once to know the mystery.
"There must be no mystery with me," said he. "The heroes of a romance always
need a confidant, and I have known both parts in my time."
He continued his badinage, promising to be discreet as well as faithful; but
Lamartine, unable to endure it, protested that he could not form any new attachment.
"That linden-tree is older than you," the uncle replied. "I have cut it five times in
twenty years, and it has more sap and branches now than when I came here."
"Burn it at the root," Lamartine retorted in desperation, "and then see whether it will
spring up again."
It was an adventure of a new character. The two ladies, the princess Regina di ---
and her aunt, had been commended to his good offices by the Count Saluce de ---, a
Breton nobleman belonging to an emigrant family, then living at Rome. He had come
temporarily to France and took service in the Royal Guard, there forming an intimate
friendship with Lamartine. The princess was a maiden wife of sixteen who had been forced
against her will into a marriage ceremony with an elderly kinsman, and had fled with her
aunt to France. The count was her lover, and had been arrested as he was about to
accompany her. Lamartine had been apprised of all this before by letters from his friend,
and now complied faithfully with his wishes by finding the two fugitives a residence at
Noyon near Geneva. Meanwhile a suit was in progress for an annulment of the marriage.
Some days afterward a letter came from the count apprising Lamartine that this
would not take place. The princess was liable, therefore, to forfeit her property, and upon
her return to Italy, to be imprisoned in a convent. The prince, her husband, who was old
and infirm, had desired the marriage only for the purpose of assuring her estate to his heirs.
He now offered, if Count Saluce would not press the suit, that he would cast a veil over
what had passed, and let her live with her grandmother in future. This would spare her
reputation and social position. But Saluce must go far away.
He decided to comply with the conditions, and had already left Italy for Spain to join
his uncle's regiment and embark for the Philippine Islands.
Lamartine deplored the fatal necessity but felt himself obliged to approve the course
taken by his friend. Yet Regina had not been consulted, and perhaps she would have
chosen exile with him before freedom and fortune elsewhere. Certainly, the count had
constituted himself judge and sacrificing priest without consulting the victim, but the
sacrifice

--- 540

was commended by delicacy of sentiment, by honor, virtue, even by love itself.

When Lamartine met Regina she read all in his face. As she perused the letter she
was seized with fury. She denounced her lover as savage and cowardly, not worthy of the
least token of regard. Hurrying to her room, she threw his letters and keepsakes out of the
window and commanded her nurse to go and sink them in the lake; that thus six months
of love and delirium might be swallowed up. The nurse fully reciprocated the sentiments
of her mistress. She saw no merit in such generosity as Saluce had exhibited. A Roman
would have gone to every extreme, knowing love and nothing else.
Three days passed before the young princess made her appearance. She had
become more calm. She told Lamartine that she was now undeceived; what she had
thought she loved was a phantom that had vanished.
She was turning her regard upon him. His unflagging kindness and assiduity had
affected her. But susceptible as he might be, the memory of his own lost one, and his
friendship for Saluce, were intervening. Finally, however, upon learning that Lamartine
would be in Paris the coming winter, she declared her purpose to be there likewise.
Her uncles had come for her, and she returned with them to Rome. One of them
afterward accompanied her and her grandmother to Paris, and Lamartine met them there
the coming winter.
He had now resolved to try his fortune once more. It was declared by Charles
Fourier, that when God implanted a desire in a human soul it was his promise of its fruition.
Lamartine was now to realize its verity.

----------

"If you examine a man that has been well-disciplined and purified by philosophy, you
will find nothing that is unsound, false, or foul in him."
"The noble delight in the noble; the base do not; the bee goes to the lotus from the
wood; not so the frog, though living in the same lake."
- Gems from the East.

-----------
--- 541

POINT LOMA AND ITS LEGEND

by Frank A. Pierce

HOW describe its indescribable beauties: the broad expanse of ocean; land-locked
bay, with craft of war and commerce riding on its peaceful bosom; nestling city; sunlit,
fruitful valleys, cut by sparkling, snow-fed streams; majestic mountain range with snow-
capped peaks, like giant fingers heavenward pointing - all touched by soft and vitalizing
breezes - one vast Titanic picture, overwhelming self, while "Soul," in fitting raiment stands
visible, a God.
In retrospective thought, seated on its rock-ribbed, element-defying battlements, I
muse upon the Legend:
That here the wise ones of Lemuria - now ocean-covered - reared a stately edifice,
a temple dedicated to the Gods of Light, wherein they taught her worthy youth the simple
laws of life eternal:
That here the gods touched hands with men and gave to them rich stores of
knowledge and of wisdom in such measure as they could use unselfishly:
That here men living for the soul of things made earth a heaven, themselves gods,
conscious of their oneness with the Father (like their modern prototype, the fearless
Nazarene):
That from the temple-dome-crowned Point, standing like mystic virgin, old yet ever
young - never yielding to the dark waters' fond embrace when all to Westward sank in one
vast cataclysm - shone to all the world a quenchless, pure, white flame to light the way for
mariners on ocean's waters, and on the sea of thought, that all might see and live:
That once, when darkness filled the earth and men went blindly searching for the
light and found it not, then the great Teacher from the temple - filled with pity and
compassion - went forth to save the lost, - leaving the temple and its sacred light in care
of trusted ones, charged on their lives to keep and hold its precincts inviolate till her return;
their inspiration gone - careless and faithless to their sacred trust - the light went out and
they in darkness perished; the temple - refuge for the good and wise - was sacked and
leveled to the earth from sight of men:
But caverned underneath (the Legend runs) stand guarding genii, giants grim,
fairies, gnomes and sprites, to hold the portals closed by pitfalls, ocean tides, dire
calamities and death, 'gainst venturous ones and the faithless guardians lingering near the
whispering, moaning caverns by the sea - till their Queen returns to their release:
That in some coming age when men, grown weary, heartsick, hopeless, wandering
in the trackless waste, shall face again the rising Sun in search of ancient Wisdom and the
Truth, then the great Teacher will again appear in human guise, among her own -
welcomed by the wise-grown, faithful watchers, rejected and reviled by those who faithless
in the past have been - to rear upon the ruins of the old, a new and grander Temple,
dedicated to all that lives; and in its pure white marble dome to fix a light - symbolic of
regenerate man - whose penetrating rays shall reach to lowest depths to light the ceaseless
upward march of evolution to the Heaven on Earth - the Universal Brotherhood of Peace
and Good-Will, made perfect through the travail, agony and blood of man, redeemed from
SELF.
-------------
--- 542

EVOLUTION AND INVOLUTION

by H.A. Freeman

METAPHYSICALLY considered, evolution is Nature's process of unfolding and

bringing about her changes and developments. It goes on its way irresistibly and taken as
a whole moves in orderly routine. This is not always obvious, but the exceptions are only
apparently such. The fault lies in our lack of ability to observe all the facts and conditions.
If we could investigate fully we should find that all apparent hitches are balanced or offset
by an advance in some other direction and that there has been and can be no check or
disorder in the process of evolution.
Whatever deflects the course or changes the character of an evolution does not
necessarily hinder it, and if it seems to stop still that is only a question of the point of view.
The people of a race, or nation, or a community may deteriorate physically,
intellectually, or in their commercial activity, but that does not prove that their development
has come to an end. It only marks a cessation of progress along certain special lines. The
American Indians are practically extinct, and it may appear that their race evolution has
stopped. But that would be taking note of only one aspect of their condition. If we observe
that they have decreased in ferocity, diminished in numbers and sunk to the commonplace
grade of hard working farmers we must agree that their evolution does not proceed along
romantic lines as it did in the days of Fenimore Cooper. But the few that remain may be
more useful for the world's upbuilding than were all the savage hordes that ever started out
on the war path to exterminate each other.
Numbers are not essential to a healthy evolution. China with its starving myriads
is not a high example of progress.
The variations and fluctuations that make themselves visible in evolution are like
ripples. We should never notice them if we took a broader view.
Evolution does not go stiffly and solidly forward like a self-propelled wall of masonry.
It is more like the resistless ebb and flow of the incoming tide.
One ripple overwhelms or effaces another and a curling breaker leaps up from
behind them and sprays the shore far in advance of the main body of invading waters.
Evolution reaches out similarly, now advancing, now retreating in unconsidered
wavelets, always gaining, always effacing the old with the new, and inevitably dominating
the entire situation at last.
The ebb tide affords a symbol of Involution which lays bare the way for another era
of flood, so that every drop in the ocean taking its turn may ultimately rise to its highest
mark of attainment.
Involution is usually described as a sort of compensatory process, coordinate with
evolution, though not co-incident with it. It is regarded as a return swing of the pendulum
of evolution and is sometimes crudely illustrated by comparing the two to the corresponding
halves of a circle matched together so as to form a completed ring or hoop. But this
symbol though impressive is misleading, for involution matched with evolution can not bring
about any condition of finality.
If that were possible evolution would
--- 543

end in extinction - and extinction is unthinkable.

The pairing of the two processes does not complete a circle. One does not match
the other and neither can undo the other's work. If there could be a counter-action between
them, each would efface the results of the other, as soon as its hour of activity began.
For illustration one may consider the progress of a bud which in due course of
evolution unfolds into a rose fully expanded. That rose does not refold and become again
a bud.
And if it did, that would not be involution. It would be only retrogression. Involution
does not follow upon the heels of evolution to match its movements with opposing
influences. It doesn't interfere at all. If it did there would be no unfolding of Nature's plans,
for all her efforts would cancel each other.
Doubtless the two processes work towards the same result in obedience to a
systematic divine idea and purpose, and, not leading up to any finality, they form a cycle
rather than a circle and may be best pictured as a continuous spiral and not as a completed
hoop.
It would then be seen that involution and evolution succeed each other in rotation
as the night follows day and the day gives place to night. Each period of one followed by
the other forms a coil in the spiral. And the spiral is continuous, being itself only one coil
in a greater cycle which, in its turn, forms part of a still more extensive series of coils. And
thus they go on to infinity, for they can never reach a limit. And the processes of our
involution and evolution are only coils of a cycle that has gone on forever and they will
continue to form new coils to all eternity.
But the contemplation of the present coil in which we find ourselves involved is quite
confusing enough for it extends back farther than our comprehension can grasp and is still
very far from finished. It will never be complete until we have all reached our limit of
attainment, and that is yet a long way ahead of us.
It is obvious that these mighty processes lead to some ultimate object, and that they
could never have been started into operation without a reason.
The ultimate object is easily found. It is quite evidently progress. And the reason
seems by analogy to be similar to that which dominates every living thing in the Universe -
the desire to expand, to create, to perpetuate. This desire seems to have impelled that
incomprehensible Power which is back of all life and expression to make itself manifest.
A Breath of itself took the form of matter and in obedience to the immutable law of
compensation sought at once to return to its original exalted condition.
That descent into matter was Involution. The regeneration, the re-ascent to the
original purity is Evolution.
The creative Consciousness awoke to a desire for manifestation and produced from
its thought, substance. Then were set in motion the forces through whose operations
substance took on form and living organisms appeared.
The degradation of that Spiritual Essence into a condition of matter was Involution.
It was a degradation or descent because it was a change. No change could have exalted
it, so the altered condition was a descent. The process of regeneration, the work of
purification from the stain of material existence began at once and still goes on. And that
is evolution.
 When man began to assume domination over the other products of evolution and
became a reasoning, responsible creature, that was evidence that he is the medium
through which matter is to be uplifted to its former spiritual condition. In other words, it is
a certainty that matter reaches its highest development in man and that the next step be-

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yond the physical man is the divine man - the man of pure spirituality practically unsullied
by matter. All the processes of evolution lead to the supremacy of the physical man over
all other material development, and as he continues to advance he will inevitably reach a
condition so exalted as to be virtually divine while still living in the flesh. Such men exist
even today and have been known in all ages.
They are those who occasionally appear as Saviors and Messiahs. They are the
pioneer wavelets which spray the shore in advance of the incoming tide.
When man reaches that point of perfection that will free him from the material or
physical life forever, his evolution is complete and involution may begin again upon a new
world as it has done countless millions of times before and will continue to do to all eternity.
We cannot of course comprehend why the Divine Consciousness has arranged all
this stupendous machinery for the mere sake of becoming manifest. We cannot assume
that it is for any reason that we could understand even though it were revealed to us. But
we may wonder less perhaps when we consider that time and space are nothing in actual
fact, and the immensity of our universe and the tremendous stretches of time that paralyze
all thought of reckoning are but trifles not to be considered in contemplating the Infinite.
Our entire solar system doesn't make a speck in space and the age of the world
cannot be reckoned, for time has no value, no existence in the super-material world.
It is frequently urged by sceptics that to an all powerful consciousness it should be
easy to assume a personal character without employing the complicated process of
producing mankind and awaiting humanity's slow growth to a divine perfection. But when
it comes to preparing plans and specifications for a better and simpler method they have
never shown ability superior to the divine thought.
Leaving out the consideration of time and the immensity of the finite world, which are
of no importance to the Supreme Architect, the plan seems simple enough. There was a
divine desire for expression. The Supreme was alone and unmanifest. There was
consciousness but no knowledge, for there was nothing to know. The impulse to Be,
produced the world, every atom of which is part of the Creator that produced it. The world
is synthesized in man, for man holds in his physical body the essence of everything that
is in the world. There is nothing, mineral, vegetable, animal, solid, fluid or gaseous that has
not its place in man's organization. Man is pressing forward, evolving to a condition of
purity that shall make him perfect and divine, a God enriched with the knowledge gained
from numberless lives on earth. He becomes again a spark of the Supreme, but
individualized and omniscient. And thus is the divine purpose accomplished and the divine
impersonal self made divinely manifest.
Whether this be the true theory or not cannot be determined by any process of
reasoning. The Finite mind is unable to comprehend the Infinite. We cannot analyze the
act of the super-mundane power or find a reason that we can understand and prove by
mental progress.
 So therefore we can not trace involution even as we can evolution, for it is not of this
plane. Whatever we note that seems to us to be involution is only some variation of the
other. It has to do with our material progress while involution is a product of the impulse
of a consciousness beyond our comprehension.
We may then consider involution briefly as the descent of spirit into a material
condition and evolution as the refinement of matter into spirit. We may safely believe that
under this stupendous plan the present is not the first and

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will not be the last cycle, but that they stretch their never ending spirals in both directions
without limit. Whether or not there ever was a beginning to this endless coil of cycles of
involution and evolution is beyond our feeble comprehension.
Logic and reason are but the dull weapons of conquest over problems of the Finite,
and are entirely too crude to be used with confidence in giving battle to the mysteries of the
Infinite.
Only the intuitions can help us beyond the boundaries of the super-material world
and they tell us that there never was a beginning to the things which are and that there will
never be an end. This condition of Being, without ever a time of actual commencing, is
paradoxical and confusing to the mind and we cannot easily realize that although
apparently impossible it is true. But it is only one of many similar contradictions that attend
upon the Contemplation of Infinity.
We cannot even comprehend a beginning to the present cycle of our existence. The
birth of this world is lost in the misty obscurity of the infinite Past and is as hopelessly
beyond us as is the record of the countless myriads of similar creations which preceded it.
It is therefore of little value to attempt to fix an era from which to begin tracing the evolution
of man from the irresponsible, mindless monster that archaic teachings describe him to
have been before he assumed conscious domination over the other creatures of this world.
And it is equally vain to seek for information regarding the various changes through which
he arrived at even that primitive condition of being only a mass of inert semi-conscious
matter. Perhaps in this as in the other aspects of the transmigration of the Divine into the
Finite, there never was any beginning.
The Vedanta, which is that phase of Indian Philosophy that treats specially on this
subject, says that the world proceeded from an inscrutable principle, darkness, neither
existent nor non-existent and from "one that breathed without afflation, other than which
there was nothing, beyond it nothing."
According to the Vedanta there is but one substance or reality immutable and
eternal, the supreme spirit, the impersonal Self, the spiritual absolute atman - and that of
course is summed up in the idea of Deity.
Science, which professes to reject all theories that cannot be proven, suggests
tentatively that all of nature's innumerable products have evolved from the result of a
fortuitous combination of unconscious causes that produced a beginning.
But there should be something beyond mere accident in the movements of
nonintelligent forces. There must always be a first cause even for a beginning and that first
cause cannot be an accident.
That should be an uncomfortable theory for those who are scientific enough to
believe it, for they have no guarantee against other accidents of Nature. They can never
feel secure against some awkward occurrence that might counteract that initial
commingling of forces and restore this world to its original condition of nothingness.
We read of various vibrations that shiver into the production of light, color, heat,
sound, power, electricity and even the life principle, but these vibrations are not even said
to be self-produced. There has never been a theory satisfactory to the intuitions - which
are the most accurate of all our truth finders, except that of an universal, Conscious Self,
impersonal but all pervasive, that is the Cause, the Beginning and the ultimate Attainment
of everything.
The only theory that agrees with the intuitions without offending the reasoning
perceptions should offer the safest foundation upon which to build a philosophy. It is
therefore not remarkable that ages ago the sages of the Orient,

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men who were fitted by training and inherited faculties for metaphysical contemplation,
elaborated a philosophy based upon the belief in an impersonal First Cause that seeks
personality only through involving Spirit in matter and evolving back to Spirit. Tinted with
the results of that experience, Spirit, they believe, becomes self-conscious and
individualized by its contact with a life or lives of manifestation. Evidently it can never be
absolutely stainless again. It has exchanged entire purity for knowledge and self-
consciousness. Therefore, man, who is the highest attainment of this evolution, can never
be infinitely perfect, but can ever more and more approximate to perfection. He can never
again be absorbed and swallowed up and engulfed in absolute divinity. He will never
become entirely Divine in the sense of being re-absorbed into the unrecognizable All-
consciousness, for that would extinguish all the effects of his earth experiences and his
long pilgrimage would be a profitless waste of time and toil. He has become an
individualized conscious being, less than Deity, but by reason of his completed evolution
he is relatively a God to us.
He may therefore reach up to the Infinite even now, and can also extend a hand
down to Earth to help us on our upward climb. Innumerable divine men have been reborn
and have dwelt among us to teach us how to live. Even in comparatively modern times we
have a line of such whose example and teachings have helped forward our evolution and
made it easier for us.
From Zoroaster and Buddha and Jesus and others have come revelations that justify
the theory of man's perfectibility through evolution and as we can trace the growth of all
matter up to its culmination in humanity, the divine plan seems to stand revealed, and our
ultimate destiny is plainly outlined. The method of evolution, like everything else in Nature,
seems entirely a process of compensations. We gain and renounce; we take on higher
qualities and drop the meaner characteristics. We advance by such methods as we can
command as we go along. Higher ideals being reached, we look upward for still loftier
points of attainment.
In the prehistoric stages of our development, while pure physicality dominated us,
we asserted our supremacy by superior strength or speed. Further along a cunning
mentality gave us a wider range of power. Still later we have grown into wisdom, and as
we near the end we shall discard all the physical desires, the tastes and appetites, the
hopes and ambitions, the affections and passions that tie us to the earth life, and take on
instead the finer spiritual attributes that are inseparable from the higher planes of existence.
The severing of the earth desires marks the end of the process of evolution of spirit
from matter. What follows that we may infer from analogy. The process of unfolding
doubtless continues on planes of which we have no conception, but obviously need not
dread to encounter.
Of course we have moved slowly forward in our various stages of development from
whatever we were before we took on human qualities up to our present degree of
attainment. It is not hard to believe that we have developed superior understanding and
the other higher attributes of humanity only as our growing needs and opening
opportunities have called for them.
The evolution of species and the laws governing the development of physical organs
as they became necessary for the growth and preservation of the infinite variety of living
things have been a favorite study for materialistic scientists for the past century. More than
that, long ago the learned Jean Baptiste Lamarck formulated four propositions that are now
accepted as self-evident.
First. Life, by its proper forces, tends

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continually to increase the volume of every body possessing it, and to enlarge its parts up
to a limit which it brings about. This covers the phenomenon of growth to maturity.
Second. The production of a new organ in an animal body results from the
supervention of a new want continuing to make itself felt, and a new movement which this
want gives birth to and encourages.
This is shown in the long neck of the giraffe, which enables him to feed on the tender
top leaves of tall tropical plants, and in the camel's hump which supplies him with vigor
during long intervals without feeding, and the receptacle for water, which enables him to
traverse long stretches of barren and streamless lands.
Third. The development of organs and their force of action are constantly in ratio
to the employment of those organs.
The kangaroo, a large animal carrying its young for safety in a natural pouch, stands
erect and never uses its fore legs in walking. It leaps forward in prodigious bounds,
propelled by the muscular power of its tail, which has grown and developed beyond even
the hind legs in strength; while the fore legs have dwindled to insignificant size and
importance.
Fourth. All which has been laid down or changed in the organization of individuals
in the course of their life, is conserved by generation and transmitted to the new individuals
which proceed from those which have undergone these changes.
This is because evolution carries us constantly beyond certain needs and progress
does not let us go back to those needs, neither in our own persons nor in those of our
posterity. Man and beast alike have only and always such organs as they require and no
others. The laws of heredity are not whimsical or recalcitrant, and the changes brought
about by evolution are carried forward by them in strict obedience to its demands.
Recognizing this fact, but building from a false premise, the followers of Darwin search for
a link to connect humanity with the tailless apes of earlier periods, assuming that man was
developed from them, and that the ape is the link between mankind and the next lower
order of being. There is absolutely nothing in support of this theory beyond a resemblance
in the physical conformation. And that is far more likely to result from the ape being a
descendant of prehistoric man.
All these speculators stop short at any valuable foundation on which to build
theories. They see in evolution only the generation and development of living organisms
and the reason or cause of the infinite variety of form, color and habits.
Kant and Laplace theorized vaguely on the formation of the solar system from a
gaseous condition to its present character, but they shared the perplexity of all biological
thinkers when they endeavored to peer behind the mechanical beginning in search of a
First Cause. It is probable that even the mechanical beginning had never a first hour or day
or year or era. And so Science, bound and boxed up in materialism, observes the growth
and development of species and placidly stops at that, having began with a guess and
ended with - a bundle of axiomatic conclusions.
But the philosophy of the ancients, backed up by the teachings of the divine men
who from time to time have come back to us, and endorsed by our own inner convictions,
tells us that evolution is the concerted effort of all the atoms that comprise the Universe to
return to a condition not recognized by science - the condition of spirit which is the ultimate
aim of everything.
And every infinitesimal atom is alive and has a consciousness of its own. They
cluster together and form living organ-

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isms, developing and progressing in even pace with those organisms, flying off into space
as their work goes on and rushing together to build up some other organism. Had we ultra-
microscopic vision we could see them streaming from us continually and being replaced
by corresponding streams of new atoms. And each one of these has its own divine spark.
It is a living entity.
They abide with us according to our attraction, some shunning us, others preferring
us. Evil people attract such atoms as have just come from others of like disposition and
leave their impress upon them and gain nothing good from them. Every evil thought taints
every atom of the stream that we contact with at the time. They advance in their evolutions
no faster than does humanity and reach spirituality when we do and not sooner or later.
Man arrives finally at this condition clothed in the "spiritual body" of which theologians
speak without any idea or comprehension of its true nature.
All who would shun contact with the particles that emanate from vile people must live
the life that repels such atoms. Those who live a life of pure thought and fraternal
consideration draw towards them atoms of such quality as makes their personality pleasant
and attractive and their bearing gracious. No pure life builds up a vile personality. There
are other ways to recognize traits of character besides the mere facial expression. Even
scientists know that.
It is therefore evident that every one should shun evil thought just as he would any
other deadly and destructive infection. It rests with every man to carry forward with him on
his upward journey all the material that goes toward his own physical composition.
There is no one who has not attracted all grades of atoms to him, and it is well to
bear in mind that they are the very same that have formed the bodies of all the population
of the world, man and beast, since life first was. There has been no addition, no
diminution. Nothing in nature is ever destroyed. Nothing ever ceases to be. There is no
place to banish material. It must be spiritualized and we must be the medium.
And, therefore, it is no poetic fancy to say that we are of one common clay and that
humanity is all one. Every man, at every moment, is building and rebuilding himself of the
same materials, particle for particle as have built up every other man. Prince or pauper,
saint or demon, society flower or foul tramp, we are all of the very same dust and we can
determine which sort we shall use for our own bodies. It is not a question of proximity. It
is entirely one of sympathy and character and affinity. We evolve as fast as our thoughts
and conduct permit, and we purify our souls and our bodies alike and together.
If we recognize the brotherhood of humanity we need no reminding to see that it is
our duty to ourselves - to our personal selves as well as to our spiritual selves, to help to
make cleaner and sweeter the whole world through our own mental, moral and the resultant
spiritual cleanness. That will not hurry evolution much in each separate instance, but by
the contagion of sympathy and the dynamic power of thought these beneficent, physical
atoms can be attracted to us and we can carry about with us their gentle influence for good.
That is the secret of the curative influence of sweet-souled people upon those who
are sick in mind or body, and if people could understand these influences as they are and
value them justly we should soon see a happier world with less sorrow, less injustice, less
sickness and a far wider recognition of the material as well as spiritual truth that
brotherhood is an universal fact in Nature, and that our evolution can never be complete
until all realize it and live accordingly.

-------------
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THE CYCLE OF LIFE

by Mary Konopnitsky
Translated from the Polish by V. A. H.

PRELUDE
IN the new morn, that dawns above the world, I put aside the black and sombre
harp, that plays and sings so sadly. For, from the ocean's farthest shore, with the first
daybreak blushes, with the golden arrows of the sun, there comes on rosy wings, all radiant
with fiery auroras, a new song, a bird of the arriving spring.
In the new morn, that dawns above the world, I stretch the golden strings, I weave
them from the day-beams, I paint them with the iris dew. For through the mold of sorrows,
there breaks the music of mountain waterfalls; their vernal voice and chime now reach me
from every rock and rill, and a new flowery raiment is again woven for the earth.
In the new morn, that dawns above the world, I tie fresh golden cords of sound, - not
for the pain, not for the longing in the gloom, not for the old complaint of the lonely heart.
I send them into the blue infinitudes unrestrained, I launch them from globe to globe, into
the farthest space. From star to star there glistens of my strings the golden grate.

I.
 I am a ray. The fount of Light I cannot circumscribe. And yet I fly. Through the dark
nights I fly, through stars and pallid moons; I kindle ephemeral scintillations, I send out my
trembling light towards infinity's eternal flame, from which shines forth the sun of all the
suns. And now I darken, totter, pale; I lose my breath, my hope, I smoulder like a spark.
And lo! again I energize my rays, cast into endless skies; again I illumine myself and
burn; I reach forth, I fly in space as a fiery ribbon from the spindle of the spirit. Now my
tiny ray approaches the great sun; it is already burning with eternity's first blush. As an
arrow I sling myself into the bright path, illuminated by the rosy dawn. I am a ray - the fount
of Light I cannot circumscribe. Let me, then, be encompassed by its dome.

II.
I am a spark of eternity; and I am a pilgrim. Even today shall I pass away, after a
while, after an hour's stroke, together with the smoke of the shepherd's fire, which writhes
in blue strands over the forest in the eve, and disappears in the tears of dew before the
night. Even today shall I be divorced from that power, which holds me here from the
twilight to the twilight, and the sun shall not see me more with his golden eyes.
I am a spark of eternity. Beyond the cold ashes I shall exist even to the dawn, . . .
And then in my own embers shall I wax in brightness, glow as gold and burn as ruby; I
shall pass through the grayness of the dust of this my bed, and before the rosy dawn shall
have bathed herself in dew, before the sun shall have lifted his golden gaze from beyond
the sea, I shall strike into the flames of life.

III.
How many dawns, how many twilights have I passed? Do I know it myself?
Through how many gates of

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body and of soul have I entered into life, as an eternal voyager, who is born daily, now
here, now there, from the sleep of death, in the earliest morn.
And then, exhausted, I departed to the West, through the great twilight dusk, which,
all blazing with gold and red as blood, led me into the silent fields of blue, upon the dreamy
meadows of the moon, all heaving with the beating of the wings of Psyche-butterflies,
where I sought my sleep, and my head leaning on eternity's great bosom, I rested after a
life and before a life.

IV.
Myself - the gate, and myself - the path, once only in this cycle have I issued from
the Divine Light. Once only blew its breath for all bodies and souls, once only has it in the
morning of Day opened its bosom of luminous archetypal thought, - and all subsequent
myriads of forms, before and now, were sculptured by myself.
Lo! I emerge from the conflagration of blood; I come in the likeness of a child, I who
am a lion, crouching for the powers of the heavens and of the earth. And I depart into the
night, through the blood and through the pain, crouching as a shadow, for the dawn and
for the day. After a time, after a moment I increase in strength, I spring up in the dust. My
germ of existence now feels hunger of life; it attracts life's forces and lifts green blades
above the grave. The sun now warms it for a new day of its immortal labor.

V.
With no gift am I favored in my early hour. All my radiance have I spun myself
through many nights and shadows. And all my powers upon the earth and in the heavens
have I obtained from my own mystic depths. Every form I have, it is of ages' toil, it is an
effort of many births, a battle of many darkling deaths.
What light have I, by a promethean labor, through thousand lives, spark by spark
have I stolen it from the sun, spark by spark have I seized it from the blushes of the
morning. The rosy coral of the dawns, and lilies' whiteness have I plucked unseen in the
gardens of the night from the silvery stars. There is no color and no sound upon the
waving meadows, among the nests of eagles or of nightingales, which through the ages,
in ruins' coldness and scorching heat of life I have not worked out from a laughter to a
groan, - alive by my own self.

VI.
And my right is to upwards grow through all the worlds. And my right is to expand
my heart through all the worlds. In storms, in silence I burst the bars of death's prisons,
and strike the metal of the all-awakening bell!
Lightning of life, and thunderbolt of life I let into the dark camera of death, into the
house of dust. And touched by a spark of the spirit the dust explodes with life, the soil
opens, waving the flowers of new spring, and again breathes joyous in the splendor of the
day.

VII.
The soul-bird builds her cage herself, - with songs and flapping of her wings, - and
enters then its gates all fascinated with the life.
But soon the winged guest, from the infinity, newcomer, striking her prison's trellis-
wall, reddens her golden pinions with the ruby blood.
She hushes then in the dusky shadows of her house; a longing eats her heart away
for the freedom of the dawn.
Till overcome with pain she strikes her breast against the walls and breaks the cage
herself.
With songs and flapping of her wings, from the dusk, called life, she flies away near
to the gates of the eternal light.

VIII.
Upon the dark and stormy roads I walk, bare-footed, poor; I onward pass,

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naked and hungry, through life's cold and night; only one light can brighten there my way
and feed my strength, - the light of daring, burning in my breast; it helps me more than
stars and more than moons. No sun in heaven can kindle it in me, but I must get it from
myself, striking my spirit against the hard experiences of life, that the breast might catch
the spark as does dry tinder when the steel strikes the flint.
IX.
With me do I carry the enemy, whether leave my threshold, or return back to my
home.
With me do I bring the traitor, and he is my heart's shadow, - the thunderbolt striking
me.
With its storm it will scatter the roof of my dwelling, set fire to my house.
And then suddenly stopping, the sails of my boat will be folded, and down will it sink.

(To be continued)
---------------

GODS, HEROES AND MEN

by Amos J. Johnson

ACCORDING to Theosophy every man is a God incarnate. In his real nature, each
man is a spark from the Divine Flame, which descends from the Infinite Fountain of Life
and courses through Eternity on a pilgrimage, the purpose of which we can but faintly
conceive.
Great mystics have said that "the universe exists for the sake of the soul's
experience," and that the purpose of life is that the soul may reach perfection. The term
embraces infinity, perfect virtue, wisdom, power, perfect altruism. Each department of
Nature must be carried on to a full completeness and the soul may not rest content with
achieving merely its own perfection, but must labor for the perfection of the great Whole.
Reaching from the One White Light of Absolute Being down to the tiniest atom of
matter, each plane of existence is governed by Divine Intelligences. All one can say is that
after reaching to the highest conception possible to us of the Divine Intelligences that rise
above us and to the highest knowledge attainable of the Divine Worlds, still stretching far
beyond the highest, beyond the utmost reach of human thought, there exists: What? "An
omnipresent, eternal, boundless and immutable Principle, on which all speculation is
impossible, since it transcends the power of human conception and can only be dwarfed
by any human expression or similitude. It is beyond the reach and power of thought,
unthinkable and unspeakable.''
This is the postulate of sublime and everlasting Deity. As far as we may go in
endless Eternity, yet above and beyond all there reigneth absolute Law.
Recognizing then, that the great unknowable Deity is beyond our ken, our study
must be confined to the lesser Deities, though some of these seem unknowable; but we
may partially learn the relation they bear to men.
All the great religions present a series of divine Presences, and generally a triune
Godhead stands as the primal object of all adoration. The Hebrew Bible trace

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three Deities, the highest of these being the Most High God, supreme ruler over all, and
synonymous with Law; the second Deity is God, the Elohim, a great hierarchy, or rather
a series of hierarchies of Gods, who formed the earth and filled it with living creatures and
endowed man with his human nature; while the third in rank among the ancient Hebrews
was Jehovah, who stands as their tribal Deity. The distinction between the Most High God
and Jehovah is clearly shown in Deuteronomy (32: 8-9), where it says: "When the Most
High divided the nations, their inheritance, when He separated the Sons of Adam, He set
the bounds of the people.... The Lord's [Jehovah's] portion is his people, Jacob is the lot
of His inheritance."
The New Testament also gives a triple Godhead in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Among the Brahmins, Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Siva the Destroyer;
with the Greeks it was Uranos, Kronos and Zeus; and with the Egyptians, Osiris, Isis and
Horus. These were not necessarily the most powerful Gods in the Pantheon, but those
most popularly known. The Hindus, for instance, are said to call their chief Deity, Zyaus -
which bears a close resemblance to the Greek Zeus; and the Egyptians called their
Unknown God, Amen or Ammon. All religions tell also of lesser divinities, as archangels
and angels.
Theosophy, the Wisdom Religion, shows the three Logoi which have proceeded
from the Unknowable Principle; these Logoi are respectively the First Cause, the Spirit of
the Universe, and the Universal World-Soul. From the Manifested Logos, the Universal
Over-soul, spring hundreds of classes of divine beings, and these in their turn are the
progenitors of the lower classes of beings. From God down to the lowest mineral monad,
there is a direct chain of heredity, binding all of existence into one great universal whole.
Humanity is the child of the Gods and traces its heredity through all the divine hierarchies
to the Unknowable Root of all.
The traditions of all old nations tell of a Golden Age when Gods and Demigods lived
among men. Greek mythology gives the following account of the formation of the Earth
and heavens: "Before earth and sea and heaven were created, all things wore one aspect,
to which we give the name Chaos - a confused and shapeless mass, in which, however,
slumbered the seeds of things. Earth, sea and air were all mixed up together; so the earth
was not solid, the sea was not fluid, and the air was not transparent. God and Nature at
last interposed and put an end to this discord, separating earth from sea, and heaven from
both. Then one of the Gods gave His services in arranging the Earth. The air being
cleared, the stars began to appear, fishes took possession of the sea, birds of the air and
beasts of the land. But a nobler race was wanted, and Prometheus and his brother
Epimetheus made man in the image of the Gods. Then Prometheus went to heaven and
lit his torch at the chariot of the Sun, and brought down fire to man. He taught him to make
weapons to subdue the animals, tools to cultivate the ground, and introduced arts and
commerce."
The "fire" which Prometheus brought, refers not to a physical flame, but to "mind."
Prometheus stands for the hierarchy which endowed physical man with his mental faculties,
and it is related that when mankind was supplied with the ''divine fire" the Gods became
jealous of the new race, and in revenge they chained Prometheus to a rock where a vulture
feasted on his liver, which was renewed as fast as devoured. He thus stands forth as the
first Saviour of humanity, and his sufferings represent the first crucifixion.
Mythology is written in glyph and symbol, but if one stops to analyze these

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mystic tales, volumes may be found hidden beneath the outer husk. Perhaps it was not
revenge - but Law - which caused Prometheus to be chained to the rock. He assumed the
task of raising man to Godhood and incarnated in the animal form that the lower entity
might be better aided. Thus the rock to which he was chained becomes humanity itself,
and the vulture represents the desires and passions of the lower man.
Humanity has always had divine Teachers. Schools of Magi or Wise Ones were
established on the old Lemurian continent, and were open to all who were worthy. These
schools or temples were known to the public down to a period as late as 2000 years ago,
when they closed to the world at large. But the light has been kept burning in hidden
places even to the present day. The Great Lodge has maintained a continuous existence
ever since its establishment millions of years ago, and it is from this Lodge that all the great
Teachers of the world have come - Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and all others. A recent
Messenger from the Lodge was H. P. Blavatsky, who founded the Theosophical Society
and Universal Brotherhood. Through this channel the archaic teachings are again being
presented to the world at large. All who desire to learn the mysteries of life, all who desire
to advance along the Path which leads from manhood to Godhood are welcome to the
archaic wisdom.
If the applicant for divine knowledge will purify his nature and be brotherly to his
neighbor, then he may gain the greatest profit by a study of Theosophy, for then its
teachings will be illuminated by a greater light than intellect itself can ever shed. The true
men of today are those who are able to subdue their lower nature and make it obedient to
the behests of the spiritual man. It is a heavy task, but in the end will lead to a higher life.
The course of training at first is very simple, being concerned with the commonest
of daily duties. If one is irritable, quick-tempered, censorious, lazy, selfish or unjust, his first
steps upon the Path will consist in correcting these faults. One must make a persistent
struggle to become industrious, self-controlled and sweet tempered, and not until these
qualities are developed need one be anxious for anything beyond. If one fails in some
respects or in all respects he need not be discouraged, but should try again, and keep on
trying until he does succeed.
The evolution from man to Hero or Seer, and from Seer to Perfection can not take
place in a single life, for one life is not sufficient to furnish either time or environment for the
many lines of development that are required. Before the man can become one of the
company of the great Helpers of Humanity, he must be purged of every weakness and
defilement. He does not need Their learning, but he must have Their purity.

--------------

"What good is soap to a negro, and advice to a fool?"

"Do not make a wicked man thy companion, nor act on the advice of a fool." - Gems
from the East.

----------------
--- 554
THE PHILOSOPHY OF SUICIDE
by T. B. Wilson

THERE is a very much deeper meaning than some people suppose, to what Paul
said to the Romans, "None liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself." In inflicting a
wound upon himself, the suicide wounds all there is, and his death shocks every living
thing. That is so because of the oneness, the solidarity, the interdependence of all that is.
Hence it is that the atom is as necessary to the universe as a world. It is a very old
philosophy, but it is a demonstrable cosmological and psychological fact, for we know that
man necessarily lives and moves and has his being under the same law of growth and
maintenance that supports and sustains every other entity, even from the atom subdivided
into a million parts away to the mightiest god. It is just as incumbent upon the boulder that
it fulfill its destiny as it is that man should fulfill his. Hence, it is a violation of the law of
being to purposely or unnecessarily retard the unfoldment of one's self or any other thing.
The wrong done to the thing hindered reflects back upon the doer in force, in addition to
the injury done to that which was wronged.
The divinity which shapes the course of a man's journey through the worlds of
existence is his own thoughts and acts, and, furthermore, every thought and act exerts an
influence for good or for evil everywhere. It is true, altogether true, that every man is more
or less his brother's keeper, and that no one can escape the consequences of his acts and
thoughts upon his own life, nor of the influence they exert upon the lives of others. The
interdependence of all things and the universality of being is seen in all things. This is a
principle of existence which to know the full meaning of, one must know one's self.
Existence as a personality and individuality, with power to reason and understand,
is at once the most sublime and most fearful stage of unfoldment. It is sublime when
considered as evidence of individual possibilities, and fearful when, in the presence of God
in manifestation, the responsibility which the realization of the universality of being and the
interdependence of all things imposed upon the individual is felt. The law of being makes
a relationship to exist between individuals as a whole which transcends the ties of
consanguinity. You may call it universal brotherhood, if you like, but any way, the
relationship imposes tasks of toil and burdens of duty upon everyone, and to wilfully make
the burden of duty or the task of toil harder for one's self or for another is to defy the power
of the universe and invite the wrath of the source and maintainer of being.
But somehow or some way the average man and woman finds in the so-called
philosophy of suicide a most bewitching theme for conversation and discussion, and it is
just possible that not a few are persuaded to try the realities of it by letting their minds dwell
upon the subject too much. That there is a certain fascination in the problem of life and
death, no one will deny, but the thoughtful person would not seek its solution in self-
destruction. The better a man understands the law of his being the clearer he sees that in
ratio to his obedience to the laws of nature is he in harmonious relation with all things, and
that when in such harmony, existence in the body is altogether desirable, whether he be

--- 555

sick or well, rich or poor.

But what constitutes suicide or self-murder? We are accustomed to call that an act
of suicide which hurls one into death at once, when death follows the act instantly. Now,
as a matter of fact, we all are almost sure to occupy a suicide's grave. There is a difference
between the man who burns out his stomach in twenty seconds with prussic acid and the
man who burns out his stomach in twenty years with whisky, but can you tell me just what
the difference is? That thought might be carried into the conduct of our life throughout.
The natural end of a man's pilgrimage in each incarnation is when the spiritual man has so
spiritualized his physical body that the spirit can no longer function in it. [sic]
Death, then, is surely the spirit walking out of the body by its own free will, just as
we lay aside a garment when it is worn out. All other deaths come of violation of nature'
s laws, and they are premature. It is because we indirectly, at least, commit what is almost
the equivalent of what we are wont to call suicide that, in my opinion, we have to come
back so often. It is impossible for disease and death, as we understand and feel them, to
lay hold upon one who lives in harmony with nature's laws. So as a matter of fact,
practically all deaths are the penalty for wrong living. We come back time and again
because we need certain other experiences, but the purpose of experience is to teach us
to live right, and the reason why we need new experiences is because we have not
hitherto, or are not now, living in harmony with nature's laws. Karma makes us go to school
until we have mastered the lesson. It is for us to say how many lives we will devote to it,
but every moment we turn away from the lesson we drink down poison which kills.
To seek death by one's own hand is not a new method to overcome the ills that
relentlessly chase their victims through briar patch and over flint hill.
It is a right that has been claimed by very many in all ages, and some of the world
's most distinguished personages committed self-murder to escape impending trouble. The
crime - for it is a crime - has been defended by such famous writers as Gibbon, Hume, Von
Hartman and Schopenhauer. Strangely enough, as civilization advances and universities
multiply, the roll of self-murderers seems to increase. It can not be said, therefore, that the
spread of culture and knowledge, of discoveries in the field of science, and the adoption
of higher codes of commercial and social ethics, educate or influence the world away from
the old-time philosophy, that a man's highest right is to quit living by his own hand when he
is tired of life. Indeed, it would seem that the wider the range of personal liberty, and the
more extended the opportunities for intellectual expansion and experiment, the incentive
to self-destruction is intensified.
At a recent meeting of the American Medico-Legal congress it was held by not a few
members that not only was suicide justifiable in cases where there appeared to be no other
way for one to relieve one's misery, but that a physician would be justifiable in ending the
life of his patient under certain circumstances. I think we all will agree that such a
sentiment is unworthy of a manly man.
When a man assumes to be a law unto himself he is certain to come in contact with
forces which will sweep him out of the current of the river of individual progress into whirls
and eddies, which agitate the waters fearfully but do not move onward. He will realize, too,
that God, the universe and himself are one stupendous whole - absolutely inseparable -
and that when he quits any sphere of existence by his own act in violation of the law of his
being he is still a necessary part of the whole, and that in severing the cord of earthly life
he not only fails of his purpose, but he himself

--- 556
will feel the jar more severely than any other entity in all the worlds of God, and not only so,
but he shall continue to live amid distracting discord until he voluntarily readjusts himself
to that system of law and harmony from which he essayed unlawfully to break away.
Certainly he will find pain and sorrow in returning, but not to return is to be without rest
eternally. Nevertheless, all men appoint their time to die by their conduct of life, which in
nearly all cases is a form of suicide.
There are those who advocate suicide as a proper means of escape from tiresome
environment who deny that any unpleasant consequences could follow, because there is
no consciousness after death, but it is incumbent upon them to prove that there is such a
state as "death" in the sense they speak of it. It would seem that if there is no
consciousness in what is called the state of the dead - if the memory of man is annihilated
by what is called death - it should be annihilated by sleep or trance, for they are states in
which the body is dead for the time. Of course, the advocate of suicide fortifies his position
by denying that there is memory where there is no brain life and action, and that when the
brain ceases to be active, memory perishes, but that theory is untenable, because the brain
is entirely renewed every seven years or such a matter. A man remembers incidents in his
childhood, although meanwhile his brain has changed completely a dozen times. It must
be, therefore, that there is something in man which is impervious to the influences which
time exerts over the physical body. The "tablets of the memory" continue throughout.
There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.
The advocate of suicide as the better way to rid one's self of trials and tribulations
is necessarily a materialist. He preaches the doctrine of immortality of matter and the
mortality of spirit, which is a ridiculous absurdity. But he will discourse learnedly about the
milliards of bacilli - separate, distinct, individual, living entities - which float about, live, move
and have their being nearly everywhere, but if he were asked to catch a few that they might
be seen and handled he would promptly say they were altogether invisible to the naked
eye, that they are almost sub-microscopic. He would admit that these invisible creatures
have existence under the same law that peoples the forest with trees, the earth with
animals, and the channels of commerce with men, but he would not admit that any living
thing could have life separate from its visible organism; hence, when the physical organism
becomes ill, or is subjected to any other uncomfortable conditions of existence, it is its right
to escape by quitting life.
But materialists are too few and far between to bother with; besides, there never
was a materialist who did not hope that his philosophy was in error, and that he should
continue to live as an individual, retaining memory and affections after what he calls death.
Having that hope he is deprived of the right to advocate suicide, because if he is to live
after the death of the body he must admit that he will be a substantial, thinking being, for
it is impossible to think of substance without form, and of either without ascribing power to
it.
But there is a phase of the philosophy of suicide which can be seen only from the
occult or metaphysical side of life. It has been said that it is the cowardly and unmanly man
who wilfully destroys his own life, but for all that a great deal of mental strength and bravery
may be required to become too great a coward to combat even little annoyances. And
again, the psychological influences which gradually prepare a man during the long days of
a protracted illness to calmly, gladly no doubt, welcome death as a friend come in the hour
of need, may come with such force upon the man con-
--- 557

templating self-slaughter that he is as much nerved to meet death as he whose mental

acquiescence came after weeks or months of bodily pain and wasting away. The stoics
knew of this occult force which nerves a man to destroy his life, and they called it a
"sympathetic friend," but science has never been able to analyze or define it, and hence
we can know nothing of it except what we gather from the lesson its effects upon the soul
of man teaches. It is not true, though, that the suicide leaps from darkness of despair here
into the bright light of peace and joy "over there."
The occult force which nerves a man to murder himself, the would-be suicides
should bear in mind, is not spent when the man dies. It is a force which is also an
immutable law, albeit the influence of its operation is confined to the spiritual man. If it
nerves a man to deal with himself harshly it is because the free will of the man cannot be
disputed. Were it to paralyze his mind and cripple his purpose the man would be little more
than a human machine subject to the whims or caprice of a force or power higher than he.
It is the recognition of his free agency by the eternal cause that makes a man a free moral
agent, but the same force that sustains him in the exercise of his rights as a free agent
follows him beyond the grave and all through the process of unfoldment if he elects to
progress, or through the process of retrogression if he inclines to travel to the left.
In quitting this sphere or plane of existence the suicide by no means escapes duty.
The environment from which he fled must be met and overcome, and in trying to escape
he only strengthens the opposing forces and weakens his own powers of resistance.
Nevertheless, the battle must be fought and the victory must be won if he would be free
from the hurtful influences which prompted him to avoid learning the lesson of life, and
whatever the environment is, it is to be overcome for the good to him there is in the victory.
This is the law of compensation, and it is the law of all laws, for it commands that
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
The suicide, therefore, not only fails to escape the ills he flees from - but he
intensifies the distress which burdens him. Moreover, no occult or spiritual force ever
influenced him to burden himself with the consequences of hateful environment, but it aided
in the exercise of his free will. And, again, whatever a man's burden may be it is the
harvest of his own sowing. If it be of love and sweet memories it is his by natural right, so
also it is his by natural right if it be greed and cowardice. The suicide runs from the
presence of trouble to the arms of many troubles, and the occult force that aids him in the
exercise of his free will holds him to account for committing self-murder with the same firm
hand of justice that it would had he murdered his neighbor instead of himself. There is no
escape from the consequences of one's acts. The grave is no hiding place. It is the door
rather which opens into a court of justice beyond - into a place where the ethical debits and
credits of the individual await him that a balance may be struck. Those things which he
planted in the field of life will be there as debits and credits. Nothing will be omitted, be
they the fruit of omission or of commission, and that which he owes he must come again
into the field of the activities of physical environment and pay to the uttermost farthing.
This, too, the law of Karma demands, and this it exacts.

------------
--- 558
THE ETHICS OF SEX
by Grace G. Bohn

"Simple? Why this is the old woe o' the world:

Tune to whose rise and fall we live and die.
Rise with it then! Rejoice that man is hurled
From change to change unceasingly,
His wings never furled."
- Robert Browning

THE destiny of each soul is reunion with the Absolute from which it emanated. But
this reunion may be accomplished only through yielding the claims of the personal self to
the greater Self, the Christos which exists within each personality. A single word gives us
the key to the process, - brotherhood.
To this goal there is one royal road and many that are long and terrible. But the
royal road may be traveled only by those who are immune from temptation because their
consciousness is not centred in the self which may be tempted. Understanding the law,
they obey it, for only by obedience may the law be transcended and the soul become free.
That is a royal road, indeed. But it is only for the few.
The other, cyclic and steep as the pathway that winds to the summit of the
Purgatorio mountain, must for ages be traveled by the multitudes; for it is they who cannot
as yet answer the questions, "Whence came I? wherefore do I exist, and whither do I go?"
Spirit, when first differentiated from the Absolute, is simple, not complex,
undifferentiated, pure and good because it has not become conscious of evil. To gain the
experiences by which alone it may expand its consciousness to infinity and become
inclusive of all differentiation, it becomes individualized and embodied. And this earth is
the scene of the experiences which the spirit needs and which it can gain only by means
of an embodiment of personality.
Cycle after cycle, life after life, the soul tests all the conditions of earthly pleasure
and pain by its own standard and measure. If that standard be self, alienation will be swift
and certain, and slow and terrible will be the return to the divine. If the measure be
brotherhood, service, ministry to others, the soul remains one with God and spiritual
consciousness is by so much expanded.
Since brotherhood is the ideal, our very institutions, church, state, and particularly
the home, exist for no higher purpose than to develop within the soul of humanity a
conscious desire to live for others. It is only because the soul manifests itself as two
forces, in two sexes, man and woman, that the institution of the home, as we know it, is
made possible. We fancy that these dual forces, incomplete and fluctuating, become
completed and stable only through marriage. The novelists have threshed over this old
straw for many weary years, for the view commonly taken is superficial and untrue.
Marriage, in its deeper aspect, is a means by which the soul prepares itself, through
the joys of limited service, for that wider ministry which includes the world. Emerson
expresses it better when he says "the lover ascends to the highest beauty, to the love and
knowledge of Divinity, by steps on this ladder of created souls." Marriage opens the
shortest way by which men and women, self-centred and egotistical, may be compelled,
against their will if need be, to become conscious of the joy of sacrifice and the beauty of
service.
The child, like the childish race, is, in some respects, very much of a savage.

--- 559

He has neither intellectual nor ethical ideas and, as Froebel expresses it, "the first circle of
a child's life is physical nature bound by necessity." The baby cares only to be kept
physically comfortable, and he proposes to be kept so at the expense of others as far as
possible. He is a little egotist. The world is his oyster. Selfishness, if he be not guided, is
far more native to him during the earliest period of his life, than altruism. And it is
significant that a large proportion of children grow into manhood and womanhood,
particularly in these days of ferment and individualism, with the firm belief that, first of all,
they must look out for themselves. They do not voluntarily accept the path of brotherhood,
but the law, the wise law, forces them, by few or many hard experiences, to finally see the
wisdom of choosing it. By refusing to obey the law they place themselves within the sweep
of its mighty arm and are struck down.
We are all one; we minister to ourselves only as we minister to others. We must
first sacrifice self, else all the rest will not be added unto us and even that which we have
will be taken away. But before we are capable of the wider ministry, we must prove
ourselves by the narrower service, and nature, with her wise economy, leads us into a field
wherein service and sacrifice are inevitable, and its gateway is marriage.
Emerson gives us the key to this mystery when he says: "The man is only half
himself; his other half is his expression." The true expression is service, the ideal which
leads us to accept it is brotherhood, and to that expression the other sex is only the
embodied opportunity. To that expression marriage is the guardian and the gateway only
as husband and wife accept all its culture and all its sacrifices, patiently, joyfully,
completely. That signifies, ordinarily, that both husband and wife must lose their personal
selves in their children, and if, for selfish reasons, they refuse this service, they are missing
the culture of this incarnation. If they refuse it for reasons that are unselfish, for the
opportunities of a wider ministry, that is, as Kipling would say, "another story." That is the
supreme sacrifice.
It is, in most cases, wiser for husband and wife to fill their home with little children
for two reasons. In the first place, through the care of children (the care of their minds and
souls not less than of their bodies), each forgets self and learns the A B C of that great
lesson in ministry which alone will make universal brotherhood possible upon the face of
the earth. Because these sacrifices are more inevitable to the mother than to the father,
she is likely to learn this lesson more speedily, and perhaps that is one reason why the Ego
clothes itself now in one sex and now in another in the course of its earthly experiences.
Perhaps it is that we may learn this lesson of sacrifice well that the newly embodied soul
inflicts upon the builders of its physical body such agonies, sacrifices, and anxieties, that
their souls seem to be torn up by the very roots, only to be planted, when quiet conies
again, upon a higher plateau and in an atmosphere less dense. Emerson has said truly,
"Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it."
Under existing conditions the lesson of selflessness will have to be learned by most
of us through this very differentiation of sex, and we may make as much ado about it as we
please. We may learn it through the agony and the terror of a Hetty Sorrel or a Margaret,
both of whom were examples of extreme selfishness; we may accept it gracefully, as do
the average man and woman, with a very faint comprehension of what it all means; or we
may welcome and glorify parenthood as the Madonna glorified it, prophesy of that future
time when every child shall be the child of an immaculate conception. "Help nature and
work on with her, and nature shall regard thee as

--- 560

one of her creators and make obeisance." *

The second reason why the selfish person is delaying his own advancement by
refusing to fulfill the duties that he tacitly accepts by marriage is very prosaic. We all like
to assure ourselves that we are rays of the Infinite, channels through which alone the God-
message may be brought to mankind. That is very inspiring. But it is not so inspiring to
reflect that we are also the gateways, self-appointed by the very estate of marriage,
through which other souls, more advanced than ourselves perhaps, may come into the
physical embodiment which they need for future experience. That is quite another thing,
and all the old self which binds our souls rebels. For this means, to a great degree, the
sacrifice of our social pleasures, our recreations, time, money, physical ease, perhaps
health; it means broken rest, disorderly rooms, the washing of bedaubed little hands, and
the kissing of, oh, such dirty little mouths. It means that we have to shut our Aeschylus and
shelve our Faust and our Homer for a few years at least, and many a father and mother
look back with something like longing upon the old days when they lived with these great
souls and when their cherished books were not smeared as to bindings and torn as to
leaves.
Was it an accident that Froebel called the system of education that he gave to the
world "the science of motherhood"? Was it accidental that he should dedicate the deepest
and truest philosophy of which I have any conception to the end that the father and the
mother, and through them, the child, might become able to look beneath the visible for the
invisible which conditions it; beneath the outer phenomena to the spirit which gives it birth;
beyond the transitory to the permanent. Such a philosophy makes one very patient with
physical duties and sacrifices when they are re-

------------
* Voice of the Silence.
------------

garded as only a means to an end that is higher than physical. Such a philosophy makes
it somewhat easier to "step out from sunlight into shade to make more room for others."
That is, to me, the ethical side of the now-existing relationship of the sexes about
which the reformers are making so much ado. It is these who lament with such vigor the
large families of the very poor. Looked at from the standpoint of the eternal, the growing
number of childless families among the better classes is a much more serious state of
affairs. Large and half-cared for families of children prove nothing more than ignorance on
the part of the parents, of both spiritual and physical laws. And the suffering that this
ignorance entails will inevitably lead the soul to a higher consciousness. But the other state
of affairs is - with exceptions - the result of selfishness; and the more conscious the soul,
the greater the alienation resulting from a selfish course of action. Says H. P. B., "The
selfish devotee lives to no purpose. The man who does not go through his appointed work
in life has lived in vain."
It is very noble to slay the appetites but that may occasionally be only a more subtle
phase of selfishness. Besides that, desires that are slain for selfish comfort's sake do not
free us from the law. That is why it is such nonsense to seek the solution of this old
problem by placing the caprice or whim of the individual man or woman above the law of
the universe. As long as men and women are selfish, as long as marriages are made from
selfish motives, I bow before the rampant desires that shall force the soul into sacrifices
until the self has disappeared. But when the law is obeyed, and when old Karmic debts are
paid, woman and man will rise superior to it, the will of the individual become one with the
universal will, and the spirit have gained her freedom.
Please do not mistake me. I do not

--- 561

believe that marriage is the only circumstance through which the sexes can become self-
poised, completed and stable. I do not believe that those who marry should always accept
the limited service that little children demand of them. I do not believe that the sacrifices
of fatherhood and motherhood are the highest sacrifices. Nothing of the kind. Marriage
is simply a means by which the less advanced souls, the feeble, the selfish, may rise out
of feebleness into strength, out of self into God. Susan E. Blow, in her "Study of Dante,"
has defined the Inferno as the soul filled with self, the Purgatorio as the soul emptied of
self, and the Paradiso as the soul filled with God. Dante himself, with his divine insight into
the nature of sin, places the jealous souls (become so through selfishness extreme) in
icebound Cocytus, at the very pit of the Inferno. To most of us marriage is indeed the
gateway leading out of an Inferno of selfishness, and it is marriage that places upon our
backs the precious burdens which we must carry up the Purgatorio mountain. "The more
we climb the less it hurts until we seem to fly."* But climb we must until the burdens have
all fallen and the self has disappeared. By the light of "the dim star that burns within" the
cyclic path must be ascended. But when the top has been reached "its light will suddenly
become the infinite." We shall have entered the Paradiso.

----------
* Dante.
----------

Advanced souls, those who are capable of wider and better service, need not to
complete themselves in marriage nor to find their expression in the opportunities it gives
them. They are strong enough to find it voluntarily in a cause. They do not marry on the
physical plane, but truly wedded are they on the spiritual plane and in that marriage to the
needs of the world they find the other half, their expression. They cease their hovering
between opposites and are stable.
Such souls were Michael Angelo and Raphael, who found complete expression in
art. Socrates needed no wife. He found his expression in loafing on the street-corners and
plying his mystic questions. Xantippe was clearly a superfluity and we do not blame her
for scolding him when we remember that she had none of his philosophic insight to carry
her over the desert of his neglect. Dorothea Dix, Florence Nightingale and hundreds of
other souls have found their appropriate expression in ministry to physical suffering. H. P.
B., great loving heart, forgot self in a sublime service of the mind and of the spirit. Such
souls do not drift nor waver; they need none of the experiences of physical fatherhood or
motherhood; they are wedded to the needs of the world, they become spiritual fathers and
mothers to its children, they find their expression in brotherhood, they are self-poised,
completed, and at rest.

-------------

"Whoever, not being a sanctified person, pretends to be a Saint, he is indeed the

lowest of all men, the thief in all worlds, including that of Brahma."

"Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words
of him who does not act accordingly." - Gems from the East.

------------
--- 562

THE SOKRATIC CLUB

by Solon

(Continued)

AT our next gathering an address was given by Mr. Knowlton on Art as an

Educational Factor, with special reference to the Drama. After the formal address a very
interesting conversation arose on the subject in which the Professor, Mr. Knowlton, and Dr.
Roberts took part, and which I will relate here as far as I am able to remember it. The other
members took the part of listeners.
Dr. Roberts. - "I can well understand, Mr. Knowlton, that Art plays an important part
in life and should be cultivated, and that no one's nature is complete who lacks appreciation
of the artistic and beautiful, but even granting this, I do not agree with you that the training
of the artistic faculties should be given so much prominence, but should be secondary to
that training which fits a man for work in the world. To put it in another way; for the man
of the world, art is all very well for his leisure hours and for his relaxation and enjoyment
but can have no place in his active everyday life."
Mr. Knowlton. - "I take an entirely opposite view, Doctor, as you know from what I
have said, and I maintain that it is just because we have put Art in a secondary place that
our civilization is characterized by so much unrest and skepticism; the finer, inner side of
man's nature has been subordinated to the grosser and external. What is the criterion of
success in the world today? That should be sufficient argument in support of my claim.
And the man who has achieved success, acquired wealth, position, fame, has not thereby
attained to happiness but in nearly every case is still the victim of the unrest of the age.
"He may use his wealth in the patronage of art, in collections of paintings and
sculpture, in support of Grand Opera and what not, but tell me, do you honestly think that
he truly appreciates these?"
Dr. Roberts. - "No, I think not. Indeed, in nine cases out of ten, he affects a
patronage of art, has his private picture gallery and a box at the opera because it is the
fashion. No doubt by doing so he is useful in a way to the Art world, but I must confess that
if I wanted a true appreciation of a work of Art, I would not go to such a one."
Mr. Knowlton. - "No, the enthusiasm and the true love of art which is the great
incentive in making all life beautiful and harmonious would be lacking. Well, what is the
reason of this? I should say it is because Art was made entirely subordinate if not almost
neglected in his education, and because it has held a subordinate place throughout his life."
The Professor. - "I do not think we can rightly say what position Art should occupy
in education and life unless we can first determine what is truly man's work in the world and
what is the object of life."
Dr. Roberts. - "That is just the position I take. Life is a serious matter and a man
cannot afford to spend his time and energy on what after all is more a matter of the
imagination than anything else. Although I certainly think the aesthetic faculties should not
be neglected but that they should receive a certain amount of training; yet, at the same
time, except in the case of those who follow art as a profession, they play very little part in
a man's life work. In fact, I have known of more than one

--- 563

case where aesthetic sensitiveness has positively unfitted men for the keen competition of
life. After all, the beautiful must give place to the useful, and, for my part, I say, give me
the cold facts of science and I will make life successful, whereas the man whose artistic
faculties have been trained as Mr. Knowlton says they should be, would have his life made
miserable by the discords and inharmonies that he must inevitably meet. But put science
and the appreciation of facts as a basis, then a little aesthetic training is all very well as an
embellishment."
The Professor. - "Doctor, I fear you have completely backslided to your old
materialistic position which you formerly used to hold."
Dr. Roberts. - "If I have I certainly think I have reason and fact on my side this time.
Let us get to the bottom of this question. Mr. Knowlton proposes to make education of the
aesthetic and artistic faculties of the first importance, but what would be the effect among
the masses of the people? I fully agree with providing high class entertainments for the
masses - picture-galleries, good music, etc. But to give an education such as suggested
would but make them more discontented with their lot and increase their unhappiness.
What they need is plain scientific teaching and trade schools where they can be trained to
become more useful members of society and more competent to earn a livelihood, but not
music or art save as a recreation and which I think ought to be provided for them in the
shape of public concerts and art galleries by the cities. With the exception of a little singing
and drawing when at school to enable them to appreciate this recreation when they grow
up, it would be waste of time for them to develop an appreciation of the artistic. Their lot
is too hard and all their energies are needed for the stern realities of life."
The Professor. - "That is all very well, and very well put from your standpoint in
regard to man's work in the world, but possibly there is another standpoint from which the
matter may be viewed."
Mr. Knowlton. - "And perhaps the very discontent which you fear, Doctor, would be
just what is needed to lift the masses from their present almost hopeless condition. The
discontent from which they suffer now will never cease through mere material means or
scientific education, or the making and enforcing of new laws."
The Professor. - "They don't know the cause of their discontent. They think that if
they could have money and material comforts they would be happy, but we know very well
that these things do not bring happiness. It is the insanity of the age, this pursuit of the
phantom of material prosperity, it is this that breeds all the selfishness, all the greed and
lust of possession. By regarding physical life as all important, humanity has got off the
track, has lost the way that leads to happiness. Material happiness, physical existence, as
an end, is a veritable bottomless pit - the more it is sacrificed to, the more insatiable it
becomes, the more it demands. The physical life and physical needs must not be
neglected, but so long as these are regarded as an end and their gratification as the
summum bonum, just so long will ever new needs arise, new forms of poverty, new
distress."
Dr. Roberts. - "Professor, you startle me! I hardly know what to say. I cannot
conceive how social reform can take place on any other lines than the material."
The Professor. - "It certainly requires courage, it requires first of all philosophy as
a basis, to deliberately turn around and put physical existence and material comfort in a
secondary place while aiming to develop man's inner faculties. Yet I maintain that this is
the only way to bring hope and happiness to humanity. It will, as you say,

--- 564

make them discontented with their lot, but this will be but temporary. It will open for them
a door to a higher life which alone through its reaction on the collective mind of humanity
will make possible and bring about that active brotherliness which will ultimately remove
poverty and distress wherever found."
Mr. Knowlton. - "Isn't it a law of Nature that the problems of one plane can ultimately
only be solved by rising to the next higher plane? And it seems to me that this is one of
Nature's methods in evolution, to create discontent with the lower by awakening that which
is higher, thus creating a craving for the higher and a consequent output of energy to attain
it."
The Professor. - "And, it should be added, ultimately making the lower of greater
service and a more useful instrument."
Dr. Roberts. - "Granting all this for the sake of argument, how will you proceed to
bring it about, for as I have said, this artistic appreciation is more a matter of the
imagination than anything else and applies to a realm of which there is, so far as I know,
no scientific knowledge and concerning which, consequently, there will be as many
opinions and methods of procedure as there are teachers? Look for instance, at the many
methods of voice training and all the schools of Art. Where is there any recognized starting
point?"
The Professor. - "These are all very pertinent questions, Doctor. But before
discussing them let me refer to your remark about imagination. Isn't it worth while to
cultivate the imagination? Where would have been all the great discoveries in Science had
not our scientific men used their imaginations? The pity is that there has been no training
of this faculty, it is almost a terra incognita. But to come to your questions proper. How
shall we proceed to awaken and train the love of the beautiful that it may work this miracle
of regenerating the human race, for such I believe it will accomplish."
Dr. Roberts. - "One moment, Professor, let me interrupt you here. A little time ago
we spoke of the lack of true appreciation of art among many of the so-called patrons of art,
but surely that must to some extent be passing away, for nearly all the wealthy and even
those of moderate means provide that their children shall have some education in art or
music. Even in the public schools an important feature is made of drawing and class
singing. Surely all this ought to bring about what you desire if your theory is correct, but
for my part I cannot see that it will cause any appreciable change, or in any great degree
affect the condition of the masses. I simply wanted to say this before you go further, in
order that we might not overlook what is already being done and because I think this
supports my position that art and music are all very well for recreation and pleasure but that
the main thing to help the people is along what I call practical, material and scientific lines.
Only in this way can they be fitted for their work in the world."
Mr. Knowlton. - "You have stated your position very clearly, Doctor, and I now see
there were many points I did not cover in my address though some of your objections I
certainly did anticipate. However, in the first place it comes down to this. What answer is
to be given to the question which the Professor asked and which you have again raised?
What is a man's work in the world? What is man? What is his nature? In what does
education consist? We have often discussed these questions, Doctor, so now we needn't
go into them at any length, for you know very well my position in regard to them, but they
come up in a slightly different aspect in relation to the subject in hand. Let us for the
moment, then, grant the existence of the inner man, the real

--- 565

man, the man of high imaginations, high feelings, with keen appreciation of harmony and
beauty, that something within us which prompts to a deed of self-sacrifice, which feels the
joy of helping another and relieving distress. The outer man lives on material food, but for
health needs also pure air and sunshine - all these are necessary to animal existence. But
the inner man needs something more. There are other states of feeling besides that of
physical well-being. There are other powers besides the physical or even the mental. It
is no mere effect of the imagination that beautiful music or harmony of form and color
awaken in response certain harmonics in the soul and it is just in this way that true art may
be made a vital educative factor.
The Professor. - "A man's true work in the world is the soul's work, and true
education is that which enables the soul to fulfil its destiny and make manifest its own
nature. True education is therefore that which will draw out the soul's own powers. If this
were done the rest of our life would all fall into its proper place."
Dr. Roberts. - "But as I have said, even granting that, it is all vague. Where and how
will you begin? Have you any science of the soul's powers and how to awaken them?
What more would you have than is already being done in the way of art education?"
The Professor. - "It is just because there is a science of the soul's powers that more
should be done, and lovers of art have sought and striven for this for centuries. But the
time had not come. It has come now and this renaissance of the soul's powers is already
heralded by the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity."
Dr. Roberts. - "What! do we have to go to the ancients for this? I acknowledge all
the culture and art of the Greeks, but I am not one of those who puts Greek civilization
above ours."
The Professor. - "It is not a question of giving the palm to either ancient or modern
civilization. Our civilization marks one stage of development but in it we have lost
something that the ancients had. There is something lacking from our lives. We have
developed our physical senses and physical and mental powers to a marvelous degree but
there are not that harmony and serenity in our lives which alone can give true happiness.
The key to these was in the Mysteries whereby man was brought face to face with the
essences of things and his own inner nature."
Dr. Roberts. - "How can these Mysteries be revived - so little is known of them and
you yourself speak of them as lost."
The Professor. - ''Lost only to the world at large, but they have never been wholly
lost. There have always been some in the world to whom has been entrusted the sacred
wisdom and through whom it has been handed down from age to age."
Here some of the members began to make a move towards departure and as it was
quite late it was decided to resume the discussion at the next meeting when it was
expected Madam Purple would be present.

--------------

"A chariot cannot go on one wheel alone; so destiny fails unless men's acts
cooperate." - Gems from the East.

------------
--- 566

FRAGMENT - OMNISCIENCE
by Adhiratha

IN the "Key to Theosophy" of H. P. B. there are some allusions to the omniscience

of the real man within everybody. Not grasping the meaning, I once had a conversation
with Madame Blavatsky on the subject, and I must confess that at the time I was not any
wiser for it. I thought what a good thing it would be if instead of passing hours and hours
on the solution of a problem, one might simply ask the real man, who knowing all, would
tell you at once all about it. I must confess that I had some doubt about the real man
knowing all, and I asked Madame Blavatsky to explain. I am sure that she tried to awake
my understanding, but at that time it was all a beginning, and young Theosophists felt then
(as they do sometimes even now) proud, when they knew the Sanskrit names of the seven
principles and a few more strange sounding words.
I thought: Omniscience is knowing all, which of course must comprise everything
and every problem, and the hardest mathematical nut will be child's play for the real man
to crack - if H. P. B. is right!
 Now if we but change intonation and instead of knowing all, say knowing all, we shall
get a little step nearer the standpoint from which the question looks more attackable. The
question turns first about that much abused word "knowledge." We generally think it to
mean the conviction or even certainty, that under given conditions of things some
unavoidable result took place, and will take place anew when those conditions will reoccur.
A doctor knows that for a certain illness, the name of which implies a certain condition of
the human body, a certain remedy will reestablish other conditions called health. An
engineer knows by experiment and calculation, that a certain form of structure under given
loads will have to resist such and such forces in its divers parts, and then he lodges his
material in such a way, that no part gets too much and no material gets too little anywhere,
which he can only do approximately. But all this is not real knowledge and neither the
doctor nor the engineer knows what that thing is he is dealing with and how its molecules
feel.
Real knowledge has nothing to do with apparent knowledge, and it is useless to ask
the real man within to write out the development of a mathematical problem for you. But
when it comes to the application of such a mathematical solution whereby one tries to get
a certain insight into nature, then it may be said that the real man has that insight into
nature without passing by the tedious way of a mathematical investigation.
What science tries to find out, that the real man is already, and he knows without a
shade of doubt that which science strives at but never reaches. That essence which
constitutes the real man, which has passed through all the kingdoms below man, which we
find specified in every human being as the monad, clothed in different garbs so as to
appear distinct, that essence knows all about everything we can think of, and that part of
the Universe which we can think of constitutes the omnia for man. Having had the
experience of all the kingdoms below us, the monad knows them, and our all, as far as
human nature is concerned, is that of which we are able

--- 567

to think; therefore it is right to say, that the real man knows that which the ordinary man
comprises under the term all, "and even more, because the all for the man of the present
day is less than the all of those who served to clothe the monad at some earlier periods.
It thus seems to me that the object of the development of the thinking principle is not to
arrive at a better knowledge of nature, but to arrive at some knowledge in a certain way,
which way has to be learnt during certain periods of evolution. Discrimination has to be
learnt, and if one will learn how to avoid a wrong way, he must pass it first, or else it would
remain unknown to him. It seems a strange thing that man has to incarnate so many times
during millions of years in order to develop the thinking principle, and after having
developed it, abandon it as a wrong way. But is it not the same with the evolution of all the
principles in Cosmos? Has not all to be gone through? Has not every plane of
consciousness to give way to another? We call them higher or lower - but what about such
terms? This is no loss, it is a momentary necessity for a certain purpose of divine law, and
although less in one sense we gain and go forward in another, and pass where we have
to pass. This must not be misunderstood, and we must not say: Very well, I have to
develop intellect, and I shall do it, and shall not care for real knowledge which will all come
in time. This is sophistry. Through our will and endowed with the thinking principle we
have to regain that knowledge which gradually has become latent while Manas had to be
developed, or else we shall never regain it. Thus we have to work with ardent aspiration
towards our highest ideals along the lines of nature and divine law; thus we keep balanced,
and while doing every one of our daily duties, we inwardly live a life of spirituality and in
consciousness divine.

---------------

"Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained treasure in their
youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish.''

"Daily practical wisdom consists of four things: - To know the root of Truth, the
branches of Truth, the limit of Truth, and the opposite of Truth."

"When trust is gone, misfortune comes in; when confidence is dead, revenge is
born; and when treachery appears, all blessings fly away."
- Gems from the East.

-------------
--- 568

FORM OR MATTER
by W.E. Gates

FROM the old darky who preferred a railway wreck to one at sea, because in the
former "you'se thar," to the leaders of science, the earth has been the symbol and type of
permanence and solidity. Science has yielded one of these characteristics to force, in
positing the conservation of energy, but it has never felt quite sure just where to place force
in the ultimate analysis of things. Of matter however it has always felt sure - matter was
a fact, there has always been just so much in the universe, and always will be just that
much and no more or less. Of this matter, to whatever extent its mechanical subdivision
or chemical dissociation might be carried, certain fundamental characteristics have been
ever alleged - it occupies space and has weight. Weight is a general term, used to denote
the attractive force between two bodies of matter, commonly called gravitation. These two
may be regarded as primary, certain other familiar properties being only expressions of
these under varying conditions. We thus speak of matter as solid and impenetrable, and
say that two bodies cannot occupy the same place at one time. We also speak of the
chemical affinities of different atoms and of the cohesiveness of masses of matter, both
forms of attractive force.
We also say that this matter possesses, or more strictly is, substance - that is, it is
self-caused and self-sustaining. That it is objectively real - indeed the most real conception
we have.
We have finally one very important concept, that of form, whose relation to matter
is most clearly expressed by the statement, matter displays form. Form is a limitation of,
or in, space, and may be conceived of apart from matter, but the latter is required for its
manifestation to the senses, by, in the little boy's words, "drawing a line around your
thinks." We thus, since all aggregations of matter are perpetually changing as to their
forms, do not attribute reality to form, but for this so-called impermanence, think of it as the
least real thing we know, the very opposite of matter, an incident only of the latter and a
very non-entity.
It is worthy however of remark that of these two, matter and form, both absolutely
dependent on space for their existence (although not an attribute of this in any way), matter
cannot be thought of without form, but form can be thought of apart from matter, as a mere
limitation of emptiness. In other words, the idea of form must come before that of matter,
and is pre-essential to this. By a purely deductive process this should lead us to question
whether essential reality does not lie rather in the concept "form" than in the concept
"matter." And a notable confirmation of this is given when we consider a common error of
speech. We say "all forms change," and naturally therefore attribute non-essentiality to
form; but we really mean to say "matter is continually changing in form" - leaving one form
and entering into another. This statement is a correct one, and fully accords with the last
word of physics today.
Evolution has made it abundantly clear that the most lasting, changeless,
adamantine thing in the manifested world is form. Nature grinds the rocks to powder and
turns metals to gases in infinitely quicker time and with less effort than she modifies ever
so little the forms of manifestation. Form ever re-

--- 569

curs and matter - as we know it - again and again obediently fills the outlines. But as if the
deductive argument for the superiority of form over matter in its eternal existence were not
enough, inductive science as well is day by day dissolving so-called matter to nothingness,
or more strictly, to a mere incident of form, produced to meet the conditions of sense-
perception. A physical universe is daily becoming a less proven fact. Gravitation is laid
down as a universal material law, notwithstanding that certain facts attendant on cometary
bodies had to be thereby incidentally slurred over, but from the Lick telescope we now hear
that late observations indicate some other force than gravitation as the dominating one in
certain nebulae. But a blow at the nebular hypothesis rocks the very citadel of the physical
theory.
Scientists some time ago postulated and have since by sheer necessity regarded
the ether of space as proven to exist. Yet so difficult is it for us to modify the method or
form of our apprehension of the world around us that the majority still prefer to work on
through the paradox of a material universe, which includes an ether lacking in the
fundamental characteristics ascribed to matter. All known matter has weight and obeys
gravitation; the ether, by the very theory on which it rests, does neither. The transmission
of material phenomena requires a material vehicle, as is not only demonstrated by every
day experience, but is necessarily involved in a system holding that all phenomena are but
incidents of matter, the one only reality. Nevertheless any material vehicle, however
rarified, gives rise to some friction when bodies pass through it, retarding them; the ether
does nothing of this. The relative distances between the molecules in the rarest gas are
enormous; the ether of science is said to fill all space homogeneously. Science indeed
seems to have restored the worship of "Pater Aither," a god outside the material universe,
yet within every part of it and supporting it. But they have new names for it all, and in view
of the peculiar opaqueness, materiality, which the expressions and forms wherein we do
our so-called thinking seem to possess before the Perceiver, they may be forgiven for not
recognizing their teaching in Hesiod and Lucian and the Vedas.
The most illuminating suggestion in this whole matter we owe, among physicists, to
Lord Kelvin, in his vortex-ring theory of matter. Taking the rings of smoke puffed by a
locomotive or a pipe, and making allowances for the friction of the medium in which they
revolve, Lord Kelvin found a complete identity in behavior, at every point of comparison he
was able to institute, between these rings and the individual atoms into which all matter is
held to be divisible. One most significant fact so demonstrated is that such a vortex-ring,
once brought into existence, and being free from frictional or any other outside interference
to break up its circuit of motion, is eternal and indestructible, an entity in itself. The theory
then is that an atom of matter is a vortex-ring in or of ether, set up by some underlying
force, and that all the attributes displayed by material atoms are incidents of this vortex
mode of motion. Its hardness is the same as the impenetrability of a whirlpool through
which a swimmer cannot pass. Its stability is of the same sort as that of the tops, held
contrary to gravity by a cord on one end of the axis, so long as they revolve rapidly - a
principle utilized to give absolute rigidity to the steering gear of torpedoes. And it is the
simplest explanation of atomic affinities to suggest that it is the rate, or coefficient, of
vibration (vibration being another name for circuit of activity) which determines the
attractive or repellant force we see manifested.
And there is a most curious resem-

--- 570

blance in all this to John Worrell Keeley's last theory - that each individual has a dominant
coefficient of vibration, which gives rise to and explains all our happy and unhappy
associations in life, so that as the newspapers hastened to say, if we only knew how to find
this note, scientific inquests beforehand would drive the divorce courts out of business.
The music of the spheres, the thought of individuals as notes in a universal concord
are very poetic, but inasmuch as music is the art of harmonic expressive vibrations
manifested to sense as sound, there is, if Lord Kelvin, and some others, are right, at least
as much hard scientific fact in it all as imagery.
In short, the leading fact of science today is plainly, that Nature draws forms which
outline and illustrate the underlying realities of evolutionary progress, and these forms are
grasped by our sense-perceptions as endowed (by virtue of the self-persistent and
destruction-resisting nature given to them by the force that causes them) with the attributes
of hardness or impenetrability and mutual attraction. Differently stated, what we call matter
is in no sense substance, and the attributes by which we describe it are only the effects
produced upon our senses by contact with force-forms, manifesting the life in nature. So
that the really substantial thing in life is seen to be form, of which so-called matter is but an
incident, apparitional only, and of little reality and no substantiality whatever - a term to
express the condition of manifestation.
And what of all this, some one may say. The nature of atoms has only a remote
interest to the problems of daily life, save as medicine may be aided by chemical research
or stronger ship armor invented by the metallurgist. And as for music and poetry, they are
for our entertainment when serious affairs are laid aside. To such there are two answers.
First of all, a world made up of small, hard, ponderable atoms, by some unshown
causes arranged in an infinite variety of forms, is a rather hopeless and uninspiring subject
of research. It meets admirably the type of mind which delights in dissection, classification
and labeling, but if one should be interested to know what it is all about, he might be readily
pardoned for the conclusion that it is probably not about anything, and has achieved the
purpose of its being in the world when it has been properly catalogued.
But once the substance of things physical is found to consist in units of force,
conditioning space - force-forms as we have called them - of diverse characters, the whole
universe of matter becomes a wonderful study, radiant with inspiration, for its solution and
meaning are enfolded in its every atom, and in the very attributes by which they are
manifested to our sense perceptions they hold and declare their message to the Perceiver
within. And if each atom is the expression of a unit of force, then so must every composite
form be the expression of a harmony of forces, else it could not stand, and so must every
event, every scene in our lives and in the history of peoples, every record of the earth,
every alphabet, be a harmonic formula, eloquent of the underlying truth, the cause and
meaning of life on earth.
Form is the essentiality, reality within gross matter, so-called, manifesting the divine
thought, which it subserves, while the pseudo-matter of science is left to the place which
that, at last approaching the occult teaching, assigns it - but sense illusion.
One other deeply important lesson lies in this recognition of Form as the real of
Matter. The bondage of the Soul in matter, its prison-house, takes on a new meaning, and
the true nature of the great foe is revealed. For if Form is the great Manifester, so is it also,
once we

--- 571

forget that truth, the great Deluder. Just how the soul might get entangled in a world of
small hard, material atoms could never be quite clear to us, nor could we see any relation
between matter such as this and Soul, which we understood as Consciousness, Wisdom,
Thought. The fact of the entanglement was too evident to be denied, but why the soul
should fiat itself such a prison house was another inscrutable bit of Providence.
But if the real nature of material substance is seen to be form, the manifester of
ideas, it is very clear wherein our bondage lies, for the images produced by our lower
minds, the vehicles of the Soul, unless seen in their true light, in very fact bind us tighter
than any conceivable matter could do. The children of our thoughts and of the thoughts of
the race, in this as in past lives, the formulated ideas, the mental habits, are our prisons,
and the only prisons the soul knows. But once this thought-form is given birth to, invested
with force from ourselves, it persists a veritable material wall, harder far than one of rocks
and iron. We are educated to the use of a certain phraseology, and it is the hardest thing
in the world for us to recognize the identical ideas, differently clothed. The idea of
separateness, crystallized into a form, a habit (garment, clothing) of thinking, is what stands
between us and an actual direct perception of an existing brotherhood and unity. Forms
of mental activity are all that prevent our recognizing the meaning of facts when we see
them. Scientific discoveries come by nothing in the world but the momentary freeing of the
observer's mind from his preconceived views concerning the fact before him, and events
are happening in the world every day attention to which would make prophets and gods of
every one, if we did not know so much - superannuated rubbish - already.

-------------

"It is excellent to impede an unjust man; but if this be not possible, it is excellent not
to act in conjunction with him."

"Be not a friend to the wicked - charcoal when hot, burns; when cold it blackens the
fingers."
- Gems from the East.
---------------
--- 572

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

"Does Universal Brotherhood imply condoning the faults of others, or, on the other
hand, condemning them?"

" No one can intelligently pursue the path of Brotherhood without frequent and heavy
condemnation of acts, and of persons as revealed in their acts."
"Judge no man.''
"Judge the act, not the person."
Is there a reconciliation between the three policies thus indicated? In trying to follow
the path of Brotherhood and promote the best interests of our fellows, we make a series
of critical judgments. Seeing a cause about to come into operation, we make a judgment
as to whether its effects will promote Brotherhood. The usual "causes" are the acts of
persons; we judge whether their effects will be satisfactory; deciding No, we condemn
such acts, saying, "I regard Smith as acting against the interests of Brotherhood." That is
not to say "The motive of Smith in those acts is self-interest." The chief point to be
observed in my attitude is that I shall not injure Smith's evolution. Our final judgment
concerning most things is compound, and the factors that enter into it are two. These are
(1) MY self-originated judgment, (2) the judgment of others, expressed in words, or, more
potently, silently, and in the last case subtly infusing itself into my mind and blending with
my own proper judgment. The resultant of these two factors is my final judgment. The
judgment that Smith arrives at respecting his acts is, therefore, a blend of his opinion and
of my opinion respecting their tendency, and it is none the less true even if after
consideration of my opinion he rejects it and leaves his own, as he thinks, unmodified. But
suppose I strongly think that Smith acts from motives of self-interest. I have made a
judgment respect[ing] Smith as well as his acts. Am I wrong? Not necessarily. My mind
will become a mirror wherein Smith may see himself and reform. It will induce a self-
examination that must be beneficial in tendency. But if my judgment to that effect
respecting Smith is consciously or unconsciously colored with personal feeling, that is, if
I consciously or unconsciously feel that Smith's self-interestedly based actions may
interfere with my personal interests or comfort, then that feeling of potential or actual anger
or irritation will tend, not only to darken my judgment but that of Smith, and to excite similar
detrimental emotions in him.
No human being can avoid making such judgments as to another. The right counsel
of perfection would be, not to avoid them, for the higher we go the more numerous are the
people we have to help, and, therefore, preliminarily to judge that intelligent help may be
given; but to aim at the exclusion of the personal self from the judgment, making it as lofty
as possible. To judge should be to sympathize, that is, to feel like. To judge Smith is to
understand him, that is, for a moment to feel as he feels. To compare what I have thus
sympathetically ascertained to be his feeling with my ideal of the highest feeling of a
judgment on Smith.
Let us throw away fear; learn to know ourselves and others, and unhesitatingly
compare with an ideal. That men act wrongly is always from ignorance of even their own
real welfare. No judgment should, therefore, contain anger, irrita-

--- 573

tion, or any similar feeling. Bearing that in mind as an ideal, criticism and judgment become
duties. - T. N.
-------

Universal Brotherhood does not necessarily imply either of these. For the purposes
of this question we may define Brotherhood as acting towards others in such a way as to
help them in their life and development, at the same time regarding them as inseparable
units of humanity. Now there may be and are times in the lives of all of us when the
condoning of a fault, i.e., the pardon or overlooking of a fault, may be the greatest help.
Then again there are times when the outspoken condemnation of a fault - not of a person -
may be the one thing needed to help that person.
But Brotherhood is not sentimentality, it is justice as well as compassion, it is that
love for the real inner man that is not afraid of hurting the personal man when this is for the
sake of principle and actuated by true love. The sentimental condoning of a fault does not
help and those who follow a sentimental idea of Brotherhood too often swing to the other
extreme and indulge in wholesale and unfounded condemnation, not simply of a fault, but
of persons.
Brotherhood is not extreme in either direction. The middle path is the path of
Brotherhood, this above all is the path of principle - the path of the principle of love and the
principle of justice. If we apply to our conduct the injunction: "do unto others as ye would
they should do unto you," we shall not go far wrong.
True it is that our responsibility increases as our knowledge increases and as the
knowledge of the physician and surgeon may require him to amputate a limb or give
temporary pain in order to save the patient's life, so every true man is a physician and
surgeon, first in his own life and then in the lives of others. On the other hand, the true
physician will often draw away the mind of the patient from his sickness or disease, and
how often can we not help a failing brother by apparently ignoring a fault and calling out the
nobler side of the nature!
If we are true to the better side of our own natures we shall soon learn in what at
true Brotherhood consists. But no one can be a true Brother to another who is afraid to
apply the knife to his own failings, or who is not honest in his own endeavors. We students
may make mistakes in our acts of Brotherhood, but if we keep in the light of the soul and
keep our motives pure the realization of Brotherhood will not be far distant.
- J. H. Fussell
--------

"Whence arises the sense of duty? In what does it originate?"

It is above all things requisite that the expression of great ethical or moral or religious
principles should be universally applicable. That is to say, they should take the simplest
form. Most of our religious divisions are the result of an endeavour to make a local or
special condition a standard to which all must conform. Great moral principles are as
adaptable and as elastic (and no more) in their own sphere, as great physical principles.
The laws of gravitation, cohesion, and the other great forces set duties for material objects
to which the perfection of their evolution enables them to respond. But circumstances alter
cases. A piece of ice will fall to the ground if dropped; if released at the bottom of a pail
of water it will rise to the top; no further. The duty of the ice in one case is to fall; in the
other, to rise.
In the region of the soul duty is understood usually to be the sense of moral
obligation.
We are told that duty is what we owe. It is to be remembered that when we have
done all we are unprofitable servants. The talent hid in a napkin was duteously safe. But
there is a higher duty to Him who gathers where He has

--- 574

not scattered. What is due is, in fact, greater than what we owe. The educative and
evolutionary quality of our experience depends upon this. And it is here that the distinction
between the higher and lower duty may be found. It is a principle in chancery law that he
who seeks equity must do equity. Similarly those who desire to ascend or progress must
fulfil all the lower stages of growth and be free of what they owe before they can undertake
the rendering of their due. Renunciation also begins here. The old story of the servant,
forgiven a large debt, and turning on his fellow and debtor illustrates this. The ceremonial
law of the Jews for example, was an educative force in the direction of insuring the
recognition of those in authority, crude symbols of the divine. Our modern taxes and tariffs
have precisely the same educative effect as the tithes and offerings of old, the modern
method reaching a more practical result.
There is a Principle or Power in the Universe which provides for all creatures. It is
generally known as Providence. It is called God and Karma and the Law. When men
consciously ally themselves with this Power they also become Providers. They learn that
it is more blessed to give than to receive. They also learn which is the river, the water or
the banks that confine the water. The promptings of evolution, of the Kumara, the immortal
One that ensouls a man and makes him divine, carry him forward along the line of least
resistance. It is the business of the river to reach the ocean, not to break down the banks.
All this implies action, and the formation of character. While Fohat is in manifestation, duty
means to act, to do. To do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly before the inner god. To
love that Holy One with all the heart and mind and strength, and to see in one's brothers
the same object of devotion is to conform to the will of the Higher Self. Duty on the lower
levels of life is a means for the development of the lower manas or brain mind.
- Ben Madighan
---------

Let us dissect away certain overgrowths which obscure this point. Obedience to
duty is often only conscious, half conscious, or unconscious fear of the consequences of
neglect. A child who has burned his finger thereafter dreads the flame, and the dread
persists when the memory of the burn has died out of his practical consciousness. Many
honest people do not steal because they retain an unconscious memory of the disgrace
attending a revealed theft in childhood or in a previous incarnation. Fear, hope of reward
or commendation, these two, whether conscious or existing in their effects as the fixed
habit of performance, must be eliminated as inspirers of action before we can see how
much remains. It is possible that with most of us not much of the pure golden sense of duty
would remain in the bottom of the crucible.
Actions whose performance is a duty are not always unpleasant. For instance, to
eat is a duty, because at a proper time the Law, manifesting as hunger, demands it.
The Law arises twofold; outwardly it manifests as circumstance, presenting at every
moment a tangled maze of paths of winch any one may be selected; internally as the
impulsion to select one particular path of these many. In his spiritual thought, the inner
man has already traversed that path. In outer fact it remains for the terrestrial man to
imitate in the concrete. The sense of duty is the reflection in the outer consciousness of
this picture of action existing in the inner, which picture, in the inner world, is action. It may
be dimly or brightly mirrored, the sense of duty weak or strong; its concrete imitation may
be effected or not, duty done or not.
- Herbert Coryn

-------------
--- 575

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

A CHRISTMAS STORY
by M. S. L.

IT was a big toy shop in West Twenty-third Street. There were crowds of people
hurrying by, for tomorrow would be Christmas Day and all those who had children to love
were busy buying presents. The shop windows looked very gay indeed.
There were all sorts of toys you could imagine. Lots of new mechanical toys, steam
engines that ran on a real track, dancing bears and a cat which played the fiddle. In the
middle of the window was a tiny fir tree all lit up with colored lights and its boughs covered
with gay ornaments. Santa Claus was there, too, and on his back he carried a pack from
which came a stream of candy and toys.
All these things pleased the little boys and girls very much. There were a number
of them out shopping with their parents. The boys admired the mechanical toys, but the
little girls went straight to the other shop window where there were oh, such a lot of dolls!
China dolls and wax dolls; dolls from Germany and dolls from France; dolls that could say
"Mamma," "Papa," and others that could even sing a little song and say "Now I lay me."
The finest doll was a young lady who had just arrived from Paris. Mademoiselle Fifine had
brought with her a trunk of fine costumes and some of these were spread out beside her
in the window, to the great admiration of the other dolls. There were pink silk frocks and
blue satin ones; hats and bonnets trimmed with real lace and ostrich feathers, and, in fact,
all sorts of nice clothes for evening wear and morning wear, and all occasions.
Away down in a corner of the big window were two little dolls that nobody noticed
at all, and this was strange, for they were really very pretty; but I suppose they were
unnoticed in such a crowd of fashionable dolls. One of these two was a little lady straight
from Japan, and the other was a New York District Messenger Boy. The Japanese doll
was dressed in a lovely gown of purple silk all covered with yellow butterflies. Her hair was
done up in a shining black coil on the back of her head and was all stuck through with tiny
jeweled pins. In her tiny hand she carried a paper fan. The little messenger boy stood very
proudly beside her. He wore a suit of dark blue clothes and on his head was a little cap
such as the New York boys wear; he carried a black book in his hand and looked very
alert, as though he were just about to deliver a telegram to you.
These two from the corner of the window all day had watched the people passing
up and down the busy street. That is, the Japanese doll had watched the passers by, but
the Messenger Boy had watched her more than anything else. He thought she was the
oddest and prettiest little lady he had ever seen; her eyes were so black and shiny, her
cheeks so rosy and her tiny mouth just like a round red cherry. And then she sat up so
gracefully and held her fan with such an air! "She isn't a bit stiff," thought the Messenger
Boy, "I believe I will try to make friends with her." So he cleared his throat arid said "ahem!"
The Japanese Lady gave a tiny jump. You see, she was so surprised! Then she gave a
shy look at

--- 576

the Messenger Boy and twirled her little fan. She saw that the Messenger Boy was about
to speak to her and this pleased her very much, for the other dolls in the window had
treated her with contempt and snubbed her because she was a foreigner. Even the French
Doll had refused to be friendly, and this was rather odd, because she was also a foreigner.
But she said the Japanese Doll was outlandish and had no style about her. The Japanese
Lady was too polite to make any rude remarks in answer, so she had just remained silent.
She now began talking to the Messenger Boy and they soon became fast friends.
So satisfied were they with each other's society that they quite forgot the rude dolls.
It began to grow late in the afternoon and now very few children passed by. But
there were more big people than before; they passed into the shop and soon the dolls
began to go from the window. Madamoiselle Fifine went and most of the pretty dolls
followed. Nobody seemed to want the Japanese Lady or the Messenger Boy, but they did
not mind that at all, for they were quite content to be together. The Japanese Lady had
described to the Boy all the beautiful things she had seen in far away Japan, while the Boy
had told her in return of some of the wonderful sights to be seen in the big city. They grew
very confidential, and at length their affection became so firm that they vowed to remain
true friends as long as they were dolls, which was another way of saying as long as they
lived.
I have said that almost all the children had gone home because it was getting late,
and now the electric lamps were lighted, but there were still four little girls who were looking
in the gay window on Twenty-third Street. Two of them were nicely dressed and their bright
faces peeped out from warm furs. They looked so full of joy that it made your own face
beam in return. Their nurse was with them and they were out doing their Christmas
shopping.
"We've bought most all the presents we mean to give tomorrow, and now we can
each spend our very own two dollars," said Bessie.
"Yes," answered her sister Alice. "Wasn't it nice in Uncle Frank to give us each two
dollars to spend. It's much nicer to buy your own present, I think."
They were looking in the window of the toy shop as they spoke and both little girls
at once spied our two friends in the corner of the window.
"I am going to buy that dear little Japanese doll," said Bessie.
"And I want that cute little Messenger Boy," said Alice.
The Japanese Lady and the Messenger Boy looked very happy at this, for they
thought it would be very nice to go to live with two such dear little sisters. So they smiled
and nodded at Bessie and Alice, but the little girls never saw it. This was not strange, for
they had never heard that all the dolls come to life on Christmas Eve.
Now all the time the two small sisters had been admiring the dolls, there were two
other children who were looking at them just as eagerly, but who were very different in
appearance from Bessie and Alice. For these children were very poor indeed and did not
expect to have any doll at all on Christmas morning. They lived away down in East
Fourteenth Street with their big sister. Their mother and father were dead and the only one
they had to take care of them was this good big sister who loved her two little sisters very
dearly and did all she could for them. They all lived together in two little rooms, and
Maggie, who was ten, did all the housekeeping, while Annie, who was eight, helped her as
much as she could. They had just been to the great department store where the big sister
worked and had left some supper for her, because this night she would have to work until
half-past eleven.

--- 577

They were now on their way home, but although they were very cold and shivered
through the thin garments they wore, they had to stop to see the beautiful dolls.
"Oh, jest look at this little doll in the purple dress, ain't she grand! See the little yeller
butterflies all over her! I wisht I could have her for Chrissmus!" said Maggie.
"I'd ruther have the little boy in the blue suit," answered Annie. "He looks jest like
a fair messenger boy. Ain't he cute?"
And the two children pressed their faces against the window in profound admiration
of the wonderful dolls. After a while they moved away.
In the meanwhile Bessie and Alice with their nurse had entered the toy shop. After
admiring the various things each purchased the doll she liked best. These were carefully
done up by the salesman and the two children started for home.
 They were at the corner of Broadway and about to cross for a cable car when Bessie
caught sight of our two little Fourteenth Street children.
"Oh, nursie, do let us see those two poor little girls. They don't look as though they
were going to have any Christmas at all! "
"Never mind them, Miss Bessie, it's time you were home."
But Bessie would not be persuaded and Alice seconded her. "Mother likes to have
us kind to our poor little brothers and sisters," said she, "please nurse, let us speak to those
little girls." So the nurse rather reluctantly consented and the two children hurried and soon
caught up with Annie and Maggie.
"How do you do," said Bessie, all out of breath. "Please, wouldn't you like to have
a Christmas present? We are going to have a whole lot of presents tomorrow and we
bought these with our very own money. Please take mine," and she thrust her package
into surprised little Maggie's arms.
"And please do take my present," said Alice, going to Annie. "Indeed, I will have a
lot more," and she handed her package to the astonished little girl.
"We wish you a happy Christmas," said the little girls in one voice, and before
Maggie and Annie could speak, they had both hurried away.
To say that our children were astonished, hardly expresses it. They hugged their
bundles and stood on the sidewalk staring after the two little girls as though bewildered.
Maggie was the first to recover.
"Oh, aint it too good to be true, we'll have a real Chrissmus, now, wont we? What
kind little girls them was, wasn't they? They wasn't a bit stuck up!"
"No, indeed!" answered Annie. "I'm so s'prised I don't know what to do."
But it was growing cold and the two children were forced to hurry along. They did
not say much as they hastened through the crowded streets but their hearts were dancing
with joy. When they at last reached home they rushed up the long tenement stairs and
stopped in the hall before their door. "Let's go to bed right now without opening our
bundles," said Maggie, "and then tomorrow morning we can wake up and have a s'prise
jest like we wuz rich children!" Annie agreed to this and the two chilren were soon fast
asleep in their small bed in the cold dark room.
On Christmas morning two children in a beautiful home on Madison Avenue were
dancing around their nursery full of happiness over the lovely presents that had been made
ready for them during the night. They had so many gifts that they never missed the two
presents they had given to the poor little sisters the night previous, until suddenly Bessie
clasped Mademoiselle Fifine in her arms and said:
"Oh, you clear French dollie, you are very beautiful, but I do not think you

--- 578

are nicer than the sweet little Japanese doll I saw in the shop window last night!" How
Mademoiselle Fifine would have liked to turn up her tiny aristocratic nose at this, but she
couldn't.
And Alice said, "Do you know, sister, it seems to me that this is the loveliest
Christmas we have ever had."
"I think it must be because we know that somewhere in this city there are two little
girls who are having a Christmas treat because of us."
 "It is quite true what mother taught us, that it is more blessed to give than to
receive."
Down in East Fourteenth Street two little sisters had slept all night cuddled close
together for warmth. Bright and early they waked up on Christmas morning and Maggie's
first words were:
"Annie, do you know I dremt that the little Japanese doll we saw in the toy store wus
in my bundle."
"That's queer, for I dremt that the messenger boy was in my package!" Then
Maggie got her package and sat up in bed, carefully undoing the wrappings of paper, until,
at last, smiling before her lay the little Japanese Lady! And Alice opened her parcel, and,
when the last paper had carefully been removed, there was the Messenger Boy all ready
to say "How do you do!"
How very happy our two little girls were! They got out of bed very softly, so as not
to disturb big sister, who was very tired from her night's work, and they danced around the
cold room, hugging their dollies and kissing each other and the dollies indiscriminately.
"This is the very bestest Chrissmus I ever had," said Maggie, at last.
"I only hope the two little rich girls have as nice a one," added Annie.
"I'm very glad we came here, aren't you?" softy called out the Messenger Boy to the
Japanese Lady.
"Yes, indeed, replied she. I'm sure these dear little girls will love us very much."
"And we are not separated," said the Messenger Boy.
The Japanese Lady did not reply to this, but she smiled very sweetly and twirled her
little fan.

--------------
--- 579

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATION

[[illustration]]
"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ,
Each age, each kindred adds a verse to it."

UNIVERSAL Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Humanity is an organization

established for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures.
This organization declares that Brotherhood is a fact in nature.
The principal purpose of this organization is to teach Brotherhood, demonstrate that
it is a fact in nature and make it a living power in the life of humanity.
The subsidiary purpose of this organization is to study ancient and modern religion,
science, philosophy and art; to investigate the laws of nature and the divine powers in
man.
This Brotherhood is a part of a great and universal movement which has been active
in all ages.
Every member has the right to believe or disbelieve in any religious system or
philosophy, each being required to show that tolerance for the opinions of others which he
expects for his own.
The Theosophical Society in America is the Literary Department of Universal
Brotherhood.
The International Brotherhood League is the department of the Brotherhood for
practical humanitarian work.
The Central Office of the Universal Brotherhood Organization is at 144 Madison
Avenue, New York City.*

-------------
* For further information address F. M. Pierce, Secretary, 544 Madison Avenue, New
York.
-------------

THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE *

(Unsectarian)

[[illustration]]

"Helping and sharing is what Brotherhood means."

This organization affirms and declares that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, and its
objects are:
1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their true
position in life.
2. To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal Brotherhood
and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for humanity.
3. To ameliorate the condition of unfortunate women, and assist them to a higher
life.
4. To assist those who are, or have been, in prison, to establish themselves in
honorable positions in life.
5. To endeavor to abolish capital punishment.
6. To bring about a better understanding between so-called savage and civilized
races, by promoting a closer and more sympathetic relationship between them.
7. To relieve human suffering resulting from flood, famine, war, and other calamities;
and generally to extend aid, help, and comfort to suffering humanity throughout the world.
It should be noted that the officers and workers of the International Brotherhood
League are unsalaried and receive no remuneration, and this, as one of the most binding
rules of the organization, effectually excludes those who would other-

------------
* Address all inquiries to H. T. Patterson, General Superintendent, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York.
------------
--- 580
wise enter from motives of self-interest.
None of the officers hold any political office, the League is not connected with any
political party or organization, nor has it any political character, it is wholly humanitarian and
unsectarian.
--------

The alterations referred to in last issue of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD as about

to be made in Headquarters are now nearly completed. The offices of the different
departments have all been renovated presenting a very bright and cheerful appearance.
The rooms formerly used by the Theosophical Publishing Company have been fitted
up for the private office of our Leader and for the Reference Library and Reading Room
and for the office of the Literary Department of the Universal Brotherhood Organization.
The Theosophical Publishing Company has moved downstairs to the front basement
and to the front office on the main floor (in the front part of Aryan Hall) which hitherto was
used by our Leader for her private office.
In every way the new arrangements will greatly facilitate the work of the various
departments.
We are all delighted to have with us now as Mother of the household, Mrs. L. E.
Kramer, who with her husband, J. O. K. Kramer, and her son Ernest Kramer have brought
such a home feeling into Headquarters that we are like a happy, united family.
On December 15, 16, 17, the H. P. B. Lodge, U. B. No. 10, held a bazaar in Aryan
Hall. It was throughout very successful and the entertainments on Thursday and Saturday
evenings were much enjoyed. The members of Aryan Lodge united with the H. P. B.
members in helping with the preparations and during the Bazaar. A large hamper of goods
was sent from Meriden, Conn., which had been contributed by members in Meriden,
Hartford and New Britain; a contribution of articles was also sent from Buffalo; these were
very much appreciated.
The H. P. B. Lodge is now entirely free from debt and enters upon the New Year
with fine prospects of success. Lately several new members have joined the Lodge; these
are active young workers and are enthusiastic to help the Cause.
Several of the small articles left over from the Bazaar were sent down to the East
Side Mission where a Christmas Tree is to be given to the children. Mrs. Kramer, Mrs.
Deen Hunt, and Bros. Leonard and Hecht are busy making preparations for this, and it is
being looked for to with great expectations by the children.
A Bazaar was also held December 15 and 16 by the U. B. Lodges in Boston in one
of the largest and best halls, centrally located on Tremont Street, the main business street
of the city. It was one of the most successful events of the kind held this year in Boston
and has brought excellent financial results.
In accordance with suggestions made some months ago by our Leader in this
magazine, the Sioux City Lodge of U. B. held a Bazaar with excellent results. Part of the
proceeds were taken for local work and part sent to the Central Office for the general work
of the organization. If all Lodges would carry out work of this kind, how they could build up
their local work and also help the Centre! Some of the other Lodges have reported work
in this direction, but we have not yet received details.
A concert was recently given in Providence, R. I., for the benefit of the War Relief
Fund of the I. B. L. It was well attended and successful.
 Frank C. Berridge of Victoria Lodge, B. C., writes Dec. 13th:
"We are having a Brotherhood concert here tonight and think it will be a great
success. We have started a Lotus Circle here at last and have ten children already. We
are to give them a Christmas Tree on New Year's Day. The Sunday evening public
lectures are well attended and we are getting along nicely in Victoria."
Lodge 70, U. B. (Chicago), held an entertainment Dec. 14th and realized a good
sum for the War Relief Fund. Bro. A. M. Smith writes: "Everything moves along well here.
Our members are very united and have fullest confidence in and sympathy with the Leader.
Our meetings are very well attended."
Letters from Dr. J. A. Anderson and Bros. Griffiths and Johnson give favorable
accounts of Lodge work in San Francisco, and of both the U. B. and the I. B. L. meetings.
Several new members have recently joined. The whole coast is looking forward to the U.
B Congress at Point Loma.

--- 581

Bro. Beckett sends good news from Toronto. All the members are active and desire
to still further aid the work and add to the success and solidarity of the movement.
The members of Universal Brotherhood will remember that soon after the last
Convention of February 18th some of the members of the Narada Branch of the
Theosophical Society in America, Tacoma, Wash., who did not accept the Universal
Brotherhood Constitution brought suit against the Tacoma U. B. Lodge to obtain
possession of the property of the Lodge. The case was non-suited and dismissed. They
then carried the case to the Supreme Court of Washington, and we have just received copy
of the judgment as follows:

Virginia Herman et al, Appellants,

vs.
Fred G. Plummer et al, Respondents.

PER CURIAM
The parties to this action were all, prior to March 3, 1898, members of the Narada
Theosophical Society of Tacoma, a branch of a national organization known as the
Theosophical Society in America. This local branch was an independent body, controlling
its own property and governing itself subject to the right of appeal to the executive
committee of the national body upon any disputed questions arising between the members.
The object of the present suit was to recover possession of certain property of the local
society, the appointment of a receiver and other relief, the action being mainly based upon
an alleged interference with the property rights of the plaintiffs as members of that Branch,
and their rights as members in various respects. At the close of plaintiffs' case, on the
evidence, a judgment of non-suit and dismissal was granted and the present appeal is from
that order and judgment.
We think the order was properly made. Section 18 of the By-Laws of the National
Society is as follows: "The Executive Committee shall be the Court of final appeal in
disputed questions arising between members or in and between branches." It is not
pretended that any effort was made by the plaintiffs to have the questions involved in the
present dispute determined by the committee mentioned in that section, and it is a well-
established principle applicable to controversies like the present that until the members
have exhausted their remedy within the society the Courts will not assume jurisdiction of
the controversy.
Oliver v. Hopkins, 10 N. E., 776;
Lafond v. Deems, 81 N. Y., 507;
Chamberlain v. Lincoln, 129 Mass., 70;
Watson v. Jones, 13 Wall, 679.
Appellants seek to justify their failure to resort to the committee contemplated by
section 18, supra, upon the ground that that section was in effect abolished by the action
of the national convention at a meeting in Chicago in February, 1898, which practically
adopted a new constitution. We think the argument advanced does not meet the objection.
Plaintiffs are contending that the action of the national convention was invalid, and if they
are right in that respect the constitution and by-laws of the old body are still in force. They
have no standing if such is not the fact, and if it is, then the remedy provided by section 18
would appear to be ample. But it does not appear that any effort has been made to obtain
within the Society a determination of the grievances, and even were it admitted that the
effect of the action of the national convention was to abolish the old constitution, it in
nowise follows that the by-laws theretofore adopted would also become ineffectual.
Section 18, supra, having been adopted for the government of the national body and its
branches, must be given effect until it is repealed either expressly or by necessary
implication. So that we think the learned trial judge was right in concluding that the Court
should not take jurisdiction of the case.
We think that we are right, too, in concluding that plaintiffs' evidence was insufficient
to establish any interference with their rights as members to the enjoyment of the property,
books, records, etc., of the local branch. In other words, plaintiffs failed to show that their
rights as members had been invaded. There was evidence by the officers of the local
branch tending to show that a conclusion had been reached by them not to enforce the
obnoxious resolutions previously passed, and that they construed

--- 582

them to be invalid. For these reasons we must conclude that the judgment was right and
we do not deem it proper to attempt at this time to determine whether the action of the
national convention was in effect an amendment of the old constitution and invalid because
adopted without previous notice to the local branches, or the adoption of a new constitution
which retained the spirit and essence of the old and included no new provisions
inconsistent with it and therefore within the right of the convention. At present an opinion
upon that important question would be at most mere dictum."
--------
On December 23d we were very glad to welcome back to America Brother A. E. S.
Smythe, of Toronto. Brother Smythe has been for some time in Ireland and brings
excellent and most encouraging reports of the work there and in England. Arrangements
have been made for him to take a lecturing tour and visit the Universal Brotherhood
Lodges, reaching Point Loma at the time of the annual Universal Brotherhood Congress.
He will be in New York about January 1st and will stay at Headquarters for a week or so
and then start on his tour. Brother Smythe is so well known throughout the country as
Editor of the Lamp and by his work in Toronto that he needs no introduction to the
members. Many have already heard him lecture and will remember him at the annual
conventions. Those Lodges who desire him to visit them should write at once to the central
office, so that the route can be laid out and all arrangements made.
It was originally intended and hoped that Bro. D. N. Dunlop would have made a
lecture tour, but as he would not be able to start until later, other arrangements had to be
made.
Letters from Liverpool report a very large Bazaar being held there by the members.
It is confidently expected that it will meet with much success and much interest has been
aroused in it. Bro. Herbert Crooke has been indefatigable in pushing forward the
preparations and Mrs. A. L. Cleather and Bro. Basil Crump who have just completed their
Home Crusade visit to Dublin will be there to help. A very beautiful and attractive
programme has been arranged.
Bro. Parsons in Vancouver, B. C., writes that the members are expecting a big step
forward for the work as a result of the U. B. Congress at Point Loma next April.
At Buffalo on the occasion of the performance of "Eumenides," some of the
Headquarters Staff had the pleasure recently of meeting Dr. and Mrs. McAlpin of Warren,
Pa. Their energies and interest in the work are unabated, and on his way back Bro.
McAlpin lectured in several places.
The Greek Play "Eumenides" was given in Buffalo in the Music hall, Dec. 3d, in the
afternoon and evening. Both performances were very successful. There were large and
very appreciative audiences, many well-known educationalists being present and
afterwards expressing their appreciation. After the performance our Leader was waited
upon by several prominent people and congratulated on the work of the Isis League of
Music and Drama. Since returning to New York our Leader has received a personal letter
from one of the Ministers of Buffalo expressing his pleasure at witnessing the performance
which he said was characterized by moral uplifting force and of more value than a sermon.
A very interesting letter has been received from Bro. St. Clair of New Zealand in
regard to work among the Maories. These people have made a great advance during the
past two years. The different tribes have united under their king and are reviving the
ancient customs of the race. Many are becoming interested in Brotherhood work and
evidence on every hand is perceived that the race is awakening to a new life.
- J. H. Fussell

------------------------

AUM

"The Theosophical ideas of charity mean personal exertion for others; personal
mercy and kindness; personal interest in the welfare of those who suffer; personal
sympathy, forethought and assistance in their troubles or needs." - H.P. Blavatsky, Key to
Theosophy
 "To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their true position
in life." - First Object of the International Brotherhood League

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIII February, 1899 No.
11
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HENRY CLAY
by Alexander Wilder, M .D.

THE illustration of "Henry Clay addressing Congress" exhibits, with almost the
exactness of portraits, the likeness of the prominent members of the American Senate at
that time. It is to be regretted that a key is not given, as several of them, and these not the
men of less importance, are not at this late period easily recognized. Yet as we look upon
their faces here delineated, we feel as it we had known them all.
Naturally our attention is first directed to the figure of the one addressing the Senate.
The United States will have to pass through another Civil War as destructive of former
memories as this one has been, before Henry Clay can be forgotten. Making his mark
upon the history, legislation and diplomacy of the country, that mark cannot be removed
except the heart of the Nation is torn out with it.
The presiding officer we recognize as Millard Fillmore, once a favorite son of New
York, and Vice-President in 1849 and 1850; then succeeding to the presidency at the
death of General Taylor. Growing up from poverty and his few opportunities, he became
an accomplished lawyer, a diligent legislator, and a statesman of recognized ability.
Comely of person, graceful in manner, and generous in his impulses, he was at the time
one of the most popular men of Western New York, and continued to be till he signed the
measure that operated more than any other to estrange the citizens of the Republic from
one another - the Fugitive Slave Act of 1851.
We also observe near the speaker General Lewis Cass, then the foremost man of
the Democratic Party, whose nomination for President in 1852 Mr. Clay desired and hoped
for as most likely to avert the crisis which he foresaw. He then lay dying, but to the last the
welfare of his Country was at his heart. But General Cass was passed over, and the
current moved with renewed force to the final event. For years as Senator and Cabinet
Minister he put forth his energy to arrest its progress, but was compelled to give way
overpowered.
On beyond is John C. Calhoun, with head bent forward, listening intently. His,
likewise, was a career of remarkable significance in the Nation. He had entered Congress
almost at the same time with Mr. Clay, and both in concert with Langdon Cheves and
William Lowndes, who seemed to have been elected for that purpose, put forth their utmost
efforts with success, to procure a declaration of war with Great Britain. The measure was
regarded essential to

--- 586
the continuance of the Republican Party in power, and Mr. Madison reluctantly acceded to
it, regretting his compliance soon afterward. The next turn of the wheel made Mr. Calhoun
a Cabinet Minister, and an aspirant for the presidency, for which he had the support of
Daniel Webster. Falling short of that ambition, he became the champion of State Rights
and nullification, bringing his native commonwealth to the verge of civil war, and himself
into personal peril. Thenceforth he set about educating his people for mortal conflict. The
attempt to add new territory to this country for the extending of the power of the Southern
as against the Northern States, had brought nearer the crisis which Mr. Clay was striving
to avert. It seems almost anachronism to place Mr. Calhoun in this picture, for he died in
1850.
Daniel Webster, however, is the figure soonest recognized. The artist has placed
him in a row a little way behind the orator, sitting in a thoughtful mood, but leaving us at a
loss to surmise whether he is attending to the subject under discussion, or meditating upon
some topic which he may esteem to be of profounder importance. He was translated to the
Cabinet a second time by President Fillmore, but found himself without supporters except
personal friends and admirers, and estranged from his political associates. He quickly
followed Mr. Clay to the grave in 1852.
The other faces in the picture seem familiar and are carefully depicted. We do not
find, however, the "new men" who had already come as precursors of the next epoch in
American history. John P. Hale and William H. Seward are left out, and we fail of finding
Daniel S. Dickinson, John Davis or Stephen A. Douglas. Those whom we do see there
were undoubtedly regarded as more notable, belonging as they did to an era that seems
to have passed almost completely into oblivion. For it is true however discreditable as it
may seem, that the events of that time and the men of that time are almost as little
cognized by Americans of the present generation as though they had been of the period
of Magna Charta and the Conference of Barons at Runnymede.
The war with Mexico resulting from the annexation of Texas in 1845, had effected
the addition of New Mexico and California to the jurisdiction of the United States.
Legislation was required to provide for the exigency. An issue had been introduced by the
"Wilmot Proviso," declaring that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime,
should exist in the new territory. This issue had decided the election of 1848 giving the
Whigs the National Administration. The organizing of Oregon with this inhibition had
created an alarm. There were fifteen states with slavery and fifteen without, so that each
region had an equal number of Senators. This arrangement was now imperilled. The
contest was very sharp. Mr. Clay apprehending danger to the Union, procured the
appointment of a joint Congressional Committee to devise measures of pacification. This
Committee reported what was known as the "Omnibus Bill," providing for the admission of
California as a State, the organization of territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico,
and more effective measures for the rendition of runaway slaves.
It is apparently in support of this measure that Mr. Clay is speaking. The prominent
senators, the supporters of this legislation, are listening. It may be well to add that it did
not pass in this form, but that the several propositions thus massed together, were
afterward enacted in separate bills.
Mr. Clay was always a conspicuous character in American History. His marked
personality, his impressive manner, his profound sincerity, his unquestioned patriotism, his
unblemished pub-
--- 587

[[portrait]]

--- 588

lic career, his loyal friendship, his ardent sympathy for the helpless and injured, all
combined to make him the idol of his party. He was like Agamemnon, a "king of men."
Even when defeated, he never lost prestige, but gained in the affection of those who knew
him. Ambitious, he certainly was, for he aspired to the chief office in the Republic, but he
stubbornly refused to employ unworthy means to secure the prize. When the place was
within his grasp, and his supporters were buoyant with assurance of success, he put it out
of his reach by exuberant frankness. Yet the disappointment never weakened his love of
country, and his last efforts were put forth to secure harmony in our public councils and to
preserve the Nation undivided.
He was the architect of his own fortunes. His early opportunities were limited, and
he had never been able to obtain a liberal education. His father was a Baptist preacher,
at that time of no account in Virginia, and there was no relationship with "first families."
Henry Clay was strictly of the people and a son of the people; his blood was intensely red,
without any tinge of patrician blue. Early left an orphan he ate the bread of poverty, and
at a tender age was taught to work for a livelihood, to plough, to dig and labor in the harvest
field. He was generally known in the region as "the Mill Boy of the Slashes." Fortunately
for him when he was fourteen years of age, his mother married a second husband, a man
quick to perceive the ability of the youth and to find him opportunity. He was placed for a
year in a retail store in Richmond, and afterward in the office of the clerk of the High Court
of Chancery.
A biographer describes him at this period as raw-boned, lank and awkward, with a
countenance by no means handsome, and dressed in garments homemade and ill-fitting,
with linen starched to such a stiffness as to make him look peculiarly strange and
uncomfortable. As he took his place at the desk to copy papers, his new companions
tittered at his appearance, and his blushing confusion. They soon learned to like him,
however, and he was found to be a faithful and industrious worker. He read incessantly
during his hours of leisure but unfortunately acquired a habit of cursory perusing, a
"skimming over" which he never conquered, and which seriously interfered with
thoroughness. This became afterward to him a source of profound regret.
His diligence at work attracted the attention of the Chancellor, George Wythe, who
selected him for amanuensis to write out and record the decisions of the Court. This was
the turning point of his career. Wythe was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and
member of the Convention that framed the Federal Constitution. He believed in what he
promulgated, emancipating his slaves and making provision for their subsisting. Thomas
Jefferson and John Marshall had been his students. The four years thus spent there
decided Clay to become a lawyer, and he entered the office of Robert Brooke the Attorney
General as a regular student. A year later he received the license to practice. At the age
of twenty he set out for Kentucky to seek his fortune, making his residence at Lexington
then styled "the literary and intellectual centre of the West."
He became, like all Southern men of note, a politician, and quickly gained distinction
as a speaker. In 1797 a Convention was held to revise the Constitution of the State, and
he labored assiduously, but without success to procure the adoption of a system of
emancipation. He saved his popularity, however, by vigorously declaring against the Alien
and Sedition Laws of Congress. So much easier is it to resent and deplore the wrongs that
others commit than to repent of those we commit ourselves.

--- 589

Mr. Clay was from this time a champion of the helpless and the wronged. It required
personal as well as moral courage. There were men in Kentucky who regarded themselves
as leaders in Society and above being held to account for unworthy and lawless acts.
Colonel Joseph Dayiess, then District Attorney of the United States and a Federalist,
perpetrated a brutal assault upon a private citizen. Everybody feared him but Mr. Clay. He
took the matter boldly up. Dayiess warned him to desist, but was unable to frighten him
even by a challenge to a duel. With like sentiment toward a man that he conceived to be
wronged, he became a defender of Aaron Burr, but on learning of deception he refused
further friendly relations.
After a period of service in the Legislature, Mr. Clay was chosen to fill an unexpired
term in the Senate at Washington and took his seat in December, 1806, when under thirty
years of age. He seems to have paid little heed to the unwritten law of reticence, but took
active part in speaking and legislating. He advocated the projects of a bridge across the
Potomac, and also roads and canals to facilitate communication between the Atlantic
Seaboard and the region west of the Allegheny Mountains. A monument near Wheeling
commemorates his support of the Cumberland Road.
Political opinions then current have a curious flavor now. Many questioned the
constitutionality of such legislation. The establishment of a Navy was opposed. The
Barbary States received tribute year by year for abstaining from piracy on American
Commerce. Great Britain, claiming to be mistress of the seas, took some six thousand
seamen from merchant vessels to serve in her Navy, and confiscated goods that were
shipped to European markets. France, likewise, issued decrees of forfeiture; and all the
defense attempted was an embargo forbidding American vessels to leave port. Spain
pretended that her possessions in West Florida extended to the Mississippi River, and the
Federalists in Congress denounced the action of President Madison to hold that region as
being a spoliation of a helpless and unoffending power.
Mr. Clay had just come again to the Senate. Although the youngest member he was
foremost in sustaining vigorous action. "I have no commiseration for princes," said he; "my
sympathies are reserved for the great mass of mankind, and I own that the people of Spain
have them most sincerely."
Then he turned upon the great sensitiveness exhibited toward Great Britain. "This
phantom has too much influence on the councils of the Nation," he declared. I most
sincerely desire peace and amity with England; I even prefer an adjustment of differences
with her before one with any other Nation. But if she persists in a denial of justice to us,
or if she avails herself of the occupation in West Florida to commence war upon us, I trust
and hope that all hearts will unite in a bold and vigorous vindication of our rights."
Mr. Clay next appears as Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1811. The
House was more to his liking than the Senate; it was at that time a debating body not
dominated as it is now by Committees appointed by the Presiding Officer. He was
vehement in demanding preparations for war with England, and talked of terms of peace
to be dictated at Halifax. The President was timid, and the North and East opposed; but
a declaration was made, and Mr. Madison proposed to make Mr. Clay Commander-in-chief.
This he declined. There was a likelihood of cabals in Congress like those which assailed
General Washington in the Revolution. The Navy saved the credit of the Nation, which the
Army failed to sustain, and with that it averted a peril of disunion.
Negotiations for peace were held at

--- 590

Ghent. Mr. Clay, as one of the Commissioners, yielded a reluctant consent to the treaty.
He would not visit England till he heard of the Battle of New Orleans, but he went to Paris.
In an interview with Madame de Stael, she spoke of the exasperation in England and
the serious intentions of sending the Duke of Wellington to America. "I wish they had," said
Clay. "Why?" she asked. "Because," said he, "If he had beaten us we should only have
been in the condition of Europe, without disgrace. But if we had been so fortunate as to
defeat him, we should have greatly added to the renown of our arms."
This conversation was repeated to the Duke, who at once remarked that he would
have regarded a victory over the Americans as a greater honor than any which he had ever
achieved. He also praised the American Peace Commissioners as having shown more
ability than those of England.
Henceforth, Mr. Clay remained in his own country. Mr. Madison tendered him the
mission to Russia but he declined. He then offered him the portfolio of the War
Department. But Mr. Clay chose rather to return to the House of Representatives and was
again elected Speaker.
He was now himself a leader; the men who had been at the head of the Republican
Party from the time of Washington, were passing from supremacy. The war had developed
new necessities and new views of political subjects, and new men were taking hold of
public service. What had been denounced in 1810 became the policy of 1816; the Federal
party passed away, for its leaders had offended the nation, and the new Republicans had
adopted their principal measures. We now find Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun still hand
in hand, with Daniel Webster the Union-lover and John Randolph the Union-hater in
opposition, and the President still holding the old traditions.
The conditions of affairs in South America was the occasion of a bill for more strict
enforcing of neutrality. Mr. Clay dissented from the measure. The ignorance and
superstition imputed to the people of the Spanish provinces, he insisted, was due to the
tyranny and oppression, hierarchic and political, under which they groaned. Their
independence was the first step toward improving their condition. "Let them have free
government if they are capable of enjoying it," said he; "but let them, at all events, have
independence. I may be accused of an imprudent utterance of my feelings on this
occasion. I care not. When the independence, the happiness, the liberty of a whole people
is at stake, and that people our neighbors, occupy a portion of the same continent, imitating
our example and participating of the same sympathies with ourselves, I will boldly avow my
feelings and my wishes in their behalf, even at the hazard of such an imputation."
He had exulted at the victory of New Orleans by a Western General in a Western
State. But when General Jackson in the Seminole War, enlisted volunteers again without
civil authority, invaded Florida, decoyed Indian Chiefs into his camp by a flag of truce and
put them to death, besides executing two British subjects, Mr. Clay denounced his acts as
a disregard of every principle of honor, humanity and justice. He was, however, again in
advance of popular sentiment.
The proposed admission of Missouri to the Union as a Slave State became an issue
for several years. It was a question whether there should continue as before an equal
number of Free and Slave States, so as to assure the latter a safeguard in the Senate. It
was interest on one side and sentiment on the other. The excitement was so intense as
to threaten the Union itself. Dissolution was actually considered. The matter

--- 591

was finally determined by a vote to admit Missouri but to exclude slavery from all the region
west of it and north of its southern boundary line. In this controversy Mr. Clay acted with
the Southern Congressmen, and by his sagacity as Speaker, the measure was made sure:
the conflict, however, to be again renewed a third of a century later, transforming the
politics of a Nation.
None of Mr. Clay's speeches on this question were published. He had been
constrained by the voice of his State and fears for the safety of the Union, but he was not
willing to appear before his countrymen and posterity in the lurid light of sustaining slavery.
The revolt in Greece enlisted the sympathy of all America. Meetings were held to
declare the prevailing sentiment. Albert Gallatin even proposed to aid with a naval force.
Mr. Webster offered a resolution in Congress authorizing a Commissioner to be sent to that
country. Mr. Clay supported the motion in his Demosthenean style. After portraying the
situation, he added the challenge: "Go home if you can; go home if you dare, to your
constituents, and tell them that you voted this proposition down; meet if you can, the
appalling countenances of those who sent you here, and tell them that you shrank from the
declaration of your own sentiments; that you can not tell how, but that some unknown
dread, some indescribable apprehension, some indefinable danger, drove you away from
your purpose; that the spectres of cimiters, and crowns, and crescents, gleamed before
you and alarmed you; and that you suppressed all the noble feelings prompted by religion,
by liberty, by national independence, and by humanity."
Mr. Clay had been already placed in the field as a candidate for President, and this
temerity astonished his supporters. He had enemies, likewise, to take advantage of his
excitable temper, to irritate him to personal altercation.
John Randolph was conspicuous. He taunted Mr. Clay for his defective education.
"I know my deficiencies," Mr. Clay replied. "I was born to no patrimonial estate; from my
father I inherited only infancy, ignorance and indigence. I feel my defects; but so far as my
situation in early life is concerned, I may without presumption say they are more my
misfortune than my fault."
There were no political parties in 1824; all were Republicans, and the contest was
simply between men. Mr. Clay was approached with propositions such as would now be
considered legitimate. He refused to enter into any arrangements or make any promise or
pledge. There was no choice effected by the Electors. In the Legislature of Louisiana,
advantage was taken of the absence of members to deprive him of the vote of that State.
He was thus deprived of the opportunity of an election by the House of Representatives.
It so happened, however, that the decision was in his hands, and he gave his vote to John
Quincy Adams. The two had differed widely and with temper, but of Mr. Adams' superior
fitness there was no possible question. In political matters he never rewarded a friend nor
punished an adversary. He administered every trust conscientiously. Mr. Clay became his
Secretary of State. It was an administration which the Nation would like to witness again.
The honor of the Nation was sustained; the country was prosperous beyond former
periods. What may now appear incredible, there were twenty-four states in the Union, yet
the public expenditures barely exceeded eleven million dollars a year.
The endeavor to effect a friendly alliance with the new Spanish-American Republics
was unsuccessful. When Bolivar wrote Mr. Clay a letter acknowledging his good offices,
he replied with a gentle remonstrance against the establishing of an arbitrary dictatorship.
He was disappointed in his hopes and ex-

--- 592

pectations. Mr. Adams had judged those men better than he. In diplomacy Mr. Clay aimed
at reciprocity in commercial matters. He advised the recognition of Hayti likewise, as a
sovereign State.
He also became one of the chief supporters of the African Colonization Society. He
believed it possible to remove a sufficient number of free negroes to reduce sensibly the
number of the colored population, and bring about gradual emancipation. "If," said he, "I
could be instrumental in eradicating this deepest stain upon the character of our country,
and removing all cause of reproach on account of it by foreign nations; if I could only be
instrumental in ridding of this foul blot that revered State that gave me birth, or that not less
beloved State which kindly adopted me as her son, I would not exchange the proud
satisfaction which I should enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever decreed to the most
successful conqueror."
In 1828 a new administration and a newly organized political party were chosen. Mr.
Clay returned to Kentucky. But defeat never lessened his hold upon his friends. In 1831
Daniel Webster, voicing the sentiment of them all, wrote to him: "We need your arm in the
fight. It would be an infinite gratification to me to have your aid, or rather your lead.''
Reluctantly he obeyed. He took his seat in the Senate more heartily welcomed by
his friends, more bitterly hated by his enemies, than ever before. From this time he was
more conservative. He was henceforth the opposer of aggression, the pacificator for the
sake of the Union.
He was again nominated for President by the Republicans in 1832. Some years
later the opposition united to form the Whig Party, but although he was its acknowledged
leader, the anti-masonic influence gave the nomination in 1840 to Gen. Wm. H. Harrison.
He was, however, again nominated in 1844 and apparently certain of election till a letter
was published in which he spoke of the proposed annexation of Texas in ambiguous terms
which disaffected anti-slavery voters enough to defeat him. He had retired from the Senate
two years before, but came back under the new administration. He foresaw peril to the
Republic, and now hoped to be able to stay the tide. But it was only temporary.
His personal appearance, as represented in the picture, was unique. He was tall
and thin, though muscular; and there was an entire absence of everything like stiffness or
haughtiness. His manner was cordial and kind, inviting rather than repelling approach. His
eyes were dark gray, small, and when excited they flashed with striking vividness. His
forehead was high and broad. His mouth was large, but expressive of genius and energy.
His voice was silvery, deep-toned, and exquisitely modulated. When speaking, he threw
his soul into the subject, carrying along the souls of the hearers, making them assent or
dissent as he did. He spoke as the patriot warrior of a thousand battles would speak; and
despite the enmity and rancor which pursued him with fiendish bitterness, the men opposed
to him mourned with his friends when he was no more a denizen of earth.

-------------
--- 593

RICHARD WAGNER'S PROSE WORKS

by Basil Crump

VOLUME I.
THE world knows Richard Wagner as a daring musical genius; a few know him as
a poet who wrote the poems for his own dramas; fewer still know him as a writer,
philosopher and mystic. His voluminous prose works are being translated into English by
Mr. W. Ashton Ellis, of the London branch of the Wagner Society, and the work will be
completed by the end of the century. When these writings become familiar to the reading
public, Wagner will be much better understood than he is now; the vast scope of his work,
and its harmonious relation to other universal schemes of work which make for the
elevation of the human race, will be more fully recognized. Then the narrow and ignorant
criticisms of a Nordau or a Tolstoi, will have no foothold in the mind of an enlightened
public.
In the previous series of articles entitled "Richard Wagner's Music Dramas," my
purpose was to throw some light on the inner meaning of those dramas. In doing this some
quotations were made from the prose writings, where Wagner has made actual
explanations or thrown out hints of his meaning. In dealing with the prose works
themselves, my aim will be to show the basis of Wagner's reform in the field of dramatic art,
and the great motives which led him to strike out a totally new path. And here at the outset
let me say that no brief review of these volumes can possibly convey any clear conception
of their contents; it will therefore be necessary to devote several of these articles to the
more important essays. The volume with which I am about to deal opens with an

AUTOBIOGRAPHIC SKETCH.
Wagner wrote this in 1843, at the request of a German editor. In it we see the
germs of his future genius, and I will select such details as serve to indicate them. Wilhelm
Richard Wagner was born at Leipzig on May 22, 1813, and learnt to play a little on the
piano at the age of seven. Two years later, when the family migrated to Dresden, he used
to watch Weber "with a reverent awe," as the composer of Der Freischutz passed to and
fro to rehearsals. Thereupon his piano exercises were speedily neglected in favor of the
overture to Der Freischutz executed "with the most fearful fingering."
"But this music-strumming was quite a secondary matter: Greek, Latin, mythology
and ancient history were my principal studies.'' At this time he wrote some prize verses on
the death of a schoolfellow. "I was then eleven years old. I promptly determined to
become a poet, and sketched out tragedies on the model of the Greeks." He also
translated twelve books of the Odyssey, and learnt English in order to study Shakespeare.
"I projected a grand tragedy which was almost nothing but a medley of Hamlet and King
Lear. The plan was gigantic in the extreme; two-and-forty human beings died in the course
of this piece, and I saw myself compelled in its working out to call the greater number back
as ghosts, otherwise I should have been short of characters for my last acts."
Being removed to the Leipzig Nikolaischule he there for the first time came into
contact with Beethoven's genius; "its impression upon me was overpowering. . .
Beethoven's music to Eg-

--- 594

mont so much inspired me, that I determined - for all the world - not to allow my now
completed tragedy to leave the stocks until provided with suchlike music. Without the
slightest diffidence, I believed that I could myself write this needful music, but thought it
better to first clear up a few of the general principles of thorough-bass. . . But this study did
not bear such rapid fruit as I had expected: its difficulties both provoked and fascinated
me; I resolved to become a musician."
Thus far we see the embryo poet-musician. In his sixteenth year the mysticism in
his nature was roused by a study of E. A. Hoffmann: "I had visions by day in semi-slumber,
in which the 'Keynote,' 'Third,' and 'Dominant' seemed to take on living form and reveal to
me their mighty meaning." These visions are curiously confirmed by the scientific
phenomena of Chladni's sand figures and the sound forms of Mrs. Watts Hughes. The fact
that sound is the means through which all form is produced is a very old teaching.
Pythagoras, who brought the art of music from India to Greece, taught that the Universe
was evolved out of chaos by the power of sound and constructed according to the
principles of musical proportion.
About this time Wagner seriously studied Counterpoint under Theodor Weinlig. In
less than six months he was dismissed as perfect. "What you have made by this dry
study," he said to his youthful pupil, "we call 'Self-dependence.'" In 1832 he composed "an
opera-book of tragic contents: Die Hochzeit"; his sister disapproved of the work and he
at once destroyed it, although some of the music was already written. Die Feen (The
Fairies) followed in the next year and was the first of his completed operatic works. At the
age of twenty-one he tells us: "I had emerged from abstract Mysticism, and I learnt a love
for Matter." The result was Das Liebesverbot founded on Shakespeare's Measure for
Measure, in which "free and frank physicalism" prevails over "Puritanical hypocrisy."
This wild mood soon ceased under the pressure of petty cares; in 1836 he married
the woman whose devotion helped him through so many years of bitter struggle. The
following year he began his first large work, Rienzi, and became musical director at the
Riga theatre. The poem was finished in 1838, and in 1839 when the music was nearly
completed, Wagner embarked with his wife and his beloved big dog on board a sailing ship
bound for London en route for Paris. His object was to get Rienzi performed there, but
despite the influence of Meyerbeer he was doomed to disappointment and found himself
stranded there in the utmost poverty. This, as we shall see from an essay later in the
volume, was the turning-point in his life; but we have now to consider the next essay, the
famous

ART AND REVOLUTION.

The main theme of this fine article is the relation of Art to the Universal Brotherhood
of Man. It is prefaced by an introduction written in 1872 which begins with Carlyle's
trenchant words on "that universal Burning-up, as in hell-fire, of Human Shams." Wagner
goes on to explain how the essay was written "in the feverish excitement of the year 1849."
This was the revolution which cost him so many years of painful exile at Paris and Zurich.
He says he was guided by an ideal which he thought of as "embodied in a Folk that should
represent the incomparable might of ancient brotherhood, while I looked forward to the
perfect evolution of this principle as the very essence of the associate Manhood of the
Future."
After some explanations of certain technical words which might be misunderstood,
Wagner introduces us to the essay itself. He begins by saying that the essence of Modern
Art is only a link

--- 595

in a chain of causes started by the Ancient Greeks. The Grecian spirit found its fullest
expression in the god Apollo: "It was Apollo, - he who had slain the Python, the dragon of
Chaos . . . who was the fulfiller of the will of Zeus upon the Grecian earth; who was, in fact,
the Grecian people." Proceeding then to connect Dance and Song, as inseparable
elements in early Greek Art, he says: "Thus, too, inspired by Dionysus,"* the tragic poet
saw this glorious god; when to all the rich elements of spontaneous art . . he joined the
bond of speech, and concentrating them all into one focus, brought forth the highest
conceivable form of art - the DRAMA.
That this Drama was a religious teacher connected with the Mysteries is very clearly
brought out, and Wagner draws a fine picture of one of those great sacred days when thirty
thousand people assembled to witness "that most pregnant of all tragedies, the
Prometheus; in this titanic masterpiece to see the image of themselves, to read the riddle
of their own actions, and to fuse their own being and their own communion with that of their
god."
How fell this glorious Tragedy? "As the spirit of Community split itself along a
thousand lives of egoistic cleavage, so was the great united work of Tragedy disintegrated
into its individual factors." For two thousand years since then Art has given way to
Philosophy; but "True Art is highest freedom" and can only arise out of freedom.
Then follows a splendid description of the brutal materialism of the Romans which
hangs to this very day like a pall about her ruins: "They loved to revel

------------
* Dionysos was the productive or bountiful power of Nature, and the earlier and pure
conception of him was a beauteous but manly figure, attended by the Graces and presiding
over dramatic representations of Nature's mysteries. It was only in later times that he
appeared as Bacchus, the God of wine and intoxication, attended by Bacchantes, and
presiding over sensual and drunken orgies.
------------
in concrete and open bloodthirstiness." Mutual slavery of Emperor and people was the
result, and "self-contempt, disgust with existence, horror of community" found their
expression in Christianity. But this Christianity of Constantine Wagner is careful to
distinguish from the teaching of "the humble son of the Galilean carpenter; who, looking
on the misery of his fellowmen, proclaimed that he had not come to bring peace, but a
sword into the world; whom we must love for the anger with which he thundered forth
against the hypocritical Pharisees who fawned upon the power of Rome; ... and finally who
preached the reign of universal human love." In short, one might say that Jesus and his
teaching stood in the same relation to the later Christianity as Dionysus and the early pure
mysteries to the later degraded and materialized Bacchic mysteries.
Then in a very fine passage Wagner indicts Modern Art, based, as it is, on fame and
gain and serving all the lower needs of a debased public taste. The Drama is separated
into Play and Opera; the one losing its idealizer - Music, - the other, its dramatic aim and
end: "What serves it us, that Shakespeare, like a second Creator, has opened for us the
endless realm of human nature? What serves it, that Beethoven has lent to Music the
manly, independent strength of Poetry? Ask the threadbare caricatures of your theatres,
as the street-minstrel commonplaces of your operas: and ye have your answer!"
Think of it! This was written half a century ago, and in spite of it the Music Hall more
than ever sways the masses, and the cheap inanities of the comic opera are the rage with
the rest of the community. I shall review the remainder of this essay in the next article.

(To be continued)
--------------
--- 596

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE

IV. POET, DIPLOMAT, TRAVELER

LAMARTINE spent two winters at Paris after the Restoration. His former
acquaintances were scattered, and he had new ones to make. He was for a time solitary
and little occupied. He was, nevertheless, resolute in his quest for an opening into public
life. His friend Virieu and others introduced him to persons of distinction and one step led
presently to another. The passion for literature served to place him on a friendly footing
with others of similar tastes, and he became able after a while to enumerate among his
acquaintances Chateaubriand, the "Napoleon of French Literature," Lamennais, the French
Savonarola, Rocher, Aime Martin, De Vigny.
The epoch of the Restoration was also the epoch of the Revival of Letters in France.
The Revolution had sent scholars and literary men to the scaffold or driven them into exile,
and Bonaparte had attempted to level all learning and philosophic culture to the plane of
physical and mathematical science. Whatever might elevate the human soul was not
tolerated. He aspired to restore the Sixteenth century at the end of the Eighteenth and
required literature to be adapted to that end.
Louis XVIII. was always broad and liberal in his sentiments, and even before the
Revolution he had cherished familiar relations with literary men and men of learning. His
long term of enforced leisure, during his absence from France, and a weakness in his limbs
which compelled him to sedentary life, had tended to deepen his interest in such pursuits.
He was emphatically a king of the fireside.
The emigrants that returned with him to France, had but imperfectly apprehended
the change. Those most bigoted formed a coterie around the Count D'Artois; others
endeavored to qualify the action of the King. Hence the court was a combination of old
royalty with a new order of things.
A galaxy of stars of the first magnitude was now shining in France. Naturally
Lamartine was dazzled by them when he came to Paris. Observing that several young
men were recognized in the literary world, he again cherished the notion of publishing.
While himself without employment he conceived the plan of a long poem and
actually wrote several cantos. It was to be the history of a human soul and its migrations
through successive terms of existence and forms of experience till its eventual reunion to
the Centre of the Universe, God.
He also projected and began several other compositions. He labored incessantly
to perfect his style, till it became, though diffuse, a model of elegance, energy and
correctness.
He had from time to time written verses to which he gave the title of Meditations.
Friends slyly pilfered these, and gave copies to ladies of their acquaintance. These passed
from hand to hand till they came to the table of Talleyrand himself. The prince greatly
admired them and his praises were repeated to the Marquise de Raigecourt. This lady had
been an intimate friend of the Princess Elizabeth. Lamartine had been introduced to her
by the Count de Virieu, and she took a motherly interest in his welfare. Yet he could not
bring

--- 597

himself to go to the Court. "I was born wild and free," he says for himself, "and I did not like
to bend down in order to rise."
From 1815 to 1818 when at home, he composed several tragedies - Medee, one
relating to the Crusades, and Saul. He had a hope that by them he might gain some
celebrity and perhaps contribute something to the fortune of his parents and sisters. He
completed them in the spring of 1818, and having copied them in a plain hand hurried with
them to Paris. He solicited an interview with Talma who granted it at once.
On invitation, he read extracts from the tragedy entitled Saul. The great tragedian
listened attentively, and was for some time silent. His first words were: "Young man, I
have desired to know you for twenty years. You would have been my poet. But it is too
late. You are coming to the world and I am going from it."
He then requested Lamartine to tell him frankly, as a son to a father, his personal
history, his family relations, and his wishes.
This he did and told how he had desired to work, to come out of his obscurity, to
produce something that would be an honor to the name of his father and a comfort to the
heart of his mother. He had thought of Talma. He had written several tragedies, of which
this was a specimen.
"Will you be good enough," he implored, "to hold out your hand and help me
succeed by the stage?"
Tears stood in Talma's eyes. He praised the work, and declared that in the reign of
Louis XIV. it would have won applause. But now, tragedy had been superseded, in general
estimation, by the drama. He counseled Lamartine to study Shakespeare, to forget art and
study nature.
When Lamartine came again to Paris the next winter, he asked him to write for the
stage. But Lamartine coveted a public rather than a literary career, and applied to M.
Pasquier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for a diplomatic appointment.
He was now present at the salons or drawing-room parties of the Duchess de
Raigecourt, the Duchess de Broglie, Madame de Stael's daughter, Madame de Ste.
Aulaire, Madame de Montcalm, the sister of the Duke de Richelieu. At these he was
introduced to persons of distinction. Madame de Sainte Aulaire, who had a divining faculty
for discerning young persons who were destined to achieve a career, took a warm interest
in his behalf. She invited him to read several pages of his unpublished verses, and
afterward encouraged him to print them. He was then recovering from a severe illness.
Booksellers, however, objected to the novelty of the style, and he was able only by
obstinate perseverance to induce one to undertake the risk.
Now Lamartine was harassed by a new apprehension. The book, whether it broke
like an egg by falling to the ground, or proved a successful venture, was liable, although
anonymous, to be a source of perplexing complications. The notion of specialties in work
was current, and the fact of being an author arid writer of verses, might be an obstacle to
his hopes.
Madame de St. Aulaire was a relative of the minister, M. Decazes. She and her
husband put forth their influence with the Government in his behalf.
About the same time, M. Jules Janin, then at the beginning of his career, finding a
copy of the Meditations at a bookstore, purchased it out of curiosity. He found to his
astonishment, a new style of poetry; that it admirably depicted the sentiments of the soul
and passions of the heart, the joys of earth and the ecstasies of heaven, the hopes of the
present and apprehensions of the future. He wrote a long review, which served to arouse
the attention of the literary and book-reading public and to create a

--- 598

prodigious demand. Forty-five thousand copies were sold in the next four years, and its
author was speedily ranked with Byron, Goethe and Chateaubriand, then the distinguished
poets of the period. He had originated a new style of poetry.

DAY-BREAK OF FORTUNE
Meanwhile Lamartine was sadly awaiting events at his modest quarters and fearing
for the fate and effects of his little publication. As he was in bed one morning in the first
month of spring, the janitor's daughter, a girl of twelve or fourteen years, opened the door
of the room. It was too early for the morning newspaper. Smiling intelligently, she threw
on the bed a little billet having an enormous seal of red wax. There was upon it, Lamartine
remarks, "an imprint of a coat of arms that ought to be illustrious, for it was
undecipherable."
"Why do you smile so knowingly, Lucy?" he asked, as he broke the seal and tore off
the envelope.
"Because," said she, "mamma told me that the letter had been brought in the early
morning by a chasseur all laced with gold, having a beautiful feather in his hat, and that he
had urgently desired that the note should be delivered to you as soon as you awoke,
because his mistress had told him: 'Go quickly; we must not delay the joy and perhaps the
fortune of the young man.'"
There were two separate epistles. One was written by the Polish Princess T--- .
She was a sister of the unfortunate Prince Poniatowski who was drowned while directing
the retreat at the battle of Leipsic. Lamartine did not know her and the letter was not
addressed to him but to M. Alain, his friend and physician. M. Alain had been for six years
the physician and friend of M. de Talleyrand, and during Lamartine's illness he had cared
for him like a mother rather than as a medical attendant. He is depicted as being as tender
as learned. Lamartine describes him as most true, good, and generous.
The letter of the princess had been written and despatched before daybreak, and
was as follows: - "The Prince de Talleyrand sent me at my waking this note. I address it
for your friend, in order that the pleasure which this impression of the great judge will bring
you shall be doubled. Communicate this note of the Prince to the young man* and thank
me for the pleasure which I am giving you, for I know that your sole delight is in the joy of
those whom you love."
Lamartine opened the second note. It was written upon a scrap of paper about five
fingers in dimension, spotted with ink, and in a hand evidently hurried and showing signs
of fatigue from want of sleep. It began as follows: "I send you, princess, before I go to
sleep the little volume which you lent me last night. Let it suffice you to know that I have
not slept, and that I have been reading till four o'clock in the morning so as to read it over
again."
The rest of the note was a prediction of Lamartine's success, in terms of the most
fulsome character. Talleyrand was often oracular, and his foreknowledge seemed almost
infallible.** "The soul of the old man has been said to be of ice," Lamartine remarks, "but
it glowed all one night with the enthusiasm of twenty years, and this fire had been kindled
by certain pages of verses which were by no means complete but which were verses of
love."
I read the letter of Prince Talleyrand twenty times over," says Lamartine. "The
young girl meanwhile was waiting and watching me as I read and read again, and she
blushed with emotion as she beheld it in my face. 'Come, my little Lucy, and let me kiss
you,' said I.

--------------
* Talleyrand did not know Lamartine at this period. When some of his verses were
recited to Lameunnais he sprang from his chair, exclaiming, "Eureka! we have found a
poet!"
** Edward Gibbon, the historian, who had known Lamartine's mother in her girlhood,
spent a year at a house near her residence. He greatly admired the child Alphonse and
predicted his future career.
--------------
--- 599

'You will never bring me a message equal to this. In the lottery of glory children draw the
successful lots. Tell your mother that you have brought me a quine.'" *
Lamartine's book was thus placed in the lottery of fortune, and the name of
Talleyrand had been called. The great statesman was not in public life at that time, but he
was far-seeing, and his scent of public matters was well-nigh infallible. He had no interest
to flatter the unknown writer, and Lamartine accepted his assurances as a favorable
augury.
Surely enough, little Lucy, a quarter of an hour later, brought another letter in a large
official envelope. Lamartine's friends had been successful in their pleadings, and this was
his nomination, signed by M. Pasquier, to the post which he desired on the Legation to
Florence.
At the reading of this document, Lamartine was for a time unable to restrain his
emotions. He leaped down from the bed, he tells us, and in other ways exhibited his
delight. He was not content, however, to exult in his actual good fortune, but immediately
began to extend his imagination further.
"I experienced what the shackled courser does when the course is opened," says
he. "I had little mind for the glory of verses, but I did have an unbounded passion for
political activity. Already I began to look beyond the long years that separated me from the
tribune and field of higher statesmanship.
"This was my true and entire vocation, although my friends think and my enemies
say otherwise. I felt that mine was not the powerful creative organization that constitutes
great poets; all my talent was of the heart only. But I did feel in me an accuracy of view,
an effective power of reasoning, an energy of honest principle, which make statesmen. I
had

------------
* The concierges and porters at the large mansions in France were allowed to keep
a lottery. A quine consisted of five prizes.
------------

somewhat of the quality of Mirabeau in the reserved mental forces of my being. Fortune
and France have since decided otherwise. But Nature knows more than Fortune and
France; the one is blind, the other is jealous."
Nevertheless, Lamartine continued to write verses, and his prose publications are
more or less interspersed with poetic productions. He praised his friends, he
commemorated those whom he loved in poems. Years afterward in his story of his journey
to the Holy Lard, he made this declaration: "Life for my mind has always been a great
poem, as for my heart it has been love. GOD, LOVE, and POESIE, are the three words
which I shall desire to be engraved alone upon my monument if I ever deserve a
monument."
While he was sitting in a mystic reverie one evening at Florence, he heard a
melodious voice murmur in his ear some lines from the Meditations, which are rendered
as follows:

"Perchance the future may reserve for me

A happiness whose hope l now resign:
Perchance amid the busy world may be
Some soul responsive still to mine."
 He was also a member of the Legation to England and afterward became Secretary
to the French Embassy at Naples. In 1824 was appointed Charge d'Affaires to Tuscany,
and remained in that position five years. He made the acquaintance of Louis Bonaparte,
the former King of Holland, who was a scientist and philosopher rather than a statesman.
Queen Hortense also attempted to have an interview with him, but this he carefully evaded.
His mother, however, was a relative of the wife of Lucien Bonaparte and he met several
members of that family under circumstances somewhat romantic. Pierre Bonaparte was
with him at Paris in the Revolution of 1848.
His older uncle died in 1823, and he became heir of the estates. This uncle was
known as M. de Lamartine de Mon-

--- 600

ceau and was by seniority the head of the family. He had never married because his
parents opposed the choice he had made. He was thrifty and had increased the value of
his property. Lamartine now took his uncle's designation.
The marriage of Lamartine took place during this period. The bride was Miss
Marianne Birch, an English lady of beauty and fortune. She was of amiable disposition and
Lamartine's mother became warmly attached to her.
Neither the accession of wealth, his aristocratic rank, nor diplomatic engagements
deterred him from literary composition. In 1823 the Nouvelles Meditations were published,
and two years later, The Last Canto of Childe Harold. Lamartine afterward described this
latter work as a servile imitation in which his enthusiasm as a copyist and its success were
alike "mediocre" - a punishment for feigning an admiration which was not altogether
sincere. He had, likewise, another penalty to encounter. Two lines in it are versified in
English as follows:

"I seek elsewhere (forgive, O Roman shade!)

For men, and not the dust of which they're made."

For this apparent slur he was involved in a controversy leading to a duel and
dangerously wounded. At his solicitation to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, his antagonist,
Colonel Pepe, was not prosecuted.
Louis XVIII. was succeeded in 1824 by the Count d'Artois as Charles X. The
attempt was now made to reinstate the Government as it existed before the Revolution.
In 1829, at the instance of Chateaubriand, then a member of the Coalition Ministry,
Lamartine was recalled. He never ascertained the reason, but attributed it to the influence
of Madame Recamier, with whom Chateaubriand was intimate. That lady, however, took
an early opportunity to set the matter right by visiting the mother and sisters of Lamartine
and inviting him and them to a drawing-room entertainment.
The reactionist Ministry under M. de Polignac was formed in the autumn of that year.
It was the final separation of the men of the former century from the men of the time. A
portfolio was offered to Lamartine but declined. He was attached to the dynasty, but he
had the prescience of its overthrow. "I had seen it coming from afar," says he. "Nine
months before the fatal day, the fall of the new monarchy had been written for me in the
names of the men whom it had commissioned to carry it on."
 He was sent on a special mission to Prince Leopold, then Duke of Saxe-Cobourg,
and afterward King of Greece;* and had received the appointment of ambassador to that
country when the Revolution of July overthrew the dynasty. The ministry of Louis-Philippe
then offered him his choice of the embassies to Vienna and London. The King visited him
to solicit his acceptance, but he was inexorable. The title of Louis-Philippe was legally
defective; he was not the next heir to the throne, and he had not been placed on it by the
choice of the people of France. For these reasons it was important to him that the
supporters of Charles X. should accept places under him and thus strengthen his
pretensions. But says Lamartine: "One should not take part gratuitously in a fault which
he did not himself commit."
M. de St. Aulaire was at that time Minister at Vienna, but greatly desired to be
transferred to England. He also waited upon Lamartine, anxious to find out which place he
was going to accept. Lamartine quickly assured him.
"If," said he, "I had the ambition to be ambassador to London, I would instantly
sacrifice it without hesitation, in remembrance of the good offices which

-----------
* Leopold declined the crown of Greece and became the King of Belgium.
-----------
--- 601

you did to me at the time of my entrance into the great world. But you can go to London
without any indebtedness to me, except good will."
The same year Lamartine was elected one of the "Immortals," in the French
Academy.
The same year he visited England. He there made the acquaintance of Talleyrand.
The old statesman received him cordially, and in one interview predicted his career.
Lamartine, he remarked, was reserving himself for something more sound and grand than
the substituting of an uncle for a nephew upon a throne that had no stable foundation.
"You will succeed in it," he added. Nature has made you a poet; poetry will make you an
orator; tact and thinking will make you a statesman. I know men somewhat; I am eighty
years old. I see farther than the objects in sight. You are to have a grand part to perform
in the events which will succeed to the present state of affairs. I have witnessed the
intrigues of Courts; you will see the movements of the people deceptive in other ways. Let
verses go; you know that I adore yours. They are not for the age in which you are now
living. Improve yourself in the grand eloquence of Athens and Rome. France will yet have
scenes like those of Rome and Athens in her public places."
From this period Lamartine spent much of his time abroad. He never forgot that he
was a citizen of France, but he entertained a strong dislike for the Orleans dynasty. Yet
his mother had been educated in the family with the King, and this somewhat increased his
perplexity.
He writes of her death pathetically, as the saddest event of his life. He had been
loved and cherished by her with a devotion made sublime by its absolute self-abnegation.
His first lessons in books and knowledge had been given by her, and he was endowed
personally with her most prominent characteristics. She had seemed to know instinctively
when and why he suffered, and she possessed a power of divination to foresee his career.
Her death, the result of a terrible accident, was to him like the rending violently away of a
vital part of his body.
"I hardly thought that I could survive the shock," he wrote in the Souvenirs. "I was
absent from home when the accident occurred which cut short her days. I came back in
haste, arriving in time to follow the coffin in which her remains were enshrouded, to the
cemetery of the village where we had lived during our infancy.''
The weather was bitterly cold, but this he did not feel. He returned to the house at
Milly, now empty for the winter and a thousand times more empty since she who had given
it life and soul was sleeping the eternal sleep. Overcome by his grief, he made his way to
the little room where the papers of the family were kept, and threw himself down on the
floor. There he lay for hours in an ecstasy of woe. The moaning of the wind and the ticking
of the clock seemed to be repeating the funeral hymn.

JOURNEY TO THE EAST.

One desire that the mother of Lamartine had instilled into him was that of visiting the
East. As she read to him, a boy of eight years, from the Bible about the places where
wonderful events had taken place, he resolved that he would some time behold them with
his own eyes. Now that he was disengaged from public life there was an opportunity.
There was much, however, to persuade him to remain at home; his father and sisters, and
besides, he had a beautiful residence at Saint-Point with a wife and daughter to whom he
was fondly attached. But he felt that imagination had likewise its necessities and passions.
"I was born a poet,'' he pleads. "When young, I had heard the word of Nature, the
speech which is formed of

--- 602

images and not of sounds. I had even translated into written language some of those
accents that had stirred me, and that had in their turn stirred other souls. But these accents
did not now satisfy me."
"Besides, I was, I had almost always been, a Christian in heart and in imagination;
my mother had made me such.'' This pilgrimage though not as of the Christian, at least of
the man and the poet, would delight her in the celestial abode where he saw her, and she
would be to them as a second Providence between them and dangers.
His duty to his country was likewise considered. He had sacrificed to it this dream
of his for sixteen years. There was need for heaven to raise up new men; the present
politics made man ashamed and angels weep. "Destiny gives an hour in a century for
humanity to be regenerated; that hour is a revolution; and men let it pass to tear one
another to pieces: thus they give to revenge the hour given by God for their regeneration
and progress."
All was duly made ready for the journey. He set sail from Marseilles, in the brig
Alceste, on the eleventh of July, 1832, expecting to be absent two years. His wife and
daughter and three friends, one of them a physician, composed the party. The voyage was
full of incident, and his journal abounds with adventures and predictions. Lamartine was
what imaginative persons term a visionary. He was really oriental and tropical in
temperament, and ready to catch the spirit of the region to which he was sailing; for Syria,
Arabia and Palestine have always been renowned for mystics, seers and prophets.
 As the vessel passed the coast of Tunis, he wrote his impressions. He had never
loved the Romans nor taken the least interest in behalf of Carthage; but he sympathized
with Hannibal. "I love or I abhor, in the physical sense of the word," says he. "At first sight,
in the twinkling of an eye, I have formed my judgment of a man or woman for always." He
adds that "this is the characteristic of individuals with whom instinct is quick, active,
instantaneous, inflexible. What, it will be asked, what is instinct? It is to be cognized as
the highest reason - the innate reason, the reason that does not argue, the reason such as
God has made and not what man finds out. It strikes us like the lightning without which the
eye would have difficulty of searching it out. It illuminates everything at the first flash. The
inspiration in all the arts, as upon the field of battle, is as this instinct, this reason that
divines. Genius also is instinct and not logic and labor."
Nevertheless he sets aside much that is often regarded as original, or inspired. This
utterance is fit for the book of Ecclesiastes: "There is nothing new in nature and in the arts.
Everything that is now being done has been done before; everything that is said has been
said already; everything that is thought has been thought. Every century is the plagiarist
of another century; for all that we are so much, artists or thinkers, perishable or fugitive,
we copy in different ways from one immutable and eternal model, - nature, the thought, one
and diverse, of the Creator."
He had little to say in favor of the Greeks. "For me " says he, "Greece is like a book
the beauties of which are tarnished, because we have been made to read it before we were
able to understand it. Nevertheless, the enchantment is not off from everything. There is
still an echo of all those great names remaining in my heart. Something holy, sweet,
fragrant, mounts up with the horizons in my soul. I thank God for having seen, while
passing by this land, the country of the Doers of Great Deeds, as Epaminondas called his
fatherland."
He felt keenly a sense of isolation that he had no one to participate in these
sentiments. "Always," says he, "when

--- 603

a strong impression stirs my soul I feel the necessity to speak or to write to some one of
what I am experiencing, to find in some degree a joy from my joy, an echoing of that which
has impressed me. Isolated feeling is not complete: man has been created double. Ah!
when I look around there is yet a void. Julia and Marianne fill everything for themselves
alone; but Julia is still so young that I tell her only what is suited to her age. It is all future;
it will soon be all present for us; but the past, where is it now?
"The person who would have most enjoyed my happiness at this moment, is my
Mother. In everything that happened to me, pleasant or sad, my thought turns involuntarily
to her. I believe I see her, hear her, talk to her, write to her. One who is remembered so
much is not absent; whoever lives so completely, so powerfully in ourselves is not dead
for us."
"Empty dream! She is there no more; she is dwelling in the world of realities; our
vagrant dreams are no more anything to her; but her spirit is with us, it visits us, it follows
with us, it protects us: our conversation is with her in the eternal regions."
He goes on to describe his condition.
"Before I had reached the age of maturity I had lost the greater part of those here
below whom I most loved, or who most loved me. My love-life had become concentrated;
my heart had only a few other hearts to take voyage with. My memory had little more than
graves where it might rest here in the earth; I lived more with the dead than with the living.
If God were to strike two or three of his blows around me, I feel that I would be detached
entirely by myself, for I would contemplate myself no more. I would love myself only in the
others; and it is only there that I can love."
"One begins to feel the emptiness of existence from the day when he is no more
necessary to anybody, from the hour when he can no more be dearly loved. The sole
reality here below, I have always felt, is love, love under all its forms."
"To us poets, beauty is evident and perceptible; we are not beings of abstraction,
but men of nature and instinct; so I have traveled many times through Rome; so I have
visited the seas and the mountains; so I have read the sages, the historians and the poets;
so have I visited Athens."
On the fifth of September the brig arrived at Bayreuth. Lamartine engaged a house
for the season and established his family there while he traveled over the country. He had
for a long time entertained grave doubts of his daughter's health, and had brought her with
him in the hope that a residence in Syria would restore her.
Ibrahim Pacha was at this time making his conquests, and at his orders, the French
travelers were everywhere received with courtesy and the most generous hospitality.
The heat was too great for setting out at once, so Lamartine addressed a letter to
Lady Hester Stanhope, asking permission to visit her. This lady had been the confidential
secretary of her uncle, William Pitt, the famous minister, and was supposed to be betrothed
to Sir John Moore. After their deaths she left Europe and made her home in the East. She
had gained a certain authority over many of the Arabian chiefs who venerated her as an
inspired person. She received Lamartine cordially, saying that their stars were friendly and
in concurrence. He declined her offer to cast his horoscope or to have any discussion on
matters of religion. "God alone possesses the truth," said he, "we have only faith."
"Believe what you please," said she. "You are one of those men nevertheless that
I expected, whom Providence has sent to me, and who have a grand part to perform in the
work which is preparing.

--- 604

You will shortly go back to Europe; Europe is finished. France alone has as yet a grand
mission to fulfill, and you will participate in it, I know not how."
She added that he had four or five stars, and explained further: "You ought to be
a poet; that is legible in your eyes and the upper part of your countenance. Lower down
you are under the influence of different stars that are almost in opposition; there is an
influence of energy and activity."
She asked his name; she had never heard it before. She predicted that he would
soon return to Europe, but would come back to the East, insisting that it was his fatherland.
He acknowledged that it was the fatherland of his imagination.
Lamartine and his friends were hospitably entertained but she would not regard his
departure as being more than for a season.
Forming a caravan at Bayreuth he set out on the eighth of October. At Jaffa or
"Yaffa," the governor had received letters from Mehemet Ali and Ibrahim Pacha, then
masters in the East, commanding all the officials to aid him in his journey, to furnish
escorts, and to supply him with every convenience that he required. When the caravan
reached the "village of Jeremiah" it was met by Abu Gosh, the brigand chief. He demanded
of Lamartine whether he was the Frank Emir, whom his friend, Lady Stanhope, the Queen
of Palmyra, had placed under his protection, and in whose name had sent him the
magnificent garment of cloth of gold in which he was then arrayed. Lamartine knew nothing
of the gift but assured the chief that he was the man.
Abu Gosh at that time had the whole region of Southern Palestine in subjection clear
to Jericho. He now provided a strong guard for the caravan.
Lamartine found no difficulty in identifying the places around Jerusalem. "Almost
never," says he, "did I encounter a place or object the first sight of which was not to me as
what I remembered. Have we lived twice or a thousand times? Is our memory simply an
impression that has been obscured, which the breath of God brings out again vividly? Or
have we a faculty in our imagination to anticipate and perceive in advance before we
actually do behold?"
The monks of the Convent of St. John the Baptist, in the wilderness of that name,
received the travelers with sincere cordiality. Lamartine left there a part of his caravan,
going on only with the Arabian and Egyptian guard. They confined their movements to
visiting places in the suburbs, made historic by traditions of the New Testament.
He pays a deserved tribute to the Turks for their management of the "Holy
Sepulchre." Instead of destroying it, they had preserved everything, maintaining strict
police regulations, and a silent reverence for the place which the Christians were far from
manifesting. While the intolerance of the various sects would lead the triumphant party to
exclude its rivals from the place, the Turks are impartial to them all.
The Mussulmans are the only tolerant people, he stoutly affirms. Let Christians ask
what they would have done if the fortunes of war had delivered to them the City of Mecca
and the Kaaba.
On the thirtieth of October, the caravan set out for the river Jordan and the Dead
Sea. On returning to the neighborhood of Jerusalem, Lamartine received a letter from his
wife that determined him to forego the extending of his journey into Egypt. He went back
to Bayreuth, arriving the fifth of November.
Autumn in that country has the warmth, the renewing of vegetation and other
conditions, like spring in the northerly climates of the temperate zone. Lamartine had
purchased Arab horses of superb quality while in Palestine, and

--- 605

one for his daughter. It was at the end of November that he took her out for her first
excursion with the animal. The air was exhilarating and the mountain scenery in its most
attractive guise. In an ecstasy of excitement the young girl declared it the longest, most
beautiful, most delightful ride that she had ever taken.
It was also the last. On the second of December she was taken suddenly ill and
died the next day. The parents were overwhelmed with grief. The last hope of their house
was thus cut off in the glad days of adolescence.
They remained at Bayreuth through the winter. On the fifteenth of April they set out
for their return homeward and sailed for Constantinople.
 Lamartine interspersed his narrative of this voyage with reflections upon what he
observed and meditated. "I would like to sail all the while," says he, "to have a voyage with
its chances and distractions. But what I read in my wife's eyes goes deep into my heart.*
The suffering of a man is nothing like that of a woman, a mother. A woman lives and dies
in one sole thought, or one solitary feeling. Life for a woman is a something possessed;
death, a something lost. A man lives with everything that he has to do with, good or bad;
God does not kill him with a blow."
On the subject of traveling and sojourning abroad, he speaks philosophically:
"When a man is absent from his country, he sees affairs more perfectly. Details do
not obstruct his view, and important matters present themselves in their entireness. This
is the reason why prophets and oracles lived alone in the world and remote. They were
sages who studied subjects in their entirety and their judgment was not warped by the

-----------
* The body of the daughter, at her dying request, had been embalmed and sent
directly home for interment at Saint Point. The mother was in many respects like her
husband's mother, a devoted wife and indulgent parent, as well as the kindest of neighbors.
-----------

little passions of the day. The statesman, likewise, if he would judge and foresee the
outcome, must often absent himself from the scene in which he performs the Drama of his
time. To predict is impossible, for foreknowledge is for God alone; but to foresee is
possible, and forethought is for man."
Lamartine analyzes closely the doctrines of Saint-Simonism, and what he considers
their weak points. "We must not," he says, "judge new ideas by the derision which they
encounter during the period. All great thoughts were first received in the world as aliens.
Saint-Simonism has in it a something true, grand and beautiful; the application of
Christianity to civil society, the legislation of Human Brotherhood.
"From this point of view I am a Saint-Simonian.
"What has placed this Society under an eclipse, though not under death, is not the
want of an idea, nor the lack of disciples. In my opinion it wants a leader, a master, a
manager. If there should be found a man of genius and virtue who was religious and at the
same time prudent, who would bring the two horizons into one field of vision which should
be placed under the direction of the nascent ideas, I have no doubt that he would transform
it into a potent reality. Times in which there is an anarchy of ideas, are favorable seasons
for the germinating of new and heroic thoughts.
"Society, to the eye of the philosopher, is in a state of disorder. It has neither
direction, object nor leader; and it is reduced accordingly to the instinct of conservatism.
A sect that is religious, moral, social and political, - that has a creed, a watchword, an
object, a leader, and mind, if it were to advance compactly and directly at the midst of the
disordered ranks in the present social order, would inevitably gain the victory. But it must
bring safety and not ruin, attacking only what is injurious and not that which helps, and
calling religion

--- 606
back to reason and love, prudence and Christian Brotherhood, having universal charity and
usefulness as its only title and only foundation.
"A law-maker requires young men ardent in zeal and on fire with the hunger for faith,
from which however, senseless dogmas have been rejected. The organizers of Saint-
Simonism have taken for their first article of belief: war to the death between the family,
property and religion on one hand and ourselves on the other. They ought to perish. The
world, by the force of speech is not conquered; it is to be converted, stirred, wrought into
activity, changed.
"So long as an idea is not practical, it is not presentable to the world of society.
Human nature goes from the known to the unknown, but not from the known to the absurd.
That will be held back in the subordinate effort. Before great revolutions, the signs are to
be seen on the earth and in the sky. The Saint-Simonians have had one class of those
signs: they have broken up as a body, and they are now more slowly at work making
leaders and soldiers for the new army."
The vessel and its convoy arrived in the Bosphorus on the twenty-fifth day of May.
Lamartine, his wife and friends now took up their residence at Buyukdere, for the next two
months. During this period they were recipients of the most friendly attentions. The Grand
Seigneur himself, and the principal officials at Constantinople extended courtesies and
cordial demonstrations, exceeding any that had ever before been bestowed to "Franks."
This was in recognition of the substantial help which had been given to prevent the further
dismemberment of the Ottoman empire. Lamartine had been heralded everywhere as a
personage of distinction, and his reception was warm and cordial, almost as if he had been
a royal prince. His opinions were treasured, and his advice eagerly sought by the ministers
and representatives of the Government. He was admitted to places from which other
Europeans had been excluded, and so long as he remained in Turkish territory, every
necessary provision was made for his safety and honorable recognition.
His journal of the voyage records minutely the occurrences and observations which
thus came within his notice.

------------

"Whoso takes good advice is secure from falling; but whoso rejects it, falleth into
the pit of his own conceit."
- Gems from the East.

-----------
--- 607

PASSAGE TO INDIA
- Walt Whitman
(Extracts Selected)

(Curious in time I stand, noting the efforts of heroes,

Is the deferment long? bitter the slander, poverty, death?
Lies the seed unreck'd for centuries in the ground? lo, to God's due occasion,
 Uprising in the night, it sprouts, blooms,
And fills the earth with use and beauty.)
........

O Thou transcendent,
Nameless, the fibre and the breath,
Light of the light, shedding forth universes, thou centre of them,
Thou mightier centre of the true, the good, the loving,
Thou moral spiritual fountain - affection's source - thou reservoir,
(O pensive soul of me - O thirst unsatisfied - waitest not there?
Waitest not haply for us somewhere there the Comrade perfect?)
Thou pulse - thou motive of the stars, suns, systems,
That circling, move in order, safe, harmonious,
Athwart the shapeless vastnesses of space,
How should I think, how breathe a single breath, how speak, if, out of myself
I could not launch, to those, superior universes?

Swiftly I shrivel at the thought of God,

At Nature and its wonders, Time and Space and Death,
But that I, turning, call to thee O soul, thou actual Me,
And lo, thou gently mastereth the orbs,
Thou matest Time, smilest content at Death,
And fillest, swellest full the vastnesses of Space.
Greater than stars or suns,
Bounding O soul thou journeyest forth;
What love than thine and ours could wider amplify?
What aspirations, wishes, outvie thine and ours O soul?
What dreams of the ideal? what plans of purity, perfection, strength?
What cheerful willingness for others' sake to give up all?
For others' sake to suffer all?

Reckoning ahead O soul, when thou, the time achiev'd,

The seas all cross'd, weather'd the capes, the voyage done,
Surrounded, copest, frontest God, yieldest, the aim attain'd,
As filled with friendship, love complete, the Elder Brother found,
The Younger melts in fondness in his arms.
........

Passage to more than India!

O secret of the earth and sky!
Of you O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers!
Of you O woods and fields! of you strong mountains of my land!
Of you O prairies! of you gray rocks! O morning red! O clouds! O rain and snows!
O day and night, passage to you!
O sun and moon and all you stars! Sirius and Jupiter!
Passage to you!
 Passage, immediate passage! the blood burns in my veins!
Away O soul! hoist instantly the anchor!

--- 608

Cut the hawsers - haul out - shake out every sail!

Have we not stood here like trees in the ground long enough?
Have we not grovel'd here long enough, eating and drinking like mere brutes?
Have we not darken'd and dazed ourselves with books long enough?

Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only,

Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me,
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

O my brave soul!
O farther, farther sail!
O daring joy, but safe! are they not all the seas of God?
O farther, farther, farther sail!

------------

TO determine the real relations that exist between man and God is my thought. It
is the need of the times. We need to convince ourselves that man is the object of all earthy
resources if we ask ourselves if he is a means to an end. If man is linked to all, is there
nothing above him to which, in his turn, he is bound? If he is the last of the unexplained
transformations which reach up to him, may he not be the tie between visible and invisible
nature? The action of the world is not an absurdity; it leads up to an end, and this object
cannot be society constituted as ours is. There is a terrible gap between us and the
heavens.
In reality, we cannot ever enjoy or always suffer. To gain either paradise or hell an
enormous change must take place in us; without either place, the masses can conceive
no idea of God at all.
Is not the idea of motion stamped on the systems of worlds, sufficient to prove God
to us? We busy ourselves very little about the pretended nothingness which precedes birth
while we fumble in and ransack the dark gulf that awaits us, that is, we make God
responsible for our future and we demand from him, no record of the past. To get out of
this difficulty the soul has been invented, but it is repugnant to our feelings to render God
obligated for human baseness, our disillusions, our decline and fall. How can we admit in
ourselves a divine principle over which a potent liquor can get the advantage?
Can we imagine immaterial faculties which matter may utterly subjugate whose
exercise a grain of opium can prevent? Is not the communication of motion to matter an
unexplored abyss whose difficulties have been rather displaced than resolved by Newton's
system? Motion is a great soul whose alliance with matter is quite as difficult to explain as
is the production of thought in man. - Balzac, Louis Lambert. (Translated by Harriett Green
Courtis.)
-------------
--- 609

THE HUMAN CELL

by Arthur A. Beale, M. B.

"TO demonstrate that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature; to investigate the laws of

Nature and the divine powers in Man."
When we fall away from the path of duty, when torn by the storms of passion we
forget that there reposes within the complexities of our nature a divine spark - much more,
perhaps, that we ourselves are a universe, nay, a universe of Universes, a Great Eternal
God, controlling, energizing and creating worlds that live and have their day and cease to
be. But it is so. Hour by hour worlds are falling away and with them ebb the vital forces
of our being. Take a flake of scurf from the head and put it under the microscope, - a new
vista is opened up. And yet, this is only a type of millions of like or dissimilar entities, which
are so bound together as to compose the mighty universe of man's body, - the least
important of his constitution. These little lives take different shapes to suit different
necessities, but they agree in certain essential features which we learn to call the cell. And
looking lower still this cell is of the same type as those found in the animals and again in
the plants. How very little difference, too, between these and the monads of the mineral
kingdom!
But keeping to man, these cells form themselves into societies, which we call
tissues, these into others we call organs, and the organs form together a corporate
organization, the body, which in a healthy state is subservient to the synthesizing forces
emanating from the Heart, where lives the source of life, the divine Ruler. So the organs
work together in harmony. If any organ begins to absorb more attention and life than is due
to it, not only does it suffer itself, but brings discord into the whole.
But as long as it observes its own duty and fulfils its place, so does it maintain its
own status, and receive its own benefits; for thus, and thus alone, can it participate in the
higher impulse, that comes from that sacred centre.
As of the organs so of the cells of which each is composed, they must act in
accordance with the unified impulse of the organ, but so must each cell be true to the heart
of its own tiny body - whence, as I shall try to show, comes the true impulse, by which it
evolves, - that centre where are played the divine harmonies and where stands the God
directing his forces in the building of "the temple not made with hands."
This is a Universal Activity. It is the same process going on through all the kingdoms
of the Universe, from the tiny crystals to plants, from plants to animals, and animals to man.
But specializing the cell we note not only that all the body is composed of cells or
the deposit of cells, but that one type of cells develops from another type, and ultimately
all cells result from one single cell "into which," in the words of Darwin, "life was breathed
by the Creator" - of course always understanding that we have not specified the nature of
the Creator.
If this is so, and no one in these times will dare to dispute it, it begins to dawn upon
us that this curious complex body of man is, as it were, a tremendous society of entities,
the separate individualities of which, whilst retaining their place as such in the great body,
are swamped in the individuality of that one. Not only so, but as it will be our endeav-
--- 610

or to show later on, the healthy existence of each part greatly depends on its maintaining
its loyalty and subservience to the supreme Chief, from which it gets its daily source of
energy and inspiration.
What is true of the part is true of the whole and vice versa. For in its turn the body
of man must be subservient to that of which it is a part, and answer to the call of that which
represents the corporate body of bodies, and to the divine light within, "that lighteth every
man that cometh into the world," which is one with the Father, the Divine over soul, of
which we are all dim reflections. So also of the part, the tiny microcosm of man, the cell,
it is in its turn a universe, a universe so grand that the many revelations that scientific
investigation has unveiled makes that science stand aghast; but these, we may venture
to prophesy, are nothing to the occult secrets that still lie waiting for revelation.
All that the magnificent symbolism of the Gnostics has taught us concerning the Man
Iesous and his relation to Ichthys the fish, the ark and the ship, can be well applied to the
cell, which is a veritable Ark with its Holy of holies in which sit and meditate the holy ones,
the prajapati of the Hindus and the Christos of the Gnostics. Veritably it is par excellence
the Astral Vehicle, the ship floating on the watery ocean, veritably it is the Dagon, the fish-
man, the new teacher coming from the unknown regions of the Silence, the boat of Vishnu
carrying the God-Man into the world of Manifestation. We may well exclaim: O God, how
manifest are thy works! how sublime are thy powers! And when we contemplate the tiny
vehicle of life under the microscope we may well close-to [sic] the doors of the senses, take
off the sandals and worship, for are we not at the very altar of the Temple - the temple of
the Almighty; are we not face to face with the Creators? He that hath eyes to see let him
see!
Amongst the great contributors to the Science of the Cell perhaps none has
approached nearer the Holy of Holies - none so nearly tore aside the Veil of Isis, as H. P.
B. has practically told us, than Professor Weissmann in his contribution on the Germ Plasm
and the New Problem of Heredity as handled by him. Under the guiding hand of this savant
we see the cell in a new light, we begin to see kingdom within kingdom; and had he but
recognized the other side, had he but explored the dark side of the Moon, much more might
have been written, many more mouths might have gaped and many more sceptics have
smiled. Professor Weissmann however has found a mare's nest. He has raised the devil,
but forgotten to give him something to do, and as of old we cannot help exclaiming, what
next! The cell of Weissmann like the cell of most other students, is a tiny ball of protoplasm
with a central nucleus (the Holy of Holies, Fish Man, etc.) but unlike that of other writers,
instead of containing more differentiated protoplasm, taking the forms of meaningless and
accidental rods, our revered professor has discovered a Nest of Creators. He tells us that
the greater portion of the cell does not in any way participate in the process of hereditary
transmission. Nay, further still, not only does he regard the nucleus as the all important
particle but to quote his own words: "The law that only a certain part of the nuclear matter
is to be regarded as the hereditary substance appears to me to receive fresh support from
all the more recent observations."
Now the parts referred to are a series of minute rod-like structures called chromatin
rods that are very active and manifest all kinds of changes according to necessity,
especially at that critical period in the history of a cell called cell-division, when it is about
to propagate its species by making itself into two by equal distributions of its substance
between its two selves. For you must know that when a cell divides (and this

--- 611

does not refer to human cells alone, but all vegetable and animal cells from the simplest
to the most complex) the products are two so-called "daughter cells," but they are
daughters without a mother. It is one of the most mystical processes in existence and
contains much secret knowledge for it contains the mystery of the birth of two from one.
In this process, called in scientific parlance Karyokinesis, these little rods play a most
important part, nay, the all-important part, for the whole process commences with them and
proceeds from the centre outward. There is at the commencement of the process a
disturbance, a series of vibrations throughout the nucleus. These little rods immediately
form into a kind of reticulum or network; then this network arranges itself into an indefinite
spiral, at which instant two mysterious bodies issue from the mass at opposite poles, and
take up a position in the cell, at some distance from the coil of rods; then the spiral breaks
up into two opposing sets of loops.
Ultimately these two sets of rods settle down in the neighborhood of the two little
bodies (centrosomes) shot out, or, I should perhaps say, are attracted separately to the two
poles of the cell by the centrosomes. Then a cell wall forms between; the one cell
becomes two.
There are some very occult forces at work behind all this, and they generally are
referred to, to cover our ignorance, as the law of polarity, albeit that this law, whatever it is,
involves the most occult of the creative forces, in fact of all manifestation.
To go back, Dr. Weissmann does not consider these rods which he calls idants as
the essential units, but states that in their turn these are themselves composed of more
minute bodies he calls ids.
In this respect, however, he considers protoplasm as a whole as composed, not of
so many chemical compounds, having an indefinite and uncontrollable action on one
another, but of collections of "molecules united into a single group." These molecules he
calls biophors. The biophors, as bearers of vitality, possess the power of growth and of
multiplication by fission. But the biophors which go to make up the rods, have a more
specific character of their own, and are the carriers of those minuter bodies still which this
savant speaks of as the real creative units, or what he calls "determinants." These ultimate
determinants, smaller than microscopic, hold within their tiny hearts the ideal shape of the
part which they are destined to control, carried and distributed in the process of evolution
of the creature by the process of cell division.
This conception, enormous advance as it is on the previous materialism of Huxley's
protoplasm, is yet so pregnant with the taint of the materialistic age, that it requires
modifying before it can even be admitted as a logical hypothesis. For one must ask; if the
cell gets its impulse from the nucleus, the nucleus from the rods that inhabit it, these rods
from the little biophors of which they are composed, and these from the determinants,
where on earth do the determinants get it from? We are reminded, moreover, that there
was a time, not far away, when this particular cell had no separate existence of its own.
And if we are directed back to the ovaries, and from them to the germinal layer, and this
from the cell again, still there is no escape, for we may well ask with the Duke of Argyle:
"What then! Whence the first?"
But the thing has a more definite and easy solution, for if these material units are the
Creators, and if as it is stated, the ingredients of matter, especially sentient matter (so-
called) are constantly undergoing motion and change, by displacement; what about these
units when the time comes for them to play their part, has not their substance been lost and
replaced over and over again.

--- 612

So we come back to our philosophy and we realize what our Chief, W. Q. Judge,
taught us, that the cell only has an existence as an idea. Thinking of this word for a
moment, looking it up in the dictionary we find the following verbatim (Gr. idea, from idein,
to see) "one of the archetypes or patterns of Created things, conceived by the Platonists
to have existed from eternity in the mind of the Deity."* Now look at the words used by Dr.
Weissmann, idants and ids. Is there not something very suggestive here. We are then
dealing not with matter alone, but with ideas; nay, more, what is matter but an idea or
congeries of ideas? For as has been well said we know nothing of matter per se but only
the manifestation of matter. It is the idea not the matter that takes form. Now we must
surely recognize that ideas as things are not causes but effects. So our professor all this
time has been dealing with effects and gets these mixed up with the causes. If cells and
the contents are ideas containing ideas, and if idea means that which is seen, then there
must somewhere be a Seer, and such a seer without any sophistry must be a magician -
not because we associate the word Seer with magician, but quite independently.
Now we have realized that the body of man is composed of many minuter entities,
over which stands the supreme ruler. Each organ is composed of many entities, over
which rules the conscious governor of that organ, and so on to the little cells which in their
turn are composed of minuter creatures each having a conscious existence of its own,
whilst that Consciousness is composed of the consciousness of all its component lives.
That consciousness is in each case part of the Divine consciousness that pervades all
things and acts in direct proportion to its plane of activity.
This Divine Consciousness in man

-----------
* The Library Dictionary.
-----------

which is the real man - real in the sense of permanency - is quite on a par with the
Creators, though that real self is perhaps not known to any of our personal selves. But
then stands that real Self at the commencement of each New Birth. As the process of
evolution goes on each step in the meditation of this mighty Self as he contemplates
existence, finds a responsive thrill in the tiny ovum, bound to himself by the strong bonds
of Karma. As he emerges in contemplation from the mineral to the vegetable and on to the
animal, so the sensitive plasm of the germ responds. Page after page of the history of man
is retold till once more the story is complete to the point where the previous incarnation
ended; then the child is born to carry on the history as best he may. So in the cell the
determinants are the little bundles of ideas coming from the Magician (ourselves) and being
instilled bit by bit into the heart of each of those groups of molecules and ensouling it, so
the tale is told and this side of manifestation opens out into the beautiful blossom of
Humanity, molded also in part by the parental influences which can make or mar the
impulse as it comes straight from the Creator's mind. Make or mar, and yet how few
women think of the real, sacred and holy duty of parentage. How hellish the times in which
any dares to point the finger of scorn and shame at a blessed pregnant woman. But as we
are beginning to understand, soon shall we be able to reverence them all as the
sacredness of motherhood is understood.
This little picture contains the whole of our philosophy, and it must be left more or
less to the intuitions of each. But in closing we can say this much. The study of the cell
teaches that Brotherhood is a fact in nature. It teaches that that brotherhood depends on
the harmonious coordinate activity of many entities, working together united by the
recognition of the one source of

--- 613

life and inspiration. It also teaches the great Divine mystery that hangs about every new
birth, and that the real seat of that Divinity is in the Hearts of all Creatures.
There is one more lesson that we ought not to miss. We have seen the magnificent
results of harmonious action which is always synthetical and finds its highest expression
in Love and Compassion issuing from the heart.
Sometimes the same force becomes converted into Hate, when once the centrifugal
disintegrating force is set going and gains the ascendancy, selfish in nature, self centred,
it cuts away the bonds that bind man to his fellows; he tries, but in vain, to carry on an
existence of his own, but he soon finds that he has no existence, no meaning, no life apart
from the whole. The foolish virgins repent too late, their light has gone out, they have no
oil of life with which to kindle their lamps anew. In their own blind conceit they are lost.
Nay, but look! Have not some demons, spooks and malignant fiends got hold of them and,
having gained an entrance, are now without their consent messengers of Disease and
Death. Is this not so of the cells? Some little impulse causes them to pursue a course
contrary to the interests of the whole; for a time they are centres of discord; and neuralgia,
rheumatism, indigestion, etc., are the result. But anon the cells fall away and, as entities,
die. The smaller containing entities, the Chromatin rods, little pregnant particles of life are
set free. Losing their parental protection and cares, they go on with the impulse given
them, till some malignant breeze sweeps over them and they become the victims and
servants of hate, disease and Death. Are these not the germs of disease that science is
fighting about just now? Verily! verily! who shall deny? These little escaped convicts, the
rods, previously servants of Love, become now the free agents of disease. They are none
other than the bacilli, associated with so many pestilences; and a further disintegration
produces spores - the ingredients of bacilli. These are not the diseases, nor yet the cause
(primary), they are merely the vehicles of disease. Can we not see how well this applies
to every organism and organization as an entity? Poor lost bacilli, how hardly have ye been
used by your masters!

------------
 "He who does not recognize bread and salt is worse than a wild wolf." - Gems from
the East.

---------------
--- 614

THE SOKRATIC CLUB

by Solon

(Continued)

O much interest had been aroused by the conversation on Art and the Drama as an
Educative Factor which I have already recorded, that there was a larger attendance than
usual at the next meeting of the Club. Everyone was glad to see Madam Purple who it was
known to all had established a school to revive the ancient wisdom and to teach the laws
of physical, moral and mental health and of spiritual development and for the purpose of
accentuating the importance of Music and Drama as vital educative factors had already
reproduced one of the old Greek Tragedies in such a way as to arouse the attention of the
public and astonish the critics, touching a new chord and awakening new possibilities for
the influence of the stage on the lives and characters of the people.
Dr. Roberts had evidently not yet been convinced of the importance of this work
though he had seen and even praised the production of Aeschylus' Eumenides, for he still
reiterated his old objections. The discussion so far had been on general lines, but now it
turned more particularly on the Drama.
Dr. Roberts. - "I cannot see how the performance of Eumenides or any play you may
take from the ancients can have any such effect that you claim it will have. The people who
attend will see no more in it than in any other play. Of course it will have its own
characteristics and no doubt its classical beauty, but will not these peculiar features appeal
only to the very few? How will you make it a factor in the education of the masses?"
The Professor. - "I do not think you understand the real character of the ancient
drama, Doctor. Probably, also, with the exception of the recent production, you base your
ideas of the attractiveness of Greek Plays upon the presentations which are occasionally
given at one of the Universities. Classical these may be in a sense, I admit, but certainly
they are severe."
Dr. Roberts. - "How can they help but be severe. I remember when at college that
one of these plays was acted by some of the students, but for my part I saw nothing
particular in it."
Mme. Purple. - "Was not that possibly because those who produced the play and
enacted the parts, themselves saw nothing in it beyond the mere incident as told in so
many words?"
"The most beautiful things remain invisible to those who have not eyes to see. Look
at the hundreds and thousands in every large city and, strange to say, more particularly in
country districts, who know nothing of the beauty and sublimity of the heavens and nature
around them. Many a farmer looks at the sky simply to note the changes of the weather.
The magnificence of cloud effect, the glory of the sunrise and the quivering of the eternal
stars, he never sees. And even those who profess to be lovers of nature, how little more
than external beauty do they see? Do they indeed see any deeper than the surface of
things and but rarely pierce the veil to behold with awe and wonderment the reality?"
Dr. Roberts. - "But, Madam Purple, ..."
The Professor. - "Ah! Doctor, it is always, 'but.' Isn't it all true, with no 'but'?"
Dr. Roberts. - "Yes, I grant you that

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what Madam Purple said about the appreciation of nature is true, and even that the same
thing applies to the appreciation of art and music and the drama. But - I was going to say -
it seems to me your illustration is too lofty for the case under consideration. It is true one
may rise to the greatest heights of consciousness under the influence of music and poetry
and the contemplation of high ideals and if I understand you aright, Madam Purple, you
hold these are the same high feelings that may be aroused by the grand harmonies of
nature and by what perhaps is meant by the music of the spheres. Do I catch your
meaning?"
Madam Purple. - "Yes, Doctor, you have caught the idea in part, but music and
poetry and the harmonies of nature too often exercise only what I might call an unconscious
and transitory influence - not deep-seated in any sense - because men will not open their
eyes and lend their ears. The great anthem of nature is ever being sung; life is joy and
harmony; but alas, there are so many who will not open their hearts to the song and the
sunshine. But I see you wish to say something more, Doctor."
Dr. Roberts. - "Yes, I grant this may be true, no doubt it is true, but to return to the
old Greek tragedies, although there may be lofty ideas in them, I fail to see that they will
produce the effect you anticipate. There is no music in them and they are altogether too
cold and bare. Besides, what meaning do they hold, deeper than that which may be seen
by the ordinary reader?"
The Professor. - "A meaning that the mere student of languages and literature will
never find, but one that to the student of life, to one who recognizes that there is an inner
life, will ever unfold more and more and reveal such beauties and harmonies that will thrill
the very soul."
Dr. Roberts. - "I do not see it, though I grant that high moral lessons may be
contained in the old Greek poetry and tragedies, but at the same time there is so much that
is mere fancy. We have passed the age of the childhood of the race when the mythological
tales of the gods and goddesses were seriously taken. I do not deny that there may be
many valuable lessons in these, but I certainly think that you are reading into them a great
deal that is not there. Pardon my frankness, but I really wish to understand your position."
The Professor. - "It is not a question of reading a meaning into them, but of being
able to draw the meaning out, and to do this requires a master-hand. No modern scholar
who is not a mystic will find it, and it is no wonder it has been lost to the ordinary reader."
Madam Purple. - "Doctor, you thought my illustration of the beauties of nature too
high, but after all the beauties which we see in nature are but the reflection of the beauties
in the soul, and do not exist save to him who has developed some beauty of soul. The old
Greek tragedies, and particularly those of Aeschylus, are portrayals of the life and struggles
of the soul."
Just then Dr. Wyld came into the room. He had been present at the performance
of the Play, and had expressed himself so pleased with it that the Professor had asked him
to visit the Club. The Doctor came over immediately to where Madam Purple and the
Professor were sitting, and these meetings being more or less informal, the conversation
was interrupted for the exchange of greetings.
Dr. Wyld is a very tall, broad shouldered, spare man, I should judge about seventy
years old, but carrying his age gracefully. He is one of the best known Greek scholars, of
a keen and vigorous intellect. Dignified, yet with a keen appreciation of humor and fond
of a good story as well as able to tell one. Not only is he a profound scholar of Greek and
Neoplatonic literature, but of the world's

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literature, ancient and modern. He is at once a mystic and a keen observer of men, and
had led a very active life, especially in the literary world, as an author, and had also written
for some of the leading newspapers of the metropolis. In this way he had met very many
of the prominent public men, both literary and political, of the past half century. It has been
my privilege to spend many a delightful hour with him and in that way I have gained a
clearer conception of the history of the United States than from any reading I have done,
and also of the beauties of the writings of the old philosophers, especially the Neo-
platonists.
His tall figure and dignified bearing would attract attention in any gathering, and as
he entered the room with his long stride, all eyes were turned towards him.
The Professor rose to receive him. The room was beautifully yet simply decorated
with hangings of harmonious colors, and the Doctor noticed these immediately and
addressing Madam Purple:
Dr. Wyld. - "What a pleasure it is to come into a room where there is such harmony
of tone and color. I can well understand what the Professor told me that your meetings
here are always delightful. The very atmosphere seems conducive to harmony of feeling
and the awakening of high thought."
Madam Purple. - "That is true, Doctor, I hold that color ought to be made a very
important factor in life, and that the harmonies of sound and color are essential features of
true education."
Dr. Wyld. - "And I think you have already struck the key-note of this in your
production of the Eumenides, and I wish to tell you of the rare treat it was to me to witness
it and the opportunity it gave me of really judging what a Greek play is like - such as could
never be gained from reading. It had all the aroma of ancient Athens. One of my friends
remarked that it had the beauty of a Greek statue, but I would go further, for it had also the
grace and beauty of life. I do not mean that the performance was perfect but it was the
spirit that pervaded it that gave it this great charm. And after seeing it I do not wonder in
coming here that you also carry out your ideas of harmony in the decoration of your
Clubroom. It is a further carrying out of what you teach and which I fully agree with, that
what is most needed in our educational system and in life generally is a sense of harmony
and of the due proportion of things."
Here the Rev. Alex. Folsom, who had come in a short time before Dr. Wyld, and had
listened more attentively than usual (without going to sleep) to the conversation, moved his
chair a little forward as if to speak, but waited a moment. Although he always expressed
himself as most sensitive to harmonious shades of color and adored - as he expressed it -
Greek statuary, though he equally adored a pretty bonnet, nevertheless did not in any way
support Madam Purple in her revival of the ancient Drama.
The Professor. - "Well, Alec, what is it now? Another objection? I'm beginning to
think you belong to some objection society, whose main purpose is to object to everything
on principle and for the sake of objecting. Come, tell us now, haven't you pledged yourself
to the following I pledge myself to always object to everything that may be proposed by
anybody? But for once, Alec, put your objections on one side and enter into the spirit of
the subject."
Rev. Alex. Fulsom. - "No, Professor, I am not to be turned aside from my opinion by
any method of badinage or ratiocination. And what is more, I think it my duty to express
my views. As I have said before, it appears to me altogether beneath the dignity of a
Leader and Teacher in such a cause as ours to be concerned in the production of a play -
whether Greek or not - or to

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spend so much time and the energies of the Club in mere philanthropic work. The latter,
doubtless, is laudable enough but the Club has other aims to pursue, and it seems to me
to have departed from its time-honored methods of study. Indeed, the study of the
philosophy seems to be almost completely overlooked nowadays."
The Professor. - "Having delivered yourself of your objection, I trust you feel a little
relieved, my friend, but you have not hit the nail on the head, Alec. Study is not
overlooked, but on the contrary, our students are learning how to study and the true value
of study as the precursor of right action. Thanks to Madam Purple, the study of philosophy
is no longer looked upon as the end and aim of life. Theoretical study is good and
necessary, but our students realize that Brotherhood is more than a theory, that it is an
actual fact to be consciously realized and that they must seek to make Theosophy a living
power in their lives.
"You know well the scriptural saying which I will slightly paraphrase, 'Let your light
so shine before men, that they seeing your good works will glorify the higher law and follow
it.' It behooves us to practice Brotherhood as well as to profess it. But it is the things they
don't like that the objectors see but they fail to see that the study which they are crying out
for is still pursued though on higher and broader lines than heretofore, become possible by
the advance made by the whole Movement. The inner work and the real study have never
ceased but have taken on a deeper meaning. Thank the gods, instead of the members
seeking to have or to become special gurus and imagining themselves better than others,
the whole organization moves along in touch with the life of the world, all striving ever to
put into practice that which they preach. The time-honored methods of which you speak
were fast becoming time-honored ruts and you ought to thank your stars, that here is an
opportunity to get out of the ruts and enter upon a broader field of life and activity as well
as of study. And so far as the Play is concerned you seemed to have missed entirely its
purpose and the wide influence which can thus be exerted in the world."
Rev. Alex. Fulsom. - "There may be some good in it no doubt, but there are so many
other things that are needed in the world. I certainly think a teacher would have a higher
work to do. There are enough philanthropists and elevators of the drama, whereas our
philosophy is unique, and surely we ought to carry out the original plans of the Founder."
The Professor. - "And you assume, I might say, presume, to know what those
original plans were, but your conception of them admits of no growth, but only stagnation
or the continuing in ruts which so many have formed for themselves through their
misconception and limited knowledge of, if not deliberate indifference to those plans."
I often wondered how it was the Professor did not lose patience completely with the
Rev. Alec., always so pessimistic, trying to tear down. But then we all knew that his moods
depended on his digestion, and upon that subtle disease - the love of approbation and
prominence.
Madam Purple. - "Mr. Fulsom, do, I beg of you, try to rise a little above your
pessimistic fears and let a little of the sunshine of hope and trust come into your heart.
Students of Theosophy above all others ought to be able to take a larger grasp of the
problems of life and perceive that the greatest truths which will ultimately bring the grandest
results and happiness to all mankind must necessarily be often at first obscured; that to
help the masses we must begin where they can appreciate the work, and so move out
gradually along the lines of least resistance. Thus will all those who seek the Light be
attracted and helped, what-

--- 618

ever their development. Our grand philosophy must be presented in various ways if the
many different minds are to be touched, for you well know that all men are not built alike -
to use a common expression. Babes need to be fed as well as strong men. For some the
teaching must be given in parables and there are some truths that but few can bear to hear.
As for the original plan of the work, H. B., the great artist, spread the canvas and sketched
the outline with a bold hand, then the second Helper put in the colors of the background
thus making clearer the design upon the trestle board, but do you think you have been able
to see the whole of the grand design and have grasped the harmonious proportions of the
noble edifice in all their beauty and grace."
Then turning her head for a moment with her wonderful smile, Madam Purple
continued after a short pause.
"Imagine for one moment that when H. P. B. began her work in the world she could
have shown what is now being done, or that it could be shown to you what will be the
outcome of her efforts two hundred years hence, would it not be entirely beyond belief, can
you even imagine it? There must be a gradual growth and unfoldment suited to the
comprehension of the people. How then dare anyone say that the present activities are
contrary to the plan of H. P. B. Ah! Mr. Fulsom, is not such a position evidence of
retrogression and not of growth?
"But, pardon me, Dr. Wyld, this is somewhat of a digression from the subject of the
Greek play which you were discussing. Let us come back in thought to the old Greek
Drama. There, at least, the gods wait for us and call to us to rise above this XIXth Century
materialism into the realm of the beautiful, the ideal and the true. "
Dr. Wyld. - "An almost unknown land to so many, but I hail with joy the prospects
that once more the geography of that celestial country shall form part of the education of
the race and lead us further back in the history of humanity into that greater and more
ancient land of the pyramids and the silent sphinx."
 Madam Purple. - "And from there further back still to prehistoric America, which was
in the early days the ancient Land of Light when Egypt was yet young and whence Egypt
derived her wisdom and her science."
Dr. Wyld. - "That is indeed interesting, though to me it is not difficult to believe. It
opens out a new chapter in the life of humanity and I doubt not that if it can be shown to be
so, it will solve many problems in the history of man's development. But will you not tell us
further on this subject."
Madam Purple. - "Time would not permit of going into it at any length, Doctor, but
I will say this. Time will bring the proof of what I say. Archeological research started at the
right time, which is not far distant, in this country and in Central America will supply clear
evidence of the truth of this statement." She paused a moment, then continued:
"My friends, with all these grand possibilities in view, when such momentous
questions are involved that will bring such priceless knowledge to the human race, can you
wonder that the real workers find time all too precious to be frittered away in useless
argument. It is work, work, work, that our glorious cause demands of us."
Madam Purple spoke with so much earnestness, that it stirred one's heart to its very
depths, old memories of the long forgotten passed seemed about to awaken, pictures of
the ancient times flitted across the vision, and of the future when the glories of the past
should be revived. One young lady of slight figure and pale face, an enthusiastic worker,
always present at the meetings, but who never ventured to say a word, now exclaimed:
"The very thought of it brings new

--- 619

life, new hope. Surely we haven't any time to sit and mope over the little frictions that beset
our paths. Surely we should keep on working and trusting that we may be a part of this
new life and each of us become individually a hope and a light to those who would walk this
broad path of knowledge towards the glorious future that awaits us."
Dr. Wyld. - "One can see even now indications that the world is advancing to a
broader field of thought. The revival of the ancient drama and the way the 'Eumenides' was
received show this clearly and show that the links with the mighty past exist in the hearts
of men - albeit unconsciously to most, but ready to be awakened into responsive action
when again the picture of that long forgotten life is presented before them. I heard with
much interest that in one city where the play was given, the notices of the performance
were given out in almost every church in the city. And one prominent minister said it was
the finest study of conscience scourging for sin and of the Divine Power to pardon and
transform, he ever saw. He said such plays are better than sermons."
Madam Purple. - "It is indeed gratifying that there are so many interested in almost
every line of work that will benefit humanity and who are naturally drawn to help along
educative lines. All work to be of real benefit must be educative."
Dr. Wyld. - "Let me go back to what I said just after I came into the room, it comes
upon me with greater and greater force, and I felt it too while watching the performance that
somehow it moved one right away from this grasping, money-making world to a new-old
world near to the silence and peace of things where words are not needed."
Madam Purple. - "May it not be that by taking up this Drama in the right spirit and
reviving the ancient life and consciousness by going back in thought to old Athens, we have
started anew the vibrations which resulted in the beauty of Greek art and life. Then here
in the Club where but rarely any discordant note arises, but where we come together in
harmony there comes an indescribable something that leaves its impress on the heart, of
peace and joy and at the same time a sense of courage and unconquerable energy to carry
on this work that our beloved H. P. B. and the Chief began. This is a peculiar time at the
end of the century, of such vast importance that is scarcely realized by any."
The Professor. - "It has been a century of unrest, and nothing is more needed than
that this keynote of harmony should be struck at this time, it is in this that lies the hope of
the future, and it is in this spirit of harmony that actuates the workers today that lies the
guarantee that the work will be carried into the next century, though one here and there,
unable to go forward in the new age, must be left behind."
Dr. Wyld. - "Madam Purple, will you not tell us more about Aeschylus' purpose in
writing his plays, for, like Shakespeare's, I would declare them to be 'not of an age, but for
all time.'"
Madam Purple. - "Yes, I think Aeschylus and Shakespeare may well be compared,
for each taught the truths of life, though each veiled them in forms suited to the times in
which they wrote. It is perfectly evident to the deep student that there is an inner meaning
to the plays of Aeschylus, and it may be that in his earnestness and endeavor to instruct
the people and bring out these truths he became so enthused that he introduced some
features of the Inner Mysteries, and although these could only be recognized and
interpreted by Initiates, yet the story is he was condemned to death for this. It is true the
inner meaning had to be clothed in a form adapted to the tastes of the people. In those
days Greece had begun to retro-

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grade, and the true idea of religion had become obscured in the minds of the masses. It
had begun to take on a gruesome aspect, and that which had the greatest hold upon them
was fear and the dread of punishment. Aeschylus, like all great teachers, adapted his
teachings to the mind of his hearers. Instead of taking them so high that they could find no
foothold, he used their ordinary conception of religion and took them forward one step at
a time. To have brought out the teaching in all its power and grandeur would perhaps have
dazzled them, and being beyond their grasp would have seemed to them to he a tearing
down of their present conceptions and ideals, and thus have thrown them back and into
rebellion."
The Professor. - "There are plenty of evidences of this in modern life, of would-be
teachers who, ignorant of the laws of growth and development, seek to tear down and at
the same time to dazzle their hearers with knowledge which they themselves have not half-
digested, and instead of bringing light and freedom, they but imprison and fetter the mind
more closely. It is just as though to hasten the growth of a tender plant a gardener would
bring it out of a cool and shady spot into the full glare of the sun. Its life would be burned
out by that which is the very source of its life."
Madam Purple. - ''But in Aechylus the teaching is there, though veiled. The wise
teacher does not tear down until a new foothold has been found. He builds, constructs and
educates, thus slowly leading to a higher level, disengaging the minds gradually from error
by instilling a higher conception of truth. The inner teaching runs through it all like a golden
thread in a many colored tapestry, now appearing, now apparently lost, but in reality only
hidden from the casual observer yet present still to him who has eyes to see."
"A great effort was made by the Initiates at about the time of Aeschylus to revive in
the heart of the Greeks a love for the ancient wisdom which they had received originally
from Egypt. Aeschylus himself had been instructed by teachers not known to the world and
had been prepared to take part in this work long before he appeared openly as a teacher
and a writer. Those who had the best interests of the people at heart and who were 'called'
to serve as spiritual teachers were ever seeking to educate them not according to what the
people demanded of them but according to their needs. Among these was Aeschylus. He
made no great claims for himself but was a stranger to fear, and so deeply was he imbued
with the love of humanity and his desire to serve it that he became indifferent to criticism,
and dared to step out into the arena of life with a boldness that to those who see only
through the small glasses of vanity and ambition and who could not understand him, may
have seemed egotism. But those who can follow the inner meaning of his writings and can
see his great purpose, recognize him as a true servant and lover of humanity. What cared
he for the hatred and opposition of those who loved personal power and sought to keep the
people in ignorance, who saw that his grand work for helping humanity would thwart their
designs and block their selfish paths. It was these who persecuted him and caused him
to be condemned - not his fellow-initiates and comrades or those who truly loved wisdom
and freedom.
"The chief of the persecutors of Aeschylus was one who had the ambition to hold
the place that he had in the hearts of the people and not succeeding in this sought to
destroy him. Yet in spite of his many trials and persecutions his works and memory still live
as a monument to his aspirations and noble efforts. Yet even today he is only partly
understood and like many other teachers will have to wait for the revolu-

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tions of the times and the further evolution of man before the grander meaning of his great
work is made manifest.
"But it has ever been so in the history of man. History but repeated herself in the
case of Aeschylus, in the case of H. P. B. and many another. Those who would help
humanity know of a surety what to expect, yet they falter not, nay, they even gain new
courage and endurance under the persecution, for is there not in their hearts the Light of
Truth and the love of all true comrades of the Ages to cheer their path? The devotion of
one faithful heart outweighs in the balance a multitude of persecutors."

[In future accounts of the Sokratic Club some of the characters will appear under
other names, but some of our readers who are interested will doubtless be able to tell the
identity. - Solon.]

------------------

STUDENTS' COLUMN
THE BASIS OE ETHICS
IN the December number of UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD the question is asked:
"Whence arises the sense of duty? In what does it originate?" The answers given are
good; and V. F. touches the key-note in the words "he owes it to himself," etc.
The question and the discussions recalled to my mind the answer given to the same
question by Dr. Hickok of Union College in his treatise on Moral Science, which was
published in 1853, and used as a textbook in the University of Vermont a few years later.
It is too often taken for granted that a Christian must find a new basis of ethics and
a new rule of right in order to justify his acceptance of the Theosophical teachings. This
is far from the case, even assuming for the sake of the argument what is not true in fact,
that theosophy rejects the Bible; for the great majority of Christian writers on this subject
have not founded their systems on the Bible, or upon any religious system whatever, but
have, so far as they discuss religious duties, treated them as a part of some greater ethical
whole. Such is the case in the manual of Dr. Hickok. He only needs to bring out more
clearly the unity of finite spirits in Absolute Spirit, and to note the proper distinction between
personality and individuality and between individuality and the One Life - a distinction that
is logical rather than metaphysical - and to enlarge his view so as to include the tenet of
reincarnation with its correlative doctrines, to make his system very good Theosophy. His
foundation is impregnable; but by overlooking the unity of the finite in the infinite, and by
clinging to the notion of a personal God distinct from the Higher Self, he brings that God
into judgment before the finite spirit of man. This makes the Second Part of his treatise,
on Divine Government, weak and halting in comparison with the First Part, on Pure
Morality. His work would have been simplified and strengthened beyond measure could
he have seen that the self before whom man stands in the inner sanctuary of his being is
the Higher Self of our teachings, and is one with the highest Deity. I quote Dr. Hickok's
statement of the basis of ethics and of the source of our sense of duty.
"Whether absolute or finite spirit, there is to each an inner world of conscious
prerogative - revealed to itself completely, and to itself only, except as the absolute includes
the finite - and

--- 622

from which comes forth perpetually the imperative, that every action be restrained by that
which is due to its own dignity. It is this consciousness of the intrinsic excellency of spiritual
being, which awakens the reverence that every man is forced to feel when he is brought
fairly to stand alone in the presence of his own spirit. As if another and a divine self
scanned and judged every purpose and thought of the acting self, so is every man when
arraigned before his own personality, and made to hear with uncovered head his sentence
of self-justification or self-condemnation. There is an awful sanctuary in every immortal
spirit, and man needs nothing more than to exclude all else, and stand alone before
himself, to be made conscious of an authority he can neither dethrone nor delude. From
its approbation comes self-respect; from its disapprobation, self-contempt. A stern behest
is ever upon him, that he do nothing to degrade the real dignity of his spiritual being. He
is a law to himself, and has both the judge and executioner within him and inseparable from
him. The claim of this intrinsic excellency of spiritual being, as apprehended by the reason
may be known as the objective Rule of right.
 "We may call this the imperative of reason, the constraint of conscience, or the voice
of God within him; but by whatever terms expressed, the real meaning will be, that every
man has consciously the bond upon him to do that, and that only, which is due to his
spiritual excellency. The motive to this is not any gratification of a want, not any satisfying
of a craving, and thus to be done for a price in happiness; but it is solely that he may be
just what the intrinsic excellency of his own spirit demands that he should be. Enough for
him, that he is, in the sight of his own spirit, and of all spirits, worthy of spiritual approbation.
Not only would he not sell this worthiness of character for any price, but he has not attained
it for the sake of a reward beyond it. That it was not the end, but a means to a further end,
would make it wholly mercenary, and the very worthiness he speaks of would be profaned
to a marketable commodity. He willingly then would be anything else if he could get equal
wages for it. To be thus worthy of spiritual approbation is the attainment of the highest
dignity, and may be called the subjective end of ethics, and is a moral good.
"This is the ultimate end of rational being; the end of all ends. As worthy of
happiness, this may now righteously be given, and righteously taken, but not righteously
paid as a price nor claimed as wages. The good is the being worthy, not that he is to get
something for it. The highest good - the SUMMUM BONUM - is worthiness of spiritual
approbation."
The italics and capitals are Dr. Hickok's. "As if another and a divine self scanned and
judged every purpose and thought of the acting self," could hardly be improved by any of
our theosophical writers. - G. A. Marshall

Darlington, Wis., Dec. 29, 1898.

---------------
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YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

THE WESTON TEN

by Margaret S. Lloyd

I. STILL POOL
WESTON, Massachusetts, is a beautiful little New England town, with the cheerful,
homelike air that is almost always found in the villages of that State. It is situated in a
pleasant, green valley, surrounded by hills, and one can see the mountains of New
Hampshire and Vermont from the main street of the village. The Connecticut River flows
past the western part of the town and there are many pleasant walks in the neighborhood.
The children of Weston, and there are many children in this pretty village, love best
to go down to the river, or else to take the long walk to Quail Glen.
After leaving the long main street of the village, with its rows of comfortable-looking
big white houses, and double row of elm trees, a turn to the north brings one, after a half-
hour's walk, to Quail Glen. It is a lovely little place, always green even in the severe winter,
for it is sheltered on either side by high banks of pine, birch, and other trees, that on the
north side of the Glen lead away into deep woods. The bottom of the Glen is covered with
a soft carpet of mosses and ferns, and through the middle runs a clear stream of water,
which makes a pleasant murmur as it ripples and plashes over the white pebbles which
compose its bed.
It was on a hot day in August when a party of children came through the woods and
prepared to descend the high bank leading down to the Glen. Out of the hot sunshine and
into the cool green of the shade trees made a delightful change after their long walk, and
they pushed forward through the branches and tall grass and ferns. There were ten
children, four boys and six girls. The eldest of the children was Phoebe Allen, a tall,
slender girl of fourteen who seemed to be a sort of little queen among the others, as they
were constantly appealing to her and running up to show some new flower or especially
nice fern they had found. Tommy Jones was the youngest member of the party. He was
seven years old and still wore the queer over-all blue checked apron which little boys and
girls alike wore at this period, thirty years ago. The apron made a splendid play-dress and
was really very comfortable, although our friend Tommy was a quaint-looking little figure
as he trotted along, the ruffle of his apron forming a big collar around his neck, from which
his head stood out like some new kind of a daisy - a daisy with bright yellow hair and
dreamy grey eyes!
Tommy was jolly and full of fun and laughter, but he had his periods of being quiet
and this afternoon was one of them. At such times his playmates had learned to leave him
alone. For they knew it was just one of Tommy's "silent times," and that by and by he
would be as merry as the others. He went along with the other children, holding Phoebe's
hand and keeping close to her until they reached the bottom of the glen. Then the others
scattered, leaving him and Phoebe to walk on together. The other boys amused
themselves by throwing pebbles in the brook and trying to find a minnow, while the little
girls wandered about the glen in search

--- 624

of flowers.
Phoebe Allen walked slowly along with Tommy at her side, and after a few minutes
she said: "I'm ever so glad we came to the glen today. It's just lovely here isn't it, little
Tommy?"
"Yes, I guess 'tis."
He continued, "Phoebe, don't you like the summer time the best of all? The woods
are so cool and green and there's so many flowers."
"Oh, yes, I do love it. But I think I like the spring time best because I think the little
flowers, so pale and tender, are the very clearest of all. The summer flowers are so strong
and bright. I love the little spring flowers the best, and best of all the big, beautiful purple
violet.''
Tommy thought a while and then he said:
"I know. I guess you mean that we love the things that aren't strong the best. It
wouldn't hurt a daisy or a big mullein or a clover blossom one bit if it was to rain hard.
Would it? But the wee spring flowers couldn't stand so much, could they?"
"Yes, that's it. Then, you see, I always think all the flowers are real people, just as
real as you and I are, only different, and of all the Flower People - I always call them the
Flower People when I think of them - it seems to me that the spring Flower People are the
loveliest. For they come to us almost before the winter's gone and while it is still very cold
and we haven't any other flowers."
 "I think so too," said Tommy. "You always 'splain to us children and tell us lots of
nice things to think about, Phoebe. But I like it best of all when you 'splain things to just
me, for then I can understand real easy."
The children soon came to a big chestnut tree and Phoebe sat down under it to rest
awhile. Tommy walked on. Phoebe looked around her. She could hear the children
laughing and chattering up the glen. She watched Tommy. He walked along, stopping
every now and then to watch a butterfly or to peer into the waters of the brook as it rippled
along the side of his path.
Phoebe sat quiet for some time. The voices of the other children sounded farther
away until they scarcely reached her. She saw Tommy's little figure far down the glen,
beside the Still Pool. "I wonder what he is looking at," she thought, "he has been standing
beside the pool such a long time." She called, "Tommy, Tommy," but he did not turn his
head. She waited a moment and then started toward him. As she came near him she saw
that he was gazing into the waters of Still Pool as though he saw something very wonderful
in it.
Still Pool was a beautiful little well of water at the northern end of the glen. It was
formed by water from the brook which had some time gone out of its course and left here
this deep, clear pool, all surrounded by ferns and water cress. It was almost always so
clear that you could look right down to the bottom of it and see the white pebbles there.
The children had always called it the "Still" pool, because it seemed so very quiet in this
part of the glen and the pool was the stillest of all.
Phoebe came up to Tommy. He did not hear her; he was looking into the pool. So
she came behind him very softly and laid her hand on his shoulder.
"What are you looking at, little Tommy?" she asked.
"I have called and called you, but you never turned your head. I don't believe you
even saw me as I came up here."
Tommy turned around and looked at her, his big, dreamy eyes looked up into her
soft brown ones. "Oh, Phoebe," he said, "I suppose I must have been dreaming. I'm hardly
awake yet. I saw something so wonderful in Still Pool."

--- 625

Phoebe looked at the child with deep interest. "You saw a beautiful Face there,
didn't you?"
Tommy looked at her with astonishment. "Why, how did you know? Then I must
really, truly have seen the Face."
Phoebe laid her cool hand on his hot forehead and brushed his hair back. Then she
took his hand and said softly:
"Come to my chestnut tree before the other children come back and you can tell me
all about it. Or, if you don't feel like talking, we will just rest under the tree awhile, and when
the others come we will all go home together."
Tommy grasped Phoebe's hand tightly and walked along. Neither said anything until
they had sat under the tree for some time. Tommy's eyes still wore their far-away look.
He laid his head on Phoebe's lap, and the young girl stroked his yellow hair and waited until
he should be ready to talk.
At last the little boy Sat up and said:
 "I saw a very queer thing while I was at Still Pool. I was just looking into the water
and thinking how white the pebbles were, when all at once I couldn't see the pebbles any
more. The water looked all gray, and then, while I was looking and wondering, I saw a
beautiful, beautiful face! I really did, Phoebe, honest and true!"
Phoebe looked at the earliest little boy. She answered nothing, but her face was
transformed as she listened to his story. Her beautiful brown eyes grew more gentle
looking and her face seemed to have a light shining behind it.
"Honest, Phoebe, I did see a beautiful, lovely face. A real face.''
"I am sure you did, Tommy," said Phoebe. She saw that the child was ready to cry
at his fear that perhaps Phoebe did not understand him. "I know you saw the Face. I have
seen such a beautiful Face more than once." Tommy drew a deep breath. "It was the
loveliest face you could think about. It was just shiny, and it had deep, deep kind eyes, and
it looked right up at me and smiled. Oh, I felt my heart grow big all at once, and I was just
as still as could be for fear the beautiful thing would go away. But the first thing I knew you
laid your hand on my shoulder and I sort of felt as if I was just waking up. But I know the
face was real and true!"
"Of course it was, Tommy."
"It makes a little boy feel very strange to have such things happen." continued
Tommy. "But it's just like my very own thoughts. Sometimes I think and think and think
until the air seems all shiny, and then I feel oh, so happy! So very, very happy! But I never
can make it into words."
"No, dearie, you can't make it into words now, but you will be able to some day. Do
you know what I think? I think that nature made you a Poet when you were born, and so
as you grow, the beautiful thoughts will grow and grow as you do, until some time, when
you are a big man, you will be able to tell all that you have thought about, all the lovely
dreams, if you call them dreams, that you ever have had, and all these lovely shining things
will grow into beautiful words and be printed in books. Then they will be read by men and
women and little boys and girls, too, and it will help them all to be good and more happy
than they ever were before."
Tommy gazed with loving wondering eyes while Phoebe spoke. He felt as though
he understood all she meant as he watched her face. For while she talked it absolutely
shone and she looked, as though she saw, far in the distance, little Tommy, grown to be
a man and a wonderful poet.
After a while Tommy said, suddenly: "Oh, Phoebe, I know what the lovely face in
the pool was!"
"What, dearie?"
"Don't you remember the other day

--- 626

when all us children were in your house and you were telling us those nice stories? Don't
you remember how you told us there was a shining boy or girl in each one of us? I
remember all you told us about it and you said it was the real, true self. Our own best self;
our bestest goodie. I believe the face in the pool was my bestest goodie; it must have
been! "
"Perhaps it was, Tommy. But why do you say 'bestest goodie'?"
 "'Cause bestest is the very, very best, and 'goodie' is the very nicest, goodest thing.
So 'bestest goodie' is the very loveliest thing of all!"
"Well, the Shining One is all that, dearie. You have found a very good name for it.
Our Shining Self is our 'Bestest Goodie.'"
Soon the other children came up to Phoebe and Tommy and the party started for
home. All the boys and girls had bunches of ferns and flowers and the boys whistled as
they walked. The little girls walked along more sedately, all of them clustering around
Phoebe who laughed and chatted with them, as gay as the gayest. Tommy, too, was full
of fun, as he hopped along, holding on to Phoebe's hand. All the quiet, sober thought was
put aside, and again they were just two happy children with the others.
As the party reached the main street of Weston once more, it was decided, before
breaking up, that the ten children - the Weston Ten, as they call themselves - should meet
in Phoebe's house to spend the afternoon two days from that time.

----------------

NOTICES
We receive an occasional communication addressed to us with a Post-office box
number. Some time before the present Headquarters at 144 Madison Ave., was
established the business of the Theosophical Society and the Publishing Co. was
transacted through a Post-office Box, but Mr. Judge gave up this box upon removal to the
Headquarters at 144 Madison Ave., six years ago, and never afterwards used it. The
Theosophical Publishing Co., which was founded by Mr. Judge, is still at 144 Madison Ave.,
to which address all mail should be directed.

The Theosophical Publishing Co.,

E. A. Neresheimer,
Manager.

Mr. Edwin H. Clarke has been selected to assume charge of the Advertising
Departments of the UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD and New Century.
Those desiring information as to rates, etc., as well as all matters pertaining to this
department should address
Edwin H. Clark,
Advertising Department,
144 Madison Ave.,
New York.

The Theosophical Publishing Co.,

E. A. Neresheimer, Manager.
--------------
--- 627

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES
NEW YORK
THE Universal Brotherhood Meetings, held Sunday evenings in the Aryan Hall, are
increasing in interest all the time. A noticeable feature is the number of men who attend
and the very excellent and intelligent questions which are asked. The meetings are
interspersed with music, usually by the Misses Fuller, Piano and Violin, forming a very
important part of the proceedings. Short addresses are given and questions answered by
H. T. Patterson, H. Coryn, B. Harding, and J. H. Fussell. A collection is also taken to help
defray expenses and it is found that the visitors appreciate the opportunity of doing this.
The Aryan Lodge Meetings on Tuesday evening have for some time past been for
members only but it has been decided to open them to the public. The first open meeting
was held Jan. 17, and a number of visitors were present. The Lodge meetings adjourn at
9.30, thus giving an opportunity for conversation and social intercourse. Our President,
Bro. Neresheimer, often adds to the pleasure of the evening by singing.
A new Lodge was formed in New York on the West Side on Jan. 3. At the time of
writing three meetings have so far been held. A large room with a piano has been hired
at 587 Hudson Street, and a very good beginning has been made, several people being
already interested. This is one of the old residence districts of New York and the
inhabitants generally are noted for being good thinkers and earnest people. Those helping
in the work are members from the H. P. B. and Aryan Lodges: D. N. Dunlop, S. Hecht,
Mrs. Cracauer, Dr. Wilcox, Miss Bernstein, H. T. Patterson, H. Coryn, Miss Whitney, J. H.
Fussell, and others.
Bro. Albert E. S. Smythe is now making a tour of Universal Brotherhood Lodges and
is a fully authorized representative of the Universal Brotherhood, and the International
Brotherhood League. He has so far visited Toledo, Fort Wayne and Chicago and has had
good success. This is an opportunity for the new members and those at a distance to
come in closer touch through Bro. Smythe with the work at Headquarters. Bro. Smythe is
so well known through his work in Toronto and as Editor of The Lamp and so many have
also heard him at the annual Conventions of the T. S. A. that he needs no introduction.
Inquiries have been received in regard to the railway arrangements for the Congress
of Universal Brotherhood at Point Loma next April. Bro. W. A. Stevens, 500 Lafayette Ave.,
Buffalo, N. Y., has these in charge and will be ready to report by about Feb. 1 st. Those
desiring information should write him. Further particulars will be given in The New Century.
An important meeting of the Universal Brotherhood was held in Boston, Jan. 17, at
which were present the Leader, E. A. Neresheimer, F. M. Pierce, H. T. Patterson, and H.
Coryn from New York, and Clark Thurston from Providence.
An illustration is given in this issue of the Headquarters Building at 144 Madison
Avenue, New York, showing the office and bookstore of the Theosophical Publishing
Company, on the first floor. The offices of the Universal Brotherhood and the Theosophical
Society in America are on the second floor.

----------
--- 627

[[Illustration: Central Office of the Universal Brotherhood Organization, The

Theosophical Society in America, and the Theosophical Publishing Company]]
--- 629

The members will also be glad to see the faces of some of our Australian friends.
They are a band of splendid, loyal workers and Universal Brotherhood has already become
a power in the lives of many in Australia.

[[illustration]]

January 13th was the 1st anniversary of the founding of the Universal Brotherhood
Organization. The second year of U. B. has begun and we can now look back and see how
great a work has been done during the past year. But more than all, one may know what
this work has been, by simply looking into his own heart. It has been a year of great effort;
of trial to some; but has resulted in joy to all who have worked unselfishly in our glorious
cause and who have followed faithfully the guidance of our great Leader. I have heard
many say recently that it seemed as though a new spring had begun, that they felt so
happy they wanted to sing. There does indeed seem to be a new energy awakening and
certainly never before has there been such a happy harmonious household and staff as at
present at Headquarters, nor have we ever had such bright and harmonious meetings.
But this is not only true of New York and the Headquarters but of the whole
organization from Boston and the East, from Fort Wayne, Chicago, Pittsburg, Macon, and
Lodges too numerous to mention, from the whole Pacific Coast and the North West come
the same tidings of new hope, new strength, new achievements. Truly, U.B. 2 has begun
auspiciously. - J. H. Fussell
---------

TACOMA, WASHINGTON
Jan. 9, 1899

DEAR COMRADE: - I have your favor of 3d inst. and am fully convinced that you are
right in the references and hopes you express for the year 1899. Our local U. B.
organization is in good shape, we never were able before to work so unitedly and loyally
and the efforts from all the members seem now to strengthen that unity.
Yes, we are all looking forward to Point Loma in many respects. Many of our
members are planning to go down and I only wish we could all go and hope we may be
able. - R. H. Lund

--- 630

A SPLENDID RECORD

Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 7, America

California Academy of Sciences Building,
Room 30, 819 Market Street, San Francisco.
Secretary's Annual Report for Year Ending December 21, 1898.

Officers and Members of Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 7, America

 COMRADES: - Your secretary begs leave to report as follows concerning the closing
year:
The Year's work shows a gratifying increase in results. In order to be exact your
secretary gives the figures as shown by the minutes of the year: 547 meetings were held,
with an attendance of 41,150, as against 478 meetings and 36,279 attendance in 1897, an
increase of 14 percent in the number of meetings and of 13-1/2 percent in attendance; 481
addresses were delivered at these meetings by 65 speakers.
The highest total weekly attendance was 1060; the lowest 605; average 791.
The most noticeable increase is in the case of the International Brotherhood League,
which began the year with an average attendance of 78, and closes the twelve-mouth with
an average attendance of 170, a gain of 118 percent.
The Lotus Group shows a gain of 18 percent, as compared with 1897, and Lodge
meetings a gain of 29 percent. The attendance of visitors at the Library increased 16
percent, and of members at meetings of Pacific Coast Committee for Universal
Brotherhood 98 per cent.
The especial attention of members is called to the Ethical Class and Secret Doctrine
Class as being the most important local channels for the acquirement of a knowledge of
ethics and philosophy. The Ethical Class shows a gain of 35 percent, and the Secret
Doctrine Class 33 percent for the year.
The work at San Quentin Penitentiary was resumed in August, under the direction
of H. H. Somers, after a suspension of more than a year. Lectures are given monthly, and
the chapel is always filled with listeners.
A private meeting of U. B. L. No. 7 was instituted in October, two meetings being
held each month. Beginning with January this meeting will be held regularly every
Thursday evening, and is expected to accomplish much good by way of bringing members
into closer sympathy with each other.
Your secretary's annual report one year ago showed that 1897 had been the most
prosperous year in the history of the movement in this city. By the present report it is seen
that 1898 far surpasses the previous year, and this in the face of financial distress and
general unrest. The prediction is ventured that 1899 will bring a still greater meed of
success, for it is the beginning of a California cycle. In 1849 the name of California was
emblazoned before the world. The closing year marks the passing of the seventh
septenate of the cycle, and 1899 will usher in the new cycle which is to bring California
again before the notice of the world, but this time as the depository of spiritual gold.
This report would be incomplete without reference to the Chicago Convention, held
on February 18, 1898, at which time the Universal Brotherhood, or the Brotherhood of
Humanity, was promulgated under the leadership of Mrs. Katherine A. Tingley, and of
which the Theosophical Society in America and the International Brotherhood League
became integral parts. San Francisco Branch at once

--- 631

transformed itself into a Lodge of Universal Brotherhood, becoming Lodge 7 - the mystic
number - and the results of the year are ample justification of the action taken.
There were a few defections from the Society because of its expansion, but the
record shows that the result was in no wise serious for the organization. An organization,
like a human body, is made up of atoms or lives, and as growth proceeds these atoms are
constantly changing their position and passing into and out of the body. The
correspondence is very similar, except that in the case of this organization it is not the law
of fatality which expels the atoms, but each has the free will to maintain his position in the
growing body if he so desires, or to leave it. Each will choose as he desires, and we have
not the right to attempt to compel them. We have but to perform our full duty in every
department of our lives, and the recorders of karma will adjust the conditions and the result.
I congratulate the members of Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 7 on the work of
the closing year and the prospects of the coming one.
Fraternally,
Amos J. Johnson, Secretary.

San Francisco, December 21, 1898.

-----------

LOTUS HOME *

Buffalo, N.Y., Dec, 29, 1898

DEAR LEADER: -
I wish it were in my power to express to you all the sweetness and quiet joy of the
first Christmas, at Lotus Home, and the only thing that was lacking, was the presence (in
the physical body) of the precious "Lotus Mother," for it was such a delightful experience,
so full of hope and promise, that we wanted you there to share it with us.
Truly the spirit of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to all Men" brooded over the Home and
spread its wings over all that are working and ministering to the tiny "Buds" there.
It is wonderful to see the improvement in them as the days go on, since Dr. Kean
has taken them in hand; she understands all their little needs and with Miss Morris' gentle
and unceasing care and attention they are growing as strong and beautiful as the most
exacting could desire.
The atmosphere surrounding them is so serene and full of unselfish brotherly love
that the unfoldment into health and beauty of mind and body has begun early, and we feel
sure that they will grow to lovely "Blossoms by and bye" and be workers for Humanity on
the broadest lines of "Universal Brotherhood."
There was the Christmas Tree, filled with lights and all the "shining things," and the
sweet odor of the fragrant boughs filled the rooms, the babies and all the household
gathered around it with the members of our family also, at twilight, and if any one thinks a
lot of wee babies do not enjoy the fun of a Christmas tree, let them come here and see
"ours," they stared and laughed and took in all the

-----------
* The Lotus Home, recently established in Buffalo, under the International
Brotherhood League is for homeless children and seeks to carry out the second object of
the League, viz., "To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal
Brotherhood and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for
humanity."
-----------
--- 632

loveliness, as wisely as the older ones of us. Little Katherine was so overcome with
prolonged staring and nodding her head with approval, that she fell asleep in the midst of
it, no doubt continuing the lovely vision in her dreams.
Little Grace with the rosy cheeks and laughing blue eyes had grown to the dignity
of short clothes on Christmas day, and though but five months old she sat in her fine new
high chair and crowed and laughed aloud with glee just as though she were years old
instead of months only.
Wee Edith, our frailest Bud, is frail no longer, but is growing stronger and rosier
every day, and her great wonderful eyes look as if they held a store of untold things, which
she will give to the world some day, in song or verse.
On Christmas Eve a new-comer appeared, little "merry Christmas" and on Christmas
day another; this one we didn't know what to call for the time being, but little "Miss
Newcome," and that made six small workers for humanity at Lotus Home on Christmas
day.
The household is now composed of twelve persons, Dr. Kean, Supt.; Miss Morris,
assistant Supt.; the Housekeeper; the Maid of all work (who by the way is a jewel); the
Man of all work; and the new nursery maid; with the six babies making the twelve.
Quite a household, for so short a time since the work was begun, and it will continue
to grow for it is getting to be better known all the while.
We have received an appropriation from the County of $600. We are very glad to
get this, it will help us through the winter and in spring we hope to have an entertainment
that will bring us over $200.
I have no words at my command, dear Mother, to express all I feel in regard to our
blessed work here, and of my appreciation of the great privilege you have bestowed upon
us here, in permitting us to help on our great Cause in this practical and substantial way,
but you know my heart, and what I lack in beautiful language, I hope I can make up in
faithful work. - Theresa V. Stevens
----------

HOME CRUSADE IN IRELAND

On December 7th the Crusaders, Mrs. A. L. Cleather and Bro. Basil Crump, went
to Dublin for the first time, where they enjoyed the real Irish hospitality of Mr. and Mrs. E.
J. Dick. Ireland is a dreamy country, and its people are extremely diffident and hard to
interest in anything novel. The deep interest of those who came to the Wagner lecture
was, therefore, no less a surprise to the local workers than the unusually long and
appreciative reports which appeared in the principal Dublin papers. It was a significant fact
that, although the reporters were supplied with a complete summary of the lecture, they
stayed to the end, and gave money for the children's work. This lecture was on Friday, the
9th; Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were occupied with U. B. and private meetings,
interviews, and general routine work. On Tuesday the children's entertainment took place
in the Rotunda. A number of Dublin ladies interested in philanthropic work came to help,
and a gentleman very kindly operated the lantern. All were delighted, and said it was quite
as much a lesson for them as for the little ones. There is no doubt that this work will be
carried forward in Dublin. Each visitor asked for a portrait of Mrs. Tingley.
 Early on Wednesday morning the Crusaders, Mrs. Cleather and Bro. Crump, left
Dublin to help at the

--- 633

BROTHERHOOD BAZAAR IN LIVERPOOL.

They were met by Secretary Herbert Crooke and Brother H. M. Savage, and stayed
along with Brother Cranstone Woodhead at the "Mitre" Hotel. Some very advantageous
arrangements had been made, so that the Bazaar started on a favorable financial basis.
A beautiful picture, sent by Brother R. Machell, R. B. A., was splendidly displayed in a large
shop window in Lord Street, and attracted an immense amount of public attention.
The Committee were singularly happy in securing the sympathetic services of Mr.
R. Holt and Mrs. Jeannie Mole to open the Bazaar on the first and second days
respectively. They both made speeches which came straight from the heart, and their
appreciation of the work now being done by the Movement along practical lines was an
object lesson to all in the foresight and wisdom of our Leader. Brother T. Baker's orchestra
provided excellent music, the refreshments were daintily served by lady workers in tasteful
costumes, and on the seven stalls there was a profusion of articles for sale. We
understand that the total receipts amounted to upwards of L150, and we warmly
congratulate the Committee on this highly successful result.
----------

BRISTOL
Bristol reports an increase of attendance, due to copies of the New Century being
placed in the public libraries. New Century distribution is highly important work. When the
hour shall strike, when we have given it that unqualified support that it demands of us, it will
then speak right into the people's hearts in clear and simple language, so that none need
longer question the "nobility of their calling," or again forget their "true position in life." - C.
O.

LIVERPOOL.
The Lodge is flourishing, and the sole topic is the "Bazaar." The Thursday evening
meetings have been very interesting during November.
On Sunday, November 20th, Brother Bern lectured on "Music."
On the 24th November Brother Crooke gave an excellent lecture on "King Solomon's
Seal." To all our brethren, greeting. - J. F. Cropper,
From The Crusader, Dec. 27, 1898.

HOLLAND
We know that you are in a whirlwind of work. Here, too, we are, after our own way
in a whirlwind of the same kind, and things are going well. We are busy with preparations
for our Lotus circle, etc., and, as for U. B. work, it goes in every way as far as our means
allow. Inward work is very good, and the true members are coming nearer to each other
in conscious unity. We only know our Leader here, and try to follow her.
- H. De N.
---------------
--- 634

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD ORGANIZATION.

"Slowly the Bible of the race is writ,

Each age, each kindred adds a verse to it."

UNIVERSAL Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of Humanity is an organization

established for the benefit of the people of the earth and all creatures.
This organization declares that Brotherhood is a fact in nature. The principal
purpose of this organization is to teach Brotherhood, demonstrate that it is a fact in nature
and make it a living power in the life of humanity.
The subsidiary purpose of this organization is to study ancient and modern religion,
science, philosophy and art; to investigate the laws of nature and the divine powers in
man.
This Brotherhood is a part of a great and universal movement which has been active
in all ages.
Every member has the right to believe or disbelieve in any religious system or
philosophy, each being required to show that tolerance for the opinions of others which he
expects for his own.
The Theosophical Society in America is the Literary Department of Universal
Brotherhood.
The International Brotherhood League is the department of the Brotherhood for
practical humanitarian work.
The Central Office of the Universal Brotherhood Organization is at 144 Madison
Avenue, New York City.*

-----------
* For further information address F. M. Pierce, Secretary, 144 Madison Avenue, New
York.
-----------

THE INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD LEAGUE *

(Unsectarian.)

"Helping and sharing is what Brotherhood means."

THIS organization affirms and declares that Brotherhood is a fact in Nature, and its
objects are: 1. To help men and women to realize the nobility of their calling and their true
position in life.
2. To educate children of all nations on the broadest lines of Universal Brotherhood
and to prepare destitute and homeless children to become workers for humanity.
3. To ameliorate the condition of unfortunate women, and assist them to a higher
life.
4. To assist those who are, or have been, in prison, to establish themselves in
honorable positions in life.
 5. To endeavor to abolish capital punishment.

-----------
* Address all inquiries to H. T. Patterson, General Superintendent, 144 Madison
Avenue, New York.
-----------
--- 635

6. To bring about a better understanding between so-called savage and civilized

races, by promoting a closer and more sympathetic relationship between them.
7. To relieve human suffering resulting from flood, famine, war, and other calamities;
and generally to extend aid, help, and comfort to suffering humanity throughout the world.
It should be noted that the officers and workers of the International Brotherhood
League are unsalaried and receive no remuneration, and this, as one of the most binding
rules of the organization, effectually excludes those who would otherwise enter from
motives of self-interest.
None of the officers hold any political office, the League is not connected with any
political party or organization, nor has it any political character, it is wholly humanitarian and
unsectarian.

THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY IN AMERICA.

THIS Society was formed in 1875 under the name of the Theosophical Society, by
H. P. Blavatsky, assisted by W. Q. Judge and others; reorganized in April, 1895, by W. Q.
Judge under the name of the Theosophical Society in America, and in February, 1898,
became an integral part of Universal Brotherhood Organization.
The principal purpose of this Society is to publish and disseminate literature relating
to Theosophy, Brotherhood, ancient and modern religions, philosophy, sciences and arts.
Its subsidiary purpose is to establish and build up a great library, in which shall be
gathered ancient and modern literature of value to the great cause of Universal
Brotherhood.
-----------

SCHOOL FOR THE REVIVAL OF THE LOST MYSTERIES OF ANTIQUITY AT POINT

LOMA, SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, U. S. A.
ALTHOUGH American in centre, this school is international in character - "a temple
of living light, lighting up the dark places of the earth."
Through this School and its branches the children of the race will be taught the laws
of physical life, and the laws of physical, moral, and mental health and spiritual unfoldment.
They will learn to live in harmony with nature. They will become passionate lovers of all
that breathes. They will grow strong in an understanding of themselves, and as they gain
strength they will learn to use it for the good of the whole world."
The Leader and Official Head wishes it known that there is an Eastern and Esoteric
School in which a very large number of the earnest members of the UNIVERSAL
BROTHERHOOD throughout the world are pupils. At present there is no institution where
students go to learn these teachings. The studies are carried on in each group under
directions from the centre in New York.
 In the School for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity there will be an
Esoteric Department, in which the higher teachings will be given to such pupils of the
Eastern and Esoteric School as are prepared to receive them.

--- 636

THE ISIS LEAGUE OF MUSIC AND DRAMA (OF THE ART DEPARTMENT OF
UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD).
THE Isis League of Music and Drama is composed of persons carefully selected by
the Foundress, who are interested in the advancement of music and the drama to their true
place in the life of humanity. Its objects are: (a) To accentuate the importance of Music
and the Drama as vital educative factors.
(b) To educate the people to a knowledge of the true philosophy of life by means of
dramatic presentations of a high standard and the influence of the grander harmonies of
music.
Headquarters: 144 Madison Avenue, New York City, and at Point Loma, San Diego,
California.
---------

OBITUARY
We deeply regret to record the passing away on Dec. 30, of Bro. H. T. Lotter, ore
of the most faithful and earnest workers in Kansas City, after an illness lasting since last
Aug. The following resolutions were passed by Lodge No. 47 of Universal Brotherhood,
Kansas City, Mo.
Whereas In the economy of Nature, all is subject to change, that which we see being
the blossom of seed sown in the long ago in the yesterdays of Eternity which in their turn
shall bear seed for futurity's growth; and
Whereas Time in its onward sweep has closed the Cycle of Active life of him who
was erstwhile known to us as Henry T. Lotter gathering for further unfoldment the ripened
fruit of an Earth life; now therefore be it
RESOLVED That in the passing hence of brother Lotter this lodge loses an earnest,
enthusiastic and untiring worker in the Cause, its members a staunch, sincere and kind
brother and an amiable and gracious friend; and further be it
RESOLVED That in token of our love and esteem, flowers shall be placed on the
rostrum at the public meetings to be held Jan. 8, 15, 22d and that three members be
appointed to address the audience in memoriam, also be it
RESOLVED That our recollections of him can best be kept in our memories, by
making his conduct in life our standard of duty.
- Chas E. Hungerford, Pres., J. Frank Knoche, Sec.

We have also received notice of the passing away from earth-life of two of the oldest
workers on the Pacific Coast, Bro. Theodore G. Ed. Wollet of San Francisco, on Dec. 12th,
aged 70 years, and Dr. John S. Cook of Sacramento, on Dec. 30th. Both of our brothers
will be much missed by their respective Lodges, but the memory of their faithful endeavor
for Universal Brotherhood will long be kept in the hearts of their comrades.
--------------------------------

AUM

"The being of the Gods, and their concern in human affairs, is beyond dispute."
"Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus, with thy hand! Cherish the road of
peace." - Gems from the East.

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vol. XIII March, 1899 No. 12
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE
by Alexander Wilder, M. D.

V. STATESMAN AND SAVIOR OF FRANCE

WHILE journeying in Mount Lebanon in April, Lamartine had received letters from
home informing him of his nomination to the Chamber of Deputies. He had presented
himself as a candidate before leaving France, and did not now feel at liberty to decline.
The death of his mother and now the loss of his daughter had withered his ambition. "I will
accept it and go back," he wrote in his journal. "I have none of those aspirations for glory
and fortune, which constitute the impulsion of other men. The only interest which I still take
will be the common interest of the country and humanity. How can the calm and impartial
voice of philosophy be heard in the tumult of conflicting facts and contradictory opinions?
No matter; man chooses neither his own path nor his own work. God assigns him his task
according to his circumstances and his convictions; it must be performed. But I foresee
for myself only a moral martyrdom."
He remained in Pera two months. He had sent his Arab horses forward from
Bayreuth overland, and waited for their arrival. M. Turqui, the Sardinian Ambassador,
placed his house at Buyukdere at the service of Lamartine, and lavished on him
innumerable attentions. The other Ambassadors were also assiduous in their courtesies,
and the Turkish Court bestowed on him many friendly offices.
He visited the Mosques of Constantinople, the bazaar and slave market, and was
even permitted to go into the Seraglio itself. The Sultan did not now inhabit the place,
never doing so after the slaughtering of the Janisaries. The Kesnedar or Imperial
Treasurer did the honors, showing him all around, and exhibiting to him the wealth and
jewels in his charge. This officer invited him to be the guest of honor for the night, but
Lamartine declined, pleading that his wife and friends knew where he was and would be
in painful apprehension.
"You are indeed the first Frank who ever entered here," replied the Kesnedar, "And
that is a reason why you should be treated with special attention." Count Orloff, who was
about to go away with a Russian expedition, and M. Turqui, his entertainer, visited him
often. He also met the Prince Royal of Bavaria, brother to Otho, newly made King of
Greece, at the Embassy. The Prince asked his opinion about the selecting of a capital.
"Where a thing is revived," said Lamartine, "it should be restored in form as well as name.
Athens, with its ruins and memories, is the emblem of the existence of Greece. That city
must be the point of

--- 640

her regeneration, or the Greeks will never be anything but what they now are, a wretched
population spread over the rocks and islands of the Peloponnesos."
Finally, his horses arrived all but one. They were in bad condition and required care
and opportunity to recruit. He disposed of several and was finally enabled to fix his time
for departure on the twenty-third of July.
M. Turqui continued his attentions to the last, accompanying him for several hours
on the way, and finally parting from him with the warmest demonstrations of affection.
The Ottoman Government also extended its courtesies while he journeyed in the
Turkish territory. He was furnished with an escort which at times numbered from sixty to
eighty, and in Adrianople, Sophia, Philippoli and other towns he met with a princely
reception and a generous hospitality. He was greatly pleased with the Turks, only
deploring their fatalism in belief, and convinced of the hopeless instability of their
dominions.
At Wenikeni, a Wretched village in Bulgaria, he was prostrated by fever. For twenty
days he lay between life and death, in a hut having but a single apartment, without a
window; his bed a mat. His wife was his physician and nurse, and he tells us that for fifteen
days and nights she did not close her eyes. It was no cheerful thought for him that in the
event of his death, she would be left there desolate, in the heart of the Balkan mountains,
four hundred leagues from home. A Greek gentleman from Philippoli, learning that a Frank
was dangerously ill at that village, sent a physician to him with medicines. He arrived on
the sixth day, but Lamartine was then out of danger.
The Pasha of the province was likewise unremitting in good offices. He supplied the
party daily with provisions, and kept five or six men on horseback near the house, to
execute every command. Madame de Lamartine was thus enabled, with her botanic
knowledge, to procure the necessary remedies.
The inhabitants of the village did all in their power for the sufferer and his friends;
and when he set out again on his journey, they accompanied him a league on his way and
invoked benedictions on him as they bade him farewell.
On the first of September, four days later, Lamartine and his company approached
the village of Nissa. He was riding half an hour in advance, and came to a tower which
glistened like marble. Weary with the heat he alighted for a brief repose in its shade. He
found it composed of human skulls cemented together with mortar. Fifteen thousand
Servians had been killed at this place by the Pasha in the last revolt, and their heads piled
up in this ghastly monument. On some of them the hair yet remained waving in the wind,
and the breeze as it penetrated the numerous cavities of the skulls sounded like mournful
sighs.
He had now arrived at the boundary of Servia, and the Turkish escort took their
leave to go back to Constantinople. Henceforth Lamartine and his party were with
Europeans whose ways, customs and modes of thinking were like their own.
 He was enthusiastic in praise of the Servians. "The history of this people ought to
be sung, not written, he declared. ''It is a poem that is still being accomplished." He adds
a sketch of their leaders, Black George and Milosh, their contests for independence with
forces many times their own number, and their unparalleled daring. Servia and Bulgaria,
he affirmed, are the basis of a future dominion.
The son of a nephew of Milosh is now King of Servia, but the prediction of Lamartine
is not yet realized.

SOCIAL PARTY AND EUROPEAN

Lamartine had been absent eighteen months when he arrived in France. The old
Chevalier still lived to greet his son

--- 641

and others came to welcome him. He resumed his literary labors, and during the next five
years published the following works: "Jocelyn," "Chute d' un Ange," and "Recuillements
Poetiques." The first of these contained a tribute to his deceased friend, the Abbe Dumont.
He divided his rears into three parts. The Winter was devoted to political duties, the
Spring and Summer to agriculture ant literary work, and the Autumn to traveling.
He took his seat in the Chamber of Deputies in the Winter of 1833-4, and acted with
the conservatives of whom M. Guizot was leader. At the next election he was chosen to
represent Macon, his birth-place. He now became a leader in his own behoof. His views
were neither distinctively aristocratic nor democratic. He announced them himself: "I am
a partisan of whatever will better and perfect mankind as a whole, whether at the summit
or foot of the social scale."
He now criticized severely the course pursued by the King and Ministry, arraigning
them for their want of faith, their resistance to progress, their ignorance of the wants of
society and their refusal to make timely concessions to the wishes of the people.
As the head of the new "Social Party," he insisted upon the necessity of the study
of the classics as part of liberal education, advocated the abolition of the penalty of death,
and proposed a new diplomatic policy for Europe which should contemplate a broader
liberty, a more general civilization, and of national cooperation to promote the welfare of
all mankind.
"The French Revolution has been the tocsin of the world," he declared. "Many of
its phases have been accomplished; but it is not ended. Nothing of those slow, internal,
persistent movements of the moral life of the human race is ever ended. There are times
of halting; but during these halts the thoughts themselves are matured, forces accumulate
and make ready for a new activity. In the progress of society and ideas, the aim is always
only a new point of departure. The French Revolution will yet be called the European
Revolution; for ideas, like water, find their level. It is not merely a political revolution, a
transfer of power, one dynasty in place of another, or a republic in place of a monarchy.
All that is only an accident, a symptom, an instrumentality, a means to an end. The work
itself is so much more grave and exalted that it can be accomplished under all forms of
political power. It can be monarchist or republican, attached to one dynasty or another,
partisan of this or that constitutional form, without being less sincerely or less profoundly
revolutionary."
 "I am not of the number," he says again, "who see in the present movement only the
movement itself the tumult of order and ideas; nor do I believe that the moral and political
world is in the final convulsions of death and dissolution. This movement is plainly a double
one - a dissolving and an organizing in faith. The creative spirit is at work in the same
degree that the destructive spirit is destroying; one faith replaces the other. However the
past is overthrown, there the Future, all prepared, appears behind the ruins. The transition
is sluggish and rude like every transition in which the passions and interests of men have
clashed as they went, in which classes in society and in which different nations go at
unequal pace, and some try obstinately to hold back while the mass is advancing. For
some moments there are confusion, dust, ruins and darkness; but from time to time the
wind clears away the cloud of dust that hides the way and purpose, and they who are on
the heights above distinguish the marching of the columns, observe the ground of the
Future and see the day yet coming to illumine the vast horizons."
"I hear said around me," he said again; "men no more have creeds; everything is
delivered to the individual reason; there is no more a common faith in anything,

--- 642

neither in religion nor in politics, nor in good-fellowship. 'Creeds, a common faith, is the
mainstay of nations; this stay broken down, everything is dissolved; there is only one way
to save the peoples: it is to give them back their creeds.'
''To give back creeds, to resuscitate dead popular dogmas in the conscience of the
people, to make anew what the time has unmade, is a preposterous notion. It is to attempt
to struggle against the nature and spirit of things; it is to govern in another direction than
that of Providence, and away from the events which are its footprints. The course of time
will never go back. We can guide ourselves and guide the world along an irresistible
current, but we cannot arrest that current and make it flow back."
"If the world had no more any idea in common, or faith, or creed, it would never more
be moved; nothing produces nothing - mens agitat molem - mind moves the mass. On the
contrary, there is an unbounded conviction, a fanatic faith, a hope confused but undefined,
an ardent love, a common creed although not shaped into words, which pushes, crowds,
stirs up, draws, condenses and causes to gravitate together, all the intelligence, all the
consciences, all the moral force of the epoch.
"The revolutions, the tossings of tempest, the falls of empires, the repeated and
gigantic motions of all the members of old Europe, the echoes of America and Asia. This
thoughtless and resistless impulse, which in spite of individual wills, keeps up so much
agitation and collected force - all this is not all effect without a cause. All this has a
meaning, a deep and hidden meaning, but a meaning evident to the eye of the philosopher.
This meaning is precisely what you are complaining of having lost, what you are disowning
today. It is a common idea, a conviction, a law of society, a truth which having entered
involuntarily into all minds, and even into the mind of the masses, unknown to themselves,
operates in these events to produce itself with the force of Divine Truth - that is to say, an
invincible force.
"This faith is the general reason: its organ is speech, its apostle is the Press. It is
spreading over the world with the infallibility and the vehemency of a new religion. It is
seeking to make anew in its own image the religions, the civilizations, the forms of society,
the results of legislative action, which are imperfect or have been altered by the errors and
ignorance of the Dark Ages through which they have passed. It seeks to place in religion
for a dogma. God one and perfect; for a creed eternal morality; for a worship pious
adoration and fraternal charity. In statecraft it desires to place human nature above all
nationalities; in legislation, man the equal to man and brother of man - Society as a
brotherly exchange of services and reciprocal duties regulated and guaranteed by law -
Christianity legislative.
"It wills this and it is effecting it. Sat again that there are no more creeds, that there
is no common faith in the men of this time. Since Christianity there was never so great a
work accomplished with so feeble agencies. A Cross and a Printing Press are the two
instrumentalities of the two great greatest civilizing movements of the world."
Lamartine described the progress that had been made and its results. The general
diffusion of instruction had generated a superabundance of capabilities demanding
employment in society. The transition alone is dangerous, he declared, "till the balance
shall be adjusted by those multiplied, creating each for itself a proper mode of activity. The
manufacturing stimulus withdrew the population from domestic feeling; over-excited labor,
by the sudden rise of profits which as suddenly and irregularly fell back, accustoms by the
luxury and vices of cities those who can never fall back to the simplicity of country life, and
accumulates masses of population, today insufficient for the demand, tomor-

--- 643

row deprived of employment and by their deprivation, a prey to destitution and disorder.
He recognized the fact that property at all periods of human history has existed as
the absolute necessity of society; and that without it there is neither home life, industry nor
civilization, but he adds the imperative Command of Charity to the owner: "Thou shalt
remember that the right of property was not instituted tor thee alone, but for mankind at
large. Thou enjoyest it only on the conditions of justice, utility and distribution to all. Thou
shalt, therefore, supply thy brother from the superfluity of thy possessions with the means
and elements of labor necessary to his acquiring of possessions in his turn; thou shalt,
therefore, recognize a right superior to the right of property - the right of humanity!"
The revolution that all things were undergoing involved all Europe in imminent
dangers, so great that unless a preservative should be devised, the ruin of the whole social
world, he insisted, was inevitable. But Providence never creates wants with out at the
same time creating the means to supply them. A crisis was taking place in the East which
offered the held and opportunity.
"The Turkish Empire is crumbling to pieces, and threatens from day to day to leave
to anarchy and disorganized barbarism, territories devoid of inhabitants, and a people
destitute of rulers."
Every part of the dominion in Africa and Asia was substantially detached from the
Ottoman rule. Asia Minor, once the seat of seven powerful kingdoms and innumerable
towns, now consisted only of fertile solitudes. Constantinople, like all the capitals of the
decaying people alone presented an appearance of population and life. In proportion as
the vitality of empires recedes from the extremities, it concentrates itself in the heart.
He deprecated the European policy, therefore, that sought to preserve Turkey as a
counterpoise to Russian power in the East. "The Ottoman Empire no longer exists but in
name; its life is extinct, its weight no longer sways the balance; it is nothing but a vast void
which this antihuman policy wishes to lease vacant instead of tilling it with a healthy and
living population."
He proposed to wait the event, and as the Turkish Dominion fell to pieces the
European powers should establish protectorates and found free cities and European
Colonies. But all pre-existing rights should be recognized, all sorts of worship equally
protected in perfect freedom, only interdicting polygamy and slavery.
"Did this plan,"- says he, "which I have conceived and proposed, depend for its
execution on violence, or the expatriation and forcible dispossession of this wreck of a great
and generous nation, I would regard it as a crime." The Turks, he insisted, are incapable
of governing their present territories; they had depopulated the countries and destroyed
themselves by the slow suicide of their government. Yet they are as a race the first and
most worthy of all in the empire. With better laws and government they will yet be one of
the greatest of peoples. "They are a people of patriarchs, of thinkers, of worshipers, of
philosophers; and when their cause is that of religion they are a people of heroes and
martyrs."
Europe, Lamartine insisted, has the right to assume this work. It was not the right
of power that he invoked, but the right of humanity and civilization. Capability constituted
a right and duty. No war was necessary; no violence, confiscation, proscription, violation
of religion or morals, was authorized. Europe had a population, industry, intellectual forces,
all seeking space and employment, and here was their
opportunity. "Europe wants only just opinions and generous sentiments to realize this
picture: A word will suffice to save herself while preparing a glorious future for the human
race."

--- 644

[[Illustration: Lamartine Refusing the Red Flag.]]

--- 645

Lamartine also combated vigorously and with success the proposition of M. Arago
that the classics should be omitted from the course of a liberal education.
His great work, "The History of the Girondists," was written in illustration of his
sentiments. He was in Italy while compiling it and the place where he made his residence
commanded a view of the Island of Procida, the home of Graziella. The work was issued
in numbers and finally published entire in 1847. It has been repeatedly translated and
criticized, but its impartiality, thoroughness and care to deal justly with every individual and
measure are generally acknowledged.
Lamartine believed that the French nation in the first Revolution would have
succeeded in establishing a liberal Government without the violence and bloodshed that
took place, if the European powers had not interfered. They certainly paid dearly for their
intermeddling. In later periods they left France to shape its own policy.

LAMARTINE AND THE REVOLUTION OF 1848

The administration of Louis-Philippe became daily more unpopular. Its arbitrary
policy estranged its supporters, and the corruption which was sedulously employed to
sustain it finally lost its power to corrupt. Dissatisfaction existed everywhere. A series of
Reform and Workingmen's banquets was set in operation. Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Louis
Blanc and other popular leaders delivered addresses at these gatherings, preparing the
public minds for the impending Revolution.
The Government itself precipitated the event. It had been arranged to hold a Reform
Banquet at Paris in February, 1848. An order was issued forbidding the affair. M. Odillon-
Barrot was the leader of the Opposition in the Chamber of Deputies. At his instance the
prohibition was disregarded. There were ten thousand guests invited from all over France.
It was contemplated that they should walk in procession, and that ten thousand members
of the National Guard, unarmed, should line the route. Barrot was to deliver an address,
and the assemblage disperse.
It was his purpose to bring about the forming of a new ministry with Adolph Thiers
or Count Mole at the head. The Prefect of Police again interfered, and the Government
brought troops to Paris to the number of one hundred thousand.
The banquet was given up, but the train was fired. The populace rose in arms on
the 24th and unfurled the red flag of the Commune of Paris. The King now offered to form
a new Ministry, but this resource failed and he abdicated. Slaughter, pillage and riot
prevailed in the streets. The palace of the Tuileries was sacked, the throne brought out,
carried in triumph, and finally broken in pieces and burned. The King fled in disguise, and
the Duchess of Orleans, fearing for her life and still hoping to save the fortunes of her son,
made her way to the Chamber of Deputies.
A scene now occurred, resembling that of the appearing of Louis XVI at the National
Assembly to escape from the mob, and there witnessing his own dethronement.
Odillon-Barrot proposed that the Duchess should be appointed Regent during the
minority of her son. The reply came from every side: "Too late! too late!"
Then came one of those periods when immediate action is necessary and no one
knew what to suggest. Speeches were made without defined purpose, to pass the time;
while rioting and bloodshed reigned in the city.
Lamartine, impelled by a certain inspiration, came into the Chamber. He beheld with
pity the unfortunate Princess and her children, now repudiated by their countrymen and in
mortal peril. The fate of France was likewise in the balance.
Taking the tribune, he proposed an appeal to the whole nation. The acclamations
in the Chamber, he insisted, were not to be accepted in place of the voice of thirty-five
millions of the people. A Pro-

--- 646

visional Government should be created at once to meet the emergency, to put an end to
the carnage, to establish order and to call for the decision of all France.
The populace at this moment broke into the Hall. The Hotel de Ville had been
sacked and now the Deputies were assailed. The Duchess and her little group fled for
safety and the Hall was abandoned.
The next morning the new Provisional Government, with Dupont l'Eure, was
proclaimed from the Hotel de Ville.
The populace hastened thither to dispose of this new claimant for authority.
Lamartine was the only man able to get a hearing from the assembled multitude. When
he had appeased one crowd, a second would come inspired with a new fury. In this way
he was engaged for sixty hours without opportunity for rest. On one of these occasions he
stood in the balcony for more than an hour with folded arms waiting for the clamor to cease,
that he might speak. His firmness and courage finally succeeded, and he was heard. He
spoke of the ideas involved.
"Down with ideas!" was yelled in reply. "The first necessity of the Republic is order,"
Lamartine insisted.
"Down with order," was screamed in chorus: "we will have no order."
Lamartime did not cower, and he would not yield. He stoutly affirmed that the
establishing of a Republican Government at their demand, the demand of a part of the
people instead of the whole French Nation, would be a usurpation. He would not accept
the claim of Parisians to act for all France. "Today," said he, "you require of us to adopt the
red flag in place of the tricolor. Citizens! for my part, I will not adopt the red flag. The tri-
colored flag has made the tour of Europe under the republic and under the empire, with our
liberties and our glories; but the red flag has only made the tour of the Champs de Mars,
trailed through the torrents of the blood of the people."
The day following Lamartine announced in behalf of his colleagues the result of their
deliberations. The royal authority was abolished in France and a Republican Government
proclaimed in its place with all political rights vested in the people. National workshops
were likewise promised for those who were destitute of employment.
The punishment of death was also abolished. "This," said he, ''is the noblest decree
that has ever issued from a people, the day after a victory.'' *
Plainly, he anticipated a triumph of the principles which he cherished.
The new government, to confirm its authority, appointed a grand rally and review of
the National Guard and citizens on Sunday. As a preliminary proceeding, the last shreds
of the red flags were detached from their fastenings that morning, and lowered one by one
from the balconies and windows of the houses opposite to the Hotel de Ville.
At the same time an immense crowd had congregated at the Place de Greve. It now
came rushing to the place where the members of the Provisional Government were in
session. Lamartine quickly perceived that there was no criminal act contemplated, and
ordered the doors to be thrown wide open. All pressed in that could find room filling the hall
and staircase,
Lamartine quietly placed himself behind a large table to keep from being overborne,
and waited till the crowd had become so dense as to be incapable of moving about. He
then asked the leaders, who were standing in the front ranks, what they had come to ask.

--------------
* As Lamartine was proclaiming "on the very spot where stood the scaffold of the old
revolution, the abolition of capital punishment," and striving to gain approval from those
who heard, the body of a youth was borne along on the way to the funeral. His mother was
following. The Secretary of Paris placed her for safety on the platform between himself and
Lamartine and told her of the decree. Standing on tiptoe and lifting her hands toward the
sky, she spoke aloud: "If my son could have lived long enough to have heard of this decree
he would have been happy when he died." The multitude at once accepted the decree with
loud acclamations.
---------------
--- 647

"The organization of labor, or else nothing at all," they replied. A shout of approval
followed from the multitude.
"Will you explain," Lamartine asked, "what the organization of labor is?"
"It is labor organized in such a manner," they answered, "that competition will be
destroyed, and no more lower our products and our wages."
"But," demanded Lamartine, "if competition is destroyed, what becomes of the most
valued right of the worker, the liberty of work?"
This was a hard question. One clamored one thing and another said something
different, making a chaos of confused and contradictory answers, so absurd and revolting
that tumultuous protests came from their own ranks against the bizarre attempts at solution.
Lamartine finally demanded their attention. He declared that the secret of a perfect
organization of labor, complete from the foundation, and of a perfect organization of
society, denominated Socialism, in which there should be neither inequality, nor injustice,
nor superfluity, nor poverty, was a secret that nobody possessed. Such society would not
be earth, but paradise. Equality of goods, he insisted, was a dream impossible in our
human condition. Whenever an equal division should be made in the morning, another
would become necessary at night. For there would be a change of conditions during the
day, because of virtue and vice, sickness or health, the number of old men or young
children in a family, talent or ignorance, the diligence or idleness of each individual:
"unless," said he, "they were to adopt an equal wage for all who received wages, whether
they were at work or idle, earning their bread or not earning it. Idleness and vice would live
at the expense of labor and virtue, unless free labor does not become changed into labor
forced from all in the society, unless those who pay wages are authorized with whip or
sword in hand to make everybody work, and unless the society of whites is not reduced to
a horde of slaves driven every morning from their community-houses to regular labor by
the drivers of white negroes."
After the laugh subsided which these remarks had occasioned, Lamartine went on:
''Are you conscious of what you really want? it is this: that capital which appertains to all,
and which is only what has been saved out of what is necessary and what is superfluous
with everybody, shall be as free as labor. If it is not free it will be hid away, it will show itself
no more, it will consume no more, and in that way it will cause the laborer to die of
famine.....
"You do not wish, and you are in the right not to wish that there should be incurable
and undeserved misery, such as society, badly organized, abounds with. You do not desire
that the father and the mother who are sick, who are over-burdened with young children
and confined by sickness to their garret, should see their offspring abandoned to chance,
perishing without care, without milk, without bread, without fire, without shelter."
Lamartine then pointed out the sufferings to which the families of the poor were
liable, which a government of the people should mitigate and rectify. He then concluded:
"You now know that there is only one form of socialism practicable. This is the
Brotherhood, willing and active in behalf of each individual. It is a Religion of Poverty; it
is the affection of the country framing its duty into laws for helping. In short, it is what the
higher intelligence of the nation will give you when all classes, all capitals, all salaries, all
rights, all duties, being represented in legislation by suffrage fairly proportional to all, shall
have chosen by universal suffrage in several degrees for the general welfare. But it is what
every rational and conscientious man will withhold his consent from giving you in what you
call the 'organization of labor' or Radical Socialism, such as you have

--- 648

been persuaded to clamor for here without understanding the execrable nonsense." The
explanation was warmly applauded as satisfactory. The multitude speedily withdrew from
the Hotel de Ville, and went back to the Place de Greve, shouting: "Vive Lamartine!"
"It was not therefore," says he, "a triumph of three days over the demagogism of the
Red Flag, but the triumph of common sense over a false idea."
The members of the Provisional Government then made their way to the Place de
la Bastille. Two millions of the men of Paris and other cities and villages were waiting for
them. The President, Dupont l'Eure, addressed them, explaining the purpose of the
Government and what had been done. There was a general response of approval. The
new rulers were thus duly inaugurated.
Lamartine was everywhere recognized as the apostle of this new epoch, and Lady
Hester Stanhope's augury was fulfilled.
In the distribution of portfolios by the new Government, Lamartine received that of
Foreign Affairs, which M. Guizot, as leader of the Cabinet, had held before. It was
necessary for him without delay to make sure of the safety of the diplomatic archives. The
office had been guarded for the time by a body of unknown persons armed. He set out on
foot but was recognized, and the enthusiastic multitude pressed around him with cries of
"Vive Lamartine!" He was only able to reach the house of Victor Hugo and gain admittance
as his friend. The porter admitted him and a carriage was procured to convey him to the
place of destination.
The driver called his attention to his whip. "I broke it on the night of the twenty-third,"
said he, "I was driving M. Guizot through the thick fog. He was stealing away from the
Office of Foreign Affairs, to which I am bringing you. I do not ask you to tell me your name.
Perhaps you are Lamartine. So goes the world. The most beautiful days always have a
moral; and affairs roll like my wheel, a little while in the rut, and a little while up atop on the
path."
Lamartine was deeply impressed by this occurrence. That to Victor Hugo, whom he
had just displaced as a peer of France, he should apply to be protected from an
enthusiastic populace and be enabled to escape under the shadow of his wall and name,
seemed like an augury. Was it not the misled genius of one revolution going unwittingly
in quest of another? ''Mock the poets you men of prose, but fear them: they have the word
of destiny, and not knowing, they utter it."
Hugo had been far from taking a lower part in the social revolution, while Lamartine
was occupied at the risk of his popularity, of his fortune and life, in restraining and
regulating another. His sons took places in the Office of Foreign Affairs, and he himself
issued a declaration of sentiments, conservative in its tone, opposing alike the demagogues
of the street who thirsted for war and bloodshed, and the other demagogues of Utopian
ideals.
"I remember as yesterday," says Lamartine, "when the handsome Duke de Rohan,
then musketeer and afterward Cardinal, said to me, when coming to take possession of me
in my barrack at the Quay d'Orsay: 'Come with me and see a wonderful individual that
promises a grand man to France. Chateubriand has already surnamed him Enfant
Sublime. You will also be proud some day for having beheld the oak in the acorn.'... This
was Victor Hugo, whose pen is today the charm or the dread of the world."
Lamartine and Hugo began their careers about the same time, and their political life
was of similar duration. "When individuals have sailed together a certain number of years,"
Lamartine remarks, "they become friends from a likeness of destinies, from sympathy of
views, from similarity of places, times and moral living together in the same ship sailing to
an unknown shore. To be contemporaries is al-

--- 649

most being friends if they are good; the earth is a household, life in common is a kindred
relationship. One may differ in ideas, in tastes, even in convictions, while they are floating,
but we cannot keep from feeling a secret tenderness for the one who is floating with us.
Such are my feelings for Hugo; I believe that his for me are the same. We are diverse;
I do not say equals, but we like each other."
"Every one," he says again, "every one has an atmosphere which environs him, and
which sheds around him good or evil influences, warmth or coldness, according as his soul
is more or less turned above and more or less reflects the divinity in him. The repulsion or
attraction is only the impression of that atmosphere upon us. Some attract like the lover,
others repel us as the serpent, without our knowing why. But nature herself knows; we
should mind these repulsions or these attractions as impressions and cautions of the soul-
sense. Almost always the attraction reveals a hidden virtue, the repulsion a vice buried in
the beings who inspire it in us. Souls have also their physiognomies; one does not analyze
them, one feels them. Who has not said when approaching certain individuals: 'With that
person I feel that I am myself better?'"
"It was in 1848, while I was submerged by the masses of excited citizens - at one
time at the Hotel de Ville at Paris, then at the tribune at the Chamber of Deputies or of the
Constituent Assembly - the 24th of February; the 27th of February; the 28th of February,
which was the day of the Red Flag; the 16th of April, the day of the grand attacks of the
factions against the men of order; the 15th of May, the day when the new Chamber was
isolated by the Polanders, the eternal ferment of Europe; the decisive days of June, in
which we fought against the senseless frenzies of demagogism, and in which we gave
blood instead of speeches. I was struck by the countenance, beautiful, grand, honest and
intrepid, of a man of goodness and virtue, whom I had not known, but whom I had time to
observe near me, by the lightning of his look. This look of an honest man, falling calm and
serene upon the crowds around, seemed to hold them, to illuminate them, and to calm
them, like a bright ray of the sun upon the foaming waves of the sea and the equinox. I
spoke to him; he spoke to me; we understood one another without half a word; but I did
not dare ask his name for fear of seeming to be ignorant of what I might be supposed to
know. It was not till a long time after that that I ventured to ask one of the witnesses of
those scenes what was the name of the man so devoted and so calm. He answered:
"He is Barthlemy St. Hilaire, the translator of Aristotle."
All eyes now turned to Lamartine as the first man of the French nation. The true
motto of a party is "Measures in Men." He appeared to represent that ideal. His official
acts exhibited a strong instinct of justice and a superior order of statesmanship. Noble and
enthusiastic individuals came to his support, confident of a political regeneration, a
honeymoon of liberty without spot or stain, a new dispensation in the world. Pens were
active, everybody was eloquent in predictions of general emancipation. Lamartine was
indeed the foremost man in Europe.
The impulse of liberty extended to the other countries and revolutions followed. It
appeared as though the arbitrary rule of dynasties must give place to republican and
representative government. Even in America fresh courage was exhibited in the opposition
to human slavery.
The new administration in France had next to encounter the rebound from the former
enthusiasm. The elections were held in April, and while the revolution and republic were
promptly accepted, a Constituent National Assembly was chosen with a majority of
Moderate and Conservative Republicans. This body appointed an Executive Commission
of five members

--- 650

with Lamartine at the head, and began the framing of a constitution.

A large majority of the rural constituencies opposed the National Workshops, and
disapproved of supporting in this way one hundred and twenty thousand unemployed
workmen. The proposition to close the shops was entertained by the Assembly. The clubs
and factions immediately assumed a hostile attitude. An uprising on the 16th of April was
quieted by Lamartine; but another on the 15th of May was more formidable and
threatening. The National Assembly placed General Cavaignac in command of the troops
employed to protect the sessions.
Early in June, Lamartine foresaw that a conflict was imminent between the Assembly
and the Parisian Communists and other supporters of the Workshop Policy. At his demand
seventy thousand troops were ordered to Paris to cooperate with the hundred thousand
National Guards. He counseled that these forces should be distributed in detachments and
prevent the erecting of barricades. General Cavaignac. however, adopted the more
common military course of concentrating the troops and bringing them into action in great
masses. This gave the insurgents their opportunity to select and fortify every point of
advantage.
The insurrection began on the 22d and the Parisian populace speedily demonstrated
their proficiency in their mode of defense. Barricades ten or twelve feet high crossed the
principal streets, and the houses were fortified against attack. The carnage exceeded
anything of the kind occurring in former uprisings. When the insurgents were driven from
one point, they quickly rallied again at another. *
Lamartine has recorded an adventure of his own on the second day of the conflict
corroborating his view of affairs. He in-

-----------
* In the rebuilding of Paris under Napoleon III, the streets and avenues had been
changed, rendering this mode of offense impracticable. This made it possible for the
German army to occupy and leave the city safely in 1871.
-----------

sisted that only an inferior number had begun the disturbance. "A handful of anarchists had
constructed barricades," he declares. "They laid siege to Paris, surprising it while asleep.
I say a handful," he again affirms, "and I will say it to the end. Among the fifteen hundred
thousand citizens of Paris and its vicinity, I am convinced that there were not fifteen
hundred homicidal muskets from the tops of the roofs and behind the barricades against
their fellow-citizen."
He with Pierre Bonaparte and others, had accompanied General Cavaignac in the
attack against the barricades near the Temple. It lasted three hours. It worried him that
he had seen none of the soldiers engaged that had been brought to Paris. He resolved
that he would ascertain for himself the disposition of the innumerable multitude that
thronged the boulevards near the embouchure. M. Duclerc, the Minister of Finance,
Lachard of the Garde Mobile, and Pierre Bonaparte, his own kinsman, went with him.
The little party set out on horseback. leaped the enclosure and rode to the middle
of the cause-way. The crowd, astonished at their boldness, fell back to the two sidewalks,
but when it was learned that Lamartine was there, an eager throng gathered densely
around him.
These, he declares, were not the unemployed men that of nights attended the
socialistic meetings. There were citizens belonging to the shops, honest mechanics, the
very marrow of Paris, young men, women and children belonging to the faubourg of St.
Antoine. They had come out on hearing the thundering of the cannon. He remarked that
they were characterized by a gentle expression, a patient countenance, pale face, and lips
that trembled with emotion. One could see by their scanty dress and emaciated
appearance that they had been short of work and for months had rarely tasted bread.
Several of them cheered for the "Republic Democratic and Social," and shouted:

--- 651

"Mort a Lamartine!" Instantly a million throats of loud applause drowned these

utterances. One man stepped forward and took his frightened horse by the bridle.
"Fear not, fear not, Lamartine," they cried. "We are not seditious, we are not
scelerats, we are not assassins. We will neither murder nor pillage. We are honest
workingmen that have come out of our houses at the noise of the cannon, and like yourself,
we detest those who would shoot down their brothers.
"We ask only for order, for work and bread. Look at our wives, our daughters, our
little children, here with us. See them trembling, crying, pale, emaciated and scantily
clothed. We have been put on allowance to contribute to liberty, and we do not repent, but
liberty must feed the people. Dissolve the National Assembly. Govern us yourself all
alone; yes, yes, yes. Take the government into your own hands. Govern us yourself
alone!"
Whether at this period such a step would have been practicable is a matter of grave
doubt. It would have averted the Empire, the German War and its miseries. But the
Revolution had not been with Lamartine a project for his own aggrandizement. He
remonstrated that it would be treason for him to make such an attempt. "The National
Assembly is France," he declared to them. "Give it time; it cannot make a Government at
a single session."
An uproar of protests came up in reply. "No, no, no. It does nothing, understands
nothing, knows nothing. We will obey you. Did we not obey you the three nights in
February when you made us guard the rich men's houses against pillage? Did we not obey
you when you refused to have the Red Flag? Did we not obey you when you had
suppressed the punishment of death for our enemies? Did we not obey you on the 16th
of April when you were besieged by the Communists, and appealed to us to defend the
Hotel de Ville? Did we not obey you on the 15th of May, defending the National Assembly
and marching with you against the Hotel de Ville, which was then occupied by the
insurgents?
"When have we not obeyed you? We are poor; but we are good citizens, we are
good children. We will always obey you, but do govern us yourself all alone. A true
government is bread, bread, bread - bread and peace, not bloodshed. Dissolve that
Assembly of talkers; make the fighting cease, and silence the cannon."
Lamartine asked whether Paris and France were to be murdered without defending
the men, brave like themselves, who were contending against a handful of criminals.
The response came up at once unanimous: "We do not approve of them; we will
not go with them; they are bad citizens. But make an end of this matter quickly, or we
cannot answer for ourselves."
They appealed to him for mercy to the conquered, for humane treatment for every
one. "We are Frenchmen," was the plea. In his "Souvenirs" Lamartine contrasted this
multitude to a populace of Ancient Rome. "The circus and servitude made the Romans
ferocious," says he; "liberty and literature carried down among the masses for thirty years
has humanized, softened and ennobled the French people. It may have twenty
Revolutions, but there will never be a social deluge. It owes its kind heart to Nature; it
owes its good sense to liberty and the platforms."
But French republicanism was again on trial and once more it sadly failed. The next
morning the battle of the barricades was renewed with greater fierceness. At eleven
o'clock the National Assembly proclaimed General Cavaignac dictator, with unlimited
powers. The members of the Executive Committee immediately resigned. The contest
lasted four days; the killed and wounded exceeded eight thousand, and there were many
more who perished of whom no account was taken. The Archbishop of Paris was among
the slain.

--- 652

The National Assembly afterward appointed General Cavaignac President of the

Executive Council, with power to name his colleagues. It abolished the National
workshops, and adopted a repressive policy. A draft was made of the Constitution, and it
was provided to elect a President by universal suffrage.
By this time the reaction had become general. The votes for President aggregated
seven and a half millions, of which more than five and a half millions had been given to
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, about one and a half millions to General
Cavaignac. The vote for Lamartine fell short of eighteen thousand. His moderation and
self abnegation were thus rewarded. "I was elevated by accident," says he, "and
overthrown by caprice."
 Similar reverses occurred in other countries. The standing armies were put in
requisition, and the attempts to establish free and liberal administration were forcibly
suppressed. The decadent French Republic appropriately added its contribution to this
work by overturning a second time the Republic at Rome.

-------------

THE CYCLE OF LIFE

by Mary Konopnitsky
(Translated from the Polish by V.A.H.)

(Concluded)

X.
He who into the realm of truth aspires to enter, must from the limits of time and
space with his spirit grow, and overstep the boundary line of illusions and perishable
shadows. When consciously in him the free primeval light shall burn, the hundred doors
of the labyrinth will open before him, as those of his own native home.

XI.
Harden not thyself into a stunned and deadened log, O my spirit! Let the ever-living
essence percolate through thee, and the fountain of the spring eternal! For a day will come
when the Lord* shall rise to smooth thee and to apply his ax where thy

----------
* Higher Self
----------

bark is hardened: and thy wounds will bleed and the chips will lie scattered around thee,
that thou of a new life mightest shoot forth the twigs.
Harden not thyself into a flinty rock, O my spirit! Be as fresh clay in life's soft fingers
and let the pattern of the spring work easily in thee. For a time will come when thy God
shall rise to pulverize thy torpor, and roaring waves shall he send out upon thy hardened
rocks, across the silvery threshold of the sea; and the sea will shatter thee and crumble
thee into powder, and leave thee as a furrow of the field before the plow of God.

XII.
With nature work, my spirit, if thou wouldst be the herald of freedom! To her

--- 653

purposes, to her tasks, lend thy living labor. Thy home, thy workshop make from her, but
not a pleasure-dwelling for thy idle visits. Burn with the rose, shine with the sun, and with
the bud expand the future's wrapping petals; fly with the lark, as though thyself a lark;
swell with the grain, buried in the field; sculpture the crystals with the block of salt; propel
the lightnings with the storm; groan with the earth beaten by the wind and calling for the
silence; help the river her icy crust to break, and when the skies are blue and still, let thy
soul hear in the great ocean's hymn eternity itself.
Climb with the mist-wrapped summits of the mountains up to the roof of heaven:
strive with thy pinions with the eagle's flight towards the sun; on the ledges of the rocks
sparkle in rainbows and in the purity of the spray, leaping over the mountain's crest; and
in the valley of brooding peace keep stillness with the boulder of the field....
Then only shalt thou be free.

XIII.
Be thou all in all, through the battles of life, O my spirit! For every shape be ready,
for the master has merged into deep thought, and changes will he make, before which the
opposing forces will vanish as the wind-blown chaff. As a breeze be thou immeasurable -
as the earth be thou merciful. be as radiant as fire and as bottomless as the ocean.
Be thou all in all, through the labors of life, O my spirit! For every change be ready,
and to every form of being, whether that of the day or of the night, say: It is I! For from the
sunbeams even to the grave-worms, the thread of life shall not be broken; and death's
spindle will carry it back again inviolate to the silvery web of the milky way, of which thou
art a shuttle, and thy God - the weaver.

XIV.
Vainly I flee to deserts, vainly I rear temples, while potent is the world's evil, I am one
with the world's spirit; when into the gulf 'tis sinking, my lights are also paling.
'Tis useless on bright pinions to hover in spheres of splendor - I may not depart from
nature.
Downward the chains will drag me, which hold the groaning spirits, though ev'n
should I be groan-deaf.
Should I say: "I am not guilty," the evil snakes will issue, their slime will spit upon
me.
And the storm in a foe's dwelling, and the litter upon his threshold, it is my dirt and
my terror.
The sinful robe inglorious covers us all together, blood-stained and contagious.
'Tis mine, world's leprous ailment, whether on sea or mainland; I shall not escape
the judgment.
As long as my brother is crooked, myself be just I shall not, nor I nor any one living.
Rust of the guilt and excrescence are staining virgin bodies, and the white lily knows
it.
The footsteps foul of a murderer infect with blood my ankles, when I return from the
altar.
Shame on my face is hailing for those abandoned damsels who walk the streets so
openly.
And infamy on the forehead, ev'n that of a passing stranger, tarnishes in me the
Angel.
Thus share we the bed of mire, the shame of souls and bodies, just as we do the
life's breath.
The soul which in me is burning has stood at the flogging pillar, was touched by an
executioner.
And with a secret murderer she took a hot-iron stigma; she was branded with blood-
red letters.
On a block her neck she was laying, listening how a dog was howling, how soldiers
their drums were beating.
None carries his guilt apart; the human kind is a plant-stalk from which upshoots the
black flower.

--- 654

The giant reek of sinning I breathe in every movement, whether I cry or smile. The
giant root of evil tangles the human garden into deep jungle thickets.
If a pure soul I desire, I must cut with an ax in the jungle, till I move the great root of
evil.
No lofty tower rises above the world sin-covered, into the heavenly azures.
The tower-men carry it with them, their souls sick and life-thirsty; they burn with a
secret fire.
No cell of Thebais of desert secludes a lonely anchorite from this dread
conflagration.
And only he is holy who in the common world's guilt, upon the cross is bleeding.

XV.
If from sharing common life I may not break away, it is not possible for me to avoid
the sharing of the treasures; and one way have I open: to desire neither gold nor silver,
but to gather such possessions, as will enrich the common life's unfading Spirit, for it is my
Ego and my real Self. In labor, in tears, and in burning heat I have to desire - peace. In
the day's twilight and in the darkness of the night I have to desire - power; and through the
ways of earth I have to endlessly fly: into the light, towards the sun.

XVI.
Upon the golden stalk of the sunny ray of omniscience, upon the azure line which
divides light from shadow and day from night - I see unfolding the Flower of Power, which
will not drop its petals in any storm.
It is the dawning rose of Love and Universal Brotherhood.

THE MESSAGE.
Whether I shall enter the Path, or remain alone, the seed throw I into my furrow.
Bloom ye with flowers, my well-tended plants, towards the spring, which it is not destined
for me to see.
Whether I shall enter the Path, or remain alone, the seed throw I into my furrow.
Glisten ye golden ears of harvest and give the bread, which it is not destined for me to
break in sweet companionship with my brothers.

-----------
 "You cannot build a temple of truth by hammering dead stones. Its foundations must
precipitate themselves like crystals from the solution of Life." - Gems from the East

----------------
--- 655

DIVINE FIRE
by Hattie A. Browne

COULD we let our inner sight sink down deep into the recesses of our own hearts,
we should, I think, see a tiny spiral flame. Imagine this flame steadily ascending, forever
keeping its spiral motion, and at the same time sending out an impalpable silvery vapor,
which penetrates, through and through, every portion of our body, and filially emerges, but
it is now no longer a mere vapor, for behold: it has taken on a form divine, it is our Soul;
and then if we could extend our mental vision, we would see these Soul forms all around
us, and, looking deeper, we would see the same tiny spiral flame in the heart of each one,
and in the heart of every tree of the forest, every flower of the field, and in fact we will see
it hidden down deep in the heart of the whole created universe, and everywhere the same
silvery vapor, and the same though varied, soul forms.
This flame is a spark of the Divine Fire, the universal life, within all nature, animate
and inanimate, it is the great "Over Soul," it is you, it is I. The "Secret Doctrine" declares:
"It is life and death, the origin and end of every material thing, it is divine substance, the
creator, the preserver and the destroyer - the Soul of things."
Each flower of the field is the embodiment of the divine thought, an expression of
the Divine Fire, hence its beauty and this is why the sight of a flower speaks to every heart,
no matter how deeply stained with sin the heart may be. There is something in nature we
all feel, and yet cannot express. As we gaze on a beautiful landscape, we cannot bring
ourselves to believe it is made up of merely grass and trees, sunshine and shade. There
is something more, something no artist, be he ever so proficient, has ever been able to
reproduce. That something is the Divine Fire; it flows into us and around us; it mingles
with our Soul. Often we may gaze at the landscape and go away apparently unmoved, yet
often do we find we have carried something of the beauty with us, and it comes back to us,
to cheer and comfort, when we least expect it. It may be on a bed of sickness, a picture
of a beautiful scene will come before us, although scarcely noticed at the time of beholding
it, and perhaps long ago forgotten. How account for this unless we are one with it! I think
Keats meant this when he wrote the following verse:

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Its loveliness increases, it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathings,
A flowery band to bind us to the earth."

We often hear the remark, "live near to nature," and we are apt to think that to do
this, it is necessary for us to dwell far from the "madding whirl," of city life. But this is not
always necessary, for we have nature within us, and to live close to the Soul of nature, and
to vibrate in harmony with its great heart-throbs, we have but to follow up this little spiral
flame, to keep it alight, and to try to feed the flame, and to clear away the rubbish, that it
may shine out more brilliantly as it does in the great nature around us. If our personal
thoughts are held in abeyance so that the Divine thought may shine through we shall, like
the flowers, help the world by our presence, and we shall radiate a glory as far surpassing
that of the flowers, as man surpasses the vegetable kingdom in range of consciousness.
We all know how absolutely

--- 656

perfect is the beauty of even the humblest flower; "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed
like one of these," but could the very meanest of mankind let the Divine Fire radiate through
him as does even a little blade of grass the world would he dazzled with its brightness.
But how are we to do this? we may say. We all know we have this Divine flame,
burning steady and bright within, but alas it is so covered up and darkened by dense
physical matter, that we cannot see it; many even doubt its existence, and so they go on
piling up around it selfish thoughts, animal desires, and unbrotherliness until it is no wonder
it cannot be seen. It is a greater wonder it can shine at all. It is truly, "A light shining in
darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." "Blessed are they who not having
seen, yet believe;" who diligently set to work to dig away the rubbish, to purify the shrine,
and to build an Altar in their hearts for the Sacred Flame, and who make a daily pilgrimage
to that shrine and reverently fed the fire, laying as fuel upon the altar, first, "The sin that
doeth so easily beset"' and then all selfishness, greed and unbrotherliness and vanity and
desire of worldly advancement. The fire will in time consume them all, one by one, and
transmute them into purest gold, the virgin gold of love, and in this way we shall so
strengthen this flame and it will burn so brightly, that the physical matter which surrounds
it will not be able to hide it. The casket will become so transparent, that the rays of the
jewel within will shine forth in gentle deeds, and kind actions, in forgetfulness of self, and
love for mankind. This is not a fancy sketch, for I think we all are acquainted with such
characters who really appear to radiate light. Wherever they go they are welcome, their
very presence brings cheer and comfort.
But it is so easy to talk; so easy, that we are apt to turn away and say with Hamlet,
"words, words, words." How shall we begin to act, and having begun, how shall we keep
it up? "This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith;" it is the one who
believes, and who has faith, who will conquer. And love and brotherhood are the weapons
with which we fight. The Divine Fire is like a stream for all mankind to drink; it rises clear
and pure in the mountain tops of Divinity - the nearer the source, the clearer and purer the
stream, but as it flows down through material existence, it becomes more and more
clogged and impeded with rubbish. The stream itself always remains pure like a pure
mountain stream, though at times it may flow underground or be covered with a thick slime,
or refuse. Each may drink from the pure stream if he will or from the foul waters which
cover it up, but each is responsible for the condition in which it is passed on to those below;
and again we have the privilege of drinking of the pure stream, close to its source, or taking
but the polluted washings of others.
It is easy to love humanity in the abstract, but when we begin to particularize, and
say, it means to love such and such a one for whom perhaps we may feel a special
antipathy, how can we do it? Shall love and brotherhood be but names to conjure by,
leaving for each a loophole through which we can get rid of our special enemy, and of all
who rub us the wrong way? Or shall it be a live coal taken each day from off the altar
within, and carried with us through all the long day - but it must be taken daily from the
altar, for if the coal be dead, how shall we light the fires of love around us?
It was once my chance to realize what seemed to me total darkness. I was obliged
to pass through a wooden glen at night; the darkness was complete, it seemed to rise up
like a wall of black marble all around me. What a comfort it was to have hold of a friend,
and what a comfort even a lighted candle would have been! How many men and women
are groping through the darkness continually - through spiritual darkness, which is far
worse than

--- 657

physical - groping all alone, stumbling from the pathway, and all the time they have within
themselves a light hidden, and have it in their own power to choose whether this light shall
be as a tiny rush light which will show them but one step of the way, and make the
surrounding gloom more profound, or a glowing, radiant light illumining the whole
landscape.
We read in the "Voice of the Silence," "Step out of sunshine into shade to make
more room for others," and how often the silent voice of conscience tells us this, step out
of sunshine into shade to make more room for others; make self secondary, be unselfish!
We are all so quick to see the "mote that is in our brother's eye," while the beam that is in
our own eye remains unnoticed. So often we think every one else, except ourselves, is
selfish, yet we, each of us, more or less, keep the sunshine for ourselves and add our
shadow to the gloom of others' lives. If only we could all live so as to never let our shadow
cut off the sunshine of another, what a happy place the world would be.
The Soul again and again clothes itself with a body of desires, again and again floats
in the ocean of life, building up a more and more perfect pattern, and attracting to itself
purer physical atoms. "The enemies we slew in the last battle, will not return to life in the
next birth" - every effort we make to live a better life will give us renewed strength and new
courage at our next coming. It is ever worth while to try. "If thou hast tried and failed, O
dauntless fighter, yet lose not courage, fight on," says the "Voice of the Silence." But how
many, alas, grow weary of the fight and long for rest, but that rest is not for us until the
battle is ended, and the victory won. In the meantime, it is the duty of all, Theosophists
especially, to keep cheerful, to add not one word of gloom, yea, not one thought of gloom
to the already overwhelming load of sorrow and misery, under which the world is groaning;
does not each one of us know that there is a "Place of Peace," and that we may reach it
even now in the midst of the turmoil of life. A person who gives way to gloomy thoughts
or goes around with a sad countenance, is most decidedly adding his shadow to the gloom
and taking away the sunshine from some one else. Surely, there is no room for pessimism,
rather let us lift our standard high, that all may read the message, "Truth, Light and
Liberation for discouraged humanity." What a glorious thing to live for! But only as each
of us helps to purify himself by letting the Divine Fire Flow unimpeded and unsullied
throughout his whole nature can we hope to make this message a living reality.
 It seems to me if we once realize that every effort towards true Brotherhood is a
distinct help to the world, we cannot help being encouraged, for half of our pessimistic
repinings are caused by the thought that we are of so little good to the world. We want to
do so much, and we think we are doing nothing, and so many of us go on fostering a
sadness, which we think is very much to our credit. We feel very superior to some one
else, who perhaps is always cheerful and happy, saying as I have often heard remarked,
how can you be happy when there is so much unhappiness in the world, forgetting that their
remark shows how unhappiness spreads, and why should not happiness also spread. Let
us then strive like Prometheus to ascend to heaven, and light our torch at the chariot of the
sun, and bring down to all mankind the sacred gift of Fire, but let us use the fire to purge
and purify our own Soul, so we can offer to our brother, the clear stream, unpolluted, as we
have received it.

-------------
--- 658

THEN AND NOW

by D. N. D.

AT one time the relationship of H. P. B. to the Society was openly discussed among
the members, and one addressing the others said: "Sternly determine that neither open
foes nor treacherous friends shall shake your loyalty for all time to come to the great cause
and leader, which twain are one." That was good advice then, and it is just as good now.
Later, when further attacks were made on H. P. B., instead of more steadfastly supporting
the assailed Teacher and defending her to the utmost, very many members adopted the
policy of minimizing her position in the Society, and declared that the teaching remained
impregnable, whether the Teacher was trustworthy or not. Attacks were ignored rather
than refuted. What happened as a consequence of the adoption of such a policy of
expediency? The Society was exalted at the expense of its Founder, and left to go its own
way in India. H. P. B. went to Europe; there the work flourished under her personal
supervision, but in Hindustan it practically died, or, at least, ceased to be any longer an
active force. Wherever H. P. B. was, especially when she was supported by those who
recognized that the Leader and the Cause were one, there appeared signs of new vitality
in every direction. The fact was apparent to all: that where H. P. B. was, she was the
centre of energy, and where she was not physically present the progress made was in
proportion to the loyalty shown towards her. Stagnation, death and decay were found to
follow unfair criticism of or ungenerous carping at her. It was said by many at that time that
her "knowledge was ill-digested, that she arranged her materials badly, that she was misty,
involved, and self-contradictory." It was said, too, that she was hasty, that she "shut up"
inquirers, that she repelled would-be disciples. All this, and a great deal more, was said,
not by "outsiders," but by those who heard of the philosophy they professed to believe, from
her, for the first time. Little wonder she wrote to W. Q. J. that the T. S. was a "fiend" and
that it needed a soul if not a spirit to incarnate into it to save it from destruction. The
experience of the past should surely prove of some benefit to us today; and it is for that
reason that it is well sometimes to look back over the pages of our history and realize its
full significance in the light of our later and more recent experiences. H. P. B. varied with
the people who approached her. To the honest inquirer she was gentle and patient, and
her more immediate pupils spoke of a patience that knew no limits, a strength that never
faltered, an insight that never erred. She was the test of the members. Whatever
substance was present was precipitated by the test. Honest and sincere inquirers and
members were attracted and not repelled. She was abrupt, sharp, and repellant to the
merely curious, even if disguised under polite forms and false courtesy. The hostile feeling,
masked under smiles, found itself pierced by a keen sarcasm, or "knocked itself against a
wall of ice."
Well, Comrades! history keeps repeating itself. It is easy to avoid the mistakes of
the past, if we only keep our eyes open. Loyalty and trust saved our movement in past
years, and the same loyalty and trust will carry us through every trial which a growing
movement must inevitably encounter. Did you not pledge yourselves voluntarily to carry
on this work of which

--- 659

humanity stands in so much need today? This is really all you care about. You are not
seeking for "powers." If you do the main thing, and above everything else hold faithfully to
your sacred obligation, you know that the "powers" will be all right. All our Teachers have
said that is the right attitude, and by this time you are sure of it yourself. Well, then! Has
our present Leader lessened your opportunities in any direction? You will answer: No. So
that if you don't happen to understand everything, you will go right on and work mightily,
caring only for the success of the Cause. You will not make the foolish mistake of resorting
to the policy of expediency which proved such a sepulchre of dry bones in the past.
One can catch the glimpse of the dawn of the day of hope and joy without too much
straining of the eyes. Comrades, it is good to be alive, for the privilege of working, working,
working; "for he who does what he can does enough for THEM." And perhaps you can do
more than you think.

------------

"Let us not imagine that the Lodge names actual agents, to abandon them, or for
temporary purposes. If we judge these agents by our lesser lights we do but confuse
ourselves. There will be but one in visible authority at a time - the senior one; the others,
if there be others, are his junior brothers, acting under him and with him, for such is the
evolutionary hierarchy, and law provides for the orderly re-emergence of its servitors. The
juniors may fall away, but not the senior, who is senior because of this inability. This does
not mean that his soul is sinless while still human. It means, whatever his oscillations, he
has evolved in his sphere a "holding centre" from which he cannot break away. He is never
more perfect than the age, the nation, and, above all, those with whom he works admit of
his being. When we are more perfect, then we have more perfect helpers. The helper is
always in advance of those he leads; their greater attainment promotes his own. There
is no waste of energy in that centre of conservatism called the Lodge; this is why the
perfect souls dwell not among us. Hence the occult crime of uncovering the fault - if fault
there be - of the teacher or agent of this plane; it is in large part our own, for we have not
as yet made it possible for the pure and perfect to dwell among us. We demand the
greatest and are not ourselves the least. We judge not as the Perfect Ones judge."

------------
--- 660

THE THOUGHT WORLD

by H. W. Graves

THE welfare of Humanity turns upon the evolution of the Thinking Principle. It is
here that the springs of action lie. "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." All that I am
is the result of what I have thought, it is made up of my thought. Hidden behind the veil of
physical matter is the subtle machinery of thought - just as the real, vital, as scientifically
arranged as the machinery of the living body.
And the activity of every human brain is as closely related to it as the physical body
is related to the surrounding air in which it lives and moves. In this thought-world the real
inner man has his proper home, and uses his physical vesture merely as an instrument to
contact the physical world in which so many problems have to he solved.
The aspect which every man's environment wears to himself depends directly upon
the quality of the thoughts which he himself evolves.
And as man is part and parcel of Nature, embosomed therein at every moment of
his life, it follows that his thinking acts directly and momently upon Nature as surely as it
does upon himself. Modern science has demonstrated nothing more clearly than the fact
that the atoms of matter are forever bound together by a thousand unseverable ties,
reciprocally active, and maintaining a marvelous equilibrium throughout the manifested
universe. Not less deeply united is humanity, and the breath of its inner and mental life is
this living, all-pervading sea or breath of thought, to which, consciously or not, every human
being constantly contributes, for evil or for good. Precisely how thought acts and reacts
incessantly on man and on Nature, science has never clearly shown. But Eastern
Philosophy long ago solved the problem of mind, and today throws a bright light on the
question of human responsibility.
"Every thought of man upon being evolved passes into the inner world, and
becomes an active entity by associating itself, coalescing as we might term it, with an
elemental - that is to say, with one of the semi-intelligent forces of the Kingdoms.
"It survives as an active intelligence - a creature of the mind's begetting - for a longer
or shorter period proportionate with the original intensity of the cerebral action which
generated it. Thus, a good thought is perpetuated as an active, beneficent power, an evil
one as a maleficent demon. And so man is continually peopling his current in space with
a world of his own, crowded with the offspring of his fancies, desires, impulses and
passions; a current which reacts upon any sensitive or nervous organization which comes
in contact with it, in proportion to its dynamic intensity.
"The adept evolves these shapes consciously; other men throw them off
unconsciously." *
The mind, working on its own plane, generates images, thought-forms. Imagination
is literally the creative faculty. Responsive to our thoughts are the Elementals which ensoul
the forms so created. An Eastern Sage speaking of the part played by sound and color in
the psychic world says: "How could you make yourself understood, command in fact, those
semi-intelligent Forces, whose means of com-

--------------
* "The Occult World."
--------------
--- 661

municating with us are not through spoken words, but through sounds and colors, in
correlation between the vibrations of the two? For sound, light and color are the main
factors in forming those grades of intelligences, those beings of whose very existence you
have no conception, nor are you allowed to believe in them - Atheists and Christians,
Materialists and Spiritualists, all bringing forward their respective arguments against such
a belief - science objecting stronger than either of these to such a degrading superstition."*
Elementals are addressed by colors, and color-words are as intelligible to them as
spoken words are to men.
The hue of the color depends on the nature of the motive inspiring the generator of
the thought-form. If the motive be pure, loving, beneficent in its character, the color
produced will summon to the thought-form an Elemental, which will take on the
characteristics impressed on the form by the motive, and act along the line thus traced.
This Elemental enters into the thought-form, playing to it the part of a soul, and thus an
independent entity is made in the astral world, an entity of a beneficent character.
If the motive, however, be impure, revengeful, maleficent in its character, the color
produced will summon to the thought-form an Elemental which will equally take on the
characteristics impressed on the form by the motive, and act along the line thus traced. In
this case also the Elemental enters into the thought-form, playing to it the part of a soul,
and thus making an independent entity in the astral world, an entity of a maleficent
character.
For example, an angry thought will cause a flash of red, which is a summons to the
Elementals, which sweep in the direction of the summoner, and one of them enters into the
thought-form, endowing it with an independent, destructive activity.
Men are continually talking in this col-

------------
* "The Occult World."
------------

or language quite unconsciously, and thus calling round them these swarms of Elementals,
who take up their abodes in the various thought-forms provided. Thus it is that a man
peoples "his current in space with a world of his own, crowded with the offspring of his
fancies, desires, impulses and passions."
Angels and demons of our own creating throng round us on every side, makers of
weal and woe to others, and to ourselves.
The life-period of these thought-forms depends on the energy imparted to them by
their human progenitor. Their life may be continually reinforced by repetition; and a
thought which is brooded over, acquires great stability of form. So again thought-forms of
a similar character are attracted to and mutually strengthen each other, making a form of
great energy and intensity.
Not only does a man generate and send forth his own thought-forms, but he also
serves as a magnet to draw towards himself the thought-forms of others.
He may thus attract to himself large reinforcements of energy from outside, and it
lies within himself whether these forces that he draws into his own being from the external
world shall be of a good or of an evil kind.
If one's thoughts are pure and noble, he will attract around him hosts of beneficent
entities, and may sometimes wonder whence comes to him power that seems so much
beyond his own.
Similarly a man of foul and base thoughts attracts to himself hosts of maleficent
entities, and this added energy for evil commits crimes that astonish him in the retrospect.
William Q. Judge wrote: "Can we, then, be too careful to guard the ground of the
mind, to keep close watch over our thoughts? These thoughts are dynamic. Each one as
it leaves the mind has a force of its own, proportionate to the intensity with which it was
propelled.

--- 662

"As the force or work done, of a moving body, is proportionate to the square of its
velocity, so we may say that the force of thoughts is to be measured by the square or
quadrupled power of their spirituality, so greatly do these finer forces increase by activity.
The spiritual force, being impersonal, fluidic, not bound to any constricting centre, acts with
unimaginable swiftness.
"A thought, on its departure from the mind, is said to associate itself with an
elemental: it is attracted wherever there is a similar vibration, or, let us say, a suitable soil,
just as the winged thistle-seed floats off and sows itself in this spot and not in that, in the
soil of its natural selection. Thus the man of virtue, by admitting a material or sensual
thought into his mind, even though he expel it, sends it forth to swell the evil impulses of
the man of vice from whom he imagines himself separated by a wide gulf, and to whom he
may have just given a fresh impulse to sin. Many men are like sponges, porous and
bibulous, ready to suck up every element of the order prepared by their nature. We all
have more or less of this quality: we attract what we love, and we may derive a greater
strength from the vitality of thoughts infused from without than from those self-reproduced
within us at a time when our nervous vitality is exhausted. It is a solemn thought, this, of
our responsibility for the impulse of another. We live in one another, and our widely
different deeds have often a common source. The occultist cannot go far upon his way
without realizing to what a great extent he is 'his brother's keeper.' Our affinities are
ourselves, in whatever ground they may live and ripen."
Earnestness, said Buddha, is the path of immortality, thoughtlessness the path of
death.

------------

"Self-knowledge is unattainable by what men usually call 'self-analysis.' It is not

reached by reasoning or any brain powers."
"Real self-knowledge is the awakening to consciousness of the divine nature of
man." - Gems from the East.

----------------
--- 663

THE SOKRATIC CLUB

by Solon

(Continued)

SEVERAL of us had hoped to continue the discussion of the Greek Drama and
elucidate the meaning of the Eumenides, by Aeschylus, and the inner teaching which that
great writer intended to convey in the guise of a Drama to those who had eyes to see and
ears to hear. But Madam Purple, whom we all wished to hear on this subject, had with
some of her devoted workers gone away for a time to carry on her practical work of
relieving the distressed and giving aid and comfort and hope to the sorrowing who had
been left destitute and hopeless by the late war. At a meeting of the club held specially to
bid the voyagers good-speed, many of the members spoke of the grand work. All those
going and those who were remaining behind to carry on the work of the Headquarters
realized that this expedition was no child's play, no holiday excursion, but that it meant
facing perils, hardships, perhaps even death. But it was glorious to hear our leader's
inspiring words, to witness her love, compassion and willingness to endure all, to suffer all,
for the sake of poor, suffering humanity. Speaking of the necessity of practicing
Brotherhood as well as of preaching it, she said:
"How can we, if we are sincere in our professions, if our philosophy is not a mere
name, how can we expect to bring about a condition of Brotherhood in the world if we are
not willing to hold out the hand of compassion and fellowship to those who are suffering,
to those who are hopeless and despairing, to those who are weighed down by their sins
and failings. Of what value is it to say to the poor woman of the street that there is within
her heart a spark of the divine if I am not willing to hold out my hands to her and let my love
and compassion express itself in loving deeds of kindness - not of charity, but of heart-felt
sympathy. Only by touching her heart can I truly help her and mere philosophy will never
do this. It was for this that H. P. B. and her true comrade and fellow-worker, William Q.
Judge, worked and gave up their lives, and if we would carry on their work, if we would
follow in their footsteps. We, too, must make our Brotherhood practical, we must make our
Theosophy a living power in our lives, we must he willing to spend our lives, our strength,
our all, for suffering humanity.
"Oh, the pity that any should remain satisfied with mere philosophy! Oh, that I could
open their eyes to see that by remaining content with philosophy alone, they lose even that
which they think they have. So much awaits each one of you if you will only seize this
glorious golden opportunity. Each one of you can do so much if you only will. Humanity,
Earth, Nature herself is calling out to you! Will you not hear? Will you not see the Gates
of Life and Peace standing open wide before you, if you have but faith and trust to enter
in. But none can enter alone, each must bring in with him the sad and sorrowing. None
can cross the threshold alone, but must help to bear the burdens of the overburdened,
must aid the feeble steps of those who are discouraged, must support those who are
bowed down with sin and despair, and as he sends out the radiation of his own joy and
strength which he receives from his aspirations and devotion to his own Higher Self, joy
and strength and power shall enter into the

--- 664

lives of those others, and together they shall pass through into life.
"The picture is too wonderful for words, could I show you what can be accomplished
in ten years if you will but go forward with hope and faith and trust, and what will be
accomplished. Oh, that I had a thousand lives that I might devote them to the hastening
of that day when hope shall once more thrill the heart of every man and woman and child!
But you, too, may share in this glorious work; on your shoulders is the responsibility of
hastening or retarding the day of liberation for discouraged humanity. I and my beloved
comrades who go with me are willing to lay down our lives for this, but it is for you who
remain behind to send forth that power, that sympathy, that devotion and loyalty to the
Cause, that shall sustain our efforts and be a support and strength in our loving service for
mankind."
Many of the members made short addresses. One helpful thought presented was
that it was for us to send out a "phalanx of thought and sympathy that should support and
reinforce our Crusaders." One comrade said:
"The phrase has been running through my mind all evening: - 'The Hosts of Light are
out and the Hosts of Darkness are fast fleeing before the radiance of their countenances.'
Already it seems as though a light were glowing in that unhappy island to which our Leader
and comrades are about to carry Truth, Light and Liberation, and I doubt not that such a
light shall be lit there that will shed its radiance over all humanity. Is it not the beginning
of a new chapter in the evolution of the race? Where is our help more needed than there?
It is there that exists the most intense suffering in the world today, and if we are to help the
whole of humanity, surely our help should go where it is most needed. And in this we see
the wisdom of our beloved Leader, who as a wise physician, sees and knows where is the
greatest need for the healing remedy, and, we, as comrades, will give our devotion, our
trust, our energies, our very lives, that they may further this glorious work and lighten the
burdens of discouraged humanity."
Many of us went down to the steamer to give a farewell greeting to the Crusaders,
and we could not fail to see that their hardships would begin at once and that many
privations would have to be endured even on the voyage.
Bon voyage! beloved comrades! 'Tis an errand of love and mercy on which you
speed! Bon voyage! The light in your hearts shall irradiate your path, and from that light,
many a light shall be set aflame in the hearts of men and women and little children, where
for so long the darkness has reigned! Bon voyage! beloved Leader, the loving and faithful
hearts that you have left behind will faithful be in the work you have entrusted to their
keeping and from their very souls shall flow forth a mighty power of loyalty, devotion and
sympathy to be used by you in your glorious work and to be a support to uphold your hands
in raising aloft the torchlight of hope!
At the next regular meeting of the club, the subject of conversation was naturally the
Crusade. Mr. Turner, who had been with our Leader on a previous Crusade spoke of the
difficulties which they then encountered, and of those which inevitably must be met in the
present one.
Mr. Turner. - "It was only by implicit faith in our Leader and by obedience in following
her directions that the work was carried through and that against obstacles which we then
could not fully realize, even if we dimly sensed them and which arose from the
faithlessness of some of our party, though this was fully known to our Leader."
Mr. Berger. - "And at that time the members all over the country, though most
enthusiastic in support of the Crusade were yet not harmonious and united as they are
today. Many then were seeking personal glory and position as has since been fully proved
and although we cannot but regret

--- 665

for their sakes that they did not realize their opportunity and so have been left behind
because they could not keep up with the onward march; yet we cannot fail to rejoice that
today our Body is united, harmonious and strong to a degree it has never reached in the
past."
Mrs. Wilding. - "That surely must make the possibilities of the present Crusade great
beyond conception, and also our own opportunities of helping. When I hear our Leader talk
of the glorious future which we have the privilege of hastening, it thrills my very soul, for I
know in my heart that what she says is true, and I know that each one of us, the least as
well as the greatest, has this blessed opportunity to help."
Mr. Turner. - "Yet, even with this before them one or two have turned their faces
away, and like all the others who have gone that road before, must write letters all over the
country explaining their action, or issue a new circular. One poor fellow writes: 'Let us do
something, for heaven's sake let us do something! Let us hold a convention!' And
humanity is calling out for light, and hope and help. He says 'there must be no leaders,' but
presumes to call a convention; 'there must be no personal advertisements of any
individual,' but he issues a circular, signs his name and invites correspondence."
Mrs. Thomas. - "That is what I wrote him. He asked for correspondence, so I just
gave him a piece of my mind. He headed his circular by saying that so long as there were
'three in the society who were worthy, it couldn't be destroyed.' I certainly am glad that he
recognizes that fact, but I wonder whether he sees the bearing of it on his own actions. He
must know then that his own efforts to destroy the society are absolutely futile and that he
must be creating for himself an awful Karma, by seeking to overturn it. If he believes what
he writes, why wasn't he willing to stay in the Society then and be with the 'three.' Or does
he think that he took the Society and the three with him when he left it. Maybe he would
have us infer that he is one of the three, so perhaps we owe him our thanks for calling
attention to it, and advertising his great discrimination."
Solon. - "I would like to see him just for a minute and ask him to read a sentence in
the 'Voice of the Silence,' beginning 'Self-gratulation, O disciple, is like unto a lofty tower,
etc.'
"It may be a good thing from one point of view that at last he has awakened to the
necessity of doing something. Though to hear the words, 'let us do something,' come from
his lips, is a little incongruous."
 Mrs. Thomas. - "What do you mean?"
Solon. - "Simply this, that for years he has been in the habit of appearing at his work
at any time, say ten, eleven or twelve o'clock, though his work-day finished at five or five
thirty in the afternoon. But what do you think of his saying there must be no pretenders to
Occultism? He once asked H. P. B. for advice, just as others of us have, as to study and
the conduct of life, and incidentally in the course of it she expressly disapproved of
consulting astrologers, clairvoyants and people of that class, yet he spent a great part of
his time and energies in running after such people. Oh, John, John, well may you say, 'let
us do something,' even if it is holding a convention. But I pity his blindness that he couldn't
see his opportunity of really doing something and his privilege of serving a Leader. Poor
fellows! No Leader! Sheep without a shepherd! Oh! these poor would-be chelas who have
so longed to be permitted to serve a Teacher, how sad that they cannot recognize when
the opportunity of service is offered them! Yet it is their privilege to accept or reject. No
one is ever forced, but must enter the path of his own free-will."
The Professor. - "What a contrast! We are forced to notice it, and it is our duty to
show it to others, for so many in the world and some even among our mem-

--- 666

bers go on from day to day with half-shut eyes and know but little of the conflict in the world
between the opposing forces of good and evil. Yet they must be roused. They must have
these things pointed out to them, lest like a mariner sailing on calm seas and failing to see
the approaching storm should find his ship caught in the blast, driven out of her course and
perhaps capsized. Would you not be failing in your duty if, having the power and the
opportunity of warning him, you did not arouse his attention to the conflict of the elements
so soon to catch his ship in their pitiless grasp. And the conflict of the elements is as
nothing to the conflict between good and evil. No one thinking himself safe can afford to
cease his vigilance. Remember 'Eternal vigilance is the price of safety.' But it is not
vigilance for oneself alone, but for the sacred trust confided to each of us, and that means
vigilance for all our brothers, our other selves.
"'He that saveth his life shall lose it,' wrote one of the Elder Brothers of humanity.
How sad it is to see here and there one or two seeking to save their little pride, to live out
their little ambitions, and to persist in a course of action which they know to be wrong
because they have not the courage to confess themselves wrong. They do not know the
love and the joy of renewed comradeship that awaits them and the greater strength and
knowledge and peace that may be theirs if they will but dare to take their places again in
the ranks and renew their sacred service to the Higher Self.
"So I say it is our duty to notice the contrasts, to hear the feeble cry on one hand,
'let us do something, let us hold a convention,' and on the other to see the actual work done
and being done by our beloved Leader."
I do not think I have before spoken of Mrs. Cromer, who had the general charge of
the Club Headquarters. We usually call her Mother Cromer, and that designation better
than any other expresses the feeling we have towards her and the kindly interest she takes
in all the workers. She is one of those rare, sweet natures, always radiant, always hopeful,
yet endowed with plain practical common-sense. She is always helping some one, and
many and many a poor family have taken heart again and renewed the battle of life through
the help and sunshine brought into their midst by a visit from Mother Cromer. One of the
most charming sights is to see and hear her tell stories to the children, always in the
simplest language, but in such a way as to almost make the children see what she is telling
them and actually experience it. But in the meetings of the Club she hardly ever took part
in the discussions. Some little time ago she had had a remarkable dream and the
Professor asked her if she would not relate it, which she did as follows:
Mrs. Cromer. - "I dreamed I was in a large room at the Club Headquarters among
a crowd of workers, all intensely busy and directed in our work by Madam Purple. It
seemed to me that the Headquarters was in the center of a long, long street, so long that
one could not see the end or a turning in it and on either side were tall houses, very
straight, without stoops. It seemed that at some time long ago, corn had been planted
close to the houses, and it had grown up so high that the tops reached to the roofs of the
houses. Then I thought that some one was sent to see if there were any corn to be
gathered, but there was not a single ear of corn to be found the whole length of the street,
only stalks and leaves - the stalks were green, but the leaves hung down, yellow and
withered.
''I dreamed that the work we were engaged in at the Headquarters had seven
branches, like a seven-pointed star, so to say, and workers were sent in every direction
from this center to carry on the work; the activity and work going on were something
wonderful. The room was very

--- 667

large, very long, and very wide and there were groups of workers in different parts. Madam
Purple was in the center of the room working very hard and giving us all directions as to
what we should do. There were benches all around the room up against the walls and two
or three large tables in the center, with crockery and cooking utensils and materials for
garments, and garments already made - all belonging to the work. Every now and again
bands of workers were sent out by Madam Purple in different directions. I should have said
that on looking up and down the street not a soul was to be seen, the houses were all
closed up and everything was desolate.
"All the workers seemed to carry a force of life with them to awaken and arouse the
people; some were sent out to lecture, some to work in dramatic and musical work, some
to visit the sick and poor and needy. There were seven great divisions and it all put me in
mind of a seven-pointed star revolving and throwing out radiations all the time.
"Then I dreamed that across the room I saw a beautiful, large Maltese cat, and I
crossed over the room to make friends with him, as I usually do with all animals. He was
very friendly and inclined to be sociable. He arched his back and purred when I stroked
him. T hen I saw two such lovely little birds come into the room from somewhere; they
were very sleek and fat, about the size of large sparrows and their plumage was beautiful.
One was nearly all yellow with a little reddish brown on the wings, the other was nearly all
reddish brown with a spot of yellow on the breast. They were so bright and intelligent and
seemed to understand all we would say to them and we understood them, too.
"At last we grew very weary and tired and we all lay down to rest, Madam Purple on
a sort of couch with cushions a little to the left of the center from where I was and the
others lay down on the benches all around the room. I thought the birds nestled near
Madam Purple and went to sleep, too. Then very early in the morning we were all roused
up to work again and the little bird with the yellow plumage came and told me he was
hungry and thirsty - I can see the little fellow as plain as possible, and he was so fat - so
I got some water for them and gave it to them from a spoon, and looking for something to
eat I saw on a shelf, high up, two beautiful white loaves of bread, all fresh and new and
woolly-like - a baker will know what I mean. I pulled some pieces from the side of one of
the loaves and fed the little birds. They ate and drank as much as they needed and
seemed to thank me and then they flew away and I awoke."
Dr. Roberts. - (Who had come in just as Mrs. Cromer was beginning to tell the
dream). "Well, Mother Cromer, that is a dream indeed, and I suppose you would say it has
some special meaning."
The Professor. - "Yes, Doctor, and I think the meaning is not difficult to see, but....
No, I am not going to interpret it. It will be good for you to think it out yourself. If there is
any meaning there for you, and I think there is, you can get it yourself if you try. The broad
application is at least not hard to see. Just ask yourself what the long street and the
desolate houses and the corn without any fruit mean, and as for the seven-pointed star and
the work being done, surely that needs no explanation. I am sorry, Doctor, you came in so
late, but just in time to hear the dream fortunately. However, I hope you will join us earlier
at the next meeting."

--------------
--- 668

"WHAT GOD WOULD"

by Eleanor Dunlop

ONCE upon a time, so the story runs, this old world of ours was but a mass of
molten fire, cast off as refuse from the sun. Within this refuse vibrated the mysterious
Force called life. The primeval law of attraction drew atom to atom, until the formless and
void became transformed into a fitting home for man. Thus, as an old book says: "The
world was made by the Word of God." That word has not yet been declared to mankind;
it is the riddle of the Sphinx, the mystery of the ages. The Great Artist of the Universe has
carefully hidden his designs, and in order to do this He has had to be His own Architect and
Builder. Many will remember Matthew Arnold's conception, in his poem called
"Revolutions." God took a heap of letters, which He gave to man, telling him to make of
them the word he could. So man tried many times, made Rome, England, France, and still
was restless and dissatisfied, feeling that he had not yet discovered "The word God would."
Empire after empire drooped and died, but man kept hoping that the word God meant
would in time appear. The poem concludes thus:

"Ah, we shall know that well, when it draws near;

The band shall quit man's heart; he shall breathe free."

Nations, as they reached the zenith of their power, called out "Eureka." We are what
"God would" - Babylon, Egypt, India, Rome. Ah, cruel mockery of fate which ever hurls the
cup of repletion from humanity's lips, dashing the red wine of life to mingle with the dust of
oblivion. No, the word, the order, that the Great Architect designed, has not yet appeared.
Cruel bonds of oppression still bind men's hearts, and freedom beckons from afar.
This century has also heard the cry "Eureka." Democracy is the word "God would."
Democracy - "The government of the people, by the people, and for the people."
Democracy, proclaiming the divine rights of man, was taught in Gallilee 1900 years ago;
Love being then, as now, the fulfilling of all laws. But the spirit of Christ's teaching was
smothered completely with dogmas and creeds, with ritual and shams, and so the simple
teaching of the Master was replaced by the theology of the church. Before Christ, came
Confucius, and behind him, walked Buddha, and so on down the ages, each great teacher
taught the same old truths under different forms. America has taken up and assimilated
the fundamental truth of existence, which some men call Democracy, and others
Brotherhood. The birthplace and home of this new Democracy is in this glorious land of
America, where every man is accounted worthy of his hire. John Stuart Mill, in his famous
essay of "Liberty," writes: "A truly great nationality demands two main constitutents: first -
a large variety of character and secondly, full play for human nature to develop and expand
itself in numberless directions, and even in conflicting ways." Where can a more fitting
playground be found, for full and free expansion, than in this Republic, where over seventy
million souls have found not only a refuge, but a home. Fifteen times larger than England
and France, with a shore line, including Alaska, equal to the entire circumference of the
earth, surely this is an ideal playground for the coming race. Five hundred million acres of
land have clamored for hands to come and till them. Hoary forests have beckoned, till the
sound of

--- 669

falling timber has reverberated, from the quiet shores of Maine, to the Rocky mountain
regions of the West. America teems with wealth; gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron, have
been hid so deftly by mother nature, that it will take centuries to unearth her stores. Here,
if anywhere in God's fair earth, is scope, accommodation, wealth, for any desire which man
can possibly conceive of. And who are the people who take up this vast inheritance? From
every land they have gathered: representatives of every race meet on one common
platform - "The brotherhood of humanity." J. S. Mill has demanded scope and variety of
character, for his great nationality. Are his requirements not fully met within the United
States of America? But is America a truly great nation? We pause, and falter, when we
would fain give a glad assent. America, it seems to me, has not yet reached her majority.
'Twas but yesterday she celebrated her birthday by signing "The Declaration of
Independence;" since then, how rapid has been her growth, only The Wise Ones know.
The latent powers waiting to he released are truly immense. She has power to become the
greatest nation upon earth. Will she rise to the occasion and abolish the slavery of greed;
greed for place, for power, and wealth, which is slowly eating into her vitals? How far the
disease has spread, we cannot now say, but this we know, that America will never become
a truly great nation until within her borders ignorance and vice are unknown. Until a unique
literature interprets the deepest convictions and highest aspirations of her citizens. Until
Democracy has sung songs unheard before, and her artists have had their imaginations
fired with the genius of Democracy. Until the liberated impulses of the soul have been
caught in meshes of harmony, whose vibrations no musician has ever yet evoked,
Democracy, standing for the spirit of the American people, will not have become "The Word
God Would." Democracy, like a mighty mountain torrent, would sweep from its onward
course old and valued institutions, Kings and priests, dukes and earls, monopolies and
endowments, ecclesiasticism and all that is contained in the term Feudal rights, are
relentlessly swept into time's background. A breaking down must necessarily precede a
building up, and, in the interim, the foundations have to be laid. 'Tis on this that America
is now engaged; and according to the foundation, will be the endurance of the
superstructure. Democracy has begun well, with free education. This gives to every child
the chance to belong to the earth's true nobility. A vote for every man is another step in the
right direction. A free press - this means that the world's history, past, present and future,
lies like an open scroll at the feet of every mortal who has eyes to see the miracle
outspread before him. But above and beyond all, Democracy has brought home to the
hearts of mankind the living truth that they are brothers. Environment, with its countless
illusions, strives to make us forget, and ignore, this fundamental truth of existence; but,
again and again, in the world's history, as in the life of the individual, it reasserts itself as
the supreme hope of the future. Humanity is indissolubly knit together by the ties of birth
and death. United by the surging sea of emotion, which beats restlessly at every heart, be
it of prince or peasant, seamstress or millionaire, all have known the kindling touch of love,
and there are none whom sorrow has passed by unnoticed. Humanity exists only through
the individual. As the individual, so will be the community, the State, the nation. This being
so, any government which exists not wholly to benefit the people, must die a natural death.
True Democracy strives to implant the fructifying seeds of self-reliance and
interdependence, for, without these qualities as a subsoil, no harvest can be gathered.
These seeds have been sown broadcast over the Western world, have taken root

--- 670

in countless lives, and will assuredly bear good fruit; but as nature yields her golden
harvests, intermingled with poisonous weeds and useless stubble, so Democracy has been
degraded by even its foremost champions; its standards lowered by bribery, and worse.
Walt Whitman wrote in 1883 a just estimate of affairs as they stand today. Whitman
lived an open-air life, mixed with all classes of the community, followed in the wake of those
who fought and died for their country; nursed for years the wounded soldiers and
triumphed in the nation's triumph, when the union was established and slavery overthrown.
From such a witness, we get the truth at first hand, and a sad and serious truth we find it
to be. While the submerged tenth exists; while men and women starve for lack of work,
and children die before they live; while these conditions exist - Humanity's joy will be
drowned in sorrow. The new Democracy is divinely human, all embracing, robust, and
vigorous, as are the eternal forces of the soul. From its heavenly home, in the lofty
imaginations of the good and true, it wends its way earthward, and there is confronted by
the ancient foes of all advance - avarice, deceit, and cowardice, which continually draw
men down. Is it any wonder that, in such a soil, Democracy does not flourish? It would
give to every man a fair start in life; it would clear the air of shams and humbugs; it would
inspire the toilers of the earth with new hope and courage, and unfurl the flag of freedom
until despots quailed and tyrants shrank out of sight. This Democracy wills to do for the
people of the earth, but the people are not ready en masse to accept their freedom. Here
and there the divine seeds have sunk into good soil, and then what sheaves of promise
have been garnered by the reapers - slavery abolished, a vote for every man; public
schools; parks and playgrounds, volunteers who rush to arms in order to aid a weaker
people to assert their rights. Ah, these are but the first fruits of the true Democracy - the
brotherhood of man. Afar off, we, with Whitman, catch glimpses of the future; with him,
we announce that the identity of these States is "a single identity" only.

"I announce the union more and more compact, indissoluble,

I announce splendors and majesties, to make all the previous politics of the earth
insignificant.
I announce adhesiveness, I say it shall be limitless, unloosened,
I say you shall yet find the friend you were looking for.
I announce a life that shall be copious, vehement, spiritual, bold,
I announce an end that shall lightfully and joyfully meet its transition."

Democratic America is doing pioneer work for the future race; here, amid life's rush
and jar, souls are gaining a knowledge of themselves, are becoming self-reliant, filled with
a just pride which will enable them to throw overboard worn-out creeds and dogmas, along
with everything that is mean and despicable. Men are discovering that vice is too heavy
a cargo to take with them, as they sail life's perilous sea; they are preparing for themselves
charts, in order to sail clear of the numerous whirlpools and quicksands into which the
unwary fall. The average American is wise enough to see that honesty pays best in the
long run, and that truth never turns on us, as a he is sure to do; so from practical
experience, he chooses the path of least resistance, which when followed to the end leads
to bliss. This is but the beginning, the acorn, from which the oak will grow. A new order
of things demands new methods, and these must be as complete and as varied, as man
himself. But, for a sure foundation, a rock, which the downfall of Empires, or the crash of
worlds cannot shake, will be laid the foundation stone of a Universal Brotherhood. Every
land, every nation under heaven, will contribute to that on which future generations most
build. Mankind are being shaken together whether they will or not. Science, invention, art,

--- 671

literature, have drawn the nations of the earth, ay and the little Isles too, so close together
that we not only feel, we know, we are at one with every being. With such we hail the morn
when from North, South, East, and West shall resound a triumphal note of victory at the
finding of "the word God would" - "A Universal Brotherhood."

----------------

PEACE ON EARTH *
by Martha Shepard Lippincott

Peace be on earth, good will to men,

Oh! let us now, Christ's lesson teach,
Love, charity and kindly deeds
Are what dear Christ would ever preach.
War, wealth, and strife, he loveth not,
And they can never be his cause;
But peace, forbearance, charity
Have ever been our Saviour's laws.

To shed the blood of others' lives

Will never help to make wrong right;
It but increases earthly woes,
Puts Christians in a wicked light.
War is the fruit of hate, revenge,
Or else the greed for others' wealth,
In private life we e'er would call
It murder, robbery and stealth.

Then why should it, at wholesale rate,

E'er be considered to be right,
When in an individual case,
'Twould drag a soul to darkest night?
To kill men in revenge is wrong,
So killing nations is a sin,
'Tis wholesale murder in God's sight,
His favor, war can never win.

'Tis horrible and worldly strife,

A nation slaughtered for a gain,
That while the winning ones rejoice,
How many hearts are filled with pain?
While purses some it will enrich,
It is degrading to the soul,
And many mother's sons are lost,
Far worse than when sad death bells toll.

'Tis not Christ's way to right a wrong,

Nor man's way either should it be,
Far better, love and kindness rule
Than bitter animosity.
War stirs up in the human heart,
But hatred, jealousy and greed,
For spiritual and better life,
It does not sow a single seed.

Peace be on earth and live for love,

That will develop the lost soul;
In God's great army let us now
 For love and mercy, all enroll:
Live as he bids and raise the world
Above a realm of care and strife,
And teach mankind the better part,
Preparing for Eternal life.

-------------
*Sent to the Editors by a Quaker friend and published with great pleasure. - Editors.
-------------
--- 672

HARMONY
by Amy N. Wharton

THE dictionary informs us that Harmony is the just adaptation of parts to each other
in any system of things intended to form a connected whole - or a concord. Harmony is
then what we absolutely require for Universal Brotherhood, and without it this knitting and
binding together of the human race would be impossible. In order to become this
connected whole the first thing to study is how to recognize and then how to obey this great
Law of Harmony. H. P. Blavatsky in the "Secret Doctrine" says "the world had been called
out of chaos (or matter) by sound or harmony." The voice of the Great Spirit that moved
on the face of the waters saying "let there be light," was the harmonious commencement
of life, sound producing light, showing the subtle and occult connection between these two.
"From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began," says Dryden. The
rhythmic vibrations, interpenetrating all space are the root of being: the whole normal
nature of man should therefore be attuned to Harmony. Discord and variance are the
cause of disease and sin, consequently our great work is to restore the harmonious
vibrations of the Universe. When two hearts beat in accord there is harmony, and when
a large number of individuals agree and are in accord, the rhythmic wave has force that
carries all before it.
Music, which is the succession of harmonious sounds, has great power in producing
unanimity of kindly feeling, or otherwise in arousing the worst sentiments and passions.
Witness the effect of the Marsellaise on the French populace, its inspiring strains
awakening the martial spirit in all who heard it. In his poem of "Alexander's Feast," Dryden
shows the power of music in swaying the passions of the multitude, and rings the changes
from war to love. Thoreau calls music "the arch reformer," and it has also been used as
a cure for certain diseases. A physician has stated that "the effect of music is transmitted
by a reflex action on the nerves which govern the supply of blood. The effect of music is
to dilate the blood vessels so that the blood flows more freely and increases the sense of
warmth. By increased blood-supply nutrition is effected." In this way music may aid in the
cure of disease. The physiological effects of music have also been studied by a Russian
named Doziel, who states that "the action of musical tones on men and animals expresses
itself for the most part by increased frequency of the beats of the heart," that the "variations
in the blood pressure are dependent on the pitch and loudness of the sound and on tone
color," and that "in vibrations of the blood pressure the peculiarities of the individuals,
whether men or lower animals, are plainly apparent."
 Tolstoi, in his remarkable little book, "The Kreutzer Sonata," shows the evil effects
of certain forms of music playing on a physique strung, by tension of the sense nerves, to
a condition when only the discords are excited, as then strange flaws and defects of nature
come to light that else had not been dreamed of. Tolstoi puts into the mouth of the man
who has killed his wife in a fit of jealousy these words: "People say that music elevates the
soul; nonsense! falsehood! It exercises an influence, a frightful influence - but not of an
ennobling kind. Under this influence I seem to feel what I do not feel, to understand what
I do not understand, to be able to do what I am not capable of doing -

--- 673

music transports me immediately into the condition of soul in which the composer of the
music found himself at the time he wrote it. For him the music possessed a meaning, but
for me none - and that is how it happens that music causes an excitement which remains
unalloyed - one does not know what, during this state of excitement, should be done. This
is why music is so dangerous and acts at times in so terrible a manner."
In this passage is plainly shown the peril there is in music of a certain kind through
the power it possesses in arousing states of feeling that are debasing, but on the other
hand the higher, nobler music has power to awake the nobler side of man's nature.
We are told that Thebes was built by the music of Orpheus. Carlyle, speaking of this
legend, says: "Our Orpheus walked in Judea eighteen hundred years ago. His sphere-
melody flowing in wild native tones, took captive the ravished souls of men; and being of
a truth sphere-melody, still flows and sounds, though now with thousand-fold
accompaniments and rich symphonies, through our hearts; and modulates and divinely
leads them."
We find that musical vibrations throw grains of sand into the shape of ferns, flowers,
trees, also into symmetrical and mathematical forms. Pythagoras went so far as to state
that the octave gave our planet its shape, and it is said that certain experiments have
shown that when an octave is sounded the sand on a plate of glass arranges itself in the
form of a circle. Plato, in the perfect city that he planned, gave to music, in its larger sense,
the first place - he makes it the chief subject in the study of the young. "Gymnastics for the
body, and music for the mind," he says, and continues, "must we not then begin by
teaching music?" He goes on to say that melody has three constituents, sentiment,
harmony and rhythm, and that these three should correspond with each other - remarking
that rhythm will follow after harmony, and advising that "our citizens pursue not ever-
varying rhythms having a variety of cadences, but observe what are the rhythms of an
orderly and manly life," that these should compel time and melody; to subserve sentiment,
and not sentiment be in subservience to time and melody, by which I think he intended to
show that the senses must be kept in subjection by the Higher Self, and that the end in
view was not the gratification of the individual, but the harmonious life of all. There is so
much about Harmony in Plato's "Republic," that quotation but feebly conveys an idea of his
meaning. The work well repays the study of any who care for this subject. The Greek idea
of music was, of course, very different from the modern development of that art, but it was
seen to be at the root of esoteric education, for in the school of Pythagoras no candidate
was admitted unless he was already proficient in the sciences of arithmetic, astronomy,
geometry and music, which were held to be the four divisions of mathematics, this latter
being the science that treats of numbers and magnitude, or, in other words, the
commencement of creation, by co-relation of force to matter; as H. P. B. says: "The world
had been constructed according to the principles of musical proportion."
Beethoven speaks of music as "the mediator between the spiritual and sensual life."
Harmony is the rainbow bridge that spans the mystic gulf between the material and ideal
world; we can often cross that chasm on the wings of sweet sound; music is the medium
of thought that comes from another plane, that has no other language; from it we can
sometimes even deduce memory of long past ages, and ideas we have no words for take
shape in music. It is a means by which we can leave this land of shadows, and enter that
bright country where we can know as we are known. 'Twas across this radiant bridge that
the gods retreated to Walhalla, from a world that was becoming too ma-

--- 674

terial, in which they could no longer exist. It is over this bridge that they must return to us
when we make an atmosphere in which they can once more live among us. Time was
when the gods walked on this earth, and men dwelt in peace - that was indeed the golden
age. "When the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy." Can
we not make that time possible again by turning the discords of life into harmonies, first for
ourselves, and then for all others?
It is said in the "Secret Doctrine" that "there is one eternal law in nature, one that
always tends to adjust contraries, and to produce final harmony. It is owing to this law of
spiritual development, superseding the physical and purely intellectual, that mankind will
become free from its false gods, and find itself self-redeemed." In "Letters that Have
Helped Me," W. Q. Judge says, speaking of books that had been of service to him, especial
the "Gita," "All these are instinct with a life of their own, which changes the vibrations.
Vibration is the key to it all, the different states are only differences of vibration, and we do
not recognize the astral or other planes because we are out of tune with their vibrations."
In the "Voice of the Silence" we are told that: "Disciples may be likened to the
strings of the soul-echoing vina, mankind unto its sounding-board, the hand that sweeps
it to the tuneful breath of the great World Soul. The string that fails to answer 'neath the
Master's touch in dulcet harmony with all the others, breaks and is cast away." There is
only true harmony when each answers with all as one to the Master's hand, when all are
in tune.
How delightful is the feeling experienced on entering some beautiful gothic cathedral
where the perfect combination of parts forms an exquisite harmony! Who thinks of the
masses of stone hewn from the quarries, the trees grown in the forest, or the metal drawn
from mines in the Earth's heart; one only perceives a vast and perfect entity which exhales
its soul to the Infinite in clouds of Incense and Music; such should our Universal
Brotherhood be, each, separate, being as naught in power, but welded together by the
Master Builder, forming a force that nothing can withstand. Browning signifies the mystical
knowledge expressed in music in his wonderful poem of "Abt Vogler," in which he makes
the musician say: "All through music and me - earth had attained to heaven, there was no
more near or far." And again, "therefore to whom turn I but to the ineffable name? Builder
and maker thou of houses not made with hands." At the end of the poem are these
significant words:
 "What is our failure here but a triumph's evidence
For the fulness of the days? Have we withered or agonized,
Why else was the pause prolonged but that singing might issue thence?
Why rushed the discords in but that harmony should be prized?
Sorrow is hard to bear, and doubt is slow to clear.
Each sufferer says his say, his scheme for the weal and woe;
But God has a few of us whom he whispers in the ear;
The rest may reason and welcome: 'tis we musicians know."

How necessary then that we should have harmony in our hearts, for until we feel a
peace within which nothing can ruffle, until we have that "eye made quiet by the power of
harmony," how can we hope to help those around us to vibrate in unison. Let us see to it
that our own discords do not mar the harmony, and so spoil our vision of a golden future.
I will conclude with the following fine passage from the "Journal of Amiel": "O Plato! O
Pythagoras! Ages ago you heard these harmonies, surprised these moments of inward
ecstacy, knew these divine transports. If music thus carries us to heaven, it is because
music is harmony, harmony is perfection, perfection is our dream, and our dream is
heaven."

-----------------
--- 675

STUDENTS' COLUMN
Conducted by J.H. Fussell

In an article, 'Fragment - Omniscience,' published in the January issue of

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD, occurs the following:
"It seems a strange thing that man has to incarnate so many times during millions
of years in order to develop the thinking principle, and after having developed it, abandon
it as a wrong way." What is meant by characterizing the thinking faculty as 'a wrong way?'"
It is clear that the statement is a relative one. Where knowledge can only be
attained by a process of reasoning, as in the discovery of many of the great physical laws,
it is plainly necessary that this means should be taken. If one sees a man drowning and
sits down to consider the temperature of the water, the strength of the currents, the skill
one possesses in swimming, the possible injury to clothes and health, the possibility of
other aid arriving, the value or worthlessness of the drowning person's life, the statistical
chances of his rescue or probable death from the after results of immersion, there will be
ample opportunity for the development of this thinking principle, but we need little
consideration to see that this is "a wrong way." We should not forget that the thinking
principle is a means and not an end, and that when it has served its purpose of placing us
in intimate relation with the peculiar domain of nature to which it belongs, we must pass on
to the mastery of other regions. It is right for us to be suckled for a certain period of our
growth, but other methods of nutrition quickly supersede this, and we can conceive of other
methods of sustenance than that in ordinary use. Thought is also the food of one of the
vehicles of the Self, which passes from one stage of embodiment to another as the
caterpillar changes to the butterfly. Should the butterfly attempt to eat cabbage leaves like
the caterpillar we should certainly consider this "a wrong way." - Ben Madighan
-------

No one of the powers or faculties of man is wrong in itself, but may become wrong
in its use. The right use is as an instrument, as a means, in the development of character
and the perfect expression of the soul. As an end in itself the development of any power
is wrong, because it is then out of harmony with the soul's nature in which the soul itself,
as a divine spark, is supreme. The development of the mind, or thinking faculty, is wrong
if regarded as an end or as the goal of evolution. It will appear evident to an observer that
the development of the mind has come to be so regarded by very many during this century,
and all such, if they are to keep up with the evolution of the race, will have to abandon this
as "a wrong way."
This does not mean that we have to cease thinking or using the mind as an
instrument. Not at all! But by learning to use the mind rightly, by understanding its place
in the complex nature of man, it will become a still more wonderful instrument, its powers
will still further unfold.
The body, the desires, the mind, the intuition, all have their place in the nature of
man, but as each higher power is developed, the lower must become subordinate. Indeed,
only as the lower becomes subordinate will the higher become active. I think the meaning
of the writer of the article is quite clear if the context is taken. - J. H. Fussell

--- 676

Let the questioner look at the very beginning of Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras," where it
says: Stop the modification of the thinking principle. At the present time of evolution the
Yoga state can only be of short duration at a time for man, after which he re-enters the
manasic condition; but later on for man (and at the present moment for very high beings),
the Yoga state will be a continuous one, and then the thinking principle will cease to be
modified, viz.: became latent, not being needed any more. - Adhiratha
--------

"What lines of scientific investigation followed during the past year are of real
promise for the future welfare of humanity?"
The question is too large for complete reply; we can only outline some principles,
without attempting to paint in the details.
That science which, beginning in mechanics, ends there, is of least bearing upon the
real welfare of humanity. And the same is true of that which begins and remains in the
sphere of the objective.
But since man's consciousness is conditioned for good or evil, to a greater or less
extent, by his body, that science which investigates the degree of this extent and the mode
of relationship of this objective and subjective, is of momentous bearing upon human
welfare and will have instant practical applicability to life and thought.
Consciousness may enter into such a condition as to raise vibrations in the body
incompatible with the body's life, killing it instantly, as e.g., in extreme horror; or another
condition, e.g., anxiety, may kill the body slowly.
Or another condition of consciousness, e.g., joy, may suddenly bring about the
physical vibration constituting health.
Or another condition, e.g., peacefulness or trustfulness, may slowly induce physical
health.
Reversely, conditions arising in the body, e.g., fever, may first perturb
consciousness and then go on till the physical condition induced renders the body an
impossible habitat for consciousness.
Science has been increasingly occupying itself with all these matters, but it wilt be
long before it fills in the details. It is possible, however, to look ahead and make some
statements and prophecies of future discoveries.
1. Mechanical instruments will be found unavailable at a point in the investigation
and will be replaced by another instrument.
2. Life will be found to be identical with consciousness and to manifest always as
vibrating substance, of whatever degree of grossness or tenuity be the substance, and
whatever the degree of complexity the vibrations.
3. Life-consciousness, manifesting in the body as vibrations and to the ego as
feelings and emotions, raises in the body physical vibrations favorable to, unfavorable to,
or at once incompatible with, physical health.
4. These states of feeling and therefore their resulting vibrations are under the
control of the will. It is therefore possible to acquire the power, by regulating and localizing
vibrations, of controlling and amending physical health.
5. Disease, or the conditions that precede it, being the outcome of ill-regulated
states of feeling resulting in physically injurious vibrations, the only final remedy for human
disease is the ceasing from these states of feeling.
6. All forms of mental effort on the part of the individual, arising out of his desire to
get well, leave the original evil untouched, and are pernicious.
7. The states of feeling known as trust, brotherhood, love, are in the highest degree
conducive to bodily health. - I. M. C.

-----------------
--- 677

REVIEWS

"Some Marked Passages"* is the title of a book of short stories by Miss Jeanne
Pennington, compiler of "Don't Worry Nuggets." A package of books, some of which are
marked, are handed into a hospital for the use of the patients. In the opening scene we
find the superintendent, matron and doctors discussing whether one's interest in reading
a book is enhanced or disturbed by finding marginal or other lines drawing attention to what
has interested some previous reader.
The books are put into the hospital library, and the stories relate the effects of the
little books with their "marked passages" upon the spirits and bodies of the patients who
are brought before our notice.
The sketches, though slight, are characterized by a tender pathos, with here and
there, a quiet sense of humor which makes the stories very interesting. Here are a few
quotations taken at random: "If you cannot realize your ideal, idealize your real." "She did
not enter the house on being left alone, but stood looking up into the star-lit heavens. They
were suggesting to her the great possibilities latent in each individual life." "Life is one; we
are all reaching upward; we are akin to all that is greatest, grandest, highest and most
beautiful." "We have to become tolerably well acquainted with the Infinite of ourselves
before we can smile when the heart aches." "Life is very beautiful and rich and strange,
as we stand in the starlight. I lose all sense of pettiness and of fear."
The book contains several other short stories of interest. There is a "wholesome air
of hope" throughout the stories, which makes the book acceptable to those who who take
an interest in the gospel of hope which is supplanting the tone of despair in our modern
thought and life. The book is nicely printed, and the binding is attractive. - D. N. D.

-------------
* "Some Marked Passages and Other Stories." By Jeanne G. Pennington. New York:
Fords, Howard, and Hulbert. (Cloth, gilt top, $1.00.)
------------

"Spiritual Consciousness"* is the work of a capable writer and thinker. "What we see
depends on how we see" is the keynote adopted. The author seeks to interpret life from
the spiritual viewpoint, and modestly claim that the pages are suggestive rather than
instructive. The thirteen chapters cover a fair range of interesting subjects. Here and there
one notices slight limitations which might have been avoided. For example, in referring to
Jesus he says: "In Him, for the first time, the chasm between the finite and the infinite was
spanned." Surely not for the first time! On the whole, Mr. Sprague is, however, broad-
minded enough to handle his themes in a manner that cannot fail to be of interest to the
votaries of the various schools of metaphysical thought. The excessive use of italics tires
the reader somewhat, but the volume is attractively produced. "The intuitional faculty
should rule our lives," writes Mr. Sprague. With this we have no fault to find, but would like
to point out the necessity for discrimination. Intuition is too frequently confused with
impulse or instinct. A knowledge of the inner nature of man is necessary. This is not
obtained so much by abstract thought, as a steady application of the best that is within us
to the uplifting of humanity, through a healthy channel, and guided by wisdom, foresight,
and a knowledge of the many difficulties to be encountered.
There are many suggestions of a practical nature in "Spiritual Consciousness," and
the book is well worth reading. - D. N. D.

------------
* Cloth, $1.50. F. H. Sprague, Wollaston, Mass
------------
--- 677

YOUNG FOLKS' DEPARTMENT

A TRIP TO THE CALCUTTA ZOO

by Marion Frisbee

"Good-bye Caesar, good-bye Cicero! Tomorrow is a holiday and I won't have to look
at you for a whole day," said Roland as he threw down his books, and his dreams that night
were filled with the joyful thoughts of the holiday, which was to be spent by his particular
set of chums at the golf links.
"Whew! Whew!" How he whistled when he awoke in the morning to find that the
window panes almost rattled out of their sashes, an impassable barrier of snow on the
steps, and the air almost solid with flying snow. ''Gee whiz, if this isn't a regular blizzard!"
called out Roland to his sister Nell, as they met in the cheerful breakfast room, where the
fire was blazing on the hearth.
"Well, this settles golf!" and Roland looked disconsolate. "It settles every thing," said
Nell; "we are storm-bound, a jolly holiday this will be!"
"That's right!" said Roland, "I call it a measly trick to knock out a fellow's plans in this
way."
"Nothing to do! nowhere to go! What a desolate condition you are in," laughed his
mother.
"Oh, for wings to fly to a sunny clime, where snow is unknown and gardens and
flowers and golf links abound! That would be a real holiday," said Nell.
"Well," said her father as he looked up from the mail, which he had been opening
at the breakfast table, "why don't you go to Calcutta? It is just the season for visitors, and
there you will find your sunny gardens and fair weather. What can be better on a day like
this than a nice big easy chair by the fire, with a companion like Mr. X.,who offers to give
you a friendly hand to make a trip to the Calcutta Zoo. Here, Roland, console yourself, take
this paper and read it to Nell. You will forget all about the storm."
"All right, father, a trip to Calcutta wouldn't be half bad on a day like this," and
Roland took the paper, as he settled himself in a chair by the fire.
"I say, this is a tremendous place! A whole world! Houses, and forests, and lakes,
and wild animals and tame animals! I should think a fellow did need a guide to get around.
Here is a place where three tapirs and some wild pigs live on very friendly terms; and two
tigers got away from their forest one night and roamed about the gardens until they came
to this place, where two little elephants were living. I say, it seems a shame that those
tigers had to be shot by the keeper just because they had gone visiting. I'd like to see
these queer creatures, leopards, jaguars and pumas; and here are four dens of tigers.
One of the tigers is a youngster of only seven months, and is so tame he enjoys being
petted as a cat does, purring all the time he is being stroked. I would like to have a pet like
that," said Roland.
"Oh, here are the monkeys; there are none so fine in all Europe as they are here.
One of them has a blue face with a red nose. Then come storks, adjutants, cranes, sarus,
and all the birds that wade. What a jolly place this would be to fish; the lake is just filled
with hundreds of kinds of fishes."
"I think it is cruel to fish," said Nell; "I would rather go see the birds."
"Well, here they are," said Roland;

--- 678

"magpies, piping crows, laughing kingfisher, cockatoos, parakeets, blood-crested pigeons,

Nicober pigeons, thrushes, starlings" -
"Oh, gracious," said Nell, "there is no end to them."
"I should think not," said Roland, as he went on giving many more names. "I'd like
to hear the old lion roar in the early morning, and see the bears and elephants; what fun
it would be to feed them."
"I say, this is great, listen to this," said Roland. "The big ostrich in the gardens has
a silver band around his throat. The big bird was frightened one day and in trying to escape
forced the door open sufficiently to get his head through, and the sharp edge of the door
completely severed his windpipe. After considerable patience the efforts to get near the
bird and to throw him were successful, and with the services of the surgeon the wound was
sewed up. This operation had to be repeated after a week, as the bird had torn the stitches
open again, but this time he seemed to understand better what was being done for him, as
he afterward actually allowed two men to come up and gently press him down on the
ground to be attended to daily. Later on the neck began to heal too quickly and there was
every danger of the bird being suffocated, so a silver tube was passed down his throat, with
the result that the ostrich is now grazing and walking about as if nothing had ever happened
to it.'"
"How much like a human being that ostrich acted," said Nell. "I wonder if even tigers
and lions wouldn't grow like human

--- 679

beings if they were treated like them?"

"Do you think it is treating animals right to shut them up in cages when they belong
in the forests?" asked Ronald.
"I don't know," answered Nell, "only if animals always stayed wild, we wouldn't know
much about them. When they are in the Zoo, we can get acquainted with them, and they
learn to know that man is a friend, just as the injured ostrich did, and the baby tiger, and
perhaps sometime they will all learn to be friends and then they will begin to grow like
people, and think as we do, and act like us, and I shouldn't wonder if they might not learn
to talk."
"Bruno almost talks now," said Roland. "When I looked into his eyes yesterday, he
seemed to speak to me in a queer kind of 'inside' way. He seemed to know almost as
much as I did, only he hadn't the same kind of a body, and so he couldn't say it aloud."
"It don't seem right that a dog like Bruno should never be anything else but a dog,"
said Nell.
"He is a regular old comrade," said Roland, "and maybe when he dies, he'll go and
hunt up a body like ours that he can have the same freedom we do, to say what we are
thinking about."
The subject of Bruno being inexhaustible, Ronald and Nell became oblivious of
storm and time, until there was a stampede at the door, and three of "the chums" appeared
just as a pleasant voice asked, "Aren't you hungry, children?" and the trip to the Zoo closed
with a very merry lunch party.

--------------

"FROM HALF A HUNDRED STORIES"

 Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits.
Take care of your garden
And keep out the weeds;
Fill, fill it with sunshine,
Kind words and kind deeds.
Love is glad sunshine,
That comes every hour;
To shine away darkness,
And waken each flower.

-------------
--- 680

THE UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD CONGRESS AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

- E. A. Neresheimer

THE first Anniversary Congress of the Universal Brotherhood Organization, will be

held at Point Loma, San Diego, Cal., April 13th to 19th, 1899, on the grounds of the School
for the Revival of the Lost Mysteries of Antiquity.
There are sign-posts that this event marks the beginning of an Epoch of the
restoration of humanity to that higher standard of thought and morality to which its true
nature already aspires. Whether the multitude recognizes this or not - and it can hardly be
expected that it should - the giant wave of progressive evolution will manifest a physical
habitat in a body and place which shall be a center for radiating spiritual light to illumine the
darkness without.
The minds of men and women throughout the world are becoming increasingly
receptive to spiritual ideas. No one can fail to perceive the growing stability and gradual
manifestation of that energy. Nor is the Ocean of Happiness and joy that lie in wait for the
whole human family through a fuller realization of the spiritual wave, as yet apprehended;
though some - few indeed - who have sufficiently looked inward know of themselves the
limitless bliss with which the future is pregnant. Were it not that self-created lock and
armour shut out and separate each single self from the Great Self, Heaven might unfold
even now in native glorious splendor.
Let us look back for a moment and recognize - even though for our own satisfaction
and as a tribute to the Leaders - what has led up to the partial appreciation of this spiritual
wave. Since the advent of the Theosophical movement in this country, there has come to
the world a body of doctrines on the problems of life and nature which unequivocally
establish the existence of universal law and justice, also that man may shape his own
destiny and know for a certainty that he can live hereafter. These doctrines have been
presented in such a way as to suit the intellectual status of the age, supported by the force
of logic; and their universal applicability shown and proven by analogies on all planes and
in all kingdoms of nature. Furnishing thus at last a basis for ethics, the tenets came like
messages from Heaven. The universal belief in the ultimate existence of an ideal state
would not down in spite of the ever ascending scale of material development. The intuitive
aspirations towards divinity, humanity's birth-right, kept reasserting themselves. Hence the
happy relief from the thraldom of speculation.
Libraries and brains had been filled to over-flowing with words, thoughts and
speculations; in fine, intellectualism had become over-wrought with conceit, without
realizing its limitations.
In this High School of modern learning, ethics, love, philanthropy, morality had no
place or importance as factors of evolution; therefore it became impossible to further
humanity's cause through this agency. The truth of the mysteries of being can never be
fathomed to its inner depths except through the gate-way of Brotherhood.
Humanity as a whole is yet like a child, vigorous, but unknowing; not realizing in the
least its accumulated knowledge from the past, neither its present capabilities, nor its divine
destiny. Through the necessity of obtaining certain experiences, the revolving wheel of
time had brought it unto a state of extreme immersement

--- 681

in matter. Another turn of the wheel being at hand, the child is peering about in great
wonderment at the phenomena of nature, longing to know the secrets thereof, as well as
its own place in the economy of things. However, these secrets are not found, nor to be
imparted on the plane on which humanity now dwells.
No great discoveries in the realm of super-physical forces have yet been allowed to
pass the threshold of selfish man. Bit by bit only, do these powers come down to the
earthy by the grace of the gods, indicating the world's eternal ways.
The childish youth is yet too full of exuberant health expending its energy in the
direction to which the alluring desires of the sensuous world have chained it, but, at last,
it is beginning to grow tired of the old ways; and despairing, broken-winged, it cries aloud
to the Gods for help.
"Silencium!" the Gods are not appealed to in vain; they are borne on the crest of the
returning spiritual wave and come prepared to help and to teach. Ah! what splendors will
lift our very souls! The poetry of the unfoldment of a flower will be understood once more,
and, in time, also, the sublime beauties of human life.
The epoch has already begun and is being heralded to the four corners of the earth
by the fanfares of the Angels, erstwhile with subtle sound on the wings of psychic currents,
but actually rekindling the fires of love which are ready to burst into flame.
The restoration of Humanity to a higher standard of thought and morality requires
a change of mind from the present overbearing unsympathetic attitude of one class to
another; therefore, the media, alike in all - the heart-strings - must be touched and brought
into unison; outwardly by example, interiorly by vibratory forces.
The imitative tendency of the human race is so great, that a slight example given on
the line to which mankind is already inclined, is instantly followed by a large number. The
dynamic power of thought is still greater. If propelled without attachment to results and
directed in the currents of the universal plan of ideation, it becomes cosmic property and
therefore irresistible. Through its correlations on all planes, high and low, its effect is of
immense benefit to Humanity. Each individual whose mind is not in disharmony with the
evolutionary wave becomes permanently affected for good. The majority of mankind are
thus receptive.
This is nothing more nor less than a vibratory touch of the spiritual energy to which
the higher nature of each individual aspires and immediately responds - the magic spell:
"Universal Brotherhood!" Once the active impulse is started in that direction, it takes the
place of other impulses, that have heretofore used up energy on lower planes; conscience
and intuition, the qualities of the soul assert themselves and assume supremacy in due
course.
The establishment of a center for radiating spiritual light therefore is an epoch of
great moment for the welfare of the whole human race.
A body of units filled with knowledge of the ideal divine unity of mankind, power and
potency of love, virtue and philanthropy, congregating in harmonious assembly for the
purpose of serving unselfishly the great teachers of the world, the divine Brothers of
Compassion, will cause the spiritual energy emanating thence to affect humanity like the
sun affects growing vegetation in the spring.
The Congress to be held at Point Loma, though not itself the actual central factor for
the Revival of the Ancient Mysteries, is yet the Herald which proclaims the great change
to come. The performance of the Mysteries themselves, which are to teach the secret
science of the evolution of the soul by the power of word, song and drama are the province
of the school proper which was especially founded for their revival.

-------------
--- 682

BROTHERHOOD ACTIVITIES

NEW YORK.
TUESDAY, January 31st, and Thursday, February 2d, were two memorable days.
On Tuesday all the supplies in large and small cases containing medicine, food, clothing,
etc., sent by loving hearts from all over the country, from Toronto and Victoria, B. C., in
Canada; from New England, from Macon, Ga., and Dennison, Tex.; from Pittsburg,
Chicago, Fort Wayne, Youngstown; from Tacoma, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles,
San Diego on the Pacific Coast; from almost all the 150 centers and lodges of the
Universal Brotherhood and the International Brotherhood League throughout the country,
and even from Brother Bogren in Sweden, were shipped from the headquarters at 144
Madison Avenue, to the U. S. Transport "Berlin," which was to convey our Leader and her
faithful band of workers to Santiago de Cuba. On the evening of the same day, after the
regular meeting of the Aryan Lodge, a special meeting was held to bid farewell to the
Crusaders. The Leader was present and spoke with marvelous power, awakening the
enthusiasm of all present. Each of the Crusaders was called upon to speak - Mrs.
Richmond-Green of Easthampton, Mass.; Miss M. S. Lloyd and Miss I. Morris, both of
whom were with our Leader and helped to care for and nurse the sick soldiers at Montauk;
Dr. Herbert Coryn and Ralph Leslie. Other speakers were Mrs. E. C. Mayer, H. T.
Patterson, D. N. Dunlop, B. Harding and J. H. Fussell.
All those going realize that difficulties will have to he faced, hardships and even
dangers encountered, but all have that unwavering trust in the Leader, that faithfulness of
purpose and devotion to the Cause, that no difficulties, no dangers, not even death itself
can daunt. And our Leader, who sees and knows what obstacles have to be overcome,
sees also beyond the obstacles the glorious fruition and the harvest of the seed thus being
sown, and inspires all with unconquerable hope and tireless zeal. Truly these seven are
an army, a host warring with weapons of love and compassionate kindness against the
despair and misery so rife in unhappy Cuba. And we remaining behind have our part to
play too in this Crusade. We too can and will share in it and send such a force of
helpfulness and sympathy that shall support our Leader and comrades in their arduous
task.
What a concentrated power of love and brotherhood is locked up in the supplies and
the aid sent from all parts of the continent, and even from our comrades in Australia and
Europe! Who can measure the help that thus has been sent to our brothers in Cuba and
which receive a tenfold force under our Leader's guidance and supervision. Surely we
have already had in the work at Montauk, and are again having, a marvelous lesson in the
power each one has of helping forward the Brotherhood of Humanity and in realizing the
power of the motive that prompts the aid. It is a lesson in practical occultism, which H. P.
B. declared was "the Science of Life, the Art of Living."
The other memorable day was Thursday, February 2d, the day of the departure of
the relief expedition on the U. S. Transport "Berlin." Many of the members went to the
steamer to see the Crusaders off. The steamer sailed at 6 o'clock, and our loving thoughts
and good wishes have been with our comrades throughout the voyage. Today, February
17th, Mr. E. A. Neresheimer received a cable which read: "Fine inauguration work," and
next week we expect to have letters and an account of the voyage and the beginning of the
work. Our readers are referred to The New Century, published weekly, for fuller accounts
of the work. - J. H. Fussell

--- 683

A. E. S. SMYTHE'S LECTURING TOUR.

Mr. Albert E. S. Smythe reports that he has visited, since he left New York on 6th
January last, up till 15th February, a total of fourteen centers, beginning with Toledo, and
proceeding to Fort Wayne, Chicago, St. Louis, Belleville, Louisville. Indianapolis, Dayton,
Columbus, Pittsburg, Wilkinsburg, Warren, Youngstown and Cleveland. Most successful
meetings have been held, those in Fort Wayne, Chicago, Belleville, Louisville, Pittsburg and
Youngstown being especially so. Mr. Smythe compares his present tour with that of two
years ago, and finds such a decidedly marked growth, not only in the attendance, but in
appreciation of the spirit of the movement, that he feels that the members everywhere
should endeavor to realize the fact and the causes of it, since it marks an advance on outer
planes, and in the manifestation of quickening powers within, which are not to be accounted
for along the ordinary channels or by ordinary means of growth.
In Chicago the meetings that were held have already been reported, but it is a
matter to be noted that the E. S. meeting held on the 17th January was the largest of purely
local members that ever was held there at any time in the history of the movement. Three
lectures were given in the Lodge rooms in the Masonic Temple, and at the last of these the
attendance was over two hundred. In Belleville, Mr. E. W. Primm made the fullest
preparations, and the result was a fine meeting in the Liederkranz Hall, with an attendance
of 120. In St. Louis a meeting was held in the Single Tax rooms, and an address made.
In Louisville a large meeting was held in the Y. M. Hebrew's Hall, and an address on
"Uncommercial Mysticism" given. The newspapers devoted much space to reports, a result
largely due to the influence of Mr. C. Dobbs. Mr. Holbrook and his son came up from
Princeton for the meeting, as they do every week, and also Mr. Kummer from St. Louis.
At Indianapolis the Lodge has headquarters of its own under the care of Mr. and Mrs.
Strong, and a very good meeting was held on the 31st. Many of those who had been
enticed away from the movement by false or misleading reports, are taking up the work
again here. This is the case in other places also. In Columbus a meeting was held on
Sunday evening in the Labor Society's Hall in High street, and there was a fair attendance.
In the morning Mr. Smythe attended a service held in the Workhouse, and was given an
opportunity to address the prisoners, numbering over a hundred. They listened with great
attention to his appeal to them to recognize the manhood they owned in common with even
the greatest of men, and to try to overcome in themselves the qualities of the dog and the
monkey, which robbed them of their liberty and progress. Mr. Schaub has charge of the
Columbus center, and frequently attends these Workhouse services. Meetings were held
in Wilkinsburg and Allegheny City as well as in Pittsburg on the 7th, 8th and 9th insts. The
lecture in the Carnegie Hall met with a most appreciative reception, and questions were
asked until the janitor turned out the lights. In Warren, where Dr. and Mrs. McAlpine
continue to sow the seed of Brotherhood, a meeting was held on the 10th in the Y. M. C.
A. Auditorium. With the thermometer at 20 below zero not many were expected, but the
result was most encouraging, and those who came expressed much satisfaction. In
Youngstown a large meeting was held in the fine hall of the Youngstown Lodge, on Sunday
evening, the 12th February. Dr. Acheson, who has been such a source of strength to the
movement there, had been very ill for some weeks, but was recovering when last heard
from, and though unable to be out of bed, followed all the arrangements with his advice and
suggestions. In Cleveland, Mr. W. E. Gates was indefatigable in his preparations, and the
interest of the audience in the Army and Navy Hall was highly gratifying, and betokened
further growth to follow.
In all the places visited, with one exception, meetings of the E. S. T. were held. The
earnestness of these meetings, at times almost overpowering in its intensity,

--- 684

and distinguished by the clear and unwavering devotion of the members to principle, and
by the intelligent fidelity of those who have consciously united their karma with that of the
Helpers of Humanity, careful as they are not to throw dross into the melting-pot of
discipleship, is evidenced by the force that is now carrying the movement forward to the
realization of Brotherhood among all men.
The Convention at Point Lorna is arousing the greatest enthusiasm. More than is
usual have already announced their intention of being present. What this means to the
race, for whom the various delegates go as representatives and trustees, will be better
appreciated when the world awakens to the existence of the School for the Revival of the
Lost Mysteries of Antiquity.
--------

NEW ENGLAND.
 Feb. 13, 1899. News from New England generally shows steady work.
About Boston and vicinity the work is progressing in a very satisfactory manner.
On January 1 the Lotus Groups in and around Boston spent the afternoon with the
Cambridge Lotus Group at Cambridgeport. The opening exercises were conducted as
usual, after which there were addresses by Miss Guild, Mr. Ayers and Mr. Seele, who laid
emphasis on the words of our leader that "Life is Joy." Refreshments were then served,
followed by presents from the tree; after which the children passed round the tree singing
the Circle Song, and bags of candy were distributed among them. When the meeting
dispersed it was remarked by all present that a mingled feeling of Unity, Joy and Calmness
seemed to pervade the attitude of those present.
Every Thursday evening there is a Union Meeting held at Universal Brotherhood
Hall, 24 Mt. Vernon street, of the different centers in Boston, Somerville, Cambridge and
Malden. The suggestions with reference to study, referred to in June and October, 1898,
issue of "Universal Brotherhood," have been followed.
Each of the above mentioned centers holds meetings every Sunday evening at their
respective halls. The most noticeable feature of these meetings is the increased
attendance of strangers, their earnest attention and intelligent questions.
Every Saturday evening there is a Union Meeting of Lotus Helpers, of Boston and
vicinity, at 24 Mt. Vernon street, for the study of the lessons and practice of singing for the
Lotus Groups.
President Neresheimer passed through Boston, January 10, and called at
Headquarters.
On January 16, 17 and 18 the Leader and Official Head was in New England with
Pres. Neresheimer, Mr. M. Pierce, Mr. H. T. Patterson, Mr. Clark Thurston and Dr. Coryn.
About seventy members welcomed them at Headquarters in Boston, and it was an
occasion which will long be remembered. On the return of the party to New York they
spent a few hours at Easthampton, Mass. In that section there are several centers of
active and earnest members, of which a Union Meeting was held at Mrs. Richmond-
Green's at Easthampton.
The I. B. L. work at New England Headquarters, for the treatment of alcohol and
morphine sufferers, is meeting with good success, and the beneficent results are receiving
due appreciation in influential quarters.
The members throughout New England are very much interested in the coming
Universal Brotherhood Congress to be held at Point Loma, and it is hoped that this section
of the United States will be well represented. - Georgiana Adams
---------

BUFFALO
U. B. LODGE 80, BUFFALO, N.Y. - Three public meetings are held weekly: Public
U. B. meeting, Sunday night; Study of Theosophy, Tuesday night; I. B. L. meeting

--- 685

on Friday, for the purpose of discussing the various aspects of Brotherhood, and the asking
and answering of questions.
The Wayfare, a temporary shelter for homeless and destitute women, and Lotus
Home, for homeless children, both under the auspices of the I. B. L., are actively engaged
in their departments of Brotherhood work. Lotus Home, so recently established, is gaming
more and more the aspects of a real and permanent Home. Seven fine healthy children
are at present being cared for, and the work of "educating" and "training destitute and
homeless children to become workers for Humanity," is receiving the earnest and marked
attention of the philanthropists of the city, who express the greatest enthusiasm when the
nature of the work and its plan are laid before them, foretelling an unsurpassed field of
usefulness for the future.
The work of "Solidification" is going on here, and all are loyal to our great Leader and
gladly follow where she leads in Brotherhood work. - T. Y. Stevens, Corresponding
Secretary.
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CHICAGO.
4365 GREENWOOD AVE., CHICAGO, Jan. 19th, 1899. Mr. Albert E. S. Smythe,
of Toronto, who has been sent out to visit the various Lodges, arrived in Chicago Jan. 14th.
His coming has already resulted in much good, in meeting and consolidation of
members, and the cordial and attentive attention accorded him at the public meeting
Sunday evening was most gratifying. His subject was "Law and Freedom," and he spoke
not only to a well filled hall, but to an audience that attested their interest in what was said
by the closest attention and the asking of more questions at the close of the address than
there was time to answer. These questions Brother Smythe answered in his usual terse
and witty way, drawing out the appreciative applause of his hearers. Tonight Mr. Smythe
is to speak at a second public meeting on "Uncommercial Mysticism," and next Sunday
night on "The Philosophy of Life." The members' meeting, usually held on Thursday
evening, gave way to the public meeting, as the larger hall could not be secured any other
night. The Lodge meeting is to be held instead on Friday evening, at which Brother Smythe
will speak to the members on subjects connected with the work which are nearest to our
hearts. Two E. S. T. meetings have been held and the spirit and unity of those occasions
were added proof of the existing harmony and force now prevailing in the movement, as
well as of the utmost confidence and trust in the one who guides it.
The attendance was very large and Brother Smythe there spoke with much
earnestness. The signs for the future of the work are most promising.
The three stones prepared some time ago by "Loyalty," "Saga" and the "Englewood"
Branches, to take their place in the building for the School for the Revival of the Lost
Mysteries of Antiquity, have been shipped to Point Loma, as the first messengers sent
before us. As even the stones are said in scripture to "cry out," and as they have reposed
so long in our Lodge rooms, one of our members suggests that they will carry to Point
Loma with them the impress of our devotion and good will there received, so that they are
our real messengers, and their mission of standing so long in our Lodge rooms has been
a real one. - Allpheus M. Smith
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YOUNGSTOWN.
Feb. 15, 1899. Our usual weekly public meetings have been fairly well attended,
considering the unfavorable weather, much interest being manifested and new faces
usually seen.
On Jan. 19 an entertainment was held for the newsboys and bootblacks. The

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attendance was far beyond our rosiest expectations, at least three hundred and seventy-
five being present. They were as quiet and attentive as could be expected.
These little fellows listened attentively to remarks made by Mayor Moore, Dr.
Acheson and Dr. Schreiber. Between these short speeches we had good music, both vocal
and instrumental, furnished by members and friends, who volunteered their services.
When the boys were dismissed, each was given a small bag of candy. It is our intention
to provide the boys with similar entertainments from time to time, and hope some good may
result.
On Sunday morning, Jan. 12, a meeting of the Universal Brotherhood was held to
listen to Brother Albert E. S. Smythe; and in the evening Brother Smythe delivered his
lecture on ''The Philosophy of Life," to a much larger audience than we anticipated, as the
weather was extremely cold. He was listened to with the greatest eagerness, and everyone
expressed themselves as being many times repaid for braving the weather.
The only fault we can find with Brother Smythe is that he would not stay longer. I
am convinced that he did a great deal of good here. - Singleton A. King, Sec'y Lodge 55.
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FORT WAYNE.
Fort Wayne Lodge No. 42 is holding its Thursday night meetings regularly with good
attendance of earnest members and enquirers; almost every meeting some new faces
appear in the audience.
On Jan. 12 Bro. Albert Smythe visited our Lodge and addressed us on the "Science
of Life." Brother Smythe is one of the "Old Warriors" who is not a stranger in Fort Wayne,
and we could not help being benefitted with his visit and encouragement.
On Jan. 19 our Lodge gave a stereopticon and phonographic entertainment to the
newsboys of Fort Wayne, with songs and recitations by some of the little girls of the Lotus
Circle. Judge O'Rourke spoke on the purposes of the Universal Brotherhood.
On Jan. 26 Judge O'Rourke addressed the meeting on the subject of "Ignorance."
The month of January has been a very successful month with the Fort Wayne Lodge. - S.
Milton McFerran
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PITTSBURG
Feb. 12, 1899. Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 56, Pittsburg, began the New Year
practically out of debt. We have re-rented our rooms for another year.
The public meetings, Sunday evenings, are well attended and always one or more
new faces present. We conduct the meetings as suggested by our Leader, and the interest
that is evidenced when the questions begin at the close of reading the article from the
"Universal Brotherhood" Magazine or The New Century, is proof of the wisdom of those
suggestions.
Our I. B. L. work is on the lines of propaganda. One of our members had letter
paper printed for the Lodge with extracts from the Universal Brotherhood Constitution and
the objects of the International Brotherhood League printed down the side; and another
member printed visiting cards with the name of the Organization and time and place of
meeting printed on the back. We find them very convenient to carry with us, and they are
the means of bringing many persons to our meetings. The stone for S. R. L. M. A. was
shipped to Point Loma, January 12th. Our book sales have been larger the past two or
three months than ever in the history of our Lodge. I cannot add anything more for the
present, unless it is that we, as members, are a harmonious whole, working for this great
movement, Universal Brotherhood, and devoted to our Leader. - M. S. Beach

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INDIANAPOLIS.
Feb. 13, 1899. Universal Brotherhood Lodge No. 83, Indianapolis, Indiana, is
holding public meetings regularly every Sunday and Tuesday evenings, at 8 o'clock. We
have headquarters in a large modern house, 923 Fort Wayne avenue. The rooms, which
communicate with large double doors, together with the hall vestibule, afford a seating
capacity of about fifty or sixty. Ordinarily the front room is used as a reception room. The
second room is fitted up with a large book-case, piano, and is used as a library or reading
room. Scarcely a day passes that some friend or member of the Lodge does not stop in
at the headquarters to talk upon the subject of Brotherhood, or mayhap select a pamphlet
or book to assist in the work. We were favored with a visit from Bro. Albert E. S. Smythe,
of Toronto, Ontario, Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. He made his home at headquarters during his
sojourn in our city. On the evening of Jan. 31 he addressed a public meeting upon "The
Philosophy of Life." The weather was very disagreeable, but, notwithstanding, a goodly
number turned out to enjoy the address. Bro. Smythe's remarks were well received, and
one of the daily newspapers had a reporter attend the meeting. Considerable interest in
the U. B. movement has since been manifest; and some who took no interest in the work
before Bro. Smythe's advent, have now become regular attendants at the meetings. On
the evening of Feb. 1 Bro. Smythe met with the members at headquarters and deeply
interested all with a brief resume of the activities throughout the world. The members of
the Brotherhood enjoyed Bro. Smythe's visit to Indianapolis very much indeed. About two
years ago Bro. Smythe visited our city and found it impossible to interest enough members
of "The Indianapolis Branch of the Theosophical Society in America" to arrange for a public
meeting. Note the change - thanks to the Chicago Convention and our dear Leader - a
well-attended public meeting; "good seed sown upon fertile soil." The latch-string is out -
call and see us when in Indianapolis. - G. W. Strong
---------

TOLEDO.
Toledo Lodge No. 32, Universal Brotherhood, has had a very pleasant week's visit
from Mrs. E. C. Mayer of Headquarters. Mrs. Mayer arrived Thursday evening, Feb. 2, and
attended the Toledo Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Union Meeting that evening, where she
received a very warm welcome from the boys. They were very enthusiastic over her talk
to them of the work among young people all over the world. After the meeting Mrs. Mayer
gave several piano selections, and the evening ended by a cake-walk which the boys highly
enjoyed, and several made very good attempts at cake walking.
Mrs. Mayer was the guest of Mrs. L. H. Fichtenkam, who is President of the
Newsboys' and Bootblacks' Union, and well acquainted with boys' work in Toledo. Our
visitor thus became acquainted more closely with our work and spent much of her time at
the Newsboys' Home.
Lodge No. 32 has recently changed its Headquarters to Room 206, Chamber of
Commerce. The first meeting in the new quarters was held on Tuesday evening, Feb. 7,
when Mrs. Mayer gave a very interesting address. There were two applications for
membership and a number of enquiries, so that the prospects look very bright and
encouraging for a large increase of membership in the near future.
International Brotherhood League meetings will be held every Sunday evening.
Sunday evening last was pleasantly spent by all present and quite a number of questions
were discussed. The time was spent very profitably, and enjoyed by all. - J. J. Brennan
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52 Broadway, New York, Feb. 1, 1899.

E. August Neresheimer, Esq.,
35 Nassau Street, New York.

DEAR SIR: -
We beg to advise you that the injunction suit brought in the Supreme Court of this
State against Mrs. Katherine A. Tingley and others by Alexander H. Spencer, for the
purpose of asserting his alleged rights to the property belonging to the Theosophical
Society in America, has been abandoned and discontinued by the plaintiff. An order has
been entered to that effect at Mr. Spencer's own motion and request.
At the same time we have received a check for $350.00 in settlement of the claim
for damages upon the injunction bond.
This motion on the part of the plaintiff leaves as final the decision which was
rendered in your favor by Judge Werner upon the application made last Spring by the
plaintiff for a temporary injunction, and puts a final termination to the litigation.
We are pleased to be able to advise you of this fact, and we remain,
Very truly yours,
Kellogg & Beckwith

----------

BACK NUMBERS OF THE PATH.

A U. B. Lodge wishes to purchase No. 3, of Vol. I; Nos. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 of Vol.
II; Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, of Vol. III, and Nos. 10, 11, 12, of Vol. IV. Any person having
these numbers, and desiring to dispose of them, kindly address the undersigned, stating
price. The Theosophical Publishing Co., - E. A. Neresheimer, Manager.

----------------------------