From 8eee8a6294c6aa6bcc605e414517e4356d350d39 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Paco Hope <github@filter.paco.to>
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2022 12:03:14 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Added 4 Gutenberg texts as toot sources

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 text/pg40686.txt | 23698 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 text/pg69426.txt |  6199 ++++++++++++
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+“The shining mountains,” said Gregory Compton softly, throwing back his
+head, his eyes travelling along the hard bright outlines above the high
+valley in which his ranch lay. “The shining mountains. That is what the
+Indians called them before the white man came.”
+His wife yawned frankly. “Pity they don’t shine inside as well as
+out--what we’ve got of ’em.”
+“Who knows? Who knows?”
+“We don’t. That’s the trouble.”
+But although she spoke tartly, she nestled into his arm, for she was
+not unamiable, she had been married but sixteen months, and she was
+still fond of her husband “in a way”; moreover, although she cherished
+resentments open and secret, she never forgot that she had won a
+prize “as men go.” Many girls in Butte[A] had wanted to marry Gregory
+Compton, not only because he had inherited a ranch of eleven hundred
+and sixty acres, but because, comprehensively, he was superior to the
+other young men of his class. He had graduated from the High School
+before he was sixteen; then after three years’ work on the ranch under
+his unimaginative father, he had announced his intention of leaving the
+State unless permitted to attend the School of Mines in Butte. The old
+man, who by this time had taken note of the formation of his son’s jaw,
+gave his consent rather than lose the last of his children; and for two
+years and a semester Gregory had been the most brilliant figure in the
+School of Mines.
+“Old Man Compton,” who had stampeded from his small farm in northern
+New York in the sixties to meet with little success in the mines, but
+more as a rancher, had been as typical a hayseed as ever punctuated
+politics with tobacco juice in front of a corner grocery-store, but
+had promised his wife on her death-bed that their son should have
+“schooling.” Mrs. Compton, who had arrived in Montana soon after the
+log house was built, was a large, dark, silent woman, whom none of
+her distant neighbours had ever claimed to know. It was currently
+believed in the New York village whence she came that in the early days
+of the eighteenth century the sturdy Verrooy stock had been abruptly
+crossed by the tribe of the Oneida. Ancient history in a new country
+is necessarily enveloped in mist, but although the children she had
+lost had been fair and nondescript like their father, her youngest, and
+her only son, possessed certain characteristics of the higher type of
+Indian. He was tall and lightly built, graceful, supple, swift of foot,
+with the soft tread of the panther; and although his skin was no darker
+than that of the average brunette, it acquired significance from the
+intense blackness of his hair, the thin aquiline nose, the long, narrow
+eyes, the severe and stolid dignity of expression even in his earlier
+years.
+He had seemed to the girls of the only class he knew in Butte an
+even more romantic figure than the heroes of their magazine fiction,
+particularly as he took no notice of them until he met Ida Hook at a
+picnic and surrendered his heart.
+Ida, forced by her thrifty mother to accept employment with a
+fashionable dressmaker, and consumed with envy of the “West Siders”
+whose measurements she took, did not hesitate longer than feminine
+prudence dictated. Before she gave her hair its nightly brushing her
+bold unpedantic hand had covered several sheets of pink note-paper with
+the legend, “Mrs. Gregory Compton,” the while she assured herself there
+was “no sweller name on West Broadway.” To do her justice, she also
+thrilled with young passion, for more than her vanity had responded
+to the sombre determined attentions of the man who had been the
+indifferent hero of so many maiden dreams. Although she longed to be a
+Copper Queen, she was too young to be altogether hard; and, now that
+her hour was come, every soft enchantment of her sex awoke to bind and
+blind her mate.
+Gregory Compton’s indifference to women had been more pretended than
+real, although an occasional wild night on The Flat had interested him
+far more than picnics and dances where the girls used no better grammar
+than the “sporting women” and were far less amusing. He went to this
+picnic to please his old school friend, Mark Blake, and because Nine
+Mile Cañon had looked very green and alluring after the June rains when
+he had ridden through it alone the day before. The moment he stood
+before Ida Hook, staring into the baffling limpid eyes, about which
+heavy black lashes rose and fell and met and tangled and shot apart in
+a series of bedevilling manœuvres, he believed himself to be possessed
+by that intimate soul-seeking desire that nothing but marriage can
+satisfy. He kept persistently at her side, his man’s instinct prompting
+the little attentions women value less than they demand. He also took
+more trouble to interest her verbally than was normal in one whom
+nature had prompted to silence, and he never would learn the rudiments
+of small talk; but his brain was humming in time with his eager
+awakened pulses, and Ida was too excited and exultant to take note of
+his words. “It was probably about mines, anyway,” she confided to her
+friends, Ruby and Pearl Miller. “Nobody talks about anything else long
+in this old camp.”
+Gregory’s infatuation was by no means reduced by the fact that no less
+than six young men contended for the favour of Miss Hook. She was the
+accredited beauty of Butte, for even the ladies of the West Side had
+noticed and discussed her and hoped that their husbands and brothers
+had not. It was true that her large oval blue-grey eyes, set like
+Calliope’s, were as shallow as her voice; but the lids were so broad
+and white, and the lashes so silky and oblique, that the critical
+faculty of man was drugged, if dimly prescient. Her cheeks were a
+trifle too full, her nose of a type unsung in marble; but what of that
+when her skin was as white as milk, the colour in cheek and lips of a
+clear transparent coral, that rarest and most seductive of nature’s
+reds, her little teeth enamelled like porcelain? And had she not every
+captivating trick, from active eyelash to the sudden toss of her small
+head on its long round throat, even to the dilating nostril which made
+her nose for the moment look patrician and thin! Her figure, too, with
+its boyish hips, thin flexible waist, and full low bust, which she
+carried with a fine upright swing, was made the most of in a collarless
+blouse, closely fitting skirt, and narrow dark belt.
+Miss Hook, although her expression was often wide-eyed and innocent,
+was quite cynically aware of her power over the passions of men. More
+than one man of high salary or recent fortune had tried to “annex”
+her, as she airily put it; her self-satisfaction and the ever-present
+sophistications of a mining town saving her from anything so gratuitous
+as outraged maidenhood.
+The predatory male and his promises had never tempted her, and it
+was her boast that she had never set foot in the road houses of The
+Flat. She had made up her mind long since to live on the West Side,
+the fashionable end of Butte, and was wise enough, to quote her own
+words, to know that the straight and narrow was the only direct route.
+Ambition, her sleepless desire to be a grand dame (which she pronounced
+without any superfluous accent), was stronger than vanity or her
+natural love of pleasure. By the ordinary romantic yearnings of her
+age and sex she was unhampered; but when she met Gregory Compton, she
+played the woman’s game so admirably the long day through that she
+brushed her heavy black hair at night quite satisfied he would propose
+when she gave him his chance. This she withheld for several days, it
+being both pleasant and prudent to torment him. He walked home with her
+every afternoon from the dressmaking establishment on North Main Street
+to her mother’s cottage in East Granite, to be dismissed at the gate
+coyly, reluctantly, indifferently, but always with a glance of startled
+wonder from the door.
+In the course of the week she gave him to understand that she should
+attend the Friday Night dance at Columbia Gardens, and expected him to
+escort her. Gregory, who by this time was reduced to a mere prowling
+instinct projected with fatal instantaneity from its napping ego, was
+as helpless a victim as if born a fool. He thought himself the most
+fortunate of men to receive permission to sit beside her on the open
+car during the long ride to the Gardens, to pay for the greater number
+of her waltzes, to be, in short, her beau for the night.
+The evening of Friday at Columbia Gardens is Society Night for all
+respectable Butte, irrespective of class; the best floor and the
+airiest hall in Silver Bow County proving an irresistible incentive to
+democracy. Moreover, Butte is a city of few resources, and the Gardens
+at night look like fairyland: the immense room is hung with Chinese
+lanterns depending from the rafters, the music is the best in Montana;
+and the richer the women, the plainer their frocks. A sort of informal
+propriety reigns, and millionaire or clerk pays ten cents for the
+privilege of dancing with his lady.
+Ida, who had expended five of her hard-earned dollars on a bottle
+of imported perfume, wore a white serge suit cut as well as any in
+“the grand dame bunch.” After the sixth waltz she draped her head and
+shoulders with a coral-pink scarf and led Gregory, despite the chill of
+June, out to his willing fate. The park was infested by other couples,
+walking briskly to keep themselves warm, and so were the picnic grounds
+where the cottonwoods and Canadian poplars were being coaxed to grow,
+now that the smelters which had reduced the neighbourhood of Butte to
+its bones had been removed to Anaconda.
+But farther up the cañon no one but themselves adventured, and here
+Gregory was permitted to ask this unique creature, provided with a new
+and maddening appeal to the senses, to renounce her kingdom and live on
+a ranch.
+It was all very crude, even to the blatant moon, which in the thin
+brilliant atmosphere of that high altitude swings low with an almost
+impudent air of familiarity, and grins in the face of sentiment.
+But to Gregory, who was at heart passionate and romantic, it was a
+soul-quickening scene: the blazing golden disk poised on the very crest
+of the steep mountain before them, the murmur of water, the rustling
+young leaves, the deep-breasted orientally perfumed woman with the
+innocent wondering eyes. The moon chuckled and reminded his exacting
+mistress, Nature, that were he given permission to scatter some of his
+vast experience instead of the seductive beams that had accumulated
+it, this young man with his natural distinction of mind, and already
+educated beyond his class, would enjoy a sudden clarity of vision and
+perceive the defects of grammar and breeding in this elemental siren
+with nothing but Evian instincts to guide her.
+But the dutiful old search-light merely whipped up the ancestral
+memories in Gregory’s subconscious brain; moreover, gave him courage.
+He made love with such passion and tenderness that Ida, for once
+elemental, clung to him so long and so ardently that the grinning
+moon whisked off his beam in disgust and retired behind a big black
+cloud--which burst shortly afterwards and washed out the car tracks.
+They were married in July, and Mrs. Hook, who had worked for forty
+years at tub and ironing-board, moved over to the dusty cemetery in
+September, at rest in the belief not only that her too good-looking
+daughter was safely “planted,” but was a supremely happy woman.
+Ida’s passion, however, had been merely a gust of youth, fed by
+curiosity and gratified ambition; it quickly passed in the many
+disappointments of her married life. Gregory had promised her a
+servant, but no “hired girl” could be induced to remain more than a
+week on the lonely De Smet Ranch; and Mrs. Compton’s temper finding
+its only relief in one-sided quarrels with her Chinese cooks, even the
+philosophical Oriental was prone to leave on a moment’s notice. There
+were three hired men and three in the family, after John Oakley came,
+to cook and “clean up” for, and there were weeks at a time when Ida
+was obliged to rise with the dawn and occupy her large and capable but
+daintily manicured hands during many hours of the day.
+Gregory’s personality had kindled what little imagination she had
+into an exciting belief in his power over life and its corollary, the
+world’s riches. Also, having in mind the old Indian legend of the great
+chief who had turned into shining gold after death and been entombed in
+what was now known prosaically as the De Smet Ranch, she had expected
+Gregory to “strike it rich” at once.
+But although there were several prospect holes on the ranch, dug
+by Gregory in past years, he had learned too much, particularly of
+geology, during his two years at the School of Mines to waste any more
+time digging holes in the valley or bare portions of the hills. If a
+ledge existed it was beneath some tangle of shrub or tree-roots, and he
+had no intention of denuding his pasture until he was prepared to sell
+his cattle.
+He told her this so conclusively a month after they were married that
+she had begged him to raise sugar beets and build a factory in Butte
+(which he would be forced to superintend), reminding him that the only
+factory in the State was in the centre of another district and near
+the southern border, and that sugar ranged from six to seven dollars a
+hundredweight. He merely laughed at this suggestion, although he was
+surprised at her sagacity, for, barring a possible democratic victory,
+there was room for two beet-sugar factories in Montana. But he had
+other plans, although he gave her no hint of them, and had no intention
+of complicating his life with an uncongenial and exacting business.
+By unceasing personal supervision he not only made the ranch profitable
+and paid a yearly dividend to his three aunts, according to the terms
+of his father’s will, but for the last two years, after replacing or
+adding to his stock, he had deposited a substantial sum in the bank,
+occasionally permitting his astute friend, Mark Blake, to turn over a
+few hundreds for him on the stock-market. This was the heyday of the
+American farmer, and the De Smet cattle brought the highest prices
+in the stock-yards for beef on the hoof. He also raised three crops
+of alfalfa a year to insure his live stock against the lean days of
+a Rocky Mountain winter. He admitted to Ida that he could afford to
+sink a shaft or drive a tunnel in one of his hills, but added that
+he should contemplate nothing of the sort until he had finished his
+long-delayed course in the School of Mines, and had thousands to throw
+away on development work, miners, and machinery. At this time he saw no
+immediate prospect of resuming the studies interrupted by the death of
+his father: until John Oakley came, eight months after his marriage, he
+knew of no foreman to trust but himself.
+Ida desired the life of the city for other reasons than its luxuries
+and distractions. Her fallow brain was shrewd and observing, although
+often crude in its deductions. She soon realised that the longer she
+lived with her husband the less she understood him. Like all ignorant
+women of any class she cherished certain general estimates of men,
+and in her own class it was assumed that the retiring men were weak
+and craven, the bold ones necessarily lacking in that refinement upon
+which their young lady friends prided themselves. Ida had found that
+Gregory, bold as his wooing had been, and arrogantly masculine as he
+was in most things, not only had his shynesses but was far more refined
+and sensitive than herself. She was a woman who prided herself upon
+her theories, and disliked having them upset; still more not knowing
+where she was at, to use her own spirited vernacular. She began to
+be haunted by the fear of making some fatal mistake, living, as she
+did, in comparative isolation with him. Not only was her womanly
+pride involved, as well as a certain affection born of habit and
+possible even to the selfish, rooted as it is in the animal function
+of maternity, but she had supreme faith in his future success and was
+determined to share it.
+She was tired, however, of attempting to fathom the intense reserves
+and peculiarities of that silent nature, of trying to live up to him.
+She was obliged to resort to “play-acting”; and, fully aware of her
+limitations, despite her keen self-appreciation, was in constant fear
+that she would “make a grand mess of it.” Gregory’s eyes could be very
+penetrating, and she had discovered that although he never told funny
+stories, nor appeared to be particularly amused at hers, he had his own
+sense of humour.
+II
+The young couple stood together in the dawn, the blue dawn of Montana.
+The sky was as cold and bright as polished silver, but the low soft
+masses of cloud were blue, the glittering snow on the mountain peaks
+was blue, the smooth snow fields on the slopes and in the valley were
+blue. Nor was it the blue of azure or of sapphire, but a deep lovely
+cool polaric blue, born in the inverted depths of Montana, and forever
+dissociated from art.
+It was an extramundane scene, and it had drawn Gregory from his bed
+since childhood, but to Ida, brought up in a town, and in one whose
+horizons until a short while ago had always been obscured by the
+poisonous haze of smelters, and ores roasted in the open, it was
+“weird.” Novels had informed her that sunrises were pink, or, at the
+worst, grey. There was something mysterious in this cold blue dawn up
+in the snow fields, and she hated mystery. But as it appeared to charm
+Gregory, she played up to him when he “dragged” her out to look at it;
+and she endeavoured to do so this morning although her own ego was
+rampant.
+Gregory drew her closer, for she still had the power to enthrall him
+at times. He understood the resources within her shallows as little
+as she understood his depths, but although her defects in education
+and natural equipment had long since appalled him, he was generally
+too busy to think about her, and too masculine to detect that she was
+playing a part. This morning, although he automatically responded to
+her blandishments, he was merely sensible of her presence, and his
+eyes, the long watchful eyes of the Indian, were concentrated upon the
+blue light that poured from the clouds down upon the glistening peaks.
+Ida knew that this meant he was getting ready to make an announcement
+of some sort, and longed to shake it out of him. Not daring to outrage
+his dignity so far, she drew the fur robe that enveloped them closer
+and rubbed her soft hair against his chin. It was useless to ask him
+to deliver himself until he was “good and ready”, but the less direct
+method sometimes prevailed.
+Suddenly he came out with it.
+“I’ve made up my mind to go back to the School.”
+“Back to school--are you loony?”
+“The School of Mines, of course. I can enter the Junior Class where
+I left off; earlier in fact, as I had finished the first semester.
+Besides, I’ve been going over all the old ground since Oakley came.”
+“Is that what’s in all them books.”
+“Those, dear.”
+“Those. Mining Engineer’s a lot sweller than rancher.”
+“Please don’t use that word.”
+“Lord, Greg, you’re as particular as if you’d been brought up in Frisco
+or Chicago, instead of on a ranch.”
+He laughed outright and pinched her ear. “I use a good deal of slang
+myself--only, there are some words that irritate me--I can hardly
+explain. It doesn’t matter.”
+“Greg,” she asked with sudden suspicion, “why are you goin’ in for a
+profession? Have you given up hopes of strikin’ it rich on this ranch?”
+“Oh, I shall never relinquish that dream.” He spoke so lightly that
+even had she understood him better she could not have guessed that the
+words leapt from what he believed to be the deepest of his passions.
+“But what has that to do with it? If there is gold on the ranch I shall
+be more likely to discover it when I know a great deal more about
+geology than I do now, and better able to mine it cheaply after I have
+learned all I can of milling and metallurgy at the School. But that is
+not the point. There may be nothing here. I wish to graduate into a
+profession which not only attracts me more than any other, but in which
+the expert can always make a large income. Ranching doesn’t interest
+me, and with Oakley to----”
+“What woke you up so sudden?”
+“I have never been asleep.” But he turned away his head lest she see
+the light in his eyes. “Oakley gives me my chance to get out, that is
+all. And I am very glad for your sake----”
+“Aw!” Her voice, ringing out with ecstasy, converted the native
+syllable into music. “It means we are goin’ to live in Butte!”
+“Of course.”
+“And I was so took--taken by surprise it never dawned on me till this
+minute. Now what do you know about that?”
+“We shall have to be very quiet. I cannot get my degree until a year
+from June--a year and seven months from now. I shall study day and
+night, and work in the mines during the winter and summer vacations. I
+cannot take you anywhere.”
+“Lord knows it can’t be worse’n this. I’ll have my friends to talk to
+and there’s always the movin’ picture shows. Lord, how I’d like to see
+one.”
+“Well, you shall,” he said kindly. “I wrote to Mark some time ago and
+asked him to give the tenant of the cottage notice. As this is the
+third of the month it must be empty and ready for us.”
+“My goodness gracious!” cried his wife with pardonable irritation, “but
+you are a grand one for handin’ out surprises! Most husbands tell their
+wives things as they go along, but you ruminate like a cow and hand
+over the cud when you’re good and ready. I’m sick of bein’ treated as
+if I was a child.”
+“Please don’t look at it in that way. What is the use of talking about
+things until one is quite sure they can be accomplished?”
+“That’s half the fun of bein’ married,” said Ida with one of her
+flashes of intuition.
+“Is it?” Gregory turned this over in his mind, then, out of his own
+experience, rejected it as a truism. He could not think of any subject
+he would care to discuss with his wife; or any other woman. But he
+kissed her with an unusual sense of compunction. “Perhaps I liked the
+idea of surprising you,” he said untruthfully. “You will be glad to
+live in Butte once more?”
+“You may bet your bottom dollar on that. When do we go?”
+“Tomorrow.”
+“_Lands_ sakes! Well, I’m dumb. And breakfast has to be got if I _have_
+had a bomb exploded under me. That Chink was doin’ fine when I left,
+but the Lord knows----”
+She walked toward the rear of the house, temper in the swing of her
+hips, her head tossed high. Although rejoicing at the prospect of
+living in town, she was both angry and vaguely alarmed, as she so often
+had been before, at the unimaginable reserves, the unsuspected mental
+activities, and the sudden strikings of this life-partner who should
+have done his thinking out loud.
+“Lord knows,” thought Mrs. Compton, as she approached her kitchen, with
+secret intent to relieve her feelings by “lambasting” the Mongolian and
+leaving Oakley to shift for himself, “it’s like livin’ with that there
+Sphinx. I don’t s’pose I’ll ever get used to him, and maybe the time’ll
+come when I won’t want to.”
+III
+Gregory stood for some time longer, leaning on the gate and waiting
+for the red fire to rise above the crystal mountains. He was eager for
+the morrow, not only because he longed to be at the foundation stones
+of his real life but because his mind craved the precise training, the
+logical development, the intoxicating sense of expansion which he had
+missed and craved incessantly during the six years that had elapsed
+since he had been torn from the School of Mines. Moreover, his heart
+was light; at last he was able to shift the great responsibilities of
+his ranch to other shoulders.
+Some six months since, his friend, Mark Blake, had recommended to him
+a young man who not only had graduated at the head of his class in
+the State College of Agriculture, but had served for two years on one
+of the State Experimental Farms. “What he don’t know about scientific
+farming, dry, intensive, and all the rest, isn’t worth shucks, old
+man,” Blake had written. “He’s as honest as they come, and hasn’t a red
+to do the trick himself, but wants to go on a ranch as foreman, and
+farm wherever there’s soil of a reasonable depth. Of course he wants a
+share of the profits, but he’s worth it to you, for the Lord never cut
+you out for a rancher or farmer, well as you have done. What you want
+is to finish your course and take your degree. Try Oakley out for six
+months. There’ll be only one result. You’re a free man.”
+The contract had been signed the day before. But Oakley had been a
+welcome guest in the small household for more than practical reasons.
+Until the night of his advent, when the two men sat talking until
+daylight, Gregory had not realised the mental isolation of his married
+life. Like all young men he had idealised the girl who made the first
+assault on his preferential passion; but his brain was too shrewd,
+keen, practical, in spite of its imaginative area, to harbor illusions
+beyond the brief period of novelty. It had taken him but a few weeks
+to discover that although his wife had every charm of youth and sex,
+and was by no means a fool, their minds moved on different planes, far
+apart. He had dreamed of the complete understanding, the instinctive
+response, the identity of tastes, in short of companionship, of the
+final routing of a sense of hopeless isolation he had never lost
+consciousness of save when immersed in study.
+Ida subscribed for several of the “cheapest” of the cheap magazines,
+and, when her Mongolians were indulgent, rocked herself in the
+sitting-room, devouring the factory sweets and crude mental drugs with
+much the same spirit that revelled above bargain counters no matter
+what the wares. She “lived” for the serials, and attempted to discuss
+the “characters” with her husband and John Oakley. But the foreman was
+politely intolerant of cheap fiction, Gregory open in his disgust.
+He admitted unequivocally that he had made a mistake, but assuming
+that most men did, philosophically concluded to make the best of it;
+women, after all, played but a small part in a man’s life. He purposed,
+however, that she should improve her mind, and would have been glad
+to move to Butte for no other reason. He had had a sudden vision one
+night, when his own mind, wearied with study, drifted on the verge
+of sleep, of a lifetime on a lonely ranch with a woman whose brain
+deteriorated from year to year, her face faded and vacuous, save when
+animated with temper. If the De Smet Ranch proved to be mineralised,
+Oakley, his deliverer, would not be forgotten.
+He moved his head restlessly, his glance darting over as much of his
+fine estate as it could focus, wondering when it would give up its
+secrets, in other words, its gold. He had never doubted that it winked
+and gleamed, and waited for him below the baffling surfaces of his
+land. Not for millions down would he have sold his ranch, renounced the
+personal fulfilment of that old passionate romance.
+Gregory Compton was a dreamer, not in the drifting and aimless
+fashion of the visionary, but as all men born with creative powers,
+practical or artistic, must be. Indeed, it is doubtful if the artistic
+brain--save possibly where the abnormal tracts are musical in the
+highest sense--ever need, much less develop, that leaping vision, that
+power of visualising abstract ideas, of the men whose gifts for bold
+and original enterprise enable them to drive the elusive wealth of the
+world first into a corner, then into their own pockets.
+When one contemplates the small army of men of great wealth in the
+world today, and, just behind, that auxiliary regiment endowed with the
+talent, the imagination, and the grim assurance necessary to magnetise
+the circulating riches of our planet; contemptuous of those hostile
+millions, whose brains so often are of unleavened dough, always devoid
+of talent, envious, hating, but sustained by the conceit which nature
+stores in the largest of her reservoirs to pour into the vacancies of
+the minds of men; seldom hopeless, fooling themselves with dreams of
+a day when mere brute numbers shall prevail, and (human nature having
+been revolutionised by a miracle) all men shall be equal and content to
+remain equal;--when one stands off and contemplates these two camps,
+the numerically weak composed of the forces of mind, the other of the
+unelectrified yet formidable millions, it is impossible to deny not
+only the high courage and supernormal gifts of the little army of
+pirates, but that, barring the rapidly decreasing numbers of explorers
+in the waste places of the earth, in them alone is the last stronghold
+of the old adventurous spirit that has given the world its romance.
+The discontented, the inefficient, the moderately successful, the
+failures, see only remorseless greed in the great money makers. Their
+temper is too personal to permit them to recognise that here are the
+legitimate inheritors of the dashing heroes they enjoy in history,
+the bold and ruthless egos that throughout the ages have transformed
+savagery into civilisation, torpor into progress, in their pursuit
+of gold. That these “doing” buccaneers of our time are the current
+heroes of the masses, envious or generous in tribute, the most welcome
+“copy” of the daily or monthly press, is proof enough that the spirit
+of adventure still flourishes in the universal heart, seldom as modern
+conditions permit its expansion. For aught we know it may be this
+old spirit of adventure that inspires the midnight burglar and the
+gentlemen of the road, not merely the desire for “easy money.” But
+these are the flotsam. The boldest imaginations and the most romantic
+hearts are sequestered in the American “big business” men of today.
+Gregory Compton had grown to maturity in the most romantic subdivision
+of the United States since California retired to the position of a
+classic. Montana, her long winter surface a reflection of the beautiful
+dead face of the moon, bore within her arid body illimitable treasure,
+yielding it from time to time to the more ardent and adventurous of her
+lovers. Gold and silver, iron, copper, lead, tungsten, precious and
+semi-precious stones--she might have been some vast heathen idol buried
+aeons ago when Babylon was but a thought in the Creator’s brain, and
+the minor gods travelled the heaving spaces to immure their treasure,
+stolen from rival stars.
+Gregory had always individualised as well as idealised his state,
+finding more companionship in her cold mysteries than in the unfruitful
+minds of his little world. His youthful dreams, when sawing wood or
+riding after cattle, had been alternately of desperate encounters with
+Indians and of descending abruptly into vast and glittering corridors.
+The creek on the ranch had given up small quantities of placer gold,
+enough to encourage “Old Compton,” least imaginative of men, to use his
+pick up the side of the gulch, and even to sink a shaft or two. But he
+had wasted his money, and he had little faith in the mineral value of
+the De Smet Ranch or in his own luck. He was a thrifty, pessimistic,
+hard-working, down-east Presbyterian, whose faith in predestination had
+killed such roots of belief in luck as he may have inherited with other
+attributes of man. He sternly discouraged his son’s hopes, which the
+silent intense boy expressed one day in a sudden mood of fervour and
+desire for sympathy, bidding him hang on to the live stock, which were
+a certain sure source of income, and go out and feed hogs when he felt
+onsettled like.
+He died when Gregory was in the midst of his Junior year in the School
+of Mines, and the eager student was obliged to renounce his hope of a
+congenial career, for the present, and assume control of the ranch.
+It was heavily mortgaged; his father’s foreman, who had worked on the
+ranch since he was a lad, had taken advantage of the old man’s failing
+mind to raise the money, as well as to obtain his signature to the sale
+of more than half the cattle. He had disappeared with the concrete
+result a few days before Mr. Compton’s death.
+It was in no serene spirit that Gregory entered upon the struggle
+for survival at the age of twenty-one. Bitterly resenting his abrupt
+divorce from the School of Mines, which he knew to be the gateway to
+his future, and his faith in mankind dislocated by the cruel defection
+of one whom he had liked and trusted from childhood, he seethed under
+his stolid exterior while working for sixteen hours a day to rid the
+ranch of its encumbrance and replace the precious cattle. But as
+the greater part of this time was spent out of doors he outgrew the
+delicacy of his youth and earlier manhood, and, with red blood and
+bounding pulses, his bitterness left him.
+He began to visit Butte whenever he could spare a few days from the
+ranch, to “look up” as his one chum, Mark Blake, expressed it; so
+that by the time he married he knew the life of a Western mining
+town--an education in itself--almost as well as he knew the white and
+silent spaces of Montana. With the passing of brooding and revolt his
+old dreams revived, and he spent, until he married, many long days
+prospecting. He had found nothing until a few weeks ago, early in
+October, and then the discovery, such as it was, had been accidental.
+There had been a terrific wind storm, beginning shortly after sundown,
+reaching at midnight a velocity of seventy-two miles an hour, and
+lasting until morning; it had been impossible to sleep or to go out of
+doors and see to the well-being of the cattle.
+The wind was not the Chinook, although it came out of the west, for
+it was bitterly cold. Two of the house windows facing the storm were
+blown in and the roof of a recent addition went off. As such storms are
+uncommon in Montana, even Gregory was uneasy, fearing the house might
+go, although it had been his father’s boast that not even an earthquake
+could uproot it. After daybreak the steady fury of the storm ceased.
+There was much damage done to the outbuildings, but, leaving Oakley to
+superintend repairs, Gregory mounted his horse and rode over the ranch
+to examine the fences and brush sheds. The former were intact, and the
+cattle were huddled in their shelters, which were built against the
+side of a steep hill. A few, no doubt, had drifted before the storm,
+but would return in the course of the day. Here and there a pine tree
+had been blown over, but the winter wheat and alfalfa were too young to
+be injured.
+He rode towards the hill where the wind had done its most conspicuous
+damage. It was a long steep hill of granite near the base and grey
+limestone above topped with red shales, and stood near the northeast
+corner of the ranch. Its rigid sides had been relieved by a small grove
+of pines; but although in spring it was gay with anemones and primrose
+moss, and green until late in July, there was nothing on its ugly
+flanks at this time of the year but sunburnt grass.
+The old pines had clung tenaciously to the inhospitable soil for
+centuries, but some time during the night, still clutching a mass of
+earth and rock in their great roots, they had gone down before the
+storm.
+Gregory felt a pang of distress; in his boyhood that grove of pines
+had been his retreat; there he had dreamed his dreams, visualised the
+ascending metals, forced upward from the earth’s magma by one of those
+old titanic convulsions that make a joke of the modern earthquake, to
+find a refuge in the long fissures of the cooler crust, or in the great
+shattered zones. He knew something of geology and chemistry when he was
+twelve, and he “saw” the great primary deposits change their character
+as they were forced closer to the surface, acted upon by the acids of
+air and water in the oxide zone.
+There he had lived down his disappointments, taken his dumb trouble
+when his mother died; and he had found his way blindly to the dark
+little grove after his father’s funeral and he had learned the wrong
+that had been done him.
+He had not gone there since. He had been busy always, and lost the
+habit. But now he remembered, and with some wonder, for it was the one
+ugly spot on the ranch, save in its brief springtime, that once it had
+drawn his feet like a magnet. Hardly conscious of the act, he rode to
+the foot of the hill, dismounted and climbed towards the grove which
+had stood about fifty feet from the crest.
+The ruin was complete. The grove, which once may have witnessed ancient
+rites, was lying with its points in the brown grass. Its gaunt roots,
+packed close with red earth and pieces of rock, seemed to strain upward
+in agonised protest. Men deserted on the battlefield at night look
+hardly more stricken than a tree just fallen.
+As Gregory approached his old friends his eyes grew narrower and
+narrower; his mind concentrated to a point as sharp and penetrating
+as a needle. If the storm, now fitful, had suddenly returned to its
+highest velocity he would not have known it. He walked rapidly behind
+the vanquished roots and picked out several bits of rock that were
+embedded in the earth. Then he knelt down and examined other pieces
+of rock in the excavation where the trees had stood. Some were of a
+brownish-yellow colour, others a shaded green of rich and mellow tints.
+There was no doubt whatever that they were float.
+He sat down suddenly and leaned against the roots of the trees. Had
+he found his “mine”? Float indicates an ore body somewhere, and as
+these particles had been prevented from escaping by the roots of trees
+incalculably old, it was reasonable to assume that the ores were
+beneath his feet.
+His brain resumed its normal processes, and he deliberately gave his
+imagination the liberty of its youth. The copper did not interest him,
+but he stared at the piece of quartz in his hand as if it had been
+a seer’s crystal. He saw great chambers of quartz flecked with free
+gold, connected by pipes or shoots equally rich. Once he frowned, the
+ruthlessly practical side of his intelligence reminding him that his
+labours and hopes might be rewarded by a shallow pocket. But he brushed
+the wagging finger aside. He could have sworn that he felt the pull of
+the metals within the hill.
+He was tired and hungry, but his immediate impulse, as soon as he had
+concluded that he had dreamed long enough, was to go for his tools and
+run a cut. He sprang to his feet; but he had taken only a few steps
+when he turned and stared at the gashed earth, his head a little on
+one side in an attitude that always indicated he was thinking hard and
+with intense concentration. Then he set his lips grimly, walked down
+the steep hillside, mounted his horse, and rode home. In the course of
+the afternoon he returned to the hill, picked all the pieces of float
+from the soil between the tree-roots, and buried them, stamping down
+the earth. A few days later there was a light fall of snow. He returned
+once more to the hill, this time with two of his labourers, who cut up
+the trees and hauled them away. For the present his possible treasure
+vault was restored to the seclusion of its centuries.
+He had made up his mind that the ores should stay where they were
+until he had finished his education in the School of Mines. He had
+planned to finish that course, and what he planned he was in the habit
+of executing. This was not the time for dreams, nor for prospecting,
+but to learn all that the School could teach him. Then, if there
+were valuable ore bodies in his hill he could be his own manager and
+engineer. He knew that he had something like genius for geology, also
+that many veins were lost through an imperfect knowledge (or sense)
+of that science in mining engineers; on the other hand, that the
+prospector, in spite of his much vaunted sixth sense, often failed,
+where the hidden ores were concerned, through lack of scientific
+training. He determined to train his own faculties as far as possible
+before beginning development work on his hill. Let the prospector’s
+fever get possession of him now and that would be the end of study. The
+hill would keep. It was his. The ranch was patented.
+When he had finished the interment of the float he had taken a small
+notebook from his pocket and inscribed a date: June the third, eighteen
+months later. Not until that date would he even ride past his hill.
+Born with a strong will and a character endowed with force,
+determination and a grimly passive endurance, it was his pleasure to
+test and develop both. The process was satisfactory to himself but
+sometimes trying to his friends.
+Until this morning he had not permitted his mind to revert to the
+subject. But although the hill--Limestone Hill it was called in the
+commonplace nomenclature of the country--was far away and out of the
+range of his vision, he could conjure it up in its minutest external
+detail, and he permitted himself this luxury for a few moments after
+his wife had left him to a welcome solitude. On this hill were centred
+all his silent hopes.
+If he had been greedy for riches alone he would have promoted a company
+at once, if a cut opened up a chamber that assayed well, and reaped the
+harvest with little or no trouble to himself. But nothing was farther
+from his mind. He wanted the supreme adventure. He wanted to find the
+ores with his own pick. After the adventure, then the practical use of
+wealth. There was much he could do for his state. He knew also that in
+one group of brain-cells, as yet unexplored, was the ambition to enter
+the lists of “doing” men, and pit his wits against the best of them.
+But he was young, he would have his adventure, live his dream first.
+Not yet, however.
+The swift passing of his marital illusions had convinced him that the
+real passion of his life was for Montana and the golden blood in her
+veins. Placer mining never had interested him. He wanted to find his
+treasure deep in the jealous earth. He assured himself as he stood
+there in the blue dawn that it was well to be rid of love so early in
+the game, free to devote himself, with no let from wandering mind and
+mere human pulses, to preparation for the greatest of all romances,
+the romance of mining. That he might ever crave the companionship of
+one woman was as remote from his mind as the possibility of failure.
+To learn all that man and experience could teach him of the science
+that has been so great a factor in the world’s progress; to magnetise
+a vast share of Earth’s riches, first for the hot work of the battle,
+then for the power it would give him; to conquer life; these were a
+few of the flitting dreams that possessed him as he watched the red
+flame lick the white crests of the mountains, and the blue clouds turn
+to crimson; his long sensitive lips folded closely, his narrow eyes
+penetrating the mists of the future, neither seeing nor considering
+its obstacles, its barriers, its disenchantments. Thrice happy are the
+dreamers of the world, when their imaginations are creative, not a mere
+maggot wandering through the brain hatching formless eggs of desire
+and discontent. They are the true inheritors of the centuries, whether
+they succeed or fail in the eyes of men; for they live in vivid silent
+intense drama as even they have no power to live and enjoy in mortal
+conditions.
+IV
+The Comptons were quickly settled in the little cottage in East Granite
+Street, for as Mrs. Hook’s furniture was solid Ida had not sold it.
+There was little to do, therefore, but repaper the walls, build a
+bathroom, furnish a dining-room, send the parlour furniture to the
+upholsterers--Ida had had enough of horsehair--and chattel the kitchen.
+Ida had several virtues in which she took a vocal pride, and not the
+least of these was housekeeping in all its variety. The luxurious
+side of her nature might revel in front parlours, trashy magazines,
+rocking-chairs and chewing-gum, but she never indulged in these orgies
+unless her house were in order. After her arrival in Butte it was quite
+a month before she gave a thought to leisure. They spent most of this
+time at a hotel, but Ida was out before the stores opened, and divided
+her day between the workmen at the cottage, the upholsterer, and the
+bargain counter. She was “on the job” every minute until the cottage
+was “on wheels.” Her taste was neither original nor artistic, but she
+had a rude sense of effect, and a passion for what she called colour
+schemes. She boasted to Gregory at night, when she had him at her mercy
+at the hotel dinner-table, that although everything had to be cheap
+except the kitchen furnishings, colours did not cost any more than
+black or drab. When the cottage was in order, and they moved in, he saw
+its transfigured interior for the first time. The bedroom was done in
+a pink that set his teeth on edge, and the little parlour was papered,
+upholstered, carpeted, cushioned in every known shade of red.
+“All you want is a chromo or two of Indian battlegrounds--just after,”
+he remarked.
+Ida interrupted tartly:
+“Well, I should think you’d be grateful for the contrast to them
+everlasting white or brown mountains. We don’t get away from them even
+in town, now the smoke’s gone.”
+“One would think Montana had no springtime.”
+“Precious little. That’s the reason I’ve got a green dining-room.”
+Gregory, who had suffered himself to be pushed into an arm-chair,
+looked at his wife speculatively, as she rocked herself luxuriously,
+her eyes dwelling fondly on the magenta paper, the crimson curtains,
+the turkey red and crushed strawberry cushions of the divan, the
+blood-red carpet with its still more sanguinary pattern. What
+blind struggle was going on in that uninstructed brain against the
+commonplace, what seed of originality, perhaps, striving to shoot forth
+a green tip from the hard crust of ignorance and conceit?
+He had made up his mind to suggest the tillage of that brain without
+delay, but, knowing her sensitive vanity, cast about for a tactful
+opening.
+“Do you really intend to do your own work?” he asked. “I am more than
+willing to pay for a servant.”
+“Not much. I’m goin’ to begin to save up for the future right now. I’ll
+put out the wash, but it’s a pity if a great husky girl like me can’t
+cook for two and keep this little shack clean. You ain’t never goin’ to
+be able to say I didn’t help you all I could.”
+Gregory glowed with gratitude as he looked at the beautiful face of has
+wife, flushed with the ardour of the true mate.
+“You are all right,” he murmured.
+“The less we spend the quicker we’ll get rich,” pursued Mrs. Compton.
+“I don’t mind this triflin’ work, but it would have made me sick to
+stay much longer on that ranch workin’ away my youth and looks and
+nothin’ to show for it. Now that you’ve really begun on somethin’
+high-toned and that’s bound to be a go, I just like the idea of havin’
+a hand in the job.”
+“Ah!-- Well-- If you have this faith in my power to make a fortune--if
+you are looking forward to being a rich man’s wife, to put it
+crudely--don’t you think you should begin to prepare yourself for the
+position----”
+“Now what are you drivin’ at?” She sprang to her feet. Her eyes blazed.
+Her hands went to her hips. “D’you mean to say I ain’t good enough?
+I suppose you’d be throwin’ me over for a grand dame when you get
+up in the world like some other millionaires we know of, let alone
+politicians what get to thinkin’ themselves statesmen, and whose
+worn-out old wives ain’t good enough for ’em. Well, take this from
+me and take it straight--I don’t propose to wear out, and I don’t
+propose----”
+“Sit down. I shall be a rich man long before you lose your beauty. Nor
+have I any social ambitions. The world of men is all that interests me.
+But with you it will be different----”
+“You may betcherlife it’ll be different--some! When I have a
+cream-coloured pressed brick house with white trimmings over there in
+Millionaire Gulch nobody’ll be too good for me.”
+“You shall live your life to suit yourself, in the biggest house in
+Butte, if that is what you want. But there is more in it than that.”
+“Clothes, of course. _Gowns!_ And jewels, and New York--Lord! wouldn’t
+I like to swell up and down Peacock Ally! And Southern California, and
+Europe, and givin’ balls, and bein’ a member of the Country Club.”
+“All that, as a matter of course! But you would not be content with the
+mere externals. Whether you know it or not, Ida, you are an ambitious
+woman.” This was a mere gambler’s throw on Gregory’s part. He knew
+nothing of her ambitions, and would have called them by another name if
+he had.
+“Not know it? Well, you may just betcherlife I know it!”
+“But hardly where ambition leads. No sooner would you be settled in a
+fine house, accustomed to your new toys, than you would want society.
+I don’t mean that you would have any difficulty gaining admittance to
+Butte society, for it is said that none in the world is more hospitable
+and less particular. But whether you make _friends_ of the best people
+here, much less become a leader, depends--well, upon several things----”
+“Fire away,” said Ida sulkily. “You must be considerable in earnest to
+talk a blue streak!”
+“Business may take me to New York from time to time, but my home shall
+remain here. I never intend to abandon my state and make a fool of
+myself on New York’s doorstep as so many Montanans have done. Nail
+up that fact and never forget it. Now, you would like to win an
+unassailable position in your community, would you not?”
+“Yep.”
+Gregory abandoned tact. “Then begin at once to prepare yourself. You
+must have a teacher and study--English, above all things.”
+“My Goo-r-rd!” She flushed almost purple. For the moment she hated him.
+“I’ve always suspicioned you thought I wasn’t good enough for you, with
+your graduatin’ from the High School almost while you was in short
+pants, and them two years and over at that high-brow School of Mines;
+and now you’re tellin’ me you’ll be ashamed of me the minute you’re on
+top!”
+Gregory made another attempt at diplomacy. What his wife achieved
+socially was a matter of profound indifference to him, but she must
+reform her speech if his home life was to be endurable.
+“I am forcing my imagination to keep pace with your future triumphs,”
+he said with the charming smile that disarmed even Ida when irate. “If
+you are going to be a prominent figure in society----”
+“My land, you oughter heard the grammar and slang of some of the newest
+West Siders when they were makin’ up their minds at Madame O’Reilley’s,
+or havin’ their measures took. They don’t frighten me one little bit.”
+“There is a point. To lead them you must be their superior--and the
+equal of those that have made the most of their advantages.”
+“That’s not such a bad idea.”
+“Think it over.” He rose, for he was tired of the conversation. “These
+western civilisations are said to be crude, but I fancy they are the
+world in little. Subtlety, a brain developed beyond the common, should
+go far----”
+“Greg, you are dead right!” She had suddenly remembered that she must
+play up to this man who held her ambitions in his hand, and she had the
+wit to acknowledge his prospicience, little as were the higher walks of
+learning to her taste. She sprang to her feet with a supple undulating
+movement and flung herself into his arms.
+“I’ll begin the minute you find me a teacher,” she exclaimed. Then she
+kissed him. “I’m goin’ to keep right along with you and make you proud
+of me,” she murmured. “I’m crazy about you and always will be. Swear
+right here you’ll never throw me over, or run round with a P’rox.”
+Gregory laughed, but held her off for a moment and stared into her
+eyes. After all, might not study and travel and experience give depth
+to those classic eyes which now seemed a mere joke of Nature? Was she
+merely the natural victim of her humble conditions? Her father had
+been a miner of a very superior sort, conservative and contemptuous of
+agitators, but a powerful voice in his union and respected alike by men
+and managers. Mrs. Hook had been a shrewd, hard-working, tight-fisted
+little woman from Concord, who had never owed a penny, nor turned out
+a careless piece of work. Both parents with education or better luck
+might have taken a high position in any western community. He knew also
+the preternatural quickness and adaptability of the American woman. But
+could a common mind achieve distinction?
+Ida, wondering “what the devil he was thinking about,” nestled closer
+and gave him a long kiss, her woman’s wisdom, properly attributed to
+the serpent, keeping her otherwise mute. Gregory snatched her suddenly
+to him and returned her kiss. The new hope revived a passion by no
+means dead for this beautiful young creature, and for the hour he was
+as happy as during his rosy honeymoon.
+V
+When the cottage was quite in order Mrs. Compton invited two of her old
+friends to lunch. As the School of Mines was at the opposite end of the
+city, Gregory took his midday meal with him.
+Miss Ruby Miller and her twin-sister Pearl were fine examples of the
+self-supporting young womanhood of the West. Neither had struggled
+in the extreme economic sense, although when launched they had
+taken a man’s chances and asked no quarter. Born in a small town in
+Illinois, their father, a provident grocer, had permitted each of his
+daughters to attend school until her fifteenth year, then sent her
+to Chicago to learn a trade. Ruby had studied the mysteries of the
+hair, complexion, and hands; Pearl the science that must supplement
+the knack for trimming hats. Both worked faithfully as apprentice and
+clerk, saving the greater part of their earnings: they purposed to
+set up for themselves in some town of the Northwest where money was
+easier, opportunities abundant and expertness rare. What they heard
+of Montana appealed to their enterprising minds, and, beginning with
+cautious modesty, some four years before Ida’s marriage, Ruby was now
+the leading hair-dresser and manicure of Butte, her pleasant address
+and natural diplomacy assisting her competent hands to monopolise the
+West Side custom; Pearl, although less candid and engaging, more frank
+in reminding her customers of their natural deficiencies, was equally
+capable; if not the leading milliner in that town of many milliners,
+where even the miners’ wives bought three hats a season, she was
+rapidly making a reputation among the feathered tribe. She now ranked
+as one of the most successful of the young business women in a region
+where success is ever the prize of the efficient. Both she and her
+sister were as little concerned for their future as the metal hill of
+Butte itself.
+“Well, what do you know about that?” they cried simultaneously, as Ida
+ushered them into the parlour. “Say, it’s grand!” continued Miss Ruby
+with fervour. “Downright artistic. Ide, you’re a wonder!”
+Miss Pearl, attuned to a subtler manipulation of colour, felt too happy
+in this intimate reunion and the prospect of “home-cooking,” to permit
+even her spirit to grin. “Me for red, kiddo,” she said. “It’s the
+colour a hard workin’ man or woman wants at the end of the day--warm,
+and comfortin’, and sensuous-like, and contrastin’ fine with dirty
+streets and them hills. Glory be, but this chair’s comfortable! I
+suppose it’s Greg’s.”
+“Of course. Luckily a woman don’t have the least trouble findin’ out a
+man’s weak points, and Greg has a few, thank the goodness godness. But
+come on to the dining-room. I’ve got fried chicken and creamed potatoes
+and raised biscuit.”
+The guests shrieked with an abandon that proclaimed them the helpless
+victims of the Butte restaurant or the kitchenette. The fried chicken
+in its rich gravy, and the other delicacies, including fruit salad,
+disappeared so rapidly that there was little chance for the play of
+intellect until the two girls fled laughing to the parlour.
+“It’s all very well for Pearl,” cried Miss Ruby, disposing her plump
+figure in Gregory’s arm-chair, and taking the pins from a mass of red
+hair that had brought her many a customer; “for she’s the kind that’ll
+never have to diet if she gets rich quick. I ought to be shassaying
+round with my hands on my hips right now, but I won’t.”
+Miss Pearl extended herself on the divan, and Ida rocked herself with a
+complacent smile. One of her vanities was slaked, and she experienced a
+sense of immense relief in the society of these two old friends of her
+own sort.
+“Say!” exclaimed Miss Miller, “if we was real swell, now, we’d be
+smokin’ cigarettes.”
+“What!” cried Ida, scandalised. “No lady’d do such a thing. Say, I
+forgot the gum.”
+She opened a drawer and flirted an oblong section of chewing-gum at
+each of her guests, voluptuously inserting a morsel in the back of her
+own mouth. “Where on earth have you seen ladies smokin’ cigarettes?”
+“You forget I’m in and out of some of our best families. In other words
+them that’s too swell--or too lazy--to come to me, has me up to them.
+And they’re just as nice--most of ’em--as they can be; no more airs
+than their men, and often ask me to stay to lunch. I ain’t mentionin’
+no names, as I was asked not to, for you know what an old-fashioned
+bunch there is in every Western town--well, they out with their gold
+tips after lunch, and maybe you think they don’t know how. I have my
+doubts as to their enjoyin’ it, for tobacco is nasty tastin’ stuff, and
+I notice they blow the smoke out quicker’n they take it in. No inhalin’
+for them. But they like _doin’_ it; that’s the point. And I guess they
+do it a lot at the Country Club and at some of the dinners where the
+Old Guard ain’t asked. They smoke, and think it’s vulgar to chew gum!
+We know it’s the other way round.”
+“Well, I guess!” exclaimed the young matron, who had listened to this
+chronicle of high life with her mouth open. “What their husbands
+thinkin’ about to permit such a thing! I can see Greg’s face if I lit
+up.”
+“Oh, their husbands don’t care,” said Pearl, the cynic. “Not in that
+bunch. They’re trained, and they don’t care, anyhow. Make the most of
+Greg now, kiddo. When he strikes it rich, he’ll be just like the rest
+of ’em, annexin’ right and left. Matter of principle.”
+“Principle nothing!” exclaimed Ruby, who, highly sophisticated as any
+young woman earning her living in a mining town must be, was always
+amiable in her cynicism. “It’s too much good food and champagne, to say
+nothin’ of cocktails and highballs and swell club life after the lean
+and hungry years. They’re just like kids turned loose in a candy store,
+helpin’ themselves right and left with both hands. Dear old boys,
+they’re so happy and so jolly you can’t help feelin’ real maternal over
+’em, and spoilin’ ’em some more. I often feel like it, even when they
+lay for me--they look so innocent and hungry-like; but others I could
+crack over the ear, and I don’t say I haven’t. Lord, how a girl alone
+does get to know men! I wouldn’t marry one of them if he’d give me the
+next level of the Anaconda mine. Me for the lonesome!”
+“Well, I’m glad I’m married,” said Ida complacently. “The kind of life
+I want you can only get through a husband. Greg’s goin’ to make money,
+all right.”
+“Greg won’t be as bad as some,” said the wise Miss Ruby. “He’s got big
+ideas, and as he don’t say much about ’em, he’s likely thinkin’ about
+nothin’ else. At least that’s the way I figure him out. The Lord knows
+I’ve seen enough of men. But you watch out just the same. Them long
+thin ones that looks like they was all brains and jaw is often the
+worst. They’ve got more nerves. The minute the grind lets up they begin
+to look out for an adventure, wonderin’ what’s round the next corner.
+Wives ain’t much at supplyin’ adventure----”
+“Well, let’s quit worryin’ about what ain’t happened,” said Miss Pearl
+abruptly. Men did not interest her. “Will he take you to any of the
+dances? That’s what I want to know. You’ve been put up and elected
+to our new and exclusive Club. No more Coliseum Saturday Nights for
+us--Race Track is a good name for it. We’ve taken a new little hall
+over Murphy’s store for Saturday nights till the Gardens open up, and
+we have real fun. No rowdyism. We leave that to the cut below. This
+Club is composed of real nice girls and young men of Butte who are
+workin’ hard at something high-toned and respectable, and frown hard on
+the fast lot.”
+“Sounds fine. Perhaps Greg’ll go, though he studies half the night. Do
+you meet at any other time? Is it one of them mind improvers, too?”
+“Nixie. We work all week and want fun when we get a few hours off. I
+improve my mind readin’ myself to sleep every night----”
+“What do you read?” interrupted Ida, eagerly.
+“Oh, the mags, of course, and a novel now and then. But you don’t need
+novels any more. The mags are wonders! They teach you all the life you
+don’t know--all the way from lords to burglars. Then there’s the movin’
+pictures. Lord, but we have advantages our poor mothers never dreamed
+of!”
+“Greg wants me to study with a teacher.” Ida frowned reminiscently and
+fatidically. “He seems to think I didn’t get nothin’ at school.”
+“Well, what do you know about that?” gasped Miss Miller. Pearl removed
+her gum with a dry laugh.
+“If a man insinuated I wasn’t good enough for him--” she began; Ruby,
+whose quick mind was weather-wise, interrupted her.
+“Greg’s right. He’s got education himself and’s proved he don’t mean
+to be a rancher all his life. What’s more, I’ve heard men say that
+Gregory Compton is bound one way or another to be one of the big men of
+Montana. He’s got the brains, he’s got the jaw, and he can outwork any
+miner that ever struck, and no bad habits. Ide, you go ahead and polish
+up.”
+“Why should I? I never could see that those bonanzerines were so much
+better’n us, barring clothes.”
+“You don’t know the best of ’em, Ide. Madame O’Reilley was too gaudy
+to catch any but the newest bunch. The old pioneer guard is fine,
+and their girls have been educated all over this country and the
+next. Lord! Look at Ora Blake! Where’d you beat her? In these new
+Western towns it’s generally the sudden rich that move to New York to
+die of lonesomeness, and nowhere to show their clothes but Peacock
+Alley in the Waldorf-Astoria. The _real_ people keep their homes
+here, if they are awful restless; and I guess the Society they make,
+with their imported gowns and all, ain’t so very different from top
+Society anywheres. Of course, human nature is human nature, and some
+of the younger married women are sporty and take too much when a
+bunch goes over to Boulder Springs for a lark, or get a crush on some
+other woman’s husband--for want mostly of something to do; but their
+grammar’s all right. I hope you’ll teach them a lesson when you’re on
+top, Ide. Good American morals for me, like good American stories.
+I always skip the Europe stories in the mags. Don’t seem modern and
+human, somehow, after Butte.”
+“Now I like Europe stories,” said Ida, “just because they are so
+different. The people in ’em ain’t walkin’ round over gold and copper
+when they’re dishwashin’ or makin’ love, but their mines have been
+turned centuries ago into castles and pictures and grand old parks.
+There’s a kind of halo----”
+“Halo nothin’!” exclaimed Miss Pearl, who was even more aggressively
+American than her sister. “It’s them ridiculous titles. And kings
+and queens and all that antique lot. I despise ’em, and I’m dead
+set against importin’ foreign notions into God’s own country. We’re
+dyed-in-the-wool Americans--out West here, anyhow--including every last
+one of them fools that’s buyin’ new notions with their new money. All
+their Paris clothes _and_ hats, _and_ smokin’ cigarettes, _and_ loose
+talk can’t make ’em anything else. Apin’ Europe and its antiquated
+morals makes me sick to my stomach. Cut it out, kid, before you go any
+further. Stand by your own country and it’ll stand by you.”
+“Well, I’ve got an answer to that. In the first place I’d like to
+know where you’ll find more girls on the loose than right here in
+Butte--and I don’t mean the sporting women, either. Why, I meet bunches
+of schoolgirls every day so painted up they look as if they was fixin’
+right now to be bad; and as for these Eastern workin’ girls who come
+out here after jobs, pretendin’ it’s less pressure and bigger pay
+they’re after, when it’s really to turn loose and give human nature
+a chance with free spenders--well, the way they hold down their jobs
+and racket about all night beats me. None of _them’s_ been to Europe,
+I notice, and I’d like to bet that the schoolgirls that don’t make
+monkeys of themselves is the daughters of them that has.”
+“Oh, the schoolgirls is just plain little fools and no doubt has their
+faces held under the spout for ’em when they get home. But as for the
+Eastern girls, you hit it when you said they come out here to give
+human nature a chance. Some girls is born bad, thousands and thousands
+of them; and reformers might just as well try to grow strawberries in a
+copper smelter as to make a girl run straight when she is lyin’ awake
+nights thinkin’ up new ways of bein’ crooked. But the rotten girls in
+this town are not the whole show. And lots of women that would never
+think of goin’ wrong--don’t naturally care for that sort of thing a
+bit--just get their minds so mixed up by too much sudden money, and
+liberty, and too much high livin’ and too much Europe and too much
+nothin’ to do, that they just don’t know where they’re at; and it isn’t
+long either before they get to thinkin’ they’re not the dead swell
+thing unless they do what the nobility of Europe seems to be doin’ all
+the time----”
+“Shucks!” interrupted Ruby, indignantly. “It’s just them stories in the
+shady mags, and the way our women talk for the sake of effect. There’s
+bad in America and good in poor old Europe. I’ll bet my new hat on
+it. Only, over there the good is out of sight under all that sportin’
+high life everybody seems to write about. Over here we’ve got a layer
+of good on top as thick as cream, and every kind of germ swimmin’
+round underneath. Lord knows there are plenty of just females in this
+town, of all towns, but the U. S. is all right because it has such
+high standards. All sorts of new-fangled notions come and go but them
+standards never budge. No other country has anything like ’em. Sooner
+or later we’ll catch up. I’m great on settin’ the right example and I’m
+dead set on uplift. That’s one reason we’re so strict about our Club
+membership. Not one of them girls can get in, no matter how good her
+job or how swell a dresser she is. And they feel it, too, you bet. The
+line’s drawn like a barbed-wire fence.”
+“I guess you’re dead right,” admitted Ida. “And my morals ain’t in any
+danger, believe me. I’ve got other fish to fry. I’ve had love’s young
+dream and got over it. I’m just about dead sick of that side of life.
+I’d cut it out and put it down to profit and loss, but you’ve got to
+manage men every way nature’s kindly provided, and that’s all there is
+to it.”
+“My land!” exclaimed Ruby. “If I felt that way about my husband I’d
+leave him too quick.”
+“Oh, no, you wouldn’t. You can make up your mind to any old thing.
+That’s life. And I guess life never holds out both hands full at once.
+Either, one’s got a knife in it or it’s out of sight altogether.”
+Ruby snorted with disgust. “Once more I vow I’ll marry none of them. Me
+for self-respect.”
+“Now as to Europe,” pursued Ida. “You’re just nothin’ till you’ve been,
+both as to what you get, and sayin’ you’ve been there----”
+“Ida,” said Ruby, shaking her wise red head, “don’t you go leaving your
+husband summers, like the rest. Men don’t get much chance to go to
+Europe. They prefer little old New York, anyhow--when they get on there
+alone. I wonder what ten thousand wives that go to Europe every summer
+think their husbands are doin’? I haven’t manicured men for nine years
+without knowin’ they need watchin’ every minute. Why, my lord! they’re
+so tickled to death when summer comes round they can hardly wait to
+kiss their wives good-bye and try to look lonesome on the platform.
+They’d like to be down and kick up their heels right there at the
+station. And I didn’t have to come to Butte to find that out.”
+“Greg’ll never run with that fast lot.”
+“No, but he might meet an affinity; and there’s one of _them_ lyin’ in
+wait for every man.”
+Ida’s brow darkened. “Well, just let her look out for herself, that’s
+all. I’ll hang on to Greg. But it ain’t time to worry yet. Let’s have a
+game of poker.”
+VI
+Gregory, through the offices of his friend, Mark Blake, found a
+teacher for Ida before the end of the week, Mr. William Cullen Whalen,
+Professor of English in the Butte High School.
+Mr. Whalen’s present status was what he was in the habit of designating
+as an ignominious anti-climax, considering his antecedents and
+attainments; but he always dismissed the subject with a vague,
+“Health--health--this altitude--this wonderful air--climate--not for me
+are the terrible extremes of our Atlantic seaboard. Here a man may be
+permitted to live, if not in the deeper sense--well, at least, there
+are always one’s thoughts--and books.”
+He was a delicate little man as a matter of fact, but had East winds
+and summer humidities been negligible he would have jumped at the
+position found for him by a college friend who had gone West and
+prospered in Montana. This friend’s letter had much to say about the
+dry tonic air of winter, the cool light air of summer, the many hours
+he would be able to pass in the open, thus deepening the colour of his
+corpuscles, at present a depressing shade of pink; but even more about
+a salary far in excess of anything lying round loose in the East. Mr.
+Whalen, who, since his graduation from the college in his native town,
+had knocked upon several historic portals of learning in vain, finding
+himself invariably outclassed, had shuddered, but accepted his fate by
+the outgoing mail. Of course he despised the West; and the mere thought
+of a mining camp like Butte, which was probably in a drunken uproar
+all the time, almost nauseated him. However, in such an outpost the
+graduate of an Eastern college who knew how to wear his clothes must
+rank high above his colleagues. It might be years before he could play
+a similar rôle at home. So he packed his wardrobe, which included spats
+and a silk hat, and went.
+Nature compensates even her comparative failures by endowing them with
+a deathless self-conceit. Whalen was a man of small abilities, itching
+ambition, all the education his brains could stand, and almost happy
+in being himself and a Whalen. It was true that Fortune had grafted
+him on a well-nigh sapless branch in a small provincial town, while
+the family trunk flourished, green, pruned, and portly, in Boston, but
+no such trifle could alter the fact that he was a Whalen, and destined
+by a discriminating heredity to add to the small but precious bulk of
+America’s literature. Although he found Butte a city of some sixty
+thousand inhabitants, and far better behaved than he had believed could
+be possible in a community employing some fifteen thousand miners, he
+was still able to reassure himself that she outraged every sensibility.
+He assured himself further that its lurid contrasts to the higher
+civilisation would play like a search-light upon the theme for a novel
+he long had had in mind: the subtle actions and reactions of the Boston
+temperament.
+But that was three years ago, and meanwhile several things had happened
+to him. He had ceased to wear his spats and silk hat in public after
+their first appearance on Broadway; the newsboys, who were on strike,
+had seen to that. He wrote his novel, and the _Atlantic Monthly_,
+honored by the first place on his list, declined to give space to his
+innocent plagiarisms of certain anæmic if literary authors now passing
+into history. An agent sent the manuscript the rounds without avail,
+but one of the younger editors had suggested that he try his hand at
+Montana. He was more shocked and mortified at this proposition than
+at the failure of his novel. Time, however, as well as the high cost
+of living in Butte, lent him a grudging philosophy, and he digested
+the advice. But his were not the eyes that see. The printed page was
+his world, his immediate environment but a caricature of the subtle
+realities. Nevertheless, he had what so often appears in the most
+unlikely brains, the story-telling kink. Given an incident he could
+work it up with an abundance of detail and “psychology,” easily
+blue-pencilled, and a certain illusion. Condescend to translate his
+present surroundings into the sacred realm of American fiction he would
+not, but he picked the brains of old-timers for thrilling incidents of
+the days when gold was found at the roots of grass, and the pioneers
+either were terrorized by the lawless element or executed upon it a
+summary and awful justice. Some of his tales were so blood-curdling,
+so steeped in gore and horror, that he felt almost alive when writing
+them. It was true that their market was the Sunday Supplement and the
+more sensational magazines, whose paper and type made his soul turn
+green; but the pay was excellent, and they had begun to attract some
+attention, owing to the contrast between the fierceness of theme and
+the neat precise English in which it was served. Butte valued him as a
+counter-irritant to Mary McLane, and he became a professional diner-out.
+“Do you think he’ll condescend to tutor?” Gregory had asked of Blake.
+Whalen was by no means unknown to him, but heretofore had been regarded
+as a mere worm.
+“Sure thing. Nobody keener on the dollar than Whalen. He’ll stick you,
+but he knows his business. He’s got all the words there are, puts ’em
+in the right place, and tones ’em up so you’d hardly know them.”
+VII
+Ida was out when her prospective tutor called, and she was deeply
+impressed by the card she found under the door: “Mr. William Cullen
+Whalen,” it was inscribed.
+It was the custom of the gentlemen of her acquaintance to express
+their sense of good fellowship even upon the formal pasteboard. “Mr.
+Matt Dance,” “Mr. Phil Mott,” “Mr. Bill Jarvis,” the legends read. Ida
+felt as if she were reciting a line from the Eastern creed as her lips
+formed again and again the suave and labial syllables on her visitor’s
+card. She promptly determined to order cards for her husband on the
+morrow--he was so remiss as to have none--and they should be engraved,
+in small Roman letters: “Mr. Gregory Verrooy Compton.”
+“And believe me,” she announced to her green dining-room, as she sat
+down before her husband’s desk, “that is some name.”
+Her note to Professor Whalen, asking him to call on the following
+afternoon at two o’clock, was commendably brief, so impatient was she
+to arrive at the signature, “Mrs. Gregory Verrooy Compton;” little
+conceiving the effect it would have upon Mr. Whalen’s fastidious spine.
+He called at the hour named, and Ida invited him into the dining-room.
+It was here that Gregory read far into the night, and she vaguely
+associated a large table with much erudition. Moreover, she prided
+herself upon her economy in fuel.
+Mr. Whalen sat in one of the hard, upright chairs, his stick across
+his knee, his gloves laid smartly in the rolling brim of his hat,
+studying this new specimen and wondering if she could be made to do him
+credit. He was surprised to find her so beautiful, and not unrefined in
+style--if only she possessed the acumen to keep her ripe mouth shut.
+In fact he found her quite the prettiest woman he had seen in Butte,
+famous for pretty women; and--and--he searched conscientiously for the
+right word, and blushed as he found it--the most seductive. Ida was
+vain of the fact that she wore no corset, and that not the least of her
+attractions was a waist as flexible as an acrobat’s. What flesh she had
+was very firm, her carriage was easy and graceful, the muscles of her
+back were strong, her lines long and flowing; she walked and moved at
+all times with an undulating movement usually associated with a warmer
+temperament. But nature often amuses herself bestowing the semblance
+and withholding the essence; Ida, calculating and contemptuous of the
+facile passions of men, amused herself with them, confident of her own
+immunity.
+It was now some time since she had enjoyed the admiration of any man
+but her husband, and his grew more and more sporadic, was long since
+dry of novelty. Like most Western husbands, he would not have permitted
+her to make a friend of any other man, nor even to receive the casual
+admirer when he was not at home. Ida was full of vanity, although she
+would have expressed her sudden determination to captivate “little
+Whalen” merely as a desire to keep her hand in. He was the only man
+upon whom she was likely to practise at present (for Gregory would have
+none of the Club dances), and vanity can thirst like a galled palate.
+She had “sized him up” as a “squirt” (poor Ida! little she recked how
+soon she was to be stripped of her picturesque vocabulary), but he was
+“a long sight better than nothing.”
+After they had exhausted the nipping weather, and the possibility of a
+Chinook arriving before night--there was a humming roar high overheard
+at the moment--she lowered her black eyelashes, lifted herself against
+the stiff back of her chair with the motion of a snake uncoiling,
+raised her thick white lids suddenly, and murmured:
+“Well, so you’re goin’ to polish me off? Tell me all my faults! Fire
+away. I know you’ll make a grand success of it. Lord knows (her voice
+became as sweet as honey), you’re different enough from the other men
+in this jay town.”
+Mr. Whalen felt as if he were being drenched with honey dew, for he
+was the type of man whom women take no trouble to educate. But as that
+sweet unmodulated voice stole about his ear porches he drew himself up
+stiffly, conscious of a thrill of fear. To become enamoured of the
+wife of one of these forthright Westerners, who took the law into
+their own hands, was no part of his gentle programme; but he stared
+at her fascinated, never having felt anything resembling a thrill
+before. Moreover, like all people of weak passions, more particularly
+that type of American that hasn’t any, he took pride in his powers
+of self-control. In a moment he threw off the baleful influence and
+replied drily.
+“I think the lessons would better be oral for a time. Do--do I
+understand that I am to correct your individual method of expression?”
+“That’s it, I guess.”
+“And you won’t be offended?” Mr. Whalen’s upper teeth were hemispheric,
+but he had cultivated a paternal and not unpleasing smile. Even the
+pale blue orbs, fixed defiantly upon the siren, warmed a trifle.
+“Well. I don’t s’pose I’ll like bein’ corrected better’n the next,
+but that’s what I’m payin’ for. Now that my husband’s studyin’ for a
+profession, I guess I’ll be in the top set before so very long. There’s
+Mrs. Blake, for instance--her husband told Mr. Compton she’d call this
+week. Is she all that she’s cracked up to be?”
+“Mrs. Blake has had great advantages. She might almost be one of
+our own products, were it not for the fact that she--well--seems
+deliberately to wish to be Western.” He found himself growing more and
+more confused under the steady regard of those limpid shadowy eyes--set
+like the eyes of a goddess in marble, and so disconcertingly shallow.
+He pulled himself up sharply. “Now, if I may begin--you must not sign
+your notes, ‘Mrs. Gregory Verrooy Compton’----”
+Ida’s eyes flashed wide open. “Why not, I’d like to know? Isn’t it as
+good a name as yours?”
+“What has that to do with it? Ah--yes--you don’t quite understand. It
+is not the custom--in what we call society--to sign in that manner--it
+is a regrettable American provincialism. If you really wish to
+learn----”
+“Fire away,” said Ida sullenly.
+“Sign your own name--may I ask what it is?”
+“My name was Ida Maria Hook before I married.”
+“Ida is a beautiful and classic name. We will eliminate the rest. Sign
+yourself Ida Compton--or if you wish to be more swagger, Ida Verrooy
+Compton----”
+“Land’s sake! We’d be laughed clean out of Montana.”
+“Yes, there is a fine primitive simplicity about many things in this
+region,” replied Mr. Whalen, thinking of his spats and silk hat. “But
+you get my point?”
+“I get you.”
+“Oh!--We’ll have a little talk later about slang. And you mustn’t begin
+your letters, particularly to an acquaintance, ‘Dear friend.’ This is
+an idealistic and--ah--bucolic custom, but hardly good form.”
+He was deeply annoyed at his lack of fluency, but Ida once more was
+deliberately “upsetting” him. She smiled indulgently.
+“I guess I like your new-fangled notions. I’ll write all that down
+while you’re thinkin’ up what to say next.”
+She leaned over the table and wrote slowly that he might have leisure
+to admire her figure in profile. But he gazed sternly out of the window
+until she swayed back to the perpendicular and demanded,
+“What next? Do you want me to say băth and căn’t?”
+“Oh, no, I really shouldn’t advise it, not in Butte. I don’t wish to
+teach you anything that will add to the discomforts of life--so long as
+your lines are cast here. Just modify the lamentably short American _a_
+a bit.” And he rehearsed her for a few moments.
+“Fine. I’ll try it on Greg--Mr. Compton. If he laughs I’ll know I’m too
+good, but if he only puckers his eyebrows and looks as if somethin’
+queer was floatin’ round just out of sight, then I’ll know I’ve struck
+the happy medium. I’ll be a real high-brow in less than no time.”
+“You certainly are surprisingly quick,” said Professor Whalen
+handsomely. “In a year I could equip you for our centres of culture,
+but as I remarked just now it would not be kind to transform you into
+an exotic. Now, suppose we read a few pages of this grammar----”
+“I studied grammar at school,” interrupted Ida haughtily. “What do
+you take Butte for, anyhow. It may be a mining camp, and jay enough
+compared with your old Boston, but I guess we learn something mor’n the
+alphabet at all these big red brick schoolhouses we’ve got--Montana’s
+famous for its grand schoolhouses----”
+“Yes, yes, my dear Mrs. Compton. But, you know, one forgets so quickly.
+And then so many of you don’t stay in school long enough. How old were
+you when you left?”
+“Fifteen. Ma wouldn’t let me go to the High.”
+“Precisely. Well, I will adhere to my original purpose, and defer
+books until our next lesson. Perhaps you would like me to tell you
+something more of our Eastern methods of speech--not only words,
+but--er--syntax----”
+“Oh, hang your old East! You make me feel downright patriotic.”
+Professor Whalen was conscious that it was a distinct pleasure to make
+those fine eyes flash. “One would think we were not all Americans,” he
+said with a smile.
+“Well, I guess you look upon America as East and West too. Loads of
+young surveyors and mining men come out here to make their pile, and at
+first Montana ain’t good enough to black their boots, but it soon takes
+the starch out of ’em. No use puttin’ on dog here. It don’t work.”
+“Oh, I assure you it’s merely a difference of manner--of--er tradition.
+We--and I in particular--find your West most interesting--and
+significant. I--ah--regard it as the great furnace under our
+civilization.”
+“And we are the stokers! I like your impudence!”
+He had no desire to lose this remunerative pupil, whose crude mind
+worked more quickly than his own. She was now really angry and he made
+a mild dive in search of his admitted tact.
+“My dear lady, you put words into my mouth that emanate from your own
+clever brain, not from my merely pedantic one. Not only have I the
+highest respect for the West, and for Montana in particular, but please
+remember that the contempt of the East for the West is merely passive,
+negative, when compared with the lurid scorn of the West for the East.
+‘Effete’ is its mildest term of opprobrium. I doubt if your ‘virile’
+Westerner believes us to be really alive, in a condition to inhabit
+aught but a museum. Your men when they ‘make their pile’, or take a
+vacation, never dream of going to Boston, seldom, indeed, to Europe.
+They take the fastest train for New York--and by no means with a view
+to exploring that wilderness for its oases of culture----”
+“Well, I guess not!” cried Ida, her easy good nature restored.
+“All-night restaurants, something new in the way of girls--‘chickens’
+and ‘squabs’--musical shows, watchin’ the sun rise--that’s their
+little old New York. They always come home shakin’ themselves like a
+Newfoundland puppy, or purrin’ like a cat full of cream, but talkin’
+about the Great Free West, God’s Own Country, and the Big Western
+Heart. I’ve a friend who does manicurin’, and she knows ’em like old
+shoes.”
+Whalen, who had a slight cultivated sense of humor, laughed. “You are
+indeed most apt and picturesque, dear Mrs. Compton. But--while I think
+of it--you mustn’t drop your final _gs_. That, I am told, is one of the
+fashionable divagations of the British aristocracy. But with us it is
+the hallmark of the uneducated. Now, I really have told you all you can
+remember for one day, and will take my leave. It is to be every other
+day, I understand. On Wednesday, then, at two?”
+VIII
+Ida walked to the gate with him. She was quite a head taller than he,
+but subtly made him feel that the advantage was his, as it enabled
+her to pour the light of her eyes downward. He picked his way up the
+uneven surface of East Granite Street, slippery with a recent fall of
+snow, not only disturbed, but filled with a new conceit; in other words
+thrilling with his first full sense of manhood.
+Ida looked after him, smiling broadly. But the smile fled abruptly,
+her lips trembled, then contracted. Advancing down the street was
+Mrs. Mark Blake. Ida had known her enterprising young husband before
+he changed his name from Mike to Mark, but she knew his lady wife by
+sight only; Mrs. Blake had not patronized Madame O’Reilley. Ruby and
+Pearl pronounced her “all right”, although a trifle “proud to look
+at.” Ida assumed that she was to receive the promised call, and wished
+she could “get out of it.” Not only did she long for her rocker, gum
+and magazine, after the intellectual strain of the past hour, but she
+had no desire to meet Mrs. Blake or any of “that crowd” until she
+could take her place as their equal. She had her full share of what is
+known as class-consciousness, and its peculiar form of snobbery. To be
+patronized by “swells”, even to be asked to their parties, would give
+her none of that subtle joy peculiar to the climbing snob. When the
+inevitable moment came she would burst upon them, dazzle them, bulldoze
+and lead them, but she wanted none of their crumbs.
+But she was “in for it.” She hastily felt the back of her shirtwaist
+to ascertain if it still were properly adjusted, and sauntered towards
+the cottage humming a tune, pretending not to have seen the lady who
+stopped to have a word with Professor Whalen. “Anyhow, she’s not a
+bonanzerine,” thought Ida. “I guess she did considerable scrapin’ at
+one time; and Mark, for all he could make shoe-blackin’ look like
+molasses, ain’t a millionaire yet.”
+She might indeed, further reflected Ida, watching the smartly tailored
+figure out of the corner of her eye, be pitied, for she had been
+“brought up rich, expecting to marry a duke, and then come down kaplunk
+before she’d much more’n a chance to grow up.” Her father, Judge
+Stratton, a graduate of Columbia University, had been one of the most
+brilliant and unscrupulous lawyers of the Northwest. He had drawn
+enormous fees from railroads and corporations, and in the historic
+Clark-Daly duels for supremacy in the State of Montana, and in the
+more picturesque battle between F. Augustus Heinze and “Amalgamated”
+(that lusty offspring of the great Standard Oil Trust), when the number
+of estimable citizens bought and sold demonstrated the faint impress
+of time on original sin, his legal acumen and persuasive tongue, his
+vitriolic pen, ever had been at the disposal of the highest bidder.
+He had been a distinguished resident of Butte but a few years when he
+built himself a spacious if hideous residence on the West Side. But
+this must have been out of pure loyalty to his adopted state, for it
+was seldom occupied, although furnished in the worst style of the late
+seventies and early eighties. Mrs. Stratton and her daughter spent
+the greater part of their time in Europe. As Judge Stratton disliked
+his wife, was intensely ambitious for his only child, and preferred
+the comforts of his smaller home on The Flat, he rarely recalled his
+legitimate family, and made them a lavish allowance. He died abruptly
+of apoplexy, and left nothing but a life insurance of five thousand
+dollars; he had neglected to take out any until his blood vessels were
+too brittle for a higher risk.
+Mrs. Stratton promptly became an invalid, and Ora brought her home to
+Butte, hoping to save something from the wreck. There was nothing to
+save. As she had not known of the life insurance when they received the
+curt cablegram in Paris, she had sold all of her mother’s jewels save a
+string of pearls, and, when what was left of this irrelative sum after
+the luxurious journey over sea and land, was added to the policy, the
+capital of these two still bewildered women represented little more
+than they had been accustomed to spend in six months. When Mark Blake,
+who had studied law in Judge Stratton’s office after graduating from
+the High School, and now seemed to be in a fair way to inherit the
+business, besides being County Attorney at the moment, implored Ora
+to marry him, and manifested an almost equal devotion to her mother,
+whom he had ranked with the queens of history books since boyhood, she
+accepted him as the obvious solution of her problem.
+She was lonely, disappointed, mortified, a bit frightened. She
+had lived the life of the average American princess, and although
+accomplished had specialised in nothing; nor given a thought to the
+future. As she had cared little for the society for which her mother
+lived, and much for books, music, and other arts, and had talked
+eagerly with the few highly specialised men she was fortunate enough
+to meet, she had assumed that she was clever. She also believed that
+when she had assuaged somewhat her appetite for the intellectual and
+artistic banquet the gifted of the ages had provided, she might develop
+a character and personality, possibly a gift of her own. But she was
+only twenty when her indulgent father died, and, still gorging herself,
+was barely interested in her capacities other than receptive, less
+still in the young men that sought her, unterrified by her reputation
+for brains. She fancied that she should marry when she was about
+twenty-eight, and have a salon somewhere; and the fact that love had
+played so little a part in her dreams made it easier to contemplate
+marriage with this old friend of her childhood. His mother had been
+Mrs. Stratton’s seamstress, to be sure, but as he was a good boy,--he
+called for the frail little woman every evening to protect her from
+roughs on her long walk east to the cottage her husband had built
+shortly before he was blown to pieces somewhere inside of Butte--he
+had been permitted to hold the dainty Ora on his knee, or toss her,
+gurgling with delight, into the air until he puffed.
+Mark had been a fat boy, and was now a fat young man with a round
+rosy face and a rolling lazy gait. He possessed an eye of remarkable
+shrewdness, however, was making money rapidly, never lost sight of
+the main chance, and was not in the least surprised when his marriage
+lifted him to the pinnacle of Butte society. In spite of his amiable
+weaknesses, he was honest if sharp, an inalienable friend, and he
+made a good husband according to his lights. Being a man’s man, and
+naturally elated at his election to the exclusive Silver Bow Club soon
+after his marriage to the snow maiden of his youthful dreams, he
+formed the habit of dropping in for a game of billiards every afternoon
+on his way home, and returning for another after dinner. But within
+three years he was able to present the wife of whom he was inordinately
+proud with a comfortable home on the West Side, and he made her an
+allowance of ever increasing proportions.
+Ora, who had her own idea of a bargain, had never complained of
+neglect nor intimated that she found anything in him that savoured of
+imperfection. She had accepted him as a provider, and as he filled this
+part of the contract brilliantly, she felt that to treat him to scenes
+whose only excuse was outraged love or jealousy, would be both unjust
+and absurd. Moreover, his growing passion for his club was an immense
+relief after his somewhat prolonged term of marital uxoriousness, and
+as her mother died almost coincidentally with the abridgment of Mr.
+Blake’s home life, Ora returned to her studies, rode or walked for
+hours, and, after her double period of mourning was over, danced two or
+three times a week in the season, or sat out dances when she met a man
+that had cultivated his intellect. For women she cared little.
+It never occurred to Mark to be jealous of his passionless wife,
+although he would have asserted his authority if she had received men
+alone in the afternoon. But Ora paid a scrupulous deference to his
+wishes in all respects. She even taught herself to keep house, and
+her servants manners as well as the elements of edible cooking. This
+she regarded as her proudest feat, for she frankly hated the domestic
+details of life; although after three years in a “Block”,--a sublimated
+lodging house, peculiar to the Northwest--she enjoyed the space and
+privacy of her home. Mark told his friends that his wife was the most
+remarkable woman in Montana, rarely found fault, save in the purely
+mechanical fashion of the married male, and paid the bills without a
+murmur. Altogether it was a reasonably happy marriage.
+Ora Blake’s attitude to life at this time was expressed in the buoyancy
+of her step, the haughty carriage of her head, the cool bright
+casual glance she bestowed upon the world in general. Her code of
+morals, ethics, manners, as well as her acceptance of the last set of
+conditions she would have picked from the hands of Fate, was summed up
+in two words: _noblesse oblige_. Of her depths she knew as little as
+Gregory Compton of his.
+“This is Mrs. Compton, I am sure,” she said in her cool even voice, as
+she came up behind the elaborately unconscious and humming Ida. “I am
+Mrs. Blake.”
+“Pleased to meet you,” said Ida formally, extending a limp hand. “Come
+on inside.”
+Mrs. Blake closed her eyes as she entered the parlour, but opened them
+before Ida had adjusted the blower to the grate, and exclaimed brightly:
+“How clever of you to settle so quickly. I shouldn’t have dared to call
+for another fortnight, but Mr. Compton told my husband yesterday that
+you were quite in order. It was three months before I dared open my
+doors.”
+“Well,” drawled Ida, rocking herself, “I guess your friends are more
+critical than mine. And I guess you didn’t rely wholly on Butte for
+your furniture. I had Ma’s old junk, and the rest cost me just two
+hundred dollars.”
+“How very clever of you!” But although Mrs. Blake was doing her best to
+be spontaneous and impressed, Ida knew instantly that she had committed
+a solecism, and felt both angry and apprehensive. She was more afraid
+of this young woman than of her professor. Once more she wished that
+Mrs. Blake and the whole caboodle would leave her alone till she was
+good and ready.
+Ora hastened on to a safer topic, local politics. Butte, tired of
+grafting politicians, was considering the experiment of permitting a
+Socialist of good standing to be elected mayor. Ida, like all women of
+the smaller Western towns, was interested in local politics, and, glad
+of the impersonal topic, gave her visitor intelligent encouragement,
+the while she examined her critically. She finally summed her up in
+the word “pasty”, and at that stage of Ora Blake’s development the
+description was not inapt. She took little or no interest in her looks,
+although she dressed well by instinct; and nature, supplemented by
+her mother, had given her style. But her hair was almost colourless
+and worn in a tight knot just above her neck, her complexion was
+weather-beaten, her lips rather pale, and her body very thin. But when
+men whose first glance had been casual turned suddenly, wondering
+at themselves, to examine that face so lacking in the potencies of
+colouring, they discovered that the eyes, deeply set and far apart,
+were of a deep dark blazing grey, that the nose was straight and fine,
+the ears small, the mouth mobile, with a slight downward droop at the
+corners; also that her hands and feet were very slender, with delicate
+wrists and ankles. Ida, too, noted these points, but wondered where her
+“charm” came from. She knew that Mrs. Blake possessed this vague but
+desirable quality, in spite of her dread reputation as a “high-brow”,
+and her impersonal attitude toward men.
+Ruby had informed her that the men agreed she had charm if she would
+only condescend to exert it. “And I can feel it too,” she had added,
+“every time I do her nails--she never lets anyone do that hair of hers
+or give her a massage, which she needs, the Lord knows. But she’s got
+fascination, magnetism, whatever you like to call it, for all she’s so
+washed-out. Somehow, I always feel that if she’d wake up, get on to
+herself, she’d play the devil with men, maybe with herself.”
+Ida recalled the comments of the wise Miss Miller and frowned. This
+important feminine equipment she knew to be her very own, and although
+she would have been proud to admit the rivalry of a beautiful woman,
+she felt a sense of mortification in sharing that most subtle and
+fateful of all gifts, sex-magnetism, with one so colourless and
+plain. That the gifts possessed by this woman talking with such
+well-bred indifference of local affairs must be far more subtle than
+her own irritated her still more. It also filled her with a vague
+sense of menace, almost of helplessness. Later, when her brain was
+more accustomed to analysis, she knew that she had divined--her
+consciousness at that time too thick to formulate the promptings of
+instinct--that when man is taken unawares he is held more firmly
+captive.
+Ida, staring into those brilliant powerful eyes, felt a sudden
+desperate need to dive through their depths into this woman’s secret
+mind, to know her better at once, get rid of the sense of mystery that
+baffled and oppressed her. In short she must know where she was at
+and know it quick. It did not strike her until afterward as odd that
+she should have felt so intensely personal in regard to a woman whose
+sphere was not hers and whose orbit had but just crossed her own.
+For a time she floundered, but feminine instinct prompted the intimate
+note.
+“I saw you talkin’--talking to the professor,” she said casually. “I
+suppose you know your husband got him for me.”
+“I arranged it myself--” began Mrs. Blake, smiling, but Ida interrupted
+her sharply:
+“Greg--Mr. Compton didn’t tell me he had talked to you about it.”
+“Nor did he. I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Compton but
+once--the day I married; he was my husband’s best man. Mark never
+can get him to come to the house, hardly to the club. But my husband
+naturally would turn over such a commission to me. I hope you found the
+little professor satisfactory.”
+“He’ll do, I guess. He knows an awful lot, and I have a pretty good
+memory. But to get--and practice--it all--well, I guess that takes
+years.” She imbued her tones with a pathetic wistfulness, and gazed
+upon her visitor with ingenuous eyes, brimming with admiration. “It
+must be just grand to have got all that education, and to have lived in
+Europe while you were growing up. Nothing later on that you can get is
+the same, I guess. You look just about as polished off as I look raw.”
+“Oh! No! No!” cried Ora deprecatingly, her cheeks flooding with a
+delicate pink that made her look very young and feminine. She had begun
+by disliking this dreadfully common person, but not only was she by
+no means as innocent of vanity as she had been trying for years to
+believe, but she was almost emotionally swift to respond to the genuine
+appeal. And, clever as she was, it was not difficult to delude her.
+“Of course I had advantages that I am grateful for, but I have a theory
+that it is never too late to begin. And you are so young--a few months
+of our professor--are you really ambitious?”
+“You bet.” Ida committed herself no further at the moment.
+“Then you will enjoy study--expanding and furnishing your mind. It is
+a wonderful sensation!” Mrs. Blake’s eyes were flashing now, her mouth
+was soft, her strong little chin with that cleft which always suggests
+a whirlpool, was lifted as if she were drinking. “The moment you are
+conscious that you are using the magic keys to the great storehouses
+of the world, its arts, its sciences, its records of the past--when
+you begin to help yourself with both hands and pack it away in your
+memory--always something new--when you realise that the store is
+inexhaustible--that in study at least there is no ennui--Oh, I can give
+you no idea of what it all means--you will find it out for yourself!”
+“Jimminy!” thought Ida. “I guess not! But that ain’t where her charm
+for men comes from, you bet!” Aloud she said, with awe in her voice:
+“No wonder you know so much when you like it like that. But don’t it
+make you--well--kinder lonesome?”
+“Sometimes--lately----” Mrs. Blake pulled herself up with a deep blush.
+“It has meant everything to me, that mental life, and it always shall!”
+The astute Ida noted the defiant ring in her voice, and plunged in. “I
+wonder now? Say, you’re a pretty woman and a young one, and they say
+men would go head over ears about you if you’d give ’em a show. You’ve
+got a busy husband and so have I. Husbands don’t companion much and you
+can’t make me believe learning’s all. Don’t you wish these American
+Turks of husbands would let us have a man friend occasionally? They
+say that in high society in the East and in Europe, the women have all
+the men come to call on them afternoons they like, but the ordinary
+American husband, and particularly out West--Lord! When a woman has a
+man call on her, she’s about ready to split with her husband--belongs
+to the fast set--and he’s quail hunting somewheres else. Of course I’ve
+known Mark all my life--and you who was--were brought up in the real
+world--it must be awful hard on you. Wouldn’t you like to try your
+power once in a while, see how far you could go--just for fun? I guess
+you’re not shocked?”
+“No, I’m not shocked,” said Ora, laughing. “But I don’t believe men
+interest me very much in that way--although, heaven knows, there are
+few more delightful sensations than talking to a man who makes you feel
+as if your brain were on fire. I don’t think I care to have American
+men, at least, become interested in me in any other way. In Europe----”
+She hesitated, and Ida leaned forward eagerly.
+“Oh, do tell me, Mrs. Blake! I don’t know a blamed thing. I’ve never
+been outside of Montana.”
+“Well--I mean--the American man takes love too seriously. I suppose
+it is because he is so busy--he has to take life so seriously. He
+specialises intensely. It is all or nothing with him. Of course I
+am talking about love. When they play about, it is generally with a
+class of women of which we have no personal knowledge. The European,
+with his larger leisure, and generations of leisure in his brain, his
+interest in everything, and knowledge of many things,--above all of the
+world,--has reduced gallantry to a fine art. He may give his fancy, his
+sentiment, his passion, even his leisure, to one woman at a time, but
+his heart--well, unless he is very young--that remains quite intact.
+Love is the game of his life with a change of partner at reasonable
+intervals. In other words he is far too accomplished and sophisticated
+to be romantic. Now, your American man, although he looks the reverse
+of romantic, and is always afraid of making a fool of himself, when
+he does fall in love with a woman--say, across a legal barrier--must
+annihilate the barrier at once; in other words, elope or rush to the
+divorce court. It isn’t that he is more averse from a liaison than the
+European, but more thorough. It is all or nothing. In many respects he
+is far finer than the European, but he makes for turmoil, and, less
+subtle, he fails to hold our interest.”
+“You mean he don’t keep us guessing? Well, you’re right about most of
+them. I never saw a boy I couldn’t read like a page ad., until I met
+my husband. I thought I knew him, too, till I’d been married to him
+awhile. But, my land, he gets deeper every minute. I guess if I hadn’t
+married him he’d have kidnapped me, he was that gone, and forgetting
+anything else existed. Of course, I didn’t expect that to last, but I
+did think he’d go on being transparent. But, believe me, the Sphinx
+ain’t a patch on him. I sometimes think I don’t know him at all, and
+that keeps me interested.”
+“I should think it might!” exclaimed Mrs. Blake, thinking of her own
+standard possession. “But then Mr. Compton is a hard student, and
+is said to have a voracious as well as a brilliant mind. No doubt
+that is the secret of what appears on the surface as complexity and
+secretiveness. I know the symptoms!”
+“P’raps. But--well, I live with him, and I suspicion otherwise. I
+suspect him of having as many kind of leads, and cross-cuts, and
+‘pockets’, and veins full of different kinds of ore in him as we’ve
+got right under our feet in Butte Hill. Do you think”--she spoke with
+a charming wistfulness--“that when I know more, have opened up and let
+out my top story, as it were, I shall understand him better?”
+And again Ora responded warmly, “Indeed, yes, dear Mrs. Compton.
+It isn’t so much what you put into your mind--it’s more the reflex
+action of that personal collection in developing not only the mental
+faculties, but one’s intuitions, one’s power to understand others--even
+one whose interests are different, or whose knowledge is infinitely
+greater than our own.”
+“I believe you could even understand Greg!” Ida spoke involuntarily and
+stared with real admiration at the quickened face with its pink cheeks
+and flashing eyes, its childish mobile mouth. Ora at the moment looked
+beautiful. Suddenly Ida felt as if half-drowned in a wave of ambiguous
+terror. She sat up very straight.
+“I guess you’re right,” she said slowly. “You’ve made me see it as the
+others haven’t. I’ll work at all that measly little professor gives me,
+but--I don’t know--somehow, I can’t think he’ll do much more than make
+me talk decent. There’s nothing _to_ him.”
+Ora’s heart beat more quickly. Her indifference had vanished in this
+intimate hour, also her first subtle dislike of Ida, who’s commonness
+now seemed picturesque, and whose wistful almost complete ignorance
+had made a strong appeal to her sympathies. For the first time in her
+lonely life she felt that she had something to give. And here was raw
+and promising material ready and eager to be woven, if not into cloth
+of silver, at least into a quality of merchandise vastly superior to
+that which the rude loom of youth had so far produced. All she knew
+of Gregory Compton, moreover, made her believe in and admire him; the
+loneliness of his mental life with this woman appalled her. This was
+not the first time she had been forced to admit of late that under
+the cool bright surface of her nature were more womanly impulses than
+formerly, a spontaneous warmth that was almost like the quickening of
+a child; but she had turned from the consciousness with an impatient:
+“What nonsense! What on earth should I do with it?” The sense that she
+was of no vital use to anyone had discouraged her, dimmed her interest
+in her studies. Her husband could hire a better housekeeper, find a
+hundred girls who would companion him better. And what if she were
+_instruite_? So were thousands of women. Nothing was easier.
+But this clever girl of the people, who might before many years had
+passed be one of the rich and conspicuous women of the United States,
+above all, the wife of one of the nation’s “big men,” working himself
+beyond human capacity, harassed, needing not only physical comfort at
+home, but counsel, companionship, perfect understanding,--might it
+not be her destiny to equip Ida Compton for her double part? Ora’s
+imagination, the most precious and the most dangerous of her gifts,
+was at white heat. To her everlasting credit would be the fashioning
+of a helpmate for one of her country’s great men. It would be enough
+to do as much for the state which her imperfect father had loved so
+passionately; but her imagination would not confine Gregory Compton
+within the limitations of a state. It was more than likely that his
+destiny would prove to be national; and she had seen the wives of
+certain men eminent in political Washington, but of obscure origin.
+They were Ida’s mannered, grooved, crystallised; women to flee from.
+She leaned forward and took Ida’s hand in both of hers. “Dear Mrs.
+Compton!” she exclaimed. “Do let me teach you what little I know. I
+mean of art--history--the past--the present--I have portfolios of
+beautiful photographs of great pictures and scenes that I collected
+for years in Europe. It will do me so much good to go over them. I
+haven’t had the courage to look at them for years. And the significant
+movements, social, political, religious,--all this theft under so
+many different names,--Christian Science, the ‘Uplift’ Movement,
+Occultism--from the ancient Hindu philosophy--it would be delightful to
+go into it with someone. I am sure I could make it all most interesting
+to you.”
+“My Gorrd!” thought Ida. “Two of ’em! What am I let in for?” But the
+undefined sharp sense of terror lingered, and she answered when she got
+her breath,
+“I’d like it first rate. The work in this shack is nothing. Mr.
+Compton leaves first thing in the morning, and don’t show up till
+nearly six. The professor’s coming for an hour every other afternoon.
+But if I go to your house I want it understood that I don’t meet anyone
+else. I’ve got my reasons.”
+“You shall not meet a soul. Can’t you imagine how sick I am of Butte?
+We’ll have heavenly times. I was wondering only the other day of what
+use was all this heterogeneous mass of stuff I’d put into my head.
+But,” she added gaily, “I know now it was for you to select from. I am
+so glad. And--and----” Her keen perceptions suggested a more purely
+feminine bait. “You were with Madame O’Reilley, were you not? I get my
+things from a very good dressmaker in New York. Perhaps you would like
+to copy some of them?”
+“Aw! Would I?” Ida gasped and almost strangled. For the first time
+during this the most trying day of her life she felt wholly herself.
+“You may just bet your life I would. I need new duds the worst way,
+even if I’m not a West Sider. I’ve been on a ranch for nearly a year
+and a half, and although Mr. Compton won’t take me to any balls, there
+are the movin’ pictures and the mats--matinees; _and_ the street, where
+I have to show up once in a while! I used to think an awful lot of my
+looks and style, and I guess it’s time to begin again. I can sew first
+rate, make any old thing. Do you mean it?”
+“Indeed I do! I _want_ to be of help to you in every way.” She rose and
+held Ida’s hand once more in hers, although she did not kiss her as
+another woman might have done. “Will you come tomorrow--about two?”
+“You may bet your bottom dollar I’ll come. I haven’t thanked you, but
+maybe I’ll do that some other way.”
+“Oh, I shouldn’t wonder,” said Mrs. Blake lightly.
+IX
+Butte, “the richest hill in the world” (known at a period when less
+famous for metals and morals as “Perch of the Devil”), is a long
+scraggy ridge of granite and red and grey dirt rising abruptly out of
+a stony uneven plain high in the Rocky Mountains. The city is scooped
+out of its south slope, and overflows upon The Flat. Big Butte, an
+equally abrupt protuberance, but higher, steeper, more symmetrical,
+stands close beside the treasure vault, but with the aloof and somewhat
+cynical air of even the apocryphal volcano. On all sides the sterile
+valley heaves away as if abruptly arrested in a throe of the monstrous
+convulsion that begat it; but pressing close, cutting the thin
+brilliant air with its icy peaks, is an irregular and nearly circular
+chain of mountains, unbroken white in winter, white on the blue
+enamelled slopes in summer.
+For nearly half the year the whole scene is white, with not a tree,
+nor, beyond the straggling town itself, a house to break its frozen
+beauty. It is only when the warm Chinook wind roars in from the west
+and melts the snow much as lightning strikes, or when Summer herself
+has come, that you realize the appalling surface barrenness of this
+region devastated for many years by the sulphur and arsenic fumes of
+ore roasted in the open or belching from the smelters. They ate up
+the vegetation, and the melting snows and heavy June rains washed the
+weakened earth from the bones of valley and mountain, leaving both as
+stark as they must have been when the earth ceased to rock and began to
+cool. Since the smelters have gone to Anaconda, patches of green, of a
+sad and timid tenderness, like the smile of a child too long neglected,
+have appeared between the sickly grey boulders of the foothills, and,
+in Butte, lawns as large as a tablecloth have been cultivated. Anaconda
+Hill at the precipitous eastern end of the city, with its tangled mass
+of smokestacks, gallows-frames, shabby grey buildings, trestles, looks
+like a gigantic shipwreck, but is merely the portal to the precious
+ore bodies of the mines whose shafts, levels, and cross-cuts to the
+depth of three thousand feet and more, pierce and ramify under city
+and valley. These hideous buildings through which so many hundreds of
+millions have passed, irrupt into the very back yards of some of the
+homes, built too far east (and before mere gold and silver gave place
+to copper); but the town improves as it leaps westward. The big severe
+solid buildings to be found in every modern city sure of its stability
+crowd the tumble-down wood structures of a day when no man looked upon
+Butte as aught but a camp. And although the streets are vociferously
+cobbled, the pavements are civilised here and there.
+Farther west the houses of the residence section grow more and more
+imposing, coinciding with the sense of Butte’s inevitableness. On the
+high western rim of the city (which exteriorly has as many ups and
+downs as the story of its vitals) stands the red School of Mines. It
+has a permanent expression of surprise, natural to a bit of Italian
+renaissance looking down upon Butte.
+Some of the homes, particularly those of light pressed brick, and one
+that looks like the northeast corner of the upper story of a robber
+stronghold of the middle ages, are models of taste and not too modest
+symbols of wealth; but north and south and east and west are the snow
+wastes in winter and the red or grey untidy desert of sand and rock in
+summer.
+But if Butte is the ugliest city in the United States, she knows
+how to make amends. She is alive to her finger-tips. Her streets,
+her fine shops, her hotels, her great office buildings, are always
+swarming and animated. At no time, not even in the devitalised hours
+that precede the dawn, does she sink into that peace which even a
+metropolis welcomes. She has the jubilant expression of one who coins
+the very air, the thin, sparkling, nervous air, into shining dollars,
+and, confident in the inexhaustible riches beneath her feet, knows
+that she shall go on coining them forever. Even the squads of miners,
+always, owing to the three shifts, to be seen on the street corners,
+look satisfied and are invariably well-dressed. Not only do these
+mines with their high wages and reasonable hours draw the best class
+of workingmen, but there are many college men in them, many more
+graduates from the High Schools of Montana. The “Bohunks,” or “dark
+men,” an inferior class of Southern Europeans, who live like pigs and
+send their wages home, rarely if ever are seen in these groups.
+And if Butte be ugly, hopelessly, uncompromisingly ugly, her
+compensation is akin to that of many an heiress: she never forgets
+that she is the richest hill in the world. Even the hard grip of the
+most unassailable trust in America, which has absorbed almost as much
+of Montana’s surface as of its hidden treasure, does not interfere
+with her prosperity or supreme complacency. And although she has
+her pestilential politicians, her grafters and crooks, and is so
+tyrannically unionized that the workingman groans under the yoke of his
+brother and forgets to curse the trust, yet ability and talent make
+good as always; and in that electrified city of permanent prosperity
+there is a peculiar condition that offsets its evils: it is a city of
+sudden and frequent vacancies. New York, Europe, above all, California,
+swarm with former Montanans, particularly of Butte, who have coppered
+their nests, and transplanted them with a still higher sense of
+achievement.
+Ora was thinking of Butte and the world beyond Butte, as she splashed
+along through the suddenly melted snow toward her home on the West
+Side. The Chinook, loud herald from Japan, had swept down like an army
+in the night and turned the crisp white streets to rivers of mud. But
+Ora wore stout walking boots, and her short skirt, cut by a master
+hand, was wide enough to permit the impatient stride she never had
+been able to modify in spite of her philosophy and the altitude. She
+walked several miles a day and in all weathers short of a blizzard; but
+not until the past few weeks with the admission that her increasing
+restlessness, her longing for Europe, was growing out of bonds. She
+wondered today if it were Europe she wanted, or merely a change.
+She had, of course, no money of her own, and never had ceased to be
+grateful that her husband’s prompt and generous allowance made it
+unnecessary to ask alms of him. Three times since her marriage he had
+suddenly presented her with a check for several hundred dollars and
+told her to “give her nerves a chance” either down “on the coast,”
+or in New York. She had always fled to New York, remained a month
+or six weeks, gone day and night to opera, theatre, concerts, art
+exhibitions, not forgetting her tailor and dressmaker; returning to
+Butte as refreshed as if she had taken her heart and nerves, overworked
+by the altitude, down to the poppy fields of Southern California.
+Her vacations and her husband’s never coincided. Mark always departed
+at a moment’s notice for Chicago or New York, alleging pressing
+business. He returned, after equally pressing delays, well, complacent,
+slightly apologetic.
+Ora knew that she had but to ask permission to spend the rest of
+the winter in New York, for not only was Mark the most indulgent of
+husbands, but he was proud of his wife’s connections in the American
+Mecca, not unwilling to read references in the Butte newspapers to her
+sojourn among them. The “best people” of these Western towns rarely
+have either friends or relatives in the great cities of the East. The
+hardy pioneer is not recruited from the aristocracies of the world, and
+the dynamic men and women that have made the West what it is have the
+blood of the old pioneers in them.
+Ora was one of the few exceptions. Her father had been the last of a
+distinguished line of jurists unbroken since Jonathan Stratton went
+down with Alexander Hamilton in the death struggle between the Federal
+and the new Republican party. Ora’s mother, one of New York’s imported
+beauties for a season, who had languished theretofore on the remnants
+of a Louisiana plantation, impecunious and ambitious, but inexperienced
+and superficially imaginative, married the handsome and brilliant
+lawyer for love, conceiving that it would be romantic to spend a few
+years in a mining camp, where she, indubitably, would be its dominant
+lady. Butte did not come up to her ideas of romance. Nor had she found
+it possible to dislodge the passively determined women with the pioneer
+blood in their veins. The fumes afflicted her delicate lungs, the
+altitude her far more delicate nerves. Judge Stratton deposited her in
+the drawing-room of an eastern bound train with increasing relish. Had
+it not been for his little girl he would have bade her upon the second
+or third of these migrations to establish herself in Paris and return
+no more.
+During these long pilgrimages Ora, even while attending school in New
+York, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vevey, had seen something of society, for
+Mrs. Stratton was ever surrounded by it, and did not approve of the
+effect of boarding school diet on the complexion. But the ardours of
+her mind, encouraged always by her father, who never was too busy to
+write to her, had made her indifferent to the advantages prized by Mrs.
+Stratton.
+Today she was conscious of a keen rebellious desire for something more
+frivolous, light, exciting, than had entered her life for many a year.
+There can be little variety and no surprises in the social life of a
+small community--for even scandal and divorce grow monotonous--and
+although she could always enjoy an hour’s intellectual companionship
+with the professors of the School of Mines, whenever it pleased her
+to summon them, Ora, for the first time in her twenty-six years, had
+drifted into a condition of mind where intellectual revels made no
+appeal to her whatever.
+She had wondered before this if her life would have been purely mental
+had her obligations been different, but had dismissed the thought as
+not only dangerous but ungrateful. She had reason to go on her knees
+to her intellect, its ambitions and its furniture, for without it life
+would have been insupportable. She ordered her quickening ego back
+to the rear, or the depths, or wherever it bided its time, none too
+amenable; she was only beginning to guess the proportions it might
+assume if encouraged; the vague phantoms floating across her mind,
+will-o’-the-wisps in a fog bank, frightened her. Several months since
+she had set her lips, and her mind the task of acquiring the Russian
+language. It had always been her experience that nothing compared with
+a new language as a mental usurper.
+She had entered into a deliberate partnership with a man who protected
+and supported her, and she would keep the letter, far as its spirit
+might be beyond the reach of her will. Even were she to become
+financially independent, it was doubtful if she would leave him for
+a long period; and for New York and its social diversions she cared
+not at all. What she wanted was adventure--she stumbled on the word,
+and stopped with a gasp. Adventure. For the first time she wished she
+were a man. She would pack two mules with a prospector’s outfit and
+disappear into the mountains.
+She swung her mind to the Russian grammar, enough to impale it in
+the death agony; but when she had entered her home, and, after a
+visit to her leisurely cook, who was a unionized socialist, ascended
+to her bedroom and stood before her mirror, she decided that it was
+her singular interview with the wife of Gregory Compton that had
+thrown her mind off its delicate balance. She recalled that Mrs.
+Compton--certainly an interesting creature in spite of her appalling
+commonness--had told her flagrantly that she was young, pretty, and
+attractive to men, even as are young and pretty women without too much
+brains. The compliment--or was it the suggestion?--had thrilled her,
+and it thrilled her again. Men sometimes had tried to make love to
+her, but she had ascribed such charm as she appeared to possess to the
+automatically vibrating magnet of youth; and although she had never
+been above a passing flirtation, either in her mother’s salon or in
+Butte, she merely had been bored if the party of the other part had
+taken his courage in his hands on the morrow. Scruples did not trouble
+her. The American woman, she would have reasoned, is traditionally
+“cold.” American men, brought up on her code of ethics, are able to
+take care of themselves.
+Had she been superficial in her conclusions? Could she attract men
+more potently than by a merely girlish charm and a vivacious mind? Her
+memory ran rapidly over the functions of the winter, particularly the
+dinners and dances. She could not recall a passing conquest. She was
+angry to feel herself shiver, but she jerked off her hat, and the pins
+out of her fine abundant hair. She was twenty-six. Had she gone off?
+Faded? She never had been called a beauty, never had had the vanity
+to think herself a beauty, but she remembered that sometimes in an
+animated company she had glanced into the passing mirror and thought
+herself quite pretty, with her pink cheeks and sparkling eyes. But
+normally she was too washed-out for beauty, however good her features
+might be, and of course she had no figure at all. She dressed well from
+force of habit, and she had the carriage at least to set off smartly
+cut garments, but as much might be said of a dressmaker’s “form.”
+And her skin was sallow and sunburned and weather-beaten and dry, as
+any neglected skin in a high altitude is sure to be. Once it had been
+as white as her native snows. Her hair, also the victim of the high
+dry air, and exposed to the elements for hours together, was more
+colourless than Nature had made it--dull--dead. She held out a strand
+in dismay, remembering how her _cendré_ hair had been admired in Paris;
+then with a sudden sense of relief (it escaped from the cellar where
+her ego was immured on bread and water) she informed herself that it
+was her duty to invoke the services of Miss Ruby Miller. No woman with
+proper pride--or self-respect--would let her skin go to pot, no, not
+at any age; certainly not at twenty-six. She recalled an impulsive
+remark of Miss Miller’s a few months since when arranging her hair for
+a fancy-dress ball, and gave another sigh--of hope.
+So does Nature avenge herself.
+X
+She heard her husband’s voice as he entered the house, and hastily
+changed her walking suit for one of the soft tea gowns she wore when
+they were alone. This was a simple thing of a Copenhagen-blue silk,
+with a guimpe of fine white net, and trimmed about the neck and half
+sleeves with the newest and softest of the year’s laces. She noticed
+with some satisfaction that her neck, below the collar line, was very
+white; and she suddenly covered the rest of it with powder, then rubbed
+the puff over her face. It was ordinary “baby powder” for the bath,
+for she never had indulged in toilet accessories, but it answered
+its purpose, if only to demonstrate what she might have been had she
+safeguarded the gifts of nature. And the dull blue gown was suddenly
+becoming.
+Her husband, who had spent the intervening time in the library, ran
+upstairs whistling in spite of his girth--he was the lightest dancer in
+Butte--and knocked on her door before going to his own room.
+“Say,” he said, as he chucked her under the chin, and kissed her
+maritally, “but you look all right. Run down stairs and hold your
+breath until I’ve made myself beautiful. I’ve got big news for you.”
+She rustled softly down the stair, wondering what the news might be,
+but not unduly interested. Mark was always excited over his new cases.
+Perhaps he had been retained by Amalgamated. She hoped so. He deserved
+it, for he worked harder than anyone knew. And she liked him sincerely,
+quite without mitigation now that the years had taught him the folly of
+being in love with her.
+And he certainly had given her a pretty home. The house was not large
+enough to be pointed out by the conductor of the “Seeing Butte Car,”
+but it had been designed by a first rate architect, and had a certain
+air of spaciousness within. Mrs. Stratton had furnished a flat in
+Paris two years before her husband’s death, her excuse being that the
+interior of the Butte house got on her nerves, and there was no other
+way to take in household goods free of duty. Ora had shipped them when
+the news of her father’s death and their own poverty came, knowing that
+she would get a better price for the furniture in Butte, where someone
+always was building, than in Paris.
+Before it arrived she had made up her mind to marry Mark Blake, and
+although it was several years before they had a house she kept it in
+storage. In consequence her little drawing-room with its gay light
+formal French furniture was unique in Butte, city of substantial and
+tasteful (sometimes) but quite unindividual homes. Mark was thankful
+that he was light of foot, less the bull in the china shop than he
+looked, and would have preferred red walls, an oriental divan and
+Persian rugs. He felt more at home in the library, a really large room
+lined from floor to ceiling not only with Ora’s but Judge Stratton’s
+books, which Mark had bought for a song at the auction; and further
+embellished with deep leather chairs and several superb pieces of
+carved Italian furniture. Ora spent the greater part of her allowance
+on books, and many hours of her day in this room. But tonight she
+deliberately went into the frivolous French parlour, turned on all the
+lights, and sat down to await her husband’s reappearance.
+Mark, who had taken kindly to the idea of dressing for dinner, came
+running downstairs in a few moments.
+“In the doll’s house?” he called out, as he saw the illumination in the
+drawing-room. “Oh, come on into a real room and mix me a cocktail.”
+“It isn’t good for you to drink cocktails so long before eating;
+Huldah, who receives ‘The People’s War Cry’ on Monday, informed me that
+dinner would be half an hour late.”
+“I wish you’d chuck that wooden-faced leaden-footed apology for a
+servant. This is the third time----”
+“And get a worse? Butte rains efficient servants! Please sit down.
+I--_feel_ like this room tonight. You may smoke.”
+“Thanks. I believe this is the first time you have given me permission.
+But I’m bound to say the room suits you.”
+Ora sat in a _chaise-longue_ of the XV^{me} Siècle, a piece of
+furniture whose awkward grace gives a woman’s arts full scope. Much
+exercise had preserved the natural suppleness of Ora’s body and she had
+ancestral memories of all arts and wiles. Mark seated himself on the
+edge of a stiff little sofa covered with faded Aubusson tapestry, and
+hunched his shoulders.
+“If the French women furnish their rooms like this I don’t believe
+all that’s said about them,” he commented wisely. “Men like to be
+comfortable even when they’re looking at a pretty woman.”
+“Mama let me choose the furniture for this room, and I wasn’t thinking
+much about your sex at the time. I--I think it expressed a side of me
+that I wasn’t conscious of then.”
+“It’s a pretty room all right.” Mark lit the consolatory cigarette.
+“But not to sit in. What struck you tonight?”
+“Oh, I’d been thinking of Paris.”
+Mark’s face was large and round and bland; it was only when he drew his
+brows together that one saw how small and sharp his eyes were.
+“H’m. I’ve wondered sometimes if you weren’t hankering after Europe. I
+suppose it gets into the blood.”
+“Oh, yes, it gets into the blood!” Ora spoke lightly, but she was
+astonished at his insight.
+“I’ve never been able to send you--not as you were used to going--I
+don’t see you doing anything on the cheap----”
+“Oh, my dear Mark, you are goodness itself. I’ve thought very little
+about it, really.”
+“Suppose you found yourself suddenly rich, would you light out and
+leave me?”
+“We’d go together. It would be great fun being your cicerone.”
+“No chance! I’m going to be a rich man inside the next ten years, and
+here I stick. And I don’t see myself travelling on a woman’s money,
+either. But I suppose you’d be like all the rest if you could afford
+it?”
+“Oh, I don’t know. Of course I look forward to spending a year in
+Europe once more--I’d hardly be human if I didn’t. But I can wait for
+you.”
+“I’ve always admired your philosophy,” he said grimly. “And now I’ve
+got a chance to put it to a real test. I believe you are in a way, if
+not to be rich, at least to make a pretty good haul.”
+“What do you mean?” Ora sat up straight.
+“Your father made a good many wild-cat investments when he first came
+out here, and the one he apparently thought the worst, for I found no
+mention of it among his papers, was the Oro Fino Primo mine, which he
+bought from a couple of sharks in the year you were born--that’s where
+you got your name, I guess. One of the men was a well known prospector
+and the Judge thought he was safe. The ore assayed about eighty dollars
+a ton, so he took over the claim, paid the Lord knows how much to the
+prospector, who promptly lit out, had it patented, and set a small crew
+to work under a manager. They found nothing but low grade ore, which
+in those days roused about as much enthusiasm as country rock. The
+mine had been salted, of course. It was some time before your father
+would give up, and he spent more than the necessary amount of money
+to perfect the patent; always hoping. When he was finally convinced
+there was nothing in it he quit. And it was characteristic of your
+father that when he quit he quit for good. He simply dismissed the
+thing from his mind. Well, times have changed since then. New processes
+and more railroads have caused fortunes to be made out of low grade
+ore when there is enough of it. Some people would rather have a big
+lode of low grade ore than a pockety vein of rich quartz. As you know,
+abandoned mines are being leased all over the state, and abandoned
+prospect holes investigated. Well, there you are. This morning two
+mining engineers from New York came into my office with a tale of woe.
+They came out here to look about, and after considerable travel within
+a reasonable distance of railroads found an old prospect hole with a
+shaft sunk about fifty feet. It looked abandoned all right, but as
+the dump was still there and they liked the looks of it they went to
+the De Smet ranch house--the hole is just over the border of Greg’s
+ranch--and made inquiries. Oakley, who is a monomaniac on the subject
+of intensive farming and doesn’t know a mine from a gopher hole, told
+them that the adjacent land belonged to no one but the government.
+So they staked their claim, recorded it in Virginia City, retimbered
+the shaft and sank it twenty feet deeper. They began to take out ore
+that looked good for fifteen dollars a ton. Then along comes an old
+prospector and tells them the story of the mine. They leave their two
+miners on the job and post up to Helena to have the records examined
+in the Land Office. There, sure enough, they find that the mine was
+duly patented by Judge Stratton, and all of the government requirements
+complied with. So they come to me. They want a bond and lease for
+three years--which means they may have the privilege of buying at the
+end of the lease--and offer you ten per cent. on the net proceeds. I
+haven’t given them my answer yet, for I’m going to take Greg out there
+next Sunday and have a look at it. There was a sort of suppressed
+get-rich-quickishness in their manner, and their offer was not what
+you would call munificent. Greg is a born geologist, to say nothing
+of his training. I don’t mean so much in the School of Mines, but he
+was always gophering about with old prospectors, and ran away into the
+mountains several times when his father was alive. Never showed up all
+summer. He’s at ore now every spare moment he gets, and is as good an
+assayer as there is in the state. If there’s mineral on his own ranch
+he’ll find it, and if there isn’t he’ll find it elsewhere. So, I do
+nothing till he’s looked the property over. But in any case I think I
+can promise you a good lump of money.”
+Ora’s breath was short. Her face had been scarlet for a few moments
+but now showed quite pale under the tan and powder. When her husband
+finished, however, and she replied, “How jolly,” her voice was quite
+steady.
+“And shall you fly off and leave me if it pans out?”
+“Of course not. What do you take me for?”
+“To tell you the truth it will mean a good deal to me if you stay until
+the fall. I’ve a client coming out here from New York whom I am trying
+to persuade to buy the old Iron Hat mine. There’s a fortune in it for
+anyone with money enough to spend rebuilding the old works and putting
+in new machinery and timbers; and a big rake-off for me, if I put the
+deal through. Well, this client figures to bring his wife and daughter,
+and you could help me a lot--persuade them they’d have the time of
+their lives if they spent several months of every year out here for
+a while--he’s a domestic sort of man. After that take a flyer if you
+like. You deserve it.”
+“How nice of you! Here is dinner at last.” Ora felt almost physically
+sick, so dazzling had been the sudden prospect of deliverance,
+followed by the certainty, even before her husband asked for the
+diplomatic assistance she so often had given him, that she could not
+take advantage of it. Noblesse oblige! For the moment she hated her
+watchword.
+She mixed a cocktail with steady hand. “I’ll indulge in a perfect orgie
+of clothes!” she said gaily. “And import a chef. By the way,” she
+added, as she seated herself at the table and straightened the knives
+and forks beside her plate, “what do you think I let myself in for
+today?”
+“Not been speculating? There’s a quart of Worcestershire in this soup.”
+“I’ll certainly treat you to a chef. No, not speculating--I wonder if
+it mightn’t be that? I called on your friend’s wife----”
+“Good girl! She’s not your sort, but she’s Greg’s wife----”
+“I thought she was quite terrible at first, but I soon became
+interested. She’s clever in her way, ignorant as she is, and has
+individuality. Before I knew it I had offered to take a hand in her
+education----”
+“Good lord! What sort of a hand?”
+“Oh, just showing her my portfolios, giving her some idea of art. It
+sounds very elemental, but one must begin somewhere. She knows so
+little that it will be like teaching a child a b c.”
+“I’m afraid it will bore you.”
+“No, I like the idea. It is something new, and change is good for the
+soul. I have an idea that I shall continue to find her as interesting
+as I intend she shall find the ‘lessons’.”
+“She’ll get more than lessons on art. She’ll get a good tone down, and
+she needs that all right. Poor old Greg! He deserved the best and he
+got Ida Hook. I tried to head him off but I might as well have tried to
+head off a stampede to a new gold diggings. He ought to have married a
+lady, that’s what.”
+Ora glanced up quickly, then, thankful that her husband was intent upon
+his carving, dropped her eyes. It was the first time he had ever hinted
+at the differences of class. In his boyhood there had been a mighty
+gulf between his mother and the haughty Mrs. Stratton who employed her
+in what was then the finest house in Butte. But he was too thoroughly
+imbued with the spirit of the West, in which he had spent his life,
+to recognise any difference in class save that which was determined
+by income. As soon as his own abilities, industry, and the turn of
+Fortune’s wheel, placed him in a position to offer support to the two
+dainty women that had been his ideals from boyhood, he knew himself to
+be their equal, without exhausting himself in analysis.
+As for Ora, the West was quick in her blood, in spite of her heritage
+and education. Her father had assumed the virtue of democracy when
+he settled in Montana. In the course of a few years a genuine liking
+and enthusiasm for his adopted state, as well as daily associations,
+transformed him into as typical a Westerner as the West ever turned out
+of her ruthless crucible. He even wore a Stetson hat when he visited
+New York. His wife’s “airs” had inspired him with an increasing disgust
+which was one of the most honest emotions of his life, and the text
+of his repeated warnings to his daughter, whom he was forced to leave
+to the daily guidance of his legal wife (Ora’s continued presence
+in Butte, would, in truth, have caused him much embarrassment), had
+been to cherish her Western birthright as the most precious of her
+possessions.
+“Remember this is the twentieth century,” he had written to her not
+long before his death. “There is no society in the world today that
+cannot be invaded by a combination of money, brains, and a certain
+social talent--common enough. The modern man, particularly in the
+United States, makes himself. His ancestors count for nothing, if he
+doesn’t. If he does they may be a good asset, for they (possibly) have
+given him breeding ready-made, moral fibre, and a brain of better
+composition than the average man of the people can expect. But that is
+only by the way. The two most potent factors in the world today are
+money and the waxing, rising, imperishable democratic spirit. That was
+reborn out here in the West, and the West is invading and absorbing
+the East. The old un-American social standards of the East are
+expiring in the present generation, which resort to every absurdity to
+maintain them; its self-consciousness betraying its recognition of the
+inevitable. Twenty years hence this class will be, if still clinging
+to its spar, as much of a national joke as the Western women were when
+they first flashed their diamonds in Peacock Alley. That phase, you
+may notice, is so dead that the comic papers have forgotten it. The
+phase was inevitable, but our women are now so accustomed to their
+money that they are not to be distinguished from wealthy women anywhere
+except that their natural hospitality and independence make them seem
+more sure of themselves. Of course the innately vulgar are to be found
+everywhere, and nowhere more abundantly than in New York.
+“Twenty years from now, the West will have overrun the East; it will
+have helped itself with both hands to all the older civilisation has to
+give, and it will have made New York as democratic as Butte--or London!
+So don’t let yourself grow up with any old-fashioned nonsense in your
+head. I want you to start out in life modern to the core, unhampered
+by any of the obsolete notions that make your mother and most of our
+relations a sort of premature has-beens. When your time comes to
+marry, select a Western man who either has made his own fortune or
+has the ability to make it. Don’t give a thought to his origin if his
+education is good, and his manners good enough. You can supply the
+frills. I wouldn’t have you marry a man that lacked the fundamentals of
+education at least, but better that than one whose brain is so full of
+old-fashioned ideas that it has no room for those that are born every
+minute. And I hope you will settle here in this state and do something
+for it, either through the abilities of the man you marry or with your
+own. It isn’t only the men that build up a new state. And if you marry
+a foreigner never let me see nor hear from you again. They are all very
+well in their way, but it is not our way.”
+Ora, who had worshipped her father and admired him above all men, never
+forgot a word he uttered, and knew his letters by heart. Possibly it
+was the memory of this last of his admonitions which had enabled her
+to sustain the shock of a proposal from the son of her mother’s old
+seamstress and of a miner who had died in his overalls underground.
+It is doubtful if she would have been conscious of the shock had it
+not been for Mrs. Stratton’s lamentations. That lady from her sofa in
+one of the humbler Blocks, had sent wail after wail in the direction
+of the impertinent aspirant. Ora, during the brief period in which
+she made her decision, heard so much about the “bluest blood of the
+South,” and the titled foreigners whom she apparently could have had
+for the accepting when she was supposed to belong to the Millionaire
+Sisterhood, that she began to ponder upon the violent contrasts
+embodied in Mark with something like rapture. After the marriage was
+accomplished, Mrs. Stratton had the grace to wail in solitude, and
+shortly after moved on to a world where only the archangels are titled
+and never have been known to marry. Ora had not given the matter
+another thought. Mark had been carefully brought up by a refined little
+woman, his vicious tendencies had been negligible, and he was too
+keen to graduate from the High School and make his start in life to
+waste time in even the milder forms of dissipation. When he married he
+adapted himself imperceptibly to the new social world he entered; if
+not a Beau Brummel, nor an Admirable Crichton, he never would disgrace
+his aristocratic wife; and, unlike Judge Stratton, he wore a silk hat
+in New York.
+His last remark apparently had been a mere vapour from his subconscious
+mind, for he went on as soon as he had taken the edge from his
+appetite, “Perhaps Ida Hook can be made into one. I’ve seen waitresses
+and chambermaids metamorphosed by a million or two so that their own
+husbands wouldn’t recognise them if they stayed away too long. But
+it takes time, and Ida has an opinion of herself that would make an
+English duchess feel like a slag dump. Say--do you know it was through
+me Greg met her? It was that week you were out on the Kelley ranch.
+I met two or three of the old crowd on the street and nothing would
+do but that I should go to their picnic for the sake of old times.
+Greg was in town and I persuaded him to come along. Didn’t want to,
+but I talked him over. Guess there’s no escaping our fate. Possibly
+I couldn’t have corralled him if it hadn’t been for reaction--he’d
+been whooping it up on The Flat. Well, I wished afterward that I’d
+left him to play the wheel and all the rest of it for a while longer.
+Greg never loses his head--that is to say he never did till he met Ida
+Hook. The sporting life never took a hold on him, for while he went
+in for it with the deep deliberation that was born in him, it’s just
+that deliberation that saves him from going too far. He cuts loose
+the minute he figured out beforehand to cut loose, and all the king’s
+horses--or all the other attractions--couldn’t make him put in another
+second. A girl shot herself one night out at the Five Mile House
+because he suddenly said good-bye and turned on his heel. She knew he
+meant it. He never even turned round when he heard her drop----”
+“What a brute!”
+“Greg? Not he. I’ve known him to sit up all night with a sick dog----”
+“I hate people that are kind to animals and cruel to one another.”
+“Greg isn’t cruel. He said he was going and he went; that’s all. It’s
+his way. Girls of that kind are trash, anyhow, and when a woman goes
+into the sporting life she knows enough to take sporting chances.”
+“You are as bad as he.”
+Mark stared at her in open-eyed amazement. He never had seen her really
+roused before. “Don’t you bother your dear little head,” he said
+soothingly. “Angels like you don’t know anything about that sort of
+life--and don’t need to.”
+Ora’s anger vanished in laughter. “Well, suppose you give me a hint
+about his wife. I really am interested, and delighted at the prospect
+of being of some use in the world.”
+“You’re all right! Ida--well, I guess you’ll do a lot for her, by just
+having her round. She’s no fool--and she certainly is a looker. If you
+tone her down and polish her up I’ll feel it’s a sort of favour to
+myself. Greg’ll be one of the richest men in this country some day,--if
+he has to walk over a few thousand fellow citizens to get there--and I
+don’t want to see him queered by a woman. Seen that before.”
+“I intend to do my best, but for her sake, not his----”
+“Say!” It was patent that Mark had an inspiration. “Why not take Ida
+with you to Europe? I don’t like the idea of a dainty little thing like
+you” (Ora was five feet six) “travelling alone, and a husky girl like
+Ida could take care of you while putting on a few coats of European
+polish. Greg can afford it; he must have cleared a good many thousands
+on his ranch during the last two years, besides what I’ve turned over
+for him; and he can live here with me and get all the comforts of
+home. I’ll let you off for six months. What do you say?”
+Ora was looking at him with pink cheeks and bright eyes. “You are sure
+you won’t mind?”
+“I’ll miss you like fun, of course; especially when you look as pretty
+as you do this minute, but I think it would be a good thing for you and
+better for Ida--and I’ll fire this cook.”
+“Will Mr. Compton give his consent?”
+“No one on God’s earth would take chances on what Gregory Compton would
+do until he had done it, but I don’t mind throwing a guess that he
+could live without Ida for six months and not ask me to dry his tears.
+And there isn’t a mean bone in his body.”
+“It would interest me immensely to take Mrs. Compton abroad. Now hurry
+if you expect to get a seat at one of the bridge tables. It is late----”
+“I rather thought I’d like to stay and talk to you----”
+“How polite of you! But I’m tired out and going straight to bed. So
+toddle along.”
+XI
+“Tailored suits have to be made by a tailor, but I’d like first rate to
+copy this one you call a little afternoon frock. It’s got the style all
+right, and I could get some cheap nice-looking stuff.”
+Ida was gloating over Ora’s limited but fashionable wardrobe, and
+while she held the smart afternoon frock out at arm’s length, her eye
+wandered to an evening gown of blue satin and chiffon that lay over the
+back of a chair.
+“Glory!” she sighed. “But I’d like to wear a real gown like that.
+Low-neck, short sleeves! I’ve got the neck and arms too, you bet----”
+“Why not copy it?” Ora was full of enthusiasm once more. “You can do it
+here, and I have an excellent seamstress----”
+“Where’d I wear a rig like that? Even if I made it in China silk and
+Greg took me anywheres, I couldn’t. We don’t go in for real low necks
+in our bunch.”
+“But surely you’ll go to the Junior Prom?”
+Ida opened her mouth as well as her eyes. “The Junior Prom? I never
+thought of it. Of course I’d be asked, Greg being in the Junior Class
+and all----”
+“Naturally.”
+Ida frowned. “Well, I ain’t going. I said I wouldn’t go anywheres--to
+any swell blowouts, until I’m as big as anybody there.”
+“But the School of Mines is composed of young men of all classes. Each
+asks his friends. The Prom is anything but an exclusive affair. You go
+out to the Garden dances on Friday nights in summer?”
+“Oh, in that jam--and everybody wearing their suits, or any old
+thing----”
+“Well, I think you should go to the Prom. Mr. Compton is the star pupil
+in the School of Mines. The professors talk of no one else. I rather
+think your absence would cause comment.”
+“Well--maybe I’ll go. I’d like to all right. But I can’t wear low-neck.
+I guess you know it wouldn’t do.”
+“No doubt you are right.” Ora made no attempt at conversion; it was
+encouraging that Ida had certain inclinations toward good taste, even
+if they were prompted by expediency.
+“Jimminy, but your room’s pretty!” exclaimed Ida. “Mine’s pink--but
+lawsy!”
+She gazed about the room, which, although she never had seen the sea,
+recalled descriptions of its shells washed by its foam. She knit her
+brows. “I guess it takes experience, and seein’ things,” she muttered.
+Her eyes travelled to the little bed in one corner. It would have
+looked like a nun’s, so narrow and inconspicuous was it, had it not
+been for its cover of pale pink satin under the same filmy lace.
+“Sakes alive!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you sleep with your husband?”
+Ora was angry to feel herself coloring. She answered haughtily, “We
+have separate rooms. It is the custom--I mean--I have always seen----”
+“I’ve heard it was the stunt among swells, but I don’t hold to it. It’s
+only at night that you’ve really got a chance to know where a man is;
+and the more rope you give him the more he’ll take. What’s to prevent
+Mark slippin’ out when he thinks you’re asleep? Or coming home any old
+time? Besides, some men talk in their sleep. That gives you another
+hold. I’m always hoping Greg will, as he talks so little when he’s
+awake. You bet your life he never gets a room to himself.”
+“Poor Mr. Compton!” thought Ora. “I fancy he’ll expiate.” “Shall we go
+downstairs?” she asked. “I got my portfolios out this morning.”
+She tactfully had shown Ida her wardrobe first, and the guest descended
+to the library in high good humour. For an hour they hung over the
+contents of the Italian portfolios. Ida was enchanted with the castles
+and ruins, listened eagerly to the legends, and was proud of her
+own knowledge of the horrors enacted in the Coliseum. But over the
+photographs of the masterpieces in the Pitti and the Uffizi she frankly
+yawned.
+“No more cross-eyed saints, and fat babies and shameless sporting women
+in mine,” she announced. “Them virgins sitting on thrones, holding
+four-year-olds trying to look like six months, make me tired.”
+“Oh, well, I fancy you must see the old masters for the first time in
+their proper setting--and wonderful colouring----” Ora wondered if the
+masterpieces would appear somewhat overrated to herself if seen for the
+first time in Butte. It certainly was interesting to watch the effect
+of fixed standards--or superstitions--upon an untrained but remarkably
+sharp mind.
+“That Last Supper looks like they’d been eating the paint,” pursued Ida.
+Ora laughed. “I shan’t show you any more pictures today. This furniture
+is Italian--Florentine and Venetian. Let me tell you something about
+it.”
+“I’d like to see all your rooms.” Ida rose and stretched herself
+luxuriously. Ora thought she looked like a beautiful Persian cat.
+“Houses interest me mor’n pictures, although I’ll buy them too some
+day. Not old masters, though. They’d give me the willys. This carved
+oak with faded gilt panels is a dream!” she exclaimed with instant
+appreciation. “I’d learn wood-carving if there was anyone in this
+God-forsaken camp to teach it.”
+Ora clapped her hands, and once more, to Ida’s startled eyes she looked
+like a very young girl. “I studied several of the crafts when I was in
+Germany,” she cried, “wood-carving, brass-hammering, enamelling. I’ll
+set up a workshop--let me see, the attic would be the best place, and
+the furnace warms it--and teach you, and work myself. It’s just what I
+need. I wonder I never thought of it----”
+“Need what?” interrupted Ida sharply.
+“Oh, a relief from too much study. There’s nothing like a craft for
+mental workers--I should have thought of it before,” she repeated.
+“What do you say?”
+“I’d like it first rate, and I guess you’ll find me quick enough with
+my hands, whatever you think of my cocoanut.”
+“I think very highly of your cocoanut. This is my little drawing-room.”
+Ida stood on the threshold for a few moments without comment. She
+had never cast a thought to her Puritan inheritance, but anger,
+disapproval, possessed her. She hated the room, but had no reason to
+give.
+“You don’t like my favourite room?” asked Ora, who was watching her
+curiously.
+“Is it your favourite room?” She turned this over. “No, I guess I like
+the heavy, solid, durable things best.” She struggled for her reasons.
+“You get your money’s worth in them. This looks like the first Chinook
+would blow it clear over into North Dakota, or as if you might come
+in some morning and find a heap of dust where it had been the night
+before--like a corpse when the air’s let in. I didn’t mind your bedroom
+being dainty and looking like some sea shells I saw once in a picture
+frame,--it looks all of a piece, too, you might say; but this--with
+them queer thin faded out chairs and sofas--the colours on the wood
+even, and them pictures over the doors and mantel look like they would
+do the final disappearing act while you wait--well, there’s something
+kinder mysterious--ghostly--it looks so stiff--and--at the same
+time--so kinder immoral----”
+“I wonder if what you are groping for is the atmosphere of the past,
+which all old furniture must have, particularly if rearranged in
+something like its original setting.” Ora was regarding her with a new
+interest. “This furniture came out of a _hôtel_--what we would call a
+residence--with a history--several histories, I should think--and I
+fancy it was all frivolous, and wicked, and exciting----”
+“I ain’t no spiritualist!” said Ida tartly. “Is that what you’re
+driving at?”
+“I don’t know that I was thinking of occultism, even,” said Ora
+lightly. “But it is interesting to find these old things have
+atmosphere for you as well as for me----”
+“Why is it your favourite room? Because it has ‘atmosphere’?”
+“I don’t know. I doubt if I have ever given the matter a thought.”
+“So this is your favourite room.” Ida turned her back on it. “H’m.
+Well, maybe I’ll understand some things better one of these days than
+I do now. Perhaps,” with one of her uncanny dashes of intuition, “I’ll
+understand it when I do you.”
+“Let us go up to the attic and look it over. I’ll have the table and
+benches made tomorrow.” Something was moving toward expression in her
+own mind, but she flung it aside and ran up the stair followed by Ida,
+who dismissed the subject as promptly.
+XII
+There had been a good deal of haggling over the lease of the Oro Fino
+Primo mine, the engineers demanding a three years’ lease and bond,
+proposing to purchase it at the end of that period for fifty thousand
+dollars. Nor were they willing to pay more than ten per cent. in
+royalty, displaying the assay report on the ore and arguing that after
+the necessary outlay on development work, the ore body might be too
+small to repay them.
+Mark, however, was determined not to close with them until he had
+visited the claim with Gregory Compton, and this proved to be
+impossible for several weeks. The engineers, unable to proceed, had
+dismissed their men. They threatened to withdraw their offer and look
+for another abandoned property. Mark told them to go ahead, and they
+remained in Butte.
+In the course of a month Mark and Gregory were both free on a Sunday.
+They took a train for Pony, hired a rig and drove over to the Stratton
+claim, dignified by the name of mine.
+The claim was on a small tableland between Gregory’s own hill, which
+terminated just beyond the borders of his ranch, and another slope
+covered with pines and firs. The engineers had put up a windlass,
+retimbered the shaft, sunk it twenty feet lower, and added a pile of
+dirty looking ore to the original half-obliterated heap about the
+collar of the shaft.
+Gregory picked up half a dozen pieces of various sizes and examined
+them. “Their assay was about right, I should think,” he said. “Looks
+like good low grade ore, but not too good. It will do no harm to assay
+it myself, however,” and he dropped the sample into the pocket of
+his coat. Suddenly he gave a startled exclamation, and Mark saw his
+nostrils dilate, his nose almost point, as he darted forward and kicked
+aside a heap of loosely piled quartz. Then he knelt down and lifted
+out several lumps of greyish-black ore.
+“What is it?” asked Mark curiously, and feeling something of the
+excitement of the hunter whose gun is trained on a bear. “D’you mean
+they’ve found copper glance?”
+“At a depth of sixty feet? Not exactly. This is a basic igneous rock
+called pyroxenite, that may not be rich in gold but is more than likely
+to be--particularly as our friends have hidden it so carefully and said
+nothing about it. It may assay anywhere from ten dollars a ton to five
+hundred. I’m going down.”
+The shaft was inclined, four by eight, and timbered with lagging.
+Gregory lit the candle he had brought and descended the ladder. He
+remained below about ten minutes; when he returned to the surface he
+was excited and triumphant.
+“They’ve begun to drift on the vein,” he announced. “They’ve gone about
+three feet--it must have been then they learned the history of the
+claim. It’s pyroxenite all right, every inch of it.”
+“Well, damn them!” said Mark.
+“They can’t plead that they didn’t recognise the ore, uncommon as it
+is, because they began to drift the moment they struck the vein. It
+dips toward the ranch,” he added abruptly.
+Mark whistled. “It’s pretty close. That would be a kettle of fish--if
+it apexed on your land! Lawsuit. Friendship of a lifetime broken. The
+beautiful Mrs. Mark Blake brings suit against the now famous Gregory
+Compton----”
+“Oh, nonsense!” said Gregory shortly. But he was disturbed nevertheless.
+“But there’s no nonsense in the idea that your own ore bodies may be
+just over the border. Why don’t you sink a shaft, just for nuts.”
+Gregory, who was still excited, felt an impulse to confide his
+discovery to his friend. But his natural secretiveness overcame him and
+he turned abruptly away. “When I have finished at the School,” he said,
+“no doubt I’ll begin gophering again, but not before. What are you
+going to do about this? Let them have it?”
+“I’ll let them have a piece of my mind first. What do you
+advise?--that I work the mine, myself? I could easily form a company if
+the ore is as rich as you think.”
+“I wouldn’t take the chances. Lease the claim to them for a year.
+They’ll take it for that time with all this ore in sight. If they’ve
+hit a large chamber they’ll soon be netting several thousand dollars a
+day. If it’s only a pocket, let them find it out. At the end of a year
+you’ll know a good deal more about the mine than you do now. But keep
+an eye on them so that they don’t gouge, and make them pay you twenty
+per cent. royalty.”
+“They’ll pay it through the nose,” said Mark emphatically.
+Gregory laughed. “You feel as virtuously indignant as if you had never
+tried to do anybody yourself. It’s do or be done out West as well as
+back East, and precious few mines have a clean history. Marcus Daly
+never would have got the best part of Butte Hill if he hadn’t kept his
+mouth shut.”
+“It isn’t that I’m so virtuous,” said Mark ingenuously, “but I don’t
+like the idea that anybody so nearly got the best of me. And just look
+at the way they covered it up.”
+Gregory had kicked aside the greater part of a pile of grey ore, and
+revealed quite a hillock of the pyroxenite. He put several pieces in
+his pocket, discarding the first specimens. “I’ll get to work on this
+tonight,” he said, “and let you know first thing in the morning. But
+I’m willing to wager that it runs from sixty to a hundred dollars a
+ton.”
+“And not a fleck of gold to be seen!” Mark, who, like all intelligent
+men of mining localities, had some knowledge of ores, examined the dark
+rock attentively. “They’re some geologists,” he added with unwilling
+admiration. “This would fool any ordinary mining engineer. Say!” he
+cried, “I’ll not tell Ora until she’s ready to leave--she’s figuring on
+going to Europe in the fall. It will be the surprise of her life, for
+I led her to think she’d get only a hundred or so a month. Don’t say a
+word about it to Ida.”
+Gregory turned away to hide a curl of his lip. “I suppose we’d better
+go over and see Oakley, as we’re so close,” he said. “He’ll probably
+talk for an hour on his hobby, but any knowledge comes in useful to a
+lawyer.”
+“What’s he done.”
+“He figured out that Iowa and the Dakotas and Kansas were likely to
+have a drought next year, so he will sow about five hundred acres with
+flax in May. He has already put in about three hundred acres of winter
+wheat. The bottoms are reserved for alfalfa. He raises the capital and
+gets half profits. If it turns out as he expects he’ll have something
+at the end of a year to live on besides enthusiasm for intensive
+farming.”
+       *       *       *       *       *
+They were driving toward Pony two hours later when Gregory said
+abruptly, “I’m glad that your wife and mine have taken to each other.
+It is a great thing for Ida. The improvement is wonderful.” He forebore
+to add, even to the man who had known his wife since childhood, “I
+don’t see what Mrs. Blake gets out it,” but possibly the irrepressible
+thought flew into Mark’s mind, for he replied promptly:
+“It’s great for Ora. She’s tired of everybody else here; tired of so
+much reading too. I’ve seen that for some time, though I haven’t let
+on. A new interest was just what she wanted. Every clever woman has
+a touch of the school ma’am in her, and no one can deny that Ida’s
+refreshing. To Ora she’s almost a novelty. I think she rather hates to
+make her over, but she’s working on her as hard as I work on a case.
+Ora’s the thorough sort. What she does is done with all her might and
+main. Otherwise she don’t do it at all. She’s equally accomplished at
+that!”
+He decided that this was the propitious moment; Gregory was in an
+uncommonly melting mood, for him. “Say!” he continued, “Ora and I have
+put up a little job on you. I’ve told her to take her new money and go
+to Europe for six months or so--By James, she shall go, even if this
+thing hangs fire and I have to sell some stock. It’s over six years
+since she’s seen Europe, and I guess she pines for it all right. Well,
+she wants to take Ida.”
+Gregory demanded with unexpected promptness, “How much would it cost?”
+“Oh, about a hundred to New York and a hundred and fifty over,” said
+Mark vaguely. “Of course when two are together it costs less. And in
+Europe distances are short. Ora says she shall go to _pensions_ instead
+of hotels, if only because they would be two young women alone; and
+they cost much less. They can also travel second-class, and third in
+Germany and Switzerland. Ora says she and her friends always did it in
+summer because it was cooler and more interesting. She’s sent for a lot
+of Baedekers, is going to make a close estimate, then double it.”
+“One of my aunts died the other day and left me a thousand dollars; she
+had no family. Ida can have it. Of course I could send her more if she
+needed it, but she’s clever with money.”
+“That will do it.” (He knew that if it did not Ora, who would pay the
+bills, would manage to hoodwink Ida.) “And you must live with me. It’ll
+be fine. Bachelor’s Hall. We’ll do as we damn please.”
+Gregory shook hands with him, his strong hard face illuminated with
+the infrequent smile that gave it something of a sweet woman’s charm.
+“Thanks, old man,” he said fervently. “Sounds good!”
+XIII
+Several weeks passed before Ora sent for Miss Ruby Miller. She was
+busier during those weeks than she had been for many months. Ida came
+every other day at one o’clock and remained until five. They carved
+wood in the attic, and looked at pictures or read in the library during
+the hour and a half that included tea. Ida confessed that during the
+latter interval she was so bored sometimes she could scream, but added
+that she would stick it out if she yawned every tooth in her head
+loose. One thing that never bored her was the picture of Ora--her
+working blouse changed for a dainty house gown--presiding at the
+tea-table. She studied every detail, every gesture; she even cultivated
+a taste for tea, which heretofore she had regarded as fit for invalids
+only, like jellies and cup-custard.
+Ora’s alternate days and many of her evenings were filled with social
+duties. Butte was indulging in one of its hurricanes of festivity.
+Mrs. O’Hagan, who lived in the largest and finest house on the West
+Side, gave a series of dinner dances. Mrs. Burke, who owned the big
+ugly red house of appalling architecture built by Judge Stratton in the
+eighties, gave several entertainments in honour of two young visitors
+from Denver. Mrs. Maginnis, who lived in another palatial residence
+far west and far from the old Stratton house--which in its day had
+expressed the extreme limit of the city, as of fashion--gave a ball as
+brilliant as anything Ora had seen in a distant hemisphere. Flowers
+may be scarce in Butte, but flowers and palms may be imported by the
+carload from Helena, and the large rooms looked like an oasis in the
+grey desert of Butte. Every woman wore a ball gown made by some one of
+the great reiterative masters, and there were no wall flowers; for,
+although the tango had not yet set the whole world dancing, the women
+of Montana never had interpreted grey hairs as a signal to retire.
+It was on the day after this ball that Ora had telephoned to Miss
+Miller. “Can you give me an hour or two tomorrow?” she asked.
+“Sure. Can I come early? I’ve got fourteen heads to dress for the
+Cameron ball, and most of them want a facial too?”
+“A what?”
+“Face massage, and touchin’ up generally.”
+“Oh.”
+“It’s fine. Makes you feel as good as you look. What did you want me to
+do?”
+“Ob, shampoo my hair. I want to consult you about it, too--and
+manicure.”
+“Well, I’ll bring the creams along, and if you want a massage I’ll be
+ready.”
+Ora had succeeded in making Miss Miller propose what she had quite made
+up her mind to try, and she rang off with a smile. The evening before
+she had thought herself the plainest woman at the party, and the effect
+of this discouraging conclusion had been to kill her animation and
+sag her shoulders until she knew she must look as dowdy as she felt.
+For the first time she realised how a blighted vanity may demoralise
+the proudest intellect. It was time to get a move on, as her new but
+rapidly developing friend would put it.
+Ora was very proud of her work. She gave Professor Whalen due credit,
+and knew that Ida toiled at her exercises, but doubted if the
+uninspiring pedant would have been retained had it not been for the
+sense of emulation, slightly tinctured by jealousy, she managed to
+rouse in her new boon companion when they were together. But Ida was
+now exercising something of her latent force of character, determined
+to make the most of advantages for which she knew many a sudden-rich
+woman would “give her eye teeth.” She would polish up “good and plenty”
+before her husband made his strike; and waste no precious time on the
+inside of her skull when she had the cash to spend on its outside.
+After the first week she dropped no more g’s, her grammar rapidly
+improved, and although she never would be a stylist, nor altogether
+forswear slang, not only because the ready-made phrase appealed to her
+unliterary mind, but because its use was ingrained, she reserved it
+more and more for those that best could appreciate it. As it annoyed
+Professor Whalen excessively, she went afield for new phrases “for the
+fun of seeing him wriggle.”
+On the other hand, whenever she felt in the mood, she gazed at him with
+penitent languid eyes, promised never to use slang again, and amused
+herself racking other nerves. She knew just how far to go and “turned
+him off,” or “switched him back on to the track” before any real harm
+was done. Some day she might let him make a scene just for the fun of
+the thing, but not until she was “good and ready.”
+Her feeling for Ora was more difficult to define. Sometimes she almost
+loved her, not only inspired by gratitude, but because Ora’s personal
+magnetism was intensified by every charm of refinement, vivacity,
+mental development, as well as by a broad outlook on life and a
+sweetness of manner which never infuriated her by becoming consciously
+gracious. At other times she hated her, for she knew that no such
+combination ever could be hers. Ora was a patrician born of patricians.
+She might go to the devil, preside over one of the resorts down on
+The Flat, take to drink and every evil way, and still would she be
+patrician. Herself might step into millions and carry her unsullied
+virtue to her grave and she never would be the “real thing.” For the
+first time she understood that being “a lady” had little to do with
+morals or behaviour. Nothing irritates the complacent American more
+than the sudden appreciation of this fact.
+“But I guess I’ll be as good as some others,” Ida consoled herself.
+“After all, I don’t see so many Ora Blakes lying round loose. People
+don’t bother much these days if your clothes make their mouth water and
+your grammar don’t queer you.”
+Gregory, when he had time to think about it--he read even at the
+breakfast and dinner-table, and had an assay plant in the cellar--was
+charmed with her improvement, and told her abruptly one day that if
+she kept faithfully to her tasks until November he would give her the
+thousand dollars he had received under the will of his aunt. “And you
+can do what you like with it,” he added. “I shan’t ask you. That’s the
+way I enjoyed money when I was a kid, and I guess women are much the
+same.”
+“A thousand dollars!” Ida was rigid, her mouth open. “Geewhil--I beg
+pardon--My! But you are good!” She paused to rearrange her thoughts,
+which were in danger of flying off into language her husband was paying
+to remodel. “Can I really do anything with it I like?”
+“You can.” He smiled at her bright wide-open eyes and flaming cheeks.
+“I ain’t--haven’t said anything about it as I didn’t think it would be
+any sort of use, but Ora is going to Europe in the fall, and she told
+me Mark was going to try to persuade you to let me go with her. Now I
+can go on my thousand dollars, if you don’t mind. Mark wants you to
+stay with him.”
+“He spoke to me about it--I had forgotten. There couldn’t be a better
+arrangement. This is the time for you to go to Europe--while your mind
+is still plastic.”
+“You don’t seem to mind my going a little bit.” Rapture gave place to
+suspicion. Ida was not born with faith in man.
+“My dear child! What good am I to you now? You might be keeping house
+for a deaf mute. All I need is the right kind of food and a comfortable
+bed. I’ll get both at Mark’s. Next year you would see even less of
+me than you do now. We get our last and most practical drilling in
+ore-dressing, metallurgy, power-utilisation, and geology. We shall
+be off half the time on geological expeditions, visits to mines in
+other parts of the state, smelters, the most up-to-date of the cyanide
+mills. So you see how much I shall be at home. Go to Europe and enjoy
+yourself.”
+“All right. I’ll go. You bet. And I’ll not miss a trick. There’ll never
+be a thousand dollars better spent.”
+XIV
+“Now I’ve got you where I want you, and I’m goin’ to talk--goin’ to say
+something I’ve been dyin’ to say for two or three years.”
+Ora’s head was in the wash-basin. Miss Miller was leisurely spraying
+out the lime juice with which she had drenched her hair. Ora gasped,
+then gurgled something unintelligible, which Miss Ruby interpreted
+as encouragement to proceed. Mrs. Blake’s manner ever since the
+hairdresser’s arrival had been uncommonly winning, with something
+half-appealing, half-confiding that flew straight not only to that
+experienced young woman’s sympathies but to her professional instinct.
+“It’s this,” she continued. “You need a thorough overhauling. In these
+days, particularly in this altitude, women take care of themselves as
+they go along, but you don’t. You’ve lost your complexion ridin’ and
+walkin’ for hours without a veil, sometimes without a hat, and you with
+a delicate skin like a baby’s and not even using creams. I heard a man
+say only last Sunday--I was givin’ his wife a facial and he was sittin’
+round--that it was an awful pity you had gone off so, as you were the
+prettiest thing he ever laid eyes on when you came back after your pa’s
+death, and if Mark--Mr. Blake--hadn’t snapped you up before any other
+young man got a look at you you’d have had a dozen chances, for all
+you’ve got such a reputation for brains. ‘A man can stand brains in a
+white lily of a girl,’ says he, ‘but when she gets older she’s either
+got to keep her complexion or cut out the brains, and Ora Blake’s done
+neither’--Say if you squirm like that you’ll get your mouth and eyes
+full of lemon. His wife said she didn’t believe men cared for them thin
+white women anyway--she’s bustin’ with health herself--and he gave a
+grunt that means a lot to a girl who knows men like I do. You never did
+make anything of yourself and you’ve let yourself go these last two or
+three years something shameful. If you’d take yourself in hand, get on
+to yourself once for all, you’d have people twistin’ their necks off to
+look at you and callin’ you a Mariposa lily, or a Princess Pine, or a
+White Gladiolus and other poetry names like that. And you could get the
+reputation of a beauty all right. It makes me sick.”
+“Could you make me into a beauty?” Ora’s voice was remarkably languid
+considering the flaming hue of her face, which, however, may have been
+due to its prolonged sojourn in the wash-basin. Miss Miller had wrung
+her hair out and was rubbing it vigorously.
+“Couldn’t I _just_?”
+As Mrs. Blake maintained a dignified silence, Miss Ruby proceeded to
+develop her theme. “Now, your hair, for instance. That’s the reason
+I used lemon today. You’ve been usin’ soap, and, what with this dry
+climate, and no care, it’s as harsh and broken as if you’d been usin’
+soda on it every day. It’s lemon and hot water for you, first, last
+and always, and eggs after a journey. It needs a couple of months of
+hand-massage every other day right now; after that it will be up to
+you. Brush it night and morning and use a tonic twice a year.”
+She paused and Ora waited with eyes closed to conceal her impatience.
+Finally she opened them irresistibly and met Miss Ruby’s in the mirror.
+They, too, looked embarrassed. Ora’s smile was spontaneous and sweet
+and not too frequent. It seldom failed to melt reserve and inspire
+confidence. She played this card without delay.
+“Why don’t you go on?” she asked. “All that is most interesting and
+valuable. I shall remember every word of it.”
+“Well--I was afraid that what I want to say most might sound as if I
+was drummin’ up trade, and the Lord knows I’ve got more to do than I
+could manage if there was ten days in every week. I turned down two
+ladies today to come here. I never shampoo the day of a ball.”
+“My dear Miss Miller! You are an artist, and like all artists, you
+not only aim at perfection yourself but your eyes and fingers ache
+at imperfection. I suppose an author rewrites sentences as he reads
+them, and painters must long to repaint every picture they see. As
+for you--we are your page and canvas, and naturally we have the good
+fortune to interest you.”
+“That’s it!” cried Miss Ruby, glowing. “That’s the size of it, only I
+couldn’t ever say it like that. Well, now, if you want this skin to
+look like a complexion and not like a hide, I’ve got to give you a
+massage every third day for quite a while. It not only needs creams and
+cold applications--hot only once in a while--but an awful lot of hand
+massage. It’s all run down and needs stimulating the worst way. Another
+year and you’d be havin’ lines. You can’t leave yourself to nature up
+here. She’s in too great a hurry to take back what she gave. And you
+must cut out hot breads and trash and wear a veil when you go out in
+the sun and wind. And you go to Boulder Springs once a week and take a
+vapour bath.”
+“But I’ll always look washed-out.”
+“Not if you look fresh, and wear colours that suit you.”
+“And I never was called a beauty. That man, whoever he was, merely
+remembered the usual prettiness of youth. Every young girl is pretty
+unless she is ugly.”
+“Well, I guess you didn’t take enough pains to make people think you
+were a beauty. Some--Ida Compton, for instance--don’t need to do
+anything but just show themselves. Any fool--particularly a man--can
+see black hair and red and white skin, and meltin’ eyes, and lashes
+a yard long, and a dashin’ figure. But odd and refined types like
+you--well, you’ve got to help it out.”
+“How very interesting! Do you mean I must go about telling people
+that I am really beautiful, if they will only look at me long enough?
+Or--possibly--do you mean that I should make up?”
+“I don’t mean either, ’though in a way I mean both. In the first place
+you’ve got to make the most of your points. You’re not a red blonde
+or a gold blonde, but what the French call sendray; in plain English,
+you’ve got ash-coloured hair. Now, that makes the blondest kind of
+blonde, but at the same time it’s not so common, and nature has to give
+it to you. Art can’t. What you want to do is to let people see that
+your colouring is so rare that you can’t get enough of it yourself,
+and by and by people will think they can’t either. You’ve been wearin’
+all this hair twisted into a hard knot down on your neck. That don’t
+show off the hair and don’t suit your face, which is kinder square. I’m
+goin’ to pull it soft about your face and ears and then coil it softly
+on top of your head. That’ll give length to your face, and look as if
+you was proud of your hair--which you will be in a month or two. You
+mustn’t pay too much attention to the style of the moment. You’re the
+sort to have a style of your own and stick to it.”
+“I’m in your hands,” murmured Ora. “What next?”
+“Did you really lose interest in yourself?” asked Miss Miller
+curiously, and with the fine freedom of the West from class restraint.
+“Or didn’t you ever have any?”
+“A little of both. When I was a girl I was a frightful pedant--and--Oh,
+well--Butte is not Europe, and I took refuge more than ever in books,
+particularly as I could have nothing of the other arts. You know the
+resources of Butte!”
+“I’m glad you’re goin’ to Europe again, where I guess all kinds of
+variety are on tap.--Say, perhaps you’ll find out all the new kinks for
+the complexion in Paris, and tell me when you come back.”
+“I will indeed!”
+“I don’t hold to rippin’ the skin off, or hoistin’ it up,” said Miss
+Miller firmly. “All any skin needs is steady treatment, and constant
+care--constant, mind you, and never forget it. Now there’s your
+profile. It’s grand. The way I’m goin’ to fix your hair’ll show it off,
+and don’t you let it get scooped round the eyes, like so many women do.
+Massage’ll prevent that. I wish your eyebrows and lashes was black,
+like so many heroines in novels has. The contrast would be fine. But
+brown’ll do, and I guess the natural is your lay. Luckily them black
+grey eyes is a high note, and when you get your lips real red, you’ll
+have all the colour your style can carry. The gleamin’ white skin’ll do
+the rest.”
+“How am I to get red lips, and what’s to make my skin gleam?”
+“You’re anæmic. You go to a doctor and get a tonic right off. When I
+get through with your complexion it’ll gleam all right. No powder for
+you. It improves most women, but you want high lights. I don’t mean
+shine when I say gleam, either. I mean that you’ve got the kind of skin
+that when the tan’s off and it’s toned up and is in perfect condition
+(you’ve got to be that inside, too), sheds a sort of white light. It’s
+the rarest kind, and I guess it does the most damage.”
+“And what good is all this beautifying to do me? And why make me
+dangerous? Surely you are not counselling that I begin a predatory raid
+on other women’s husbands, or even on the ‘brownies’?”
+“Well, I guess not. I don’t approve of married women lettin’ men make
+love to them, but I do believe in a woman makin’ the most of herself
+and gettin’ all the admiration that’s comin’ to her. If you can be a
+beauty, for the Lord Almighty’s sake be one. Believe me, it’ll make
+life seem as if it had a lot more to it.”
+“I shouldn’t wonder!”
+“And you go in right off for deep breathin’ and Swedish exercises
+night and mornin’. It’s the style to be thin, but you want to develop
+yourself more. And they keep you limber--don’t forget that. When a
+woman stiffens up she’s done for. Might as well get fat round her
+waist. Now shut your eyes, I’m goin’ to massage.”
+XV
+“I wonder!” thought Ora, “I wonder!”
+It was some four months after her first séance with Miss Ruby Miller.
+There was no question of the improvement in her looks, owing, perhaps,
+as much to a new self-confidence as to the becoming arrangement of
+her hair and the improved tint and texture of her skin. The tonic and
+a less reckless diet had also done their work; her eyes were even
+brighter, her lips pink. Moreover, it was patent that the sudden
+reformation was as obvious to Butte as to herself. Women confessed to a
+previous fear that the “altitude had got on her nerves or something”;
+as for the men, they may or may not have observed the more direct
+results of Miss Miller’s manipulations, but it was not open to doubt
+that her new interest in herself had revived her magnetism and possibly
+doubled it.
+Ora turned from the mirror in her bedroom, where she had been regarding
+her convalescing beauty with a puzzled frown, and stared down at the
+rough red dirt of her half-finished street--she lived far to the west.
+Her eyes travelled up to the rough elevation upon which stood the
+School of Mines in its lonely splendour, then down to the rough and
+dreary Flat. It stretched far to the south, a hideous expanse, with its
+dusty cemetery, its uninviting but not neglected road houses, its wide
+section given over to humble dwellings, with here and there a house of
+more pretensions, but little more beauty. It was in one of these last,
+no doubt, that her father had kept his mistress, whose children, she
+was vaguely aware, attended the public schools under his name. These
+houses, large and small, were crowded together as if pathetically
+conscious that the human element must be their all, in that sandy,
+treeless, greenless waste.
+There was something pathetic, altogether, thought Ora, in the bright
+eagerness with which even the wealthy class made the most of their
+little all. They were so proud of Columbia Gardens, a happy-go-lucky
+jumble of architectures and a few young trees, a fine conservatory and
+obese pansies on green checkers of lawn; they patronised its Casino so
+conscientiously on Friday nights when the weather would permit. During
+the winter, they skated on their shingled puddle down on The Flat as
+merrily and thankfully as though it were the West End of London or
+one of the beautiful lakes in one of the beautiful German “gartens.”
+They motored about the hideous environs, and hung out of the car to
+emphasise their rapture at the lonely tree or patch of timid verdure;
+they entertained royally in their little Club House, out in another
+desolate waste, or played golf without envy or malice. In short they
+resolutely made the most of Butte when they were in it; they patted
+Butte and themselves on the back daily; they loved it and they were
+loyal to it and they got out of it as often as they possibly could.
+“And I!” thought Ora, with a sense of panic. “I, who will probably get
+away every five years or so--what am I waking up for--to what end? I
+wonder!”
+She walked slowly downstairs and, avoiding the little French
+drawing-room, went into the library and sat down among her books.
+Sash curtains of a pale canary colour shut out the rough vacant lots
+and ugly dwellings above her home, and cast a mellow glow over the
+brown walls and rows of calf-bound books. Judge Stratton had read
+in four modern languages and two dead ones. The love of reading, of
+long evenings alone in his deserted “mansion,” had been as striking
+a characteristic of his many-sided ego as his contempt for moral
+standards. Ora, who had grown into a slow but fairly thorough knowledge
+of her father’s life and character, permitted her thoughts to flow
+freely this afternoon and to speculate upon what her life might have
+been had Judge Stratton been as upright as he was intellectually
+gifted; if her mother had possessed the brains or charm to keep him
+ensnared; if she herself had been left, an orphan at twenty, with the
+fortune she inevitably would have inherited had her father behaved
+himself--instead of finding herself penniless, ignorant of all
+practical knowledge, a querulous invalid on her hands, her only suitor
+the “hustling” son of her mother’s old seamstress.
+Ora admitted no disloyalty to Mark as she put these questions for
+the first time squarely to herself. She intended to continue to treat
+him with unswerving friendship, to give him all the assistance in her
+power, as long as she lived. And, as husbands went, she made no doubt
+that he was one to thank her grudging providence for. But that she
+would have considered him for a moment had she inherited the fortune
+her father had made and dissipated was as likely as that she would have
+elected to live her life in Butte.
+She knew Mark’s ambitions. Washington was his goal, and he was by no
+means averse from being governor of his state meanwhile. Nor would he
+have been a genuine American boy, born in the traditional log cabin--it
+had been a log cabin as a matter of fact--if he had not cherished
+secret designs on the White House. In all this, did it prove to be more
+or less, she could be of incalculable assistance to him. And she was
+the more determined to render this assistance because she had accepted
+his bounty and was unable to love him.
+She concluded with some cynicism that the account would be squared,
+being by no means blind to what she had done for him already in the
+way of social position and prestige; still, it was not only his right,
+but a penance demanded by her self-respect. She was living the most
+unidealistic life possible to a woman of her pride and temperament, but
+she would redeem it as far as lay in her power.
+She moved impatiently, her brows puzzled again, and something like
+fear in her heart. What did this slow awakening portend? Why had she
+instinctively held it back with all her strength, quite successfully
+until her new-born vanity, with its infinite suggestions, had quickened
+it suddenly into imperious expression?
+Certainly she was conscious of no desire for a more idealistic union
+with another man. If she had inherited a fortune, she would have
+married no one; not then, at all events; nothing had been further from
+her desire. She would have lived in Europe and travelled in many lands.
+Beyond a doubt her hunger for the knowledge that lies in books would
+have been satiated long since, never would have assumed a discrepant
+importance. She would be uniformly developed, and she would have met
+many men. With the double passport of birth and wealth, added to the
+fine manner she owed to her Southern mother, her natural vivacity and
+magnetism, and a physical endowment that she now knew could have been
+trained into positive beauty, she would have had her pick of men. And
+when a woman may choose of the best, with ample time at her disposal,
+it was incredible that the true mate, the essential companion, should
+not be found before it was too late. Most marriages are makeshifts; but
+for the fortunate few, with the intelligence to wait, and the developed
+instinct to respond, there was always the possibility of the perfect
+union.
+Ora made a wry face at this last collocation. She had no yearning for
+the “perfect union.” Matrimony had been too unutterably distasteful.
+She turned hastily from the subject and recalled her father’s
+impassioned desire that she should make the West her home, her career,
+marry a Western man, give him and her state the benefit of her
+endowments and accomplishments. Possibly, surfeited with Europe, she
+would have returned to Montana to identify herself with its progress,
+whether she married or not. She was artistic by temperament and
+training, and correspondingly fastidious; she cordially detested all
+careers pursued by women outside those that were the natural evolution
+of an artistic gift. But she could have built herself an immense and
+splendid house, filled it with the most exquisite treasures American
+money could coax from the needy aristocracy of Europe, and have a
+famous salon; invite the pick of the artistic, literary, musical,
+and political world to visit her for weeks or months at a time,
+house parties of a hundred or more, and so make her state famous for
+something besides metals, intensive farming, and political corruption.
+No one could deny that the state would benefit exceedingly.
+Conceivably, in time she would take a husband, assuredly one of high
+ambitions and abilities, one whose fortunes probably would take him to
+Washington.
+This brought her back to Mark, and she laughed aloud. She had been
+romancing wildly; of late she had grudgingly admitted that nature may
+have composed her to be romantic after she had recovered from the
+intellectual obsession; and the circle had brought her round to her
+husband! He was “forging ahead” with extraordinary rapidity. She made
+no doubt that he would be a millionaire within the ten years’ limit
+he had set himself. Nor would he rely alone upon his legal equipment
+and the many opportunities to exercise it when a man was “on the job
+all the time”; he watched the development of Montana’s every industry,
+new and established. He “bought in on the ground floor,” gambled
+discreetly in copper, owned shares in several new and promising mines,
+and property on the most picturesquely situated of the new lakes
+constructed for power supply. He invested what he could afford, and
+with the precision of the man on the spot. Yes, he would be one of
+the Western millionaires, even if not one of the inordinate ones, and
+before his ten years had passed, if no untoward event occurred.
+And it was on the cards that she would have her own fortune before
+long. She knew that Mark (who had her power of attorney) had made
+better terms with the engineers than he had anticipated, and he dropped
+mysterious hints which, knowing his level head, made her indulge in
+ornate dreams now and again. But he only smiled teasingly when she
+demanded a full explanation, and told her that she would realise how
+good or how bad her mine was when she went to the bank to sign her
+letter of credit.
+For one thing she felt suddenly grateful. She knew that the mine had
+been leased for a year only and without bond. If, during that time it
+“panned out,” she would stipulate to mine it herself when the contract
+expired.
+She sat up very straight and smiled. That was what she would have
+liked! If her father had but willed her this mine and capital enough to
+work it alone! Her fingers fluttered as they always did when handling
+ore; she had wondered before if the prospector’s fever were in her
+blood. How she should have enjoyed watching the rock come up in the
+buckets as the shaft sank foot by foot, until they struck the vein;
+always expecting chambers of incredible richness, gold, copper, silver.
+She would even learn to do the pleasant part of her own assaying; and
+she suddenly experienced an intense secretive jealous love for this
+mine that was hers and in which might be hidden shining blocks of
+those mysterious primary deposits deep in the sulphide zone; forced up
+through the veins of earth, but born how or where man could only guess.
+It was a mystery that she wanted to feel close to and alone with, far
+in the winding depths of her mine.
+She got up and moved about impatiently. Her propensity to dream
+extravagantly was beginning to alarm her, and she wished uneasily that
+she could discover the gift to write and work it off. Where would
+it lead her? But she would not admit for a moment that her released
+imagination, pulsing with vitality, and working on whatever she fed it,
+only awaited the inevitable moment when it could concentrate on the one
+object for which the imagination of woman was created.
+The pendulum swung back and more evenly. She told herself it was both
+possible and probable that she had a good property, however short it
+might fall of Butte Hill. She renewed her determination to mine it
+herself, and work, work, work. Therein lay safety. The future seemed
+suddenly full of alarms.
+And there was Mark, his career, his demands, dictated not so
+insistently by him as by herself.
+Ora’s soul rose in a sudden and desperate revolt beside which her
+rising aversion from unmitigated intellect was a mere megrim. She
+felt herself to be her father’s daughter in all her newly-opened
+aching brain-cells. He had lived his life to please himself, and if
+his temptations and weaknesses might never be hers--how could she
+tell?--his intense vitality survived in her veins, his imperious
+spirit, his scornful independence. She glanced at the rows of
+calf-bound books he had handled so often. Something of his sinister
+powerful personality seemed to steal forth and encompass her, sweep
+through the quickened corridors of her brain. Mark Blake was not the
+man he would have chosen for his daughter. Western, Mark might be to
+the core, but he was second-rate, and second-rate he would remain no
+matter what his successes.
+And, she wondered, what would this proud ambitious parent, whose
+deepest feeling had been for his one legitimate child, say to her plan
+to play second fiddle for life to a man of the Mark Blake calibre? He
+had wanted her to marry in the West, but he had been equally insistent
+that site should develop a personality and position of her own. No
+devoted suffragist could have been a more ardent advocate of woman’s
+personal development than Judge Stratton had been where his daughter
+was concerned. To the rights of other women he had never cast a
+thought.
+This was the hour of grim self-avowal. She admitted what had long moved
+in the back of her mind, striving toward expression, that she hated
+herself for having married any man for the miserable reason that has
+driven so many lazy inefficient women into loveless marriages. She
+should have gone to work. More than one of her father’s old friends
+would have given her a secretaryship. She could have lived on her
+little capital and taken the four years’ course at the School of Mines,
+equipping herself for a congenial career. If that had not occurred to
+her she could have taught French, Italian, German, dancing, literature.
+In a new state like Montana, with many women raised abruptly from
+the nethermost to the highest stratum, there was always a longing,
+generally unfulfilled, for the quick veneer; and women of older
+fortunes welcomed opportunities to improve themselves. She could have
+taken parties to Europe.
+She had played the coward’s part and not only done a black injustice to
+herself but to Mark Blake. He was naturally an affectionate creature,
+and, married to a comfortable sweet little wife, he would have been
+domestic and quite happy. In spite of his enjoyment of his club, his
+cards and billiards, and his buoyant nature, she suspected that he was
+wistful at heart. He was intensely proud of his wife, in certain ways
+dependent upon her, but she knew he had taken for granted that her
+girlish coldness would melt in time and womanly fires kindle. Well,
+they never would for him, poor Mark. And possessing an inherent sense
+of justice, she felt just then more sympathy for him than for herself,
+and placed all his good points to his credit.
+She was conscious of no sympathy for herself, only of that deep
+sense of puzzlement, disturbance, apprehension. Revolt passed.
+Indications--the abrupt bursting into flower of many unsuspected bulbs
+in her inner garden: softness, sympathy, a more spontaneous interest
+in and response to others, the tendency to dream, vague formless
+aspirations--had hinted, even before she took her new-born vanity to
+Miss Ruby Miller, that she was on the threshold of one of the dangerous
+ages (there are some ten or fifteen of them), and that unless she
+had the doubtful wisdom and resolution to burn out her garden as the
+poisonous fumes of roasting ores had blasted the fruitful soil of
+Butte, she must prepare to face Life, possibly its terrible joys and
+sorrows.
+She sprang to her feet and ran upstairs and dressed for the street. At
+least she had one abiding interest and responsibility, Ida Compton. She
+was a self-imposed and absorbing duty, and always diverting.
+XVI
+“Oh, you give me the willys!”
+“My dear Mrs. Compton! How often have you promised me----”
+“Well, if you will stare at me like a moonstruck setter dog when I’m
+trying to think up ’steen synonyms for one old word without looking
+in the dictionary! I can’t blow up my vocabulary like a paper bag and
+flirt with you at the same time.”
+“I have no desire to flirt with you!” said Professor Whalen with great
+dignity. “It is quite the reverse. You have been playing with my
+feelings for months.”
+“Don’t flatter yourself. I’ve been too set on becoming a real lady
+before leaving for Europe--haven’t thought about you.”
+Professor Whalen turned a deep dull red. His overlapping upper teeth
+shot forward as if to snap down upon his long rather weak chin. He
+stared past Ida through the open window. It was May and the snow was
+melting on the mountains, had disappeared from the streets of Butte;
+there is a brief springtime in Montana between the snows of winter and
+the cold rains of June, and today was soft and caressing.
+“I’ll tell you what is the matter with you,” said Ida, cruelly. “It’s
+the spring of the year.”
+Whalen sprang to his feet. For the first time in his anæmic life he was
+furiously angry, and he rejoiced in the sensation. “I wish you were a
+man,” he stuttered. “I’d beat you. It would do my heart good.”
+“If you were a real man you would enjoy beating a woman a long sight
+more,” goaded Ida, who watched him as a man-eating tigress may watch
+the squirming victim between her paws. She had fed her vanity and
+amused herself by playing on the little man’s pale emotions until she
+was convinced he really was in love with her. She suddenly made up her
+mind to force him to “let go,” and experience the sensation of being
+made love to feloniously.
+“I am not a brute,” announced Whalen, still in the same stifled voice.
+His face was purple, but he was conscious of a warning whisper that he
+was in a fair way to lose this remunerative pupil. He dismissed the
+warning. There is probably no man so insignificant, in whom passion for
+the imperative woman does not develop abnormally the purely masculine
+conceit. He may despair in solitude, when devitalised by reaction and
+doubt, but when in her presence, under her inviting eye, and hurried
+to a crisis by hammering pulses and scorching blood, he is merely the
+primitive male with whom to desire is to have.
+Ida laughed, a low throaty husky laugh. “If you were,” she said
+cuttingly, “you might stand a show.”
+“It is you that are brutal,” hissed poor Whalen.
+Ida leaned back in her chair and looked at him out of half-closed eyes.
+“What induced you to fall in love with me, anyhow?” she demanded in her
+sweet lazy voice. Whalen clenched his hands.
+“I am a man if I am not a brute. You are the most fascinating woman on
+earth, and you have deliberately tried to entice me from the path of
+rectitude I have trod all my life----”
+“What’s that?” Ida sat up straight, her brows drawn in an ominous frown.
+“I have resisted you until today, but I yield----”
+“What the devil are you talking about?”
+“I expected to be tormented to the utmost limit. But I have stood all
+of it that I purpose to stand.” His voice by this time was a subdued
+roar. “I don’t care whether you love me or not. I don’t think you
+could love anybody. I have read that sirens never do. But you are an
+enchantress, and you have shown plainly enough----”
+Ida’s frown had relaxed, but her eyes blazed. He misunderstood their
+expression, as well as the sudden forward thrust of her head. He sprang
+forward, caught her by the shoulders and kissed her.
+“Aw!” Ida’s voice was almost a roar. She leaped to her feet, twirled
+him about, caught him by the back of his collar and the seat of
+his trousers, and threw him out of the window as if he had been an
+offensive dog. She flung his hat and stick after him and slammed
+the window down. Then she stamped her feet in inarticulate rage,
+and rubbed and bit her mouth. It was one thing to play with a man’s
+passions and quite another to be defiled by them. Ida seethed with the
+fierce virtue of a young inexperienced and temperamentally cold woman.
+For a few moments she used very bad language indeed, and struggled with
+an impulse to ran after the “little puppy” and whip him in the street.
+But, remembering that she was making a heroic attempt to be a grande
+dame, she finally went into her bedroom and washed her face.
+XVII
+There was a knock on the front door. Ida, smoothing her hair, hastened
+to open it, glad of diversion. Ora stood there. For a moment the girls
+looked hard at each other, then burst into laughter.
+“What’s up?” asked Ida. “You look----”
+“My dear, it is I who should ask? Your face is crimson; you look as if
+you had just given someone a beating, and I met poor little Whalen,
+dusty, dishevelled, growling like a mad dog--he didn’t know me.”
+“Well, I guess he won’t know himself for a while,” said Ida drily,
+leading the way into the parlour. “When he comes to he’ll have his
+work cut out to climb back to his little two-cent pedestal and fit on
+his battered halo.” She related the incident. “What do you know about
+that?” she demanded in conclusion. “Wouldn’t it come and get you?”
+“I am afraid you have made an enemy. It is always best to let them
+down gently, save their pride--and--ah!--it isn’t customary to throw
+gentlemen out of the window!”
+“Gentlemen!” snorted Ida. “He’s no gentleman. He not only kissed
+me with his horrid front teeth, but he insinuated that I was just
+languishing for him, the----” Once more Ida’s feelings overflowed in
+language not intended for print. “It made me so mad I’d have lammed him
+with the umbrella if we’d been in the hall.”
+“Ida,” asked Ora abruptly, “would you have minded so much if he had
+been good-looking and attractive?”
+“Well--perhaps--I guess in that case I’d simply have smacked him and
+let him get out quick by the front door. But I don’t want any man
+touching me. I’m a married woman.”
+“But if you flirt and lead them on----”
+“You said once yourself that American men understood the game and knew
+how to take their medicine.”
+“I also said that they can fall more tiresomely in love than any other
+men. Of course the Whalens don’t count. But do you intend to go on
+making men fall in love with you and throwing them--metaphorically--out
+of the window?”
+“Much chance I’ll get.”
+“You’ll find plenty of chances in Europe. You are a remarkably
+beautiful woman. And Europeans take what we call flirting for shameless
+encouragement.”
+“Well, I guess I’ll be getting experience of the world all right. And
+the Lord knows I’d like to be admired by men who have seen something. I
+can take care of myself, and Greg don’t need to worry.”
+“I’ve no doubt of that. Of course you are awfully fond of Mr. Compton,
+aren’t you?” Ora spoke somewhat wistfully.
+“Oh, yes; fond enough, fonder than a good many wives, I guess, for he’s
+kind and pleasant, and no earthly trouble about the house. But when a
+woman marries she gets a kid right there at the altar, and he’s her
+biggest kid till his false teeth drop out on his death-bed, and his
+great-grandchildren are feeding him through a tube. I don’t want any of
+the other sort of kids, and I guess I’m not what you call the maternal
+woman, but the Lord knows I’m a mother to Greg and a good one. I’d like
+to know what he’d do without me--that’s the only reason I hate leaving.
+He never thinks of changing his shoes when they’re wet, and half the
+time wouldn’t eat anything but his book if I didn’t put the stuff right
+in front of him.”
+“Mark knows him almost as well as you do, and will look after him. My
+maid, who is practically my housekeeper, and an old family servant,
+will also keep a maternal eye on him.”
+“He keeps himself tidy,” conceded Ida handsomely. “Wants clean things
+every day, but never knows where to find them. He’ll wander out into
+the kitchen where I’m cooking breakfast and ask where his socks are,
+and they always in the same drawer.”
+“I fancy you’ve spoiled him.”
+“Not I. I don’t hold with spoiling men. They’re born spoiled anyhow.
+I found Greg walking round in a dream when I married, and a pile of
+socks as high as the door knob he’d thrown away because they’d holes in
+them so tiny you could hardly see them. I darned every one, you bet,
+and he’s wearing them now, though he don’t know it. He’s like that, as
+dainty as a cat, and as helpless as a blind kitten. I am a wife and I
+know my duty,” concluded Ida virtuously.
+“I certainly shall give Custer minute directions. I can’t have you
+worrying.”
+“I’ll not worry, once I’m started. Don’t you fret! But what’s the
+matter with you, Ora? You look kinder excited, and kinder--well,
+harassed. How’s that out of the new pocket dictionary I’ve set up in my
+head?”
+“I’ll soon have to look to my own vocabulary. Oh--I----”
+“Something’s up. Spit it out. It’ll do you good.”
+“Dear Ida! If you must use slang, do confine yourself to that which has
+passed through the mint of polite society. There is an abundance to
+choose from!”
+“Don’t you worry; I won’t disgrace you. But I must let out a tuck
+occasionally when we’re alone. Greg wouldn’t let me go to any of the
+Club dances, and I scarcely ever see Ruby or Pearl, they’re so busy--to
+say nothing of myself!”
+“Very well,” said Ora, laughing. “Let me be your safety valve, by all
+means.”
+“Fire away.”
+“Oh--how am I to tell you--I scarcely know, myself----”
+“I guess you’re waking up. Ruby, who knows human nature like a book----”
+Ora half rose. “Have you been talking me over with Miss Miller?” she
+asked haughtily.
+“Not much. Hardly seen her since we met. But you interest Butte, you
+know. I guess they talk you over good and plenty. It was only a few
+days before you called that the Miller girls visited with me all day,
+and they talked a lot about you. Ruby said that if you’d come to out of
+the sleeping beauty stage, you’d make things hum, and that her fingers
+just itched to get at your skin and hair.”
+“She said that to me once; and I don’t mind telling you that I called
+her in some time ago.”
+“Oh, I’m not a bat. I’ve seen you looking prettier every day, and
+there’s only one way to do it, when you’ve let yourself go. I’ve had
+the benefit of Ruby’s advice for years, and I don’t propose to let
+myself go, not for a minute.”
+“Right you are. And do live your life normally from day to day,
+developing normally. The awakening process, when the Nature that
+made you is no longer content to be a mere footstool for the mind,
+is almost as painful as coming to after drowning. I suddenly have
+become conscious of myself, as it were; I am interested in many more
+things--personal things--I seem to want far more of life than I did a
+few months ago----”
+“In other words, you don’t know where you’re at.”
+Ora laughed merrily. “My present condition could not be stated more
+patly!”
+“Ora, I don’t want to pry into your confidence, and you’re not one to
+give much of that anyhow, but everybody in Butte knows that you’re not
+in love with Mark, and never were, nice as you treat him--only because
+you couldn’t be anything but a lady if you tried. Mrs. O’Neil, one day
+when she was having a massage, told Ruby all about your marriage. She
+said you were the most bewildered young thing she ever saw, and that
+Mark snapped you up before another young man could get a look at you.
+Now, I’ve known Mark all my life--he beaued my sister who died, for a
+year or two, and his mother’s cottage was just up the hill anyhow; and
+although he’s a good chap and a born hustler, and bound to get rich,
+he’s not the sort of man women fall in love with. You wouldn’t have
+fallen in love with him, if he’d been born a millionaire, and travelled
+and got Butte out of his system. And if your father had left you well
+off, you wouldn’t have looked at him. There’s men, bad and good--that’s
+to say, better--that women fall in love with, and there’s men bad and
+good that they don’t, not in a thousand years. Poor old Mark’s a Don’t
+all right. You ain’t angry at my saying all this, but Mark was like my
+own brother for years?”
+“Oh, no, I am not angry. You are far too matter-of-fact. You might be
+discussing different grades of ore!”
+“Well, that’s about it, and the poor ore can’t help itself, any more
+than the slag and gangue can, and Mark’s not either of those, you bet.
+He’s good metal, all right, only he didn’t come out of the Anaconda
+mine--What have you turned so red about? My! But you do blush easy!”
+“It’s this--do you despise me--do you think I did wrong--Oh, I mean I
+have quite suddenly realised that I never should have married any man
+for so contemptible a reason. I should have gone to work----”
+“Work? You?”
+“Why not? Many a delicately nurtured woman has earned her bread.”
+“The more fool she if she could get a man to earn it for her. That’s
+what they’re for. The Lord knows they pride themselves on the way they
+do it, being the stronger sex, and a lot more words. I guess I’d have
+married before Greg turned up if I’d met a man I was sure was going to
+make something of himself. You did just right to take a good husband
+and take him quick when you found yourself in a hole.”
+“Yes--but----” Her blush deepened. “You see--” Ora never had had an
+intimate confidant. It was doubtful if she ever would have; not, at all
+events, a woman. But Ida, as she herself would have expressed it, could
+always see through a stone wall when there was a crack in it.
+“Oh, shucks!” she said. “Don’t let that worry you. If you don’t feel
+that way first you do last, I guess. Most of us are bored to death,
+but women have stood it for a few thousand years, and I guess they can
+stand it for a few thousand more. We all of us have to pay high for
+anything we want. That’s about the size of it. Forget it.”
+“Thanks, dear, you console me.” Ora smiled with closed eyes, but she
+was thrilled with a sudden inexplicable longing; like other of her
+recent sensations, it puzzled and alarmed her.
+“Ora!” exclaimed Ida suddenly. “There’s one thing that’s just as sure
+as death and taxes; and knowing men and knowing life don’t help women
+one little bit. It’s this: A woman’s got to have her love affair sooner
+or later. If she marries for love she’s pretty safe, for ten or fifteen
+years, anyhow. But if she doesn’t, well, she’ll get it in the neck
+sooner or later--and it’ll be about the time she begins to sit up and
+take notice. She’s a regular magnet then, too. So watch out.”
+Ora opened her eyes. They looked like steel. “I have never given a
+thought to love. There is nothing I want less. I shall continue to
+make Mark as good a wife as I know how to be----”
+“Oh, I’m not saying you’ll go off the hooks, like some I could mention
+in your own bunch, but if the man comes along you’ll fall in love
+all right. Might as well try to stop a waterfall from jumping over
+the rocks. I’m not so dead sure I do know what you’d do. Pride, and
+high breeding, and duty would pull one way, but--well, I guess when
+you marble women get waked up good and plenty, what they call roused,
+you’re the worst kind. A considerable number of other things would pull
+from the opposite direction, and one of them would be the man.”
+“Ida!” said Ora, aghast. “How do you know so much? Your opportunities
+have been very limited.”
+“Oh, have they? Wasn’t I born and brought up in a mining camp? Butte is
+some education, believe me. I ran straight all right, not only because
+the sporting life had no charms for me but because I figured on moving
+over one of these days to Millionaire Gulch. But it wasn’t for want of
+opportunity, and the same opportunities were handed over by men of your
+crowd--or fixin’ to be. Besides, some women are born wise that way, I
+guess, and I’m one of ’em. You’ve been living in a sort of self-made
+heaven all your life, with only books for inhabitants. I could put you
+wise every day in the week.”
+“It is true that although I saw a good deal of life while my mother
+lived so much in the world, and always have been deeply interested
+in the work of the psychological novelists, particularly the
+Europeans--I--well, I never applied it to my--never thought much about
+it until lately. I do not seem to know myself the least little bit.”
+“I guess it’ll be me--Oh, Lord, I--taking you to Europe, not you me.
+I’ll see that you don’t get into mischief, for I’d hate like the
+dickens to have you go to pieces over any man. Not one of them that
+ever lived since Adam is worth it. They’re all right to marry, all
+things being equal, but to sacrifice your life for, nixie. Any style of
+man you are partial to? I’ll keep his sort off with a broom.”
+“I’ve never gone so far as even to think----”
+“Every woman has her style in men,” said Ida firmly. “I heard of a
+woman once who had three husbands and each one had a wart on his nose.”
+“Oh, you are funny! I have heard that a woman falls in love with a
+type, not with the man, and, like all epigrams, that one contains a
+half-truth. I had two or three girlish fancies; one was an Austrian
+officer, another a French nobleman--and not impecunious--he wasn’t
+a fortune hunter. The third was a New Yorker who fell in love with
+my cousin and married her. I had a few heart spasms over him, in
+particular; possibly because he was quite out of reach. It is true that
+they were all more of or less of a type--tall and thin and dark, with
+something very keen and clever and modern in their lean--rather hard
+faces.”
+“Hi!” cried Ida.
+“What is the matter? You look at me as if you had seen a ghost.”
+Ida threw back her head and laughed, showing her sharp little white
+teeth, and straining her throat until the firm flesh looked thin and
+drawn, over too strong muscles. “Oh, Lord! I was just thinking what
+a lot of trouble I’m in for, playing dragon to my lily-white lady. I
+guess about half the men in the world are brunettes, fat or lean. Say,
+are you going to the Prom? It’s only a month off.”
+“I hadn’t thought about it. Probably. I have been asked to be a
+patroness, and Mark is sure to want to go. Have you decided what to
+wear?”
+“Ma gave me a coral-red silk when I married, and I’m going to make it
+over and veil it with black net.”
+“Splendid!” cried Ora warmly. “Bring it up to the house. Mrs. Finley is
+really an excellent seamstress. We’ll all take a hand. It will be great
+fun. And you will look stunning.”
+“What will you wear?”
+“I expect some gowns from my New York dressmaker in a few days. It will
+depend upon the state of my complexion, I fancy.”
+XVIII
+Ora received another budget of Ida’s philosophy on the day before the
+Prom; she had taken her a long string of pink coral she had found
+among her old possessions, and after Ida had wound it in her hair
+and round her neck, and finally tried on her gown, and then draped
+Ora successively in various scarves, remnants of her own wedding
+finery--being almost as interested in the new complexion as Ora
+herself--they had suddenly come to the conclusion that while in Europe
+they would assume the mental attitude of girls travelling without a
+chaperon. They would see the world from the independent girl’s point
+of view, flirt like girls, not like married women (which at least
+would save their consciences), force men to accept the phenomenon. For
+a time they discussed the superior advantages of being young widows,
+but, alluring and even thrilling as were the possibilities evoked, they
+dismissed the alternative on the ground that it might prove a bore
+always to be on the defensive; man making no secret of his attitude
+toward widows. Besides, they felt a delicacy about burying their
+indulgent husbands even in mental effigy. As counterfeit girls they
+could crowd enough excitement into six months to serve them in memory
+during long periods of Butte.
+“It will be some bluff,” cried Ida. “And believe me, we’ll have the
+time of our lives. And no remorse in mine. I intend to flirt the limit,
+for I’m just ready to quit being a mother for a while and see a man’s
+eyes kindle when he comes nigh--see him playing about at the end of
+a string. I didn’t have near enough of it even when I had half Butte
+at my feet--excuse what sounds like conceit but is cold fact. Now,
+I’m going to light up every man I take a fancy to. I don’t care an
+abandoned prospect hole whether I hurt ’em or not. All they are good
+for is to give us a good time.”
+“Ida!” Ora was aghast as she often had been before at these naked
+feminine revelations. “You talk like a man-eater. I hope to heaven I am
+not like that down deep.”
+“Oh, maybe you won’t be so bad because you haven’t got as much vanity.
+Mine’s insatiable, I guess, and good old Mother Nature taught me the
+trick of covering it up with the don’t-care-a-damn air combined with
+the come-hither eye. That does the trick. And they get what hurt’s
+going. I don’t. You’ll cultivate men, thinking it’s your vanity waked
+up, or mere youth, or because it’s time to have a fling, but what
+you really are after is the one and only man. The Companion. The
+Sympathetic Soul. The Mate. All that rot. He don’t exist, kiddo. He’s
+the modern immaculate conception, and he’s generally stillborn; the
+bungling doctor being the plain unadulterated male inside of himself.
+You’ve got to be your own companion, and if you want happiness you can
+get it by expecting just nothing of men. Use them. Throw them on the
+ash heap. Pass on to the next. Quit sitting on the watch tower with
+your eyes trained on the horizon for the prince that is born and lives
+and dies in a woman’s imagination.”
+“I have seen happy--united couples--who had been married for years.”
+“Oh, yes; some couples are born to jog along together, and some wives
+are born man-tamers, and get a lot of satisfaction out of it. But
+you’re much too high-falutin’ for that. You’ll always dream of the
+impossible--not only in man but of what he’s got to give--which ain’t
+much. And I didn’t need all them--those--psychological and problem
+and worldly novels you made me read, translated from half a dozen
+languages, either. You take my advice, Ora, and don’t start off on any
+fool hunt for an ideal. Men are just matter-of-fact two-legged animals,
+and as selfish as a few thousand years of fool women have naturally
+made them. He does well while he’s courting because he’s naturally good
+at bluff. But every bit of romance oozes out of him after he’s eaten
+his first breakfast of ham and eggs at home. We can keep up the bluff
+forever. Men can’t. Each one of them’s got a kid twin brother inside
+that plays marbles till he dies and makes you feel older every day. No,
+sir! If I ever had any delusions, I’ve got over them good and plenty.
+And I thank the Lord,” she added piously.
+“I think that rather adorable, you know: the eternal boy. And I fancy
+it is all that saves men from becoming horrors; in this country, at
+least--when you consider the unending struggle, and strain, and sordid
+business of money getting. They use up all their bluff in the battle of
+life, poor things. Why shouldn’t they be natural with us?...”
+Ora was recalling this conversation as she sat in her bedroom on the
+following evening. Her elemental yet uncannily sophisticated friend
+had a way of crashing chords out of jealously hidden nerves, which no
+exercise of will could disconnect from the logical parts of the brain.
+If it were true that what her now rampant ego, too long starved, really
+demanded was man and romance, she wished she had let herself run to
+seed until it was too late to reclaim her lost beauty and adventure
+into temptation. But a glance into the mirror deprived her of any
+further desire to join the vast sisterhood of unattractive females.
+Moreover, she had faith in the dominance of her will and common sense,
+and if her beauty would help her to the mental contacts she craved with
+brilliant and interesting men, far be it from her to execrate it.
+She dismissed the mood of self-analysis impatiently and opened her
+wardrobe, although half inclined not to attend the Prom. She was
+one of the patronesses, but her presence was not essential. It was
+pre-eminently the night of nights for young folks--brownies and
+squabs--and the absence of a married woman of twenty-six would pass
+unrecorded. Not a man in Butte interested her personally, nor was she
+in a frame of mind to be interested by any of the too specialised
+products of the West. Nor was she inordinately fond of dancing; there
+really was no object in going to this party save to witness the début
+and possible triumph of her protégée.
+But she felt something more than indifference toward this party. It
+was as if a gong sounded a warning in the depths of her brain--in her
+subconsciousness, perhaps, where instinct, that child of ancestral
+experience, dwelt. But even while she hesitated she knew that she
+should go, and she took one of her new gowns from a long drawer, and
+then began to arrange her hair.
+It was now some five months since Miss Ruby Miller had taken her in
+hand, and if the young woman’s bank account was heavier her pride as
+an artist far outweighed it. Ora’s hair was soft, abundant, the colour
+of warm ashes. The skin of her face was as white and transparent,
+as “pearly” to use its doctor’s own descriptive word, as the fine
+protected surface of her slender throat, her thin but by no means bony
+neck. Her lips were pink; they never would be red; and after one taste
+of “lip stick,” Ora had declined to have them improved by art. But
+they were a soft country-rose pink and suited her clear whiteness far
+better than scarlet. Her eyes, never so clear and startling as now,
+lighted up the cold whiteness of her face and made her pink mouth look
+childish and somewhat pathetic. If her lips had been red, her face
+would have had the sinister suggestion so many women achieve with the
+assistance of art; as it was she looked by no means harmless as she
+smiled at herself in the mirror and coiled her hair softly on the top
+of her head. After some experimenting she had decided that she could
+not improve upon an arrangement which for the present at least was all
+her own.
+She rang for Custer to hook her gown. It was a very soft gown of white
+satin draped about the bust with lace and chiffon. It was cut to the
+waist line in the back and almost as low in front, for her figure was
+hardly more developed than a growing girl’s; and it was unrelieved by
+colour. She had already put on the string of pearls her mother had
+hidden when the other jewels were sold in Paris. Altogether it was a
+costume she would not have dared to wear even two months ago, when a
+touch of colour on the bodice or in her hair was necessary to divert
+attention from her spoiled complexion.
+Custer had been her mother’s maid for many years and had returned with
+her to Butte. After an interval of employment elsewhere, she had come
+to Ora as soon as Mark had built his house. She hooked the gown, pinned
+up a stray lock with an invisible hairpin, shook out the little train,
+and stood off.
+“It reminds me of the way your mother used to look,” she said, “and
+you’re even prettier than she was, Miss Ora--now. But I fancy you’ll be
+more comfortable in this gown when you wear it in London. These ladies
+dress smartly enough, but never as low as the English ladies do,
+leastways out here. I fancy it’s the Western men. They don’t seem to
+approve of showing too much.”
+“Well, I think I’ll rather enjoy startling the natives. Quick--give me
+my wrap! I hear Mr. Blake coming. No controversy here.”
+XIX
+The Prom was held not in the School of Mines but in The Coliseum, a
+large hall over a saloon and garage, half way between The Hill and The
+Flat, requisitioned by all classes when the weather forbade the use
+of Columbia Gardens. The walls were covered with the School colours,
+copper and green, flags, and college pennants. The ceiling was a
+network of electric lights with coloured globes, copper and green,
+fluttering paper and sprays of apple blossoms, brought from far! “Cozy
+corners” looked like fragments of a lower altitude, and the faithful
+palm was on duty everywhere. The orchestra, on a suspended balcony in
+the centre of the room, was invisible within the same elaborate scheme
+of decoration.
+When Ora entered with her husband the Grand March had finished and the
+instruments were tuning for a waltz. She saw Ida standing directly
+under the orchestra surrounded by several men who patently were
+clamouring for dances. Even in that great room full of women dressed
+from New York and Paris, Ida looked distinctive and superb. Ora smiled
+proudly, as she observed her, quite oblivious that the throng of men
+and women and indignant “squabs,” who had been discussing the wife
+of Gregory Compton, had transferred their attention to the dazzling
+apparition in white. Ida wore her gown of coral silk, whose flimsiness
+was concealed under a mist of black shadow lace. The coral beads
+clasped her strong white throat and fell to her supple waist. There was
+a twist of coral tulle in her black hair, which was arranged in the
+rolling fashion of the moment, obeyed by every other woman in the room
+save Ora Blake. And her cheeks, her lips, were as coral as the fruit of
+the sea. She had powdered her face lightly to preserve its tone through
+exercise and heat. All the arrogance of youth and beauty and powerful
+magnetism was expressed in the high poise of her head; a faint smile of
+triumph curved above her little white teeth; her body was in perfect
+repose yet as alert as that of a healthy young cat. The waltz began and
+she glided off in the arm of a young mining engineer from the East. She
+danced precisely as the best-bred women in the room danced (early in
+the evening): ease without abandon, dignity without stiffness.
+“Heavens, but the American woman is adaptable!” thought Ora. “I never
+realised before exactly what that time-worn platitude meant. Probably
+the standards in the Ida set are not so different from ours, after all.
+As for looks and carriage she might have three generations behind her.
+Is it democracy or the actress instinct of woman--permitted its full
+development in this country for the first time in her history?”
+This was not entirely a monologue, but addressed for the most part
+to Professor Becke, one of the most distinguished instructors of the
+School of Mines, and one of the men she liked best in Butte. He was a
+tall fair man, with a keen thin fimbriated face, and long fine hands.
+Ora made a point of asking him to dine with her once or twice a month.
+He led the way to two of the chairs on the side of the hall after she
+had announced that she did not intend to dance.
+“But this is the first party we have had for weeks,” he said. “They
+won’t leave you to me for long.”
+“I don’t feel in the mood for dancing. Besides,” she added with a new
+daring, “I’m all in white and looking very white once more; I don’t
+want to get warm and spoil the effect.”
+He stared into her challenging eyes as if he saw her for the first
+time. In that room, full of colour and of vivid women and young girls,
+she produced an almost disconcerting effect with her statuesque beauty,
+her gleaming whiteness, her frail white body so daringly displayed in
+its white gown. And, oddly enough, to those staring at her, she made
+the other women look not only commonplace but cold.
+Ora smiled to herself; she was quite aware of the impression at
+work, not only on the scientific brain, but on others more readily
+responsive; she had considered the prudence of practising on Butte
+before departing for wider fields.
+The Professor changed colour, but replied steadily: “Fancy you two
+extraordinary creatures loose in Europe! You should take a bodyguard.
+I can understand Compton giving his consent, for he is the kind of man
+that wouldn’t remember whether his wife were twenty or forty at the end
+of his honeymoon, and there can be little between them in any case. But
+Blake!”
+“Oh, we’ll come home without a scandal,” said Ora lightly. “Ida is the
+reverse of what she looks, and I--well, I am the proverbial ‘cold’
+American woman--that the European anathematises. Ida, of course, looks
+the siren, and I shall have some trouble protecting her, until she
+learns how far she can go. But at least I am forewarned.”
+“I fancy you will have more trouble protecting yourself!” Professor
+Becke’s voice was not as even as usual. His intellect was brilliant,
+and illuminating, and never more so than when in the society of this
+young woman whom heretofore he had admired merely as a vivacious and
+exceptional mind; but, startling as this revelation of subtle and
+alluring womanhood was, he remembered that he was no longer young and
+that he had an admirable wife with an eagle eye; he had no intention
+of scorching his fingers in the attempt to light a flame that would
+guide him to the rocks even were he invited to apply the torch. But
+he was a man and he sighed a little for his vanished youth. If he had
+been twenty years younger he fancied that he would have forgotten his
+good lady and risked burning his heart out. He moved his eyes away
+deliberately and they rested on Mark Blake, mopping his scarlet face
+after a lively waltz. He was a kindly man, but all that was deathlessly
+masculine in him grinned with a cynical satisfaction.
+“Who is that?” asked Ora abruptly, and forgetting a faint sensation of
+pique.
+“Ah! Who?”
+She indicated a man leaning against one of the doorways, and looking
+over the crowd with unseeing eyes. “Heavens! What a jaw! Is he as
+‘strong’ as he looks, or is he one of Bismarck’s wooden posts painted
+to look like a man of iron?--Why, it’s----”
+“That is Gregory Compton, and he is no wooden post, believe me.”
+“I haven’t seen him for years. _Can_ any man be as strong as _he_
+looks?”
+“Probably not. He hasn’t had time to discover his master weaknesses
+yet, so I don’t pretend to guess at them myself. At present he is too
+absorbed in squeezing our poor brains dry----”
+“Doesn’t he ever smile?”
+“So rarely that the boys, who have a nickname for all their fellow
+students, call him ‘Sunny Jim.’”
+“What do you think of his wife?” asked Ora abruptly. She hardly knew
+why she asked the question, nor why she felt a secret glow at the
+expected answer.
+The Professor turned his appraising eye upon the substantial vision
+in coral and black that tonight had been pronounced the handsomest
+woman in Butte. “There could be no finer example of the obvious. All
+her goods are in the front window. There are no surprises behind that
+superlative beauty; certainly no revelations.”
+“I wonder! Ida is far cleverer than you think, and quite capable of
+affording your sex a good deal in the way of surprises, not to say
+shocks.”
+“Not in the way I mean--not as you will do, worse luck for my helpless
+sex. There is no soul there, and, I fancy, little heart. She is the
+last woman Gregory Compton should have married.”
+“Why?” Ora tried to look bored but polite.
+“Oh--whatever she may have for other men she has nothing for him. She
+looks the concentrated essence of female--American female--egoism.
+Compton needs a woman who would give him companionship when he wanted
+it, and, at the same time, be willing in service.”
+Ora bristled. “Service? How like a man. Are we still expected to serve
+men? I thought the world was moving on.”
+Professor Becke, who, like most men married to a domestic
+commander-in-chief, was strenuously opposed to giving women any powers
+backed up by law, asked with cold reserve: “Are you a suffragette?”
+Ora laughed. “Not yet. But I just escaped being born in the Twentieth
+Century. I belong to it at all events.”
+“So you do, but you never have been in love----” He broke off in
+embarrassment; he had forgotten for the moment that this white virginal
+creature had been married for six years. She showed no resentment, for
+she barely had heard him; she was looking at Gregory Compton again, and
+concluding that he might appeal strongly to the supplementary female,
+but must antagonise women whose highly specialised intellects, at
+home only on the heights of civilisation, had submerged their primal
+inheritance.
+Professor Becke went on:
+“Even a clever woman’s best career is a man. If you women develop
+beyond nature that powerful old tyrant will simply snuff you out.”
+“Well, man will go too. That may be our final triumph.”
+“Atlantis over again! And quite in order that the race should perish
+through the excesses of woman. Then Nature, having wiped her slate
+clean with a whoop, will begin all over again and precisely where she
+did before. No doubt she will permit a few records to survive as a
+warning.”
+“You may be right--but, although I have an idea I shall one day want to
+justify my existence by being of some use, it won’t be because my sex
+instinct has got the better of my intelligence. But I refuse to think
+of that until I have had a royal good time for a few years.”
+“That is your right,” he said impulsively. “You are altogether
+exceptional--and you have had six years of Butte! I am glad your mine
+has panned out so splendidly. There is quite an excitement in the
+Sampling Works----”
+“What?” Ora forgot Gregory Compton. “I knew the mine was doing well----”
+“Surely you know that your profits in royalties already must be
+something over a hundred thousand dollars----” He stopped in confusion.
+Ora’s face was radiant and she never had liked Mark as sincerely as
+at that moment. “It is just like him! He wanted to wait and give me a
+great surprise--my husband, I mean.”
+“And I have spoilt it! I am really sorry. Please don’t tell him.”
+“I won’t. And I’ll be the most surprised woman in the world when he
+takes me to the bank to sign my letter of credit. You needn’t mind.
+I’ll have the fun of thinking about it for five months--and rolling it
+up in my imagination. Ah!”
+“Compton has recognised you, I think.”
+Ora had met the long narrow concentrated gaze of her husband’s friend.
+She bowed slightly. Compton made a step forward, hesitated, braced
+himself, and walked toward her.
+“A constitutionally shy man, but a brave one,” said Professor Becke
+with a grim smile, as he rose to resign his seat. “A strong magnet has
+pulled up many a sinking heart. Good evening, Compton. Glad you honour
+our party, even if you don’t dance.”
+“I intend to ask Mrs. Blake to dance.” Gregory betrayed nothing of his
+inner trepidation although he did not smile. He could always rely upon
+the stern mask into which he had trained his visage not to betray him.
+Ora, oblivious of her resolution not to dance, rose and placed her
+hand on his shoulder, smiling an absent farewell to Professor Becke.
+For a moment she forgot her resentful interest in this man in her
+astonishment that he danced so well. She had the impression of dancing
+with a light supple creature of the woods, one who could be quite
+abandoned if he chose, although he held her as if he were embracing
+a feather. She wondered if it were his drop of aboriginal blood and
+looked up suddenly. To her surprise he was smiling, and his smile so
+altered the immobility of his face that she lost her breath.
+“I feel as if I were dancing with a snowflake,” was his unexpected
+remark.
+“You look the last man to pay compliments and murmur sweet nothings.”
+“Are you disappointed?”
+“Perhaps I am. I rather liked your attitude--expression, rather--of
+cool superiority.”
+“Why don’t you use the word prig?”
+“Oh, no!--Well, perhaps that is what I did mean.”
+He stopped short, regardless of the annoyance he caused several
+impetuous couples. “If you did I shall leave you right here.”
+“I did not. Please go on. Everybody is staring at us. You took me
+completely by surprise.”
+“I? Why?”
+“You are the last man I should expect the usual small talk from.”
+“Small talk? Heavens knows I have none of that. Girls used to talk my
+head off in self-defence. I merely said what I thought. What did you
+expect me to talk about?”
+“Oh--mines, I suppose.” Again, to her surprise, his face lit up as if
+by an inner and jealously hidden torch. But he said soberly:
+“Well, there is no more interesting subject. Never has been since the
+world began. Where shall we find a seat?”
+The waltz was over. The chairs were filling. Young couples were
+flitting toward the embowered corners.
+“Let’s go outside,” he said abruptly.
+“What? On the street? And nobody goes out of doors from a ballroom in
+June.”
+“Good reason for going. Come with me.”
+He led her to the cloak-room. “Get your wrap,” he said.
+Ora frowned, but she asked for her heavy white woollen wrap and put it
+on; then automatically followed him down the stairs and into the street.
+“Why don’t you get your coat and hat?” she asked, still dazed. “It’s
+cold, you know.”
+“I never was cold in my life,” he said contemptuously. He hailed a
+taxi. “I must go up to the School of Mines, and ask the result of some
+assaying,” he added as he almost lifted her in. “Then we can talk up
+there. May I smoke?”
+“I don’t care what you do.”
+He smiled directly into her resentful eyes this time and tucked the
+lap-robe about her.
+XX
+He apparently forgot her during the short drive and stared through
+the open window of the cab, his thoughts, no doubt, in the assay room
+of the School, where several students, as ardent as himself, were
+experimenting with ore they had managed to secure from a recently
+opened mine. Ora’s resentment vanished, partly because she reflected
+that a new and original experience was a boon to be grateful for in
+Butte, but more because she was thrilled with the sense of adventure.
+Her woman’s instinct gave assurance that he had no intention of making
+love to her, but it also whispered that, whether she liked or disliked
+him when the adventure was over, she would have something to remember.
+And it was the first time she ever had indulged in recklessness. Butte
+would be by the ears on the morrow if it learned of her escapade.
+When they reached the dark School of Mines he dismissed the taxi, and
+said to Ora, “Wait for me here. I shan’t be a moment.”
+He disappeared and Ora shrugged her shoulders and sat down on the
+steps. He returned in a few moments and extended himself over several
+steps below her.
+“Comfortable?” he asked.
+“Very!”
+“It’s a night, isn’t it?” he asked abruptly.
+He was not looking at her but at the low sulphurous blue sky, with its
+jewelled lattice, white, yellow, green, blue. There were no tree tops
+to rustle, but from the window below came the voluptuous strains of the
+Merry Widow waltz, mingling incongruously with the raucous noises of
+the sleepless town: the roaring street-cars, the blasts of engines, the
+monstrous purr of motor-cats.
+“If we could cut out that jungle,” he said with a sigh. “Are you warm
+enough?” He pulled the cloak about the lower part of her body. “I
+should have taken the rug from the cab----”
+“I am warm enough,” she said impatiently, and what she longed to say
+was, “How in heaven’s name did you marry Ida Hook?” He had transferred
+his gaze to the city and she studied his face. Then she understood. In
+spite of its intense reserve and detachment, its strength and power,
+its thin sensitive mouth, it was the most passionate face she had
+ever seen. As a matter of fact she had been at pains to ignore the
+purely masculine side of men, her fastidious mind never indulging in
+comparisons. She half rose with a sense of panic. Again he looked up
+solicitously.
+“I am sure you are not comfortable. I could find you some cushions----”
+“Please don’t. So you love beauty?” She was deeply annoyed with
+herself, but could think of nothing less banal. He certainly was not
+easy to talk to.
+“Don’t you? It would be odd if you didn’t. One reason I brought you up
+up here was because I wanted to look at you in the starlight where you
+belong--the cold starlight--not in that crowded gaudy room full of mere
+human beings.”
+“Are you a poet? I have somehow received the impression that you are a
+mere walking ambition.”
+“I’m no poet if you mean one of those writing fellows.” His tone
+expressed unmitigated scorn.
+“Well, no doubt you have read a great deal of poetry, little as one
+would suspect it.”
+“Never read a line of it except when I had to decline it at school--any
+more than I’ve ever read a line of fiction.”
+“Well, you’ve missed a great deal,” said Ora tartly. “Poetry is
+an essential part of the beauty of the world, which you seem to
+appreciate. And the best of fiction is the best expression of current
+history. What do you think when you star-gaze?”
+“You mean, can I think at all when I haven’t read what other men have
+thought?”
+“No.--No doubt the most original brains are those that have not read
+too much, are not choked up.” Ora made this admission reluctantly, but
+he had caught her fairly. “Tell me at least what the stars suggest to
+you. About everything has been said of them that can be said. The poor
+old stars have been worked to death.”
+“The stars above Montana are watchfires protecting the treasure below.
+Perhaps they are bits of her treasures, gold, silver, copper, sapphire,
+that flew upward in the final cataclysm.”
+“I don’t know whether that is poetical or gross materialism.”
+“No mines, no poets. Nearly all conquest from the dawn of history
+down to the Boer War has had the acquisition of mineral wealth as
+its real object. The civilisation that follows is incidental; it
+merely means that the strongest race, which, of course, knows the
+most, wins. If ever we have a war with Mexico, what will be the
+cause? Mines. Incidentally we will civilise her. Peru, Mexico, India,
+the Americas--all have been invaded in their turn by more civilised
+nations, and all after plunder. They gave as much as they took, but
+little they cared about that. What opened up California? This great
+Northwest? Prospectors in search of gold. Excuse this lecture. I am the
+least talkative of men, but you have jarred my brain, somehow. Read the
+history of mines and mining if you want romance.”
+“As a matter of fact few things interest me more. I am so glad my mine
+has been leased for a year only. When that is up I am going to mine
+it myself. I’ll build a bungalow out there and go down every day.
+Perhaps in time I could be my own manager. At all events, think of the
+excitement of watching the ore as it comes up the shaft; of running
+through a lean vein and coming suddenly upon a chamber of an entirely
+different kind of ore from what you had been taking out. Great shoots
+full of free gold! Wire gold! Or that crisp brown-gold that looks as if
+it were boiling out of the ore and makes one want to bite it! Why are
+you staring so at me?”
+His eyes were more widely opened and brilliant than she had seen
+them. “Do you mean that?” he asked. “I’ve a great notion to tell you
+something that I’ve not told anyone.”
+“Do tell me!”
+She leaned down eagerly. She had dismissed the feeling of panic as
+something to be forgotten as quickly as possible. But her brain was on
+fire to penetrate his. She felt an extraordinary mental stimulation.
+But he relapsed into absolute silence, although he held his head,
+lowered again, at an angle that suggested he might be thinking
+intently. She moved impatiently, but he sat still, staring downward,
+his eyes narrow once more. She noticed irrelevantly how black his hair
+was, and her white hand went out stealthily as if magnetised, but was
+immediately restored to order. In the vibrating silence she had another
+glimmer of understanding. He wanted to tell her something personal,
+but his natural secretiveness and habit of reserve were engaged in a
+struggle with the unusual impulse. She shifted the ground.
+“I wish you would tell me something of your boyhood,” she said abruptly.
+He looked up in astonishment. “I never talk about myself----”
+“How very egoistical.”
+“Ego----”
+“No, I did not say egotistical.”
+“Ah!” There was another pause, although he looked at her with a frown.
+“I have talked to you more than I ever talk to anyone,” he said
+resentfully.
+“It is the stars, to say nothing of the isolation. We might be up
+on one of your escaped nuggets. Remember that I have heard of you
+constantly for six years--and met you before on one of those occasions
+when all persons look alike. How could I escape curiosity?”
+“I brought you out to look at in the proper setting. I can’t say I had
+any desire to talk to you. I suppose I should not keep you out here----”
+“I am much happier and more comfortable than in that hot room. But
+surely you need more recreation. Why do you never go to dances?”
+“Dances? I? I only went tonight----” He, too, apparently, was
+determined to keep their respective spouses out of the conversation,
+for he veered off quickly. “It is a sort of religion to attend the Prom
+even if you only show yourself. I was about to beat a retreat when I
+saw you. Of course it was my duty to shake hands. Besides, I wanted to
+see if you were real.” And he smiled up into her eyes.
+“Do you know that we are flirting?”
+“Well, let us flirt,” he replied comfortably. “I haven’t the least idea
+what it is, but I am not a bit in love with you, if that is what you
+mean.”
+Ora drew herself up rigidly. “Well, you are----” she began, aware
+that she had a temper. Then she laughed. Why quarrel with a novel
+experience? Her anger turned into a more subtle emotion. She was well
+aware of the dazzling brightness of her eyes. She leaned forward and
+concentrated her mind in an attempt to project her magnetism through
+them, although again with a feeling of panic; it was too much like the
+magnet rushing out to the iron.
+He returned that powerful gaze unmoved, although an expression of
+perplexity crossed his own eyes. She was disconcerted and asked lamely:
+“Is it true that you used to run away and prospect in the mountains?”
+His face lit up with an enthusiasm her fascinations had been unable to
+inspire; and a richer note came into his voice. “I was eleven the first
+time and stayed out for six months. Two years after I ran away again.
+The next time I went with my father’s permission. I worked in one of
+the Butte mines one summer--but otherwise--well, you see, there is a
+good deal to do on a ranch. This is the first time I have been able to
+do as I please.”
+Ora looked at his long slim figure, his brown hands that tonight, at
+least, expressed a sort of cruel deliberate repose. Whatever they may
+have been in their ranch days they were smooth and well cared for now.
+“Somehow, I can’t see you handling a pick,” she said doubtfully. “Is it
+true that you intend to work in the mines all summer?”
+“Part of it--when I am not working in a mill or a smelter. I’d be
+ashamed of myself if I couldn’t do anything that another man can do.
+Some of the best miners look like rats.”
+He looked like a highly-bred mettlesome race-horse himself, and Ora
+wondered, as she had before tonight: “Where did he get it? Who were his
+ancestors?” She had seen dukes that looked like farm hands, and royal
+princesses that might have been upper housemaids, but her feminine
+(and American) mind clung to the fallacy that it takes generations to
+produce the clean-cut shell. She determined to look up his family tree
+in Holland.
+“Well--Custer--my housekeeper--will look after you,” she said as
+naturally as if her thoughts had not wandered for a moment. “Shall you
+do any mining on your own place before we come back from Europe?”
+He started and looked at her apprehensively, then scowled.
+“What is the matter? You may not know it but at this moment your face
+looks like an Indian battle-axe.”
+To her surprise he laughed boyishly. “You startled me. I have heard of
+mind readers. Well, I will tell you what I wanted to a while back. But
+you must promise not to tell--anyone.”
+“I promise! I swear it! And do hurry. I’m afraid you’ll shut up tight
+again.”
+“No, I won’t. I don’t know that I’d tell you were it not that your own
+mine is just over the border; we may have to consolidate some day to
+save a lawsuit--No, I will be honest; I really want to tell you. It is
+this: Close to the northeast boundary line of my ranch is an almost
+barren hill of limestone and granite. Shortly before I left--last
+October--I discovered float on the side of the hill. There is no doubt
+in my mind that we have both come upon a new mineral belt, although
+whether we are in the middle or on one edge of it is another question.”
+He told her the story of the storm and of the uncovering of the
+float. Nor did he end his confidence with a bare statement of fact.
+He told her of his sensations as he sat on the ragged ground leaning
+against the roots of the slain trees, his mental struggle, and final
+resolution. Then he told her of the hopes and dreams of his boyhood,
+and what it had meant to him--this sudden revelation that he had a
+mine under his feet--and all his own! He talked for half an hour, with
+the deep satisfaction that only a shy and silent person feels when
+talking into a sympathetic mind for the first time. Ora listened with
+a curious sense of excitement, as if she were overboard in a warm and
+pleasant but unknown sea. There were times when she felt like talking
+very fast herself. But she did nothing of the sort, merely jogging him
+diplomatically when he showed signs of relapsing into silence. Finally
+he stopped in the middle of a sentence and said abruptly:
+“That’s all.”
+“Oh! And you really have made up your mind not to begin work for a
+year?”
+“Quite!”
+“But--have you thought--it is only tonight I learned that the engineers
+who leased my mine have struck a rich vein. Suppose it dips toward
+yours----”
+“It does----”
+“Have they put on a big force?”
+“Naturally. They are rushing things, as they know they will not get the
+mine another year.”
+“Well, suppose their vein runs under your hill--through their
+side-line?”
+He stirred uneasily. “I am watching them. So far the dip is very
+slight. It may take a turn, or go down straight; or,” and he smiled at
+her again, “it may pinch out. Nothing is so uncertain as an ore vein.”
+“Do you think it will?” asked Ora anxiously.
+“No, don’t worry. I was down the other day; and did some prospecting on
+my own account besides. I think you’ve got a big mine.”
+“But suppose the vein should take a sudden dip to the right--you don’t
+want them burrowing under your hill----”
+“They won’t burrow under my hill,” he said grimly. “I should persuade
+them that there was an even richer vein on their left.”
+“Is there?”
+“I have reason to think so. They naturally would want to avoid the
+expenses of a lawsuit, and of course they would waste a lot of time
+sinking a shaft or driving across. Their lease would be pretty well up
+by the time----”
+“You _are_ cold-blooded! What of me? I should be making nothing,
+either.”
+“You’d make it all later on. How much do you expect to spend in Europe
+anyway? You must have made a thousand dollars a day since the first
+carload of ore was smelted.”
+She was on the point of replying that a woman could not have enough
+money in Europe, when she remembered the conspiracy to make him believe
+that a thousand dollars would cover the expenses of his wife.
+“Oh, it is merely that I don’t like being one of the pawns in your
+game,” she said.
+“You’d have all the more later on. Ore doesn’t run away.”
+“How _can_ you stay away from your mine? I feel--after all that you
+have told me!--that you are wild to get at it?”
+“So I am! So I am! But I said I wouldn’t and that is the end of it. I
+want that last year at the School.”
+“What shall you do with all that money--if your hill turns out to be
+full of gold? More, I hope, than the rest of our millionaires have
+done for Montana--which is exactly nothing. You might give the State a
+complete irrigating system.”
+“Good idea! Perhaps I will. But that is in the future. I want the fun
+first----”
+“Fun? It is the passion of your life, your great romance. You’ll never
+love a woman like that.”
+“Of course not.” But he was staring at her. He had a sensation of
+something swimming in the depths of his mind, striving to reach the
+surface. He changed his position suddenly and sat up. “And you?” he
+asked. “You have the same vision. Couldn’t you feel the same absorbing
+passion----”
+“For ore?” The scorn of her entire sex was in her voice. “Dead cold
+metal----”
+“Every molecule, every individual atom is alive and quivering----”
+“I am not interested in chemistry.”
+He still stared at her. Her cheeks were scarlet, her eyes blazing. She
+sprang to her feet.
+“Ida is the wife for you! She’ll never ask much of you and you never
+could hurt her, not even if you tried, she is fortunate in lacking just
+that which you could hurt.”
+“What is it?” He spoke eagerly. He, too, had risen, his eyes still on
+her face. Unconsciously he held his breath.
+“Oh, you wouldn’t understand it I told you--and I haven’t the least
+desire to tell you. She will make you comfortable, do you credit when
+you are a rich man, spend your money royally. That is all _you_ will
+ask of _her_. Now, I’ll go back.”
+He was a step or two below her. Their eyes were on a level. He looked
+at her sombrely for a moment, then walked past her up the steps.
+“You need not call a cab. I shall go home. I should only set them all
+talking if I appeared in the ballroom again. You can tell Mark that I
+didn’t feel well and that you took me home.”
+They walked along the high terrace until they found a point of easy
+descent.
+“What have I said to make you angry?” he asked.
+Ora laughed with determined good humour. “It was not I. It was merely
+my sex that flared up. Please forget it.”
+“I want to thank you for what you have done for Ida,” he said abruptly,
+and it was evident that the words cost him more than his former
+revelations. “It was a great thing for you to do.”
+“Oh, Ida has become my most intimate friend. I have never enjoyed Butte
+so much as in these last few months.”
+“Has she? And Mark is my best friend.” He jerked his head in annoyance;
+manifestly the remark had been too spontaneous. They were before her
+gate. She extended a limp hand, but he held it firmly. He was smiling
+again although he looked depressed.
+“Do give me a friendly shake,” he said. “I do like you and you will be
+going in a few days.”
+“I do not go for five months.”
+“You can go next week. I’ll square it with Mark.”
+“I don’t wish to go next week. Besides, Mark expects some important
+people here in the autumn, and needs my help. He has a deal on.”
+“I’ll dispossess Mark of any such notion. It’s all nonsense, this idea
+of a man’s needing his wife’s help in business. It’s a poor sort of man
+that can’t manage his own affairs, and Mark is not a poor sort. Now,
+you are angry again!”
+“That would be foolish of me,” she said icily. “You merely don’t
+understand. You never could. Do you want to get rid of me?” she asked
+abruptly.
+“Yes, I think I do.”
+Then Ora relented. She also gave him the smile that she reserved as her
+most devastating weapon. “I am sorry,” she murmured, “but I don’t think
+I can be ready for at least three months. Nor Ida.”
+“You go next week,” he said.
+And go they did.
+XXI
+Gregory and Mark established their wives comfortably in a drawing-room
+of the limited for Chicago, asked the usual masculine questions about
+tickets and trunk checks, expressed their masculine surprise that
+nothing had been forgotten, told them to be careful not to lean over
+the railing of the observation car, nor to make themselves ill with the
+numerous boxes of candy sent to the train, admonished them not to spend
+too much money in New York, to send their trunks to the steamer the day
+before they sailed, and give themselves at least two hours to get to
+the docks; above all not to mislay their letters of credit; then kissed
+them dutifully, and, as the train moved out, stood on the platform with
+solemn faces and hearts of indescribable buoyancy.
+“My Lord!” exclaimed Ida, as she blew her last kiss. “If Greg was going
+along I’d have to take care of him every step of the way. I wouldn’t
+trust him with the tickets the length of the train. Men do make me
+tired. They keep up the farce that we’re children just to keep up that
+other grand farce that they run the Universe. Any old plank to cling
+to.”
+Ora kept her sentiments to herself.
+If Mark, who was fond of his wife, and more or less dependent upon her,
+wondered vaguely that he should rejoice in the prospect of six months
+of bachelorhood, Gregory was almost puzzled. Ida was now no more to him
+personally than a responsibility he had voluntarily assumed and was
+determined to treat with complete justice; but at least she made him
+more comfortable than he had ever been before, and he had trained her
+to let him alone. Since her rapid improvement her speech had ceased
+to irritate him; she was never untidy, never anything but a pleasant
+picture to look at. He had also noted on the night of the party that
+she was indisputably the handsomest woman in the room and received the
+homage of men with dignity and poise. He had felt proud of her, and
+comfortably certain that he could trust her. Altogether a model wife.
+Nevertheless as he walked out Park Street after he left Mark at his
+office (Ida not only had sent his personal possessions to the Blake
+house but found time to unpack and put them away) his brain, which
+had been curiously depressed during the past week, felt as if full of
+effervescing wine.
+“Jove!” he thought, “why do men marry? What has any woman living to
+give a man half as good as his freedom.”
+His freedom was to be reasonably complete. He had told Ida to expect
+no letters from him and not to write herself unless she were in
+trouble. With all the fervour of his masculine soul he hated to write
+letters. Long since he had bought a typewriter, on which he rattled off
+necessary business communications so briefly that they would have cost
+him little more on the wire. He knew that he should hear constantly of
+his wife’s welfare from Mark, and had no desire to be inflicted with
+descriptions of scenery and shops.
+He felt a spasm of envy, however, as he thought of the letters Mark
+would receive from Ora. _Her_ letters, no doubt, would be worth
+reading, not only because she had a mind, and already had seen too much
+of Europe to comment on its obvious phases, but because they would be
+redolent of her subtle exquisite personality. He had once come upon a
+package of old letters among his mother’s possessions and read them.
+They had been written by his great-great-grandmother to her husband
+while he was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. It was merely the
+simple life of the family, the farm, and the woods, that she described,
+but Gregory never recalled those letters without feeling again the
+subtle psychological emanation of the writer’s sweet and feminine but
+determinate personality; it hovered like a wraith over the written
+words, imprisoned, imperishable, until the paper should fall to dust.
+So, he imagined, something of Ora’s essence would take wing on the
+rustling sheets of her letters.
+But the spasm of envy passed. Ora would write no such letters to Mark
+Blake. Her correspondence with her husband would be perfunctory,
+practical, brief. To some man she might write pages that would keep him
+up at night, reading and rereading, interpreting illusive phrases,
+searching for hidden and personal meanings, while two individualities
+met and melted.... But this yearning passed also. To receive such
+letters a man must answer them and that would be hell.
+He was on his way to change his clothes for overalls and get his blue
+dinner pail, well filled, from Custer. But before he reached the house
+he conceived an abrupt and violent distaste for life underground, an
+uncontrollable desire--or one which he made no effort to control--for
+long rides over the ranch, and a glimpse of Limestone Hill. It was
+seven months since he had seen his ranch save in snatches, and he
+wanted it now for months on end. He was not a town-bred man, and he
+suddenly hated the sight of Butte with her naked angles and feverish
+energies. He realised also that his mind insistently demanded a rest.
+To be sure he had intended to work in the mines for eight hours of the
+day, but he had planned to study for ten. Well, he would have none
+of it! Caprice was no characteristic of his, but he felt full of it
+this brilliant morning. If the air was so light in Butte that his feet
+seemed barely to touch the ground, so clear that the mountains seemed
+walking down the valley, what must it be in the country?
+He went rapidly to the house, left a message for Mark, packed a
+suit-case and took the next train for Pony. There he hired a horse and
+rode to his ranch.
+One of the sudden June rains had come while he was in the train. It
+had ceased, but a mass of low clouds brushing the higher tree tops
+was almost black. Their edges were silver: they were filled with a
+cold imprisoned sunlight, which transformed the distant mountains into
+glass, transparent, with black shadows in their depths. Montana looked
+as giving an exhibition of her astral body. But as he rode the clouds
+drifted away, the sky deepened to the rich voluptuous blue of that
+high altitude; even the grey soil showing through the thin grass of
+the granite hills looked warmer. Where the soil was thicker the ground
+was covered with a gorgeous tapestry of wildflowers; the birds sang
+desperately as if they knew how short was their springtime, affected
+like mortals by the thin intoxicating air. Even the waters in the creek
+roared as if making the most of their brief span. The mountains lost
+their glassy look; blue, ice-topped, they were as full of young and
+vivid life as when they danced about, heedless that the heaving earth
+purposed they should wait for centuries before settling into things
+of beauty for unborn man to admire. They never will look old, those
+mountains of Montana; man may take the treasure from their veins and
+the jewels from their crowns, but they drink forever the elixir of the
+air. The blue dawn fills their spirit with a deathless exultation, the
+long blue-gold days their bodies with immortal life, the starry nights,
+swinging their lamps so close to the snow fields, unroll the dramas
+of other worlds. They are no mere masses of rock and dirt or even of
+metal, these mountains of Montana, but man’s vision of eternal youth.
+Gregory drew rein on the crest of one of his own hills. Below lay
+the De Smet ranch, and he drew a long breath with that sensation of
+serene pride which comes to men when they contemplate their landed
+possessions, or their wives on state occasions. All the arable soil,
+on flat and hillside, was green; alfalfa, with its purple flowers,
+filled the bottoms; the winter wheat was rippling in the wind; the
+acres covered with the tender leaves of young flax were like a densely
+woven lawn. On the hills and the public range roamed his cattle. All of
+this fair land, including its possible treasure, was his, absolutely.
+By the terms of his father’s will he paid yearly dividends from the
+sale of steers and crops to three aunts, now reduced to two. Whether by
+accident or design, Mr. Compton had omitted all mention of “minerals
+under the earth.” Gregory had not the least objection to making these
+ladies rich, when his mines yielded their wealth, but he was jealous
+of every acre of his inheritance, far more of its secrets. All the
+passionate intensity of his nature he had poured out on his land and
+its subterranean mysteries, and he would have hailed an invention which
+would enable him to dismiss every man from his employ. But his head was
+hard and he always smiled grimly at the finish of his fanciful desires.
+He turned his horse toward the distant group of farm buildings, then
+wheeled abruptly and rode toward Limestone Hill. He had anticipated a
+long talk with the enthusiastic Oakley on the subject of crops, but he
+suddenly realised that he was in no mood to talk to anyone and that his
+secret reason for coming to the ranch was to visit his hill. Oakley
+would cling to him for hours. One glance had assured him that the crops
+would have satisfied a state experimental farm. Mining would fascinate
+him in its every detail, but as far as agriculture was concerned, he
+was interested only in results.
+As he rode toward the hill he frowned at the signs of activity on
+the other side of his boundary line. A large gasoline hoist had
+been installed. The waste dump was almost as high as a hill, four
+“double-sixes”--six-horse teams--stood waiting to be loaded from the
+ore bins. There were a group of miners’ cabins, a long mess-house, and
+a blacksmith’s shop. This was the only shadow on his future: he wanted
+no lawsuits, nor did he want to enter into partnership with anyone, not
+even Ora Blake.
+But he dismissed the matter from his mind, tied his horse, and,
+although Montanans are a slow race on foot out of deference to the
+altitude, ran up the hill. A glance told him that his secret was
+undiscovered. He knelt down and dug up the float, his heart hammering.
+And then he deliberately let the prospector’s fever take possession of
+him. The soles of his feet prickled as if responding to the magnets
+below; he had a fancy that gold, molten, was running through his veins.
+But his brain worked clearly. He was aware that his exultation and
+excitement were not due to the lure of gold alone, but to the still
+more subtle pleasure that a strong and obstinate nature feels in
+breaking a vow and deliberately succumbing to temptation. He had vowed
+in good faith that he would not open his mine until the third of June
+of the following year. But a week before he had spent an enchanted hour
+with a woman, and during the rest of that night--he had walked half way
+to Silver Bow and back--he had wanted that woman more than he had ever
+wanted anything on earth. He had forgotten his mine.
+At first he had lashed himself with scorn, remembering his infatuation
+for the woman he had married. He felt something of the indignant
+astonishment of the small boy who imagines himself catching a second
+attack of measles, before he discovers it is scarlet fever. But it
+took him only a brief time to realise that the passion inspired by Ora
+Blake was so much deeper and more various than the blind subservience
+to Nature that had driven him to Ida (who had not the least idea of
+being a tool of Nature herself) that it was far more dangerous than
+the first inevitable attack of youthful madness could ever be. It
+humiliated his pride to have been the mere victim of the race, the
+rudimentary male swept into matrimony by the first woman who combined
+superlative femaleness with virtue. Then he wondered if he could have
+loved Ora at that time; he certainly felt ten years older today.
+The word love brought him to his senses. It was formidable and
+definite. While he had believed himself to be in the throes of a second
+fever caught from a beautiful woman’s concordant magnetism, he had felt
+merely disgusted at his weakness, not in the least disloyal to his
+closest friend, whom he knew no woman could tempt him to betray. But he
+realised with hideous abruptness that if he were thrown with Ora Blake
+for any length of time she would become so necessary to him through
+the comprehensive appeal, which he only half understood, that he no
+more could pluck her out of him by the roots, as men disposed of the
+superficial passion when it became inconvenient, than he could tear the
+veins out of his hill with his hands.
+He had felt the danger dimly when with her, although he had made up his
+mind even then to get her out of Montana as quickly as possible. He
+vowed anew, with the first sensation of panic he had ever experienced,
+that the same sky should not cover them a week hence. He knew his
+influence over Mark Blake.
+Then he made a deliberate attempt to banish the subject from his mind,
+ordering his thoughts to their favorite haunts underground. But one
+little insidious tract, so difficult to control in all brains still
+young and human, showed a disposition to create startling and vivid
+pictures, to dream intensely, to cast up this woman’s face, fling it
+into his consciousness, with an automatic regularity that was like a
+diabolical challenge to his haughty will.
+He endeavoured to think of Ora with contempt: she had married a good
+fellow, but one whom she must have been compelled by the circumstances
+of her life to regard as her social inferior, and who assuredly was
+in no sense suited to her--merely from a parasitic dread of poverty.
+Other women went to work, even if delicately nurtured. But he was
+too masculine and too little influenced by certain phases of modern
+thought to condemn any woman long for turning to man in her extremity.
+Privately he detested women that “did things”; better for them all to
+give some man the right to protect them: marriage with a good fellow
+like Mark Blake, even without love, spoilt them far less than mixing
+up with the world in a scramble for bread. It would have spoilt Ora,
+who was now merely undeveloped; hardened, sharpened, coarsened her.
+He dismissed his abortive attempt to despise her; also a dangerous
+tendency to pity her.
+Before he finished his tramp he had recaptured his poise. What a woman
+like Ora Blake might have to give him he dared not think of, nor would
+he be betrayed again into speculation. Doubtless it was all rubbish
+anyway, merely another trick of the insatiable mating instinct. If
+it were more--the primal instinct plus the almost equally insistent
+demands of the civilised inheritances in the brain--so much the worse,
+the more reason to “cut it out.” But when he returned to the cottage in
+East Granite Street he threw himself on the divan in the parlour and
+slept there.
+XXII
+Therefore was he in no mood to fight another temptation; rather to
+take a sardonic pleasure in succumbing. An hour later, in overalls,
+and assisted by two of his labourers, outwardly more excited than
+he, for they had worked underground and vowed they smelt ore, he was
+running an open cut along the line of the float. As there was no
+outcropping it was mere guesswork; it might be weeks before he struck
+any definite sign of an ore body, but he was prepared to level the hill
+if necessary. Until he did come upon indications that would justify
+the expense, however, he was resolved not to sink a shaft nor drive a
+tunnel.
+They used pick and shovel until at the depth of eight feet they struck
+rock. Gregory had been prepared for this and sent the unwilling but
+interested Oakley into Pony for drills and powder. For two days more
+they drilled and blasted; then--Gregory took out his watch and noted
+the hour, twenty-three minutes after four--one of the men gave a shout
+and tossed a fragment into the air.
+“Stringer, by jinks!” he cried. “And it’s copper carbonate or I’m a
+dead ’un.”
+Gregory frowned, but laid the bit of ore gently on his palm and
+regarded it with awe. He wanted gold, but at least this was his,
+and the first of his treasure to be torn from its sanctuary. For a
+moment the merely personal longing was lost in the enthusiasm of the
+geologist, for the fragment in his hand was very beautiful, a soft rich
+shaded green flecked with red; the vugs, or little cells, looked as if
+lined with deep green velvet.
+But he turned and stared at the mining camp beyond his boundary line.
+One of the bits of float he had found last year had been gold quartz.
+Had it travelled, a mere chip, from the original body to this distant
+point, or danced here on the shoulders of an earthquake? Float, even
+under a layer of soil was often found so far from the ore body, that
+it was a more fallible guide than a prospector’s guess. He walked to
+the end of the hill, while his miners shrugged their shoulders and
+resumed the drilling.
+The great vein of the Primo mine was dipping acutely to the right.
+Might it not be wise for him to abandon his present position and sink a
+shaft close to the line, trusting to his practical knowledge and highly
+organized faculty to strike the vein?
+He stood for half an hour debating the question, listening to the
+intermittent roar of the engine, the rattle of ore dumped from the
+buckets. Then he walked back to the red gash in his own land. It would
+be the bitterest disappointment of his life if he failed to find gold
+in his hill, but the dominant voice in his brain was always practical,
+and it advised him to follow the willing metal for the present instead
+of incurring the expense of a shaft and possible litigation.
+“’Nother stringer!” announced one of the men, as Gregory arrived at the
+long deep cut. “Guess it’s time for a windlass.”
+“Guess it is. Go down to the house and get some lumber.”
+He descended into the cut and looked at the unmistakable evidence of
+little veins. Were they really stringer, tentacles of a great ore
+body climbing toward the surface, or a mere series of independent and
+insignificant veins not worth exploiting? He was in a pessimistic mood,
+but laughed suddenly as he realised how disappointed he would be should
+further excavation demonstrate there was no chamber of copper ore below.
+Four hours later the windlass was finished and four men were at work.
+At the end of the fortnight the windlass had been discarded in favor
+of a gasoline hoist, and twenty-five men in three shifts were employed
+upon a chamber of copper carbonate ore. The nearest of the De Smet
+hills began to take on the appearance of a mining camp; a mess-house
+and a number of cabins were building. Trees were falling, not only to
+make room for the new “town” but to timber the mine when the time came
+to sink or drift. At present those of the miners that could not be
+housed by the disgusted Oakley occupied tents or rude shacks. Oakley
+spent the greater part of his time escorting the great six-horse
+teams from the ranch to the public road, as their drivers showed an
+indifference to his precious crops only rivalled by Gregory Compton’s.
+Mark took a week’s vacation after the first carload of ore had been
+shipped from Pony to the sampling works in Butte and netted $65 a ton.
+Gregory, who was working with his men, far too impatient and surcharged
+with energy to walk about as mere manager, paid scant attention to him
+during the day; but Mark was content to sit on the edge of the cut and
+smoke and calculate, merely retreating in haste when the men lit the
+fuses.
+On the third morning, as he was approaching the mine at dawn with
+his host, Gregory suddenly announced his intention of sending for a
+manager; he purposed to sink a shaft on the edge of the chamber in
+order to determine if the present lode was the top of a vein.
+“Better take off your coat and go to work,” he added. “Do you good.
+You’re getting too fat.”
+“Getting? Thanks. But I don’t mind. You’ve got several hundred thousand
+dollars in that chamber by the looks of things, but I suppose that
+wouldn’t satisfy you?”
+“Lord, no. That is merely the necessary capital to mine the entire
+hill--or fight the powers that be when they get on to the fact that
+I’ve got another Anaconda.”
+“Do you believe it? Big pockets have been found in solitary splendor
+before this.”
+“This hill is mineral from end to end,” said Gregory with intense
+conviction. “And I want to get to the main lode as quickly as possible.”
+“By the way,” said Mark abruptly, “why don’t you locate your claim?”
+“Locate? Why, the land’s mine. Patent is all right My father even
+patented several placer claims----”
+“Mining laws are fearful and wonderful things. Judges, with a fat
+roll in their pockets, have been known to make fearful and wonderful
+interpretations before this. If you’ve struck a new copper belt--well,
+the enemy has billions. Better stake off the entire hill, and apply for
+patents. You may be grey before you get them, but the application is
+enough----”
+“It would cost a lot of money, and I don’t like the idea of paying
+twice over. This is costing thousands----”
+“And you’ll soon be taking out thousands a week. But if you need it all
+I’ll lend you the money. It would be a good investment for Ora. You can
+pay me four per cent. I’ve a mind to go ahead today and begin staking
+off.”
+Gregory stood still with his head inclined at the angle which indicated
+that he was concentrating his mind. “Very well,” he said curtly. “Go
+ahead. And I don’t need your money. Stake off every inch of the hill
+and have a good map made. See that the side lines are flush with the
+boundary. Of course I’d never have any trouble with you, but Mrs. Blake
+might take it into her head to sell. Get out a surveyor when you’re
+ready for him. Don’t bother me until the thing is done.”
+Mark took a longer vacation and worked off some twenty pounds. He
+wished ruefully that Ora would return suddenly, for he doubted that
+his love of good living would undo the excellent work when he was once
+more in Butte. He employed a U. S. deputy mineral surveyor, the map was
+made, Gregory applied for his patents; the lawyers’s mind was at rest
+for the present, although he kept his ears open in Butte.
+Gregory sank his shaft ostensibly to determine the dip and width of the
+vein leading from the chamber, but secretly with the hope of meeting
+the body of ore already uncovered in the Primo Mine. He was elated with
+his splendid “find” and sudden wealth, but his old dream never left him
+for a moment. Indeed he would have been more than willing to miss the
+pyroxenite if he could come upon a lode of quartz containing free gold.
+That was what he had visualised all his life. He wanted to stand in his
+own stopes and flash his lantern along glittering seams, not merely
+send masses of decomposed grey-black ore to the sampling works and
+await returns. If he found a vein worth the outlay he would erect his
+own stamp mill and listen to its music. Such is the deathless boy that
+exists in all men. Mere wealth meant far less to him than the beautiful
+costly toy to play with for a while.
+The shaft at the end of a month had gone down eighty feet; but
+had revealed only a lean vein of copper carbonates which made him
+forget his dreams in the fear that his mine was pinching out. But he
+persisted, and one morning when he went to the bottom of the shaft
+after the smoke of the blast had cleared away, and lit his candle,
+he picked up a lump of yellow ore that glittered like quartz packed
+with free gold. For a moment his head swam. He knelt down and brushed
+the shattered rock from several other bits of what looked like virgin
+gold; and he caressed them as gently as if they had been the cheek of
+his first born. But he was a geologist. He stepped into the ascending
+bucket a prey to misgivings. As soon as he examined his treasure in the
+sunlight he knew it at once for chalcopyrite--the great copper ore of
+the sulphide zone.
+After he had assayed it he philosophically dismissed regret. It ran
+$26 in copper with slight values of gold and silver. Chalcopyrite ore,
+as a rule, runs about five per cent. in copper, its commercial value
+lying in the immense quantities in which it may be found, although it
+is necessary to concentrate at the mine. If he had struck one of the
+rare veins of massive chalcopyrite, averaging $25 a ton, he would take
+out, after it was sufficiently developed, several thousand dollars a
+day; and, like the carbonates, it could go straight to the smelter. As
+a matter of fact the vein when uncovered proved to be six feet wide
+and grew slightly broader with depth. The miners were jubilant over
+their “fool’s gold”, and a number of people came out and asked for the
+privilege of looking at what the foreman, Joshua Mann, declared to be
+the prettiest pay streak in Montana.
+Gregory found his chalcopyrite during the third month after he began to
+investigate the hill. The chamber already had netted him over a hundred
+thousand dollars and grew richer with depth. He put an extra force at
+work on the promising shoot.
+In the Primo Mine the luck varied. The two engineers, Osborne and
+Douglas, exhausted the first lode, struck a poor vein, averaging ten
+dollars a ton, then ran into a body of the ore netting as high as four
+hundred dollars. Two months later they came up suddenly against a wall
+of country rock. Undaunted, they drove through the mass, and struck a
+lean shoot of chalcopyrite.
+XXIII
+“Well, what do you know about that?”
+Mark’s feet were on the table in the cabin Gregory had had built for
+himself on the top of the hill. The news had just been brought to them
+by one of the men who had a faithful friend in the Primo Mine.
+Gregory was engaged in biting a cigar to pieces. He waited some ten
+minutes before replying, during which Mark smoked philosophically.
+“I think this,” he said finally, “what those fellows are after
+is gold, not copper. Better suggest to them to get out an expert
+geologist--Holmes is a good friend of mine--who will tell them to sink
+a shaft over on the right, or run a drift from the original stope. All
+we need is time.”
+“I’m on. But will they do it? They’re not fools and what they’re after
+mainly is cash.”
+“I think they’ll listen to reason. They’re not far from the boundary
+line and there’s no possible doubt that the vein apexes here. The
+moment they cross the line I’ll get out an injunction. That would stop
+them anyhow, hold them up until their lease had expired. And their
+chance is good to recover the vein on the other side. No doubt it has
+faulted. Have you noticed those aspens about a hundred yards beyond
+their shaft? Where there are aspens there is water. Now as there is no
+water in sight it must be below the surface, and that would indicate
+faulting. There might be no ore on the other side, but the chance is
+worth taking. Better have a talk with Osborne tomorrow. He’s the least
+mulish of the two.”
+“Good. I might offer them some inducement--give them an extra month or
+two. Even so we’d win out. But they’re not the only danger ahead. How
+long since you’ve been in Butte?”
+“Not since I began work.”
+“Well, let me tell you that Amalgamated is buzzing. They’ve got on to
+the fact good and plenty that you’ve got the biggest thing in copper
+that has been struck in Montana for twenty years. Of course they get
+figures regularly from the sampling works. They know you’ve already
+taken out half a million dollars worth of ore--net--and that the new
+shoot is getting richer every minute. They’re talking loud about
+spoiling the market and all the rest of it. Of course that’s rank
+nonsense. What worries them is a rival in Montana. If your mine was in
+Colorado or Michigan they wouldn’t care shucks. You haven’t taken out
+enough yet to worry them about the market. But if they can queer your
+game they’ll do it. Lucky for you the smelting works need copper just
+now as badly as you need them. If it were not for that strike in the
+Stemwinder and the Corkscrew you might be having trouble.”
+Gregory smiled, but as he set his jaw at the same time it was not an
+agreeable smile. “I’m in a mood to fight somebody--and win. I wanted
+gold and didn’t get it. A row with Amalgamated would relieve my
+feelings--although I’d rather use my fists.”
+“They’re mad, too, because you’ve named your mine ‘Perch of the Devil.’
+That’s the old name for Butte, and they look upon it as a direct
+challenge.”
+“So it is. And you don’t suppose I’d call my mine Limestone Hill, do
+you? I shouldn’t get half the fun out of it. What the devil can they
+do, anyhow?”
+“That’s what I’m worrying about. You never know what Amalgamated has
+up its sleeve. There was just one man who was too much for them--for
+a while--and that was Heinze. And they got him in the end. I believe
+you’d give them a run for their money, and I don’t rank you second to
+Heinze or any other man when it comes to brains or resource. But--well,
+they’ve got billions--and the best legal talent in the state.”
+“You deserve a return compliment. You may consider yourself counsel for
+Perch of the Devil Mine.”
+“Jimminy! But I’d like a chance at them.” Mark’s cigar was burning his
+fingers but he only felt the fire in his brain. “Do you mean it?”
+“Who else? Watch them. Put spies on them. Fight them with their own
+weapons. They’ve spies among my miners. That doesn’t worry me a bit.
+I merely mention it. Let’s change the subject. I’ve got to sleep
+tonight. What’s the news from Europe?”
+“I’ve got Ora’s last letter here; want to hear it?”
+“Good Lord, no. Tell me what they are doing. I sent Ida five thousand
+dollars a few days ago, so I suppose they’re flying high. She cabled
+her thanks and said they were both well.”
+“Don’t you really know what they’ve been doing?”
+“Not a thing.”
+“Well--let’s see. They went over in June. They did France, Germany--lot
+of places in regulation tourist style--incidentally met several of
+Mrs. Stratton’s old friends. Then they went back to Paris, where they
+appear to have indulged in an orgy of clothes preparatory to a round of
+country house visits on the Continent and in England. Ora writes with
+great enthusiasm of--er--Ida’s improvement. Says you’d think she’d been
+on top all her life, especially since she got those Paris duds, and met
+a lot of smart people; makes a hit with everybody, and will astonish
+Butte when she comes back.”
+“That will please her!” He felt no glow of tenderness, but some
+satisfaction that he could gratify the ambitions of the woman he had
+married. He was still too keen on his own youthful dreams, and thankful
+at their partial fulfillment, not to sympathise with those of others.
+Mark left him to accept the more commodious hospitality of Oakley, and
+Gregory sat for another hour smoking, hoping for the mood of sleep. But
+the news had excited him, and he preferred to sit up rather than to
+toss about his narrow bed. The last part of the conversation, however,
+had given a new turn to his thoughts. Suddenly, unbidden, Ora flashed
+into his mind and refused to be dislodged. He walked up and down,
+striving to banish her as he had done before, when, sleepless, she had
+peremptorily demanded his attention. Tonight she was almost a visible
+presence in the little room.
+He sat down again and grimly permitted his mind to dwell upon his long
+communion with her on the steps of the School of Mines. He tried to
+analyse his impulse to take her there. Unconventional as he was it had
+never occurred to him to do such a thing before, and there were twenty
+women in the room whom he would have expected to exercise a more potent
+fascination had he been in the humour for a flirtation. He had been
+quite honest in telling Ora that he had taken her out merely to look at
+her under the stars, and in intimating that to make love to her was the
+last thing in his mind. She had hardly seemed a woman at all there in
+the ballroom or when he first sat at her feet; his mind was relaxed and
+the “queer” romantic or poetical streak that he often deprecated had
+taken possession of it; if he had had a suspicion of anything more he
+would have fled from her at once, for she was the wife of his friend.
+As it was he merely had dismissed Mark from his mind and tried the
+experiment of setting a bit of exquisite white poetry to the music of
+the stars....
+As often as her memory had assailed him he had longed to rehearse that
+scene; the conversation, desultory and personal; her white profile
+against the flaming blue sky; the intensity and brilliancy of her eyes,
+so unlooked for in her young almost colorless face; her pink mouth
+that changed its expression so often; her curious magnetism, so unlike
+that of the full-blooded woman--all of that and something more; the
+strange community of mind--or soul?--that had drawn him on to pour
+out his secret self into another self of whose contact he was almost
+literally sensible,--in a sudden desire for comprehension that had been
+like the birth of a new star in his mental constellation. He had felt
+the thrill of her sympathy, her understanding, then another thrill of
+perplexity, fear; then the little quarrel, when he had thought her more
+adorable than ever, and no longer bearing the least resemblance to a
+star-wraith, but wholly feminine. When he left her it was with the
+confused sense that he had sojourned for a bit with the quintessence of
+womanhood whom Nature had cast in a new and perilous mould.
+He went over the hour again and again, hoping to bore himself, to
+arrive at the conclusion that it had been a mere commonplace flirtation
+with a coquette who was as cold as she looked. But he found the
+recaptured scene very sweet. The power of concentration he possessed
+enabled him to shut out the little room and sit at the feet of the
+woman whose magic personality had penetrated the barriers he so
+jealously had built about his soul and given him the first sense of
+companionship he had ever known.
+He was filled with a longing that shook him and hurt him, to feel that
+sense of sympathetic companionship, of spiritual contact, again. And
+far more. He knew that she had loved no man, that all the glory and
+the riches within her were waiting--and if she had waited, and he had
+waited, and they had met unfettered that night----
+He sprang to his feet. His face in the smoky light looked black.
+“God!” he muttered. “God! Have I fallen as low as that? If ever I think
+of her again I’ll cut my heart out. I hope to God the Amalgamated puts
+up the hell of a fight. What I want is a man’s work in the world, not a
+play actor’s.”
+XXIV
+A week later, Gregory, who was down in the bottom of the shaft,
+received a message by way of a descending miner that a gentleman from
+Butte, one Mr. John Robinson, requested the favour of an interview, and
+awaited him in the cabin on the top of the hill. At least such is the
+polite translation of the message as delivered: “Say, Boss, there’s a
+guy upstairs in your shack what says he’s from Butte, and’s come out to
+have a chin with you--some important. Says his name is John Robinson.”
+Gregory swore under his breath and for a minute his face looked ugly
+and formidable. But as he stepped into the bucket and gave the signal
+he permitted his expression to change to one of grim amusement.
+Mr. Robinson was one of the brilliant galaxy that guided the legal
+footsteps of “Amalgamated”; that powerful company, financed by Standard
+Oil, which owned thirty-one of the mines of Butte openly, and exerted a
+power in Montana far exceeding that of state or nation.
+Gregory wore corduroy trousers and coat, and these as well as his face
+and hands were white with “muck”, a mixture of rock-dust and water
+which spattered everyone in the vicinity of the ore drills; but he
+wasted no time to clean up before climbing to his cabin to meet the
+ambassador from Amalgamated.
+Mr. Robinson, a portly gentleman, still young, but manifestly the
+victim of easy fortune, rose from his chair before the stove and
+greeted his host with beaming smile and extended hand.
+“My dear Mr. Compton!” he exclaimed. “It is a great pleasure to meet
+you again. Of course you have forgotten me for I was two grades above
+you in the High, when you were a little chap----”
+“What have you come here for? Out with it! I’ve no time to waste. Sit
+down if you like.”
+Mr. Robinson colored angrily. He knew little of the man with whom he
+had come to deal, but had always relied upon his urbanity and Western
+heartiness to “make a hit.” He knew Mark Blake and, although he had
+heard, like others, of Gregory Compton’s record at the School of Mines,
+he had assumed that he was a mere student, and in other respects more
+or less the same sort of man as his chum. This man looked unlike any he
+had ever met. He concealed his chagrin, however, and resumed his seat.
+“Really, Mr. Compton, you are somewhat abrupt----”
+“Get down to business. What does Amalgamated want?”
+Mr. Robinson wisely took the cue.
+“To buy you out.”
+“How much will they pay?”
+“How much do you want?”
+“What do they offer?”
+“Well, between you and me. I fancy they might go as high as a hundred
+thousand.”
+“Tell them to go to hell.”
+“How much do you want?”
+“A hundred millions.”
+“Good God, man, are you mad!”
+“If you had permitted me to finish. I should have added--in other
+words, nothing. There isn’t money enough inside of Montana, let alone
+on top, to buy one acre of this ranch.”
+“But--you know what most mines are--pockety--yours may peter out any
+minute.”
+“All right. I take the chances.”
+“The history of Butte Hill is unique. There will never be another----”
+“How do you know?”
+“It stands to reason----”
+“Why?”
+“Oh, Lord, man, if you are indulging in wild dreams----!”
+“My dreams concern no one but myself. I’m satisfied with my hill and
+that’s all there is to it.”
+“I’m afraid not. Look here, you are a fine young fellow with a
+big future--people talk a lot about you--I don’t want to see you
+crushed----”
+“You won’t.”
+“I’m not here to make threats, but you are not so--ah--unsophisticated
+as to imagine that if Amalgamated sets out to get rid of you, you can
+stand up against them?”
+“They can’t do a damned thing and you know it. They might have a few
+years ago, when a roll could be passed on the street to a judge who was
+to deny or grant an injunction within a few hours, and at a time when
+there was no prospect of the referendum and recall; when the people of
+Montana took the buying and selling of men in the legislature as part
+of the game, all in the day’s work. But Montana has caught the reform
+spirit that has been sweeping over the rest of the country, and she
+is also getting pretty sick of corporation power. Now, sir, not only
+have I a clear title to this ranch, but I’ve staked off the entire hill
+and applied for patents. If Amalgamated freezes me out of Anaconda and
+Great Falls, I’ll promote a company and put up a plant of my own. With
+nearly a million dollars in sight besides what I’ve taken out, you can
+figure, yourself, how much trouble I’d have in New York getting all the
+money I wanted. Amalgamated knows that, and my ore will continue to be
+smelted in Anaconda. Of course if I were within a mile or so of Butte I
+might be in some danger. They’d bore through and then claim that my ore
+vein apexed in one of their properties. But I’m too far away for that.”
+Gregory saw the other man’s eyes flash wide open before they were
+hastily lowered. Mr. Robinson regarded the point of his cigar.
+“Ah, yes,” he said. “That’s all very true. Luck is with you in a
+measure, but--well, take my advice and don’t fight Amalgamated. They
+have in their employ some of the most resourceful brains in the
+country--that are always on the job. Heinze taught them a lesson
+they’ll never forget.”
+“Let’s drop the subject.” Gregory rose and opened a cupboard. “Have
+something?”
+He poured whiskey into two glasses. The men smiled as they drank,
+Gregory sardonically, Mr. Robinson ruefully but with thoughtful eyes.
+He had what Ida called the quick-rich face, large and round and fat,
+and it was an admirable mask.
+“Like to see the mine?” asked Gregory.
+“Why, yes--do you mean it?”
+“Why not? If it had any secrets your spies would have turned them over
+before this. Glad to show it to you.”
+They went to the shafthead and descended in one of the buckets.
+“How far down have you gone?” asked Mr. Robinson, with an air of polite
+interest.
+“We found chalcopyrite at one hundred and ten feet, after a narrow vein
+leading from the chamber near the surface, and are stoping.”
+As they left the bucket they were greeted by the cheerful rhythmical
+sound of hammers on the drills, and by the light of the miners’ candles
+they saw the men working at different points of the dark chamber, two
+on a scaffolding above.
+“Great waste of labor,” said Gregory. “I shall install a compressor
+before long as well as electric lighting. Of course it is only the
+beginning of a mine.”
+He saw the ambassador from Amalgamated smile, and turned on his heel.
+“They’ll be loading the holes in a minute,” he said. “And I’d like to
+show you the upper chamber.”
+When they reached the surface Mr. Robinson declined to go down into the
+excavation, but stood on the edge watching the busy hive below. “Great
+sight,” he said admiringly. “How deep have you gone?”
+“About seventy-eight feet.”
+“And the end not in sight!”
+“Not yet, but of course it’s only a chamber.”
+“You’ve taken out close on half a million here alone.”
+“Pretty near. What the devil made you suppose I’d take a paltry hundred
+thousand for the hill?”
+“Oh, just to avoid trouble. You have the reputation of being a very
+clever man.”
+“Thanks. It’s cold standing round. Wouldn’t you like to take a walk?
+How’d you like to see the Primo Mine?”
+As Gregory, who was watching him intently, anticipated, the man’s face
+lit up. “I should like it!” he said definitely. “I hear that they too
+have struck chalcopyrite. Lost their gold vein.”
+“They’re nosing after it in another direction. When the lease is up I
+shall consolidate with the Blakes.”
+“Quite natural. Of course it’s the same vein?--the chalcopyrite, I
+mean.”
+“Unquestionably. And it apexes in my property.”
+“Are you so sure of that?”
+“Not a doubt in the world. I struck the top of the vein twelve feet
+below the surface. But it will never go to the courts.”
+“Of course not.”
+Gregory, who looked remote, almost blank, lost not an intonation of the
+other man’s voice, nor a flickering gleam in his cunning eyes. His own
+head was a little on one side, which, had Mr. Robinson had the good
+fortune to know him better, would have warned him that the young man
+for whom he had conceived a certain respect was thinking hard and to
+some purpose.
+Douglas, who had a personal liking for his neighbor, unaware that he
+had been the chief instrument in the upsetting of skillful plans for
+untold wealth, readily gave permission to visit the mine as soon as
+the smoke from a recent blast would permit. Gregory and Mr. Robinson
+walked about to keep warm, the former pointing out the probability of a
+faulted ore vein under the aspens, and enlarging upon the great fortune
+bound to be Mrs. Blake’s in any case. Then as the man merely remarked,
+“Yes, charming woman, Mrs. Blake; thought the night of the Prom she
+was one of the prettiest women I ever saw. No dead easy game there”;
+Gregory refrained from kicking him and said innocently.
+“Good thing the law compels creditors to present their claims within
+a limited time, or Amalgamated might grab this mine and bore through
+to my hill. I understand Judge Stratton was heavily in debt to the
+Anaconda Company when he died.”
+Mr. Robinson’s face turned a deep brick-red, and he shot a piercing
+glance into the narrow noncommittal eyes opposite.
+“Of course--it’s too late for that, but--Oh, well----” He broke off
+abruptly and walked toward the shaft as Osborne beckoned. Gregory stood
+a moment, his head bent forward. He had experienced the sensation
+of coming into contact with an electrical wave. But he was smiling
+pleasantly as he joined his guest at the shaft house.
+After the visit to the mine, during which he amiably pointed out the
+dip of the vein toward his own property, and Mr. Robinson succumbed to
+the charm which never missed fire when Gregory chose to exert it, they
+walked back to the ranch, where a team awaited the ambassador at the
+foot of the hill.
+“I’ve had quite a delightful visit,” began Mr. Robinson, when Gregory
+interrupted:
+“I’ve no intention of letting you go. You must have supper at the farm
+and meet Oakley. I’ll send off the rig and drive you in myself----”
+“Oh, I couldn’t think of troubling you----” Robinson, red again, stood
+in almost agitated embarrassment.
+“No train to Butte till nine-thirty. You don’t want to spend four hours
+in Pony?”
+“The fact is----” But whatever he had on his mind died on his lips.
+He looked sharply into the bland smiling eyes opposite, and concluded
+abruptly, “All right. Many thanks. Glad of the chance to know you
+better.”
+He paid off the driver of the team and they walked toward the ranch
+house, Gregory commenting on Oakley’s genius for dry farming, and
+expatiating upon the excellence of the crops. Mining was not mentioned
+again during the evening and the lawyer enjoyed an excellent supper.
+Gregory drove him to Pony, and clung to him so closely that he had no
+opportunity to visit the telegraph office or a telephone booth. They
+shook hands cordially as the train moved off. When it was out of sight
+Gregory sent a telegram to Mark telling him to take the first train
+next morning for Virginia City and meet him in the Court House. He
+took his car to a garage and spent the night in Pony. On the following
+morning at nine o’clock he walked into the Tax Collector’s office at
+the County Seat.
+XXV
+The County Treasurer, who had just come in, looked blank for a moment,
+then greeted his visitor with effusive cordiality.
+“Always glad to see you, Mr. Compton. It does a poor clerk’s heart good
+just to look at a man who’s such a favourite of fortune. Sit down, sir.”
+“I will. I’ve a good deal to say.”
+“Staked off the rest of your ranch? It’ll be some little time yet
+before you get those patents through you’ve applied for already----”
+“What do the taxes foot up on the Oro Fino Primo Mine?”
+“Ah--What?” The man’s face turned scarlet, then white. He was a young
+man, clerically able, but otherwise insignificant. “Why----” Then he
+became voluble.
+“The Primo mine, over there near your place? It’s a new claim, isn’t
+it? Never heard of it before those fellows from New York sank a
+shaft and struck it rich. Why should there be any taxes before the
+regular----”
+“You know as well as I do that Judge Stratton patented that mine and
+did the necessary amount of development work, then found it salted and
+abandoned it. That was twenty-eight years ago. He forgot it, and so,
+apparently, did this office. It was regarded as an abandoned prospect
+hole, if anyone thought about it at all. I haven’t discussed the matter
+with Mr. Blake, but assume that he’s merely been waiting for his bill.
+Now, for reasons of my own, I’ve telegraphed him to meet me here this
+morning, but in case he can’t come I’m prepared to pay the amount
+myself. How much?” and he took out his checque book.
+The treasurer looked as if the cane seat of his chair had turned to hot
+coals. “Really--that is a large order, Mr. Compton. Twenty-eight years.
+It will take time to go over the records.”
+“I’m prepared to wait all day if necessary.”
+“But why this haste?”
+“I have my reasons. They don’t concern you in the least. Do they?”
+“Why--no--but I am very busy----”
+“Then put someone else on the job. I assume that the county is not
+averse to raking in a tidy little sum in a hurry.”
+“Really----”
+Gregory leaned back in his chair and smiled pleasantly.
+“You had a telephone from Mr. John Robinson this morning.”
+This time the man started visibly, but he made an effort to control
+himself. “I have just come in----”
+“He telephoned to you last night, did he not? What did he offer you to
+permit him to pay those taxes today?”
+“I will not be insulted, sir.” The man’s voice was almost a scream.
+He heartily wished he had been in training a few years longer, a
+graduate of the famous Heinze-Amalgamated orgy of corruption, or of the
+Clark-Daly epoch, when nearly every man in office had been bribed or
+hoped to be. “I never heard of Mr. Robinson!”
+“Of course he reminded you that as the taxes are long delinquent the
+county has the right to put the property up at public auction, and that
+in any case Mrs. Blake would hardly be given the usual year in which to
+redeem it. But why auction when the money is ready to be paid over at
+once? How much did he offer you?”
+“I repeat----”
+“I think I can guess. It was five thousand dollars. I’ll make it ten.
+Get to work.”
+The man, in whom excitement had destroyed his appetite for breakfast,
+and who had started out in life with the usual negative ideals of
+honesty, burst into tears. “My God!” he sobbed. “I’ve heard of the
+third degree. Your eyes bore a hole through one. They hurt, I say. To
+think that you should come in here and accuse me of taking bribes.”
+“Oh, hell, cut it out. Montana may be a great state, but she has her
+rotten spot like any other. She’s been so debauched the last twenty
+years by open bribery that I doubt if you could lay your hand on a
+hundred men in her that haven’t had a roll anywhere from five hundred
+to twenty thousand dollars passed to them, and pocketed it. Estimable
+citizens, too, but a man never knows his weak spot until he has a wad
+of easy money thrust under his nose--or flung over his transom. You are
+no worse than the rest. Do you take my offer?”
+The County Treasurer recovered himself with amazing alacrity. Ten
+thousand dollars in a lump never had haunted his wildest dreams.
+“All right, sir. It’s a bargain. But I want bills. No checks for me.”
+“I congratulate you on your foresight! But there have been times in
+this state when checque books were not opened for months. You shall
+have it in bills. Where are the records?”
+“In the vault there.”
+“I’ll sit here. If you attempt to leave the room to go to a telephone
+I’ll drag you out on the Court House steps and tell the story to the
+town. Now get to work.”
+“I’ll keep my word, sir, and I know you’ll keep yours.” He went into
+the vault and appeared later trundling out a pile of records, then sat
+down at a table and concentrated his mind as earnestly as if corruption
+had never blighted it. Gregory watched him until Mark entered. Then the
+two men went out into the corridor, standing where they could see the
+table. Gregory recounted his interview with Mr. John Robinson, and the
+present sequel.
+Mark listened with his mouth open, an expression of profound chagrin
+loosening the muscles of his cheerful healthy shrewd face.
+“By George!” he cried. “And to think that was the one thing I never
+thought of. Of course I knew about the delinquent taxes, and intended
+to pay them when I was good and ready; but what’s the use of forking
+over till you have to? But not to have thought of this! And I pride
+myself upon sleeping with one eye open--never was caught napping yet!”
+And for five minutes he exploited his vocabulary of profanity, heaping
+each epithet upon his own humiliated head.
+Gregory laughed. “Merely another proof that two heads are better than
+one. Do you stand for the ten thousand? If not I’ll pay half.”
+“I’d pay fifty----”
+“I’ll pay half,” said Gregory definitely. “It means as much to me as to
+you.”
+“All right. Jimminy, but they’re clever!” He was calmer and his astute
+legal brain was moved to admiration. “But you are cleverer. I’ve always
+sworn by you. They’ll get a jolt all right. How did you catch on,
+anyhow?”
+“I fancy I got a wireless. The other man was thinking hard and so was
+I--had practically nothing else in our minds. Those things will be
+better explained some day. Perhaps it was merely a good guess.”
+“You hit the nail on the head all right. I’ll have a letter to write to
+Ora next Sunday! She’s had a narrow squeak, and she shall know whom to
+thank for it.”
+“Oh, cut that out.”
+Gregory went to the bank and drew the ten thousand dollars, while
+Mark kept watch. When the bill was finally made out, Mark examined it
+critically, and then gave his personal checque. Three months later the
+County Treasurer resigned his office on the ground of ill health and
+bought an orange grove in Southern California. There he and his growing
+family enjoy a respected, prosperous, bucolic life.
+XXVI
+Gregory had scored against the most powerful combination of capital in
+the world. He knew that they knew he had scored, for he had met Mr.
+John Robinson as he descended the Court House steps with the husband
+of the delinquent taxpayer, and he felt reasonably elated. But the
+keenest and canniest brains are not infallible, and he underestimated
+the resources of his mighty and now open enemy. Three mornings later,
+while he was still asleep, Joshua Mann, the miner in his confidence and
+devoted to his interests, burst into the cabin and shook him.
+“There’s the devil to pay, sir,” he cried. “Amalgamated has staked off
+a claim between our boundary line and Primo.”
+Gregory sat up in bed. He never awakened dazed, but with every faculty
+alert. “What are you talking about? The Primo claim almost overlaps the
+ranch.”
+“So anyone would think. But it doesn’t. That’s the point. Of course
+the old stakes of the Primo rotted long ago. They must have got hold
+of the original map. But there it is: a bit of unclaimed land between
+Primo and the ranch. There isn’t much more than room to sink a shaft,
+but there is, all right. Guess they’ve got us on the hip.” And having
+delivered his news he relieved his mind with profanity, of which he too
+had a choice assortment.
+Gregory flung on his clothes and accompanied by Mann walked hastily to
+the edge of the hill. There, sure enough, were the four posts and the
+flaunting notice of a located claim.
+“Must have done it between shifts last night,” commented the miner.
+“Didn’t take long and the moon helped. By jing!--if I’d been round with
+a shotgun! Well, there’ll be fun underground sames on top. The moment
+they break through we’ll be ready for ’em. They may get there but they
+won’t stay long. The boys will like the fun; and we’d put our last
+cent on you--know a winner when we see one.”
+“Put on an extra force and make them work like hell. _We must get here
+first._ When I’m not below you’re boss.”
+“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep ’em on the job, all right.”
+“Promise them extra pay. Come up to me at eight o’clock tonight and
+we’ll talk it over.”
+He went back to the cabin and telephoned to Mark to come out at
+once. The lawyer arrived in the course of the morning. The first ten
+minutes of the interview may be passed over. Then Mark recovered his
+equilibrium. He lit a cigar, demanded a drink, and elevated his feet to
+the table.
+“We’ll just thresh this question out, turn the spot-light on every side
+of it, present and future. We ought to have done it before, but that
+first victory was a little too heady. Nothing like a defeat to clear
+the brain. What’s the first thing they’ll do? They won’t waste time
+sinking a shaft if they can help it. That’s the hardest kind of country
+rock. They’ll try to buy up the lease from Douglas and Osborne. I
+haven’t the lease with me, but most leases carry a clause which permits
+the original lessees to sub-let. I fancy I could get out an injunction
+and delay them, however, until the lease expired. But what they can
+do, all right, is to bribe those two men to give them the use of their
+cross-cut--the one that has already struck your vein--while they were
+sinking the shaft. Do you think they’ll fall for it?”
+“My experience is that most men can be bribed if the roll is big
+enough. Osborne and Douglas are pretty discouraged, although they’ve
+begun to drift across the fault. I’ll talk to them, but they’re not
+square men. Amalgamated could pretend to be sinking a shaft against
+time itself, and be drifting for all they were worth on the Primo vein.
+I understand that Amalgamated’s head geologist has been nosing round
+for some time and has concluded there’s a parallel fissure in their
+claim and that they can ‘prove’ apex rights.”
+“How deep do you figure they’d have to sink to strike the vein at that
+point?”
+“About two hundred feet, owing to that surface bump.”
+“And it apexes here. There’s no getting round that--with a square deal.
+But they figure on proving that they’ve the main vein, and yours is
+an offshoot? The case would go to Helena--to the Federal Courts--as
+Amalgamated was incorporated out of the state. That’s bad. If the case
+could be tried in Virginia City, and there was a good healthy suspicion
+that the Judge was expecting to retire in comfort, you could apply for
+a change of venue--result of that odorous chapter in our history when
+every judge was on the pay roll of either Heinze or Amalgamated. Well,
+at least there’s public opinion to be considered; the state is waking
+up. Here is one thing we can do. If it comes to a knock-out fight and
+the case goes to Helena, we can get out an expert geologist of national
+reputation, whose record shows him to be above bribes, and who will
+be bound to testify that the vein apexes in your claim. Becke of the
+School of Mines, will find the man we want. Now, what’s your first
+move?”
+“To stope the vein as far as the boundary line, which of course is
+my side-line, and as far down as possible. If they won in the courts
+I’d have to fork over eventually, but they’d have to wait for it, and
+they’ll get a good jolt underground.”
+“You’re much too calm. What have you got up your sleeve?”
+“I’ll tell you that when the time comes. It has nothing to do with
+the present case. The best thing you can do now is to make the whole
+thing public and get public opinion behind us. They don’t own all the
+newspapers in the state, and they don’t own all the newspapers in the
+rest of the country, either. Are you on?”
+“You bet. Aren’t you afraid there’ll be a sudden strike among your
+miners? After all, Amalgamated is popular among the mining class. They
+pay good wages and treat the men pretty squarely all round. I’ll say
+that much for them.”
+“I’m not worrying about that. I’ll raise the wages of my miners, and
+they like me. I call every one of them by his first name, and they’re
+men--not a Bohunk among them--and like the idea, too, of a fight under
+a good captain. If I’d put an Eastern manager in who’d put on dog, it
+might be different, but I’ve worked shoulder to shoulder with them, and
+not one of them has stuck harder to his job. Besides, Mann is devoted
+to me, and has great influence over them.”
+“Well, Amalgamated can’t queer you in the East, for you get your roll
+from the Smelting Works. If that went back on you----”
+“I’m not worrying about that, either. Torrence is a friend of mine.
+He’s also a Mason. If things get hot he’ll give headquarters a hint
+that my men, their blood being up, are as likely as not to make a
+bonfire somewhere. Get back to town and give the story to the new
+evening paper. Its lay is to fight Amalgamated for the sake of
+notoriety. See that their brightest man writes a story for one of the
+biggest New York and Chicago newspapers. Now, clear out. I’ve got to go
+below.”
+XXVII
+The next day Gregory visited a mine in Lewis and Clark County which
+recently had shut down, and bought a compressor at second hand. His
+miners with the air drills were soon working at five times the rate
+of speed that had been possible with the hand drills. The contractor
+in charge of the development work on what was impudently known as the
+Apex Mine, had installed a gasoline hoist, every new device, and as
+large a force as it was possible at that early stage to employ with
+profit. Gregory interviewed Osborne and Douglas, and obtained profuse
+assurances, but Mann soon discovered that there was an increased force
+on the Primo copper vein. Their original lease was nearly up but they
+had accepted Mark’s offer of two months’ grace; an offer he deeply
+regretted now, but the papers were signed and sealed. They made a feint
+of pushing the drift across the fault, but as they employed a small
+force at that point there was little room for doubt that they had been
+amply compensated for a doubtful undertaking.
+Meanwhile work on the great surface chamber of Perch of the Devil
+Mine was drawing to a close. It had proved to be a hundred feet long,
+thirty feet wide, and seventy feet deep, and had netted half a million
+dollars. Some time since one of the larger houses on the West Side in
+Butte, built by a millionaire while still faithful to Montana, but
+whose family now spent twelve months of the year in Europe, New York,
+or California, had been thrown on the market for less than a third of
+its cost; new millionaires are not as plentiful in Amalgamated Butte
+as of old, and that unique camp is still a perch, even for those that
+make moderate fortunes; if no longer for the devil. It never will be
+a favourite roost for the gamecock’s hens and chicks. The hotels and
+“blocks” are always overcrowded, and even bungalows are in demand by
+the energetic but impermanent young engineers and managers of the
+various companies; but “palatial residences,” built by enthusiastic
+citizens who either died promptly or retired in favour of their
+families, are a drug on that great market they helped to build. When
+the Murphy house, therefore, was advertised for sale Gregory bought it
+for Ida and cabled her the news together with five thousand dollars
+Mark had recently made for him on the stock-market.
+Above these and other expenditures, he now had half a million dollars
+to his credit, but he wanted a million more. The new vein was very rich
+for chalcopyrite, but its depth was problematical, and it might drop in
+values at any moment. If his belief in his hill was justified and there
+were huge primary deposits below, there would be no end to his riches;
+but it would take a year or more to determine that point; and meanwhile
+he wanted at least a million and a half, not only to meet the possible
+expenses of litigation, but to mine at depth and to open up his other
+claims in case Amalgamated, when it reached the chalcopyrite vein,
+claimed that it apexed in their property, got out an injunction, and
+forced him to cease work on it.
+But he had another and to him a still more vital reason for wishing
+to make a great sum of money. Half a million dollars, particularly
+when spectacularly acquired, alters a man’s position in his community
+at once, and the readjustment of his own mental attitude toward life
+follows as a matter of course; particularly in a country where money
+not only talks but rules. He was now treated, when business took him
+to any of the towns, as a permanent capitalist of the great state of
+Montana; moreover, his romantic attitude toward his hill having been
+inevitably dampened by its yield of mere copper, his appreciation of
+its heavy contribution to his bank account was wholly practical. He not
+only began to forecast himself as one of the small group of front-rank
+millionaires which Montana has donated to the American Brotherhood of
+Millionaires, but to be sensible of the sudden and active growth of
+those business instincts he had always known were dormant in his brain.
+It had needed but the rousing of his fighting instinct, the success of
+its first move, and the swift countermove of the enemy, to awaken the
+permanent desire, not alone to pit his brains against Amalgamated, but
+to show the world what he could do. In short he was on his mettle, and
+conscious for the first time of his powers and ultimate ambitions.
+He had found his mine by an accident. Nature had flung it into his
+lap. He was now determined to prove that he could make money with the
+resources of his brain as rapidly as the more famous of the Montanans
+had made it in the past, when opportunities were supposed to be more
+numerous. There never was a time when opportunity did not coincide
+with the man, and of this Gregory was contemptuously aware when he
+dismissed the usual Wall Street resource as commonplace, beneath the
+consideration of a man living in a state whose resources had barely
+been tapped.
+When live brains of peculiar gifts think hard and uninterruptedly on
+a given subject they become magnets. Gregory paid frequent visits
+to Butte and Helena, talking casually with many men. In less than a
+fortnight he found his cue, and, accompanied by a civil engineer,
+disappeared for a week.
+XXVIII
+Twenty years ago it was the ambition of every Californian, no matter
+how blatant his state pride, to move to New York. Today he hopes to
+live and die in California, the main reason being that the women of
+his family find themselves members of a comparatively old and settled
+community, enjoying many advantages and no little importance; given
+frequent trips abroad they are content to remain at home in houses
+of modern architecture, and to command a social position that New
+York has granted to only two or three of California’s heiresses and
+millionaires. Montanans, at present, those that are rich or merely
+independent, are in the migratory phase of the earlier Californian; but
+as New York has extended to them an even more grudging welcome than
+it did to aspirants from the more picturesque state, they visit it,
+after successive social disappointments, merely for its dressmakers and
+those exterior advantages that may be exchanged for gold; the majority
+migrate to “The Coast,” more particularly to Southern California. There
+they not only find relief on the sea-level from an altitude that plays
+havoc with the nerves, but, in the mushroom Southern cities, social
+position may be had for the asking, and every advantage for growing
+children.
+Gregory had heard of a man named Griffiths, owner of the Circle-G
+Ranch, a tract of land covering seventy-five thousand acres, who was
+anxious to sell and move to Los Angeles. As the ranch was practically
+waterless and thirty miles from a railroad, his only chance of
+disposing of it was by means of an alluring bargain. He was willing
+to sell the ranch, his large herds of horses and cattle, and bands of
+sheep for half a million dollars.
+Gregory returned to Butte without the engineer, went directly to
+Blake’s office, and laid his programme before his astounded friend and
+legal adviser.
+He had found Griffiths a man unaccustomed to business but with his
+mind set upon retiring with a capital of half a million dollars. His
+efforts in money-making hitherto, had been confined to acquiring rather
+than disposing of property, and his trading consisted of converting
+live stock into such cash as was necessary for the purchase of
+necessities not raised on his property. But he was nearly sixty, his
+wife and four daughters had besought him for years to sell out and take
+them to California, and he was now persuaded that he was as tired of
+life in the wilds of Montana as they were. He was, however, possessed
+of one fixed idea, to leave each of his “women folks” a hundred
+thousand dollars when he died. Therefore would he not take a cent less
+than five times that amount for his fine property; but although he
+inserted the advertisement that had caught Gregory’s eye, so far he had
+been unsuccessful. One man found the ranch too far from a railroad,
+another no good for farming, save intensive, as it was without a water
+supply; still another was willing to pay only a third of the amount
+down, with easy terms for the remainder.
+“It’s five hundred thousand cold cash,” said Mr. Griffiths to Gregory;
+although in a burst of confidence later he had said: “What the dickens
+I’m goin’ to do with that great wad of money when I get it beats me! It
+turns me cold to think of it.”
+Gregory had remained on the ranch two days, inventorying its stock,
+buildings, and natural resources. He estimated that seventy-five per
+cent. of the property was plow-land, the rest “rough, wooded, and
+rolling.” There were several sets of buildings on it, and the cattle
+and sheep sheds were in good condition. The cattle, sheep, and horses
+could be sold on a rising market for $200,000, thus reducing the cost
+of the land to four dollars an acre. After asking and receiving an
+option for thirty days, Gregory intimated that he would like to extend
+his trip into the mountains in search of float, and hired two riding
+horses and a pack horse from his host, besides buying of him the
+necessary food supply. Incidentally, in the course of conversation he
+learned that there was a river “somewheres in the mountains between
+thirty and forty miles northeast.”
+He received more minute directions from a prospector regarding this
+body of water, which was the object of his trip, and six miles from
+Circle-G entered a ravine some twenty-five miles long. After climbing
+one of the mountain sides that bounded the ravine, descending and
+crossing another gulch, and climbing again, he and his companion saw,
+far below, between the narrow walls of a cañon, an abundant mountain
+stream.
+The engineer proposed to divert this body of water to Circle-G Ranch.
+Through the nearest mountain side he should drive a tunnel six hundred
+feet long, and cross the short and crooked ravine with a thousand
+feet of flume to a point where it would be necessary to drive another
+tunnel, about two hundred feet in length. This would conduct the
+diverted body of water into the long ravine, down which it would flow
+to a point six miles above the ranch. Here the engineer purposed to
+construct a dam thirty feet high for the purpose of raising the water
+to an elevation from which it would flow through a canal or “ditch”, to
+the more level portions of the ranch. A rough estimate of the cost of
+this project, from headworks to ditch was $300,000.
+He returned to Circle-G, told Mr. Griffiths that he had found no float,
+but nevertheless liked the neighbourhood and was inclined to buy the
+ranch and sell it in small farms to settlers. He would return to Butte
+and think it over. If he concluded to buy he would pay a half million
+dollars in cash, and, if Mr. Griffiths were agreeable borrow back
+$300,000, for improvements, giving a mortgage at seven per cent. on
+the forty thousand acres he proposed to make attractive for settlers.
+He gave no hint of his irrigation project. Griffiths had known of this
+body of water, but it had never occurred to him nor to anyone else to
+divert it. He was a stock-grower, pure and simple, with no “modern
+notions”, and Gregory had no intention of enlarging his vision. He
+would pay the man his price, but he had the ruthlessness of his type.
+He had more than one motive for offering to borrow back $300,000 of the
+payment money; not only should he need it at once, but he feared, after
+Mr. Griffiths’ confidence, and knowing his kind, that the old man would
+withdraw in terror at the last moment, preferring the safe monotonies
+of his ranch to the unknown responsibilities of a capitalist; like
+others he had heard that it is sometimes easier to get money than to
+invest it. Gregory told him to think it over and write to the Daly and
+Clark Banks in Butte, and to the National Bank of Montana, in Helena,
+for information regarding his own standing and financial condition. He
+left the entire family in as hopeful a frame of mind as himself.
+On confirmation of the report that forty thousand acres could be put
+under water by gravity, he should close the deal at once, file a notice
+of appropriation for forty thousand miner’s inches of water, and begin
+work on the first tunnel. He then intended to lay the matter before
+one of the great land selling organisations of Chicago or New York,
+proposing that he be paid $1,400,000 for the forty thousand acres of
+irrigated land, subject to mortgage; demonstrating that the land so
+purchased for thirty-five dollars an acre (or forty-three and a half
+dollars including the mortgage) could readily be sold to settlers
+for one hundred, if railroad facilities were provided. As a further
+inducement, to cover the cost of railroad construction, he would
+execute a deed and place it in escrow, as a guarantee and evidence of
+good faith, and accompanied by a contract authorising the land selling
+company to dispose of the remaining thirty-five thousand acres at ten
+dollars an acre. The construction of the railroad would add materially
+to the value of the unirrigated land also, and a pledge of this portion
+of the property as security that the railroad would be built would be
+acceptable, because the estimated cost, with liberal allowances, was
+under $350,000.
+The sum paid him by the land selling company would, in addition to the
+large sum realised by the sale of the live stock, give him at least
+$1,600,000, or $1,100,000 over the half million originally invested.
+Mark listened with his eyes and mouth wide open.
+“By George!” he exclaimed, when Gregory finished. “Did you dope all
+that out yourself? That’s the talk of a man who’s been in the land
+business for years. How did you ever think of it?”
+“What’s a man’s brain given to him for--to turn round in a circle? Do
+you find the plan feasible?”
+“It’s feasible all right--given a cold half million in hand and brains
+behind it--plus imagination. That’s where you win out. You’ll be the
+richest man in Montana yet.”
+“I intend to be.”
+“And the first man born here to make one of the old-time fortunes.”
+“I hadn’t thought of that!”
+Mark dismissed enthusiasm and put his own astute brain to work.
+“The hitch will be with your land selling company. They might be
+dazzled, even convinced, but they’re cold-blooded, and they never have
+any too much cash on hand. What special line of argument do you propose
+to hand out?”
+“Several. I didn’t go to the Circle-G Ranch without making certain
+investigations beforehand. In the first place Government statistics
+prove the productivity of Montana soil without irrigation. I am not the
+first to discover that this same soil when irrigated is insured against
+crop failure. In the second place a study of the U. S. Government
+reclamation projects convinced me that I could, all things being
+favourable (such as water supply and gravity), put a large tract of
+land under water at a very small cost compared to the cost under the
+plan of procedure adopted by the Government. By the plan I have mapped
+out I can sell both land and water for less than the cost of water
+alone under the Government direction. But I have a final inducement
+which I believe will bring the selling company to terms. Those forty
+thousand acres when irrigated will be peculiarly adapted to the growing
+of seed peas. This is the best soil in the country for peas. Now the
+seed houses of the country are in great need of large quantities
+of seed peas, and the selling company could easily interest these
+concerns to the extent of securing their financial backing. They would
+no doubt buy large blocks themselves. Such an opportunity has never
+been offered them--forty thousand acres under the ditch, and adequate
+railroad service. This will enable the selling company to raise an
+initial payment to me of $200,000. And if I guarantee the ditch and the
+railroad they are in a position to make the same guarantee to settlers
+to whom they may make sales in a retail way. They’ll have no difficulty
+getting $100 an acre retail; and the seed houses no doubt would invest
+and become real owners, thus saving the profit now paid to farmers who
+grow for them under contract. Got it?”
+“I get you. But why put all of your own money into the ranch? Ora has
+taken something like half a million out of that mine. I could let you
+have that.”
+“I’ll risk no woman’s money. Of course I shouldn’t put my own in if I
+didn’t believe it to be a dead sure thing, but there’s always risk.” He
+took a packet of papers from his overcoat pocket. “Here are the option
+and abstract of titles. I wish you would examine them. Say nothing of
+all this at present--nor for a long time after. I’ll spring it when
+I’m ready--which will be after I’ve disposed of the irrigated land.
+Will you go out with me when I return to Circle-G? I shall want you to
+attend to the details of sale and to the location of the water rights.”
+“I’ll go all right. And I’m only living to see what you’ll do next.”
+XXIX
+Meanwhile the story of the Compton-Amalgamated war was the sensation
+not only of Montana but of the entire country. The Butte morning
+papers ignored it, but the _Evening Bugle_ reaped a golden harvest.
+The editor himself, who was the Montana correspondent of one of the
+great New York dailies, made his reputation with the most sensational
+“stuff” that had gone from the Northwest since Heinze retired from the
+field. The hill swarmed with reporters. Two Eastern newspapers sent
+special correspondents to the spot. In less than a fortnight the public
+knew all there was to know and far more. Perch of the Devil Mine was
+photographed inside and out, and its uncompromising ugliness but added
+to its magnetism; which emanated from a “solid hill of metal just below
+a thin layer of barren soil.” The general reader, who admired the
+colour of copper, conceived that it emerged in solid sheets.
+Gregory refused to be interviewed or photographed, but was snapshotted;
+and his long sinewy figure and lean dark face, his narrow eyes and
+fine mouth, won the championship of every woman partial to the type.
+The women’s papers, as well as those run by radicals, socialists, and
+conservative men of independent tendencies, advocated his cause against
+the wicked trust; nor was there a newspaper in the country, however
+capitalised, that resisted the temptation to make him “big news.” To
+his unspeakable annoyance he began to receive letters by the score,
+most of them from women; but he lost no time employing a secretary
+whose duty was to read and burn them. He appreciated his fame very
+vaguely, for between his mine and the innumerable details connected
+with his new ranch, he had little time to devote to newspapers or his
+own sensations. But although personal notoriety was distasteful to him
+and reporters a nuisance, he felt more than compensated by the success
+of his publicity scheme, and the assurance that it was causing the
+enemy unspeakable annoyance and apprehension.
+He paid a visit to Chicago after work had begun on the first tunnel,
+and spent several days with the interested but cautious officials
+of the greatest of the land selling companies. Like all silent men,
+when he did talk it was not only to the point, but he used carefully
+composed arguments incisively expressed. He indulged in no rhetorical
+flights, no enthusiasms, no embellishment of plain facts. He might
+have been a mathematician working out an abstract problem in algebra;
+and this attitude, combined with his reputation as a “winner”, and the
+details of his cautious purchase of Circle-G Ranch, finally impressed
+the company to the extent of sending one of their number, who was an
+expert in land values, to the ranch. Gregory accompanied him, took him
+to the mountain river, showed him the engineer’s report, pointed out
+the undeviating slope between the river and the ranch, and the land’s
+rich chocolate brown soil of unlimited depth. The upshot was that the
+expert returned to Chicago almost as enthusiastic as if the original
+scheme were his. After consultation with several of the seed houses,
+the land company agreed to buy on Compton’s terms, and to pay $200,000
+down, $500,000 at the end of sixty days, and $700,000 at the end of
+four months.
+       *       *       *       *       *
+Ora and Ida had asked for an extension of leave, as they had not
+yet “done” Italy, Spain, and Egypt, and both husbands had given a
+willing consent; Gregory from sheer indifference; Mark because he was
+so busy that he no longer had time to miss his wife. He refused to
+give Ora’s picture to the enterprising correspondents, but they found
+no difficulty with the local photographer. They had not been long
+uncovering the romantic history of the Oro Fino Primo Mine, and it made
+a welcome pendant to the still recourseful “story” of Perch of the
+Devil. Ora’s beauty, accomplishments, charm, family history, as well
+as her present social progress in company with her “equally beautiful
+friend”, the wife of the hero of the hour, became public property.
+Altogether, Butte, after several years of oblivion, was happy and
+excited. So far, although mineralogically the most sensational state
+in the Union, and the third in size, she had given to the world but
+four highly specialized individuals: Marcus Daly, perhaps the greatest
+mine manager and ore wizard of our time; W. A. Clark, who accumulated
+millions as a moving picture show rolls in dimes; F. Augustus Heinze,
+who should be the greatest financial power in America if brains
+were all; and the Sapphic, coruscatic, imperishable Mary McLane. An
+outstanding quartette. But Daly was dead, Clark was but one of many
+millionaires, submerged in New York, Heinze was reaping the whirlwind,
+and the poet was nursing her wounds. Montana was in the mood for a new
+hero, and the American press for a new and picturesque subject to “play
+up for all he was worth.”
+XXX
+Ora and Ida were sitting at one of the little round tables in the
+pretty green and wicker smoking-room of the Hotel Bristol in Genoa,
+drinking their coffee and smoking their after-luncheon cigarettes, when
+Ida, who was glancing over the _Herald_, cried,
+“Aw!”
+Ora looked round in surprise. Ida often relieved the strain when they
+were alone by relapsing into the vernacular, but was impressively
+elegant in public.
+“What is it?” she asked apprehensively. “Anybody we know dead? That is
+about all the news we ever get in these Continental----”
+“Dead nothing. Greg’s struck a bigger bonanza than I had any idea
+of, and Amalgamated is after it. They tried to corral your mine for
+delinquent taxes, but got left. Found a bit of unclaimed land between
+your claim and the ranch and staked off. They’re sinking a shaft and
+mean to prove that the vein--Greg’s--apexes in their claim. Wouldn’t
+that come and get you! Just listen.” And she read aloud an embellished
+but not untruthful tale. “Glory, I hope they don’t get him! That would
+be the end of all my fond dreams.”
+“I have an idea that Mr. Compton was born to win. At all events you
+have your new house in Butte, and all the money you can spend for the
+present.”
+“Yes, but I want money to spend in Butte, live in that house, and make
+things hum. However, I guess you’re right. I’ll bet on Greg. Here come
+the letters. Hope you get one from Mark as I’d like some real news.”
+A page with letters in his hand had entered the room. He served the
+young American ladies first as their tips were frequent and munificent,
+particularly Ora’s. The other people in the room were English and
+Italian.
+Ida’s letters were from Ruby and Pearl. Ora’s from Mark, Professor
+Becke, and two of her English friends. She opened her husband’s first.
+It contained an account of the threatened loss of her mine, her narrow
+escape, and Gregory’s rescue. It was graphically written. Mark fancied
+himself as a letter writer and never was averse from impressing his
+clever wife.
+Ora’s face flushed as she read; she lost her breath once or twice.
+She pictured every expression of Gregory’s eyes as he perforated the
+clerk; her heart hammered its admiration. She was too thoroughly
+Montanan and the daughter of her father to be horrified at bribery and
+corruption. For the moment she forgot gratitude in her exultation that
+he had triumphed over the mightiest trust in the country. But before
+she finished the letter she sighed and set her lips. She handed it
+deliberately to Ida.
+“Here is an account of the first development,” she said casually. “It
+will interest you.”
+Ida read the letter hastily. “Well, they caught him napping after all,”
+she said with profound dissatisfaction. “He dreams too much, that’s
+what. He’s got a practical side all right, but he isn’t on the job all
+the time. I’d like to write and tell him what I think of him but guess
+I’d better keep my mouth shut.”
+“It was Mark’s fault as much as Mr. Compton’s--more. He should have had
+a new map made of my claim; or, if he did have one made, he should have
+studied it more carefully. Anybody to look at it would assume that it
+touched the boundary line of your--Mr. Compton’s ranch.”
+“Well, Greg’ll get out of it some way. When he does sit up and take
+notice he doesn’t so much as wink, and so far as he knew or cared the
+rest of the world might have waltzed off into space. Lucky it hit him
+to buy the house and send that last five thousand before he snapped
+close on Amalgamated----”
+“What does Miss Miller have to say?”
+“Nothing much but ecstasies over my house. The Murphys had taste, it
+seems, so I won’t have to do a thing to it. Say, Ora, don’t you feel as
+if you’d like to go back?”
+Ora looked up and her face turned white. “Go back? I thought you wanted
+to stay over here for a year, at least. We haven’t half seen Europe
+yet--to say nothing of Egypt.”
+“Yes--I know--but sometimes I feel homesick. It isn’t only that I want
+to make Butte sit up; but--well, I suppose you’ll laugh, but I miss
+the mountains. I never thought much about them when I was there, but
+they’ve kind of haunted me lately.”
+“There are mountains in Europe.”
+“I know, but they’re just scenery. Our mountains are different.”
+Ora looked at her speculatively. It was not the first time that Ida
+had surprised her with glow-worms flitting across her spiritual night,
+although she seemed to be so devoid of imagination, or what she would
+have called superfluous nonsense, as to inspire her more highly
+organised friend with envy. Her mental and artistic development had
+been rapid and remarkable but uneven. She yawned through the opera and
+symphony concerts. She would always be bored by pictures unless she
+could read a “story” in them, although she had now mastered the jargon
+of art as well as most of her quick-witted country-women. In Florence
+and Rome she had “struck” after one morning of picture galleries, but
+she showed a spontaneous and curious appreciation of the architecture
+of the Renaissance. Ora had expected the usual ecstasies over the old
+castles of England and Germany, but although Ida admired them heartily,
+and even declared they made her feel “real romantic,” it was for the
+Renaissance palaces of France and of the cities they visited in Italy
+that she reserved her instant and critical admiration. Ora, who like
+most imaginative people played with the theory of reincarnation, amused
+herself visioning Ida in Burne-Jones costumes, haunting the chill
+midnight corridors of a Florentine palace, dagger in hand, or brewing
+a poisoned bowl. If Ida possessed a rudimentary soul, which suffered
+a birth-pang now and then, Ora had caught more than one glimpse of a
+savage temper combined with a cunning that under her present advantages
+was rapidly developing into subtlety. But Ida indulged too little in
+introspection to develop her inmost ego other than automatically. To
+mental progress she was willing to devote a certain amount of labour.
+Whenever they were not on a train or visiting at country houses, she
+spent an hour every morning with a teacher of either French or Italian;
+German she had refused to “tackle,” but, to use her own phrase, she
+“ate up” the Latin languages, and her diction was remarkably good. If
+picture galleries replete with saints, virgins, madonnas and Venuses
+bored her, she returned more than once to the portrait rooms in the
+Pitti and the Uffizi galleries, haunted the museums with their mediæval
+and Renaissance furniture and tapestries, and eagerly visited every
+palace to which the public was admitted.
+And she proved herself as adaptable as Ora had hoped. In England she
+bored her way through the newspapers until she was able to sustain her
+part in political conversation. She soon discerned that English people
+of assured position and wide social experience liked a certain degree
+of picturesque Americanism when it was unaccompanied by garrulity
+or blatant ill-breeding. She amused herself by “giving them what
+they wanted,” and was a more pronounced success than Ora, who was
+outwardly too much like themselves, yet lacking the matchless fortune
+of English birth. But this did not disturb Ora, who made more real
+friends, and derived endless amusement observing Ida. On one occasion
+they visited for a week at one of the country homes of a duke and
+duchess that had entertained Mrs. Stratton many years ago, and Ida had
+enchanted these bored but liberal products of a nation that led with
+too much indifference the Grand March of Civilisation with her Western
+“breeziness” and terminology (carefully selected), combined with her
+severely cut and altogether admirable gowns, and her fine imposing
+carriage. From this castle she went on with Ora to one leased by an
+ambitious American more English than the English, who permitted herself
+to indulge in a very little fashionable slang, but had consigned the
+American vernacular to oblivion in the grave of her ancestors. Here Ida
+was languid and correct (save at the midnight hour when she sought Ora,
+not only for relaxation but the instructions she was never too proud to
+receive); her English slang (which she had “swapped” for much of her
+own with her various British admirers) was impeccable, and she flirted
+like a stage duchess.
+She estimated the various aristocracies she entered under Ora’s wing
+as a grand moving picture show run for the benefit of Americans, and
+was grateful to have an inside seat, although nothing would have bored
+her more than to take a permanent position in their midst. With their
+history, traditions, psychology, she concerned herself not at all; nor
+did she in any way manifest a desire to cultivate the intellectual
+parts of her shrewd, observing, clutching brain. She threw away as many
+opportunities as she devoured, but on the whole proved herself somewhat
+more adaptable than the usual American woman elevated suddenly from the
+humbler walks of life to the raking searchlights of Society. In Berlin
+and Vienna she repeated her social triumphs, for, although Americans
+do not penetrate far below the crust of Continental society, smart
+men abound in the crust; Ida graduated as an adept in flirtation with
+agreeable and subtle men of the world, yet keeping the most practical
+at arm’s length with a carefully calculated Western directness and
+artlessness that amounted to genius.
+In France and Italy the dazzling fairness of Ora had its innings. A
+vague suggestion of unreality, almost morbid, and a very definite one
+of unawakened womanhood, combined with a cultivated mind, ready wit,
+and air of high breeding, gave her a success as genuine as Ida’s and
+somewhat more perilous. But she soon learned to tread warily, after her
+theories of European men had been vindicated by personal experience.
+In fact, after the two girls had ceased to be mere tourists they had
+taken the advice of one of Mrs. Stratton’s friends and enlisted the
+services of an indigent lady of title as chaperon. Lady Gower had been
+little more than a figurehead but had served her purpose in averting
+gossip; and now that her charges were tourists again had returned to
+her lodgings in Belgravia. As maids also are a doubtful luxury when
+travelling they had recently dismissed the last of a long line.
+On the whole the two girls had got on together amazingly well. They had
+had their differences of opinion, but Ora was too proud to quarrel,
+Ida too easy-going and appreciative of the butter on her bread. It was
+fortunate, however, that Gregory had been able to provide his wife
+with an abundance of money, for she was far too shrewd, and far too
+interested in prices, to remain hoodwinked for long. After three months
+of sight-seeing and _pensions_ both had been glad to leave the tourist
+class and mingle in the more spectacular life of the great world, and
+that had meant trousseaux in Paris. There Ida had “gowned” herself
+for the first time, and her delight in her fashionable wardrobe had
+been equalled only by her satisfaction in driving a bargain. At present
+they were resting in Genoa, a favourite city of Ora’s, after a hard ten
+weeks in Rome.
+XXXI
+They finished their letters and went up to their rooms to rest, for
+they had “done” several churches and the Campo Santo during the morning.
+“Thank the lord,” said Ida, as they walked up the stairs after waiting
+ten minutes for the lift, “there are no picture galleries in this
+town that one _must_ see. The rest of the programme is streets and
+architecture, which is worth while. These internal streets make me feel
+as if I were going right through to China, or whatever is underneath
+Italy. Genoa, before it had any houses on it, must have looked like
+Last Chance Gulch, Helena, Montana.”
+They had reached their connecting rooms. Ida extended herself on a
+sofa, Ora made herself as comfortable as possible in a chair and lit a
+cigarette.
+“Say, kid,” pursued Ida, “you smoke too much. Follow my illustrious
+example. I go just so far and no farther--one cigarette after each meal
+because it makes me feel nice and aristocratic. You’re the kind that
+lets a habit run away with you. I deliberate. You drift. See?”
+Ora laughed. “Funny thing, nature! Anyone would say quite the opposite
+of each of us.”
+“It’s like life. Not a blooming thing is just what you figure it out
+beforehand. Here I wanted the Collins house and I’ve got the Murphy.
+And Greg, that I figured on being a millionaire by the time I got back,
+has gone and tied himself up in litigation, or is heading that way.”
+“You ungrateful wretch! You came to Europe ‘figuring’ on making a
+thousand dollars serve for the entire trip and you already have had
+eleven thousand. Most rules work both ways. But you don’t really want
+to go back?”
+“I do. It’s been growing for some time and now it’s ingrowing. You can
+get enough of anything and I’ve had enough of Europe. Besides, I’d
+like to get back to a country where lifts are elevators and don’t go
+to sleep a few times on the way up; where it doesn’t take an hour to
+draw a bath, which it does wherever it’s pronounced băth; where you can
+drink plain water, and don’t have cheese or garlic or grease in all
+your food; where you are never taken for what you ain’t; where you are
+never cheated and overcharged because you’re an American; where you
+don’t have to see a sight a minute; where you don’t have to talk up to
+people who don’t give a hang about anything that interests you; where
+you are not looked upon as a rank outsider by ancient aristocrats and
+concierges, no matter how polite they try to be; and where the word
+democracy means what it is. Over here every socialist--I’ll bet every
+anarchist--would give his front teeth to be a king, a duke, or even
+a rich bourgeois. That’s what’s the matter with all of them. Give me
+America, above all, old Montana. A little money and a lot of ‘go’ are
+all you need out there.”
+“Oh, Ida! Ida! will you never appreciate the glory of Europe? Is that
+all you have got out of it?”
+“I’ve squeezed it dry, all right, and I’ll take back a lot more than
+I figured on. Watch me when I’m swelling round Butte, imitating the
+chaste simplicity of a British duchess--minus the duds they generally
+sport. There’s nothing like Europe to teach you what’s what--especially
+the way we’ve seen it--put you wise in ten thousand different ways, and
+fill your mind with pretty pictures--that ain’t in galleries. But after
+all it’s just a course in the higher education, and you’re outside
+of it all, every minute. To live you’ve got to go back to your own
+country.”
+“That’s true enough!”
+“Could you marry a European and live over here for the rest of your
+life and never see those mountains again that just seem to belong to
+you--or even screaming old Butte?”
+“No!” Ora spoke with uncommon vehemence. “I couldn’t!”
+Ida raised herself on her elbow and looked at her friend shrewdly. “I
+can’t see that you’ve enjoyed yourself so much over here. It seems to
+me that you’ve got your fun out of showing me round. You had more real
+gaiety in you in Butte. You may not know it but you look pretty sad
+sometimes.”
+“Life is sad--mighty sad.”
+“Is it? That’s a new one for me. I think it a pretty fine old
+proposition. What went wrong with you--early in the game?”
+“Nothing. Travel is tiring, I’m not as strong as you are.”
+“You’re as tough as a pine knot, for all you look like a lily expecting
+to be decapitated by the first wind. Well, you won’t tell if you won’t,
+but I’ll tell you what you need. You’ve never been in love and that’s
+a sort of ache in women until they’ve taken a good dose of the only
+medicine. I rather hoped you’d met your fate in the Marchese Valdobia.
+He’s the sort you once told me was your type, and you seemed to like
+him pretty well for about five weeks in Rome. The lord knows he was
+tall enough, and dark enough, and thin enough, and looked as if he had
+a beastly temper besides. Then you turned him down good and hard. I was
+sorry----”
+“My dear Ida! Are you regretting that I did not have a liaison with
+Valdobia? I remember your virtuous sentiments in Butte. Perhaps it is
+time for us to return!”
+“Oh, I’m all right. But I’m that advanced I wouldn’t mind you having an
+affair the least bit if it would make you happy----”
+“Happy! What happiness do you imagine there can be when you are
+absolutely at the mercy of a man?--when you never know whether you will
+see him again or not?--a woman has no real hold on a lover. Matrimony
+with the man you love may have its agonies, but at least you live with
+him, you make his home; his interests are yours, he is dependent upon
+you for comfort and sympathy; there are a thousand ways in which you
+can endear and enchain him. But a lover, whom you meet in secret for
+one purpose only, who can give you no real companionship--oh, no! I
+shall not court that particular form of suffering. Life is hard enough
+without that! I’ve known women with lovers and so have you.”
+“I don’t say it would last forever; nothing does, for that matter. But
+at least you would live for a little while--come down off the unearthly
+plane you roost on now. Whatever you went through, it would leave you
+all-round developed and philosophical--in a frame of mind to see and
+accept life as it is. You need hardening. I was born hard. You’re as
+soft as mush, for all you look like those marble bores in the Vatican,
+and as romantic as if you’d spent all your life in a castle in a wood
+with the drawbridge up. I believe you even keep a diary----”
+“Diary----” Ora sat up straight.
+“I’ve seen and heard you writing by the yard, late at night, mostly. It
+wasn’t letters, because we always get those off our chest just after
+breakfast--fine system. Unless you’re a budding author----”
+“They were letters!” Ora, who was strung up to a high pitch and merely
+smoking for relief, felt a defiant impulse to indulge in the impudence
+of confession. “I’ve written yards and yards of letters to a man----”
+“What? And you don’t send them off!”
+“I don’t know him.”
+“Good lord, what next? An ideal, I suppose.”
+“Yes--that’s it.”
+“Do you mean you never saw him--anyone to suggest him--it? What gender
+has an ideal, anyhow?”
+“I saw him--talked with him, once. I said I didn’t know him.”
+“And you’re in love with him!”
+“Not in the least. He simply jolted my imagination, gave me the idea of
+what might be--have been. I--it is hard to express--I feel in a sort
+of mental--spiritual?--affinity with him. When I write I have a queer
+sense of absolute communion--as if we were talking--I suppose it is
+because I know he would understand if I could send the letters----”
+“And you’ve never sent one?”
+“Of course not. It is--well, just a little private one-sided drama I’m
+living; a sort of book of which I am the heroine. While I write I am
+alive. The rest of the time I wonder what I was put on this earth at
+all for.”
+“Look at here, Ora, the best thing we can do is to send for old Gower
+and go back to Rome. You’ll be having nerves first thing you know.
+No, we’d cut out the annex. I’m dead sick of her, and everybody knows
+we’re all right; in Rome they don’t care, anyhow. You could have a real
+romance. We’d take one of those old palaces, haunted, moth-eaten, with
+one of those antique porters that looks as if he’d let out midnight
+lovers ten centuries ago, and beds that twenty centuries have died in.
+That would just suit you. I’d enjoy a second-hand romance first rate,
+and be the trusted friend.”
+“Ida, you are incorrigible! Even if I cared a penny about Valdobia do
+you suppose I would betray my husband?”
+“Rats! Don’t you suppose Mark has a girl down on The Flat? Greg has,
+I’ll bet--well, don’t look as if you were going to faint. What’s the
+use of being a dog in the manger? Mark’ll be the same old devoted when
+you get back.”
+“Oh, do keep quiet! And I wish I might never see Butte again. I think
+I’ll write to Mark and ask him to move to New York. He now has plenty
+of money to wait, and it wouldn’t take him long to establish himself
+anywhere----”
+“I thought you loved Montana--wanted to do something big for her----”
+“We’ve been away a long time. I fancy I’m weaned. It is only once in a
+while that I feel a pull--merely because I was born there.”
+“Well, Mark won’t leave, believe me. He’s Western from the cut of his
+back hair to his love of the free-and-easy. No New York for him except
+the all-night two or three times a year. Butte’s your fate unless you
+leave him.”
+“I’ll never do that, but I’d like to stay over here for another year
+or two. Remember, I was brought up in Europe--and--and--I _might_ meet
+the man--If you want to know I’ve tried. I’d never go as far as you
+suggest, but I could get something--companionship, perhaps, out of it.”
+“When you meet the man you’ll forget all you ever knew, and men don’t
+companion for a cent when there’s nothing in it. I haven’t been turning
+them inside out these last six months for nothing; what I don’t
+know about men wouldn’t fill a thimble. Why don’t you round up your
+letter-man?”
+“That is forever impossible.”
+“Do give me a hint who he is. I’m half dead with curiosity. Where’d you
+meet him?”
+“Keep quiet. I’m going to take a nap.”
+“Well,” said Ida, yawning and stretching herself, “so am I, if you’ve
+closed up. When we get back to Butte and there’s no more sight-seeing
+on, we’ll have to cut out these siestas or we’ll get fat, and then
+good-bye.”
+XXXII
+They went out at half-past five and joined the dense sauntering throng
+under the arcade of the Via Venti Settembre. All Genoa turns out at
+this hour with apparently no object but to amble and stare. The two
+girls, particularly Ora, who appeared to be the only blonde in the
+city, were almost mobbed. Every other man spoke to them, or rolled
+his eyes and twirled his moustache. But they preserved a lofty and
+blank demeanour, and were practically unmolested. The Genoese works
+almost as hard as the American during a few hours of the day and haunts
+the afternoon throngs only to amuse himself indolently. If one woman
+ignores him he passes on philosophically to the next.
+“Lord, but I’d like to get a move on!” exclaimed Ida. “Why don’t they
+_walk_? Is this what they call exercise? And I wouldn’t mind their
+ogling and speaking if they only wouldn’t pinch. I’ll give this side a
+rest, anyhow.” And she dexterously changed places and drew Ora’s other
+arm through her own.
+“I love them, pinches and all,” said Ora, warmly. “They are like
+children in one way, and yet they really know how to rest and enjoy
+themselves, which is more than our men ever do. Even the working-class
+enjoys life over here. I wonder why they emigrate?”
+They had passed round the corner of the arcade and entered the Piazza
+Defarrari, working their way toward the Via Roma. Ora stopped before
+one of the cantinas behind the statue of Garibaldi. “Look at those men
+drinking their cheap wine and gossipping. They look as if they hadn’t a
+care in the world.”
+“Give me the hustling American,” said Ida contemptuously. “I don’t call
+this life. They’re just drifting along waiting for the Angel Gabriel
+to blow his trump. What makes them so lazy and contented? They know
+they can go just so far over here and no farther. Ancient history made
+classes and masses, and while they have fun, some of them, thinking
+they’re socialists, they know that most of them will stay put. But the
+only real fun in life is getting ahead of the next fellow and knowing
+that your chance is as good as any.”
+“What a truly American sentiment!”
+“I’m American, all right, and that’s the reason I want to get back to
+Butte, where things hum every minute, and there’s no real poverty.
+Fancy calling these left-overs ‘middle-class’ like our miners. Every
+one of those looks forward to being President of Amalgamated one of
+these days, or striking it rich in the mountains.”
+“There are different varieties of happiness, fortunately for several
+billions that are seeking it.”
+“Do you know,” said Ida, abruptly, as they turned into the Galleria
+Mazzini from the Via Roma, “it’s queer, but I feel more at home in
+Italy than I have anywhere else over here, although I had a really
+better time in England and Germany and Austria. I don’t hit it off much
+with Italians, but--well--I have a more settled-down feeling.”
+“That’s odd!”
+“Why?”
+“Oh, I’ve been romancing about you a bit, fancying you a reincarnation
+of one of those fascinating abominable women of the Renaissance, who
+had innumerable lovers and poisoned their husbands, or rivals. You
+would look quite wonderful in those long velvet or brocaded gowns, with
+sleeves that come down over the hands, and pearls twined in your hair.”
+“That’s not a bad idea. Maybe I was, although I don’t see myself
+with lovers or thinking anybody worth swinging for. Several American
+reincarnations must have changed my habits; but I don’t mind looking
+the part. Good idea--when we get back to Paris I’ll have several of
+those Renaissance costumes made. They won’t go out of style, either.
+Greg can fork over the pearls later.”
+“You’ll be a picture. I wish I had thought of it before. Don’t you
+think you are capable of jealousy?”
+“Nixie. To be jealous you’ve got to have a fearful crush; and thank the
+lord I don’t love anybody but myself and never shall.”
+“That is often the secret of love for some man--of most men’s love for
+a woman, I imagine! Perhaps it creates the most powerful delusion of
+all.”
+“Well, none of it in mine. Me for the great society act. I’m going to
+be the grandest dame in Montana, and when I’ve wrung that dry I’ll move
+on to New York. Greg says he won’t, means to live and die in Montana,
+but I guess he’ll manage to stand it if I desert him occasionally.
+If he’s got a hill full of copper he won’t know whether I’m in Butte
+or the Waldorf-Astoria. You look better, Ora; you ought to stay out
+of doors more and watch these funny old crowds. You’ve got a nice
+colour, and smile as if you meant it--Oh! that’s it, is it? Well, thank
+goodness, I’ve got a front seat----”
+“What on earth are you talking about?”
+“Pretending you haven’t seen him? I like that!”
+Ida felt the arm within her own stiffen. “Valdobia! Don’t leave me for
+a moment.”
+“I won’t, although, believe me, the rôle of gooseberry is no cinch.”
+“I’ve played it for you often enough.”
+“You have, and I’m a dead game sport. Lord! he looks more bad-tempered
+than ever. Probably every meal he’s eaten since you left has disagreed
+with him, including macaroni.”
+“He’s not bad-tempered. Hot-tempered, no doubt, but I’m sure he’s kind
+and quite amiable. He’s rather grim, and of course he’s lived pretty
+hard and is disillusioned. That is all.”
+“That’s right, stand up for him. Bad sign--or a good one! He’s seen us!”
+Valdobia’s eyes flashed recognition, although he lifted his hat with
+unsmiling lips, and made no effort to push his way through the crowd.
+Ora favoured him with a glance of chill indifference as she returned
+his salutation, but she noticed that he made the young Genoese
+patricians look provincial. He not only was tall and gracefully built,
+his carriage military, but he had the air of repose and distinction,
+as well as the keen, tolerant, detached glance, of the man who has
+spent his life in the great world, and, on the whole, subordinated
+his weaknesses to his brain. It was evident that he was dressed from
+Conduit Street, and at first glance, in spite of his dark colouring
+and fine Roman features, his nationality was not obtrusive; he looked
+the cosmopolitan, the man-of-the-world, who might have made his
+headquarters in any one of her great capitals. As a matter of fact,
+while in the diplomatic service he had lived in several, including a
+short sojourn in Washington; but after coming into a large inheritance
+through the death of his father and of an energetic uncle who had
+boldly gone into business and prospered, he had travelled for a year in
+Africa and India and then settled in Rome.
+If he was too indifferent or too wise to hurry he managed to make his
+way consistently toward them, although a crowd had formed about a
+bulletin board to read the latest news from the seat of war. He stood
+opposite them in three or four minutes and shook hands politely with
+both.
+“At last!” he said. “I called at the Bristol, and have been looking
+for you ever since.” He had a warm deep voice but his tones and manner
+expressed less than his words.
+“You don’t have to look far in Genoa,” said Ida, giving him a cordial
+smile and handshake to cover Ora’s chilling welcome. “If the whole town
+turns out for what it calls exercise, each quarter seems to keep to
+itself. We see the same faces every day.”
+Valdobia fell into step beside Ida, who at once began to chatter
+questions about their common acquaintance in Rome. She grinned mentally
+as she rattled off titles, recalling the wiry little figure of her
+mother at the wash-tub, and her father with his “muck”-spattered
+overalls and blue dinner pail; but Valdobia, too accustomed to titles
+to note whether Americans were lavish in their use or not, replied
+naturally and refrained from glancing at the woman who had given his
+self-centred ego the profoundest shock it had ever received. He was
+now thirty-eight. In his early manhood he had loved with the facility
+and brevity of his race. Then for six years, after his return to Rome,
+he had been the lover of a brilliant and subtle woman ten years older
+than himself, who, for a short time, inspired in him the belief that
+at last he had entered the equatorial region of the _grande passion_.
+This passed off, and she became a habit, which lasted until, with
+the decline of her beauty, she lost much of her finesse, as well as
+her control over both temper and complexion. It had taken him a year
+or more to regain his liberty, and when he did, after scenes that
+he fain would dismiss from his memory, he determined to keep it. His
+long experience with a woman of many characteristics and one or two
+noble qualities, before she gossipped and inflamed them to death, had
+thoroughly disillusioned him, and since his release his gallantries
+had been lighter than in his youth. When he first met Ora Blake he was
+attracted merely by her cold fairness, redeemed from classic severity
+by her brilliant seeing eyes, which so often sparkled with humour, and
+amused at her naïve and girlish attitude of happiness in temporary
+freedom; so successfully practised by herself and Ida. He had supposed
+her to be little more than twenty, and had wondered if her husband
+were even busier than the average American, to let her run away so
+soon. When she told him she was twenty-seven, and had been married
+seven years, he found himself speculating on the temperament of a woman
+whom time and life had left untouched. Shortly after, he received a
+biographical sketch of her from Mrs. O’Neil, also of Butte, who was
+wintering in Rome and entertaining such of the aristocracy as she met
+at her Embassy. It was some time since his thoughts had dwelt upon
+any woman when alone, and when he found himself sitting by his window
+in the evening dreaming over his cigar instead of amusing himself in
+the varied life of Rome after his habit, he was at first amused, then
+angry, finally apprehensive. He had no desire for another period of
+torment, followed by the successive stages that finished in impatience
+and satiety.
+He tried flirting with her, making her talk about herself, focussing
+her mind on the years she seemed determined to ignore, in the hope
+of discovering that she was commonplace. But Ora, who found him more
+interesting than any man she had met in Europe, also a conquest to be
+proud of, continued to make herself interesting--and elusive--with a
+skill and subtlety that so closely resembled the frank ingenuousness of
+the West, that the man accustomed to the patented finesse of European
+women experienced the agreeable sensation of renewing his youth. He
+felt himself falling in love like a schoolboy, and meditated flight. He
+remained in Rome, however, and made a deliberate attempt to fascinate
+her. Then one day when Ida was pouring tea at the Embassy, chaperoned
+by Lady Gower, he found Ora alone, indisposed after a sleepless night,
+and lost his head. Ora, who was in no mood to let him down gently and
+reserve him for conversational pleasures, dismissed him abruptly,
+and had not seen him since. She had regretted her impatience, for he
+was always worth talking to, her feminine liking for his type was
+very strong, and she had amused herself fancying that if she had not
+permitted another man to rule her imagination she might have found her
+fate in this one. But as he had presumed to follow her when she had
+banished him summarily, she greeted him with cool civility and resumed
+her study of the kaleidoscopic crowd.
+Suddenly she moved her head in a fashion that suggested the lifting of
+one of the little ears that lay so close to her head and were not the
+least of her points. The ear was on the side next to her companion in
+arms. Could it be that Ida was flirting with Valdobia? Mrs. Compton’s
+manner and speech were as correct as her smartly tailored suit and hat
+of black velvet and the calm pride of her bearing, but she was talking
+with sweet earnestness to the Roman about himself and expressing her
+plaintive gratitude that he had cared to follow them to Genoa, where
+she at least was very lonely. It had not been possible for Ora to see
+the flash of understanding these two had exchanged after Valdobia’s
+first puzzled glance, but she did see many heads turn to look at the
+handsome and well-matched couple. Even the Italian women did not
+smile ironically as they so often did at the too obvious American
+tourist. Ida not only had delivered herself of every exterior trace
+of commonness, but would no more have appeared on the street looking
+the mere tourist than she could be betrayed into adopting the extreme
+of any new style by the persuasive Parisian. She saw Ora’s head come
+round her shoulder, and her voice deepened to the soft husky tones she
+reserved for decisive moments with her agitated admirers, then dropped
+so low that only the man, with his head bent, could hear the words. At
+this stage of the flirtation’s progress Ora noted that the approving
+glances of the sympathetic Italians were accompanied by significant
+smiles.
+They had reached the end of the long Galleria for the second time and
+turned. The crowd was thin. The restaurants were filling. Shutters
+were rattling down over the windows of the tempting shops. Said Ora
+abruptly,
+“I think I’d like to dine in one of these cafés--the Milano. The
+Bristol dining-room is a little Ritz, and it’s a bore to dress.”
+Valdobia leaned forward with a pleasant smile. “I should like nothing
+better, but you must dine with me.”
+“Why not? What do you say, Ida?”
+“I’d love it. The food is good and the crowd more interesting.”
+They entered the bright café and seated themselves at one of the side
+tables, the two girls on the bench against the wall, Valdobia in the
+chair opposite. A number of the tables were already occupied, several
+by stout comfortable couples, but the majority by men with their hats
+on, playing dominoes or reading the evening papers. Opposite the door
+was a long table set forth with the delicacies of the season: raw meat,
+winter vegetables, oranges, and kicking lobsters.
+Valdobia, assiduously waited upon by the proprietor himself (whose
+wife, surrounded by several of her children, smiled benignantly from
+the cashier’s desk), ordered a special dinner; a light soup (the table
+d’hôte soup was a meal in itself), spaghetti, inimitably cooked veal
+in brown butter, salad, freshly caught fish, ices, and a bottle of the
+host’s most precious Chianti.
+“I never could have pictured you in a Bohemian restaurant,” said Ora,
+smiling brilliantly into the face of her host. “Have you ever been in a
+place like this before?”
+“About as often as I have weeks to my credit.” He looked steadily
+into her snapping eyes. “You have studied Italians to little purpose
+if you’ve not discovered their partiality for their native cooking.
+These plain little cafés are the last strongholds in our large cities.
+Even the restaurants where the business men go for luncheon are queer
+imitations of London or Paris.”
+“We like to come here because the men pay no attention to us. It is men
+of your class that know how to make us thoroughly uncomfortable.”
+“Quite so. Every class has its own code. In ours it may be said
+that the women set the pace. They demand open admiration and we are
+gallant enough to give it. This class bothers itself little about the
+unattainable, and merely throws you the passing tribute they would
+throw to the Queen, or to a beautiful work of art.”
+“Which they appreciate. Would that our working-classes did. On this
+side the masses are as likely as not to spend their holidays in a
+picture gallery or a museum. Ours can think of nothing better than a
+saloon.”
+“That may be the fault of your great country. The crude mind is
+easily trained. Give your working-people more galleries and museums
+and fewer saloons--or cantinas with their light wines, and beer
+gardens, instead of rum and whiskey. But it is unfair to expect a new
+and heterogeneous--almost chaotic--country to compete with twenty
+centuries.” Two pairs of American eyes flashed, and he continued
+suavely. “I fear that the old standards of my own people are in danger
+of being demoralised by socialism and the new craving for raw spirits.
+That is becoming a serious question with us.” He turned to Ida. “It is
+far more odd to see you without your usual train of admirers--both of
+you. How do you stand it?”
+“Oh, we’re merely recuperating,” said Ida lightly, and smiling into his
+admiring eyes. “We will return to the fray refreshed and more dangerous
+than ever.”
+“How much longer shall you stay here?”
+“A week or two. Then we go on to Paris. After that Egypt, Spain, or
+some other old place.”
+“But not without seeing Monte Carlo? You must let me show it to you.”
+“I suppose that is an old stamping ground of yours?”
+“I go once a year, although, like a good many other pleasures, it has
+lost its irresistible fascination. But I shall enjoy seeing you catch
+the gambling fever.”
+“I’m not very susceptible to microbes, but I don’t doubt Mrs. Blake
+will gamble the clothes off her back. That would be the good old
+Montana style.” And she told him something of life in Butte before it
+indulged in one of its spasms of exterior reform, and of the present
+life on The Flat.
+“I must see your Butte,” he said enthusiastically. “An English friend
+of mine has a ranch in Wyoming, and I may go out there next year.”
+Ora stood this until the fish had been removed; then she emerged
+conclusively from the cold and nervous apathy that had possessed her
+for several days, and began to sparkle. Ida was no match for her
+when she chose to exert herself, for that native product only really
+shone when able to employ her own rich vocabulary. She subsided
+with a smile and devoted herself to the excellent dinner, while Ora
+entertained their fastidious host with bright little stories of the
+adventures they never failed to experience, being two young women who
+travelled with their eyes and ears wide open. Valdobia, now satisfied
+that he had recaptured the interest of his lady and been in a measure
+forgiven, gave her all his attention; although not a man disposed to
+conversational exertion, he took pains to interest her in return. They
+discussed the news of the day and the latest books; and his deference
+to her opinions was very flattering, although he did not permit a
+flash of his eyes to betray his passionate delight at being once more
+with this woman whom he thought lovelier and more desirable than ever.
+Ora wore a blue velvet suit, not too dark, and a little hat of the
+same shade with a long feather that nestled in her warm ashen hair.
+Her cheeks were as pink as her lips, and she held her chin up as if
+drinking in the elixir of her native air. She looked very young and
+wholly without guile.
+She continued to enchant him until they were in the Bristol, and the
+lift stopped at the first floor. Then she abruptly bade him good-night,
+and ascended to her room, while the others went into the smoking-room
+and ordered coffee at one of the smaller tables.
+“Well?” said Ida, smiling. “I’m not the sort that talks in circles
+except when I’m on parade. I’m glad you’ve come. Ora was fearfully down
+about something. I believe she likes you better than any man she has
+met over here. A little flirtation will do her no end of good.”
+Valdobia coloured. He was as practical as most Italians, but by no
+means given to the direct method of speech with women. Love simplifies
+among other things, however, and after a moment he put down his cup and
+looked her straight in the eyes.
+“I think I shall take you into my confidence,” he said. “I know that
+you are honest and that I can trust to your discretion----”
+“You bet.”
+Ida relaxed her spine with her speech and settled herself comfortably.
+“And you could give me great assistance. I want to persuade your
+friend--may I call her Ora to you? It is a beautiful name and I have
+said it so often to myself----”
+“Ora goes.”
+“I want to persuade Ora to divorce her husband and marry me.”
+“Aw--that is--Good Lord!” Ida sat up straight and nearly dropped her
+cup. “That’s a large order.”
+“Rather. But I--now--want nothing less. I am sick of the other sort of
+thing, even if she were not too good for it. I want to marry--and she
+is the only woman I ever have wanted to marry.”
+“Hm. You Italians haven’t the name of being the best husbands in the
+world. How long would you be faithful to her?”
+“I have no intention of ever being anything else.”
+“That’s what they all say--think, no doubt.”
+“I shall be.” He spoke with intense conviction.
+“Well, perhaps--you’ve lived your life. I should think you men would
+get mighty sick of dancing about and never coming to anchor. But
+divorce? There’s Mark, you know.”
+“Her present husband?”
+“Yes, and a rattling good fellow. He married Ora when she didn’t know
+which way to turn, and she is really grateful to him, and as fond of
+him as if he were her own brother. I don’t think she’ll turn him down.”
+“Women have been known to desert their brothers before this! I mean to
+make her love me, and if I do--how she could love a man!--I fancy I can
+persuade her.”
+“I like Mark and I don’t want to see him thrown down. He’s not what you
+might call in love with Ora--he got discouraged pretty early in the
+game. But he’s fond of her and proud of her, and he has ambitions. She
+could help him a lot.”
+Valdobia lit another cigarette.
+“Better have a liaison and get over it. Then he’ll never know, and what
+men don’t know don’t hurt them.”
+“I shall do nothing of the sort. I mean to marry her. Will you help me
+or not?”
+“Ora’d look fine all right in that old palace of yours. It would suit
+her a long sight better than Butte, or even Washington--let alone
+Helena; Mark wouldn’t mind a bit being Governor of Montana. Have you
+got a castle in the country?”
+“I have several.”
+“Fine! I’d visit you every year.”
+“No one would be half as welcome.”
+“I’ve been away from America so long and seen so much, and Butte seems
+so far away, that I’ve kind of lost my bearings. If you’d come over
+there and lay your siege, I guess I’d fight you to the last ditch.”
+“Permit me to remind you that we are in Italy, a state several
+centuries ahead of yours in civilisation, even if we lack your facile
+divorce laws. I know something of Mr. Blake from Mrs. O’Neil. Can you
+picture Ora finishing her life with him?”
+“No, I can’t, and that’s a fact. I wonder there hasn’t been a grand
+bust-up before this. It will come some day. Why not now?”
+“Quite so.”
+“And Mark could get a dozen girls to suit him better, make him nice and
+comfy. He’ll never get any real companionship out of Ora, fine as she’s
+always treated him. A man like that needs a running mate.”
+“I shall waste none of my mental energy in sympathy for Mr. Mark Blake.
+American husbands, so far as I have been permitted to observe, are
+accustomed not only to being deserted for months and even years at a
+time, but to periodical divorce.”
+“It’s not quite as bad as that, but Mark has the elasticity of an india
+rubber ball, and that’s a fact.”
+“Good. Will you help me?”
+Ida hesitated an instant longer, then, dimly conscious that her answer
+in a measure was dictated by a profound instinct she made no attempt to
+define, exclaimed, “It’s a go. I believe it will be all for the best.
+Shake.” And she gave his hand a hearty grasp.
+“You are a brick,” he murmured, with a sensation of gratitude he had
+rarely experienced. “But there is one thing more. Please give her no
+hint of this, for the present at least. Tell her, and make her believe
+it, that I have not come here to trouble her, that she need never fear
+to trust herself alone with me. Tell her that I only want to enjoy her
+society and make things pleasant for her.”
+“Right you are. Ora’s not the sort you can rush. But don’t overdo it
+and make her think you’ve altogether got over it. Sometimes that piques
+and works out all right and sometimes it don’t. She’s as proud as
+Lucifer and might get over her fancy for you while she was still mad.”
+“You do know your sex! I’ll use all the art I’ve ever acquired.”
+“Respectful devotion without humility, and pained self-control. That’s
+your lay.”
+He laughed heartily. “We’ll drift for the present.”
+“Well, now, drift out. I want to go up and sound her. I’m simply
+expiring to know what she’s thinking about at the present moment.”
+XXXIII
+When Ida reached her room she put her ear to the closed door leading
+into Ora’s, and heard the scratch of the hotel pen.
+“May I come in?” she asked softly.
+There was a rattle of paper, the snap of a trunk lid, and then Ora said
+in tones as dulcet, “Come in, dear.”
+Ida entered and found Ora extended on the sofa.
+“What did you run off like that for?” she asked, as she selected the
+least uncomfortable of the chairs in the fresh and artistic but hardly
+luxurious room. “The poor man was as glum as a funeral until he’d had
+two cups of coffee and several cigarettes.”
+“I was tired. And I really think he has followed you.”
+“You don’t think anything of the sort. His heart was in his patent
+leathers when he met us, and I just tided him over. He gave me a
+message for you. Shall I deliver it?”
+“Why not?” asked Ora languidly.
+“He wants me to impress you with the fact that he’s not come here to
+make love to you, just to enjoy your exhilarating society----”
+“Is he over it?” Ora’s eyes flashed upward.
+“Not exactly, but he has no intention of making any more breaks, and
+being cut off from the solace of your company now and then--principally
+now, I guess. He’s got to see you or go off to India and shoot tigers.
+But he’s really much nicer than I had any idea of, and is anxious to
+give us a good time. Life is a desert, kid, with all the men we know in
+the next town. Men were invented to amuse us, so do continue to thaw.
+You did bravely when you got started, and no harm will be done. If you
+can’t fall in love with him you can’t, and he’s prepared to take his
+medicine. He’s a good sport. A man like that can behave himself when he
+sets his mind to it.”
+“Is he indulging in the hope that I can be made to care for him?”
+“Men are so conceited that they always hope for the best. But he’ll
+not worry you, that’s the point. It will be fine to have him pilot us
+about; perhaps he’ll get us inside of one of those old palaces in the
+Via Garibaldi. And he’ll take us to Monte Carlo. How do you feel about
+it?”
+“I don’t care whether he goes or stays, but on the whole I am rather
+glad he is here. He has brains and I like to talk to clever men that
+have seen the world.”
+“And don’t keep me hitched to your elbow all the time, for mercy’s
+sake. I hope he’ll dig up some friend of his here who will beau me.
+Give him a chance and remember he is a gentleman and has passed his
+word.”
+“Is this a plot?” Ora laughed. “Don’t worry. I won’t bore you any
+more than I can help. I fancy I am quite safe, for he never really
+can see me alone, as we have no salon here. Besides, in long days of
+sight-seeing he’ll no doubt recover, and we shall become merely the
+best of friends.”
+“That’s what I’m figuring on. Now, cut out those love letters and come
+down to earth.”
+Ora sat up in her indignation. “Love letters? I’ve not written a line
+of love.”
+“What in the name of goodness do you write about then to this lover in
+the air?”
+“Oh, I just--_talk_--about everything that interests me--the things
+one says to a familiar spirit--that is if there were such a thing--but
+otherwise has to keep to oneself always.”
+“And you don’t call them love letters, because you leave out the
+‘darlings’ and ‘dears’? Good thing the man will never see them.
+Good thing for more reasons than one. Men hate long letters. If I’d
+disobeyed orders and inflicted Greg, I never would have got that house
+and the extra ten thousand.”
+“And yet he was in love with you once?”
+“Thought he was. Just had the usual attack of brain fever men always
+get when they can’t have the girl they want without marrying her.
+Lasted about a month. Greg cares too much for other things for any
+woman to last more than a few minutes in his life, anyway. Just the
+husband for me.”
+Ora was swinging one foot and looking at the point of her slipper.
+“I shan’t destroy those letters,” she said finally, “because they have
+meant something to me that nothing in this life ever will again. But
+I’ll write no more.”
+       *       *       *       *       *
+They remained in Genoa for ten days longer. Valdobia, who had taken
+rooms at the Miramare, gave them a dinner and they met several of his
+Genoese friends, but none of the men was blest with Ida’s critical
+approval. Her demand for the admiration of men was merely a part of her
+insolent pride in her beauty and magnetism and her love of power; she
+had little natural coquetry, and wasted no time on a man who bored her
+or was not “worth while.” She particularly hated soft dark eyes, and
+the two unfortunate young scions of the aristocracy of Genoa invited
+by Valdobia, had peculiarly lovely orbs that they rolled exceedingly.
+But it was a merry party, for no people can be gayer than the Genoese,
+and they played baccarat until two in the morning; a new experience
+for the Americans. During the hours devoted to the game Ida had the
+satisfaction of observing that two pairs of flaming dark eyes had
+apparently forgotten the existence of woman. Even Valdobia, who held
+the bank twice and lost a good deal of money, became very keen on the
+table, although he kept Ora beside him and taught her all that one can
+learn of a game of chance. The stakes ran very high toward the end,
+Valdobia lost several thousand francs, and Ora five hundred. She would
+have lost more, no doubt, for she found it an interesting and exciting
+experience, but Valdobia dictated her stakes, and she meekly obeyed.
+Ida, who had been wary, came out even.
+“You don’t catch me dropping good money when I don’t get something good
+enough in return,” she announced as they entered her room at the hotel.
+“It’s fun all right, but like most things that are off on a side-track
+from your main purpose in life, just to be nibbled at. I prefer bridge
+anyhow.”
+“Do you? I think I like the game of chance. I don’t mind losing----”
+“Well, I do. It made me sick to see you lose five hundred francs, and
+if it hadn’t been for Valdobia you’d have lost as much more. I couldn’t
+sleep a wink if I’d lost a hundred plunks.”
+Ora laughed. “It would be great fun to see you really excited and
+carried away about something. I hope you will have visions of sudden
+wealth at Monte Carlo and forget the world.”
+“Not much!” said Ida contemptuously. “I’ll be rich, all right, but
+it’ll be because I take no chances. I knew whom I was marrying, and
+he’ll make the millions. You’ll never see me spend a cent unless it
+brings in good interest, like clothes, and tips, and entertaining.
+And the only thing that could excite me would be if Amalgamated got
+the hill, and Greg had to go to work to make his fortune as a mining
+engineer. But I’m not the kind to get wrinkles worrying. Lord! Don’t
+the people in this town ever go to sleep?”
+Their windows were close to the Via Venti Settembre, although on a
+short side street. It is possible that the afternoon throngs are
+replaced by a different set in the evening, and these again by lovers
+of the night; but certain it is that the more inviting of the streets
+are rarely deserted until dawn, and the later the revellers the
+more noisy they are; following a universal law of nature. When the
+light-hearted Genoese has sung all his songs to the stars and chattered
+at the top of his voice for several hours, he stands still and screams.
+The girls put their heads out of the window, wondering if anyone were
+being murdered below. A group of young men were standing in a circle
+and outscreaming one another.
+Ida slammed the long windows together, fastened the catch and covered
+them with the heavy shutters. “Me for beauty sleep,” she said; “I like
+air all right, but I like quiet better. Good night.”
+Ora left her window open and lay thinking for a long time. She liked
+the new excitement of gambling, and she was divided between regret
+and gratitude that for the last five days she had enjoyed thoroughly
+the society of the man who would have been the chief exponent of
+the type she admired had he possessed more primitive strength of
+personality; had he been obliged to develop his native forces in a
+fierce battle with life instead of having been from, birth one of her
+favourites. But he was a man, brave, unsoftened by luxury, quick, keen,
+resourceful, modern to his finger-tips, an almost perfect companion.
+What more could any woman ask? Ora wondered just what it was she did
+ask. She felt very grateful to him, however. Her regret was that her
+unreal life seemed to be over, or slept profoundly when she perversely
+and tentatively summoned it. That life had been terrible in its
+intensity, only retreating now and again when real events crowded,
+or she deliberately tried to interest herself in a new and charming
+personality. But all men sooner or later faded to the transparency of
+wraiths beside the vital figure that dominated her imaginative life.
+Would Valdobia accomplish the miracle? At least he gave her peace for
+the moment. She fell asleep smiling and deliberately thinking of him.
+XXXIV
+On the following day they lunched at a large restaurant opposite
+the Bourse, a favourite resort of the two girls; it amused them to
+watch the keen clever business men of Genoa at their midday meal in
+leisurely conversation and enjoyment of their excellent food and wine;
+contrasting them with the American who took five minutes for lunch,
+achieving dyspepsia instead of nutriment, and possibly accomplishing
+less than a race which has been commercial and acquisitive since the
+dawn of its history. There is little real poverty in Genoa and great
+wealth.
+They had come too late to secure one of the tables overlooking the
+Piazzi Defarrari, and were facing the windows, at one of the longer
+tables, when Valdobia, who sat opposite, rose with a word of apology
+and went behind them to greet a man with a pleasant English voice.
+“Lord John Mowbray,” whispered Ida. “He’s all right, but, lord, I’ll be
+glad to get back to a country where a few men are plain mister.”
+Nevertheless, as the Englishman bent over her with a delighted word of
+greeting, she lifted her heavy eyes to his with the expression of one
+whose long suppressed hopes have blossomed at last.
+“I wish I could join you,” he said ruefully, “but I am with a party of
+friends.”
+“Get rid of them after lunch,” murmured Ida, “and come with us. We
+are going to explore all those interesting little streets down in the
+gulch--that is to say the ravine, or whatever it was once--and it would
+be jolly to have you along.”
+“I will,” he said, with fervour, “and I know what a gulch is. My
+brother is ranching in Wyoming, and I may join him there in a few
+months. I believe he also has interests in Butte.”
+“Good! We’ll begin to get friendly right now. So long.” Valdobia
+returned to his chair, and she asked, “Is he a brother of your Wyoming
+friend?”
+“He is, and no doubt we’ll go out together. Your Northwest must be the
+realest thing left in the world.”
+“It’s that, all right. And it will be no end of fun having you out
+there!” She smiled sardonically, and Ora coloured and moved restlessly.
+She was vaguely aware of a new drama unfolding, and had no wish to
+analyse it.
+Mowbray, to Ida’s satisfaction, not only deserted his friends after
+luncheon, but permitted them to go on to Rome without him and lingered
+in Genoa. He was a fair well set-up young Englishman, with a nonchalant
+manner and an inflammable heart. Ida had met him at a country house and
+amused herself “landing him,” but as she had left England immediately
+after, and hunting had claimed all his ardours, she neither had seen
+nor heard from him since. Although she meant to keep him at her elbow
+as long as he served her purpose, she knew him to be a shy youth under
+his natural buoyancy and quick intelligence, and did not disturb her
+placid mind with visions of “scenes.” On the whole she liked Englishmen
+better than any of the men she had met in Europe, for they had more
+pride and self-control where women were concerned; if things went
+deeper with them they were less likely to offend her cold purity with
+outbursts of passion: which, she confided to Ora, “made her sick.”
+To her delight Valdobia took them one afternoon to call on an elderly
+relative who lived in one of the great palaces of the Via Garibaldi.
+They were escorted up to the top floor; the rooms on the other
+_pianos_ were either closed or emitted the chill breath of the tomb.
+Their destination was a large lofty room, inadequately heated by a
+stove in one corner; their noble hostess was fortified against the
+cold by several shawls and a foot-warmer. She had invited three other
+aristocratic relics in to look at “the Americans,” and, although the
+principessa and her friends were more polite than they would have been
+to intruding bourgeoises of their own country, it was apparent that
+they could find little to say to two young women from a land of which
+they had a confused and wholly contemptuous apprehension. They knew
+that its chief title to fame was its original discovery by a Genoese,
+that the lower classes emigrated to it a good deal, and that many
+American women, who spent far too much money on their clothes, visited
+Europe and occasionally married above them. More than this they neither
+knew nor cared to know. So far as they were concerned new countries did
+not exist.
+Conversation languished. Ida was suppressed, and divided between a
+desire to laugh and to scream. Ora, with a heroic effort, talked about
+the mistake the average American made in seeing so little of Genoa;
+but, having laid aside her furs out of politeness, she was shivering,
+and unable to drink the strong coffee which immediately succumbed to
+the temperature of the room.
+She sent an appealing glance to Valdobia, who was smiling to himself.
+Lord John, who had been honoured by a chair beside his hostess, treated
+with the consideration due his ancient lineage, was delivering himself
+of spasmodic clauses, with one eye on Valdobia.
+“Jimminy!” whispered Ida, who now felt quite at home with her fellow
+conspirator, “if you don’t get us out of this quick I’ll have
+high-strikes, and Ora’ll get a cold and be laid up for a week. I always
+keep her in bed when she has a cold.”
+Valdobia rose instantly. “We have an engagement in half an hour,” he
+said to his mother’s second cousin. “Perhaps you will permit me to show
+these ladies over the palace?”
+“Oh, do!” exclaimed Mowbray, acting on instinct, for he was too cold
+and too unnerved to think. “I’d like jolly well to see it myself; must
+be rippin’.”
+The permission was given with some graciousness, and the party bowed
+themselves out. As they descended the grand staircase, they heard a
+buzz of voices behind them, as of several elderly ladies talking at
+once.
+“We’d be roasting on red-hot coals this minute if there were any in
+that refrigerator,” said Ida, “but I don’t care so long as we are going
+to see the real part of the palace.”
+An aged major domo showed them through the magnificent reception rooms,
+built for entertaining a proud and gorgeous aristocracy in the days
+when Genoa was known throughout Europe as “La Superba.” They were hung
+with tapestries or cordova leather, and filled with priceless pictures,
+porcelains, enamels, gold and silver ware, and massive furniture.
+Valdobia told them dramas sentimental and tragic which had been
+enacted within the walls of the historic house. But they had to stamp
+about to avoid a chill, and were glad to emerge into the warmer air of
+even the narrow street.
+“Well,” announced Ida, as they walked rapidly out of the Via Garibaldi
+into the broad sunshine of the Piazza delle Fontane Marose, “if
+that’s a sample of your ancient aristocracy no more of it in mine. My
+curiosity is satisfied for good and all. Why on earth don’t they live
+like human beings?”
+“Or steam-heated Americans?” asked Valdobia, smiling. “Console yourself
+with the assurance that you are the only Americans that have ever
+crossed that threshold.”
+“It doesn’t console me one little bit, and I feel pneumonia coming on.
+Let’s walk as fast as we know how!” And accompanied by the willing
+Englishman she started off with a stride that soon left the others far
+behind.
+“It is true,” said Valdobia disgustedly, “that this older generation
+does not know how to live, not in any sense. They possess the greatest
+wealth in Italy, and they hoard it as if poverty stared them in the
+face. They have only to turn on the electric lights once a week and
+provide a simple supper to make Genoa one of the most delightful cities
+in Europe, but they won’t even do that. They have the finest jewels
+in Italy and never wear them except on the rare occasions when the
+King and Queen visit Genoa and command them to the royal palace. Thank
+heaven there is a younger set, equally well born, that live in the new
+apartment houses or in those villas up on the hills, and are neither
+too economical nor too antiquated in their ideas to enjoy life. Those
+old people are divided up into intimate little sets and spend their
+lives gossipping about the rest of Genoa or talking of the past. But I
+do hope you did not take cold.”
+“I didn’t, and I really enjoyed it!” said Ora, smiling mischievously.
+“I amused myself thinking what would happen if I told our uncomfortable
+hostess that my father’s sister had married a Roman relative of her
+husband; but I wouldn’t have relieved the situation for the world. I
+suppose they are fumigating themselves.”
+“I don’t doubt it. They think they are aristocratic and are merely
+provincial.”
+“How different you are!” Ora looked at him admiringly. “One hardly
+could believe that you belonged to the same race.”
+“I don’t. I am a Roman, and a citizen of the world. No doubt you, too,
+have a root that runs back into the dark ages, but today is all that
+counts with us. I mean that in more senses than one!” And, although he
+smiled, he gave her a quick side-glance.
+“I hope so. I am well aware that you are enjoying yourself immensely.”
+Ora felt it quite safe to flirt with him in the open street.
+“Do you like me a little better?”
+“Rather. Friendly companionship is my chief idea of happiness, now that
+I am more or less tired of books.”
+“Is it? May it be my good fortune to initiate you into a higher! You
+have everything to learn!”
+“Have I? I wonder!”
+“What do you mean by that? Have you ever been in love?”
+“Not the least little bit!”
+“You said that rather too vehemently. It is my turn to wonder.” This
+time he looked hard at her and his face was grim. He had a way of
+setting his jaw that reminded her of the man whose haunting memory had
+made her alternately happy and miserable during many long months. She
+looked away hastily.
+“The kind of love you mean I have not the very least knowledge of. You
+must believe that.”
+“Of what other kind, then?”
+“Oh, all women dream, you know,” she said lightly. “They have a sort of
+ideal that consoles them for missing the realities of life. You come
+quite close to it,” and once more she sparkled her eyes at him.
+“I have no intention of letting you flirt with me,” said Valdobia
+calmly. “My flirting days are over. I shall remain the best of your
+friends until you love me or send me to the other end of the world.”
+“Well, don’t become serious and spoil everything.”
+“I shall not lose my head, if that is what you mean,” he said drily. “I
+find the present state of affairs very pleasant. Let us overtake the
+others and go for a drive.”
+XXXV
+“Well,” said Ora, when she and Ida had returned to the hotel to dress
+for dinner, “did you have a queer feeling when you were prowling
+through those dim old rooms, furnished three or four hundred years ago,
+and the scene of all sorts of romance and tragedy?”
+“I had a queer feeling all right. Had visions of rheumatism, sciatica,
+pneumonia, and a red nose for a week. I suppose those wonderful velvet
+gowns they wore--in pictures, anyhow--were padded inside, and they
+slept in them; didn’t take them off all winter. If I lived in one of
+those palaces today I’d surely lose all my good American habits.”
+“Didn’t you have any haunting sense of mystery--of having been there
+before?”
+“Nixie! No wonder I murdered if I ever was. However,” she added
+thoughtfully, “there’s no telling what I might have felt if they’d had
+a furnace in the house. There was something wonderful about it, all
+right--being in those musty old rooms, that fairly smelt of the past. I
+guess they’ll haunt me as some of those Roman palaces have that are not
+shown to the public. But don’t put weird ideas into my head, Ora. They
+don’t gee with Butte. The severely practical is my lay.”
+“Don’t you think there could be romance and tragedy in Butte?”
+“Oh, plenty of shooting, if you mean that; and mixing-up. But people
+don’t stay jealous long enough to get real tragic about it; they just
+get a divorce. We’ve improved on daggers and poisoned bowls and rings,
+and the rest of it. Good old Butte!”
+They all dined at the Bristol that night, and soon after nine o’clock
+had the smoking-room to themselves. Ida, indeed, carried Mowbray off
+into the reading-room. Ora sighed as she found herself alone with the
+handsome distinguished Roman of the type that even in minor exponents
+so often compelled her response. Why didn’t she love him? He was
+proving himself the ideal companion. There was apparently no question
+to which he had not given some thought, and he knew far more about the
+subjects that appealed to her than she did herself. They discussed
+the ever-fascinating sexual problems impersonally, delicately, and
+exhaustively, a feat in itself, an experience Ora never had enjoyed
+before; for while it drew them together it apparently neither disturbed
+Valdobia nor altered his attitude toward her. His analyses of politics
+and of the fashionable authors of the day were the acutest she had
+heard or read, and he enlarged her knowledge of the world by his
+anecdotes of life in the different capitals of Europe that he knew so
+well. He could be personal without egotism, and his sense of humour was
+keener than her own. While he treated her ideas and criticisms with
+deference he forced her to look up to him and to feel only pleasure in
+his masterful mind and great experience.
+Tonight he made her talk about herself; and, artfully beating about her
+life’s most significant chapter, she expressed herself with a freedom
+and veracity which she found another novel and fascinating experience;
+her confidences to Ida were superficial and sporadic. She could feel
+his sympathy and understanding flow toward her, although he uttered
+no sentimental platitudes, and let only his eyes express a little
+of what he felt. But for the hour she glowed with a sense of utter
+companionship, her mind was stimulated to the pitch of excitement; she
+caught herself wishing that they could have these long intimate talks
+for the rest of their lives, and that he would sometimes hold her hand
+to complete the sense of perfect understanding.
+When they parted at midnight and she walked slowly up the stairs
+alone--Ida had dismissed Mowbray an hour since--she sighed again.
+Why didn’t she feel the pull? What was the nature of that mysterious
+current that seemed to vibrate between two people only out of the
+world’s billions, and was quite independent of mental identities?
+Certainly passion was not the only source. If she had been free and
+never had met Gregory Compton she would have married Valdobia and given
+him all he craved; for his magnetism was by no means confined to his
+brain. Why could not she love him as it was? She had not been the
+heroine of one of those passionate love affairs that leave a woman
+cold for several years, perhaps for ever. The intensity of emotion she
+had experienced during these months in Europe had been one-sided, a
+mere madness of the imagination. She had yet to realise that a woman
+can live more profoundly and completely with a man in her imagination
+than when in daily contact with his discouraging weaknesses, his
+inability to reach her impossible standard, and impinged upon by the
+disintegrating forces of daily life.
+Such women as Ora Blake, endowed with a certain measure of creative
+imagination, yet spending their maturing years unnaturalised citizens
+in a cross-section of life which barely brushes their aloofness in
+passing, develop as unnormally as those that cultivate this exotic
+garden of the mind for fame and fortune. If they find a mate while the
+imagination is still as young as their years, these highly organised
+women, with every sense and faculty keenly alert, and stimulated by
+mental contact as others may be by drugs and wine, have the opportunity
+at least to be the happiest beings on earth. If they marry a brute,
+or are forced to fight the world for bread, a wide channel is dug in
+the brain through which flow the normal and crowding thoughts of the
+average, commonplace, adaptable woman; which is perhaps the best of all
+educations for life.
+But Ora had married a kind prosaic man who soon learned to let her
+alone, and kept her in a comfort that burdened her days with leisure.
+If she had been unimaginative no harm would have been done. She either
+would have grown fond of her essential husband and become a domestic
+angel, or consoled herself with society and bridge. But, misplaced in
+life, she belonged to the intellectual aristocracy of the earth, who
+are the loneliest of its inhabitants, unless they can establish an
+invisible bond with their fellow-beings by offerings from that mental
+garden which is at once their curse and their compensation for the
+doubtful gift of life.
+Ora was too indifferent to the world to care to weave this gossamer
+bridge, and had grown accustomed to mental solitude. But she had
+never placed any curb on her imagination. In the days when her only
+solace was books it enabled her to visualise the _mise-en-scène_ of
+the remote or immediate past, the procession of the traveller, or the
+abstractions of science; as if she were in one of those theatres
+where the great modern manager threatens to atrophy what imagination
+is left in the world. It even enabled her to enjoy fiction whose scene
+was a land of which she had no personal knowledge; a rare gift in the
+American, whose demand for familiar settings and characters keeps our
+literature commonplace. And she could at will shut her eyes and wander
+in Europe when Butte became insufferable.
+Her surrender to the obsession of Gregory Compton had been gradual;
+she had fought it, not only out of loyalty to her husband and her
+friend, but because the future menaced terrors against which she had no
+desire to pit her strength. But she had finally cast defiance to the
+future, and dismissed her phantom loyalty with a shrug. Mark no doubt
+had consoled himself for her defection long since; to Ida a husband
+was a money-maker pure and simple. She herself would never see Gregory
+Compton again if she could avoid it; or, if life took her inevitably
+back to Butte, no doubt her infatuation would have been cured by mental
+satiety, and she would be able to greet him with the indifference that
+is ever the portion of the discarded lover.
+Having arrived at this reasonable conclusion, she had dismissed
+cynicism, cowardice, and qualms, to limbo, and entered upon one of
+those exalting, tormenting, incredibly sweet, and profoundly depressing
+mental love affairs, which, lacking the element of comedy inevitable in
+all actual relations between men and women, obsess the mind and detach
+it from life.
+After she parted from Valdobia, puzzled and wistful, she recalled one
+week during which she had been completely happy. Ida was visiting
+friends uncongenial to herself, and she had gone alone to Bruges. In
+that ancient city of almost perfect beauty, she had given the wildness
+in her nature uninterrupted liberty. She had written letters that no
+woman yet has sent to a man without regretting it, for in this stage
+of man’s progress, at least, he wants little of the soul of woman. It
+is possible that the women who live in their imaginations are the most
+fortunate, after all, for they arbitrarily make man the perfect mate
+he possibly may be some centuries hence. At all events Ora imagined
+Gregory Compton with her unremittingly, deliberately ignoring the
+depression that must descend upon her when once more companioned by his
+wife. It had seemed to her that her step had never been so buoyant,
+her body so light. People had paused to stare at the beautiful young
+American with her head in the air looking as if she were about to
+sing. It had been a wonderful, an almost incredible experience, and
+she never had been able quite to recapture it even when alone in the
+night. But she had wondered sometimes if life held any happiness as
+real as that had been, and she wondered again as she switched off her
+light and flung herself into the bed that had witnessed so much despair
+before Valdobia had appeared and put a quietus on her imagination.
+She wondered also if the passion of the soul were so much greater
+than the common experience of man and woman that its indulgence must
+forever make life itself unreal. She felt that this question threw some
+light on her problem, then dismissed the subject peremptorily. She
+might regret that extraordinary love affair, with its terrors and its
+delights, but she would bury it once for all; and she fell asleep with
+the wise remark:
+“What fools we are! Oh, lord, what fools!”
+XXXVI
+After this she discarded what was left of her crust, and emerged like
+a butterfly. The present was delightful, she would enjoy it without
+analysis or retrospect. She met several clever and interesting men,
+but had eyes for no one but Valdobia. They explored Genoa until they
+knew it almost as well as the natives, spending hours down in the long
+twisted streets, so narrow that no vehicle had ever visited them, and
+swarming like the inside of an anthill. Harrowing adventures were
+impossible, for the Genoese masses if discourteous are neither a
+lawless nor an impertinent race. Ora and Ida might have roamed alone,
+and been unmolested save by the enterprising shopkeepers that dealt in
+filigree. They rode over the steep hills in the trams, and took long
+motor drives in the brilliant winter sunshine to the picturesque towns
+and villages down the Riviera. Then, on a Saturday morning, they bade
+good-bye to the ancient city and took the train for Monte Carlo.
+The girls established themselves in a small hotel opposite the Casino
+Gardens, the men in the great hotel that lies between the Casino and
+the International Sporting Club.
+“I suppose we really should have sent for Lady Gower,” said Ora,
+doubtfully, as they hooked each other up for dinner. “It’s stretching
+the point rather to come to a place like Monte Carlo with two men.
+We’ll be sure to run into a dozen people we know.”
+“Oh, bother! I love the idea of feeling real devilish for once.
+Besides, anything goes at Monte Carlo, and everybody is interested in
+gambling and nothing else. What good would old Norfolk-Howard do us,
+anyhow, asleep on a sofa. She never could keep awake after ten, and
+nobody’d know in those big rooms whether she was there or not. We’re
+Americans, anyhow, and I’m having the time of my life. Lord John is a
+perfect dear.”
+“Well, at least I am thankful that you are no longer in a hurry to
+return to Butte.”
+“Butte’ll keep, I guess. The more experiences I take back the
+more they’ll think of me. Gives me backbone to feel a real
+woman-of-the-world. Besides, kid, it’s good philosophy to drink the
+passing moment dry. Amalgamated may bust us any minute. You look
+prettier every day, and I’m not going off either.”
+She wore a severely cut gown of black velvet, the corsage draped with
+coral-coloured chiffon. Her first evening gowns, cut by the ruthless
+Parisian, had caused her many qualms but they had been growing more
+_décolleté_ ever since; and so superb were her neck and shoulders that
+she had ceased to regret her lack of jewels. Ora had refrained from
+buying any, although she longed for sapphires; but she always wore her
+pearls. Tonight her gown was of a misty pale green material from which
+she rose like a lily from its calyx. She still wore her hair massed
+softly on the top of her head, and although not as tall as Ida, and far
+from being as fully developed, was an equally arresting figure. No two
+women were ever more excellent foils, and that may have been one secret
+of their amicable relations.
+They dined with their cavaliers at one of the fashionable restaurants,
+then, after an hour in the Casino rooms, which were not at all to their
+taste, with their ornate walls and dingy crowd, went by means of lifts
+and underground corridors over to the International Sporting Club.
+Valdobia and Mowbray had put them up at this exclusive resort during
+the afternoon and they entered the roulette rooms at once. Here the
+walls were chastely hung with pale grey satin, and all the colour was
+in the company. The long tables were crowded with smart-looking men
+and women of both worlds, although only the ladies that had stepped
+down from ancestral halls dared to show a grey hair or a wrinkle. The
+cocottes were so young and fresh as well as beautiful that to Ora and
+Ida they looked much like girls of their own class. All, young and old,
+were splendidly dressed and bejewelled; and if there was excitement
+in their brains there was no evidence of it in their calm or animated
+faces. They might have been a great house-party amusing themselves with
+some new and innocuous game.
+Our party walked about for a time dividing their attention between the
+spinning balls, the faces of the players, and the gowns of the women;
+even those of the cocottes were not eccentric, although worn with a
+certain inimitable style. Their ropes of pearls were also the longest
+in the room. A number of the most notable men in Europe were present,
+princes of reigning houses, and statesmen high in the service of their
+country.
+In spite of the absence of that feverish excitement which is supposed
+to pervade these gambling rooms of Monte Carlo (and which is absent
+from the Casino even when a man shoots himself and is whisked out), Ora
+wandered about in a curious state of exaltation. The cool splendour
+of the rooms, the atmosphere of high breeding and restraint, the
+gratification of the æsthetic sense at every turn, the beauty of
+the women and the distinguished appearance of the men made it a
+romantic and memorable scene. Notwithstanding the constant clink of
+gold, the monotonous admonitions of the croupiers, it was a sort of
+worldly fairyland, this apotheosis of one of the most perilous of
+human indulgences. These people might be gambling for greed or mere
+excitement, being blasé of other mundane diversions, but they were at
+the same time so frank and so reserved, so pleased and so indifferent,
+that they produced the illusion of sojourning on a plane high above the
+common mortal with his commonplace loves and disasters and struggles
+to exist or shine. No wonder that men came here to forget the burdens
+of state, women Society’s conservatisms or the inconstancy of man. For
+the hour, and the hour generally lasted until four in the morning, they
+lived in a world apart, and a duchess sat next to a cocotte with a
+serene indifference that amounted almost to democracy.
+“I don’t know that romantic is the word I should use,” said Valdobia,
+laughing; Ora had uttered some of her thoughts aloud; “but I think I
+know what you mean. The people that come here can afford to lose; their
+minds are almost as carefully composed as their costumes; they are both
+pleasantly reckless and frivolous; this is their real play-time; the
+world beyond these four walls is obliterated; if they lose they shrug
+their shoulders, and if they win they experience something like a real
+thrill; in short, being soaked in worldliness, it is their only chance
+to feel primitive--for gambling was practised by the most ancient
+tribes of which we have any knowledge. At the Casino most of those
+people are subconsciously wondering how they are going to pay their
+hotel bills and get out of Monte Carlo, calm as they manage to look;
+but here--well, here you see the quintessence of the world’s frivolity.
+No wonder it creates a heady atmosphere. Do you want to gamble?”
+“Of course I do.”
+“Well, put a louis on the red. I’ll follow your stakes. Perhaps we’ll
+bring each other luck.”
+They staked and won, staked and won again, seven times running without
+removing their winnings from the red. Then Valdobia said, “Don’t tempt
+fortune too far. The luck may turn to the green any moment. Suppose we
+try ours _en plein_.” He selected the number 39, and once more they
+won. Ora, her hands full of gold, turned to him with blazing eyes. Her
+cheeks were crimson. Valdobia laughed.
+“You mustn’t look so happy,” he said teasingly, “or these old stagers
+will know that you are what your friend calls a hayseed. Better change
+all this gold into notes.”
+“Notes? I want my gold. Paper never did mean anything to me.”
+“What a child you are--ah! I must leave you for a moment. The Duc----”
+he mentioned a prince of his royal house--“wishes to speak to me. Don’t
+try _en plein_ again. That rarely happens twice. Put a louis at a time
+on the red.”
+He left her. Ora deliberately placed not only her double handful of
+gold on the red, but pushed forward the pile that had accumulated
+before her. Red came up and doubled her winnings. She added to her
+already imposing hillock the gold shoved toward her, and, with a quick
+glance at Valdobia, who was deep in conversation with his prince, took
+a thousand franc note from her châtelaine bag and laid it on top of
+the gold. Once more she won, and met the sympathetic smiles of the
+croupiers, who in the Sporting Club, at least, are very human persons.
+She was about to add another thousand franc note, when Valdobia
+returned. He swept her gold and notes off the red just as _rien ne va
+plus_ sounded above the buzz of conversation behind the tables.
+“What on earth are you doing?” he asked angrily. “I don’t like to see a
+woman gamble like that.”
+Ora pouted and looked like a naughty child.
+“But I want to gamble. Give me my money. What have you to say about it?”
+“I brought you here--and I shall not bring you again if you are going
+to gamble like that old Frankfurt banker over there. Why not follow the
+example of Mrs. Compton, who is decorously putting five franc pieces on
+the green at the next table?”
+“Oh, Ida! I like the sensation of doing big things. You just said we
+enjoyed letting loose our primitive instincts.”
+“Is that the way you felt? Well, here are three louis. Stake one at a
+time. I shall change the rest into notes and give them to you at the
+hotel.”
+He kept his eye on her, and she staked her gold pieces one after
+another and lost.
+“Now,” he said, “come into the bar and have a glass of wine or a lemon
+squash. I want to talk to you.”
+They found seats in a corner of the bar behind a little table, and
+Ora demurely ordered a lemonade. “I suppose you are going to scold
+me,” she murmured, although her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes
+rebellious. “What difference did it make? I am not poor, and I had won
+nearly all that I risked, anyhow. You have seen women gamble all your
+life. One would think that you were a hayseed, yourself.”
+“Shall I be quite honest? I fancy I was jealous. For the first time I
+saw you completely carried away. I had hoped to furnish that impulse
+myself!”
+“It is a wonderful sensation,” she said provokingly. “I doubt if
+anything but gambling could inspire it.”
+“Do you?” But he knew that it was no time for sentiment, and asked
+curiously, “Are you so fond of gold? I never saw such a greedy little
+thing.”
+“Remember I’ve walked round over gold for the best part of my life, and
+have a mine of my own. It fascinates me, but not because I care much
+about riches--I like the liberty that plenty of money gives; that, to
+my mind, is all that wealth means. But I loved the feeling of being
+possessed, of being absolutely reckless. I should have liked to know
+that my whole fortune depended upon that spinning ball. That would
+have been worth while! It makes one forget everything--everything!”
+He looked at her with half-closed eyes. “You have a secret chapter in
+your life,” he said. “Some day I shall read it. But I can’t make up my
+mind whether you are a born gambler or not.”
+Ora shrugged her shoulders. “To tell you the truth I shouldn’t care if
+I never saw a gambling table again. I have had the sensation. That is
+enough. I will admit I was rather disappointed not to lose that immense
+stake. Lucky at cards, you know.”
+“And you think you are unlucky in love?” Valdobia laughed, but his face
+was still grim. “How many men have you had in love with you already?”
+“That doesn’t count!”
+He turned pale. “What do you mean by that?”
+“I mean that I don’t believe I am destined to happiness. Don’t you
+think we know our lines instinctively?”
+“I know that you are trying to torment me. You are still excited and
+angry, so I shall not permit your words, significant as they are, to
+keep me awake tonight.” He was smiling again, but she saw the anger in
+his own eyes, and said impulsively:
+“I rather like you better than usual tonight. You have made me do
+something I didn’t want to do, and anger is becoming to you.”
+“The eternal female! Well, God knows, I wouldn’t have you abnormal.
+What is this?”
+A page was standing before the table with a telegram in his hand. “Pour
+M. le Marquis de Valdobia,” he said.
+With a word of apology Valdobia opened the telegram. Ora, watching him,
+saw his face turn white.
+“What is it?” she asked anxiously. “I do hope it is not bad news.” She
+felt a sharp pang at the possibility of losing him.
+He rose and looked at his watch. “My mother is very ill,” he said. “A
+train goes in an hour and ten minutes. I must take it. But there is
+something I want to say to you before I go; I may be detained in Rome.
+Will you get your wrap and come into the gardens for a few moments?”
+“I am so sorry,” murmured Ora, with real sympathy. “Of course I will
+go.”
+He took her to the cloak-room. “Wait here for a moment,” he said. “I
+must telephone to my man to pack and meet me at the train; and tell
+Mowbray not to look for us later.”
+He left her, and Ora watched the passing couples, trying not to think.
+She was a little frightened, but still too excited to shrink from a
+possible ordeal.
+XXXVII
+He returned in a few moments, and they left the Club House by the main
+entrance and strolled toward the gardens; then he suddenly led her to
+the terrace. There were many people walking in the tropical scented
+park of the Casino, but the digue above the Mediterranean was deserted.
+Monte Carlo can be cold in May but it can be as warm as July in
+February, and the night was mild and beautiful. The sea under the stars
+was almost as blue as by day. The air was very still, although a band
+was playing somewhere, far away. From the other side of the bay came
+the faint humming of an aeroplane. There was to be an aviation meet on
+the morrow, and no doubt one of the airmen was about to make a trial
+flight.
+They sat down on one of the benches, and Valdobia folded his arms, then
+turned and leaned his elbow on the back of the seat and his head on his
+hand.
+“I am not quite in the mood for love-making,” he said, “after the news
+I have received; but I can’t go without letting you know why I followed
+you to Genoa--without some sort of an understanding.”
+Ora looked at him out of the corner of her eye. His face was set and
+determined, but she concluded that he was not the man to be dangerous
+when grieving for his mother.
+“What is it?” she asked softly. “I know, of course, that you--like me.”
+“I love you, and I want to marry you. I wish you to divorce your
+husband and marry me. Don’t give me your final answer now,” he
+continued, as Ora interrupted him. “It is not a question to decide
+in a moment. But while I am gone think it over. You do not love your
+husband. I know all your arguments from your friend. She made them when
+I first gave her my confidence. They don’t weigh with me for a moment.
+You will never spend your life with that man, good as he may be. As for
+obligations, you discharged them long ago. I can make you happy, and I
+believe that you know I can.”
+“I don’t know.” Ora, stunned for a moment, felt thrilled and
+breathless. “Oh, I don’t know!”
+“I have begun to feel sure that you have loved another man, or fancied
+that you loved him. Would it be possible for you to marry him if you
+divorced your husband?”
+Ora hesitated, then answered, “No.”
+“Why is he not your lover?”
+“That would be impossible, even if I would do such a thing, and you
+know I would not.”
+He gave a sharp sigh of relief. “I _felt_ that he had not been. Why is
+it impossible?”
+“There are complications. I cannot explain them. But he could not be
+less to me if he were dead.”
+“Does he love you?”
+Ora hesitated again. “I have sometimes felt--no, of course, it is
+impossible. I let my imagination run away with me, that was all.”
+“You mean that he never told you--that he doesn’t write to you?”
+“I met him only once, and I have never seen his handwriting.”
+“Well, dismiss him from your mind. You have imagination and have
+dreamed, because your demands upon life are very great, greater than
+you know; and oddly enough, considering your opportunities, fruition
+has eluded you. But the time has come for you to live; and you could
+live!”
+Ora looked down at her hands. They were ungloved and looked very white
+and small. Valdobia suddenly covered them with one of his own, and bent
+his face close to hers. She saw that he had forgotten his mother, and
+gave a little gasp.
+“Ora!” he said. “Don’t you know how happy I could make you? I not only
+could teach you love, of which you know nothing, but we could always be
+companions, and you are the loneliest little creature I have ever met.”
+To her astonishment she saw two tears splash on his hand, and winking
+rapidly discovered that they had fallen from her own eyes. As she would
+have detested to see a man cry, she melted further, and whispered,
+“Oh, yes, life with you would be very delightful. I know that. I fancy
+the other man, even if I could marry him, would make me miserable.
+He--American men that amount to anything give their wives very little
+of themselves.”
+“And you would be lonelier still! I have known American women that
+loved their busy husbands--that _seeking_ type. They interested me,
+poor things--rushing madly about trying to fill their lives. If you
+join that sisterhood it will kill you. I am not an idler, for I have
+business interests to which I devote a certain amount of time, but I
+have leisure, and I not only should give you the companionship you have
+craved all your life, but I can offer you the world in all its variety.
+Now dismiss this man, whoever he is, from your mind. Even were I beside
+the question, it is your duty to yourself as a woman of character, not
+a sentimental schoolgirl.”
+“Yes, that is true.”
+“That sort of thing is morbid, besides being quite beneath a woman of
+pride and dignity. But women often romance about some dream-hero until
+they have found the right man. Can you doubt that I am the man for you?
+You were made for Europe, not for America, and for a man that can give
+you everything--everything!”
+“Yes, I know.” She moved restlessly. “If I could only feel just one
+thing more for you! I hardly know what to call it--I like you better
+than anyone in the world. I almost love you. Why don’t I?” Her voice
+was suddenly full of passion and she clasped both of her hands about
+his own. “If you could only make me, I should worship you.”
+He glanced about rapidly. They were quite alone. He put his arm round
+her and she felt it vibrate. His face was flushed and his breath
+short. She could feel his heart thumping against her head, and she
+was fascinated for more reasons than one: she knew that it was many
+years since any woman had roused him to strong emotion, and it was the
+first great passion that had ever been close to her save in her stormy
+imagination. She was enthralled for a moment, and some of the wildness
+in her own nature stirred. But it was too soon, she must have time to
+think. She cast about desperately and found her inspiration.
+“We have been here a long time!” she said hurriedly. “You will miss
+your train. Your mother may be very ill.”
+He dropped his arm, and stood up.
+“You are a woman of infinite resource,” he said. “And no little
+cruelty. Will you consider what I have asked you--seriously?”
+His anger as well as his power to control himself always fascinated
+her, and she also experienced a spasm of contrition. She rose and gave
+him her hand; her eyes were frank and kind.
+“Yes,” she said. “I will consider it, and think of you always--and miss
+you horribly. Will you telegraph to me every day?”
+“Two or three times a day, probably. And don’t think I am really angry
+with you. If you are cruel it is only because you don’t understand. I
+am glad that you do not, for it is only women that have loved greatly
+that have forgotten how to be cruel. Come. I must take you to your
+hotel.”
+PART II
+PART II
+I
+Two weeks later Ora and Ida sailed from Havre. Gregory had cabled, and
+the _Herald_ had published a dramatic account, of the wounding of Mr.
+Mark Blake in the tunnel of his wife’s mine. The engineers’ lease had
+expired and he had closed down the mine temporarily. The sinking of
+the inclined shaft in the “Apex” had proceeded very slowly owing to
+the uncommon hardness of the rock; it would seem that Nature herself
+had taken a hand in the great fight and enlisted for once on the side
+of the weaker power. Although when Osborne and Douglas had turned over
+the mine, their cross-cut almost had reached the point on the vein
+which the new shaft expected to strike, Gregory had risen twice in the
+night and walked along the hill beyond his boundary, reasonably sure
+that all the blasting was not in the shaft, his keen ear detecting
+muffled reverberations slightly to the east and at a greater depth. He
+communicated his suspicions to Mark, and on the following night they
+examined the lock on the Primo shaft house and discovered that it had
+been tampered with. They went down by way of the ladder; and in the
+cross-cut on the chalcopyrite vein they found miners working with hand
+drills. There was a desperate hand-to-hand fight with the manager and
+shift boss; the miners, who were bohunks, proceeding phlegmatically
+with their work.
+The four men had wrestled out into the station at the foot of the
+shaft, where they had drawn their “guns”; each had been wounded, but
+only Mark seriously. He had received a ball in the lung and another
+in the leg. The night was bitterly cold and it was some time before
+Gregory and the two antagonists could get him to the surface. He had
+insisted upon being taken to a hospital in Butte; and, between loss of
+blood, shock, and pneumonia, his condition was precarious.
+The girls, who had left Monte Carlo two days after Valdobia’s sudden
+departure, received the news in Paris, where they were replenishing
+their wardrobes. Ora, torn with remorse, and terrified with vague and
+tragic visions of the future, was in a distracted condition; but Ida,
+although she sincerely lamented the possible demise of her old friend,
+did not lose her head. She gave final and minute orders to tailors and
+dressmakers, instructed them to send the trousseaux in bond directly to
+Great Falls, Montana, devoted a morning to the selection of hats both
+for herself and her friend, and packed all the trunks. Mowbray, always
+willing to be useful, bought their tickets and escorted them to Havre.
+Ida thanked him with something like real warmth as they parted at the
+head of the gangplank, and promised him the “time of his life” when he
+came to Montana in the summer.
+“Now, buck up,” she said, smiling into his disconsolate face; “you know
+I’m not flirting with you. We’re the best of pals. I’ll be glad to see
+you, all right, and perhaps I’ll find a nice little heiress for you.”
+“Oh, don’t!” Mowbray tried to arrange his features for the benefit of
+the passersby. “You know I’m fond of you no end. Why----”
+“Get along now. That’s the last whistle. Good-bye, and write me nice
+gossippy letters. It’s only a few months, anyhow.”
+Mowbray walked down the gangplank with his head in the air, and, as he
+turned on the dock to lift his hat, Ida noticed that his face, whose
+charm was its boyish gayety, looked suddenly older, and almost as
+determined as Valdobia’s.
+“Oh, Lord!” she thought, as she turned away, “men! They’re as alike as
+lead pencils in a box. But I guess I can manage him.”
+Ora stayed in bed for two days; reaction left her physically exhausted
+and she slept most of the time. On the third day Ida peremptorily
+dressed her and took her on deck. A wireless from Gregory, announcing
+that Mark was holding his own, further revived her, and before they
+reached New York another wireless was still more reassuring. A few
+years before, when the ores of Butte Hill were roasted in the open
+and the poisonous fumes were often as thick as the worst of London
+fogs, pneumonia ran its course in twenty-four hours to the grave, but
+in these days the patient had a fighting chance despite the altitude.
+The Butte doctors were experts in pneumonia, so many of the careless
+miners were afflicted, and Mark not only had a sound constitution but
+never had been a heavy drinker. There was every reason to expect him to
+pull through, as Ida assured her friend whenever they were alone; but
+she managed to meet several agreeable people, and kept herself and Ora
+companioned by them throughout the voyage.
+Valdobia was still in Rome; his mother was dying. He had written daily
+to Ora and she had read and reread his letters. They said neither too
+much nor too little; but he was one of life’s artists and he managed
+to pervade them with an atmosphere that was both sweet and disturbing.
+His telegram, when he had read the news of her husband’s misadventure
+in the newspapers, was a masterpiece. If he was unable to grieve over
+the possibility of Mr. Blake’s abrupt removal from a scene where he was
+the one superfluous actor, too well-bred to betray his relief, and too
+little of a hypocrite to be verbose in condolence, his attitude was
+so finely impersonal, and it was so obvious that he knew exactly how
+she felt, that Ora liked him more than ever if only for rousing her
+stricken sense of humour.
+She had thrust his letters and telegrams into the depths of her steamer
+trunk, but after she had made up her mind that Mark would recover (her
+lively imagination picturing him hobbling among the orange groves of
+Southern California while she guided his footsteps and diverted his
+mind), she retrieved the correspondence and read it every night when
+alone in her stateroom. Valdobia’s devotion not only gave her courage,
+but his strong imposing personality stood with a haughty and confident
+menace between herself and Gregory Compton. She refused to think on her
+future, beyond the long convalescence of her husband, but had it not
+been for her meeting with Valdobia and her deliberate installment of
+his image on the throne of her adventurous imagination, she doubted if
+she would have had the courage to return to Montana. As it was there
+were moments when the poignant mental life she had led with Gregory
+Compton reached a long finger from the depths to which it had been
+consigned and sketched his image in her mind as vividly as if he stood
+before her; while her whole being ached with longing and despair. But
+her will was strong; she banished him summarily and reinstated the
+Roman who was so like and so unlike the man compounded of the old world
+and the new in the mortar of the Northwest.
+Ida, with an unexpected delicacy, refrained from curiosity, and
+although she had too much tact to avoid all mention of Valdobia, only
+alluded to him casually. She left Europe out of the conversation as
+much as possible, and amused Ora, when they were alone, with the
+plans of her campaign in Butte. When they reached quarantine Ora was
+horrified to find herself surrounded by reporters. The Paris _Herald_
+had published the story of her mine as well as her picture and Ida’s,
+but they hardly had been sensible of their notoriety until, on the
+steamer, they were among Americans once more. It was manifest that they
+were “big news” in their own country, and Ora fled to her stateroom,
+leaving Ida to face the reporters alone.
+Ida was undaunted; moreover she was quick to seize her first
+opportunity to dazzle Butte. She made herself amiable and interesting
+to the young men, her natural cunning steering her mid-stream, in this
+her first interview: an ordeal in which most novices are wrecked on
+the tropic or the arctic shore. She thanked them as warmly for their
+news that Mr. Blake had left that morning with his doctors and nurses
+in a private car for Southern California, and expected his wife to
+go directly to Los Angeles, as if Ora had not received a wireless to
+that effect an hour before; she modestly told them something of her
+social experiences abroad, answered the inevitable questions regarding
+suffrage, excused Ora, “who was naturally upset”, and expatiated upon
+her happiness in returning to live in Butte. They thought this odd, but
+were so delighted with her mixture of dignity and naïveté that they
+rushed to their respective desks and told the world that the wife of
+Gregory Compton had been the guest of princes and was the handsomest
+woman in America.
+Ora was almost gay at the prospect of going directly to California,
+although she was obliged to make the journey alone. It was early in
+the afternoon when they landed. Ida established Ora in the first
+Overland Limited that left the Grand Central Station, and returned to
+the Waldorf-Astoria, where she had engaged rooms for a month. She had
+no intention of returning to Butte ignorant of New York. Westerners
+of wealth, old and recent, visited New York casually several times
+a year; and not to know it, even with Europe to her credit, stamped
+a woman with the newness of the new-rich who wore all their jewels
+all the time. Ida had seen many women make fools of themselves and
+had no intention of leaving any penetrable spaces in her armour. She
+spent every morning in the shops, or in the establishments of the
+exclusive dressmakers, tailors and milliners that were patronized by
+the fashionable women of Butte and Helena, giving them liberal orders.
+She saw all the new plays, heard the more famous of the opera singers,
+and even attended three symphony concerts. She drove in the Park every
+afternoon or joined the throngs on Fifth Avenue; and she took tea or
+lunch in the different hotels and restaurants devoted to fashion.
+Sometimes she sat in the gangways of her own famous hostellerie,
+recalling with a tolerant smile her early crude ambitions--had
+they died less than a year ago?--to trail her feathers up and down
+Peacock Alley. She wore one of her severest tailored suits upon these
+occasions, and maintained an air of stately detachment that somewhat
+counteracted the always startling beauty of her face and figure. No man
+took his courage in his hand.
+One afternoon she sat longer than usual, for she had set her teeth that
+day and walked through the Metropolitan Museum. She fell to musing,
+and with a more sustained introspection than was her habit, upon the
+changes that had taken place within herself during the past year;
+wondering “how deep they had struck”, if she really were as altered as
+she must appear even to the raking eye of Butte; or if she merely had
+developed her native characteristics while polishing her surface and
+furnishing her mind.
+She also endeavoured to analyse her attitude toward returning to her
+husband, but gave this up, although puzzled that it was not more
+obvious. But her mind was clear on one point. If Gregory desired her
+society he must spend his week-ends in Butte; nothing would induce her
+to return to the De Smet ranch. She had not even a spasm of curiosity
+to see the famous Perch of the Devil Mine.
+II
+Ida was not given to imaginative excursions, but during the three
+days’ journey from New York to Butte, she made no acquaintances,
+resting in the seclusion of her drawing-room; and after she had read
+all the magazines her mind began to people itself. Although the ladies
+of Butte, whom she now regarded as equals, moved along the central
+highway, Gregory was always turning the corners, and she visualised
+him most frequently advancing hurriedly toward the station as the
+train entered--both late, of course. She rehearsed the meeting many
+times, never without a pricking sense of awkwardness, for she now
+fully realised that when a woman and her husband have not communicated
+save on the wire for nearly a year, the first interview is liable
+to constraint. He always had been difficult to talk to. Would he be
+bored if she tried to entertain him as Ora would entertain Mark: with
+such excerpts of their many experiences as a confiding husband might
+appreciate? She never had understood him. Out of her greater knowledge
+of the world and men should she be better able to fathom the reserves
+of that strange silent nature--or did she really care whether she could
+or not? Although she had made up her mind to greet him at the station
+with the warmth of an old friend, and flatter him with her delight in
+returning home, she had not the faintest idea how she should carry off
+the long evening--if the train were on time.
+It was not. Probably no Northwestern train has arrived on time in
+the history of the three railroads. Ida’s train, due at seven in
+the evening, arrived at midnight. Her Pullman was at the end of the
+long dark platform, and as she walked slowly toward the station
+building--which looked like the bunk-house of an abandoned mining camp
+in the desert--searching for someone to carry her hand baggage--porters
+being non-existent in the Northwest--she saw neither Gregory nor
+any other familiar face. For the first time in her life she felt a
+disposition to cry. But as she tossed her head higher and set her
+lips, a young man approached and asked if she were Mrs. Gregory
+Compton. He was a pleasant looking youth, and she was so grateful to be
+called by name that she forgot her new reserve and replied emphatically
+that she was.
+“I am your chauffeur,” he said. “Your new car arrived a few days ago,
+and Mr. Compton ’phoned me to meet you. Have you any hand baggage?”
+Ida indicated her portmanteau and hat box in the dark perspective and
+went on to inspect her car. It was a handsome limousine, lighted with
+electricity, and for a moment she took a childish pleasure in examining
+its fittings. But as the man returned and piled her baggage in front
+she asked irrepressibly:
+“Is Mr. Compton not in Butte?”
+“No, ma’am. He hasn’t been in Butte for weeks. Lively times out at the
+mine, I guess.”
+“And my house? Had I not better go to a hotel?”
+“Oh, the house is all right. Mr. Compton’s secretary ’phoned to an
+agency, and they put in three or four in help. I guess you’ll find
+everything all right.”
+Ida entered her car, but scowled at its luxuries. By this time she
+was “mad clean through.” “The famous American husband!” she thought,
+gritting her teeth. “Best in the world--not. If it’s my horse, my dog,
+my wife with an Englishman, it’s business first last and always with an
+American. European men are courteous whether they mean it or not, but
+Americans only remember to be polite when they have time. Ten months
+and he can’t leave his mine long enough to meet me when I arrive at
+midnight!”
+Her pleasure in returning to Butte had turned as flat as spilt
+champagne. She did not even glance at the gay electric signs and
+midnight activities of Broadway as her car rolled through that
+sleepless thoroughfare toward the West Side. But when her chauffeur,
+who had ignored the speed limit, stopped abruptly before a large house
+of admirable architecture and blazing with lights, her face flushed
+with excitement and she forgot her recalcitrant spouse. The door was
+opened at once and two maid servants ran down the steps. They were
+young, neatly dressed and capped, and it was evident that their service
+was dictated not only by curiosity but by sympathy.
+“Welcome home, ma’am,” one of them, a Swede, said shyly as Ida stepped
+to the pavement. “It’s too bad your train was so late. The cook’s got a
+nice hot supper for you.”
+Ida, who was not easily touched, felt as grateful to these smiling
+girls as to her friendly chauffeur, and for a moment was tempted to
+“come down off her perch” and revel in human companionship. But she
+knew that it “wouldn’t work”; she merely thanked them graciously and
+ascended the wide steps of her new home, that palatial residence of
+cream-colored pressed brick of her unswerving desires. While the maids
+were taking her bags and boxes upstairs, she walked through the large
+rooms of the lower floor. Everything was in the best modern style of
+furnishing, the prevailing tone dim and rich, with Eastern rugs on the
+hardwood floors; French tapestries and carved oak furniture and stained
+glass in the library--also a few books; paler tapestries set in panels
+in the immense drawing-room, and many beautiful pieces of furniture
+carefully selected with an eye to both contrast and mating. Out of
+this room opened a dining-room that looked like a baronial hall, and
+although the Murphys had taken their silverware they had left their
+china, imported from Limoges, and their glass ware, made for them by a
+Venetian firm that had supplied Ida’s grandes dames for thirty years.
+In short it was one of those stately and sumptuous interiors, furnished
+by the best houses in New York, which one associates exclusively with
+the three or four great cities of the United States, and is always
+unwarrantably surprised to find in the newer cities of the West.
+Ida made a pretence of eating her dainty supper, remembered that she
+was now a grande dame and visited the kitchen to say an appreciative
+word to the cook, then ascended to her bedroom divided between anger
+and a depression so foreign to her temperament that she barely
+recognised it for what it was.
+The large upper hall had been fitted up as a billiard room, and with a
+continuous divan broken only by the doors of the bedrooms. Ida threw
+it an appreciative glance, but it merely emphasised the fact that
+there was no man in the house, and she did not linger. Mrs. Murphy,
+evidently a brunette, had furnished her bedroom and dressing-room in
+primrose yellow and much lace. Ida approved both as unreservedly as
+she had the rest of the house, thankful there was nothing to alter;
+like many women she had consummate taste in dress and none whatever
+for house decoration; although unlike most of these disparate ladies
+she was quite aware of her deficiencies. She knew when a room was all
+that it should be, but could not have conceived one of the details,
+much less the unimpeachable combination. The sex instinct teaches
+those subtleties of personal adornment likely to allure the male, and
+arrest the anxious eye of other females, but ancestral brain-cells are
+necessary for the more civilised accomplishment.
+Ida’s eyes fell on the telephone beside her bed and lingered. She
+forgot her beautiful room and the successive throbs of gratified
+ambition, in an overwhelming desire to call up Gregory and tell him
+what she thought of him. But she was a woman in whom calculation
+was stronger than impulse, and in the past year she had learned to
+control her temper, not only because a carefully nourished refinement
+had crowded out some of the weeds of her nature, but because her
+ever-growing intelligence despised lack of self-control in all things.
+So she merely undressed herself, her eyes wandering every few minutes
+to the telephone. It was incredible that he did not ring her up. That,
+at least, would take but a few moments of his precious time.
+However, she fell asleep immediately after her bath, and it was the
+telephone bell that awakened her at eight o’clock. This time she
+frowned at it, for she wanted to sleep; but she sat up, put the
+receiver to her ear and asked languidly: “Well?”
+A strange man’s voice replied: “Is this Mrs. Compton?”
+“Yes. Why am I disturbed so early?”
+“I’m sorry--this is Mr. Compton’s secretary speaking--but Mr. Compton
+told me to call you at eight o’clock. He always comes in for breakfast
+at this time--here he is.”
+“Hello! How are you? What time did you get in?” Gregory’s voice was
+elaborately polite and as eager as any lover’s of yesteryear.
+“Are you interested?” Ida’s heart beat thickly, but her tones were
+crisp. “I arrived at midnight. Really, I expected you to meet me. That
+is generally considered the decent thing to do.”
+“Oh! I’m sorry it was impossible. I can’t leave the mine at present.
+How did you like the house?”
+“I am enchanted with it--and with the limousine. When are you coming
+in?”
+“I can’t say at present. I dare not leave for a moment. You will find a
+deposit to your credit at the Daly bank.”
+“Thanks. Would--shall I run out?”
+“Better not. There is always danger of rows.”
+“But of course I’m wild to see the mine. You forget how famous it is.”
+“Better wait awhile. It really isn’t safe.”
+“Very well. How’s your wound? Where were you hurt, anyhow?”
+“Not worth mentioning, as I cabled you, and I suppose you got my
+telegram in New York saying I was all right again. Sure you got
+everything you want?”
+“I am overwhelmed by all this luxury, and your generosity.”
+“Glad you like it. Has Mrs. Blake gone to California?”
+“She went directly from the steamer. How is Mark getting on. I’ve had
+only notes from Ora.”
+“All right. He doesn’t write but has telegraphed once or twice. He’d
+better stay below several months. Write Mrs. Blake to persuade him to
+take things easy. He had a close call. I can get along without him for
+awhile, but I can’t afford to lose him. Will you see to this?”
+“I’ll write Ora today. She’s in no hurry to return to Butte--was
+delighted at the prospect of going to California, and intends to take
+Mark to Santa Barbara, where she knows a lot of people.”
+“Ah! Good. Well, I must get some breakfast. Amuse yourself.”
+“And you won’t be in for several days?”
+“Afraid not. Good-bye.”
+Ida set the receiver back on the table, but it was some minutes before
+she lay down again. She sat thinking, with compressed lips. Born
+with intuitive knowledge of men, she had, as she once remarked to
+Ora, turned a goodly number of them inside out during the past year.
+Gregory Compton did not intend to live with her again. She knew this
+as conclusively as if his kind matter-of-fact tones had expressed the
+direct message. Before she left home it never had occurred to Ida to
+wonder if her husband still loved her or not, and she had learned to
+accept his consuming masculine interest in matters mineralogic as all
+in the day’s work. Now she wondered if he had ceased to love her then
+or since. That he took no further interest in her as a woman, although
+amiably determined to do his duty as her legal provider, would have
+been almost patent to an imagination as riotous as Ora’s; to Ida,
+practical and clear-sighted, there was not a loophole for delusion.
+In a few moments she relaxed the tension of her body and lay down.
+“Well!” she thought impatiently, “what’s the matter with me, anyhow?
+Isn’t it what I always hopefully looked forward to? Did I ever pretend
+to be anything but resigned--or to be in love with him after the first
+few weeks? I guess I’m spoiled with too much devotion, that’s what.
+Seeing too many men lose their heads. Much their old heads are worth.
+But I guess I don’t like being turned down for once. Goose. It’s my lay
+to cut out pique and sing a song of thanksgiving that I’ve got pretty
+nearly everything I ever romanced about and set my mind on. It’s a
+pretty good old world when things come your way, and women’ll never be
+happy till they learn to put men in the same place that men put us--on
+a handy little side-track. I’ve got a whole parlour car instead of an
+upper berth like some poor devils, so I’ll quit whining. But if there’s
+another woman in the case, let them both look out--that’s all!”
+III
+Ida slept for two hours longer and rose in a philosophical mood. As
+she more than once had remarked to Ora, “nothing in life is just what
+you figured it out beforehand”; and this, one of life’s most unwelcome
+lessons, it had not taken her twenty-six years to learn. She had, in
+fact, accepted and docketed it while women twice her age were nursing
+their illusions.
+She had expected to be met at the station not only by her husband but
+by Ruby and Pearl, to say nothing of reporters. “She had slunk in like
+a nobody,” and her husband declined to feed the fires of her vanity,
+blazing so merrily these last ten months. Never mind. She had the
+genius of quick readjustment and a sharp eye for the next move in the
+great law of compensation.
+“And believe me,” she thought, as she put the finishing touches to her
+smart morning street costume, and taught the admiring Swede how to pin
+on a veil, “the gods have provided the goods pretty liberally, and I
+don’t belong to the immortal order of female jackasses. Nine-tenths of
+women’s troubles, mental and physical, sprout in that hothouse corner
+of their skulls they call imagination. None of it in mine. Let us
+eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. Wait till I’m launched in
+Butte. And just wait till I give a dinner party to the second son of an
+English duke. Tra la la!”
+Before the morning was over even philosophy had folded her wings. If
+life had been niggardly yesterday she gave with both hands today. When
+Ida arrived at the bank she was received with exceeding deference by
+the vice-president and informed that he had recently invested two
+hundred thousand dollars in her name, acting on instructions from Mr.
+Compton; and that as a large part of it was in mortgages the interest
+in some cases ran as high as eight per cent. The money had been placed
+in his hands for investment shortly after the great land deal, details
+of which had reached the public ear in due course and greatly added to
+the prestige of Gregory Compton. In fact it had invested his remote
+and ambiguous personality with an almost sinister significance. As
+Ida listened to the story of this transaction (she barely had opened
+a newspaper in New York and knew nothing of it), she found herself
+wondering if it could be true that once she had possessed this man of
+whom even bankers spoke with bated breath. It was patent that they
+stood in awe not only of the rapid and masterly strokes which had
+increased his little patrimony by something over two millions in less
+than a year, but of his colossal luck, his sensational reputation as a
+“winner”, and his open defiance of the greatest of all great trusts.
+It seemed to Ida, as she sat in the vice-president’s office listening
+to his classification of her husband with Marcus Daly, W. A. Clark,
+and F. Augustus Heinze, the three commanding figures heretofore in the
+financial history of Montana, and to predictions that Compton would go
+farther than any one of his predecessors, that she might have known
+Gregory in his extreme youth or in some previous existence; but that
+this man who now not only ranked first in the eyes of all Montana,
+but had focussed the attention of a continent, no longer touched
+her life save as a fairy-godfather. It was the first time that she
+had appreciated his fame. She had been absorbed in Europe and its
+diversions--and diverters; the new wealth had been accepted as a matter
+of course; her imagination had not been powerful enough to visualise at
+a distance what her mind grasped the moment the facts were presented to
+her in the measured yet glowing terms of a bank’s president.
+“He always did feel himself a cut above me,” she thought grimly as she
+left the building and walked down Main Street. “And now, I suppose, he
+thinks Perch of the Devil is Mount Olympus, and that he is some god.
+It would be fun to put a nick or two in his halo--but never mind: I’ve
+got a cool two hundred thousand--_and_ a palatial residence, _and_ a
+limousine--sounds like a fairy tale. There’s nothing mean about him,
+anyhow.”
+When she reached her beautiful home she found four reporters awaiting
+her. They apologised for not meeting her at the train, but as hour
+after hour had passed with discouraging reports, they finally had
+gone home to recuperate for the next day’s labours. Ida dismissed the
+last of her regrets, and told them all that she wished Butte to know
+at once, showed the women the contents of her trunks, which the maids
+were unpacking, promised to let them know when the newer Paris wardrobe
+arrived, and finally gave them lunch. Reporters are the quickest people
+in the world to detect affectations, assumptions, and false values, and
+the most merciless in their exposure; but, although these four were on
+the alert, they could find neither traces of original commonness nor
+imitation of the British aristocracy. Ida apparently had consigned the
+slang of her former class to the limbo of careless grammar, and she was
+so simple and natural that they failed to discover how clever she was;
+they agreed, as they walked down Broadway, that she was merely a marvel
+of adaptability, like so many others that had done credit to the great
+state of Montana, to say nothing of the fluid West in general.
+But, although Ida could be anything she chose when occasion demanded,
+she always sought relief from the strain as quickly as possible.
+Immediately after the departure of the reporters she telephoned for her
+limousine and drove to the large “Block” in the heart of the business
+district where Miss Ruby Miller kept the looks of the Butte ladies up
+to par. As she left the elevator she saw that the familiar door was
+open as usual and the old screen before it. She tapped discreetly, and
+Miss Ruby came out into the hall, removing the cold cream from her
+hands with her apron.
+“Ide!” she cried rapturously, throwing both arms about her friend’s
+velvet shoulders. “Glory be, but I’m glad to see you and you do look
+fine----”
+“How mean of you not to meet me----”
+“We had it all fixed and supper here, but gave it up at ten o’clock.
+For all we knew you might not get in till morning, and you know how we
+work----”
+“Well, I’ll forgive you if you both come to dinner with me tonight. I
+want to have one good old time before I sit up and play the grande dame
+act for weeks on end----”
+“I guess you’re one now without any play-acting. You look the real
+thing all right. And I guess we won’t see so awful much of you now----”
+“Do you mean because I’m harnessed up to a bunch of money----” began
+Ida in high indignation.
+“Oh, I know you’ll always feel the same, but grand dames and our sort
+don’t gee at the same table. The West is democratic but it ain’t too
+democratic. Don’t think I’m jealous. You’re just where I’d like to
+be myself, and I’m proud that one of us has got to the top so quick.
+My! But Mr. Compton’s a wonder. To think that I ever dared call him
+Greg--even behind his back. Well, he’ll be just as proud of you as you
+are of him. Pearl’ll want to see your hats.”
+“She can copy them all. Be sure to come early.”
+She felt warmed by the little interview, but as she went down in the
+elevator she admitted to herself that her future intercourse with her
+old friends must be sporadic, no matter what her loyalty; and she
+wondered if her new friends would take their place; or even be to her
+the half of what Ora had become in the long intimacy of travel. She
+shrugged her handsome shoulders. If you elected to mount in life, you
+must pay the toll. Were she abruptly returned to the old cottage in
+East Granite Street certainly Ruby and Pearl would not compensate her.
+No, not for a moment. You may slip back in life if you are not strong
+enough to hold on, but you do not deliberately turn back even for the
+friends of your youth. Neither does Progress halt and sit down to wait
+for its failures to catch up. Ida leaned back in her limousine and met
+the interested eyes of many pedestrians of both sexes as her chauffeur
+drove her about for an hour to get the air, and incidentally to be
+looked at.
+Today she was in a mood to enjoy Butte, and she deliberately summoned
+the long anticipated sensations. She revelled in the gaunt grey
+ugliness of Anaconda Hill which flung its arrogant head high above the
+eastern end of the great hill itself; in the sensation of driving over
+miles of subterranean numbered streets, some of them three thousand
+feet below, to which that famous mass of rock and dirt and angular
+buildings was the portal. She leaned far out of her car to admire the
+glittering mountains that looked like blue ice topped with white, and
+decided that they were far more original and beautiful than the Alps of
+Austria and Switzerland; certainly they tugged at her heartstrings and
+at the same time filled her with an unprecedented desire to sing. She
+noticed for the first time that the violet foothills against the nearer
+mountain east of the city seemed to close the end of the streets as the
+Alps did in Innspruck, and gave the ragged overgrown camp clinging to
+its high perch in the Rockies a redeeming touch of perfect beauty.
+She drove out to Columbia Gardens, bought flowers from the conservatory
+for her rooms, and wandered about recalling the many gay times she had
+had in the dancing pavilion. But her eye was suddenly arrested by the
+steep mountain behind, then dropped slowly to the base. It was there
+that she had promised to marry Gregory Compton. She remembered his
+young passion and her own. She had never felt anything like it again;
+nor had he ever been quite the same. Was it one of those “supreme
+moments” novelists so blithely alluded to? The logical inference of
+that old bit of bathos was that such moments had no duplicates. She
+felt faint and dizzy for a moment; then walked back to her car, smiling
+grimly as she realised that she had experienced a fleeting echo of that
+vast unattainable desire women live and die cherishing or bewailing.
+“Poor things! Poor things!” she thought, with the first pang of pity
+her sex had ever inspired. “No wonder they go in for suffrage, art,
+work, any old thing. Home,” she added to the chauffeur.
+She peremptorily dismissed all thought of the past during the drive
+back to town and reverted to her pleasure in once more feeling a part
+of her surroundings, hideous though they might, for the most part, be;
+instead of walking with alert critical eye through what always must
+seem to her the animated pages of ancient history. But her complacency
+received a sudden shock. The car was rolling along Park Street when her
+eye rested upon a man’s face vaguely familiar. She had bowed graciously
+and the face was behind her before she realised that the man was
+Professor Whalen, and that, for a second, she had looked into a pair of
+pale blue eyes that sent her a swift message of hate.
+Ida shuddered. The warm light air of her beloved Rockies turned cold
+and heavy. “I feel as if I’d stepped on a snake and just missed getting
+bitten,” she thought, putting her sensations into a concrete form,
+after her habit. “I had forgotten the little viper was alive, and I
+wish to goodness he wasn’t.” She had flouted superstition always, but
+she could not shake off the sense of menace and evil that had vibrated
+from the man until she was within her own doors once more. Then she
+became as oblivious of Whalen’s existence as during that late exotic
+period when everything connected with her old life had seemed too crude
+to be real.
+The parlour maid handed her a note that had arrived an hour before from
+Mr. Luning, Mark’s partner. Mrs. Blake, he wrote, had bought a present
+for Mrs. Compton in Paris and sent it to the care of her husband’s
+firm. Mr. Luning had gone the day before to Great Falls to clear it in
+the Custom House, and now had the pleasure of forwarding the boxes, etc.
+“Good gracious!” exclaimed Ida, “what can it be?”
+“There’s four big boxes in the back hall, ma’am.”
+Ida lost no time. If Ora had given her a present it must be worth
+looking at, and she went as rapidly as dignity would permit to the
+nether regions and ordered the boxes opened. The present proved to
+be a magnificent silver service, from many dozens of “flat ware” to
+massive platters, vegetable dishes, flower, fruit and bon-bon pieces,
+and candelabra. The delighted servants made a shining display on
+the dining-room table, and after Ida had gloated over it for a time
+and informed her audience that it was copied from a royal service
+in the Louvre, she went suddenly up to her bedroom. This time she
+did shed a few tears, and as she looked at her handkerchief in some
+wonder she decided that there was at least one person that she loved,
+“hard-headed” as she was, and that Ora Blake had found the one soft
+spot in her flinty heart and wormed herself into it. She went to
+her desk immediately and wrote Ora a letter that was almost tender,
+admitting that she missed her “like fury”, and begging her to return
+soon.
+“Greg telephoned this morning,” she concluded, oblivious that she was
+betraying the fact that she had not seen her husband, “and told me to
+tell you to keep Mark down below for several months. But his lungs must
+be well by this time or he’d be dead. And the rest of him will mend all
+the sooner in this magnificent air. Heavens, but it’s good to breathe
+it again! It makes one feel as if the atmosphere of Europe hadn’t been
+aired for a century. I’ve got a wonder of a house and a jim dandy of a
+limousine, but ever since I came I’ve felt kind of homesick, and I’ve
+just realised it’s for you, old girl. So, come home. Once more ten
+million thanks.”
+And when Ruby and Pearl dined with her that night she realised that all
+her old zest in their society was gone. Ida Hook, at least, had “passed
+on.”
+IV
+It was on the morning of this same day that Gregory sat alone in his
+cabin uncommonly idle, for he still spent the greater part of his
+time underground, when not away on business connected with his new
+investments and deals. For the last week he had not left the hill, and
+although he was on the alert to hear his geological acumen vindicated,
+he was in no mood to find pleasure in his mine. His conscience, an
+organ that troubled him little, was restive. In spite of his liberal
+disbursements, he knew that he had treated Ida unfairly. He had long
+since made up his mind to obliterate her from his personal life, and,
+if the truth must be told about a man who had snapped his fingers in
+the face of the most formidable combination of capital in the world,
+he was afraid to meet his wife. Vanity, he argued, in such women takes
+the place of warmth, and he had no mind to burden his memory and
+resource with an endless chain of subterfuges; nor had he any relish
+for the bald statement that since he could not have the woman he wanted
+he would have none; and that his mine, as complex and mysterious,
+as provocative of dreams, as capricious and satisfying as woman
+herself--to say nothing of hard work and increasing power--was to fill
+his life.
+Ida might rage, stamp, scream, with her hands on her hips, her superb
+eyes flashing. Worse still, she might weep, lamenting that he loved her
+no longer--if he made her hurried friendly calls. Far, far worse, he
+might succumb to her beauty and superlative femaleness and hate himself
+ever after. His was to be a life of unremitting and constructive work;
+he must keep that blue flame burning on the altar in his sanctuary. If
+he never paused to draw it up into his consciousness he must know it
+was there.
+Better stay away until she understood all that it was necessary
+she should know, wore out her pique in private, and accepted the
+situation. But he would have felt better this morning if he had heard
+that her train had arrived early in the evening. He might be ruthless,
+even where women were concerned, but he was also sensitive and capable
+of tenderness.
+But he was not thinking of Ida alone. He was listening for the
+footsteps of Joshua Mann, and in a few moments he heard them, as
+well as the angry growl of his foreman’s voice. Mann entered without
+ceremony.
+“I’ve been looking for you, sir. We’ve the devil’s own luck again----”
+“Apex struck the Primo vein?”
+“No, and won’t for fifty feet yet. But--well--I hate to say it--we’ve
+lost our vein--cut off as short as if it had been sawed. Of course,
+it’s faulted, and God only knows where its dropped to--or how far.
+A prettier shoot of ore was never uncovered. What’s worrying me is
+that--oh, hell!--just suppose that’s what Amalgamated is sinking on. My
+head’s going round. Can I have something?”
+Gregory waved his hand toward the cupboard where his visitors found
+refreshment. When Mann had braced himself, his employer tapped a large
+sheet of paper that lay on the table.
+“Come here,” he said. “I made this map some time ago, and calculated
+to a day when you would lose the vein. I guessed our vein had faulted
+before Amalgamated got busy. But don’t worry. They’re either on a
+parallel vein or on a mere fork.” His pencil moved along the vein
+already stoped, travelled over the fault line and recovered a vein
+further down. “Hundred feet,” he said. “With air drills and unless the
+fault breccia is uncommonly hard, which I don’t think is the case, we
+should find it in less than three weeks. They can’t get through that
+rock for at least a month. Even then they may not touch us, but then
+again they may, and we must be there first. Cut across the fault at
+once and follow it on the footwall side to the east. Get well into the
+footwall. If you don’t recover the vein inside of a hundred feet I’ll
+stand to lose a thousand dollars and you’ll be the winner.”
+“I guess not,” said Mann admiringly. “But, by jing! I was worried. You
+never can tell about them faults. When the old earth split herself up
+and got to slipping she not only lost one side of herself sometimes,
+but twisted about as if she was having fun with the apex law of Montana
+in advance. But I figure out that you’re like old Marcus Daly--you’ve
+got a sort of X-ray in your eye that sees the ore winking below. So
+long.”
+He departed to carry encouragement to the anxious miners, and Gregory
+went out and walked along his hill. By this time he knew every inch
+of it, and had found indications of ore in his other claims while
+superintending the development work necessary before perfecting his
+patents. If Amalgamated sank on his present vein and the courts
+enjoined him from working it until the matter of apex rights was
+settled, he would simply go ahead and sink through the carbonates in
+his other claims to those vast deposits of chalcopyrite with which he
+was convinced his hill was packed. He knew the geological history of
+every mine in Montana, and while he had given up all hope of finding
+gold on his estate save in small incidental values, he believed that he
+possessed one of the greatest copper deposits in the Rocky Mountains.
+And now that even one vein of his hill was threatened, he dismissed his
+old dreams with a shrug and transferred his undivided affection to the
+exciting treasure the earth had given him. There were few surprises
+in gold mines. A great copper mine might make geological history. In
+two districts, Butte and Castle Mountain, copper glance, an ore of
+secondary enrichment, had been found far down in the sulphide zone
+below chalcopyrite, chief of the primary ores. He believed that he
+should find glance at depth of nine hundred feet. If there were masses
+of it he should take out millions in a year, for chalcopyrite was the
+richest of the permanent copper ores of this region, running as high as
+79.8.
+He had been on amiable terms with the manager and engineer of the Apex
+Mine since the battle underground, and he crossed the claim unmolested
+to make his daily inspection of the Primo shaft house. But there had
+been no further attempt to use the cross-cut, although the Apex people
+had managed before they were discovered to drive to the point upon
+which they expected to sink.
+Gregory walked up the hill beyond to look at the cottage just
+completed, which was to be occupied by the manager and foreman of the
+Primo Mine as soon as Mark reopened it. He had been about to begin
+operations, cutting across the fault Gregory had demonstrated--a fault
+parallel to the one in Perch of the Devil--when he was shot nearly to
+death.
+The cottage was situated in a clearing in the pine woods, somewhat
+apart from the cabins, which were being renovated and made comfortable
+for the miners. Gregory was so positive that the pyroxenite vein would
+be recovered just beyond the row of aspens, some sixty feet below
+the tableland, that Mark, who believed his friend to be an inspired
+geologist, was preparing for a long period of mining; although if
+it had been a quartz mine Gregory, sure as he was of his judgment,
+would not have permitted him to put up a mill and concentrating plant
+until sufficient ore had been blocked out to warrant the expense. But
+pyroxenite went direct to the smelter, and a cottage could always be
+rented.
+The little bungalow had two bedrooms besides one for a Chinese servant,
+a bathroom, and a large living-room with a deep fireplace, a raftered
+ceiling, and pine walls stained brown. Gregory, as he realised how
+cosy it would be when furnished, wondered that he had been satisfied
+with his two-roomed cabin for so long. He had been too absorbed to
+think of comfort, but today he felt a desire for something more
+nearly resembling a home than a perch. He looked through the windows
+at the sibilant pines, the pink carpet of primrose moss, the distant
+forests rising to the blue and white mountains; and then he sighed as
+he glanced slowly about the long room and pictured it furnished in
+warm tones of red and brown, wondering if either of the men would be
+married. It would be an ideal home for a honeymoon.
+He twitched his shoulders impatiently and went outside. To his surprise
+he saw a wagon ascending the hill laden with lumber, the seats occupied
+by the contractor and carpenters that had built the bungalow.
+“What’s up?” he asked, as the contractor leaped to the ground.
+“Another bungalow. Perhaps you could suggest a site. It’s to be near
+this, and the same size. We had a telegram from Mr. Blake yesterday.”
+“But what does he want of two cottages?”
+“Can’t say, sir, unless he means to come out here to get well.”
+“That’s nonsense. He knows he could stay at my house on the ranch.”
+But Gregory was not in the habit of thinking aloud. After indicating
+a site he swung back to his hill, angry and apprehensive. Could it
+be possible that Mark intended to spend the summer at the mine and
+bring his wife with him? As soon as he reached his cabin he sat down
+at his table, and after getting his friend’s present address from
+Luning, telephoned a long distance message to Pony to be telegraphed
+to Mr. Mark Blake in Santa Barbara. Its gist was that the weather was
+abominable and that Mark must not think of anything so foolish as to
+bring his weakened heart and lungs to this altitude. His services
+would be imperative later when his solicitous friend locked horns with
+Amalgamated, and meanwhile he was, for heaven’s sake, to take care of
+himself and remain on the coast until he was in a condition to work day
+and night.
+He received an answer that afternoon.
+“No intention of leaving here for two months. Lungs pretty good, but
+shall wait for leg to heal. Ora wants present cottage for herself as
+she intends to spend summer at mine. Will you be on the lookout for a
+manager? He can live in the lessee’s shack until the new cottage is
+built. Might begin operations at once. Hope this not too much trouble.
+Mark.”
+This message was transmitted over the telephone, and, to the excessive
+annoyance of the operator, who happened to be the belle of Pony,
+Gregory asked her three times, and with no excess of politeness, to
+repeat it. The third time he wrote it out and stared at the words as if
+the unsteady characters were recombining into a sketch of the infernal
+regions.
+“Good God!” he thought. “And I can’t get away!”
+Was Mark mad? Was she mad? Then he realised the blissful ignorance of
+both regarding the drama he so often had swept from the stage of his
+mind, that secret dweller in the most secret recesses of his soul.
+Doubtless Ora never had thrown him a thought since they parted at her
+gate. He remembered her expressed intention to live at her mine when
+the lease was up, her desire to adventure underground, her intense
+appreciation of the romance of mining. He closed his eyes, his face
+relaxed. So long as she cared nothing for him there was no danger; he
+might daydream about her a bit. At least--at last!--he should see her
+again, talk to her, work with her, help her as no one else could help
+her. If the association he would have avoided was inevitable why not
+welcome it as a brief oasis in what must be an arid life, so far as
+mortal companionship was concerned?
+But he was not the man to dream long. Presently he opened his eyes,
+set his jaw until it looked a yard long, put on his overalls, and went
+underground.
+V
+Butte long since had made up its mind as to the social future of
+Mrs. Gregory Compton. That Ida’s mother had been a laundress and her
+father a miner concerned the ladies of Butte as little as many similar
+outcroppings of family history peculiar not only to Montana but to all
+regions of recent exploitation and rapid growth.
+In the hearty welcome extended to the newcomer, with either the
+money or the personality to command its attention, Butte more nearly
+resembles London than any other city in the world. To pasts she is
+indifferent, provided they are not resurrected as models for a present:
+she asks no questions of a pretty, amiable, amusing woman who pays
+her the compliment of sojourning in her midst, so long as the lady
+exercises an equal reticence--assuming reticence to be her virtue--and
+plays the social game with _savoir faire_. Distractions on that high
+perch are few, social life ebbs oftener than it flows, many of the
+large houses are closed for the greater part of the year, and only the
+very young, who care not where they are so long as they may dance, find
+life in an overgrown mining camp as satisfactory as their elders find
+New York.
+But the hospitality of Butte is genuine and founded largely upon common
+sense. Most of the women composing its society have enjoyed wealth for
+many years: they have travelled extensively; and if they continue to
+make their homes in Butte it is solely on account of their own business
+interests or those of their men. They argue that to deprive themselves
+of even the casual diversion, assuming the exclusive airs of large
+and resourceful communities, would merely put them on a level with
+thousands of other small towns slowly stagnating, be unworthy of their
+worldly experience, and of the large free spirit of the Northwest which
+has pervaded that isolated camp since they came with their husbands or
+fathers to take a hand in its history.
+As for Mrs. Gregory Compton all they knew of her in her present
+stage of development was favourable, although several had a lively
+remembrance of the rosy black-haired Ida Hook delivering her excellent
+mother’s laundry work at their back door, and receiving more or less
+of her “cheek.” But they had heard, at the time, of her lessons with
+Professor Whalen, and of Ora Blake’s coincident interest. Of her social
+advantages and triumphs in Europe the press had kept them informed; she
+returned to Butte, in fact, as one new-born. Moreover, she now owned
+one of the finest houses in the city for entertaining, they knew that
+she had elected to shine in Butte rather than in London (that Mecca of
+so many quick-rich women without position in their own country); and
+above all she was the wife of Gregory Compton, the man in whom Montana
+was beginning to feel assured it could take an unequivocal pride, not
+only for his diabolical cleverness, but because he was as “straight”
+as the Twentieth Century in the United States of America would permit.
+Butte felt devoutly grateful to Ida for being and returning, and, with
+that utter lack of affectation that characterised it, began calling two
+days after her arrival.
+Ida would have been glad to have had Ora’s support and advice during
+this ordeal--which caused her far more apprehension than ducal
+week-ends. But she summoned all her acquired knowledge and tact,
+fortified it with her native and supreme confidence in herself, and
+made no mistakes. Butte was charmed with the severe rich gowns that set
+off her haughty head and warmly colored face and the long, flowing,
+yet stately lines of her beautiful figure; charmed also with a manner
+that was both simple and dignified. She showed no enthusiasm at being
+taken up so promptly, neither did she quite accept it as a matter of
+course. If her talk ranged freely over common acquaintance in London,
+the Paris dressmakers of the season, the new opera, the plays of the
+moment in New York, it was without glibness, and she took a firm hold
+on the older and more important women of the community by confiding to
+them that she should not make her first venture in the difficult art of
+entertaining until her friend Mrs. Blake returned to help her through
+the novitiate. Many of the younger women were the wives of Amalgamated
+officials and attorneys, or of men in a relationship to that mighty
+power but one degree further removed; but the men individually were too
+broad-minded to cherish a personal grudge against Compton, and they
+were, moreover, quite as eager as their mates to meet his handsome wife.
+During the ensuing fortnight Ida dined out every night, went to a
+bridge party every afternoon, as well as to several luncheons, teas,
+and dances. She wore a different costume every time she appeared in
+public; but although there was at the moment nothing in Butte to
+compare with her gowns she never produced the effect of outshining the
+other women by anything but her beauty and individual style. In short
+her success was so immediate and so final that, although she liked
+these ladies of her native town even better than she had anticipated,
+her rapid conquest soon lost its novelty, and she wished that Ora would
+return; not only because she missed her increasingly, but because to
+entertain in her great house would give her a new and really poignant
+excitement, and lift her definitely from the ranks of the merely
+received.
+Gregory telephoned every few days, and never twice at the same hour.
+When she found herself restlessly awaiting the ring of the instrument,
+she dashed out of the house angrily and took a walk. If she found upon
+her return that he had called her up, she felt that he had given her
+the excuse to telephone to him, and she soon learned at what hours she
+could find him either in his cabin or down in the mine, where he had
+a booth. She was furious at what she called her raging female vanity,
+and if she could have found another man to assuage it she would not
+have hesitated to press him into service at whatever cost to himself.
+But, as happens more often than not, there was not an unmarried man in
+Butte old enough to be worthy of a fastidious woman’s notice. She would
+have yawned in the face of “Brownies”, and, although more than one
+roving husband would have placed himself at her disposal, she was the
+last woman to court scandal or even gossip. She longed for the advent
+of Lord John Mowbray, whose gayety would distract her mind, and whose
+devotion make her forget that she was a neglected wife. She could throw
+dust into the eyes of Butte by pretending to be his matrimonial sponsor.
+But for the first time she wished that she had children. The great
+house seemed to demand the patter of small feet, the slamming of
+doors, a row of naughty faces peering over the banister of the second
+floor. It was terribly silent. And yet she had felt settled down in
+that house at once, so long had one of its kind been the object of her
+unswerving desire; its atmosphere already seemed to hang listless with
+ennui. She subscribed to both the state and city suffrage fund, for
+she felt a new sympathy for women who were trying to fill their lives,
+and sincerely hoped they would invent some game that would make them
+independent of men.
+Seventeen days after her return she was sitting in the library, trying
+to forget her solitary luncheon in a novel when she heard the front
+doorbell ring. Her servants were amiable but not too competent, and she
+waited impatiently and in vain for one of them to answer the summons.
+She restrained the impulse to open the door herself. This was now an
+obsolete custom among her new acquaintance; although having the front
+door shut in one’s face while the colored maid took one’s card to the
+lady of the stately mansion was hardly an improvement, and this had
+been her experience a day or two ago. She rang the bell in the library.
+Still there was no sign of life from the high-priced young women who
+doubtless were gossipping over the back fence. Ida’s curiosity overcame
+her. The hour was too early for callers. It might be a cable. She stole
+to the front door and peered through its curtain of Honiton lace. Then
+she gave a war whoop which would have horrified her servants--who,
+careless as they were, stood in awe of her--flung the door open, caught
+Ora in her arms and almost carried her into the library.
+“Good Lord, but I’m glad to see you!” she cried. “I’m just about dead
+of lonesomeness. Why didn’t you telegraph? I’d have met you if your
+train didn’t get in till two in the morning.”
+Ora laughed and disentangled herself, although she kissed Ida warmly.
+“I just got in--came here on the way from the station and sent my bags
+to the house--but I always did hate to be met. How beautiful your house
+is.”
+“It’s all right. But it’s about as cheerful to live alone in as one
+of those palaces in the Via Garibaldi! My, but I’m glad you’re here.
+You’re the only person I ever missed, and being a real lady for weeks
+on end is telling on my plebeian health. I didn’t have any relief even
+in New York. How’s Mark?”
+“Quite well, except for his broken leg.”
+“Is he here?”
+“Oh, no--I left him in Santa Barbara--that is to say at the Club House
+at Montecito, the fashionable suburb. He has a jolly circle of friends
+there, and has no desire to travel any further until he can walk.”
+Ida put her hands on Ora’s shoulders and turned her round to the
+light. “What’s up?” she demanded. “You look fine, as pretty as a
+picture--but--different, somehow.”
+“I’ve left Mark.”
+Ida glanced into the hall. The opening of back doors indicated that one
+of the maids had condescended to remember she was a wage earner. “Let’s
+go upstairs,” said Ida; and as they crossed the hall she said to the
+girl who was hastening to the front door with a propitiating smile,
+“You’re just about ten minutes too late, as usual, and the next time it
+happens you lose your job. I’m not the sort that sits down and wails
+over the servant question. This house will be run properly if I have to
+send East for help. Now put on your hat and run down to Mrs. Blake’s
+house and bring up her bags, and tell them to send her trunks here.
+“Yes, you’re going to stay with me for the present,” she said, as Ora
+protested. “Don’t say another word about it.”
+Ora shrugged her shoulders, and when they were in Ida’s bedroom she
+took off her hat and coat and wandered about aimlessly for a few
+moments. Ida was almost breathless with impatience and a curious sense
+of apprehension that vaguely recalled the strange terror Ora had
+inspired on the day of their meeting. Ora wore a blue frock, and Ida
+noticed that the yellow room did not dim her fair radiance. If possible
+she was holding her head higher than usual, her skin “gleamed” more
+than ever, there was a curious light in her always brilliant eyes, half
+defiant, half exultant.
+“Do sit down!” said Ida sharply, cutting short Ora’s voluble approval
+of the room. “There, that’s right,” as Ora flung herself into a chair.
+“Now, fire away. You’re brimming over with something. Do you mean that
+you’ve left Mark for good and all?”
+“Yes.”
+“Told him so?”
+Ora nodded.
+“Did you tell him about Valdobia, or what? For heaven’s sake open up.”
+“No, I--I thought I wouldn’t tell him everything at once. I told him
+that I meant to spend the rest of my life in Europe, and that it
+was only fair to himself to divorce me--he can do it easily on the
+ground of desertion--and marry someone who would make a real home for
+him--make him happy.”
+“Ah! Mark’s the sort women marry but don’t fall in love with. And what
+did he say when you handed him that?”
+“He was rather broken up.”
+“Really! And you? I always had an idea that when it came to the point
+you wouldn’t do it. You have high-falutin’ notions about honor,
+noblesse oblige, and all the rest of it, to say nothing of being really
+soft, as I once told you. There’s only one thing that would make you
+hard--to everyone else--and that’s being in love----”
+“That is it!” exclaimed Ora eagerly. “I’ve made up my mind to marry
+Valdobia. I wasn’t so sure when I left Europe, but you know what
+separation often does----”
+“Yes,” said Ida dryly, “I do. Well, Mark will have to take his
+medicine, I guess. I’ve never doubted, since Valdobia joined us in
+Genoa, that he was the man for you. It’s fate, I guess. But tell me
+what Mark said, after all. Did he consent?”
+“There was nothing else to do. He knew I meant it. I broke it to
+him by degrees. Besides, he knew how it was long before I left for
+Europe. He had practically given me up. Of course he was fond of me--I
+had become a habit and made him comfortable, besides being useful
+to him--but--well, I gave him six years--my youth!” she burst out
+passionately. “What wouldn’t I give to wipe out those years, be twenty
+again and free! I tried to make him understand that I was no longer in
+the least like the bewildered undeveloped girl he had married; and that
+I bore as little resemblance to the intellectual automaton I made of
+myself later. I told him that I was awake once for all, and that rather
+than live again with a man I couldn’t care for I’d be boiled in oil.
+Then he understood.”
+“I should think he might! Of course he asked if there was another man?”
+“Yes, but I told him that was neither here nor there; that in any case
+I should leave him and live in Europe.”
+“Poor Mark! Tied by the leg, and lost in the shuffle!”
+“You know as well as I do that I have nothing in me for Mark and that
+if I cared as little for Valdobia it would only be fair to give him
+a second throw for happiness. When I left him he was quite resigned,
+and we have agreed to remain the best of friends. I shall leave him my
+power of attorney as before, and he will continue to manage my affairs.”
+“How much more sensible we are in our Twentieth Century! No doubt he
+will visit you in the Palazzo Valdobia when he takes a whirl at Europe.”
+“Why not? But tell me you think I did right, Ida?” Ora’s voice was very
+sweet and plaintive.
+“You did what you were bound to do, I guess, when you met a man that
+could throw a lariat round the neck of that romantic imagination of
+yours. Right? I don’t know. I guess I’ve got the same old streak of
+Puritan Americanism in me, although if other people want to have
+_liaisons_ and divorces it’s none of my affair. Women will do more and
+more as they damn please, I guess, men having set them such a good
+example for a few centuries. But I simply hate the idea of losing you.
+I want you right here in Butte. Lord, I’ve almost forgotten may slang!”
+Ora laughed with something like her old merriment. “Oh, you’ll have
+me for an escape valve for a while yet. Valdobia’s mother is dying of
+some lingering horrible disease. It wouldn’t be decent for me to go to
+Rome, and I should be lonely anywhere else. So, I’ve made up my mind
+to stay here during the summer at least, and realise a dream I used
+to indulge in before I ever knew I could fall in love.” Once more she
+looked straight at Ida, this time with the slow expectant smile of a
+child. “I’m going to reopen my mine and run it myself--of course I
+shall have a manager. Mark has written, or telegraphed, to Mr. Compton
+to find one for me--but I shall live out there and go down every day,
+and make believe I am doing something, too--at all events realise that
+it _is_ my mine. Mining has always--that is, always did fascinate me
+more than anything else on earth. I shall be devoted to Valdobia when I
+am married to him, but I simply must have that adventure first----”
+“For heaven’s sake don’t go dotty like Gregory over a hole in the
+ground. If you get that bee buzzing round in your skull I pity poor
+Valdobia. If it were not for his mother I’d cable to him to come
+out----”
+Ora’s face set with a hardness that arrested Ida’s observant eye.
+“Don’t you do anything of the sort. Mark said once about my father,
+‘It was characteristic of him that when he quit he quit for good.’ I
+am always discovering more and more of my father in me. I’ll live that
+old dream and it will finish when Valdobia and I both are free. Then I
+shall wipe it off the slate--consign it to limbo.” She sprang to her
+feet and stretched out her arms. “I am going to do exactly as I please
+as long as I am free. Of course I am mad about Valdobia--you know that
+I wouldn’t marry him if I were not--but I am mad too about liberty and
+my mine. This is my only chance. And I am a Montanan, born in the Rocky
+Mountains. I want something of the life that has made my state famous
+before I become a European. I’ve never had anything of her but Butte. I
+want the wild mountains--I want, above all, the mine that has given me
+my freedom. I’m going to wear overalls and go down into the mine every
+day.”
+“A sweet sight you’ll be!” said Ida disgustedly. “And the miners--Oh,
+they’ll just love the idea of having a woman at their heels! What on
+earth has got hold of you? It’s the only time I’ve ever known you
+to get off your base. Why, there’s nothing a woman can do at a mine
+unless she’s a graduated mining engineer, and nothing then that a man
+couldn’t do better. You’ll be in the way and you’ll soon be bored to
+death yourself. If you’re so crazy about Montana why don’t you do some
+of those great things for her that your father suggested? And how do
+you reconcile your marriage to an Italian with your devotion to your
+father’s memory?”
+Ora turned away her head. “My father gave me too much of himself to
+expect me to play the rôle of ministering angel to anything. I intend
+to invest in Montana the greater part of all that I take out of my
+mine. If it gives me one of the great fortunes I shall endow my state
+in some way--as Mark may suggest. But I cannot live here. That is
+for ever settled. When I go to Europe I shall never return--not even
+to America. I shall forget my life here, everything connected with
+it--everything! One side of me is already European. I shall become
+wholly so.”
+“Somehow,” said Ida slowly, and with the sensation of being so close
+to something that she couldn’t see it, “I don’t get the idea that
+you’re so mad about Valdobia. Long since I figured that when you did
+love a man you’d be a sort of white pillar of flame about him. I
+firmly believe that Valdobia is the man for you, but, well--he fell
+too quickly. He didn’t make you suffer, never kept you guessing for
+a minute. The women that turn men’s heads are a good deal like men
+themselves; they’ve got to be hurt hard and kept on tenterhooks before
+they are in a condition to accommodate the virus. You are fond of
+Valdobia, and well you may be, but mad isn’t the right word----”
+“Oh, yes it is! It is!” Ora was walking up and down the room. “You must
+believe that I love him as I never dreamed I could love anybody----”
+“Hi!” cried Ida. “Your letter-man! That’s what! You were more nearly in
+love with him than you are with Valdobia, and because, for some reason
+or other, you couldn’t get him. Where is he?”
+Ora’s eyes looked large and blank. “That! I had quite forgotten it.
+It was the last of a long line of mental love affairs. Those always
+evaporate even from the memory when the real man comes along.” She
+sighed heavily and sat down once more. “I know that I shall be happy
+with Valdobia, only I am not happy now. That is so far off! And of
+course I feel badly about poor Mark. But I couldn’t help it. Not to do
+it would have been worse. And I should go off my head meanwhile if I
+didn’t have this mine. Do you think I could remain here in Butte and go
+to dinners and bridge parties? I should scream in their faces. I must
+have work. Be sure I can find something to do at the mine--I suppose
+there are a laboratory and assay office. And there will always be the
+excitement of hoping to find free milling gold--at present what could
+be more exciting than to drift for that lost vein?”
+“It wouldn’t keep me awake nights. But have your own way. I don’t want
+you down with nerves, and that will happen if you don’t look out.”
+“If I don’t get my own way.”
+“Exactly. But I wish your way marched with mine. I’ve missed you like
+fury--Say!--here’s an idea: I’ll go back to Europe with you now if you
+like, and stay until you marry. There are lots of places we planned to
+go to and didn’t----”
+“Ida, you are a dear! And you longed so for Butte. Why it would be like
+tearing an author from his unfinished magnum opus. Besides--well--you
+have a husband----”
+“Oh, Lord! Gregory is running the Universe at present. Women don’t
+exist for him. Shall we go?”
+Ora shook her head. Her face had turned from white to pale. “No. I must
+spend these last months of my freedom here in my state. And that lost
+vein--it pulls me. I _must_ have that life for a few months--for the
+first and last time. You--you--might spend your week-ends with me.”
+Ida scowled and turned away her head. She had no intention of admitting
+even to Ora that Gregory deliberately avoided her. “Not I. I hate the
+sight of the De Smet ranch. Go, if you like, but I feel sure you will
+come in often. And before you go I wish you would do me a favour.”
+“Of course I will.”
+“Let me give you a dinner. I want to begin that sort of thing and
+you’ll furnish the excuse besides helping me out.”
+“Very well. Have it soon. I want to go to the mine as quickly as
+possible. I shall begin to send out the furniture for my bungalow
+tomorrow.”
+“A week’s notice will be enough. I’ll write the invitations today.
+There’s another reason I want to give this dinner. Gregory hasn’t been
+seen anywhere with me--hates going out. But I shall make him understand
+that he must come to my first dinner--or people will be talking--and I
+hate people prying into my affairs. Besides, it will be his duty to you
+as the wife of his best friend. (He needn’t know you’ve left Mark yet
+awhile.) I’m not hankering for the rôle of the neglected wife; and I’m
+sick of making excuses. For all Butte knew I might not have laid eyes
+on my husband since my return.”
+And although she spoke bravely Ora knew that she had not. “We’ll have
+the dinner,” she said warmly. “And it will be great fun to get it
+up----”
+“Now, come this minute and go to bed. You are to stay with me as
+long as you are in this camp, and I’m going to tone you up, and make
+you rest as we used to in Europe every afternoon--hard work in this
+altitude but it can be done. I’ve got to go to a bridge party now, and
+you are to sleep. If you feel rested when I get back, I’ll call up two
+or three of your old friends and ask them to come informally to dinner.
+So long.”
+She closed the door of her best spare room on Ora and walked slowly
+back to her own, her brows drawn; once more quick with a sensation
+of profound uneasiness, of being close to something that she could
+not see. But it was not her habit to ponder for long over the elusive
+and obscure. “Guess I’m worried about Ora’s health,” she thought
+impatiently, and rang for her maid.
+VI
+Two days later Gregory received the following note from his wife:
+  DEAR GREGORY:
+  Ora is here, and before going out to the mine has promised to help
+  me through the ordeal of my first big dinner. Entertaining goes with
+  this house, and although I am beginning somewhat sooner, perhaps,
+  than is necessary, I have my reasons. I have asked twenty-four
+  people, the most important of the older and the younger married
+  sets. The dinner is to be at eight o’clock Tuesday. I want you to
+  come. Yow have been very generous, but there is one thing more that
+  you can do for me and I feel that I have the right to demand it.
+  If you no longer care for me, that is something I cannot help; nor
+  you either for that matter. But so far as the world knows, I am
+  your wife, and if we are never seen together there is bound to be
+  disagreeable gossip. I don’t want to be gossipped about. It is vulgar
+  and it complicates life. The Butte women I most wanted to know are
+  all right, but the town has the usual allowance of fools and scandal
+  mongers. By showing yourself at my first dinner in your own house
+  you will muzzle them. You can arrive in time for dinner and take a
+  late train back to Pony, if there is one. But please come. I am sure
+  if you think it over you will admit that I am merely proving my new
+  knowledge of the world in asking for your formal protection.
+                                                                    IDA.
+Gregory read this note hastily when he found it in his morning mail-bag
+in company with many business letters, to which he also gave scant
+attention: he was in haste to go underground. There was still no sign
+of the lost vein, and nineteen days of the three weeks’ limit he had
+set himself were gone. But they broke into it that same afternoon. He
+barely left the mine until the following morning, but he finally sought
+his cabin and bed satisfied that the recovered vein of copper pyrite
+was, like the original, six feet thick and as rich in values. When he
+awoke he remembered Ida’s note, and although it had provoked a frown of
+annoyance when he read it, his spirits were now so ebullient that he
+not only admitted the justice of her demand, but would have granted
+almost anyone a reasonable request.
+Moreover, as he reread the note, its restraint and dignity struck
+him forcibly, as well as its remote likeness to the Ida Hook he had
+wooed in Nine Mile Cañon. Certainly she had made the most of her
+opportunities!
+And apparently she had recovered from her first disappointment, or
+pique--if, indeed, she had felt either--and he assumed that the
+last year, crowded with exceptional experiences, had made her over
+into something like a woman of the world. No doubt among her many
+accomplishments she had acquired self-control. (That she might also
+have acquired finesse did not occur to him.) He dismissed the fear
+that she would make a scene--and himself thoroughly uncomfortable. On
+the whole it would be interesting to see Ida as a bird of paradise.
+He remembered her in shirtwaists and serviceable skirts, and recalled
+that he had sometimes thought it a pity she should not have the plumage
+worthy of her beauty and style.
+And if the fates had willed that he must meet Ora Blake again he
+preferred that the first interview should be in public.
+He rang up Pony and in the course of half an hour was connected with
+Butte.
+“Hello!” he said cordially, as he heard his wife’s voice. “Got your
+letter, but couldn’t find time to answer before. I’ll come to the
+dinner with pleasure.”
+“Oh, I am so glad.” Ida’s tones were crisp and cool. There was none of
+the husky warmth that Gregory suddenly remembered; nor any of the old
+common inflection. “Are your evening togs at Mark’s?”
+“Yes, will you send for them?”
+“I’ll have everything here in one of the spare rooms. The maid will
+show you up if you are late. It takes me hours to dress.”
+“All right. Say--Ida--I wish you’d persuade Mrs. Blake to give up that
+idea of coming out here. It won’t work. She’ll only be in the way of
+the men, and if there was a big row on would be one more responsibility
+for her manager. I suppose she knows I’ve opened up her mine. Besides,
+it’s no place for a woman anyhow. There are only a few women--miners’
+wives--in my camp; none in the others.”
+“I’ve told her all that. But--well--you don’t know Ora.
+Gambling--taking long chances--is in her blood, I guess. You should
+have seen her at Monte Carlo. You must take in Mrs. Cameron, but I am
+putting Ora on your left as it is time you two got acquainted. Try to
+dissuade her. I want her to stay here with me.”
+“I’ll do my best. How are you getting on? Butte still panning out?”
+“I adore Butte and find nothing to change. It’s too wonderful--to have
+all your old dreams come true like this! I hope your mine is behaving.
+I heard a rumour the other day that you had lost your vein----”
+“Just found it again!”
+Ida noted the exultant ring of his voice, and was about to laugh when
+she changed her tactics swiftly. “Good! I know just how fine you
+feel--and that it wasn’t the loss of money that worried you either.
+Well, the dinner will be a sort of celebration. Good-bye.”
+“Good-bye.” There was a faint accent of surprise in Gregory’s voice.
+Ida smiled and returned to her interrupted toilette.
+“Just let me get a good chance at him once more,” she thought. “I’ll be
+eating copper before I get through, but I don’t know him or his sex if
+he won’t be nibbling off the same chunk.”
+VII
+The next week was the busiest she had ever known. All the people
+that had called on her called again on Ora. Her cook collapsed when
+told to prepare a dinner for twenty-eight people, and Ida, who would
+not hearken to a public caterer and his too familiar idiosyncrasies,
+telegraphed to St. Paul for a chef. What moments she had to spare after
+consultations with this autocrat, with a temperamental designer of menu
+cards, and with two high-handed young women whom she had been persuaded
+by the charitable Mrs. Cameron to engage to decorate her rooms, were
+spent with certain works on copper and mining that she had procured
+from the public library.
+She looked forward to the evening of her dinner party with a secret
+excitement that seemed to fork its lightning into every recess of her
+brain, and electrify it with a sense of the fulness of life--that
+hinted intoxicatingly of life’s perfections. Not only was she to live
+the wildest dream of Ida Hook, but she had made up her mind to bring
+the most important man in Montana to her feet on that triumphant night.
+That the man was her husband, won the first time without an effort,
+lost through her own indifference and ignorance, added tenfold to the
+zest of the game. She knew the impression he must retain of her: crude,
+obvious in her sex allurement, cheaply dressed, a sort of respectable
+mining-camp siren; all her fascinations second-rate, and her best
+points in the eyes of an absent-minded husband her good-natured
+mothering and admirable cooking.
+If she had returned to find him as she had left him, a mere brilliant
+hard-working student, and automatically attentive to his home partner,
+no doubt she would have slipped into her original rôle at once, for she
+was normally amiable, and she had strict ideas of wifely duties, which
+her insistent vanity and deliberate flirtations never for a moment
+endangered. They also filled the practical wants of a nature not
+derived from artistic ancestors. She had had her “flyer”, and, allowing
+for social triumphs, returned to Butte to settle down; although it
+had been with a certain complacency that she had reflected during the
+homeward journey upon the altered circumstances which would enable her
+to live like a civilised being in her own apartments and see far less
+of her husband than formerly.
+Her complacency had been treated to a succession of shocks since her
+return; it had, in fact, finally gasped out its life; although it had
+left self-confidence behind to sit at the feet of her shrewd clear
+mind. She found a zest entirely new in bringing to his knees a man who
+had been her husband when she was too raw and conceited to appreciate
+him, who had developed into a personage, and who had conquered his mere
+maleness and put women out of his life: she had consulted a detective
+agency and convinced herself that her only rival was the mine. Ida was
+nothing if not practical. Before preparing for her siege she chose to
+know exactly where she stood. A rival of her sex would have demanded
+one sort of tactics; a mere mine and the quickened business instinct
+of a dreaming but outclassing brain, although she did not underrate
+their peculiar dead walls and buffers, exacted a different and more
+impersonal assault--at first.
+Much that she had failed to understand in her young husband was clear
+to her now. His silences, his formidable powers of concentration, his
+habit of thinking out his purposes unto the smallest detail before
+verbal expression, his tendency to dream, combined with lightning
+processes of thought, were the indispensable allies of his peculiar
+gifts: she had talked with too many brilliant and active men during the
+past year, to say nothing of her daily association with Ora, for whose
+inherited and progressive intellect she had the highest respect, and
+her own development had been too positive, rapid, and normal, not to be
+fully aware that men born with the genius to conquer life were equipped
+with powerful imaginations that necessarily made them silent thinkers.
+She had become intensely proud of her husband since her return, and his
+neglect, coupled with his scrupulous generosity, had stung her pride
+and aroused both desire and determination to recapture what she had
+lost. She had no great faith in her capacity for love; but not only
+was she fascinated by Gregory for the first time but she found him more
+worthy of her accomplished coquetry than any man she had met in Europe.
+She was firm in her resolve to repossess her husband, but not merely to
+satisfy that pride which was the evolution of a more primitive vanity;
+she felt a certain joyousness, a lilt of the spirit, at the thought of
+spending her life with him, of being the complete helpmate of such a
+man; even a disposition to dream, which was so new in her experience
+that she banished it with a frown. “If I let go like other fool women,
+I’ll make a grand mess of it,” was her characteristic reflection.
+She was dressing for the dinner when she heard him enter the house. The
+parlour maid for once remembered her instructions, and led him up to
+his room, which was on the opposite side of the hall from his wife’s
+and at the extreme end. Her door was ajar, she heard his voice--whose
+depth and richness were decimated by the telephone--his light foot
+ascending the stair. For the moment she lost her breath, then with
+an angry jerk of the shoulders regained her poise, and, in tones
+careless enough to reassure any husband suddenly overwhelmed with the
+awkwardness of his position, called out:
+“Good evening, Gregory. Hope you’ll find everything you want in your
+room. Ring if you don’t. See you downstairs.”
+“Oh--thanks!” Gregory swallowed an immense sigh of relief. “I’ll be on
+time.”
+Ida, assisted by the “upstairs girl”--she had not yet found a ladies’
+maid willing to come to Butte--continued her toilette. Her gown was
+as nearly Renaissance as she thought her native Northwest would
+stand at this stage of her social progress. It was “built”--a word
+more appropriate to woman’s dress A.D. 1600 than today--of heavy
+turquoise-blue brocade, the design outlined here and there with gold
+thread. The long wrinkled sleeves almost covered her hands, and,
+like the deep square of the neck, were tipped with fur. Her mass of
+blue-black hair was closely twisted around her head from brow to the
+nape of her neck, held above the low forehead by a jewelled stiletto
+Ora had given her in Genoa, “to remind her of her midnight diversions
+in the Renaissance palace over which her dim ancestral memories
+brooded.” This she had dismissed as damn nonsense, but she liked the
+stiletto with its rudely set stones, and had promised to wear it the
+first time she got inside one of her near-Renaissance gowns.
+The pale subtle blue of the dress made her eyes look light and
+altogether blue, the thick black underlashes and full white underlids
+giving them an expression when in repose of cold voluptuousness. Her
+skin against the dark edge of fur was as white as warm new milk.
+Her costume and her regal air would have made her noticeable in the
+proudest assemblage. She was well aware that not only was she a very
+beautiful woman tonight but a dangerous one. And she might have stepped
+from one of the tarnished frames in the Palazzo Valdobia.
+After the maid had been dismissed, she examined herself even more
+critically. The coral of lip and cheek, while still eloquent of youth
+and health, was more delicate than of old; all suggestion of buxomness
+had disappeared. She looked older than when she had left Butte; the
+casual observer would have given her thirty years; her cheeks were
+less full, her mouth had firmer lines; the cold grey-blue eyes more
+depth, justified their classic setting. Even her profile, released by
+the finer contour of cheek and thrown into high relief by the severe
+arrangement of her hair, contributed to the antique harmonies of her
+head and form.
+“You’ll do,” she said to her image, and went down stairs.
+Several guests arrived at once and she was standing before her antique
+English chimneypiece carved in California, chatting with three of
+them when Gregory entered the room. She nodded amiably as if they
+had met too recently for formalities. He took the cue and paused to
+exchange a few words with two men that stood near the door. But Ida
+had seen the startled opening of his narrow eyes which meant so much
+in him. She also noted that, as other guests came in, he looked at
+her again and again. In truth Gregory was startled almost out of his
+trained stolidity. He had known a certain side of Ida’s cleverness,
+and believed when he sent her abroad that she would make much of her
+opportunities, the greatest of which was her constant association
+with Ora Blake; but that she would return in less than a year looking
+the great lady, and the handsomest woman he had ever seen, even his
+energetic imagination had failed to consider. Magnetism, as of old,
+surrounded her like an aura, but to this he was insensible, his own
+magnetism having been caught and entangled with that of another. He
+felt very proud of his wife, however, and, with a sudden impulse
+of loyalty, he crossed the room and stood at her side. He also was
+prompted to say in a tone pitched to reach other ears:
+“By George, you are simply stunning. I haven’t seen
+this--a--frock--dress--before.”
+“Gown, my dear, gown. It only arrived a few days ago. I shall take you
+to Europe with me next time--”
+“Take him soon!” said Mrs. Cameron. “Don’t give him time to wear out
+before he has begun to live. Our tired business men!”
+“Next year!” said Ida, gayly. “He has half-promised and I’ll not let
+him off.” As she looked into his eyes with bright friendliness, his
+face relaxed with the smile which, she suddenly remembered, always had
+won her from anger or indifference. He was openly delighted with her,
+the more completely as he was both puzzled and relieved to see that
+those splendid eyes held neither cold anger nor feminine reproach.
+Moreover, although they softened for an instant before she was obliged
+to turn away, it was with an expression that made her look merely sweet
+and womanly, not in the least coquette or siren. Other guests claimed
+her attention. He heard her give a little hiss, and saw her eyes flash.
+Then he forgot her. Ora had entered the room.
+Her gown, of some soft imponderable fabric that gave the impression
+of depth in colour, was the peculiar flaming blue of the night sky of
+Montana. Gregory was reminded instantly of the night they had sat on
+the steps of the School of Mines, with the pulsing sky so close above
+them. The upper part of the gown was cut in points that curved above
+her slight bust, the spaces between filled with snow-white chiffon
+which appeared to be folded softly about the body. She wore her pearls,
+but at the base of her slender throat was a closely fitting string of
+Montana sapphires, of the same hot almost angry blue. Her little head
+with its masses of soft ashen hair seemed to sway on the long stem-like
+neck, her stellar eyes blazed. Her costume extinguished every other
+blue in the room.
+“Really!” said Mrs. Cameron, whose black eyes under her coronet of
+iron grey hair were snapping, “these two dear friends should have had
+a consultation over their costumes for tonight.” She had never liked
+Ora, and although, as the leader of Butte society, she made a point of
+speaking well of all whom she did not feel obliged to ignore, she had
+taken a deep liking to Ida; moreover, always a handsome woman herself,
+she felt both sympathetic and indignant. This was Ida’s night, and she
+scented treachery.
+She had addressed her remark to Gregory, but although he looked at
+her politely he would not have heard thunder crashing on the roof. He
+wondered if he were standing erect; he had a confused impression that
+that wonderful blue gown was burning alcohol whose fumes were in his
+head and whose flames swirled through all his senses. And the woman
+within those curling blue flames was so much more beautiful than his
+memory of her that he forgot not only his recent tribute to Ida, but
+her bare existence until she tapped him sharply on the arm.
+“Dinner has been announced,” she said. “You are to take in Mrs.
+Cameron.” Ida was smiling again; she had dismissed anger and annoyance;
+nothing was to dim the radiance of her spirits tonight. She and Ora
+would be at opposite ends of the table, and she could keep the length
+of the drawing-room between them when they returned.
+Gregory’s face never betrayed him, particularly when he kept his
+eyelids down, and, as he shook hands with Ora in the dining-room he
+told her he was glad to see her again as casually as if his hand had
+not tingled to crush hers. He talked with Mrs. Cameron, however, as
+long as possible, but when her attention was claimed by the man on her
+right, he was obliged to turn to Ora. By this time his blood was still.
+Eating is commonplace work, and talking the inevitable platitudes of a
+dinner’s earlier courses will steady the most riotous pulses.
+Ora smiled impersonally; her eyes might have beheld the husband of her
+friend for the first time.
+“I am so glad to be able to ask you something about my mine,” she said.
+“Ida tells me that you have reopened it.”
+“Yes, they are already through the fault and driving for the vein.
+There happened to be a good man here looking for a job when I got
+Mark’s telegram, a young engineer from the East, named Raymond. The
+miners are good capable men, too, and as Osborne and Douglas installed
+a compressor, the work should be pretty quick. I fancy you’ll recover
+the vein in a week or two.”
+“I wonder if I shall? Mark thinks you infallible, but it seems too good
+to be true.”
+“The vein is there, about a hundred feet down, but how rich it is I do
+not venture to predict.”
+“Well, never mind,” Ora smiled happily. “I shall have the fun of
+looking for it, and I want to be with the men when they find it.”
+“Oh--Ah--It really would be better for you to give up that idea of
+going out there to stay----”
+“I thought I would give to you the opportunity to say that at once! Do
+go on and relieve your mind.”
+“It is neither safe nor desirable,” he said sulkily. “I may have a row
+on my hands any minute. Your men and my men are a decent lot, but the
+Apex have employed a lot of scum so ignorant that there is no knowing
+what they may do in a crisis--in the hope of currying favour with
+their superiors. They would merely be made scapegoats or--canned--I
+beg pardon, fired--but they don’t know that, and they’re as hard a lot
+as Europe ever kicked on to our dump heap. Better stay here for the
+present.”
+“I’ve sent out all the furniture for the bungalow, and Custer and a
+Chinaman to put it in order. I suppose my engineer can camp in the
+other cottage until it is finished. That is quite close to mine, I
+understand.”
+“Oh, of course--but why not stay at my ranch house----”
+“That is too far from the scene of operations. Please don’t bother
+about me. I should hate to think I was on your mind--you have enough! I
+shall be well protected, and I’ve even bought an automatic. I suppose
+being a born Westerner I should call it a gun. But it’s such a little
+one. I shall carry it always----”
+“Yes, promise that.”
+“I’ve even had a little bag made, like those they wore years ago, to
+fasten to my belt, and I shall keep it in that.”
+“Very well.” He dismissed the subject. “I--ah--there’s something I
+heard today, but perhaps I should not speak of it. Only Mark is such an
+old friend of mine----”
+“I suppose you saw Mr. Luning and he told you that we are to separate.”
+“Yes, that is it.”
+“I intend to live in Europe: I suppose you think that a callous reason.”
+“It’s as good as most reasons for divorce in this country. When is Mark
+coming back?”
+“Not for two months. Nothing will be done until then. I want to have my
+mining experience first and I shall leave Montana as soon as the papers
+are served.”
+“Ah!”
+Her partner claimed her at the moment and, his own still being
+occupied, he observed her furtively. He thought that she too looked
+older, but not because advantages had improved her; rather--he groped
+for the words that would give definiteness to his impression--as if
+some experience had saddened her. She had a softer expression. The
+blood rushed to his head and he almost choked with jealousy, his
+intuitions carrying him straight to the truth. “By God! She has loved
+some man,” he thought. Then he set his teeth. So much the better.
+But when she turned to him again, he said impulsively, although his
+tones were light:
+“You never did fit this Western life of ours. Of course you have found
+a more civilised mate in Europe?”
+“You are all wrong,” she said gaily. “My only love at present is my
+mine. My mine! You should understand if anybody can.”
+“Oh, yes, I understand that magnet. But I naturally thought----”
+“What everybody else will think when the news is out. But I am
+astonished that you should jump at anything so commonplace.” Her heart
+was hammering under the concentrated intensity of his gaze; and as
+if he realised suddenly that he might be betraying himself he said
+sarcastically:
+“As there are--I was told today--no less than six divorces pending in
+this set which my wife has the honour to entertain tonight, and as all
+are to intermarry, so to speak, when liberated, my conclusion in your
+case was probably due to the force of suggestion.”
+“Well, I forgive you if you promise to believe none of the absurd
+stories you are sure to hear. I am in love with freedom. Now tell me
+what you think of Ida? Isn’t she wonderful?”
+Gregory looked down the table at his wife sitting between the two most
+important men in Butte and entertaining both with animated dignity. She
+met his eyes and smiled brilliantly. She knew that he was proud of her;
+she had accomplished the second manœuvre in her flank attack: her first
+had been to put him at his ease.
+“Yes,” he said to Ora. “She is. It is almost beyond belief. And she is
+your handiwork!” The two might have been life-long intimates, and Ida
+a mere kinswoman of both, so little did the oddity of this discussion
+occur to Gregory at least.
+“And in a way my present to you.” Ora spoke with a charming
+graciousness. “Mark had given me a tremendous idea of your abilities.
+The day I met Ida I saw her possibilities, and I made up my mind then
+and there that when the world claimed you your wife should be not only
+an inspiration but equipped to render you the practical and social help
+that every rising man needs. Isn’t it splendid to think that she will
+always sit at the head of your table?”
+Gregory was staring hard at her again. “You did that deliberately?” he
+asked.
+“Yes. Deliberately. Ida is so clever that she was bound to develop with
+your rising fortunes, particularly if you sent her to Europe. But it
+would have taken longer. I couldn’t wait. My father inspired me with
+the deepest admiration and respect for our Western men. I had made up
+my mind that you were born into the front rank, and I wanted, as a
+Western woman, and my father’s daughter, to do something to help you.
+Tell me that you are satisfied and that you are as proud of Ida as she
+is of you--that--that--you simply adore her.” She did not flinch, and
+looked him straight in the eyes, her own full of young, almost gushing,
+enthusiasm. Her heart had almost stopped beating.
+“I certainly am proud of her, and grateful to you. No doubt she will be
+very helpful if I am forced into politics to conserve my interests.”
+His tones were flat. He had come to his senses, and he was too loyal
+to hint that he no longer loved his wife: but Ora’s face was suddenly
+flooded with a lovely colour, and her eyes looked like grey mist
+through which the sun was bursting. She asked him,
+“Aren’t you going to stay with us for a few days! We’d love to have
+you?”
+“I take the 6.10 for Pony in the morning. If I disappear before the
+others it will be to snatch a few hours’ sleep in that gorgeous
+four-poster in my room. After living in two rooms for so long I am
+oppressed with all this magnificence----”
+“Two rooms!” Ora’s voice rang out like an excited child’s. Gregory,
+marvelling at the quick transitions of her sex, thought he had never
+seen anyone look so happy. The gentle melancholy that had roused his
+jealousy was obliterated. “Two rooms!”
+“There is another shack just beyond where my Chinaman cooks for me, and
+bunks, but I have only a bedroom and office--and a bathroom of sorts.
+Even my secretary sleeps at the ranch house.”
+“You dear innocent millionaire. No doubt the proletariat, reading of
+your sudden wealth, and cursing you, pictures you wallowing in luxury.
+Well, you shall come and sit sometimes in my comfortable living-room.
+It is time you relearned the a, b, c, of comfort--before you relapse
+into the pioneer.”
+“Your bungalow looks as if it could be made very homelike.” He spoke
+with unconscious wistfulness, and she raised friendly and impersonal
+eyes to his.
+“You shall see. I have what the French call the gift of installation,
+and I have sent out nice things. I shall make tea for you when you come
+to the surface at the end of the afternoon shift, and you shall sit in
+the deepest of my chairs.”
+“It sounds like heaven,” said Gregory, who despised tea.
+Professor Becke, who had taken her in, and Mrs. Cameron simultaneously
+addressed their temporary partners, and Gregory was now to listen to
+an account, both spirited and kindly, of the admiration his wife had
+excited in her native town. Mrs. Cameron suspected the breach, in spite
+of the clever acting of both, and made up her mind to do what she could
+to bridge it. She had not an inkling of the cause, for, like Ida, she
+knew nothing of that fateful hour on the steps of the School of Mines;
+but as there was no gossip abroad about either Gregory or his wife,
+she inferred that it was one of those misunderstandings that so often
+separate young couples, always prone to take themselves too seriously.
+She knew that Gregory would value her praise; he not only had been
+fond of her as a schoolboy, when he spent an occasional Saturday
+with her son, but he knew that her experience of the world was very
+wide. She was a woman whom long years of wealth had enabled to travel
+extensively, she visited intimately at some of the greatest country
+homes in Europe, and she had her own position in New York. She subtly
+made Gregory feel prouder still of Ida, and then said teasingly:
+“It is well that you have her devotion. I know of three men that are
+quite off their heads about her----”
+“Ah? Who are they?” A sultan may weary of his sultana, but his sultana
+she is all the same.
+“That I’ll not tell you. Even your wife could not, I fancy. I’ve never
+seen a woman treat men with a more careless impartiality. What a
+relief--with all these divorces pending. Merely a shuffling of cards,
+too, I understand. It is disgusting. I asked your wife as a personal
+favour to me to invite none of them tonight. Butte either has long
+orgies of respectability or goes quite off her head.”
+“My wife is singularly indifferent to men for a beautiful woman,”
+replied Gregory, comfortably ignorant of his beautiful wife’s
+depredations abroad. “Nor is she likely to countenance divorce. She has
+a good deal of her old New England mother in her.” He had a haughty
+contempt for explanations as a rule, but his quick instinct had caught
+the significance of his companion’s remarks; knowing that Ida must wish
+to stand well with this amiable but rigid arbiter of Butte’s court of
+last resort, he added:
+“I am sorry not to be in Butte oftener, and give her what little
+assistance a man may, but it is all I can do to leave the mine for a
+few hours every week or two.”
+“That is the fate of too many of our American women married to our
+too busy American men. But--well--Gregory--I have married sons and
+daughters, and I am an old friend of yours. Young wives must not be
+neglected, and resentment eats like a cancer until women are old enough
+to be philosophical. Just think that over.” And before he could answer
+Ida gave the signal and the men were left alone.
+VIII
+As the women dispersed about the long drawing-room Ora laid her arm
+lightly round the waist of Ida, who was standing for the moment apart.
+“Your dinner is a tremendous success, my dear,” she said, “and so are
+you. That gown! It makes mine look so crude. I wish I had worn white as
+I intended until the last minute. How splendidly everything went off.
+Not a detail to criticise, and every woman has worn something new from
+New York or Paris. But you--well, Ida, you are always beautiful, of
+course, but tonight you are something more than lovely.”
+“Oh, am I?” Ida gave a little gasp, forgetting her passing astonishment
+at so much tribute from Ora at once. “Well, I ought to be. I never felt
+quite like this in all my life. Geewhil--no, I’m too happy even for
+slang. I wish I could sing.”
+Ora sighed. “I’ve always known you would get everything you wanted, and
+I can guess just how you feel tonight. You are a complete success. How
+many people ever are able to say that?”
+“Yes, I feel as if I owned the earth!” But her brows met in a puzzled
+frown. “I never felt, though, as if even the conquest of Butte would
+all but send me off my head. I never feel very much excited about any
+old thing; it’s not my make; but I’ve got a sort of shiver inside of
+me, and a watery feeling in the heart region. If that chef had spoilt
+the dinner I’d have gone out and wrung his neck.”
+“Well, nothing can go wrong now. The worst is over, and no dinner was
+ever more delicious. Why don’t you let them dance? I know that Mrs.
+O’Hara plays.”
+“Good idea! I’ll ring this minute for a few of those extra near-waiters
+to take out the rugs and move the furniture.”
+Two of the younger women, who had returned not long since from San
+Francisco, were showing their scandalised friends the turkey-trot when
+the men came down the hall from the dining-room. Ida drew Gregory aside.
+“Tell me,” she asked, with an eager almost childish note in her voice
+new to him. “Did it go off well? Am I all I ought to be after all the
+money you have spent on me? Do I look nice in my fine clothes?”
+Gregory patted her on the shoulder. “I know little about such things,”
+he said kindly, “but it outclassed all the banquets I’ve been obliged
+to attend in the last six or eight months. I felt quite proud that it
+was in my own house--yours, to be literal--and Mrs. Blake assured me
+that she had never seen anything better done.”
+“Ora is an angel, and without her--but you know all that. Tell
+me--well, Gregory, I want a good old-fashioned compliment!”
+His voice lost its bantering tone and became formal with gallantry:
+“You are, as ever, the handsomest woman in Montana. I shouldn’t wonder
+a bit if those New York reporters were right and that you are the
+handsomest woman in America.”
+Ida looked for a long moment into his eyes. Again her brows met in a
+puzzled frown, this time because her singular lightness of spirit had
+fled abruptly. She was too proud, too far developed beyond the old Ida,
+to put forth the arts of the siren until they were alone; but she asked
+softly, and again with that almost childish naïveté:
+“Do you really admire me?”
+“You are all right,” he said with a heartiness that masked a sudden
+misgiving. “I must come in and take you to the theatre the next time a
+good show comes to town. Let me know. I’ll gratify my vanity by sitting
+beside you in a box----”
+“There’s a play tomorrow night. Stay over!”
+“I’m sorry. I don’t dare. Apex is sinking for all she’s worth. We may
+have a set-to any minute. It was a risk even to come away for a night.”
+“Oh, do let me go out, and down into the mine----”
+“I should think not. And do your best to keep Mrs. Blake in Butte for
+at least a week.”
+“Well, let me go out when the danger is over. I long to see
+chalcopyrite in the vein. I saw some beautiful specimens at the School
+of Mines the other day. It looks like pure gold.”
+He looked at her in amazement. “What on earth do you know about ores?
+Did you include Freiberg in your itinerary?”
+“This is Butte, remember. I no sooner returned than I realised how
+interesting she was.”
+“Ah, well, when this affair is settled, come out and stay with Mrs.
+Blake and I’ll take you down. I’ve no place to put you up. Even the
+ranch house is full. Mrs. Blake’s manager and foreman are boarding
+there at present, and Oakley also puts up my secretary----”
+“And those crops Oakley put in with such enthusiasm?” cried Ida with a
+sudden inspiration, and racking her memory. “Did they turn out as he
+expected? Was there a drought--in--in--those states?”
+“What a memory you have! Yes, Oakley is doing wonders, and the drought
+arrived as per schedule. He would scorn to put the ranch under the
+ditch, although that is my long suit at present.”
+“I suppose Circle-G Ranch looks like Holland by this time.”
+“Not quite yet! But the work is progressing splendidly, all except----”
+He paused. It had never been his habit to talk to her, and the
+complicated details of business he regarded as beyond the intelligent
+apprehension of any woman. But as Ida moved closer to him with
+wide-open eyes she looked intelligent enough to understand anything,
+and a letter received that morning had been on his mind ever since.
+“There is some trouble about the railroad,” he said. “The Land Company
+was to build it, but either doesn’t want the bother or really has lost
+a lot of money, as it claims. I placed a deed in escrow which pledges
+me to build it if the Land Company failed to keep its agreement; and
+the seed houses, which bought several large blocks of land, and a
+number of private settlers are demanding that the railroad be begun--it
+was to be finished at the end of a year----”
+Ida saw her opportunity and grasped it. “We both must do our duty, and
+not monopolise each other,” she said hurriedly. “But tell me all about
+it after they have gone. Now, go and dance with Kitty Collier. She’s
+the best-looking woman in Butte. I can’t dance in this harness, but
+I’ll talk English politics with my portlier guests.” As he smiled and
+moved toward the music, she laid her hand lightly on his arm. “I want
+to thank you for coming tonight, Gregory,” she said. “It means a great
+deal to me socially. Besides, it is good to see you again.” And this
+time she looked very sweet; but there was a slight aloofness in her
+manner, as if to admonish him that, although he was forgiven, there was
+still a breach which it was for him to close. Then she added lightly:
+“Well, we’ll talk it all over later. Go, now, and dance.”
+       *       *       *       *       *
+Gregory stood by the front door talking to two of the men, whose wives
+had walked on; their homes were but a door or two away. Ida ran up the
+stairs to Ora’s room, where they unhooked each other.
+“You look tired,” said Ida, sympathetically.
+“Oh, I am tired,” replied Ora, her arms hanging. “Tired. Tired.”
+“It’s a long while since you danced like that. Just drop into bed. Lend
+me a scarf, will you?”
+She covered her opened gown with the lace and walked slowly over to
+her room. Then she suddenly turned back to the head of the stairs. The
+three men were still talking below.
+“Gregory,” she called, and her voice was very sweet.
+“Yes?”
+“Lock up, will you? The servants have gone to bed.”
+“I will.”
+“Don’t forget,” and omitting to add a good-night, she went swiftly to
+her room, changed her formal evening gown for a soft combination of
+yellow silk and lace that made her look like a tulip in a primrose bed,
+let down the black masses of her hair, and threw herself into a deep
+chair. But there was no repose in her attitude. More than once her body
+stiffened and she raised her head. Pride and shrewdness forbade her
+to leave her door open, and it would be impossible to hear that light
+panther-like tread on the heavy carpet of the stair. The front door
+might have closed while she was changing in the dressing-room.
+Suddenly she heard it slam. Nervous as she was she smiled
+reminiscently. Gregory might be soft of foot, but otherwise he was as
+noisy as most men. Then the smile froze until her lips were distended
+in a grin. Another door had slammed. Gregory was in his own room.
+After a few moments she became aware that her body was rigid and that
+she was grasping the arms of her chair. She rose with an exclamation of
+impatience, but stood with her head bent, listening intently. Suddenly
+she swayed a little, once more flooded with that sense of excited
+gladness with which guests and chefs had had naught to do: she thought
+she heard a door open softly, a light footfall. But her straining
+ear-drums had deceived her. The house was as still as a mausoleum.
+She pressed her hands against her breast in the gesture the stage has
+borrowed from life; her heart felt as if swimming against an undertow.
+Then she began pacing up and down. After her habit she tried to arrange
+her thoughts by putting them into words, and, as people still do off
+the stage, muttered them aloud.
+“My God! Do I care as much as that? Do I really _care_? No! No! No!
+Any woman of pride, let alone vanity, would make up her mind to bring
+her husband back--especially if she could make him as proud of her
+as I made him of me tonight. And when he still thinks me beautiful.
+What woman wouldn’t? Even if she didn’t have an ounce of any kind of
+feeling for him? Men are only interesting when they forget about us in
+that purely masculine world where women are warned off the grass. To
+lure them back--that is the spice of life in this country. And if one
+doesn’t succeed the first time--he may be so tired and sleepy that he’s
+forgotten about me--or shy, afraid I’d laugh at him--the world does not
+come to an end tonight--What an idiot I am! I made him admire me more
+than ever, astonished him--why am I not satisfied for the present?--It
+can’t be that I care--that I long for him to come--Good God! I’d rather
+be dead than _that_!”
+But she went to the door and, laying her ear against it, listened until
+she became aware that her lungs were bursting with imprisoned breath.
+Then she sank into a chair trembling, her eyes filled with fear. A
+moment more and she flung her arms over the table and dropped her face
+upon them and broke into heavy weeping.
+IX
+Ora looked round the large living-room of her bungalow with a deep
+sense of content. The walls were covered with a material coarse in
+weave and of a red warm but not too bright. The colour was repeated in
+the divan and chairs, melting softly into browns that harmonised with
+the heavy beams of the ceiling. A few Navajo rugs covered the floor.
+Above the divan of many cushions was a bookshelf crowded with the new
+fiction of two continents. Several shelves, built like a bookcase,
+occupied a corner and were furnished more ponderously. In the middle
+of the room a large table was half covered with the best periodicals
+of the day, although there was room for a large lamp with a red shade
+and a vase filled with wild flowers. Down at the far end of the room,
+which was about thirty feet long, and opposite the kitchen, were
+the dining-table and a small sideboard. The main door opened upon a
+verandah, and one beside the fireplace into a narrow hall, giving
+privacy to the bedrooms. Ora had no atavistic yearnings for the life
+of the pioneer; she might feel as much at home in a bungalow as in a
+palace, but elementals, save when pictorially valuable, like overhead
+beams, were rigidly excluded.
+Her hands clasped behind her, she drifted up and down the long room,
+her mode of ambulation expressing the state of her mind. Quick and
+final as she could be in decision, if necessity spurred, the deeper
+sensuousness in her nature impelled her to drift whenever circumstances
+would permit. For two months she intended to drift--or gamble! She had
+not come out here further to alienate the affections of her friend’s
+husband, and those old tumultuous dreams were still crowded in some
+remote brain cell with seals on the door. She had even told herself in
+so many words that she had no desire for anything so terrific as their
+complete materialisation. She had plumbed the depth and intensity of
+life in her imagination. Let that suffice. And reality was not so much
+to be feared because of the wreck it might make of her life as because
+it was reasonably sure to leave a corpse in her memory, instead of that
+ever burning soul of past delights.
+But she had come out to her mine to enjoy the constant companionship
+of Gregory Compton before she left her country for ever and married
+a European. That much she owed to the extraordinary imaginative
+experience in which they had been one. If she could spend long hours
+with him, make him as eager for her companionship as she was for his,
+forget his mine now and then, feel that mysterious and satisfying bond
+of the spirit, she would ask no more, not even an admission of love
+when they parted.
+When a woman goes on a still hunt for a man’s soul she is far more
+dangerous than the obvious siren, for her self-delusion is complete,
+her guards are down, her wiles disarming. Ora had had too little
+practical experience of men to be prepared to admit, in spite of her
+abstract knowledge of life, that there has been but one foundation of
+love since the world began, and never will be another till life on
+this planet ends, whatever may be the starry mysteries of the spheres.
+But while she was (spasmodically) too honest to deny even her own sex
+encumbrance, she believed, like many other, particularly American women
+of narrow experience, that it had been politely emasculated by the
+higher civilisation, was merely synonymous with poetry, romance, and
+sentiment. This convention was imported to the New World by England’s
+middle-class and became a convenient national superstition. It is on
+the wane.
+That Gregory, granted she were successful in capturing his soul, might
+desire to contribute the rest of himself to the spoils, now that she no
+longer was the wife of his friend, let loose those subversive passions
+she had divined the night of their meeting and dared to recognise in
+the realm of imagination, she would have refused to admit had the
+possibility occurred to her. She was out for the ideal, and not yet had
+she learned to take her imagination in hand like a refractory child.
+Moreover, she had an imperious will, gracefully as she concealed it.
+This last year of freedom and wealth and feminine triumphs had tempered
+that will into a pliable and dangerous weapon. What she wanted she
+would have. As she planned a thing so should it work out. But the
+details--ah, they were veiled in the future, and from their mysteries
+came this reflex vibration, this pleasant sense of drifting, of
+wondering how it would all begin and what would happen next.
+In a sense it had begun. Gregory had called two days before to ask
+if she were comfortable. He was in his overalls (purposely), and had
+refused at first to sit down, but finally had succumbed to the deepest
+of the chairs before the log fire. He had finished by remaining for
+supper, and again had occupied the chair until eleven o’clock. Neither
+had suspected the other’s secret passion, for love before union, being
+nine parts imagination, needs solitude for indulgence, and is capable,
+moreover, of long and satisfying quietudes if fed with externals. There
+was sheer delight in sitting together by that warm intimate fire,
+at the dining-table at the end of the long shadowy room, in feeling
+cut off from the world on the edge of that rough mountain camp, in
+listening to the soughing of the pines during the silences. That both
+were on their guard lest the other take fright and the experience
+be impossible of repetition but exaggerated the atmosphere of
+friendliness, of almost sexless comradeship. Gregory betrayed one only
+of his reflections: he admitted to himself what Ora subtly compelled
+him to admit, and had no difficulty in divining, that the companionship
+of woman was a blessed thing, and that he had been the loneliest of men.
+Their talk was mainly of ores! She was permitted to learn how little
+else interested him in comparison with the enthralling inside of
+Montana. But he told her also the legends of the great copper mines on
+Lake Superior, so old that copper was found pure, looking much like the
+smelted product from the copper ores of the later geological formations
+of the Rocky Mountains. These vast mines, particularly that on Isle
+Royal, bore unmistakable signs of having been worked systematically
+by a prehistoric people experienced in mining; presumably by the
+Atlantans, who, after their own mines were worked out and they still
+demanded “orichalcum” for their monuments and bronze for their
+implements, went annually in ships for the metal. That there had been
+a self-supporting mining colony on Isle Royal was indicated by certain
+agricultural remains.
+Gregory and Ora had amused themselves reconstructing that old time
+when the metal island was as lively as today, and considerably more
+picturesque--owing to the alternative of skins for muck-spattered
+overalls; an underground chapter of the Niebelungenlied, its gnomes
+toiling down in those two miles of workings, stoping out less in a
+hundred years than the methods of today force a mine to yield in one.
+How they must have swarmed to the surface, regardless of discipline,
+at the first signal of the approaching ships, their one link with a
+world that was not all water and forest and underground cavern. By
+what tortuous way did those archaic ships travel from the Atlantic to
+the northwest corner of that vast inland sheet; unless, indeed, which
+is likely, subsequent upheavals have destroyed a waterway which may
+have connected sea and lake prior to 10000 B.C.[B] How many of those
+old ships lie in the bed of Lake Superior, laden with rude nuggets of
+copper, pounded from the gangue, or, who knows? smelted by a lost art
+into sheets and blocks? Archaic ships rode high, and no doubt those
+from Atlantis were overladen; for what has kept Atlantis in the realm
+of myth so long save the unscientific legend that she perished of greed
+and its vicious offspring? What archaic mysteries may not the terrible
+storms of that great north lake yet uncover? What strange variety of
+copper, washed and bitten by the waters of twelve thousand years, for
+which the enraptured geologist must find a new name? Who knows?--the
+bed of Lake Superior may be one unbroken floor of malachite; and the
+North American Indian of that region the descendant of those ancient
+miners, abandoned and forgotten when Atlantis plunged to the bottom of
+the sea.
+It was Ora who advanced these last frivolous theories, and--the clock
+striking eleven--Gregory sprang to his feet.
+“Likely as any,” he said. “All theories change about as often as it
+is time to get out a new edition of an encyclopædia, or develop a
+‘new school’ which makes its reputation by the short cut of upsetting
+the solemn conclusions of its predecessors. I’m going down into the
+mine.” He bolted out with no further ceremony, but Ora was long since
+accustomed to the manners of Western men. She went to bed feeling that
+sadness had gone out of the world.
+She had not seen him since. Nor had anything new and interesting
+happened. Her manager, Raymond, refused to take her down in the mine,
+alleging that when Apex broke into the workings of Perch of the Devil,
+there was sure to be a fight, and the bohunks would retreat, not up
+their own shaft but through the tunnels of the Primo mine. The young
+man was manifestly distressed to refuse any boon to so charming a
+woman, and he and his foreman had moved at once into the half-finished
+cottage, but he heartily wished her back in Butte, nevertheless. The
+best of miners love a fight, and it would be impossible to protect her
+from flying bullets if the row was continued above ground. Ora merely
+had laughed when he begged her to return or to remain within doors, but
+had promised to be prudent and flourished her automatic .25.
+X
+She glanced at the clock. It was half-past three. She knew that Gregory
+frequently went below in the morning, and had half expected that he
+would cross over to her hill for a moment when he came up at three
+o’clock. The drifting mood vanished. She decided that two days were
+enough for feminine passivity and went to her bedroom and changed her
+pretty house frock for a stout out-of-doors’ costume of forest green
+tweed: as she had no mind to look either the outworn Western heroine of
+romance, or a fright, she had omitted khaki from her mountain wardrobe.
+She tied a light green veil round her head, put on a pair of loose
+chamois gloves, selected a green parasol lined with pink, and went out
+to give the fates a gentle shove.
+Hitherto she had so far yielded to the solicitude of her manager as to
+take her walks through the pine woods above her bungalow, but today she
+marched deliberately through her grove and stood for several moments
+on the edge of the little bluff above the tableland on which her claim
+was located. It was her first prolonged look at the three mining
+camps, for she had arrived at night. She had driven out occasionally
+to mining camps with her father, once or twice with Mark; the scene
+was both typical and picturesquely ugly. In or near the centre of each
+claim was the shaft house; fifty feet beyond--the distance prescribed
+by law to prevent overhead fires from communicating with underground
+timbers--were the buildings containing the hoisting machinery and the
+compressed air plant. Scattered about were the shacks of the miners,
+the long bunk- and mess-houses, blacksmith and carpenter shops. Just
+below the Apex claim, and on Government land, an enterprising publican
+had established himself. On all sides were other claims of recent
+location, for there had been the inevitable rush.
+The rude buildings were grey and weather-beaten, and all traces of the
+gentle spring verdure had disappeared. About the collar of each shaft
+was an immense dump heap, waste rock brought up from the depths, and
+the highest of these was on Perch of the Devil. Near each were the ore
+bins, but these for the most part were empty, and, save on the De Smet
+hill, there was a notable absence of “double-sixes.” The Primo vein had
+not been recovered, Apex had not yet touched bottom; Gregory Compton,
+for reasons best known to himself, had changed his original plan and
+was merely uncovering his new vein, taking out as little of its ore as
+possible. His bins were furnished with ore from the second level of his
+mine, where work had proceeded steadily on the original vein.
+The men off shift were standing about in groups as they did in Butte,
+or passing in and out of the saloon. And the racket was deafening: the
+roar of the machinery in the hoisting and compressor houses, the crash
+of rock dumped from the buckets or skips, the ringing of hammer on
+anvil. The scene was not beautiful but it was alive! One could fancy
+the thrill of the hidden metals, knowing that their hour, after vast
+geological ages of waiting, was come; that, like mortals, they were to
+agonise in the crucible of life and achieve their ultimate destiny.
+Ora walked through the grove until she was beyond the long mess-house
+at the back of her claim, climbed over the abrupt rise of Apex--which,
+combined with the hardness of the rock, had made its task so long--and,
+ascertaining that the larger buildings hid her, crawled under the De
+Smet fence, and drew a long breath as she set her feet squarely on the
+famous Perch of the Devil. Here the buildings, large and small, were
+scattered up to the brow of the hill and over on the other side. It
+had, in fact, something of the appearance of a growing village with
+irregular streets; and before several of the cabins children were
+playing, or women took their Monday washing from the line. The fronts
+of some of these cottages were painted white, and here and there
+flowers grew in boxes. There were even a reading-room and a large
+“general store.” Altogether Perch of the Devil looked as if it might
+grow larger, and more solid and permanent of aspect, with the years.
+Ora walked through the crooked streets on the steep hillside until
+she reached the deep chamber into which had leached the acids of the
+centuries to enrich the ores, and incidentally Gregory Compton.
+Thousands of tons of dump made a hill in itself and shut off the view
+to the south, but below were the acres of waving wheat, the alfalfa
+with its purple flower, the sprouting flax, the winding creek that
+was often dry but sometimes wet, the brush sheds for the cattle, the
+substantial farm buildings. The broad peaceful expanse looked as
+if even a winter wind had never shaken it, so entirely did it seem
+dissociated from the frantic energies of its northeast corner. And
+still beyond was perfect beauty: the massive pine-covered mountains,
+rising tier above tier, ridges of the great Rockies, far away and up to
+the sky-cutting line, glittering with eternal snows. For a few moments
+Ora forgot the raucous noises about her, Nature delivering herself
+of her precious children with loud protesting pains. Then she turned
+suddenly and looked upward.
+Gregory had just stepped from his cabin. For a moment he did not see
+her, but stood staring, his hands in his pockets, at the distant
+mountains. He wore his favourite overalls and a battered cap on
+the back of his head; but he looked so remote in spirit from that
+materialising costume that Ora watched him with a sensation of helpless
+jealousy. Not for a moment could she delude herself that he was
+thinking of her. He looked like a seer.
+“Can you see right into the heart of those mountains?” she asked
+lightly, as she walked up the hill toward him. “You looked as if your
+imagination were ‘blocking out’ thousands of tons of gold quartz.”
+He started and coloured, but smiled with a sudden pleasure at the
+charming picture in the foreground. “Something like that. This mine
+is all right, and now that I’ve got over my disappointment, I have a
+feeling for it that I guess I’ll never have for another mine--something
+like the affection for one’s first born! But all the same I intend to
+have a gold mine one of these days. Have you been admiring my view?”
+He had walked down and joined her.
+“Yes, but that is not what I came over here for. Nor is it what I came
+out to the mines for. I brought a small library, but I find I am not in
+the humour for books. I want to be doing something myself. Mr. Raymond
+won’t take me down into my mine. I want to go down into yours--now.”
+He hesitated a moment. “Well--why not? Apex is not working this
+afternoon--something the matter with their compressor. They sounded
+pretty close to our workings this morning, but the men quit about one
+o’clock, and as they didn’t blast it was probably because the holes
+weren’t deep enough. I’ve just been told that they can’t get to work
+again before tomorrow. But you look much too fine!”
+“Everything cleans; and I’ll leave my veil and parasol in the shaft
+house.”
+“All right,” he said abruptly. “Come along.”
+When they were in the shaft house he asked, “Will you go down in the
+skip or by the ladder?”
+“Oh, I couldn’t possibly do anything so ignominious as to go down in a
+bucket, and I’m very agile. How far is it?”
+“A hundred feet. I shall only take you to the first level.”
+Ora peered down into the black and slanting and apparently bottomless
+well. A ladder was built flat against one side. A skip full of ore was
+banging against the sides of the other compartment on its way up. She
+looked again at the ladder, shuddered, and set her teeth.
+Gregory put two candles in his pocket, inserted his long limber body
+into the narrow aperture and ran down sideways.
+“Oh!” gasped Ora. “I can’t do that. Please wait. I--I think I’d better
+go down backward.”
+“By all means. Sit down and turn round. I’ll catch hold of one of your
+feet and put it on a rung. The rest will be easy.”
+Ora followed these instructions gingerly, concluding that the skip
+would have been more dignified. Then she forgot dignity and only
+wondered if her bones had gone out of her: she had rolled over on her
+equatorial zone and was kicking helplessly in the void. But as Gregory
+caught her feet and planted them safely she set her teeth once more and
+summoned her pride.
+“Glad you have on stout boots,” he said, practically. “We’ve not enough
+water in the mine for pumps, but it’s a little damp underfoot. Wait a
+minute while I light a candle.” He struck a match and performed this
+feat; how, Ora could not even guess; but she glanced down sideways and
+saw that he was holding the lighted candle up at arm’s length.
+“Come on,” he said. “You mustn’t be frightened.”
+“I’m not a bit frightened, but don’t go too fast.”
+Gregory, who was running down the ladder, moderated his pace, and sent
+up an occasional word of cheer. Suddenly Ora heard a horrid noise below
+like the crash and roar of an express train. “Has the mine fallen in?”
+she gasped.
+“Hope not. That’s the tram with ore and rock for the skip. By and by
+we’ll use the waste rock to fill up the stopes with, but we’re only
+blocking out at present.”
+“How frightfully interesting mining is--in all its details!” Ora’s
+hands were smarting, and every part of her, not excluding her
+imagination, felt as if on the rack. “That noise is over!”
+“Did I hear you say ‘Thank heaven’?”
+“Of course not. How much farther is it? Haven’t we passed the first
+level?”
+“If we had I should be carrying you. Only about twenty feet more.”
+And a few moments later, with the deepest sigh of relief she had ever
+drawn, she was standing in the small station beside the shaft.
+“It’s hard work the first time,” he said sympathetically. “But you’ll
+soon get used to it.”
+“How dark it is!”
+“I’ll put in electricity when my troubles with Amalgamated are over.”
+He lit another candle and handed it to her. “Be careful of your frock.”
+The ore car was rumbling away in the distance. Gregory followed the
+sound down the tunnel and Ora kept close at his heels. “I suppose we’ll
+see something after a while?” she ventured. “I can’t see even you now,
+only your candle.”
+“We’ll soon be out of this,” he said cheerfully. “You see, we’ve had
+to walk under the chamber from which I took that great deposit of
+carbonates, and then some----” He paused a moment, but not before he
+had turned acutely to the left. “This is where I lost the vein. We
+are in the fault now. How would you like to be in an earthquake that
+broke a vein in two and hurled one end----” His voice was lost in the
+rattling roar of the compressed air drills, although there was nothing
+to be seen until they reached another little station and faced a wider
+drift on the right, some twelve feet long. Candles were flaring from
+the miners’ candlesticks, whose long points were thrust into stulls or
+the softer part of the rock, and four men were manipulating two of the
+cumbersome air drills which stood on tripods. Gregory made a sign to
+the shift boss, who shut off a valve, and the din stopped abruptly.
+“Now,” said Gregory. “This is what you have come for.” He moved his
+candle along the brassy glitter of chalcopyrite in the vein, steadying
+her with his arm, for the floor was uneven and littered.
+Ora trembled. She forgot the arm about her; it felt like mere steel
+for that matter; she was in one of the magic caverns of her dreams and
+she thrilled to the magnet of the ores. “It looks like pure gold,” she
+whispered.
+“So it is in a sense, and far more beautiful to look at in the vein.”
+They had been standing near the opening of the drift. He guided her
+down toward the farther end; the miners made way for them and went out
+to the station nothing loath; owing their lives to what has cost many a
+man his life and more, the caprice of a woman.
+“I want to show you how the holes look before we put the sticks of
+powder in,” Gregory began, as he waved his candle once more aloft, this
+time over a less dazzling surface. He stopped abruptly. She felt his
+body stiffen. Then, as he whirled her about, he screamed to the men:
+“Get out! Run!”
+Ora had the sensation of being swept along by a bar of steel burrowing
+into the flesh of her waist. But in another instant she had lost all
+sense of her body. There was a shock as if something had hit the hill
+at its foundations, a dull roar, and then the crash of falling rock
+behind them.
+The men were all ahead. Ora dimly could see them running like rabbits
+up the fault drift. Then she became conscious of the stifling sickening
+smell of powder and a bursting sensation in her head. No one paused for
+a second, nor drew breath until all had turned the corner and were in
+the main level. For a space nothing was heard but the hoarse effort to
+refill tormented lungs. The men leaned against the walls of the tunnel.
+Ora leaned against Gregory. All sense of fear had departed out of
+her. She had had her baptism of fire and doubted if she ever should be
+capable of the sensation of fear again.
+The silence lasted but a moment. Out of the intense darkness flew oaths
+like red-hot rocks from boiling craters.
+“Shut up!” said Gregory sharply. “There’s a lady here. And light up
+if you have any extra candles. I’ve dropped mine. We must find out if
+anybody is missing.”
+“I held on to mine,” said Ora proudly. Gregory lit it, and the shift
+boss counted his men. “All here, sir; but by jink, it was a narrow
+squeak. The--the--the----”
+“Never mind--who’s this?” A man was running toward them from the
+direction of the shaft.
+“It’s me, sir.” Gregory recognised Mann’s voice. “I’ve just got on to
+what they were up to. There wasn’t a blamed thing the matter with the
+compressor. They just meant to catch us off guard--anybody hurt?”
+“All right. How did you find out?”
+“I suspicioned something crooked, so I got one of those damned bohunks
+drunk and bribed him. They’d put in the sticks before they quit,
+pretending the compressor had gone wrong and they couldn’t finish
+drilling. I suppose they sneaked back while I was getting the story,
+and lit the fuses.”
+“You’ll let us get back at ’em, boss?” demanded the men.
+“Oh, yes,” said Gregory, in a voice of deadly irony. “We’ll get back at
+them.”
+He was holding the candle. Ora saw him bend his head forward in the
+attitude so characteristic of him. But he raised it in a moment.
+“Go up, every one of you,” he said, “and down to the saloon. Talk
+about what happened, but assume that it was an accident. Any fighting
+above ground and you’ll be canned. Say that there’s a big cave-in and
+we’re obliged to quit work on this level for the present. See that
+that spreads all over Apex camp. Say that I’ve given you the rest of
+the shift off. Come down as soon as you’ve had your drink and said
+your say. Jerry”--to the shift boss--“you watch the Apex shaft house.
+I don’t figure that they’ll go down under an hour, on account of the
+smoke, but if they do just drop below. I’ll wait for you here. And
+before you come,” he added grimly, “go over to the compressor house
+and tell them to turn the steam on the air line.”
+“Hooray!” The shouting of the men made almost as much noise in the
+tunnel as the recent explosion. “That’s the ticket, boss. Oh, we won’t
+do a thing to them!”
+“Get out of this,” said the shift boss. “Don’t take more than one
+drink; and hold on to your tempers, or there’ll be no fun below.”
+A moment later Gregory and Ora were alone in the tunnel.
+XI
+“How did you guess?” asked Ora.
+“I didn’t guess. I saw a drill hole just beyond where my men were
+working. I also did a little quick deduction. Miners blast just before
+they go off shift. The afternoon change of shift is at three o’clock.
+As I told you I had seen the Apex men come up about one o’clock when
+their compressor stopped. That hole not only told me that they were
+closer than we had thought, but that they were up to devilment. I
+guessed that they had timed to blast just before we were ready to drill
+at that point. Were you very much frightened?”
+“I didn’t like it.” Ora knew that bravery in woman makes no appeal to
+the lordly male. “But I hardly had time to think; and after all you
+left me nothing to do.”
+“Well, you were game and didn’t scream or cry,” he conceded handsomely.
+“Let’s light up.”
+They had walked as far as the station at the foot of the shaft. Gregory
+unlocked the door of a small cupboard, found two candles and inserted
+them in miners’ candlesticks that were stabbed into the walls. They
+flickered in the draft as a skip rattled up from the second level, but
+relieved the oppressive darkness.
+“Why, your hair is down!” exclaimed Gregory.
+Ora put up a hand. “So it is! Well--I am sure I never should know if my
+hair fell down at a good play, and ours was live drama. I’ll braid it
+and put on my veil up above.”
+He watched her for a moment as she sat on a box braiding her long fair
+hair, vaguely recalling the legend of the Lorelei. He noticed that her
+eyes as she peered up at him looked green in that uncertain light. But
+in a moment his thoughts wandered from her. He folded his arms and
+stared downward.
+Ora leaned back against the wall. She saw that he had forgotten her,
+but had made up her mind to accept him as he was; she had no more
+desire to dictate his moods than to read in advance the book of the
+next two months. There was the same pleasurably painful vibration in
+her nerves as on the night when she had piled stake upon stake at Monte
+Carlo. From that scene her thoughts travelled naturally to Valdobia and
+she suddenly laughed aloud.
+“What are you laughing at?” demanded Gregory suspiciously.
+“I was trying to imagine that we were imprisoned in the underground
+dungeon of an Italian palace in the middle ages.”
+“Hard work, I should think. Although if we had a cave-in I guess the
+results would be about the same.”
+“And you? Were you seeing your minerals winking three thousand feet
+below?”
+He laughed then, and sat beside her. “At all events the mystery down
+there is more romantic than your mediæval dungeons--and so will the
+great underground caverns be when the ores have been taken out.”
+“Pity the caverns--stopes!--have to be filled up with débris to prevent
+the mine caving in,” said Ora flippantly. “I went underground in Butte
+last week--to the eighteenth level of the Leonard. Nothing but endless
+streets and cross-alleys, all numbered----”
+“And you didn’t find that interesting?” he asked indignantly. “To be
+a third of a mile below the surface of the earth and find it laid out
+like a city, with streets and rooms, and stations ten times as large as
+this, and lighted with electricity?”
+“Yes, but the knowledge that you have a third of a mile of those
+streets and rooms--seventeen levels of them--on top of you, supported
+only by waste rock in the stopes, and timbers that are always snapping
+in two from the terrific pressure--timbermen working at every
+turn--‘Save YOURSELF’ the first thing you see when you leave that
+cage--Oh, well, I felt there was quite enough romance on top of the
+earth.”
+“I am deeply disappointed in you. You told me once--why, even
+lately----”
+“Oh, I haven’t changed the least little bit. Nothing in life,” and she
+looked at him with laughing eyes, “interests me as much at present
+as these two mines. But I am thankful that we are still within a
+reasonable distance of the surface. I am quite content to screw up
+my eyes and wander in fancy among the primary deposits close to the
+central fires. If I had a mine like yours, full of the beautiful copper
+ores instead of that hideous pyroxenite of mine, I should leave a
+glittering layer in every stope, support the roof with polished stone
+columns, light with hidden electric bulbs, and wander from one to the
+other imagining myself in Aladdin’s palace.”
+“A fine practical miner you would make. It’s lucky that your mine is
+pyroxenite, not quartz. That is if you want to live in Europe.--Do you?”
+“Of course. What have I in this part of the world? A mine cannot
+satisfy a woman for ever. I suppose you wouldn’t care if you never saw
+a woman again!”
+“Oh!” He was looking hard at her.
+“What else were you thinking of just now?” asked Ora, with that
+perverse desire to be superficial which so often possesses American
+women in decisive moments.
+He sighed impatiently. “I’ve got a big job on my hands, one that will
+take me away from here more or less. Did Mark tell you of a land deal I
+put through?”
+“I should think so!”
+“Well, I’ve got to build that railroad. Apex will close down when it
+finds I won’t let its men work underground. Amalgamated’s next move
+will be to bring suit for apex rights, and get out an injunction to
+enjoin me from working on that vein until the case is decided. As soon
+as I have driven them out now, however, I must get to work on the
+railroad--find my engineers--Oh, there are too many details to bother
+you with. But it means that I must spend a good deal of time in Butte
+until the thing is started----”
+“How delighted Ida will be!” interrupted Ora softly. “And that house
+will be so comfortable after your cabin.”
+For a moment he did not speak. Nor did his face betray him; but she
+fancied that his muscles stiffened. He replied suavely: “I should
+have gone on to say that it is more likely I shall have to attend to
+the matter in Helena. That is the centre of the land interest. It is
+doubtful if I could find the sort of men I want in Butte.”
+“Have you any other land schemes on hand?”
+“Not at present.”
+“What does that mean?”
+“Well--when I have taken a couple more millions out of this hill
+I shall begin to buy land, put it under the ditch, build the short
+railroads that may be necessary, and sell to small farmers--in other
+words push along the colonisation of this state. I believe you gave me
+that idea--the night we talked Butte--the first time, I mean.”
+“I thought you had forgotten that night altogether.”
+“Forgotten it!” Ora’s heart stood still at the explicit vibration in
+his well-ordered voice. She leaned back and closed her eyes. He had
+loved her all these months, dreamed of her as she had dreamed of him.
+Her first sensation of wonder and delight was succeeded by a faint
+disappointment.
+She had the instinct of the born huntress, although she was far too
+highly civilised to have recognised it before. She wondered if his
+capitulation meant her own deliverance, too ignorant in the ways of
+love to guess that whether this were a passing or a permanent phase
+depended on the man.
+While Gregory hurried on to tell her of all he should be able to do
+for Montana with the millions at present locked in the vaults of his
+hill, she had a full moment of honesty, and confessed that she had come
+out here to make Gregory Compton love her. And he did! It was a mighty
+personality to conquer; and the victory had been won long since! But
+the disappointment passed in a cynical smile. That he had no intention
+of declaring himself her lover was as patent as his inhuman power of
+self-control. Here were barricades to storm if barricades she wanted?
+What difference? And did she?
+He sprang to his feet and stood at the foot of the shaft, looking up.
+“They’re coming down,” he said.
+Joshua Mann emerged a moment later.
+“Apex bunch being rounded up to go below,” he said. “Our men are on the
+way.”
+“Steam on the air line?”
+“You bet!”
+“Let’s get to work.” He turned to Ora. “Stay here till I come back,” he
+said peremptorily. “I can’t take you up in the skip now.”
+“I am quite comfortable,” said Ora, coolly. “How many men will come
+down?”
+“Five.” And he and Mann disappeared into the tunnel.
+Ora waited until the other men had descended one by one and run into
+the blackness. Then she dislodged one of the candlesticks from the wall
+and ran after them. When she reached the fault drift she thrust the
+long point of the candlestick into a stull before turning the corner.
+Then she crept toward the station, from which she could witness the
+punishment about to be inflicted upon the Apex men, whatever it might
+be.
+There was a glimmer of light in the new drift. Ora saw the men binding
+a piece of hose to the same length of pipe. They attached the hose to
+the air line and held it just inside the ragged hole some twelve feet
+above.
+There was a distant murmur of voices overhead and to the right. The
+solitary candle was extinguished. The murmur of voices in the drift
+which led from Apex shaft along the continuation of the Primo vein grew
+louder. Men were laughing. One man was giving orders. It appeared that
+they were to let themselves down and go systematically to work on the
+Perch vein, which was now driving under the Apex claim.
+Ora heard a sharp whispered word: “Now!” and barely recognised
+Gregory’s voice. A second later and she was deafened by the roar and
+hiss of escaping steam, mingled with shrieks of agony above, and
+fiendish cat-calls and jeers below, all expressed in the spectacular
+profanity of the mining camp. The episode was over in a moment. The
+Apex men tumbled over one another in their anxiety to leave the scene,
+and those manifestly disabled--Ora could hear them gasping horribly as
+the steam was turned off abruptly--were dragged away. She felt her own
+way rapidly along the fault drift, snatched her candlestick from the
+wall as she turned the corner, and scampered back to the shaft station.
+When the men arrived she was sitting demurely on the box. Gregory
+evidently had telephoned from the other station, for the skip came
+rattling down just before his appearance at the head of his laughing,
+cursing column.
+“Did it go off well?” asked Ora.
+“Did it?” cried Mann, tossing his cap in the air.
+“They’re settled for the moment,” said Gregory. “They’ll come back at
+us later with steam on their own air line, and slacked lime; but we’ll
+be ready for them. They stand no show.”
+Two of the men had been left on watch. Gregory lifted Ora into the
+skip. He and Mann stood on the edge. A second more and Ora was
+holding her breath as they were hurtled upward at express speed, the
+metal car banging from side to side of the shaft. In something under
+three-quarters of a minute Gregory helped her to alight in the shaft
+house, while the skip descended for the miners.
+“Well,” he said, smiling, as she lifted her braid to the top of her
+head and wound the veil about it, “have you supped full of sensations
+for one day?”
+“The last was the worst! And I do mean the skip. Now that we are where
+you cannot beat me I will confess that I followed you and saw your neat
+little mediæval revenge from the station----”
+“Hush!” Gregory glanced about apprehensively, and drew her outside.
+“You mustn’t tell anyone else that. You don’t want to be summoned to
+the witness stand, I suppose?”
+Ora gasped. “I never thought of that.”
+“When will women let men do their thinking?” Gregory looked the
+primeval male as he scowled down at her. Nor did he mitigate her alarms
+with the information that underground battles seldom were continued in
+the courts. “Now, I am going to take you to your cottage, and I want
+you to stay there until the trouble is over. The men are bound to get
+drunk and fight. Better go to Butte----”
+“I won’t.”
+“Very well, then, stay in your house.”
+“And be bored to death? Besides. I need exercise. I’ll roam all over
+the place unless you promise to come to supper every night and then
+take me for a walk in the woods.”
+His eyes flickered. “Perhaps your engineer----”
+“He’s a mere child. I hate boys. And I must have exercise.”
+He looked at her with apparent stolidity for another moment, but she
+knew that he was investigating her expressive orbs. They expressed
+nothing that could be construed as flirtation, coquetry, or personal
+interest in himself. He saw himself mirrored there merely as the friend
+of her husband and the husband of her friend. “Very well,” he said
+curtly and swung on his heel. “I suppose I must look out for you. Come
+along.”
+XII
+Gregory had worn a clean suit of overalls into the mine. He was now
+spattered from head to foot, including his face and hands, but he swung
+along beside Ora with an unconsciousness of his disreputable appearance
+that was quite superb. All the miners of the three camps’ off shift
+were gathered about the saloon. As Gregory appeared the greater number
+of these men cheered wildly, but the “dark men,” who stood apart,
+maintained an ominous silence.
+“Aren’t you afraid they’ll take a shot at you some night?” asked Ora.
+“How they must hate you!”
+“You don’t go into any business nowadays and put it over without
+running the risk of being shot by some sort of down-and-outer. What’s
+the sense in worrying? Unless I’m much mistaken we’ll be rid of that
+scum inside of twenty-four hours.”
+And he was right. There was another battle underground, in which more
+of the Apex men were scalded, and the Perch men unhurt. Then the Apex
+men refused to work, and the mine closed. Gregory was shot at on the
+following night, and Joshua Mann was slightly wounded. Both the Perch
+and Primo men tumbled out of bed, hunted down the offenders, and
+chased them into Pony, riddling the air with shot and rending it with
+bloodthirsty yells. It would be some time before Apex would be able to
+hire miners of any nationality willing to trust themselves between the
+two belligerent camps. But bohunks--more recent importations--would
+return in the future, if any. These ignorant and friendless South
+Europeans can be killed for about two hundred dollars apiece, whereas
+it costs several thousands to kill an American, Cornishman, or
+Irishman, as he leaves behind him an equally intelligent family or
+friends. It was unlikely, in any case, that high class miners would
+“take a job” in the predatory Apex. They not only liked Gregory
+Compton because he was his own manager and worshipped by his miners,
+but because he possessed in overflowing measure the two qualities that
+the American in his heart of hearts respects most, luck and bluff.
+Amalgamated immediately brought suit against Gregory Compton, charging
+not only that the faulted vein apexed in their claim, but that his
+original patent was agricultural and gave him no lateral rights in
+mining; furthermore, that a patented claim could not be repatented.
+This was a fine legal point and could impoverish several generations
+before it was decided.
+Gregory paid no attention to this suit beyond issuing an invitation
+through the press to eight of the leading geologists of the United
+States and Canada to come to Montana at his expense and make a personal
+inspection of the two veins. If they did not agree that the vein on
+which he had been working, containing a shoot of chalcopyrite six
+feet wide, and of the highest grade, was the original vein, and the
+Primo-Apex a mere stringer, or at most a fork from his, he would let
+the suit go by default. The geologists promptly accepted, and it was
+agreed that they should all arrive in Butte on the second of June.
+Once more Gregory Compton had scored. Scientific men are normally
+honest, although the great fees offered to geologists frequently infuse
+their judgment with that malleable quality peculiar to the lawyer under
+the subtle influence of his brief. But these men, all of high repute,
+would be too afraid of one another, and of the merciless newspaper men
+that would accompany them, to deliver aught but a just verdict. Gregory
+knew that Amalgamated was profoundly disconcerted, and that in the face
+of public opinion it was improbable that the suit ever would be brought
+into court. But they could devil him meanwhile, and he was enjoined
+from working on the recovered vein until the case should be decided.
+He accepted the injunction without protest and transferred the miners,
+whom he had kept hard at work blocking out until the last minute, down
+to the second level of the mine.
+“They’ll get a jolt from that quarter, too,” said Gregory to Ora, and
+he was not referring to the miners. “They’ll go on fighting me for
+years, no doubt, but I’ll spring some sort of a facer on them every
+time. They may have more money, but I have enough.”
+“You never feel afraid they may beat you in the end?”
+“Beat me?” Gregory’s eyes glittered. “Not unless they bore a hole in
+my skull and introduce a microbe that will devour my brains. I can get
+ahead of them in more ways than one. Long before all the ore on the
+second level is stoped out I shall be in a position to put up my own
+reduction works if they freeze me out of Anaconda or Great Falls. If I
+ever go into politics it will be to fight for a state smelter.”
+Ora looked at him speculatively. He was walking up and down her
+living-room with a swift gliding motion peculiar to him in certain
+moods; his head was a little bent as if his narrow concentrated gaze
+were following a trail.
+“I believe you love the fight as much as any part of it,” she said.
+“I do. And as soon as I’ve taken out money enough I’m going to buy
+a big tract of land, irrigate it, plant it in beets, put up a sugar
+refinery and fight the Havemeyer trust.”
+“Why don’t you form a company, buy your beet land, and put up the
+factory now? You could raise all the money you wanted.”
+“No companies or partners for me,” he said curtly. “What I’ll do I’ll
+do alone. I want no man’s help and no man’s money. And I certainly want
+no other man’s ideas interfering with mine.”
+Ora sighed. He had been away for a week on his railroad and land
+business, and during this, their first meeting since his return, he had
+talked of nothing save his mine and the new possibilities of Circle-G
+Ranch. Investigation of the soil and timber values of the 35,000 acres
+which he had originally hypothecated as a guarantee that the railroad
+should be built, but which perforce had reverted to him when the Land
+Selling Company had failed to keep this part of their contract, would
+be worth, after proper transportation facilities were insured, not
+less than twenty-five dollars an acre. A member of the Land Selling
+Company whom he had taken with him had been convinced of this, and that
+the soil was peculiarly adapted to the raising of apples by intensive
+culture. As soon as the railroad was built there would be no difficulty
+in selling the timber and the rest of the land, and the Company had
+agreed to buy it. His profits would be $875,000, and the railroad would
+cost but $300,000.
+No wonder, thought Ora, that a man with a business brain of that
+calibre had little place in it for woman. True, he had called her up
+once from Helena, evidently seized with a sudden desire to hear her
+voice, but he had been interrupted; and the only tangible result had
+been to keep her in such a fever of expectancy that she barely had
+left the house lest he call her up again and she miss him. He did not,
+and her nerves had become so ragged that she almost had hated him
+and obeyed the impulse to pack her trunks and flee to Europe. He had
+come to see her within an hour of his return, but, beyond his rare
+delightful smile and a hard pressure of the hand, he had manifestly
+been too absorbed to feel any personal appeal beyond her always welcome
+companionship.
+And the next morning he telephoned that he was leaving for Butte. Ida
+had reminded him of his promise to appear in public with her. Mary
+Garden was to sing that night and she had taken a box. He had grumbled
+but finally agreed to go, as he had business in Butte which might
+as well be transacted that afternoon. Ida thanked him politely and
+promised him an interesting party at dinner. Then she called up Ora and
+invited her, but Ora declined on the plea of good taste; the story of
+her impending divorce was common property, and it was hardly decent for
+her to appear in public.
+XIII
+Reaction, after the emotional recognition of the subtle but certain
+change that had been wrought in her unsuspected depths, had filled Ida
+for many hours with a sullen rage against Gregory Compton and herself.
+But in a day or two the buoyancy of youth and the common sense, of
+which she possessed an uncommon store, asserted themselves, and, while
+devoting her time to the small daily distractions of society, her
+determination to win back her husband never waned for a moment. She
+knew that she must play the waiting game, keep a sharp eye out for the
+blessed opportunity and pounce upon it, but make no attempt to “rush
+things.”
+The day after the Apex mine closed down, she rang him up and offered
+her congratulations, told him something of the excitement in Butte,
+then rang off before he began to feel detained. As he passed through
+Butte later, on his way to Helena, he could do no less than call on
+her, and, to his relief and her secret rage, he found several pleasant
+people taking tea in the library. But she showed her pride in him so
+frankly that he could not but be flattered, and talked so intelligently
+of the undoubted sequel of the battle underground that he forgot her
+guests and addressed his conversation to her. She drew him on to
+describe that grim but picturesque episode underground, and he would
+have been less than man had he failed to be sensible of the rise of
+his chest while surrounded by a breathless circle of charming women.
+When they were about to withdraw tactfully and leave him alone with
+his wife, he glanced at his watch, bade them all a hasty good-bye and
+bolted out to catch his train. Ida once more had been able to exhibit
+to her little world an evidence of the pleasant understanding between
+herself and her busy husband, and got what consolation out of this fact
+that she could.
+“I can wait,” she thought grimly. “I can wait! I guess patience is my
+one all-wool-and-a-yard-wide virtue. I’ll wait!”
+She gave several small dinners and a dancing party, devoted to the new
+excitement of “ragging,” in which no one became more proficient than
+herself. She “went” harder than ever, and even joined the more extreme
+younger set (elegantly known as “The Bunch”) one night in a progress
+among the road houses of The Flat, and danced in the ballroom of the
+Five Mile House until dawn. But she had no real taste for this side
+of life; and did penance by visiting the Poor Farm and several other
+charities under the wing of Mrs. Cameron. Her popularity on all sides
+was unchallenged, and not only was she firmly established in the city
+of her heart, but Mrs. Cameron had offered to take a house with her in
+New York for the following winter if she cared to mount still higher.
+She was gratified and grateful, but she was filled with that desperate
+loneliness that only a man can banish.
+On the night of the opera she wore black velvet unrelieved and never
+had looked handsomer. The neck of the apparently inseverable gown was
+cut square, and her beautiful arms were exposed as far to the top as
+fashion permitted; she wore her hair banded closely about her head,
+and, at the base of her throat, a barbaric necklace of dull red and
+blue stones that she had picked up in an antiquity shop in Munich. As
+she sat in her box between Mrs. Cameron and Mrs. Collier, one of the
+handsomest and best dressed of the younger women of Butte, Gregory, who
+sat behind and facing the house, saw that during the first entr’acte
+the audience levelled its glasses at her constantly, and that,
+indisputably, she divided the honours of the night with the prima donna.
+He looked at her more than once himself, her classic beauty, or the
+classic effect she made it produce, appealing to his æsthetic sense as
+beauty in any form always did. He wondered a little that it should so
+have lost its once irresistible appeal to his senses, wondered again
+if he could not still have loved her well enough to live with had Ora
+never entered his life. Certainly he was very proud of her, and her
+conversation as well as her personality interested him. He respected
+her profoundly for what she had achieved, giving her full credit for
+the revolution in appearance, manners, and speech, in spite of her
+exceptional opportunities. Then he forgot her as his thoughts wandered
+to Ora, whom he saw sitting alone in her warm shadowy room, in which he
+had come to feel so much at home. As he always went to her when he was
+tired, after a day filled with excitement or hard physical labour, he
+experienced only peace and content in her nearness; but when away, as
+tonight, and with the music of Thaïs singing into his keen responsive
+nerves, he was filled with an inexpressible longing.
+He was roused by a faint exclamation from Ida. She was leaning forward.
+A moment later a man, whom he had never seen before and who looked like
+an Englishman of distinction, silently entered the box. Ida left her
+chair, and gave him both her hands in greeting, then went with him out
+into the passageway where their conversation would not interfere with
+her guests’ enjoyment of the music.
+Gregory felt very much like any other husband at that moment. He
+was conscious of no sting of jealousy, or stab of doubt, but he did
+not like it. He also received a distinct impression that his rights
+of proprietorship were menaced. Moreover, he was so invaded by mere
+curiosity that it was with difficulty he refrained from gratifying it
+at once. But, although he belonged to the type of Western man who would
+shoot the filcher of his woman without an instant’s consideration, he
+was the last man in the world to make a fool of himself.
+Ida tried his patience but a few moments. As soon as the curtain fell
+she re-entered the box and presented the stranger as Lord John Mowbray,
+who had arrived by the evening train and sought the opera house as a
+relief from the hotel. She did not add that he had telephoned at once
+to her house and followed her as quickly as he could change his clothes.
+The husband was the last to be made known to the distinguished
+stranger, and in spite of Mowbray’s ability to look vacuous, and
+Gregory’s to look like a graven image, neither could repress a spark
+under his lowered lids. Mowbray reared his haughty crest at once and
+turned away. Like many young Englishman he blushed easily, and he was
+by no means the first man to feel uncomfortable under the eyes of
+Gregory Compton. He felt the colour rising to his white forehead, and
+was not sorry to present his splendid back and length of limb to that
+searching gaze.
+He sat close to Ida during the last act, and then the party went to her
+house to supper, there being no restaurant worthy the name in Butte.
+Gregory detained Ida at the door after the other had entered.
+“Good night,” he said. “Luning promised to wait for me at his office. I
+shall talk to him until it is time to catch the train for Pony.”
+“Oh, I am so sorry,” said Ida politely, and smiling charmingly. “So
+will the others be. And I wanted you to talk to Lord John. His brother
+has a ranch in Wyoming, and he has come here on some mining business.
+I am so glad to see him again. The men here are--well, they are all
+right, but quite absorbed in one thing only--whatever their profession
+or business happens to be. Lord John knows a little about everything. I
+am sure you would like him. Do ask me to take him out to the mine. He
+is a friend of Ora’s, too. She will ask us if you don’t.”
+“Come whenever you like. If I’m not there my foreman will show you
+round. Good night.” And he was off. Ida, feeling that Mowbray’s arrival
+had been timed by Providence, went in to her guests.
+XIV
+“Who is this Mowbray?” Gregory asked Ora abruptly on the following
+evening. He was in Ora’s living-room, his long legs stretched out to
+the fire.
+Ora, who was working on a small piece of embroidery in a frame,
+superlatively feminine, enveloped in a tea gown imponderable and white,
+looked up in surprise. They had been sitting together for an hour or
+more and their conversation had been wholly of his plans to entertain
+his party of geologists, and the attention this sensational flank
+attack had attracted throughout the country.
+“Is Lord John here?”
+“Yes. Came into the box last night. Handsome chap.”
+“Mowbray is a dear. We saw a great deal of him, and he bought our
+tickets and helped us off generally, when we were so upset over your
+cable.”
+“Ah! Tame cat? General utility man?”
+“Hardly! He’s full of life and a charming companion.”
+“Hm.”
+There was another silence and then he asked abruptly: “Is he in love
+with Ida?”
+This time Ora dropped her work and sat up rigidly; her hands turned
+cold. There was a peculiar alteration of pitch in Gregory’s voice that
+might register jealousy in a hypersensitive ear. And when his face
+looked most like a bronze reproduction of itself, his friends deduced
+that he was masking emotion.
+Ora’s brain always worked swiftly. Was it possible that by subtle
+manipulation she could reunite this man and her friend? That he loved
+herself she no longer doubted, but it was equally doubtful if he would
+ever confess it; on the cards that if he did he never would see her
+again. If she left the country after adroitly re-awakening his interest
+in Ida and playing on his vanity and jealousy, would not reaction, the
+desire for consolation and companionship, carry him straight to the
+wife whose beauty and magnetism had once, and not so long ago, aroused
+all the ardours of his manhood? Ida was far more beautiful now, and
+quite capable of holding any man. Ora did not for a moment believe
+that Ida loved her husband, or never would she herself have returned
+to Butte; but she had divined her mortification, her wounded pride;
+and as a young and beautiful woman Ida needed and was entitled to the
+protection of her husband.
+Was this her moment? Her great opportunity? Her bosom heaved, her
+breath came short. Almost she experienced the subtle delights of
+renunciation, of sacrifice, of the martyrdom of woman. It would be a
+great rôle to play, a great memory. And after all she had Valdobia. It
+was this last irresistible reflection that gave her soaring spirit a
+sharp tumble and she laughed aloud.
+Gregory turned his head and smiled as he met the cynical amusement in
+her eyes. “What is it?”
+“I was merely commiserating poor Mowbray. Of course he is more or less
+_épris_; but Ida--she hasn’t it in her to love any man.”
+“That is the conclusion I arrived at long ago. But it looked as if he
+had followed her here, and I don’t care for that sort of talk.”
+“He had planned to visit his brother in Wyoming before we met him in
+Genoa. Don’t worry. Ida never will let any man compromise her. She’ll
+parade her son of a duke for the benefit of Butte, but if he shows
+signs of getting out of hand she’ll pack him off.”
+“Yes, Ida is too ambitious to compromise herself.”
+And then another little arrow flew into Ora’s brain. Her hands
+trembled, but she clenched them in her lap. “Gregory,” she said
+steadily, “as you and Ida no longer love each other, why don’t you
+suggest a divorce? She could marry Mowbray and have a big position in
+London--his brother is almost sure not to marry--is a wreck--Ida would
+be quite in her element as a duchess--and you--you would be free--if
+you ever wanted to marry again.”
+When nature has given a man a dark skin and he has permitted it to
+accumulate yearly coats of tan, it is difficult for him to turn white
+under the stress of emotion; but Gregory achieved this phenomenon as
+he realised abruptly what freedom might mean to him. He stood up and
+leaned his back against the high chimneypiece, thrusting his hands
+into his pockets; he had long nervous fingers which sometimes betrayed
+him when his face was set.
+“Ida would never consent to a divorce,” he said heavily. “She’s got all
+sorts of old-fashioned American ideals. The West has the reputation for
+being lawless, and it’s got more Puritans to the square inch than are
+left in New England. Ida’s one of them.”
+“She may have acquired more liberal ideas in Europe.”
+“She told me that she didn’t care if she never saw Europe again. Last
+night I had quite a long talk with her before the others came in for
+dinner. She said she thought it the duty of Western women--particularly
+the women of the newer Northwest--to live in their native state and
+only go away occasionally in order to bring something back to it. She
+intimated that you put that idea into her head when you two first met.”
+“Oh, yes, I believe that to be right, whatever I may do, myself.”
+“What is your idea in going to Europe to live? You are just the sort of
+woman the West needs.” He bit out his words in the effort to be calm
+and casual.
+“I don’t feel that I have any place here.”
+Gregory started on a restless walk up and down the room.
+“Look at here,” he shot out finally, “are you--I haven’t said anything
+about it--but--of course I’ve wanted to--are you determined to leave
+Mark? He’s one of the best fellows in the world. I hate to see him
+thrown down. You--you--I think you should reconsider.”
+“I had done all my considering before I spoke to Mark. I am doing
+him the greatest possible kindness. He needs another sort of woman
+altogether to make him happy. And I? Have I not my right to happiness?
+Do you think I could find it with Mark?”
+“No!” The word exploded. “And you--shall you marry again?”
+“I don’t know.” Ora spoke in a strangled voice. New possibilities were
+shaking her to her foundations. For a moment the perverse imp in the
+purely feminine section of her brain counselled her to run away as
+ever from the serious mood in man, to play with great issues and then
+dodge them. But she brushed the prompting aside with frantic haste and
+summoned her courage. If this was happiness coming to her grasp she
+would seize it.
+Gregory came swiftly back from the farther end of the room and stood
+before her. He had set the muscles of the lower part of his face so
+tightly that he could hardly open his mouth, but his narrow eyes were
+blazing. “If Ida would give me my freedom,” he said, “I should want to
+marry you. Do you understand?”
+Ora stood up. Her white face was so radiant that Gregory fell back.
+“You love me?” he asked.
+“Yes.--Oh, yes----”
+“You would marry me?”
+“Yes!”
+Gregory stared at her, wondering if she really were suffused with white
+fire. Her hands fluttered toward him, and his own face was suddenly
+relaxed, unmasked. Ora’s lips parted and she bent forward. She knew
+then why men and women sacrificed the world when they found their
+predestined mates. Here was the one man who could give her primal joy,
+suffocate her intellect. And the knowledge that she was capable of
+such passion and of the sacrifices it might involve gave her far more
+satisfaction than her former brief mood of renunciation.
+She made another step forward, but Gregory was at the door. “Talk to
+Ida!” he said harshly. “I leave it to you. Go to see her tomorrow. You
+can do anything with her. You must!”
+And he was out of the house. He left the door open and Ora could hear
+his light running footsteps.
+XV
+On the following morning Gregory, who had spent the night in the mine
+and had just come up to the cabin, heard his telephone ring as he was
+about to take his bath and go to bed. His first impulse was to ignore
+the summons, but, his business instinct prevailing, he went into the
+office and unhooked the receiver.
+“Well?” he asked, in a voice both flat and uninviting.
+“It is Ida. How tired your voice sounds. I won’t keep you a minute. I
+have a plan to suggest. Why not let me put up those geologists? Mrs.
+Cameron has asked me to stay with her and will come over and help me
+entertain them at meals. It will not only save you a fearful hotel bill
+but keep them from wandering into the wrong fold.”
+“Good idea!” Gregory’s voice was more animated.
+“I’ll get Professor Becke to take them down into one of the big mines
+here, take them out myself to yours, amuse them between times with the
+prettiest women in town--in short stick to them closer than a brother.”
+“Good! You are the right sort. I’ll meet them at the train--on the
+night of the second, it is--and take them right up to your house. It’s
+putting you to a lot----”
+“Not a bit. It will be immense fun. Good-bye.”
+       *       *       *       *       *
+On that same morning Ora went to Butte. She had telephoned to Ida, and
+Mowbray met her at the train with the limousine.
+“Mrs. Compton had to go to some charity meeting or other,” he said, as
+they shook hands warmly. “I am to drive you about for an hour.”
+This was better fortune than Ora, who possessed little of Ida’s
+patience and talent for the waiting game, had dared to anticipate.
+“How jolly!” Her face lost its traces of a sleepless night as it
+flashed with hope and enthusiasm. “And after that dreadful train! Drive
+to the Gardens,” she said to the chauffeur.
+She pointed out Anaconda Hill as they passed under that famous portal,
+and the shaft houses of other mines, suggesting that he go down with
+the geologists when they made the inevitable descent. “But you will
+find your visit to Mr. Compton’s mine more satisfactory,” she added
+lightly. “You will see more ore in the vein. How do you like him?”
+Mowbray growled something in his thick inarticulate English voice, and
+Ora grasped her opportunity. She turned to him with the uncompromising
+directness her sinuous mind knew so well how to assume.
+“Take me into your confidence,” she said peremptorily. “I can help you.
+At all events keep you from making any mistakes with Ida. She is what
+is called a difficult proposition. Are you in love with her?”
+Mowbray turned a deep brick-red and frowned, but he answered
+intelligibly: “You know jolly well I am.”
+“Then let me tell you that there is only one way you can get her. Ida
+is moral to the marrow of her bones. You might make her love you, for
+she and her husband are practically separated, but you can get her only
+by persuading her to divorce Mr. Compton.”
+“I’ve thought of that. Of course I’d rather marry her. I’m a decent
+sort myself--hate skulking--and lying--she’s the last woman I’d want to
+compromise. But I’m so beastly poor. I’ve only twelve hundred pounds a
+year.”
+“And she has forty thousand pounds now of her own. You need not
+hesitate to spend the capital, for Mr. Compton is most generous, and is
+sure to give her much more. He is bound to be a multimillionaire--it is
+only a question of a few years.”
+“Does he want his own freedom?”
+“I am not in his confidence. But as they no longer care for each other
+and have agreed to live apart--merely showing themselves together in
+public occasionally to avoid gossip--it is natural to suppose that he
+would be indifferent, at least. He cannot be more than thirty, and will
+be sure to want his freedom sooner or later.”
+“This is splendid of you!” cried the Englishman gratefully. “She’s not
+happy. I know that, and now I shall know just what to do.”
+“Sympathise with her. Make yourself necessary--make her feel the
+neglected wife, and what a devoted husband would mean. You have the
+game in your own hands, and I will help you.”
+XVI
+Ora discerned certain changes in Ida as the three reunited friends,
+with so many pleasant memories in common, talked gaily at luncheon.
+It was not only that she was a trifle thinner but there were shadows
+in her eyes that gave them troubled depths. The curves of her mouth
+also were less assured, and her strong, rather large, but beautiful
+hands had a restless movement. Ora, whose imagination was always ready
+to spring from the leash and visualise a desired conclusion, pictured
+Ida, if not already in love with this good-looking and delightful
+Englishman, as circling close; neglected and mortified, she longed for
+the opportunity to live her life with him; in short was champing the
+bit.
+Ora led the conversation--no great adroitness was necessary--to the
+many divorces pending in Butte at the moment. Ida sniffed. Ora asserted
+gaily that they were merely a casual result of an era of universal
+progress and individualism; one of the commonplaces of modern life
+that hardly called for comment. “You are so up to date in everything
+else, my dear,” she concluded, “that I wonder you cling to such old
+middle-class prejudices.”
+“I guess there are a few conservatives and brakes left in this
+country,” said Ida, drily. “I may look back with horror at the time
+when I chewed gum and walked out of a restaurant with a toothpick in my
+mouth, but Ma hammered most of my good old-fashioned prejudices into
+my back with the broom-handle, and I’m no more likely to forget her
+opinion of divorce--the poor get it sometimes as well as the rich--than
+the bastings I got if I played hookey from school, or sneaked out after
+dark alone with a beau.”
+“My mother was exactly the same,” said Ora, with that charming
+spontaneity which so often robbed her words of the subtle insult of
+condescension, or the more cryptic of irony. “If I hadn’t happened to
+be a book-worm and had indulged in clandestine love affairs I should
+have been shut up on bread and water. And she had all a Southern
+woman’s horror of divorce. But, dear Ida! That was in the dark ages.
+We live in the most enlightened and individualistic era of the world’s
+history. I have kept my eyes and ears open ever since. Nor do I believe
+for a moment that we are getting any worse--we merely have achieved a
+more well-bred indifference toward other people’s affairs. One can hear
+a scandal a minute in large towns and small, if one has nothing better
+to do than listen; but whereas in our mothers’ time a woman was dropped
+if she was ‘talked about,’ today we don’t turn a hair at anything short
+of a quite superlative divorce court scandal--not even about girls;
+always provided that they continue to dress well, and keep on being
+charming and spending money.”
+“That is about the most cynical thing I ever heard you say.”
+“The truth always sounds cynical. You laugh at me for dreaming and
+being an idealist, but I never have shut my mind to facts as you do.”
+“I don’t even blink the old facts. I don’t like them, that’s all. I
+don’t say, of course, that if I were married to a brute who came home
+drunk and beat me--but this swapping husbands like horses--well, I’m
+content to be a brake as long as there’s any wheel to freeze to. You
+know I’m not hitting at you,” she added hastily. “I’d give you the moon
+if you wanted it; but I put you in a class by yourself, that’s all.”
+“Oh,” cried Ora, laughing. “Let us change the subject before you prove
+that your logic turns feminine at the crucial test. Heavens! How
+hideous Butte is. We drove----”
+“Hideous? Butte?” demanded Ida indignantly.
+“Oh, you see it through the glamour of a triumphal progress. Wait until
+the novelty has worn off. How do you find it?” she asked Mowbray, who
+had relished his excellent luncheon and admired his ally’s tactics.
+“Rippin’ air. Nearly took a header out of the window this mornin’
+thinkin’ I had wings. But as for looks--those mountains in the
+distance are not half-bad, but the foreground is--er--a little
+ragged--and--new--you know.” He smiled into Ida’s warning eyes.
+“Really, dear lady, I can understand that you were keen on gettin’
+home again, because home is home, don’t you know. But beauty--tell me
+just where you do find it.”
+Ida tossed her head. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and mine
+beholds it. That is enough for me. Now, run along to the Club. I
+haven’t seen Ora for ages. You may come back for tea.”
+She led the way up to her bedroom and they made themselves comfortable
+and lit their cigarettes.
+“Odd as it would seem,” said Ida, “to those east and west of us who
+have an idea that Butte has been on one prolonged spree since she
+was really a camp, I have to enjoy my occasional cigarette on the
+sly. A few of the younger women smoke, when they have locked the
+doors and pulled the blinds down--and of course The Bunch does; but
+the majority--and those that never bat an eyelash at cocktails and
+champagne--think it indecent for a woman to smoke. Funny world.”
+“Butte is a provincial hole. As there are no strangers present you
+needn’t bother to defend it. I’ve just had a brilliant idea. Why don’t
+you divorce Mr. Compton and marry Mowbray?”
+“Aw!” Ida dropped her cigarette and burned a hole in her skirt. “Are
+you raving crazy?”
+“I thought I was advancing a peculiarly level-headed suggestion----”
+“None of it in mine!”
+“But, my dear Ida, you will tire inevitably of this old camp. The
+glamour of all this return in a gilded chariot drawn by the cheering
+populace will wear off in about six months. So will your own novelty
+for them. It is all indescribably cheap, anyhow. If you send Mowbray
+away now, he will try to forget you, and forgetting is man’s peculiar
+accomplishment. You will have missed a great opportunity. You and Mr.
+Compton are manifestly indifferent to each other. Seize your chance,
+dear--not only for happiness, but for a splendid social position,
+before----”
+Ora paused. Ida was glaring ahead of her with her heavy black brows
+pushed low over her flaming eyes. Her lips were drawn back over her
+sharp little teeth. Her nostrils were distended. She looked like some
+magnificent beast of the jungle stalking her prey.
+“By God!” she whispered, her whole body heaving, “I’ll have him back. I
+was a fool before I left, and maybe I shouldn’t have left him at all.
+It’s never safe to leave a man. But when I do get him back he’ll be
+glad of all I’ve learned. He’s like a lunatic with a fixed idea just
+now--but wait.”
+Ora felt cold and numb. She tried to rise, and wondered if the shock
+had paralysed her. She managed to articulate: “You love him then?”
+But not even to Ora could Ida make any such admission; she who always
+had flouted both sentiment and passion! She recovered herself and
+tossed her head.
+“Love! Who cares about love? Do you think I’m the sort of woman a man
+can throw down for a mine? I wouldn’t stand it even it were another
+woman--but ore! It makes me sick. I won’t be thrown down. And I’ll get
+him back!”
+Ora too had recovered herself. She lit another cigarette. “I’m so glad
+you don’t care, dear. No man is worth agonising over, as you so often
+have said yourself. Forgive the doubt. I should have remembered that
+you were far too clever and worldly-wise for that sort of thing. That
+is the main reason that I am willing to marry Valdobia: I can be fond
+of him, like him always, be grateful for his companionship, but he
+can’t tear my heart out.”
+“I thought you told me when you came back that you were mad about him?”
+“Oh, I fancy I was strung up that day. When I am excited I always
+exaggerate. But do think over what I have said about Mowbray. And it
+would be heavenly to have you in Europe.”
+“My mind’s made up. I guess I’m American to my core and marrow. Titles
+will never seem natural to me, and I guess we’ll both live to see them
+so tangled up with democracy that those that are left will look like
+old labels on new cans. No has-beens in mine. Oh, chuck it! What’s this
+I hear about little Whalen--that he’s resigned from the High and been
+out in the mountains prospecting since the beginning of Spring? I’ve
+only seen him once since I came back and then he looked like a viper
+that had been stepped on.”
+“I met him the other day when I was out walking. He bought a claim of
+one of the prospectors that swarmed out there as soon as they heard
+of the Primo and the Perch strikes. He wore overalls and a beard.
+I scarcely knew him. He talked rather wildly about the hill he has
+located on being another Perch of the Devil.”
+“I guess Gregory is responsible for that and a good many other wild
+dreams. I hear that a lot of young men are coming out from the East
+this Summer to prospect in those hills. Well, they’ll succeed or fail
+according to their luck mostly. Let’s go out. You’ve got two hours
+before your train goes--but if you’ve got a list a yard long----”
+And the two sallied forth in perfect peace to shop.
+XVII
+Ora had more than one cause for uneasiness when she returned to her
+little home in the pine woods, but paramount was the fear that she
+should not see Gregory Compton again unless by accident. She rose
+early after another almost sleepless night and spent a distracted day
+wandering over the hills, returning at intervals to inquire if her
+telephone bell had rung. Once more she felt a disposition to run away,
+anathematising the slavery of love. Only the hope that Mowbray would
+wear down Ida’s resistance kept her from yielding to the impatient,
+imaginative, too highly organised woman’s impulse to flee when love
+seems hopeless and a nervous explosion imminent. She still refused to
+feel traitorous to Ida, but she did wonder once or twice if she ever
+should dare to face her as Mrs. Gregory Compton. Ida was the reverse of
+a fool. She might be blind now, for obvious reasons--but Ora shrugged
+her shoulders at the vision of Ida’s horror and wrath. What did she
+care for Ida or any other woman if she got her man?
+She made one of her sudden dashes into the house as the telephone bell
+was ringing. For the moment she thought she was about to faint; then,
+both appalled and angry at the lawless behaviour of her nerves, she
+stamped her foot, shook herself, marched over to the telephone, took
+down the receiver, and asked in a bored voice: “Well?”
+“I shall come to supper tonight if you will have me?” Gregory’s tones
+were those he employed when “canning” a miner.
+“Delighted.” Ora’s nerves fell into place like good little soldiers.
+“Will you be here at seven?”
+“About. I prefer to have you tell me here what she had to say.”
+“Constitutionally opposed at present, but that was to be expected.
+Seeds always sprout if well planted and judiciously watered. Our friend
+from England will do his part.”
+“Good. We’ll say no more about it. But I shall go to see you as usual.”
+“Why not? We are not fools or children. Any new developments at the
+mine?”
+“Shaft has reached third level. Vein seems to be about the same
+richness as on the second. Mann is here. Good-bye.”
+As Ora, her body no longer braced and rigid, but so filled with the
+languor of happiness that she wanted to throw herself down on the divan
+and sleep, crossed the room, she became aware that someone was standing
+in the outer doorway. His hat was in his hand, and as she focussed her
+absent gaze she managed to recognise Professor Whalen. Her impulse
+was to turn her back and run into her bedroom; but Ora was always a
+great lady. She could be extremely rude to a member of her own class,
+but she had never permitted herself to wound the morbid sensitiveness
+of those to whom fortune had been less kind. So, secretly wondering
+if the little man really stood there, or if anything so insignificant
+mattered, she went forward smiling and offered him her hand.
+“So good of you to come and have a cup of tea with me.” She rang a
+bell and ordered tea of her Chinaman. “But why did you dress up? I am
+accustomed to overalls and flannel shirts, and quite like the idea of
+living in a mining camp.”
+Whalen sat on the edge of his chair and stared into the fire, twirling
+his hat in his hands. “I guess I’ve got to be a gentleman again,” he
+said with a short laugh. “There’s nothing else left for me to be.”
+“Oh! I hope----”
+“My find--and I paid a thousand dollars for the claim--was nothing but
+a gash vein. Nothing in that but low grade carbonates.”
+“But are you so sure? Often veins appears to pinch out a hundred feet
+or more above a really rich lode.”
+“I’ve poured into that hole all my savings; all I had saved from my
+salary during four years, and every cent of my reward in the field of
+letters. I even--and against my secret resolutions--consumed a legacy
+left me by an uncle.”
+“Perhaps if you would ask Mr. Compton to look at your claim--he is a
+sort of ore wizard----”
+“I’ll ask no favours of Gregory Compton!” Whalen burst out, violently.
+“Were it not for him I never would have been enticed into this foolish
+venture. I cannot realise it--I, who was brought up in the most
+conservative corner of this conservative country--I, a pedagogue, a
+man of letters, that I should have so far descended as to become a
+prospector--live in a hut, cook my own bacon, dig with a pick----” He
+paused choking.
+“Doubtless you remembered that some of the greatest millionaires in the
+country began that way. Or possibly the Northwest kindled your sense
+of adventure--that is inherent in every real man. But why blame Mr.
+Compton?”
+Whalen had recovered his breath. He spat out his words. “Why should a
+man like that have all the luck? And such colossal luck! Who is he?
+What is he? In what way does he compare with me--a man of no family, of
+no culture, of no intellect----”
+“Mr. Compton has given evidence that he has one of the best brains this
+country has produced.” Ora spoke evenly but with a glint in her eye.
+“Oh, yes, _brains_! I make a fine distinction between mere brains and
+intellect. He has the sort of mental composition those men always
+seem to have in order that they may make use of their luck and roll
+up millions. But intellect? Not a cell. He has never read anything. I
+journeyed with him from Pony to Butte not long since and endeavoured
+to engage him in conversation. I might as well have tried to talk to a
+mummy--and an ill-mannered one at that. The moment I left the subject
+of mines he merely looked out of the window.”
+Ora laughed merrily, and poured out the tea the Chinaman had brought
+in. “Perhaps it is just that lack of overdevelopment that we call
+intellect which permits these men to concentrate upon their genius for
+making money.”
+“But that has nothing to do with their luck in the beginning. Luck!
+Blind luck! Fool’s luck! And why not to me? Why to this Gregory
+Compton? I never believed in luck before, but since this rush, and
+my own personal experience----” He swallowed a mouthful of tea
+too hastily, scalded himself, and, while he was gasping, Ora said
+soothingly:
+“You cannot help believing in luck if you study the early history of
+any mining state. There are hundreds of stories of prospectors--you
+have told of many yourself; the majority had little or no education,
+less science. Out of a hundred evenly equipped with grit, common sense,
+some practical knowledge of ores, perhaps two would find a rich pocket
+or placer. Four or five possibly made a strike that would insure them
+a competence if they neither gambled nor drank. The rest nothing--not
+after forty years of prospecting in these mountains. I fancy there is
+something in that old phrase about the lucky star; in astronomical
+parlance the position of the planets at the moment of one’s birth.”
+“But why not I?” wailed the professor. “Why--why this--well, he is a
+friend of yours--Gregory Compton?”
+“_Why not?_”
+“I am infinitely his superior in every way!” cried Whalen in perfect
+good faith. “It is I who should have discovered those millions and
+taken them to Beacon Street, not this obscure young Westerner, son of
+an illiterate old ranchman----”
+“But you didn’t,” said Ora, patiently. “Besides, the fates are not
+unjust. They made you a member of the New England aristocracy, and gave
+you intellect. Do not be unreasonable and demand the mere prospector’s
+luck as well.”
+Whalen looked at her suspiciously, but her eyes were teasing, not
+satiric. He had admired her always more than any woman he had met in
+the West, and had come to her blindly to be consoled. Suddenly he saw
+an indefinable change steal over her face, although her mouth remained
+curled with the stereotyped smile she kept for the Whalens. It was as
+if something deep in her brilliant eyes came to life, and her slight
+bust rose under the stiff shirtwaist. Whalen’s ears were not acute and
+he did not hear the light footstep that preceded a peremptory knock.
+Ora crossed the room swiftly and opened the door. Whalen was no fool,
+and he had written fiction for four years. He had guessed at once that
+his beautiful hostess loved the man who demanded admittance, and when
+he heard Gregory Compton’s voice he almost whistled. But he merely
+arose and frowned.
+“Knocked off and thought I would run in early,” Gregory was beginning,
+when he saw Whalen. “How are you?” he asked with more cordiality than
+he usually wasted upon the little man. His spirits always flew to his
+head when he met Ora, stolid as he might look. “How’s your mine getting
+on?” he added, as he selected the longest of the chairs before the
+fire. “Heard it had petered out.”
+“It has!”
+“I’ll go over and have a look at it tomorrow if you like. I fancy
+you’re located too close to one of the faults. The trouble with you
+amateur prospectors--or buyers of prospectors’ claims--is that you
+don’t take a geologist out with you. You lose your heads over an assay
+report on exceptional specimens. But I’d like to see for myself.”
+“It’s no use,” said Whalen gloomily. “I have used up all my money in
+that----” He had learned to swear in mining camp society, but he pulled
+himself up hastily, “that hole.”
+“If I think there is anything there I’ll grub-stake you. Nobody would
+buy your claim, but somebody might jump it if you let it lapse, and I
+want to know who my neighbours are. Have you patented it?”
+“Not yet.”
+“Spent five hundred dollars on it?”
+“_Have_ I!”
+“Well, I’ll look at it tomorrow, and if I think it’s good for anything
+I’ll help you out. I am going to Helena in a day or two. Come along and
+apply for your patent.”
+“You are very kind.” Whalen felt repentant, and more grateful than he
+had ever condescended to feel before. “I’ll expect you tomorrow.” He
+inferred that he could best show his gratitude by taking himself off,
+and rose. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Blake. This hour has been refreshing
+and inspiring after my long absence from civilisation.”
+“You must come soon again,” said Ora sweetly, as she marshalled him
+out. “The best of luck.”
+She went to her bedroom for a few moments, and when she returned wore
+a soft tea gown made of several shades of woodland greens. She seated
+herself in her favourite chair, straight, with a high carved back, and
+took up her neglected embroidery. “Dinner will not be ready for half an
+hour,” she said. “How long that little man did stay. I am glad you made
+a friend of him, for I have always imagined that he could be venomous,
+and before you came in he was by way of hating you. Now tell me the
+surprise you have for the geologists and newspaper men on the second
+level.”
+And for the next three hours they talked of ores.
+XVIII
+“Give me your hand, Gregory. I am no coward, but this is the first time
+I have ever been underground. My father would never permit it, nor my
+mother after him.”
+Gregory extended his long arm behind him and Ida’s warm firm fingers
+clung to his hand. They had just left the skip at the second level of
+his mine. The geologists and the newspaper men, together with herself,
+Lord John, Gregory, and Mann, had entered the mine by way of the Primo
+shaft, inspected the insignificant vein of copper which had merely
+been blocked out, awaiting the possible erection of a concentrating
+plant--for it was not worth the expense of freight to Anaconda--thence
+down the ladder from the hole blasted by Apex, and into the drift
+where the magnificent vein of Perch of the Devil also merely had been
+blocked out; but for a more subtle reason. The case in Gregory’s favour
+was so flagrant that the great men had laughed, although gracefully
+submitting to interviews on the spot and expressing themselves with
+as few technicalities as possible. That the Primo copper upon which
+Apex had also sunk was a mere attenuated fork of the great vein which
+indisputably had faulted from the original vein in Gregory Compton’s
+property the reporters could see for themselves. Under the Apex law
+Gregory was within his lateral rights in sinking under the adjoining
+claim and thence under the Primo mine; and as far beyond as the vein
+persisted.
+Against a man less determined and resourceful than Gregory Compton
+a wealthy corporation could obtain any verdict it demanded; but to
+persist in a suit for Apex rights after this public exposition would
+make any trust the laughing-stock of a continent. Even to persist
+in the claim that he was mining under an agricultural patent, and
+therefore outside his rights, would be mere petty persecution; and
+inevitably both suits would steal noiselessly to limbo. Amalgamated
+knew when it was beaten and would take its medicine with a grimace and
+watch for its next opportunity.
+Ida, although she disliked the sensation of being underground, the
+chill of the tunnels and the drip of candle-grease on her smart linen
+skirt, had been deeply impressed by the scene in the excavation on the
+Perch vein: the men with their keen upturned faces, their peering eyes
+so close to the moving candles, the little yellow flames travelling
+along the beautiful yellow metal, the eager nervous hands of the
+newspaper men, the intense blackness beyond the radius of the candles.
+But her eyes returned constantly to her husband’s face. His eyes
+gleamed with copper fires. His profile against the dark background of
+the cavern looked as if carved in the rock by some prehistoric race.
+The blood scorched her face and her heart leapt with pride as she heard
+these distinguished men defer to him, express their admiration without
+reserve. A year ago he had been as little known as when she married
+him. Today his extraordinary abilities were recognised by the entire
+country, and tomorrow he would be one of its colossi.
+She was the only woman that had gone down. Mrs. Cameron and Mrs.
+Collier had preferred to remain comfortably with Ora in the bungalow,
+or to help her spread the tables under the pines, where luncheon was to
+be served. Therefore was she privileged to keep close to the host, and
+when they descended into the blackness of the second level she embraced
+further her feminine prerogatives. Mann had gone down first, the guests
+had followed, and Gregory, after a vain protest, had taken her down in
+the skip when it returned for himself.
+The rest of the party had pushed forward, for they had been promised a
+surprise. Ida would have lingered, but Gregory pulled her on. He wanted
+to hear the comments. The racket of the drills had stopped. Ida saw the
+last of the guests disappear up a short ladder.
+“Am I to go up into a stope?” she asked.
+“If you want to see what we’ve come for.” He ran up the ladder, and she
+followed, insinuated herself into the hole and stood upright in the
+large excavation on the vein.
+“Is it gold?” she gasped.
+“No, but it’s a streak--a shoot--of chalcopyrite ten feet wide and of
+the highest value. And it may go down eight or nine hundred feet before
+it loses its richness and degenerates into a lower grade of ore. But
+there may be millions of tons of that. This is one of the few great
+shoots of chalcopyrite known.”
+“Gregory!” said Ida ecstatically, “do you remember I always had such
+faith in you that I urged you so often to prospect on the ranch that
+you got quite cross?”
+“Yes, I remember.”
+“Never say I doubted you. I may be enchanted at all this success and
+recognition of your abilities, but I have never had the least sensation
+of surprise.”
+Gregory smiled down into the eager beautiful face so close to his
+shoulder. She had manipulated him down the ladder into the tunnel and
+for the moment they were alone. “I hope you are half as proud of me as
+I am of you,” he said gallantly, although he was a trifle uneasy; not
+because she looked as if she might kiss him there in the semi-dark, but
+because he felt an impulse to kiss her. For the moment he regretted the
+wild romance upon which he was embarked, the torments of its present,
+the tragic possibilities of its future. Ida now would make an ideal
+wife, demanding far less of his jealously guarded inner self, to say
+nothing of his time, than Ora, who had that most terrible of all gifts,
+a passionate soul. But this disloyalty was brief, and he frowned and
+disengaged his hand, although he was far from suspecting that Ida had
+yielded to the temptation to pay him deliberate court.
+“I shall be able to give you a string of pearls before long,” he said
+lightly, “or a million or two to play with. I want to hear what these
+men have to say. Suppose you go back with Lord John, and tell them that
+we are coming up soon for lunch. Ring the bell in the station twice for
+the skip and three times for hoist.”
+Ida shrank back against the wall as if she had been struck, but when
+Lord John, who had made several futile attempts to separate her from
+her husband, came eagerly forward, she left Gregory to the chorus of
+enthusiasm and congratulation, and obeyed his directions.
+XIX
+Ida was in such high spirits during the luncheon that she managed to be
+brilliant and amusing within the limits of her expurgated vocabulary.
+Only Ora, who knew her so well, saw the sombre fire in the depths of
+her eyes, the sudden twist of her mouth at the corners, noted that
+her cheeks were crimson instead of their usual delicate coral, the
+occasional clenching of her hands. But she had little time to speculate
+upon the cause, for the large party were her guests, and, like any
+other Rocky Mountain hostess in the liquid month of June, she feared
+the sudden drenching of her tables.
+But the day remained fine, and the geologists, who ever since their
+arrival in Butte had evinced a remarkable indifference to geology as a
+topic for conversation, were as lively as the newspaper men, and deeply
+appreciative of the good looks and animated conversation of the four
+women who ate almost nothing in their efforts at mental subdivision.
+Ora had invited also her engineer and Professor Whalen, placing the
+latter as far from Ida as possible; but she saw that he was covertly
+watching the woman he must hate. Ida had thrown him a careless nod when
+they met by the tables in the grove; and he had returned it with a bow
+of surpassing dignity.
+Gregory, now that the men of science and of the press had served his
+purpose, was eager to be rid of them, and excused himself when the
+luncheon was half over, on the plea that he was his own manager and
+needed at the mine. He disappeared into the Primo shaft house, as he
+often took that short cut to his own shaft, and Mowbray, who had been
+silent, for Gregory affected his buoyant spirits unaccountably, moved
+his chair up beside Ida and endeavoured to divert her mind from the
+general to the specific. But she snubbed him and he relapsed into
+gloom. On the train, however, when she saw that Whalen, who was on his
+way to Helena to apply for his patent, was watching her, she flirted
+pointedly with the handsome Englishman.
+The guests were to leave Butte on the seven o’clock train, which,
+fortunately for the strain that all were beginning to feel, was only
+half an hour late. When it had pulled out and Ida had waved her last
+farewell, she walked in silence to her car, and intimated with a
+curt nod that Mowbray might take the seat beside her. “But tell Ben
+where you want to go,” she said, “for I can’t ask you to dine with me
+tonight.”
+Mowbray told the chauffeur to drop him at the Club and then asked his
+lady, whose animation had dropped to zero, if anything had happened to
+annoy her, or if she were merely worn out.
+“Don’t ask me any questions,” said Ida sharply. “I’m sorry to seem
+inhospitable but I’ve got something to think out. You can go to the
+dance at the Country Club.”
+“I shall more likely go to my rooms and write letters. Don’t worry
+about me. Shall we have a ride tomorrow morning?”
+“I don’t know.”
+Mowbray was always philosophical about women, having been brought
+up with many sisters. “You are tired out,” he said without too much
+sympathy. “Just call me up if you feel like doing anything in the
+morning.”
+“All right. Good night.”
+She left him at the Silver Bow Club. Her own house was only a few
+blocks distant. She told the maid who admitted her that she wanted no
+dinner and should go to bed at once and without assistance. When she
+reached the seclusion of her bedroom she locked the door, flung her hat
+on the floor and stamped on it, broke several valuable objects, and
+then paced up and down, gritting her teeth to keep from screaming.
+There was but one person on earth that she hated more than she hated
+Gregory Compton and that was herself. She had meant to play a waiting
+game of many interviews, in which her fine calculation had mapped out
+the insidious approach, the adroit pushing aside of barrier after
+barrier, until Gregory returned almost inadvertently to his allegiance.
+She had no desire for romantic scenes; they would have embarrassed
+herself, and with her instinctive knowledge of man, she knew that
+Gregory would shrink back from any situation that might involve
+explanations. Nor did she wish to let a man so absorbed as Gregory feel
+that he was loved too much, lest he chafe at the thought of feminine
+exactions, and his mind continue to dwell upon the delights of freedom.
+He might be capable of moments when the woman alone existed, but there
+would be long intervals when he would hate a woman’s clinging arms if
+they made him ten minutes late for his work, particularly if he was
+headed for his beloved mine. Ida, shrewd, self-controlled, watchful,
+knew herself, now that her powers were developed, to be the natural
+mate for such a man. He would drive a temperamental woman mad.
+And she had seemed to make a steady progress. The geologists had
+remained for three days in Butte before visiting Perch of the Devil.
+On the second evening they had been entertained by the professors of
+the School of Mines, but on the other two evenings she had given them
+elaborate dinners, and Gregory had attended each. She had seen that he
+was increasingly proud of her, and grateful. Upon both occasions they
+not only had had a little talk apart but he had drifted back to her
+more than once.
+And today she had spoiled everything! In the darkness of that mine she
+had weakened and made open love to him. She had practically offered
+herself--she ground her teeth as she thought of her clinging fingers,
+her appealing eyes, her cheek almost brushing his--and he had rejected
+her--with consideration, but finality!
+If he had knocked her down she would have cherished hope. But in this
+hour she had none. His indifference was colossal. The busiest men in
+America had their women; she no longer could comfort herself with the
+delusion that the mine was a controlling and exclusive passion; she
+merely had ceased completely to attract him--and she remembered how
+thorough he was; she no more could relight those old fires than she
+could blow life into the dead ashes of Big Butte. He would turn to
+another woman one of these days; it was not within human possibility
+that he would go through life without love; but not to her! not to
+her! She would do to entertain his friends, to flaunt his wealth
+and advertise his success; in time no doubt he would treat her as a
+confidential friend; but sexually she was an old story. It was apparent
+that the mere thought bored him; it was only when Gregory was bored
+that he was really polite.
+If she could but have accepted this, resigned all hope, instead of
+subjecting herself to humiliation; she, who had never failed to send
+the blood to a man’s head with a glance! She didn’t want to hate him.
+She didn’t want to hate herself. Why could she not have been content to
+accept the inevitable with philosophy and grace?
+The answer that, owing to some mysterious law of her being, she loved
+him, made her want to smash everything else in the room; but she would
+have some difficulty concealing the present wreckage from her servants,
+so she bit her handkerchief to shreds instead.
+When the furies had tired her body she fell into a chair and although
+her brain was still hot with the blood sent there by excitement and
+lack of food, she admitted frankly that the peculiar nature of her
+agitation was due to wounded pride and intense mortification; had
+she arrived at a point where she no longer could hope, but without
+self-betrayal, she might have wept bitter tears, but there still would
+have been a secret sweetness in loving him. Now, she growled out her
+hatred. She longed to do something to hurt him. If she only were
+another sort of woman! She would go to Mowbray’s rooms, go to Helena
+with him for a week. And simultaneously she yearned to be consoled, not
+only in her heart but in her wounded pride.
+Should she ask her husband for a divorce; revenge herself by becoming
+an English duchess? Ora, in the moment or two they had found together
+at the station, had told her that Mowbray’s older brother was at Davos,
+unmistakably dying of tuberculosis, and that his engagement, insisted
+upon by his father, had been broken. Valdobia had given her this news
+in his last letter, adding the hope that his friend would bring Ida
+back with him that they might all be together once more.
+Was this the solution of her problem? A marriage that would demonstrate
+to Gregory Compton that her moment of seeming weakness was mere
+coquetry; a marriage that would raise her an immeasurable social
+distance above him; a permanent dissociation from everything that could
+remind her of him and this terrible obsession that had disorganised
+her being, reduced her to the grovelling level of the women whose
+dependence on the favour of man she had always despised?
+When she reflected that her revenge would fall flat, Gregory’s not
+being the order of mind to appreciate the social pre-eminence of a
+titled race, she ground her teeth, again. There was nothing left but
+to consider herself. Should she choose the part that not only would
+exalt her station and fill her life with the multifarious interests of
+a British peeress, but banish this man in time from her memory; or stay
+on and alternate torments with moments of indescribable sweetness when
+he smiled upon her? And might she not yet manipulate him into her net
+if she continued to play the waiting game? Or would she go wholly to
+pieces the first time they were alone together?
+Her pride strangled at this possibility and brought her to her feet.
+The blood was still boiling in her head, she knew what nerves were for
+the first time in her life. She made up her mind to go out and walk. In
+this part of the town she was not likely to meet anyone.
+She found another hat, put on a warm coat, and let herself out of the
+house. It was ten o’clock. All the West Side, no doubt, was at the
+Country Club.
+For a time she walked rapidly and aimlessly, trying to focus her mind
+on other things. But when a woman is in love and the path is stony, she
+is obsessed much as people are that suffer from shock and reiterate
+ceaselessly the circumstances of its cause. Her brain seethed with
+hate, longed for revenge. Nothing would have gratified her more than to
+take the secret revenge of infidelity. Many a woman has taken a lover
+for the satisfaction of laughing to herself at her husband’s dishonour;
+to dishonour being the most satisfactory of all vengeance, whether open
+or concealed.
+She realised abruptly that her thoughts had led her unconsciously to
+the door of John Mowbray’s lodgings. The flat had been lent him by a
+banker to whom he had brought a letter from his brother, and who had
+gone East immediately after his arrival; the banker’s wife lived in
+Southern California. It occupied the second story of a house in West
+Broadway and had its own entrance on a side street. Mowbray had given a
+tea there a day or two before, and Ida had presided.
+She did not delude herself for a moment that she could take her
+full revenge upon the unconscious Gregory, but at least she could do
+something quite shocking, something that would infuriate a husband.
+Ida was not afraid of any man, least of all one that wished to make a
+duchess of her, but it would be an additional satisfaction to torment
+him, and an adventure with a spice of danger in it no doubt would
+restore her equilibrium. If Mowbray made violent love to her she felt,
+by some obscure process of feminine logic, that she would forgive
+Gregory Compton.
+She glanced hastily up and down the street, then more sharply,
+wondering if she had dreamed that once or twice she had looked over her
+shoulder with the sense of being followed. It was a bright moonlight
+night. No one was in sight. She rang the bell of Mowbray’s flat. The
+door was opened from above. At the head of the stairs stood the Jap who
+served as housekeeper and valet.
+She hesitated a moment, taken aback. She had forgotten the servant.
+Then she closed the door behind her. “Is Lord John in?” she asked
+negligently.
+The Jap spread out his hands deprecatingly. “His lordship not at home,”
+he announced.
+Ida hesitated another moment, then ascended the stair and entered the
+living-room. “Turn on the lights,” she said, “I shall wait for him.”
+The Jap obeyed orders, bowed, and withdrew. For a moment Ida was
+tempted to telephone to the Silver Bow Club, but Mowbray was sure to
+return soon to write his letters, and she liked the idea of giving him
+a surprise. She lit a cigarette, selected a novel from the bookcase,
+and sank into the most comfortable of the chairs. The room was warm;
+both body and brain were very weary. The cool night air had driven the
+blood from her head. She yawned, dropped the book, fell sound asleep.
+She awoke as the clock was striking half-past one. She was still alone.
+For a moment she stared about her, bewildered, then rose and laughed
+aloud.
+“This is about the flattest----” She went swiftly out into the hall
+and awoke the slumbering Jap. “You little yellow devil,” she cried,
+“why didn’t you tell me that his lordship had gone to the party at the
+Country Club?”
+Once more the Jap was deprecating. “Madam did not ask.”
+Ida produced a gold piece. “Well, you are not to tell him that I came,
+nor anyone else. If you do I’ll wring your neck.”
+The Jap’s eyes, fixed upon the gold, glistened. “Why should I tell?” he
+asked philosophically; and having pocketed the coin ran downstairs and
+bowed the lady out.
+When Ida was about to turn the corner she whirled about, this time
+with a definite sensation of being followed. But the street was empty
+save for a man slouching down the hill with an unsteady gait, his head
+nodding toward his chest. It was a familiar sight in any mining town;
+nevertheless she quickened her steps, and in a moment was safe within
+her own house.
+XX
+On the morning following the departure of the geologists Gregory took
+the bit between his teeth and went in to Butte to see his wife. In his
+first moment of shock and confusion it had seemed to him best that Ora,
+whose subtlety he recognised, was the one to manipulate Ida’s still too
+formalistic mind toward the divorce court; but he was unaccustomed to
+relegate any part of his affairs to others, least of all to a woman.
+Nor did he think it necessary to inform Ora of his sudden decision.
+He might work almost double shift to keep her out of his thoughts and
+diminish temptation, and he might marry her and continue to love her
+passionately; but she would obtain little ascendency over him. He knew
+what he wanted; he had trained his will until at times it appeared
+formidable even to himself, and he was as nearly the complete male that
+regards woman, however wonderful, as the supplementary female as still
+survives.
+He had few illusions about himself, and it had crossed his mind more
+than once, since the hope of divorce had dazzled both of them, that
+for a year or two or least there must be a certain amount of friction
+between a nature like his and a complex, super-civilised, overgrown
+feminine ego like Ora Blake. While he had sat with his legs stretched
+out to the fire and his eyes half closed, his body weary, but mentally
+alert, he had received certain definite impressions of an independent
+almost anarchical mind, contemptuous of the world and its midges save
+as they might be of use to herself; of a mind too well-bred ever to
+be managing and exacting in any vulgar sense, but inexorable in its
+desires and as unscrupulous in their pursuit as her father had been; of
+a superlative refinement coupled with a power of intense and reckless
+passion found only in women possessing that quality of imagination that
+exalts and idealises the common mortal attributes. Moreover, it was a
+mind that, the first joy of submission and surrender diminished, would
+think for itself.
+Until that night when both had dropped the mask for a moment he had
+never thought of her as a complicated ego, merely as one from whom
+he felt temporarily separated after a union of centuries; and it had
+been the reluctant admission that he knew her very little, save as a
+gracious woman and his own companion, that had enabled him to school
+himself to spend long hours with her alone as before. He had tumbled
+blindly into matrimony once, and no matter how much he might love this
+woman, to whom he had seemed from the first to be united by a secret
+and ancient bond, he was determined none the less to marry the second
+time with his eyes wide open.
+But although his glimpses of Ora’s winding depths gave him moments of
+uneasiness he always fell back upon the complacent reflection that he
+was a man, a man, moreover, with a cast-iron will, and that the woman
+did not live who would not have to adapt herself to him did he take her
+to wife.
+Until the day before the party at the mines he had been content to
+drift, but a certain moment down in his own mine had given a new and
+abrupt turn to both thoughts and purpose. Ida might have spared herself
+her agonies of shame: she had not betrayed her love, but she had given
+him a distinct impression that she was employing her redoubtable
+feminine weapons to reduce him to his old allegiance. He had remembered
+for a poignant moment that he once had loved this woman to distraction,
+and during that moment he saw her again as the most beautiful and
+distracting of her sex. His brief surrender had filled him with fury.
+He had no intention of despising himself. From boyhood up he had had
+nothing but contempt for the man that did not know his own mind. If
+it had not been for this serene confidence in himself, he, who was
+constitutionally wary in spite of the secret and wistful springs of
+romance in his nature and the apparent suddenness of his bold plunges,
+never would have married Ida Hook, nor any woman, until he had sounded
+her thoroughly. But he had behaved like any hot-headed and conceited
+young fool, and, much as he now admired Ida, it both infuriated him and
+appalled him to feel even for a moment toward her as he had in his raw
+inexperienced youth.
+He therefore made up his mind to go to her like a rational being and
+ask her to give him his freedom. They had made a mistake. They were
+reasonable members of an advanced civilisation, where mistakes were
+recognised and rectified whenever possible. He did not doubt for a
+moment that reason and logic must appeal as forcibly to a woman as to
+himself.
+The door of his wife’s house was opened after the usual delay, and the
+maid told him that Mrs. Compton was upstairs in the billiard room “or
+somewheres.” He took the stairs three steps at a time lest his courage
+evaporate; but drew a long breath of relief when he entered the large
+square hall and saw nothing of Ida. He would have rung for the maid,
+but reflected that no doubt he had already provided enough gossip
+for the republic below stairs without admitting that he did not know
+his way round his wife’s house. He was about to knock on each door
+in turn when he noticed that one in a corner at the end of the hall
+was open and that it led into a narrow passageway. Beyond there was
+light, possibly in one of those boudoirs of which he had heard. Mrs.
+Murphy would have been sure to have a boudoir, and no doubt Ida, little
+disposed as she was to indolence, spent some part of her mornings in it.
+He adventured down the passageway that terminated in a large room
+full of sunlight. He saw his wife standing in the middle of this room
+looking about her with a curious expression of wistfulness. The little
+hall was carpeted, but she heard him almost as soon as he saw her; she
+would have known those light swift footsteps in a marching army. He was
+inside the room before she could reach the doorway and close it behind
+her and astonished to see a deep blush suffuse her face. His quick
+darting glance took in his surroundings as he shook hands with her. The
+room was a nursery.
+“I had two beds put in here and have just seen that they were taken
+out,” stammered Ida.
+Her embarrassment was communicable, but he said gruffly as he walked to
+the window, “Didn’t know the Murphys had children.”
+“Oh, yes, they had two little ones. Seven in all. I think it odd they
+should have left the toys here even if they are rich enough to buy toys
+every day. There is something sacred about a child’s toys.”
+Ida was merely talking against time, but she hardly could have said
+anything better calculated to arrest his attention.
+He turned and looked at her in astonishment.
+“Do you mean to intimate--that you wish you had children? You?”
+Ida’s brain as well as her body was very weary, but it sprang to action
+at once. “Oh, yes,” she said intensely. “Oh, yes! And I might have had
+two! They would be wonderful in this house.”
+“But----” He cast about desperately. “With two children you could not
+have gone to Europe.”
+“That wouldn’t have mattered.”
+“But--don’t you realise that it is this last year of unusual advantages
+that has developed you so--so--remarkably? You hated children----”
+“And do you suppose it was Europe that made me want children?”
+“Oh, of course, nothing is as simple as that. You were taken out of
+yourself, out of your narrow self-sufficient little life; all your fine
+latent powers were developed----”
+“But not altogether by Europe! Still, I don’t deny that it woke me up,
+gave me not one new point of view but many, developed me, if you like
+that better. Would you like lunch earlier? You get up at such unearthly
+hours----”
+“I’m not hungry. I want to talk to you. That is what I came for. Won’t
+you sit down--no, not here! Let us go where there are comfortable
+chairs. I--I am tired.”
+“Very well. Let us go down to the library.” As she walked before him he
+noted that her superb body, which usually looked as if set with fine
+steel springs, was heavy and listless.
+The masculine looking room below restored his balance.
+“You don’t look as well as usual,” he remarked, as he threw himself
+into the deepest of the chairs. “Yesterday was a hard day, and you had
+had those men on your hands for----”
+“I am tired,” said Ida briefly, “but it doesn’t matter. What do you
+want to talk to me about?”
+He did not answer for a few moments, then he stood up and thrust his
+hands into his pockets and scowled at the carpet. Involuntarily Ida
+also rose to her feet and braced herself, crossing her arms over her
+breast.
+“It is impossible for this to go on,” said Gregory rapidly. “It is
+unnatural. People don’t submit to broken lives in these days. I think
+you had better get a divorce and be happy. Mowbray seems to be a fine
+fellow. Of course no one doubts that he has followed you here. He could
+make you happy, and as soon as I am able--in a year or two--I shall
+give you a million; in time more.”
+“Oh! Oh!”
+“You surely cannot want to live for ever like--like--this!”
+“I have no desire to marry again. Have you?” She shot the question at
+him, every nerve on edge with suspicion.
+But the last thing in his mind was to betray Ora, and he answered
+promptly. “No. But I am absorbed in my mine, and my life will be more
+crowded every year with accumulating interests. You are a woman. You
+are young--and--and--you wish for children.”
+Ida believed that after her revelation of yesterday he had come to let
+her down gently. She determined to throw her all on one heavy stake. If
+she lost, at least she would have had the satisfaction of telling him
+that she loved him; she had already sacrificed her pride, and there was
+a reckless sweetness in the thought of revealing herself absolutely to
+this man. When a woman loves a man not quite hopelessly she experiences
+almost as much satisfaction in listening to her own confession as to
+his.
+She drew herself up, her arms still across her breast, and Gregory
+thought he had never seen a woman look so dignified and so noble.
+“Listen, Gregory,” she said, with no tremor in her voice but deepening
+sadness in her eyes, “I regret that I have no children because they
+would be yours. I am willing to live and die alone because I have
+lost your love. I know how I lost it, but, as I look back over my
+crudity and ignorance, I do not see how I could have kept it. You were
+immeasurably above and beyond me. Nature, or some mental inheritance,
+gave you sensitiveness, refinement, distinction, to say nothing of
+brains. I had to achieve all that I am now. I was a raw conceited fool
+like thousands of American girls of any class, who think they are
+just a little too good for this world. I had ceased to love you in
+my inordinate love of myself, and the natural consequence was, that
+as I made no attempt to improve myself, I lost you as soon as my halo
+of novelty had disappeared. I took for granted, however, that I was
+returning from Europe to the old conditions. When I discovered that
+you had no such intention I was piqued, astonished, angry. But when
+I thought it all out I understood. You were within your rights, and
+you have behaved with decency and self-respect. I have nothing but
+unmitigated contempt for two people that continue to live together as
+a mere matter of habit and convenience. They are the real immoralists
+of the world, and the girls that ‘go wrong’ know it and laugh at the
+reformers. Of course I never had ceased to love you down deep, but it
+took just the course of conduct you pursued to make me known to myself.
+I realise that it is hopeless--too late. I never intended to betray
+myself, but I did so in an unguarded moment yesterday. Otherwise I
+never should have told you all this. I have realised since then that
+I have lost you irrevocably, but at least if I cannot be your wife I
+will be no man’s, and I shall continue to bear your name--and see you
+sometimes.”
+Gregory, feeling as if he were being flayed, had dropped upon the edge
+of a chair and buried his face in his hands. When she finished he said
+hoarsely: “I never dreamed--I never imagined--I thought you incapable
+of real feeling----”
+“I think I was then. And since--Well, you are only a man, after all,
+and I made you think what I chose until yesterday--Do you mean----” she
+added sharply, “that you did not guess--did not _know_ yesterday?”
+“It never occurred to me. I thought you merely were flirting a
+little----”
+“Hi!” cried Ida. Then she got back into her rôle. “It doesn’t matter,”
+she said with sad triumph. “I am glad I have told you. As for the
+future? You have convinced Butte that we are the best of friends. Stay
+away if you wish unless I give an entertainment where your absence
+would cause too much comment. You don’t want to marry again, but you
+may feel yourself as free as air. And one day--when you are worn out,
+tired of the everlasting struggle in which you moneymakers work harder
+than the day labourer, with his eight-hour laws and freedom from the
+terrific responsibilities of money; when you begin to break and want
+a home, I will make one for you. There is the doorbell. Lord John is
+coming for lunch. I shall give him his dismissal--once for all.”
+Gregory stood up and took her hand. He had a vague masculine sense of
+unfairness somewhere but he could not begin to define it, and he was as
+deeply impressed as discouraged. “You are a grand woman, Ida,” he said.
+“This is not an hour that any man forgets. I wish that you might be
+happy.”
+“Nature never intended that people on this planet should be happy--only
+in spots, anyhow. And don’t worry about me. You have put me in the way
+of getting a great deal out of this old game we call life, and I am
+grateful to you. Good-bye.”
+They shook hands and Gregory went out into the hall as the maid was
+admitting Lord John. This time the men made no pretence at politeness.
+They merely glared and passed.
+XXI
+The Primo vein had been recovered some time since and Ora had traversed
+the fault drift twice and watched the drilling from the station; not
+only to assert her rights as mistress of the mine but to experience the
+sensations she had anticipated. She soon discovered that when a woman
+is in love, and the issue doubtful, other interests fail to provide
+sensations. But she went down into the mine every day and roamed
+through the older workings. She was tormented and restless, but by no
+means without hope; and this being the case she sometimes wondered
+why she continued to write to Valdobia as if nothing had occurred to
+interfere with their tacit engagement. It was her duty to tell him the
+truth, at once, but she switched off all other currents every Saturday
+morning and wrote her Roman long gay tantalising letters; being gifted
+as a scribe, like so many women, she made them notable with amusing and
+enlightening incidents of mining-camp life.
+She had not seen Gregory since Monday evening. He had gone suddenly to
+Butte on the morning following the visit of the geologists, and had
+telephoned her that he should take the afternoon train to the Capital
+and no doubt be detained for several days. She had expected that he
+would telephone or telegraph from Helena; that he would write was too
+much to expect; she had never seen his handwriting. But he had not
+recognised her existence.
+Four days after his departure she went down into her mine and walked as
+far as the ragged opening blasted by the Apex men, thinking of Ida. How
+much longer would it be before Mowbray overcame her prejudices, and her
+own independent and proud spirit revolted under her husband’s complete
+indifference? Few women were given such an opportunity for revenge both
+subtle and open as Mowbray was offering to Ida Compton.
+It was at this point in her reflections that Ora heard a light
+footfall coming down the fault drift of Perch of the Devil. Without
+an instant’s hesitation she descended the short ladder that had been
+placed between the two drifts for the benefit of the geologists, and
+relit her candle. She met Gregory in the little station. He also held
+a candle, but he was so startled at the apparition that he dropped it.
+She thrust the point of her candlestick into a wooden post.
+“I was going over to see you,” he said unsteadily as he picked up
+his candle, relighted it, and mechanically followed her example. He
+turned abruptly and walked half way up the drift and back, while she
+stood still, shivering with anxiety. Something had put his determined
+serenity out of joint. A crisis impended. She felt her unsteadiness
+and sat down suddenly on the edge of an ore car, fancying this
+dimly lighted room and the black passage leading to it looked as a
+death-house cell must look on the eve of execution.
+Finally she stammered: “What is it? Please tell me?”
+He leaned against the wall in front of her. “I am afraid it’s all
+up,” he said lifelessly. “I went in on Tuesday to ask Ida to obtain a
+divorce. She refused to listen. She has no wish to remarry and will
+have none of divorce. Nothing could have been more definite than our
+interview.”
+“But--but surely in time--if we have patience----”
+“There is no hope. Mowbray entered as I left. She intended to dismiss
+him at once.”
+Ora, without reasoning, of which she was incapable at the moment, felt
+that he had been convinced by more than argument and mere words. She
+flung her arms over her lap and dropping her head upon them burst into
+a wild transport of tears and sobs; she was so unused to all expression
+of emotion that she neither knew nor cared how to control it, and the
+tears swept out the floodgates that had held her passion in check.
+She looked up suddenly and saw Gregory standing over her with twitching
+face and clenched hands; and exulting in the complete abandonment of
+all the controls that civilisation has bred, she sprang to her feet,
+flung herself into his arms and her own arms about his neck. She had
+her immediate reward, for he nearly crushed her, and he kissed her
+until they both were breathless and reeling.
+This was the passion she had read and dreamed of; for once the
+realities were commensurate; instinct warned her to postpone argument
+and prolong the moment to its utmost. There was room in her brain
+for the doubt if such a moment ever could come again, so little of
+love-making is wholly unpremeditated. So she clung to him and kissed
+him, and in that dim cavern his dark face, so reminiscent of those
+great prehistoric races that interested him, looked as he felt,
+primeval man that had found his mate.
+But, whatever his ancient inheritance, he was the immediate product
+of a highly practical civilisation. His keen calculating brain sent a
+lightning flash across his passion. He lifted her off her feet and sat
+her down on the ore car. Then he took a candlestick in either hand.
+“Come to the other station,” he said peremptorily, and led the way to a
+less dangerous seclusion.
+He was half way up the fault drift before Ora, subdued but rebellious,
+stooped mechanically and found the veil that she wore in place of a
+hat when in the mines. She followed him slowly. She felt rather than
+reasoned that she had missed her opportunity and wished angrily that
+she had had lovers and knew better how to manage men. By the time she
+reached the shaft station the confusion in her mind had lifted somewhat
+and she had arrived at the conclusion that she could not overcome him
+in the same way again, but must use her brains. She sat down on the box
+and smoothed her hair with apparent unconcern.
+Gregory had disposed of the two candlesticks and said, his voice
+still unsteady: “There isn’t much to say, but I want to have my last
+interview with you in my mine. I cannot get away from here for two or
+three days. Will you leave at once?”
+“Will you listen to me? I have my right to be heard?”
+“What is there to say?”
+She clasped her hands in her lap and looked up at him. Gregory
+sighed and set his teeth. She looked surpassingly lovely and rather
+helpless--women, at their best, always seemed to him pathetic.
+“Gregory,” she said, “you don’t doubt that I love you?”
+“No. But what is the use? Do you suppose I am going to make you my
+mistress--all Montana would know it in less than no time. I’m no
+saint, but it wouldn’t work--not for us!”
+“But you want me?”
+“Oh!” He turned away, then swung round upon her. She had stood up. Her
+head was bent forward. “You should help me out!” he cried angrily.
+“Can’t you see--it’s you I’m thinking of. Do you suppose I want all
+the sporting women in Butte making horrible jokes about you--all your
+friends cutting you? What’s a man good for if he doesn’t protect a
+woman?”
+“Love affairs have lasted for years without being found out.”
+“Precious seldom. And we are not buried in a big city. I must live
+out here and you would either have to live out here too, or I should
+be sneaking into your house in Butte. A business-like intrigue!
+Remember I lived somewhat before I married. Sentiment and romance soon
+evaporate----”
+“Oh, yes, that is always what I have thought when I have read the
+American novelists’ attempts to portray what they call a ‘guilty love’.
+The only word that expresses it delicately is _liaison_, and the
+setting should be foreign as well. There is no background here. We are
+still under the drab shadow of Puritanism. I have heard it estimated
+that twenty-five thousand American women go abroad every year to
+indulge in a fleeting _liaison_ that gives them courage to endure the
+desperately material and commonplace life of this country for another
+year. You don’t understand that because you never have been in Europe.
+But Egypt--Italy--in Southern Europe anywhere--with its unbridled
+beauties of nature and its far more poetic beauties that centuries of
+art have given it--and a thousand years of love behind us--Oh, cannot
+you imagine how wonderful love would be? Do you think _I_ should ever
+want to come back?”
+Gregory was staring at her. “Do you mean,” he stammered, “that you
+would sacrifice your reputation openly--your future--do you care enough
+for that?”
+“I mean I love you so exclusively that I wish I had a thousand times
+more to sacrifice.”
+“But--but--there are always Americans travelling--and you know many
+Europeans----”
+“They are always easy to avoid. There are villas with walls, and pink
+flowers on top of the walls. And we could travel and see the wonders of
+art when the tourist season was over. Nor would I monopolise you. You
+could have the society of men of brains and achievement everywhere.”
+He continued to stare at her radiant wistful face. He had known that
+she loved him, but it had never occurred to him that she would be
+willing to give up the world for his sake. She was a proud woman, an
+aristocrat, she had an exceptional position everywhere; the great world
+when they parted stood ready to offer its consolations.
+She had unrolled a heavenly vision! His mind had revolted from debasing
+her to the status of what is euphemistically known in the West as
+“sporting women”; he also remembered the immediate disillusionments
+of his younger manhood and wondered if the hideousness of Butte had
+been responsible. The Mediterranean with its ancient civilisations
+flourishing and forgotten before the historic period, Egypt, full-grown
+offspring of a still more ancient but vanished civilisation--both
+called to that archæological instinct so closely allied to the
+geological, made him fancy he heard faint ancestral voices. Ora’s
+eyes were holding his, and her gaze was as powerful as his own. For
+the moment he no longer was a son of the newest section of the newest
+world. The turquoise waters of the Mediterranean spread before him, but
+he saw it alive with galleys----
+He jerked his eyes away, folded his arms and stared downward. He must
+think rationally, not with vapours in his brain. It might be that he
+would be more than fool to sacrifice to any consideration the one
+chance for happiness in perfect union that life would offer him.
+Suddenly he became aware that he was staring at the rocky floor of his
+mine, of its first level; the flickering candle flames revealed bits
+of bright yellow metal. And below was the second level with its superb
+shoot of copper ore ten feet wide. And below, on the third level, still
+was the vein far more beautiful than virgin gold. And down--down--in
+those vast unlocked caverns--what mysteries--what wonder-ores might not
+the earth harbour for him alone to find and name----
+“What are you thinking of?” cried Ora sharply. Then she threw out her
+arms wildly. “I know! I know! It is those accursed ores! Oh, God! What
+have I in me, I, a mere woman, to compensate for the loss of a mine? I
+was a fool--Of course! Of course!”
+But Gregory, although his blood had frozen in his veins at the horrid
+vision of a permanent divorce from his mine, would make no such
+admission.
+“Ora,” he said quietly, “it would be very wonderful--for about three
+months. You would despise me if I were content to dawdle away my life
+in an olive grove, or throw away my best years and these great energies
+nature has given me, doing nothing in that old civilisation in which
+I could find no place. And in time you would resent the weakness that
+had stranded you with no recourse in life but myself. That sort of
+thing has never been a success and never will be, because nature did
+not make man to live on love alone, and it is much the same with the
+intellectual woman. It wouldn’t work. Not with us. I have known from
+the beginning that it must be marriage or nothing. And Ida would not
+divorce me if I ran away with you. She would be entitled to her revenge
+and she would take it.” He leaned forward and signalled the station
+call. “Please take the skip when it comes. I am going below.” And he
+ran down the ladder.
+XXII
+Ora got into the skip and was whisked to the surface.
+She drew the veil over her head and face, wishing dimly that she had
+gone home through the mines; but a moment later the veil fell to her
+shoulders unnoticed. As she crossed the Apex claim she was vaguely
+aware that someone, almost in her path, lifted his hat. She bowed
+automatically, feeling like those poor wound-up royalties who must
+smile graciously upon their loyal people even though a cancer devour
+the body or the brain reel with sorrow.
+Whalen, abnormal in vanity and conceit though he was, took no
+offence; not only was this in his estimation the one great lady of
+the Western annex, but he was startled by the expression in her fixed
+eyes of anguish, terror, and surprise. He had seen Gregory Compton go
+down into his mine not a half an hour ago, and it was easy for his
+fictionised if unimaginative mind to conjure up a hazy picture of the
+scene underground. He turned very red, partly from gratification at
+being so close to human passion and pain, but more from the knowledge
+that he shortly could offer all the elements for another and a still
+more dramatic crisis. At the same time he could do the one woman he
+admired in this wilderness a good turn and heal his cankerous ache for
+vengeance.
+Ora went on to her little house and sank into a chair before the
+burnt-out logs. Her body felt as if it were a vessel into which
+had been poured all the waters of woman’s bitterness and despair.
+Nevertheless, her predominant sensation was astonishment. For a year
+she had lived in a fool’s paradise, indissolubly mated with Gregory
+Compton. It was only in the moment when the idea of his own divorce
+flashed into her mind that she realised she had meant to have him for
+ever, that her imagination had been a mere playground on which she had
+romped, and abruptly abandoned when she saw reality standing at the
+gate.
+Since that day, interrupted only by the fevers and doubts of love,
+she had accepted with joy her predestined fate as the visible mate
+of Gregory Compton. Else what did it all mean? She had counted
+on marriage, but that respectable solution had faded into utter
+insignificance as soon as the shock of Ida’s refusal had passed. To
+fling the world aside, to regard it as a mere whirling speck in the
+void, followed as a matter of course. She and this man would fill all
+space.
+And she had lost. It was over. _Over. Over._ For a time the
+astonishment consequent upon the mental reiteration of this fact held
+her. Her mind, quick, alert, sinuous as she had always found it, was
+unable to readjust itself. How could anything be over that manifestly
+had been created to go on for ever? What, then, did it all mean: that
+mutual recognition when they had sat together that night in Butte,
+that long mental obsession, this later perfect understanding, this
+indubitable power to find in each other complete happiness? Over. And
+by the man’s decree. How odd. How odd. And what a tragic waste.
+She knew that the mine had pulled him, but she was too much the woman
+to take a mine seriously. There had been some other reason. He loved
+her; she never doubted that. He had resisted--why? She groped back
+through her limited experience, wondering if the trouble were that
+she had had so little. Life had not begun with her until a year ago.
+She had been a mere student, deliberately living in the unreal, often
+deluding, world of books, the worst of all preparations for life.
+Some women were independent of experience, knew men by instinct. She
+felt that Ida, in a similar situation, would have had her way. She
+had not managed cleverly; no doubt with all her charm and her natural
+allurement for men, even a certain acquired coquetry, she was one of
+those women that could theorise brilliantly, but failed utterly to
+manage their own affairs at critical moments.
+She was well aware that she had not been developing along ideal
+lines of late, particularly since she had come out here with the
+unadmitted intention of stealing her friend’s husband. By all the laws
+of tradition she should be wicked all through. Pride, diffidence,
+fastidiousness--one or all, she was in no condition to decide--had
+prevented her from playing the deliberate rôle of siren. She sighed and
+wished that life could be played upon the formula adopted by so many
+brilliant novelists: a steady unrelenting development of character upon
+strictly logical lines and by means of cunningly created situations,
+that was as much like life as a mother’s formula would be for the
+thoughts and deeds of her children at a given hour a year hence.
+Ora did not know that most people in their rare moments of honest
+introspection find themselves singularly imperfect. She had looked for
+greater consistency in her complex recesses; assuming that if she made
+up her mind to take the husband of any woman, and that woman her best
+friend, she would be wholly hard and wicked, and, for the sake of the
+result, quite willing to achieve this consistent imperfection. And such
+hardness would be the surest of all solaces in the event of failure.
+She felt neither hard nor nearly as wicked as she should, but she did
+recognise the fact that if she had one more chance she would win by
+hook or crook.
+Her thoughts swung to Ida. What had she said to Gregory in that last
+decisive interview? Ida was as clever as the devil. She would watch
+her chance and make just the right appeal at the right moment. Gregory
+could be ruthless to the woman of whom he had wearied or to the woman
+he loved, but if his wife played upon his honour, his Western chivalry,
+his sense of fair play, and reiterated her own rights--to her would he
+lower his flag if it struck the life out of his own heart, and left
+himself nothing to feed the deep passion and romance of his nature for
+the rest of his life.
+In any case Ida had won.
+Once more Ora wished that she had gone to work when she found herself
+penniless after her father’s death. She would have developed normally,
+and it was unthinkable that in the little world of Butte she would not
+have met Gregory Compton while he was free. Then not only would she be
+happy today but know nothing of those abysmal depths in her soul which
+she execrated while yielding to them and lamenting that for the time
+being they were no worse. Love may be divine when all goes well, or
+one is born into the cult of the martyr, but when it comes too late
+to passionate natures associated with virile and accomplished minds,
+it can be the very spawn of hell. Ora’s regret that she was not of the
+breed of those finished wantons of history that rose to fame on the
+shattered hearts of men was born of expediency. Could she have been
+given her choice and Gregory Compton she would have elected to be fine
+and noble, consummating the lofty dictates of her superior intellectual
+endowment. Not yet had she realised that lacking a ruthless centralised
+ideal, rarely allied to brilliant intellects, the souls of women even
+more than those of men (who have less time and more poise) are the
+playthings of Circumstance.
+She became aware that her Chinaman was crossing the room, and before
+she could refocus her wandering mental vision and intercept him, he had
+opened the front door and admitted Professor Whalen.
+XXIII
+Ida had broken a dinner engagement and sat alone in her library. She
+knew that Gregory had passed through Butte that day on his way from
+Helena to Pony; she had seen him leave the Block where his lawyers
+had their offices and jump into a waiting taxi. He was not the man to
+take a cab for anything but an imminent train. She had rushed home,
+but he had neither called nor telephoned. She reasoned that he would
+be more than man if he were not reluctant to see her again after their
+last embarrassing interview, that there was no cause for fresh doubts,
+and that there was literally nothing for her to do at present but
+continue to play her waiting game. But she felt both sad and nervous,
+and wondered if it were in her to despair, to “cut and run” like
+other women; or whether it might not be wise to absent herself for a
+time. Gregory was the sort of man to appreciate delicacy, and after
+an absence of two months they would meet quite naturally. She could
+visit Yellowstone and Glacier Park, and send him pleasant impersonal
+postcards.
+But although she hesitated to acknowledge it, she was tired of her
+waiting game, she wished that “fate would get a move on”, and she had
+left her husband once with unforeseen results. She leaned her elbows
+on her knees and pressed her hands against her face. She had always
+cherished a high opinion of her cleverness in regard to men, but she
+was nonplussed. For a woman of her resource there should be some
+alternative to waiting. She knew that she had made a deep impression
+on her husband in that momentous interview, but who could say that he
+had not deliberately put the memory of it out of his mind? Certainly
+there was no sign that it had softened him or paved the way for her
+reinstatement into his life.
+She was alarmed at her waning self-control. During these last few days
+she barely had been able to play her part in society; the people at
+the various functions she had attended had seemed to her confused and
+absent mind like marionettes that she could sweep off the stage with
+her arm, and she had retreated into her shell lest she insult them
+irreparably.
+She brought her heavy brows together. Could there be another woman
+after all? Gregory was cleverer than any detective. Why should it occur
+to him to suggest divorce, he a man so absorbed in a mine that he had
+forgotten how to live--merely out of consideration for a discarded wife
+whose existence he generally managed to forget? It was certainly odd,
+and its idiosyncrasies grew and swelled as she brooded. She wondered
+if she had been a fool. But who in heaven’s name could the woman be?
+Of course it was only a passing fancy, but could she wait, _could she
+wait_?
+She was aroused by a slight cough, discreet but full of subtle
+insolence. She sprang to her feet, and Whalen smiled as he saw her
+drawn face and bloodshot eyes. He stood just within the door, and held
+a cap in his hand. He wore a light automobile coat; a pair of goggles
+only half covered his bulging brow. His upper teeth were clamped down
+over his lower lip, a habit when steadying his nerves. Ida thought she
+had never seen him look so hideous, so like a mongrel cur.
+“What do you want?” she asked.
+“How gracious you are! How like Mrs. Blake, who would not forget her
+manners if she----”
+“I’ve got no manners for your sort. Get out.”
+“Oh, not yet. I’ve something to say. I’ve waited for over a year, but
+my time has come----”
+“You’ll go out the way you went last time if you don’t say what you’ve
+got to say pretty quick and get out by yourself.”
+Whalen looked over his shoulder nervously, and measured the distance
+to the front door. He had asked leave of the maid to announce himself,
+and, when she had disappeared, reopened the door and left it ajar.
+“It won’t take me long,” he said grimly. “It took me a little longer to
+tell Mrs. Blake, for she was hard to convince; but she _was_ convinced
+before I left. It is merely this: I saw you go into Lord John Mowbray’s
+rooms on Monday night shortly after ten o’clock and come out at
+half-past one.”
+“Oh, you did, did you? I had a feeling all the time there was a sneak
+in the neighbourhood. Well, much good your spying will do you. Lord
+John was at the Country Club until three in the morning and everybody
+knows it.”
+She spoke calmly, but she was profoundly disturbed. She continued,
+however, in the same tones of cutting contempt, for she saw that he was
+taken aback, “I merely misunderstood an invitation of Lord John’s for
+a bridge party. I thought it was for that night, and although I was
+surprised to find myself the first and Lord John not there, I sat down
+to wait and fell asleep. I had had a hard day. I only condescend to
+explain,” she continued witheringly, “because you are as venomous as a
+mad dog and it is as well to muzzle you at once.”
+“I don’t believe a word of that yarn, and neither will anyone else. I
+certainly managed to convince Mrs. Blake----”
+“Not she. She must have laughed in your face----”
+“Oh no! Not Mrs. Blake! But I will admit that it was not easy to make
+her believe ill of you. Perhaps I should not have succeeded, but when a
+woman is eager to believe----” He laughed and shrugged his shoulders;
+but once more he cast a quick glance at the line of retreat. The heavy
+library table was between them.
+“What the devil do you mean?” Ida spoke roughly, but her heart began to
+hammer. She felt a sudden impulse to run away, but she stood rigidly
+and glared at him. “Here!” she continued, “come to the point. Spit
+out your poison. What particular object had you in trying to set my
+best friend against me? It would have been more like you to run to a
+newspaper.”
+“That later. I wanted to do Mrs. Blake a good turn and at the same
+time let her be the one to tell your husband that he could secure his
+freedom without further delay----”
+“What do you mean? What do you mean?” Ida’s eyes were staring as if
+they saw a vision of herself at the stake; she tossed off her pride
+as she would a hampering cloak. “Ora! Ora! Oh, not Ora! You liar!”
+she screamed. “Prove what you said quick----” But he saw that she had
+caught the edge of the table and that her body was swaying.
+“Oh, neither will deny it now,” he replied in a tone of deadly quiet.
+“She went out there to be near him, no doubt of that; and he’s spent
+hours on end in that bungalow. I went to Helena and back with him and I
+guessed that something was up, for he was glummer and more disagreeable
+than usual; and this afternoon when I saw her come up out of his mine
+I guessed they had had a painful scene and parted. So I told her she
+had the game in her own hands, and that I’d go on the stand and swear
+to what I saw. No husband would believe anything but the truth, nor
+this town either. You might prove that your lord made a fool of you and
+amused himself elsewhere, but you’re done for all the same; and I guess
+Mr. Compton would manage his divorce all right. Then two people that
+are madly in love will be happy----”
+Ida’s strength rushed back and the world turned scarlet. She picked
+up a heavy bronze from the table and hurled it at him. But Whalen was
+expecting a physical assault in some form. He ducked and fled. When she
+reached the open door he was not in sight.
+XXIV
+Ora watched the clock until twenty minutes after eleven.
+The miners changed shift promptly, and the last should have gone down
+the Primo shaft by a quarter past at the latest. The shaft house would
+be empty, as no hoisting was being done on the night shift.
+She turned out the light in her living-room, wrapped herself in a dark
+lodenmantel, a long cape with a hood that she had worn while climbing
+in Bavaria, and let herself out. She walked through the grove to the
+edge of the bluff above her camp and stood for a few moments, listening
+intently. Some ten minutes since she had heard the warning shriek of an
+automobile horn, but the garage of her manager, who had motored Whalen
+into Butte, was on the flat, and he had had time either to go down into
+the mine or climb to his own cottage.
+The moon was at the full and the scene as sharply outlined as by day,
+although less animated. Save for the usual raucous noises of a mining
+camp the only sign of life was in the saloon. Some one was playing a
+pianola, and through the open door she saw men standing at the bar. For
+a moment she was tempted to take the surface path across the camps; but
+the risk was too great. Some one was sure to be abroad, and although
+she had been willing to brave the scorn of the world when there was no
+apparent alternative, she shrank from the plain Saxon the miners would
+use if they saw her. From Gregory’s shaft house she could reach his
+cabin by the path behind the abandoned cut.
+A light was burning in her shaft house. She was not expert enough to
+descend the ladder candle in hand, and for a moment faltered above the
+darkness of the well; she had not been down before at night. Then she
+reflected that it was always night in the mines and descended without
+further hesitation.
+At the foot of the shaft the usual station was one with the chamber
+left after removing the first large deposit of ore. They had merely
+cut through the vein at this point without stoping, and the great
+excavation had a lofty roof. Ora struck a match and lit a candle
+near by. On the day of the geologists’ visit a number of miner’s
+candlesticks had been thrust into what little wood there was in the
+chamber, and the candles were but half burnt out. Then she lit the one
+she had brought in her pocket. Accustomed as she was by this time to
+the route underground by chamber and gallery to the Perch mine, she
+always picked her way carefully, particularly down the first drift;
+her lessees, impatient at the leanness of the connecting vein, and not
+wishing to spend either the time or the money to sink the shaft another
+hundred feet, had understoped, and the holes were ill-covered.
+She crossed the large black cavern toward the first of these tunnels,
+or drifts, sweeping the candle about her head, and then holding
+it downward, for she always feared cave-ins. The room was almost
+untimbered, owing to the hardness of the rock.
+She had almost reached the mouth of the drift, when she paused
+suddenly, listened intently, and then blew out her candle. Some one
+was on the ladder. It was one of the miners, no doubt. Something had
+detained him above ground, and not daring to summon the shaft house
+man, he was sneaking down the ladder. He would go on down to the second
+level of the mine. Ora stood motionless, her hood pulled over her white
+face. Her miners were good average men, but the saloon flourished, and
+was no doubt responsible for the present delinquency.
+Then once more she listened intently. The upper part of her body
+stiffened like a startled animal’s. Whoever was coming down was making
+his first descent by foot; not only was his progress slow, but he was
+breathing heavily, and hesitating between rungs, as if it were his
+first experience of an inclined ladder. Miners hate the shaft ladder,
+and will resort to any subterfuge to avoid it, but they are experts
+in “negotiating” it nevertheless. No doubt this was some green hand,
+recently employed. Or possibly the man was drunk.
+Then suddenly Ora turned cold with the chill of the mine itself, a
+mere physical attribute that her warm blood had never deigned to
+notice before. A form was slowly coming into view below the high roof
+of the cavern, and although it was little more than a blot on the
+general blackness, Ora’s keen eyes, accustomed to the faint relief
+given by the candle near the shaft, noted as it descended further
+that it covered more of the ladder than it should. Miners are almost
+invariably thin and they wear overalls. This person wore a heavy cape
+like her own. But it was not alone the garment, which any miner would
+scorn, that betrayed the sex of the invader; it may have been the
+physical awkwardness, the shallow breathing, or some subtle psychical
+emanation--or all--that warned Ora of the approach not only of a woman
+but of a malignant force.
+And this woman was following her. There was no doubt in her mind of
+that. She suffered a moment or two of furious unreasoning terror as
+she crouched against the wall and watched that shadow against a shadow
+slowly descend the final rungs of the ladder. Her first impulse had
+been to flee down the drift, but there was danger of falling into one
+of the gouge holes and disabling herself. She dared not relight her
+candle.
+Shaking, terrified as she never had been in her life--for she was
+normally brave, and it was not a normal woman she feared but that
+aura of hate and lust for vengeance--undecided, putting up a frantic
+prayer that Gregory would come to her rescue, she pulled the hood over
+her face and almost sank to her knees. The woman, breathing heavily,
+reached the last rung and touched the ground as warily as a cat. For a
+moment she stood drawing in deep breaths like sighs, but which escaped,
+to tormented ears, like a hiss. Ora, her eyelids almost meeting over
+the intense concentration of her gaze, saw the woman fling back the
+mantle that covered her, throw out her arms as if to relax the muscles
+after the strain of the descent. Then she turned suddenly, snatched the
+candlestick from the wall and held it above her head.
+For the moment Ora thought her heart had stopped. The woman was Ida.
+Her heavy lowered brows were like a heavy band across the white
+ghastliness of her face. Her eyes glittered horribly. Her lips were a
+mere tight line. Her black hair, loosened, fell over her face. Ora’s
+hypnotised gaze tore itself from those slowly moving eyes and lowered
+itself instinctively to Ida’s right hand. It held the stiletto she had
+given her in Genoa. The slanting rays of the candle fell on the jewels
+of the hilt. Then she knew that Ida had followed her down into the mine
+to kill her.
+Her courage came back as quickly as it had fled. Ora’s brain might
+be democratic but her soul was haughty. The friendship of the past
+eighteen months between herself and this woman suddenly shaped itself
+as forced and artificial, and she was filled with a cold surprise and
+anger. _Who_ was Ida Hook that she should presume to question Ora
+Stratton? Similar reflections, no doubt, stiffened many a noble when on
+his way to the guillotine at the behest of the _canaille_.
+Ora was beyond the ray of the candle at present but Ida was beginning
+to move forward, her eyes almost blank in spite of their brilliancy,
+moving from side to side, striving to pierce the darkness, her head
+bent forward to catch the slightest sound. It was evident that she had
+seen Ora go into the shaft house, and knew that she could not be far
+off.
+Ora took the automatic from the bag at her waist, pointed it at the
+roof of the cave and fired twice. The din was terrific in that confined
+space. Ida shrieked, dropped the stiletto and candle, and flung her
+arms about her head. Ora hastily lighted two other candles, and then
+retreated against the wall. She believed that the terrible inhibition
+in Ida’s tormented mind was shattered, but she kept the automatic in
+her hand, nevertheless.
+The reverberations died away and once more the mine was as silent as
+only a deserted level of a mine can be. Ida raised her head and saw
+Ora. She gave a strangled cry and moved forward a step. Then her arms
+fell heavily to her side. She did not even pick up the dagger. The
+inhuman tension of her mind relaxed, the body barely had force enough
+to hold itself together.
+“I came here to kill you,” she said. “But I can’t do it. I’ve been mad
+for hours, and I wish I could have found you in bed as I thought I
+would. I could have killed you then. But I saw you come down here--Have
+you told him?”
+“No. He was down in the mine until eleven. I was on my way to tell
+him--to break down his resistance tonight!”
+“His resistance?” Ida raised her head. She had lost the pitch necessary
+for murder, but her mind began to recover its alertness and her
+drooping body to set its springs in motion. “What do you mean by that?
+I thought he was in love with you.”
+Ora laughed. She was filled with an utter despair, but the knife was
+still in Ida and she could turn it round. “Oh, yes, make no doubt of
+that. He loves me and will as long as he lives----”
+“Not much he won’t!” roared Ida. “If I’ve been too quick for you you’ll
+never tell him now, and he practically gave me his word the other day
+that he’d never even ask me for a divorce again. That means you go and
+go quick, and if you think Gregory will have nothing to do but sit down
+and nurse your memory----”
+The blood flew to Ora’s head and she hastily dropped the automatic into
+her bag. “I’ll not go!” she said. “And what is more I shall tell him.
+When Gregory knows that you spent three hours in Mowbray’s rooms at
+night----”
+“Mowbray was not there! He was at the Country Club----”
+“_Was_ he?”
+“Yes, and it can be proved. Moreover, you know me well enough----”
+“It doesn’t matter what can be proved or what I believe. You waited for
+Mowbray--Do you suppose that Gregory--or any court of law----”
+“My God!” cried Ida. “You! You! I think it was that drove me off my
+head more than the prospect of disgrace and losing Gregory. You! What
+in God’s name is possessing you? I always knew that you would be the
+concentrated essence of all damn fool women that ever lived when you
+did fall in love, but I never believed it was in you to do anything
+dishonourable----”
+“And would you have believed that you, the concentrated essence of all
+that is cool, deliberate, calculating, would ever be inspired to commit
+murder? And for a man? What’s the use of talking? People possessed by
+love either are wholly themselves while it lasts, or are abnormal and
+should not be held accountable even to the law. I suppose this means
+that you too love Gregory Compton?”
+“Yes it does!” cried Ida, the more vehemently because it shamed her
+to put this unwonted weakness into words. “I do, damn it all! I do. I
+thought I was immune, but I guess we are all born with the microbe and
+it bites when the soil is good and ready.” Her anger had vanished,
+for in spite of Ora’s defiance she knew that she was master of the
+situation. She kicked the stiletto contemptuously aside, clasped her
+hips with her large firm hands and threw back her shoulders. “Now!” she
+said, “admit right here that you know I didn’t go to Mowbray’s rooms
+for any old intrigue. That kind of thing isn’t in me and you know it.”
+“I will confess I was surprised--I refused to believe it at first--Oh,
+I suppose I don’t. But it doesn’t matter----”
+“Are you ready to come with me this minute to Gregory and tell him that
+yarn--knowing that I can prove Mowbray wasn’t there--I say _go with
+me_--not by yourself.”
+Ora made no reply. She was beaten but she was not ready to admit it.
+“You may bet your life on one thing,” continued Ida. “You go with me
+or you don’t go at all, for I’ll stick to you like wet paint until
+this thing is settled once for all. Now just tell me what you meant a
+while back by Gregory’s resistance? When you found I wouldn’t consent
+to a divorce--of course you put him up to ask me, you traitorous little
+white devil--did you want him to elope with you?”
+“Yes I did!”
+“And he wouldn’t!”
+“He--he would not sacrifice me----”
+“Shucks! Where did you want him to go? To Europe?”
+“Yes.”
+“Good Lord! And what did you think you were going to do with him over
+there? Spoon in orange groves for forty years?”
+“There are several thousand resources in Europe besides orange
+groves--but you would never understand----”
+“Oh, don’t I understand? It’s I that does understand, not you, or you
+would never have made such an asinine proposition to Gregory Compton.
+Why on earth didn’t you propose some place with _mines_--Mexico,
+Alaska, China--Then you might have stood some show--but
+Europe--Gregory--Do you remember those American business men that
+always looked as if they had left their minds in an office at the top
+of a thirty-story building, and their bodies were being led round by a
+string? The vision of Gregory astray in Europe for the rest of his life
+would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. Talk about the conceit of
+man. It isn’t a patch on that of a woman when she gets the bug inside
+her head that she can be ‘everything’ to a man. I can manage Gregory
+till doomsday when I get him back, but you’d lose him inside of six
+months no matter which way you got him----”
+“That couldn’t be true! I recognised that he was mine--_mine_--the
+night we met before I left----”
+“What’s that?”
+“Oh, yes, I met him once before I went abroad with you--we talked for
+an hour----”
+“And he was the man you wrote those letters to in Europe----”
+“Yes.”
+“And I your most intimate friend!”
+“I never sent them, and you did not care for him then----”
+“Oh, I don’t see you apologising if you had turned heaven into hell.
+You made up your mind then to have him, I suppose?”
+“No. And not even when I came out here. I only wanted to be with
+him--know him a little better--have that much--Oh, I couldn’t make you
+understand any more than that I can suffer as much as if I were the
+best of women who had lost her husband by death. It was only after
+Mowbray came--there seemed a prospect----”
+“Well, I don’t know that I blame you so much, for I certainly bluffed
+it pretty well. I can forgive you for that but not for meaning to make
+me out a strumpet and send me to the muck heap, disgraced for the rest
+of my life. Well, come along. Let us go straight to Gregory and let him
+decide.”
+Ora did not move.
+“It’s either that or you go back to Butte with me tonight and start for
+Europe tomorrow morning.”
+“I know when I am beaten. I will leave. And don’t imagine that you have
+won because you are in the right. We have emerged from the dark ages of
+superstition, and we know that the wicked are not punished if they are
+strong enough. Nor are the virtuous rewarded for mere virtue--not once
+in ten thousand times. You have won because you are stronger than I.
+That is all.”
+“It’s enough for me.”
+Ora laughed. “Do you really believe that you can win him back? He’ll
+not forget me, because I can always fire his imagination. He is as
+indifferent to you as only a man can be when the woman is an old story.”
+“That was a nasty one! But I’m not worrying. I have been at a
+disadvantage since I got back, thinking my only rival was a hole in
+the ground. But take this from me, Ora: when a woman knows where she
+stands, and has the inside track, and has her nerve with her, the man
+has no show whatever. Nor the other woman. I’ll get him back all right.
+And he’ll forget you. That’s a man’s long suit.”
+“We’ll neither of us ever know, so it doesn’t matter. I shall never see
+him again. That is all that matters to me.”
+“And Valdobia?”
+“I shall marry him. I suppose--after a while.”
+“I don’t mind saying that he is much too good for you.”
+“Possibly. And he’ll love me the more.”
+“And shall you tell him of this little interlude?”
+“Certainly not.”
+“Well, I always have maintained that the woman who confessed anything
+to a man was a fool, but it certainly is a queer mix up.”
+“I don’t know that I should so much mind telling him, after all. Men
+are too practical to resent any but the literal infidelity. And he is
+the only person living that understands me. Gregory does not and never
+would care to. Why could not I have had this madness for the one man
+who is really fitted to be my mate--whose ideas of life are my own, who
+has so much the same order of mind? Why should I love Gregory Compton,
+a man I not only cannot marry, but with whom I never could find a real
+companionship. My God! Why? Why?”
+“There are several ways of getting ahead of life,” said Ida drily, “and
+one is not asking ‘Why’ too often. That’s just one of her little traps
+to keep you discontented. You and Gregory Compton! It certainly is
+funny. What did you talk about anyway?”
+Ora threw out her arms and laughed wildly. “Ores. Ores. Ores. I tried
+to interest him in many of the things that interested me. He didn’t
+even try to understand what I was driving at. One night I offered to
+read to him--I had a lively new volume of memoirs in mind--he asked
+if I had any work on copper. I read to him for three hours from a
+book called ‘The Copper Mines of the World,’ technicalities and all.
+Of course he had read it before, but it seemed to delight him. We
+literally had no common meeting ground but ores, but we loved each
+other madly. Oh, don’t tell me that it was mere passion!” she broke out
+as angrily as if Ida had interrupted her. “Valdobia is attractive in
+far more ways and better looking. Gregory has met many women.--If that
+were all we should have bored each other long since--we never could
+have held each other’s imaginations while apart.--I tell you it is some
+deep primary bond--something that older races perhaps could explain.
+Why should we meet at all in this life----”
+“I guess when we understand all the different brands of love we’ll
+vaccinate and be immune. Shut your teeth, Ora, and take your medicine.
+And for heaven’s sake let us get out of this damp hole. I’ll help you
+and Custer pack and we’ll go to Butte in the car I came out in. Have I
+got to go up that ladder!”
+“No, we’ll go over to the Perch mine and ring for the skip there. My
+engineer is not on duty during the ‘graveyard shift.’”
+XXV
+On the following morning Ida, having seen Ora on the train bound for
+Chicago, went at once to a public garage, rented the touring car she
+had used the night before, and was driven out to the mines. She walked
+up to the cabin on the crest of Perch of the Devil and, finding it
+empty, summoned a miner who was lounging near and bade him call Mr.
+Compton. The man asked to be allowed to use the telephone in the
+office, obtained connection with the second level of the mine, and
+announced in a few moments that the boss was on his way up.
+Ida, who had dropped wearily into a chair, merely nodded as Gregory
+entered. He was as pale as a dark man can be, and his voice when he
+spoke sounded as if he had been running.
+“What is it?” he demanded. “Has anything happened----”
+“To Ora? Nothing, except that she is on her way East and to Europe.
+Tired, no doubt, but quite well.”
+Gregory drew a short sigh of relief, and sat down before his table,
+shading his eyes with his hand. “Well?” he asked. “What is it?”
+“I haven’t come out here to make a scene, or even to reproach you. I
+believe that I should have the self-restraint to ignore the subject
+altogether if it were not for that man, Whalen. Some one must put an
+extinguisher on him at once and you are the one to do it. That is why
+I am obliged to tell you that I found out yesterday about you and Ora.
+I had begun to believe there must be some woman in the case but I had
+not the least suspicion of Ora. I not only believed her to be the soul
+of honour, but I thought she was really in love with the Marchese
+Valdobia, a Roman who has everything to offer that a woman of her type
+demands, and to marry whom she had demanded a divorce from Mark. She
+has been tacitly engaged to him ever since we left Europe.”
+Ida saw the muscles in Gregory’s long body stiffen as if he were about
+to spring, and his eyes glitter through the lattice of his fingers.
+But he made no comment, and after giving him time to assimilate her
+information, she added more gently:
+“Console yourself with the reflection that she would have thrown him
+over for you. But she knows now what a mistake she would have made. Ora
+is one of those atavistic Americans that are far more at home in Europe
+than in the new world. She has gone where she belongs and Valdobia is
+her man.”
+She paused again. He was still silent, and she continued less fluently:
+“Now I come to the unpleasant part for myself. To begin at the
+beginning: I made an enemy of little Whalen before I went abroad. He
+had the sublime impudence to kiss me one day, and I simply took him by
+the back of his neck and the seat of his pants and threw him out of the
+window. He has had it in for me ever since.”
+In spite of the various emotions raging within him, Gregory laughed
+aloud at the picture. The atmosphere felt clearer. Ida went on with
+more confidence:
+“Of course you know that Lord John Mowbray followed me here. He wanted
+me to get a divorce and marry him, as Valdobia had planned with Ora.
+I liked him well enough, but even if I had been free it never would
+have occurred to me to marry him, and no one knew better than he that
+I didn’t care a copper cent for him. His hope after he came here--a
+hope in which he was encouraged by Ora--was that, as you were so loudly
+indifferent, pride might drive me to leave you and make a brilliant
+marriage. Well, I was tempted for a moment. It was on the night of the
+day I had been down in the mine with you. I believed that I had given
+myself away absolutely, offered myself and been refused as casually as
+if I had been some woman of the streets; told you almost in so many
+words that I loved you and been invited with excruciating politeness to
+go to the devil.
+“Well, that night I nearly went off my head. I had a whole mind, for
+a few moments, to ring up Mowbray and tell him that I would get my
+freedom and leave the country for ever. But that passed. I couldn’t
+have done it, and I knew it, in spite of the blood pumping in my head.
+I went out for a walk, for I had smashed a few things already. Then the
+mad impulse came to me to call on Mowbray. I knew that I’d treat him
+no better than I had treated Whalen if he so much as tried to kiss me.
+But I wasn’t afraid. He was too keen on marrying me to take any risks.
+What I wanted was to do something real devilish--to be more elegant,
+something quite the antithesis of all that is _comme il faut_. So I
+went. Mowbray wasn’t there. He had gone to the dance at the Country
+Club. I sat down to wait for him and fell asleep. When I awoke it was
+after one o’clock and I was still alone. I can tell you I got out
+pretty quick. I had slept the blood out of my head and I felt like a
+fool. I bribed the Jap not to tell Mowbray or anyone else.
+“Well, the point of all this is--and the only reason I have told
+you--Whalen saw me go in and waited for me to come out. He believed
+that he had found his chance for revenge at last. No doubt he would
+have told you on the way to Helena, but he hasn’t the spunk of a road
+agent at the wrong end of a gun. So he took his tale to Ora when he got
+back.--But before I go any further I want you to say that you believe
+I had no wrong motive in going to Mowbray’s rooms. Of course a hundred
+people could testify that he did not leave the Country Club until three
+o’clock, but that is not the point with you.”
+“I believe you,” said Gregory. He was intensely interested.
+Ida drew a long sigh and the colour came back to her face. Her eyes,
+heavy with fatigue, sparkled. “Well! Whalen was all for drinking his
+cup of revenge down to the dregs. It wasn’t enough to spring a mine
+under me, he must see what I looked like when it blew up the first
+time. After he told Ora he posted into Butte and managed to get into
+my house unannounced--that maid has been fired. I was in the library
+on the other side of the room. The doorway was good enough for him. He
+told me. Some time I’ll tell you all I felt. After he had lit out with
+the Venus of Milo flying after him, I went stark mad. I made up what
+mind I had left to kill Ora and kill her quick.”
+“What?” Gregory sat up and stared at her, his eyes wide open. And,
+astounded as he was, the immortal vanity of man thrilled responsively
+to the reckless and destructive passions he had inspired in these two
+remarkable women.
+“I got a touring car and arrived at the foot of her hill--a little
+after eleven it was, I guess. There was a light in her living-room, and
+I made up my mind to wait until I was sure she was alone and in her
+bedroom. Then I intended to get in somehow or other and kill her with
+that stiletto she gave me in Genoa. It was a notion of hers that I had
+been one of the wicked dames of the Renaissance, and I just naturally
+took the hint. While I was waiting the light went out and almost
+immediately I saw her hurry down the path that led to her claim and go
+into her shaft house. I knew on the instant that she was going to you,
+and that she took that route to avoid being seen. My mind could grasp
+that much in spite of the fixed idea in it--that she was on her way to
+tell you Whalen’s story. This was true as I found out afterwards. She
+went that night, partly because she couldn’t keep it any longer, partly
+because she wanted to tell you when you were alone in your cabin at
+night and she could also bind you hand and foot with that Lorelei hair
+of hers. It takes the hyper-civilised super-refined Oras to stick at
+nothing when their primitive instincts loosen up.
+“Well--I went into the shaft house, and listened until I no longer
+could hear her on the ladder. Then I followed. Glory! Shall I ever
+forget going down that ladder? I felt as if every muscle in my body
+were being torn up by the roots; and I had to carry the stiletto
+between my teeth. And pitch dark. All my clothes in the way every step.
+It was enough to take the starch out of tragedy, and I guess it would
+have flattened me out if it hadn’t been just the one thing that could
+make me madder still.
+“I’ll give you the details of that scene some other time. I’m too
+tired now. It is enough to say that she had a pistol and made such an
+infernal racket with it--shooting at the roof--that something busted in
+my head and I came to. Then we had it out. She agreed to leave because
+she knew me too well to believe I had gone to Mowbray’s rooms for any
+horrid purpose, and he hadn’t been there anyway. I told her that if she
+told you it would have to be before me, and she knew that she couldn’t
+brazen it through. So I packed her and got her off this morning. That
+means that I had no sleep last night.”
+She stood up and Gregory rose also. “Now, there are two things more,”
+she said with no lack of decision in her voice, whatever her fatigue of
+body. “You must settle Whalen, and you must move to Butte and live in
+my house, even if you are only there once or twice a week. Whalen, the
+moment he discovers that Ora has gone, will run about Butte defaming
+me, or carry the story to the papers. It wouldn’t do me much good to
+prove that Mowbray wasn’t there. People like to believe the worst,
+and in time would forget that Mowbray had been at the Club on that
+particular night. My set might be all right. But the rest--and my
+servants--and Ruby and Pearl! They always use the word ‘bad,’ and, as
+Ora says, an intrigue is only decent in a foreign language. It gives me
+the horrors to think of it. But if we are seen together twice a week,
+and you are known to be living in the house, however often you must be
+absent, nobody will listen to a story that is not headed toward the
+divorce court.”
+“I’ll buy Whalen’s claim and tell him to get out of Montana. He’ll go!
+As for the rest of your programme--please be sure, Ida, that I stand
+ready to protect you now and always. You are not only my wife but an
+extraordinary woman, and I am very proud of you.”
+“Oh, the extraordinary woman hasn’t been born yet, in spite of the big
+fight the sex is putting up,” said Ida lightly, as they left the cabin
+and walked down the hill. “When women really are extraordinary they
+will be just as happy without men as they now want to be with them.
+They try with all their might to be hard, and they can ring outside
+like metal, but inside they are just one perpetual shriek for the right
+man to come along--that is all but a few hundred thousand tribadists.
+But they’ve made a beginning, and one day they’ll really be able to
+take men as incidentally as men take women. Then we’ll all be happy.
+Don’t you fool yourself that that’s what I’m aiming at, though. I’m the
+sort that hangs on to her man like grim death.”
+“You’re all right!” said Gregory, who, man-like, was automatically
+readjusting himself to the inevitable.
+He handed her into the tonneau of the car, and tucked the robe about
+her. She gave his hand a hearty friendly shake, for she was much too
+wise and too tired for sentiment. “Don’t you worry about Ora,” she
+said. “Custer is with her and she has the drawing-room, and is probably
+sound asleep at this moment. It must be very restful to get a tragic
+love affair off your chest.”
+And then the car rolled off and she fell asleep at once.
+PART III
+PART III
+They stood together in the dawn, the blue dawn of Montana. Silver stars
+were winking dimly in the silver sky, clear save above the glittering
+peaks of the distant range, which reflected the blue of a bank of
+clouds above. And all the vast and snowy expanse was blue; and the snow
+on the pine trees of the forest.
+No one stirred in the two camps, not abroad at least; and even the
+shacks and larger buildings built with as little regard for beauty were
+transformed and glorified by the white splendour of winter. On the
+crest of Perch of the Devil was a long gracefully built bungalow, also
+heavily laden with snow, and between the posts of its verandah hung
+icicles, iridescent blue in the dawn.
+A small lawn had been cultivated, and they leaned over the gate of the
+fence that surrounded it, not wrapped in one buffalo robe, but in heavy
+automobile coats, their heads protected from the intense cold by fur
+caps. But they stood close together, and even a passing stranger would
+have known that there was harmony between them. Both were looking at
+the cold loveliness of the dawn and admiring it subconsciously, and
+both were thinking of other things. Gregory was visualising a ranch he
+had bought not long since near those mountains, and the wire gold but
+a few feet below the surface, found a fortnight ago while ditching. He
+had his gold mine at last, but it merely would hasten his grooming for
+the millionaire brotherhood, and had given him none of the exultant
+ecstasy he had dreamed of in the days before he had opened Perch of
+the Devil. The gold mine was not in his hill! Only the sharp, cool,
+calculating business wing of his brain appreciated it. The mine beneath
+his feet was still the object of his deep affections.
+And sometimes, down in the depths of that mine (never above ground), he
+sat alone for a few moments and thought of Ora. He had forced her out
+of his mind when she went out of his life, but nothing could dislodge
+her from his ivory tower, although in time to come she might gather
+dust for years on end. For months after she married Valdobia she seemed
+to have taken his memory to Rome with her; but she brought it back in
+time.
+In those rare moments when he peered through the windows of that inner
+temple, he, too, sometimes asked, “Why?” What had it all meant? It
+had been perfect love--yet so lamentably imperfect; not only because
+they were torn apart, but because they would not have found permanent
+happiness together. Between some subtle essence of their beings there
+was an indissoluble bond, but their minds were not in accord, and
+neither would have been adaptable save during that fluid period when
+even strong egos lose their bearings and float on that inevitable sea
+of many tides called Love; knowing that when it casts them on the shore
+whence they came, once more will they be as malleable as rock crystal.
+But what had it all meant?
+And his wife made him very happy. He found her increasingly desirable
+as a life companion. She adapted herself to every angle of his
+character while losing none of her own picturesque individuality; made
+no impossible exactions either on his soul or his time; was always
+beautiful to look at; and the most level-headed of his friends.
+Even men of less complicated egos have been able to love two women at
+once and survive.
+And Ida? She at least had what she wanted, she was a philosopher, and
+therefore as happy as may be. By constant manœuvring she saw more of
+her busy husband than falls to the lot of most American wives married
+to too successful men. She had made herself so necessary to him that he
+returned from his many absences almost as eager to see her as his mine.
+On these hurried trips she never accompanied him, not only because it
+was wise to let him miss her, and to think of her always in the home
+setting, but because they gave her the opportunity to retain her hold
+on Butte; to enjoy her beautiful house there and her many friends.
+Suddenly Gregory raised his head. Then he lifted the ear flap of his
+fur cap. High above there was a loud humming, as of the wind along
+telegraph wires, or the droning of many bees, or the strumming of an
+aerial harp. The month was March and the weather forty degrees below
+zero. The very sky, whose silver was growing dim, looked frosted, but a
+moment later Gregory felt a warm puff of air on his cheek.
+“The Chinook!” he said softly.
+Another puff touched them both lightly, then a long wave of warm air
+swept down and about them.
+“It’s chinooking, certainly,” said Ida, opening her fur coat and
+pushing back her cap. “I hope that means we’ve had the last of winter.”
+Again there was a long diving wave, almost hot in its contrast to the
+cold air rising from the ground, and still accompanied by that humming
+orchestra above. But in a few moments the hum had deepened into a roar
+down in the tree tops and about the corners of the buildings on the
+hill. The icicles fell from the eaves and lay shattered and dissolving
+on the porch, the snow was blown up in frosty clouds and melted as it
+fell.
+“It’s the last of winter, I guess,” said Gregory. “We’re not likely to
+have another long spell of cold. Spring has come. And so has daylight.
+Let’s go in, old girl.”
+THE END
+FOOTNOTES:
+[A] Pronounced Bute.
+[B] Plato dates the submergence of the last of Atlantis (the island of
+Poseidonis) about 9,000 years before the priests of Sais told its story
+to Solon, who lived 600 B.C. The Troano MSS. in the British Museum,
+written by the Mayas of Yucatan about 3500 B.C., assert that it took
+place 11560 B.C. The archaic records of India give the date of the
+fourth and final catastrophe that overwhelmed the remnant of the once
+vast continent (which Darwin and other naturalists claim must have
+extended from the American to the European continent to account for the
+migration of plants found in Miocene strata) as 9564 B.C.
\ No newline at end of file
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+It's no use; no use at all. The children won't let me stop telling tales
+of the Land of Oz. I know lots of other stories, and I hope to tell
+them, some time or another; but just now my loving tyrants won't allow
+me. They cry: "Oz--Oz! more about Oz, Mr. Baum!" and what can I do but
+obey their commands?
+This is Our Book--mine and the children's. For they have flooded me with
+thousands of suggestions in regard to it, and I have honestly tried to
+adopt as many of these suggestions as could be fitted into one story.
+After the wonderful success of "Ozma of Oz" it is evident that Dorothy
+has become a firm fixture in these Oz stories. The little ones all love
+Dorothy, and as one of my small friends aptly states: "It isn't a real
+Oz story without her." So here she is again, as sweet and gentle and
+innocent as ever, I hope, and the heroine of another strange adventure.
+There were many requests from my little correspondents for "more about
+the Wizard." It seems the jolly old fellow made hosts of friends in the
+first Oz book, in spite of the fact that he frankly acknowledged himself
+"a humbug." The children had heard how he mounted into the sky in a
+balloon and they were all waiting for him to come down again. So what
+could I do but tell "what happened to the Wizard afterward"? You will
+find him in these pages, just the same humbug Wizard as before.
+There was one thing the children demanded which I found it impossible to
+do in this present book: they bade me introduce Toto, Dorothy's little
+black dog, who has many friends among my readers. But you will see, when
+you begin to read the story, that Toto was in Kansas while Dorothy was
+in California, and so she had to start on her adventure without him. In
+this book Dorothy had to take her kitten with her instead of her dog;
+but in the next Oz book, if I am permitted to write one, I intend to
+tell a good deal about Toto's further history.
+Princess Ozma, whom I love as much as my readers do, is again introduced
+in this story, and so are several of our old friends of Oz. You will
+also become acquainted with Jim the Cab-Horse, the Nine Tiny Piglets,
+and Eureka, the Kitten. I am sorry the kitten was not as well behaved as
+she ought to have been; but perhaps she wasn't brought up properly.
+Dorothy found her, you see, and who her parents were nobody knows.
+I believe, my dears, that I am the proudest story-teller that ever
+lived. Many a time tears of pride and joy have stood in my eyes while I
+read the tender, loving, appealing letters that come to me in almost
+every mail from my little readers. To have pleased you, to have
+interested you, to have won your friendship, and perhaps your love,
+through my stories, is to my mind as great an achievement as to become
+President of the United States. Indeed, I would much rather be your
+story-teller, under these conditions, than to be the President. So you
+have helped me to fulfill my life's ambition, and I am more grateful to
+you, my dears, than I can express in words.
+I try to answer every letter of my young correspondents; yet sometimes
+there are so many letters that a little time must pass before you get
+your answer. But be patient, friends, for the answer will surely come,
+and by writing to me you more than repay me for the pleasant task of
+preparing these books. Besides, I am proud to acknowledge that the books
+are partly yours, for your suggestions often guide me in telling the
+stories, and I am sure they would not be half so good without your
+clever and thoughtful assistance.
+CHAPTER 1.
+THE EARTHQUAKE
+The train from 'Frisco was very late. It should have arrived at Hugson's
+siding at midnight, but it was already five o'clock and the gray dawn
+was breaking in the east when the little train slowly rumbled up to the
+open shed that served for the station-house. As it came to a stop the
+conductor called out in a loud voice:
+"Hugson's Siding!"
+At once a little girl rose from her seat and walked to the door of the
+car, carrying a wicker suit-case in one hand and a round bird-cage
+covered up with newspapers in the other, while a parasol was tucked
+under her arm. The conductor helped her off the car and then the
+engineer started his train again, so that it puffed and groaned and
+moved slowly away up the track. The reason he was so late was because
+all through the night there were times when the solid earth shook and
+trembled under him, and the engineer was afraid that at any moment the
+rails might spread apart and an accident happen to his passengers. So he
+moved the cars slowly and with caution.
+The little girl stood still to watch until the train had disappeared
+around a curve; then she turned to see where she was.
+The shed at Hugson's Siding was bare save for an old wooden bench, and
+did not look very inviting. As she peered through the soft gray light
+not a house of any sort was visible near the station, nor was any person
+in sight; but after a while the child discovered a horse and buggy
+standing near a group of trees a short distance away. She walked toward
+it and found the horse tied to a tree and standing motionless, with its
+head hanging down almost to the ground. It was a big horse, tall and
+bony, with long legs and large knees and feet. She could count his ribs
+easily where they showed through the skin of his body, and his head was
+long and seemed altogether too big for him, as if it did not fit. His
+tail was short and scraggly, and his harness had been broken in many
+places and fastened together again with cords and bits of wire. The
+buggy seemed almost new, for it had a shiny top and side curtains.
+Getting around in front, so that she could look inside, the girl saw a
+boy curled up on the seat, fast asleep.
+She set down the bird-cage and poked the boy with her parasol. Presently
+he woke up, rose to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes briskly.
+"Hello!" he said, seeing her, "are you Dorothy Gale?"
+"Yes," she answered, looking gravely at his tousled hair and blinking
+gray eyes. "Have you come to take me to Hugson's Ranch?"
+"Of course," he answered. "Train in?"
+"I couldn't be here if it wasn't," she said.
+He laughed at that, and his laugh was merry and frank. Jumping out of
+the buggy he put Dorothy's suit-case under the seat and her bird-cage on
+the floor in front.
+"Canary-birds?" he asked.
+"Oh, no; it's just Eureka, my kitten. I thought that was the best way to
+carry her."
+The boy nodded.
+"Eureka's a funny name for a cat," he remarked.
+"I named my kitten that because I found it," she explained. "Uncle Henry
+says 'Eureka' means 'I have found it.'"
+"All right; hop in."
+She climbed into the buggy and he followed her. Then the boy picked up
+the reins, shook them, and said "Gid-dap!"
+The horse did not stir. Dorothy thought he just wiggled one of his
+drooping ears, but that was all.
+"Gid-dap!" called the boy, again.
+The horse stood still.
+"Perhaps," said Dorothy, "if you untied him, he would go."
+The boy laughed cheerfully and jumped out.
+"Guess I'm half asleep yet," he said, untying the horse. "But Jim knows
+his business all right--don't you, Jim?" patting the long nose of the
+animal.
+Then he got into the buggy again and took the reins, and the horse at
+once backed away from the tree, turned slowly around, and began to trot
+down the sandy road which was just visible in the dim light.
+"Thought that train would never come," observed the boy. "I've waited at
+that station for five hours."
+"We had a lot of earthquakes," said Dorothy. "Didn't you feel the ground
+shake?"
+"Yes; but we're used to such things in California," he replied. "They
+don't scare us much."
+"The conductor said it was the worst quake he ever knew."
+"Did he? Then it must have happened while I was asleep," he said,
+thoughtfully.
+"How is Uncle Henry?" she enquired, after a pause during which the horse
+continued to trot with long, regular strides.
+"He's pretty well. He and Uncle Hugson have been having a fine visit."
+"Is Mr. Hugson your uncle?" she asked.
+"Yes. Uncle Bill Hugson married your Uncle Henry's wife's sister; so we
+must be second cousins," said the boy, in an amused tone. "I work for
+Uncle Bill on his ranch, and he pays me six dollars a month and my
+board."
+"Isn't that a great deal?" she asked, doubtfully.
+"Why, it's a great deal for Uncle Hugson, but not for me. I'm a splendid
+worker. I work as well as I sleep," he added, with a laugh.
+"What is your name?" asked Dorothy, thinking she liked the boy's manner
+and the cheery tone of his voice.
+"Not a very pretty one," he answered, as if a little ashamed. "My whole
+name is Zebediah; but folks just call me 'Zeb.' You've been to
+Australia, haven't you?"
+"Yes; with Uncle Henry," she answered. "We got to San Francisco a week
+ago, and Uncle Henry went right on to Hugson's Ranch for a visit while I
+stayed a few days in the city with some friends we had met."
+"How long will you be with us?" he asked.
+"Only a day. Tomorrow Uncle Henry and I must start back for Kansas.
+We've been away for a long time, you know, and so we're anxious to get
+home again."
+The boy flicked the big, boney horse with his whip and looked
+thoughtful. Then he started to say something to his little companion,
+but before he could speak the buggy began to sway dangerously from side
+to side and the earth seemed to rise up before them. Next minute there
+was a roar and a sharp crash, and at her side Dorothy saw the ground
+open in a wide crack and then come together again.
+"Goodness!" she cried, grasping the iron rail of the seat. "What was
+that?"
+"That was an awful big quake," replied Zeb, with a white face. "It
+almost got us that time, Dorothy."
+The horse had stopped short, and stood firm as a rock. Zeb shook the
+reins and urged him to go, but Jim was stubborn. Then the boy cracked
+his whip and touched the animal's flanks with it, and after a low moan
+of protest Jim stepped slowly along the road.
+Neither the boy nor the girl spoke again for some minutes. There was a
+breath of danger in the very air, and every few moments the earth would
+shake violently. Jim's ears were standing erect upon his head and every
+muscle of his big body was tense as he trotted toward home. He was not
+going very fast, but on his flanks specks of foam began to appear and at
+times he would tremble like a leaf.
+The sky had grown darker again and the wind made queer sobbing sounds as
+it swept over the valley.
+Suddenly there was a rending, tearing sound, and the earth split into
+another great crack just beneath the spot where the horse was standing.
+With a wild neigh of terror the animal fell bodily into the pit, drawing
+the buggy and its occupants after him.
+Dorothy grabbed fast hold of the buggy top and the boy did the same. The
+sudden rush into space confused them so that they could not think.
+Blackness engulfed them on every side, and in breathless silence they
+waited for the fall to end and crush them against jagged rocks or for
+the earth to close in on them again and bury them forever in its
+dreadful depths.
+The horrible sensation of falling, the darkness and the terrifying
+noises, proved more than Dorothy could endure and for a few moments the
+little girl lost consciousness. Zeb, being a boy, did not faint, but he
+was badly frightened, and clung to the buggy seat with a tight grip,
+expecting every moment would be his last.
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+THE GLASS CITY
+When Dorothy recovered her senses they were still falling, but not so
+fast. The top of the buggy caught the air like a parachute or an
+umbrella filled with wind, and held them back so that they floated
+downward with a gentle motion that was not so very disagreeable to bear.
+The worst thing was their terror of reaching the bottom of this great
+crack in the earth, and the natural fear that sudden death was about to
+overtake them at any moment. Crash after crash echoed far above their
+heads, as the earth came together where it had split, and stones and
+chunks of clay rattled around them on every side. These they could not
+see, but they could feel them pelting the buggy top, and Jim screamed
+almost like a human being when a stone overtook him and struck his
+boney body. They did not really hurt the poor horse, because everything
+was falling together; only the stones and rubbish fell faster than the
+horse and buggy, which were held back by the pressure of the air, so
+that the terrified animal was actually more frightened than he was
+injured.
+How long this state of things continued Dorothy could not even guess,
+she was so greatly bewildered. But bye and bye, as she stared ahead into
+the black chasm with a beating heart, she began to dimly see the form of
+the horse Jim--his head up in the air, his ears erect and his long legs
+sprawling in every direction as he tumbled through space. Also, turning
+her head, she found that she could see the boy beside her, who had until
+now remained as still and silent as she herself.
+Dorothy sighed and commenced to breathe easier. She began to realize
+that death was not in store for her, after all, but that she had merely
+started upon another adventure, which promised to be just as queer and
+unusual as were those she had before encountered.
+With this thought in mind the girl took heart and leaned her head over
+the side of the buggy to see where the strange light was coming from.
+Far below her she found six great glowing balls suspended in the air.
+The central and largest one was white, and reminded her of the sun.
+Around it were arranged, like the five points of a star, the other five
+brilliant balls; one being rose colored, one violet, one yellow, one
+blue and one orange. This splendid group of colored suns sent rays
+darting in every direction, and as the horse and buggy--with Dorothy and
+Zeb--sank steadily downward and came nearer to the lights, the rays
+began to take on all the delicate tintings of a rainbow, growing more
+and more distinct every moment until all the space was brilliantly
+illuminated.
+Dorothy was too dazed to say much, but she watched one of Jim's big ears
+turn to violet and the other to rose, and wondered that his tail should
+be yellow and his body striped with blue and orange like the stripes of
+a zebra. Then she looked at Zeb, whose face was blue and whose hair was
+pink, and gave a little laugh that sounded a bit nervous.
+"Isn't it funny?" she said.
+The boy was startled and his eyes were big. Dorothy had a green streak
+through the center of her face where the blue and yellow lights came
+together, and her appearance seemed to add to his fright.
+"I--I don't s-s-see any-thing funny--'bout it!" he stammered.
+Just then the buggy tipped slowly over upon its side, the body of the
+horse tipping also. But they continued to fall, all together, and the
+boy and girl had no difficulty in remaining upon the seat, just as they
+were before. Then they turned bottom side up, and continued to roll
+slowly over until they were right side up again. During this time Jim
+struggled frantically, all his legs kicking the air; but on finding
+himself in his former position the horse said, in a relieved tone of
+voice:
+"Well, that's better!"
+Dorothy and Zeb looked at one another in wonder.
+"Can your horse talk?" she asked.
+"Never knew him to, before," replied the boy.
+"Those were the first words I ever said," called out the horse, who had
+overheard them, "and I can't explain why I happened to speak then. This
+is a nice scrape you've got me into, isn't it?"
+"As for that, we are in the same scrape ourselves," answered Dorothy,
+cheerfully. "But never mind; something will happen pretty soon."
+"Of course," growled the horse; "and then we shall be sorry it
+happened."
+Zeb gave a shiver. All this was so terrible and unreal that he could not
+understand it at all, and so had good reason to be afraid.
+Swiftly they drew near to the flaming colored suns, and passed close
+beside them. The light was then so bright that it dazzled their eyes,
+and they covered their faces with their hands to escape being blinded.
+There was no heat in the colored suns, however, and after they had
+passed below them the top of the buggy shut out many of the piercing
+rays so that the boy and girl could open their eyes again.
+"We've got to come to the bottom some time," remarked Zeb, with a deep
+sigh. "We can't keep falling forever, you know."
+"Of course not," said Dorothy. "We are somewhere in the middle of the
+earth, and the chances are we'll reach the other side of it before long.
+But it's a big hollow, isn't it?"
+"Awful big!" answered the boy.
+"We're coming to something now," announced the horse.
+At this they both put their heads over the side of the buggy and looked
+down. Yes; there was land below them; and not so very far away, either.
+But they were floating very, very slowly--so slowly that it could no
+longer be called a fall--and the children had ample time to take heart
+and look about them.
+They saw a landscape with mountains and plains, lakes and rivers, very
+like those upon the earth's surface; but all the scene was splendidly
+colored by the variegated lights from the six suns. Here and there were
+groups of houses that seemed made of clear glass, because they sparkled
+so brightly.
+"I'm sure we are in no danger," said Dorothy, in a sober voice. "We are
+falling so slowly that we can't be dashed to pieces when we land, and
+this country that we are coming to seems quite pretty."
+"We'll never get home again, though!" declared Zeb, with a groan.
+"Oh, I'm not so sure of that," replied the girl. "But don't let us worry
+over such things, Zeb; we can't help ourselves just now, you know, and
+I've always been told it's foolish to borrow trouble."
+The boy became silent, having no reply to so sensible a speech, and soon
+both were fully occupied in staring at the strange scenes spread out
+below them. They seemed to be falling right into the middle of a big
+city which had many tall buildings with glass domes and sharp-pointed
+spires. These spires were like great spear-points, and if they tumbled
+upon one of them they were likely to suffer serious injury.
+Jim the horse had seen these spires, also, and his ears stood straight
+up with fear, while Dorothy and Zeb held their breaths in suspense. But
+no; they floated gently down upon a broad, flat roof, and came to a stop
+at last.
+When Jim felt something firm under his feet the poor beast's legs
+trembled so much that he could hardly stand; but Zeb at once leaped out
+of the buggy to the roof, and he was so awkward and hasty that he kicked
+over Dorothy's birdcage, which rolled out upon the roof so that the
+bottom came off. At once a pink kitten crept out of the upset cage, sat
+down upon the glass roof, and yawned and blinked its round eyes.
+"Oh," said Dorothy. "There's Eureka."
+"First time I ever saw a pink cat," said Zeb.
+"Eureka isn't pink; she's white. It's this queer light that gives her
+that color."
+"Where's my milk?" asked the kitten, looking up into Dorothy's face.
+"I'm 'most starved to death."
+"Oh, Eureka! Can you talk?"
+"Talk! Am I talking? Good gracious, I believe I am. Isn't it funny?"
+asked the kitten.
+"It's all wrong," said Zeb, gravely. "Animals ought not to talk. But
+even old Jim has been saying things since we had our accident."
+"I can't see that it's wrong," remarked Jim, in his gruff tones. "At
+least, it isn't as wrong as some other things. What's going to become of
+us now?"
+"I don't know," answered the boy, looking around him curiously.
+The houses of the city were all made of glass, so clear and transparent
+that one could look through the walls as easily as though a window.
+Dorothy saw, underneath the roof on which she stood, several rooms used
+for rest chambers, and even thought she could make out a number of queer
+forms huddled into the corners of these rooms.
+The roof beside them had a great hole smashed through it, and pieces of
+glass were lying scattered in every direction. A near by steeple had
+been broken off short and the fragments lay heaped beside it. Other
+buildings were cracked in places or had corners chipped off from them;
+but they must have been very beautiful before these accidents had
+happened to mar their perfection. The rainbow tints from the colored
+suns fell upon the glass city softly and gave to the buildings many
+delicate, shifting hues which were very pretty to see.
+But not a sound had broken the stillness since the strangers had
+arrived, except that of their own voices. They began to wonder if there
+were no people to inhabit this magnificent city of the inner world.
+Suddenly a man appeared through a hole in the roof next to the one they
+were on and stepped into plain view. He was not a very large man, but
+was well formed and had a beautiful face--calm and serene as the face of
+a fine portrait. His clothing fitted his form snugly and was gorgeously
+colored in brilliant shades of green, which varied as the sunbeams
+touched them but was not wholly influenced by the solar rays.
+The man had taken a step or two across the glass roof before he noticed
+the presence of the strangers; but then he stopped abruptly. There was
+no expression of either fear or surprise upon his tranquil face, yet he
+must have been both astonished and afraid; for after his eyes had rested
+upon the ungainly form of the horse for a moment he walked rapidly to
+the furthest edge of the roof, his head turned back over his shoulder to
+gaze at the strange animal.
+"Look out!" cried Dorothy, who noticed that the beautiful man did not
+look where he was going; "be careful, or you'll fall off!"
+But he paid no attention to her warning. He reached the edge of the tall
+roof, stepped one foot out into the air, and walked into space as calmly
+as if he were on firm ground.
+The girl, greatly astonished, ran to lean over the edge of the roof, and
+saw the man walking rapidly through the air toward the ground. Soon he
+reached the street and disappeared through a glass doorway into one of
+the glass buildings.
+"How strange!" she exclaimed, drawing a long breath.
+"Yes; but it's lots of fun, if it _is_ strange," remarked the small
+voice of the kitten, and Dorothy turned to find her pet walking in the
+air a foot or so away from the edge of the roof.
+"Come back, Eureka!" she called, in distress, "you'll certainly be
+killed."
+"I have nine lives," said the kitten, purring softly as it walked around
+in a circle and then came back to the roof; "but I can't lose even one
+of them by falling in this country, because I really couldn't manage to
+fall if I wanted to."
+"Does the air bear up your weight?" asked the girl.
+"Of course; can't you see?" and again the kitten wandered into the air
+and back to the edge of the roof.
+"It's wonderful!" said Dorothy.
+"Suppose we let Eureka go down to the street and get some one to help
+us," suggested Zeb, who had been even more amazed than Dorothy at these
+strange happenings.
+"Perhaps we can walk on the air ourselves," replied the girl.
+Zeb drew back with a shiver.
+"I wouldn't dare try," he said.
+"May be Jim will go," continued Dorothy, looking at the horse.
+"And may be he won't!" answered Jim. "I've tumbled through the air long
+enough to make me contented on this roof."
+"But we didn't tumble to the roof," said the girl; "by the time we
+reached here we were floating very slowly, and I'm almost sure we could
+float down to the street without getting hurt. Eureka walks on the air
+all right."
+"Eureka weighs only about half a pound," replied the horse, in a
+scornful tone, "while I weigh about half a ton."
+"You don't weigh as much as you ought to, Jim," remarked the girl,
+shaking her head as she looked at the animal. "You're dreadfully
+skinny."
+"Oh, well; I'm old," said the horse, hanging his head despondently, "and
+I've had lots of trouble in my day, little one. For a good many years I
+drew a public cab in Chicago, and that's enough to make anyone skinny."
+"He eats enough to get fat, I'm sure," said the boy, gravely.
+"Do I? Can you remember any breakfast that I've had today?" growled Jim,
+as if he resented Zeb's speech.
+"None of us has had breakfast," said the boy; "and in a time of danger
+like this it's foolish to talk about eating."
+"Nothing is more dangerous than being without food," declared the horse,
+with a sniff at the rebuke of his young master; "and just at present no
+one can tell whether there are any oats in this queer country or not. If
+there are, they are liable to be glass oats!"
+"Oh, no!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I can see plenty of nice gardens and
+fields down below us, at the edge of this city. But I wish we could find
+a way to get to the ground."
+"Why don't you walk down?" asked Eureka. "I'm as hungry as the horse is,
+and I want my milk."
+"Will you try it, Zeb" asked the girl, turning to her companion.
+Zeb hesitated. He was still pale and frightened, for this dreadful
+adventure had upset him and made him nervous and worried. But he did not
+wish the little girl to think him a coward, so he advanced slowly to the
+edge of the roof.
+Dorothy stretched out a hand to him and Zeb put one foot out and let it
+rest in the air a little over the edge of the roof. It seemed firm
+enough to walk upon, so he took courage and put out the other foot.
+Dorothy kept hold of his hand and followed him, and soon they were both
+walking through the air, with the kitten frisking beside them.
+"Come on, Jim!" called the boy. "It's all right."
+Jim had crept to the edge of the roof to look over, and being a sensible
+horse and quite experienced, he made up his mind that he could go where
+the others did. So, with a snort and a neigh and a whisk of his short
+tail he trotted off the roof into the air and at once began floating
+downward to the street. His great weight made him fall faster than the
+children walked, and he passed them on the way down; but when he came to
+the glass pavement he alighted upon it so softly that he was not even
+jarred.
+"Well, well!" said Dorothy, drawing a long breath, "What a strange
+country this is."
+People began to come out of the glass doors to look at the new arrivals,
+and pretty soon quite a crowd had assembled. There were men and women,
+but no children at all, and the folks were all beautifully formed and
+attractively dressed and had wonderfully handsome faces. There was not
+an ugly person in all the throng, yet Dorothy was not especially pleased
+by the appearance of these people because their features had no more
+expression than the faces of dolls. They did not smile nor did they
+frown, or show either fear or surprise or curiosity or friendliness.
+They simply stared at the strangers, paying most attention to Jim and
+Eureka, for they had never before seen either a horse or a cat and the
+children bore an outward resemblance to themselves.
+Pretty soon a man joined the group who wore a glistening star in the
+dark hair just over his forehead. He seemed to be a person of authority,
+for the others pressed back to give him room. After turning his composed
+eyes first upon the animals and then upon the children he said to Zeb,
+who was a little taller than Dorothy:
+"Tell me, intruder, was it you who caused the Rain of Stones?"
+For a moment the boy did not know what he meant by this question. Then,
+remembering the stones that had fallen with them and passed them long
+before they had reached this place, he answered:
+"No, sir; we didn't cause anything. It was the earthquake."
+The man with the star stood for a time quietly thinking over this
+speech. Then he asked:
+"What is an earthquake?"
+"I don't know," said Zeb, who was still confused. But Dorothy, seeing
+his perplexity, answered:
+"It's a shaking of the earth. In this quake a big crack opened and we
+fell through--horse and buggy, and all--and the stones got loose and
+came down with us."
+The man with the star regarded her with his calm, expressionless eyes.
+"The Rain of Stones has done much damage to our city," he said; "and we
+shall hold you responsible for it unless you can prove your innocence."
+"How can we do that?" asked the girl.
+"That I am not prepared to say. It is your affair, not mine. You must
+go to the House of the Sorcerer, who will soon discover the truth."
+"Where is the House of the Sorcerer?" the girl enquired.
+"I will lead you to it. Come!"
+He turned and walked down the street, and after a moment's hesitation
+Dorothy caught Eureka in her arms and climbed into the buggy. The boy
+took his seat beside her and said: "Gid-dap, Jim."
+As the horse ambled along, drawing the buggy, the people of the glass
+city made way for them and formed a procession in their rear. Slowly
+they moved down one street and up another, turning first this way and
+then that, until they came to an open square in the center of which was
+a big glass palace having a central dome and four tall spires on each
+corner.
+CHAPTER 3.
+THE ARRIVAL OF THE WIZARD
+The doorway of the glass palace was quite big enough for the horse and
+buggy to enter, so Zeb drove straight through it and the children found
+themselves in a lofty hall that was very beautiful. The people at once
+followed and formed a circle around the sides of the spacious room,
+leaving the horse and buggy and the man with the star to occupy the
+center of the hall.
+"Come to us, oh, Gwig!" called the man, in a loud voice.
+Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared and rolled over the floor; then it
+slowly spread and ascended into the dome, disclosing a strange personage
+seated upon a glass throne just before Jim's nose. He was formed just as
+were the other inhabitants of this land and his clothing only differed
+from theirs in being bright yellow. But he had no hair at all, and all
+over his bald head and face and upon the backs of his hands grew sharp
+thorns like those found on the branches of rose-bushes. There was even a
+thorn upon the tip of his nose and he looked so funny that Dorothy
+laughed when she saw him.
+The Sorcerer, hearing the laugh, looked toward the little girl with
+cold, cruel eyes, and his glance made her grow sober in an instant.
+"Why have you dared to intrude your unwelcome persons into the secluded
+Land of the Mangaboos?" he asked, sternly.
+"'Cause we couldn't help it," said Dorothy.
+"Why did you wickedly and viciously send the Rain of Stones to crack and
+break our houses?" he continued.
+"We didn't," declared the girl.
+"Prove it!" cried the Sorcerer.
+"We don't have to prove it," answered Dorothy, indignantly. "If you had
+any sense at all you'd known it was the earthquake."
+"We only know that yesterday came a Rain of Stones upon us, which did
+much damage and injured some of our people. Today came another Rain of
+Stones, and soon after it you appeared among us."
+"By the way," said the man with the star, looking steadily at the
+Sorcerer, "you told us yesterday that there would not be a second Rain
+of Stones. Yet one has just occurred that was even worse than the first.
+What is your sorcery good for if it cannot tell us the truth?"
+"My sorcery does tell the truth!" declared the thorn-covered man. "I
+said there would be but one Rain of Stones. This second one was a Rain
+of People-and-Horse-and-Buggy. And some stones came with them."
+"Will there be any more Rains?" asked the man with the star.
+"No, my Prince."
+"Neither stones nor people?"
+"No, my Prince."
+"Are you sure?"
+"Quite sure, my Prince. My sorcery tells me so."
+Just then a man came running into the hall and addressed the Prince
+after making a low bow.
+"More wonders in the air, my Lord," said he.
+Immediately the Prince and all of his people flocked out of the hall
+into the street, that they might see what was about to happen. Dorothy
+and Zeb jumped out of the buggy and ran after them, but the Sorcerer
+remained calmly in his throne.
+Far up in the air was an object that looked like a balloon. It was not
+so high as the glowing star of the six colored suns, but was descending
+slowly through the air--so slowly that at first it scarcely seemed to
+move.
+The throng stood still and waited. It was all they could do, for to go
+away and leave that strange sight was impossible; nor could they hurry
+its fall in any way. The earth children were not noticed, being so near
+the average size of the Mangaboos, and the horse had remained in the
+House of the Sorcerer, with Eureka curled up asleep on the seat of the
+buggy.
+Gradually the balloon grew bigger, which was proof that it was settling
+down upon the Land of the Mangaboos. Dorothy was surprised to find how
+patient the people were, for her own little heart was beating rapidly
+with excitement. A balloon meant to her some other arrival from the
+surface of the earth, and she hoped it would be some one able to assist
+her and Zeb out of their difficulties.
+In an hour the balloon had come near enough for her to see a basket
+suspended below it; in two hours she could see a head looking over the
+side of the basket; in three hours the big balloon settled slowly into
+the great square in which they stood and came to rest on the glass
+pavement.
+Then a little man jumped out of the basket, took off his tall hat, and
+bowed very gracefully to the crowd of Mangaboos around him. He was quite
+an old little man, and his head was long and entirely bald.
+"Why," cried Dorothy, in amazement, "it's Oz!"
+The little man looked toward her and seemed as much surprised as she
+was. But he smiled and bowed as he answered:
+"Yes, my dear; I am Oz, the Great and Terrible. Eh? And you are little
+Dorothy, from Kansas. I remember you very well."
+"Who did you say it was?" whispered Zeb to the girl.
+"It's the wonderful Wizard of Oz. Haven't you heard of him?"
+Just then the man with the star came and stood before the Wizard.
+"Sir," said he, "why are you here, in the Land of the Mangaboos?"
+"Didn't know what land it was, my son," returned the other, with a
+pleasant smile; "and, to be honest, I didn't mean to visit you when I
+started out. I live on top of the earth, your honor, which is far better
+than living inside it; but yesterday I went up in a balloon, and when I
+came down I fell into a big crack in the earth, caused by an earthquake.
+I had let so much gas out of my balloon that I could not rise again,
+and in a few minutes the earth closed over my head. So I continued to
+descend until I reached this place, and if you will show me a way to get
+out of it, I'll go with pleasure. Sorry to have troubled you; but it
+couldn't be helped."
+The Prince had listened with attention. Said he:
+"This child, who is from the crust of the earth, like yourself, called
+you a Wizard. Is not a Wizard something like a Sorcerer?"
+"It's better," replied Oz, promptly. "One Wizard is worth three
+Sorcerers."
+"Ah, you shall prove that," said the Prince. "We Mangaboos have, at the
+present time, one of the most wonderful Sorcerers that ever was picked
+from a bush; but he sometimes makes mistakes. Do you ever make
+mistakes?"
+"Never!" declared the Wizard, boldly.
+"Oh, Oz!" said Dorothy; "you made a lot of mistakes when you were in the
+marvelous Land of Oz."
+"Nonsense!" said the little man, turning red--although just then a ray
+of violet sunlight was on his round face.
+"Come with me," said the Prince to him. "I wish you to meet our
+Sorcerer."
+The Wizard did not like this invitation, but he could not refuse to
+accept it. So he followed the Prince into the great domed hall, and
+Dorothy and Zeb came after them, while the throng of people trooped in
+also.
+There sat the thorny Sorcerer in his chair of state, and when the Wizard
+saw him he began to laugh, uttering comical little chuckles.
+"What an absurd creature!" he exclaimed.
+"He may look absurd," said the Prince, in his quiet voice; "but he is an
+excellent Sorcerer. The only fault I find with him is that he is so
+often wrong."
+"I am never wrong," answered the Sorcerer.
+"Only a short time ago you told me there would be no more Rain of Stones
+or of People," said the Prince.
+"Well, what then?"
+"Here is another person descended from the air to prove you were wrong."
+"One person cannot be called 'people,'" said the Sorcerer. "If two
+should come out of the sky you might with justice say I was wrong; but
+unless more than this one appears I will hold that I was right."
+"Very clever," said the Wizard, nodding his head as if pleased. "I am
+delighted to find humbugs inside the earth, just the same as on top of
+it. Were you ever with a circus, brother?"
+"No," said the Sorcerer.
+"You ought to join one," declared the little man seriously. "I belong to
+Bailum & Barney's Great Consolidated Shows--three rings in one tent and
+a menagerie on the side. It's a fine aggregation, I assure you."
+"What do you do?" asked the Sorcerer.
+"I go up in a balloon, usually, to draw the crowds to the circus. But
+I've just had the bad luck to come out of the sky, skip the solid earth,
+and land lower down than I intended. But never mind. It isn't everybody
+who gets a chance to see your Land of the Gabazoos."
+"Mangaboos," said the Sorcerer, correcting him. "If you are a Wizard you
+ought to be able to call people by their right names."
+"Oh, I'm a Wizard; you may be sure of that. Just as good a Wizard as you
+are a Sorcerer."
+"That remains to be seen," said the other.
+"If you are able to prove that you are better," said the Prince to the
+little man, "I will make you the Chief Wizard of this domain.
+Otherwise--"
+"What will happen otherwise?" asked the Wizard.
+"I will stop you from living, and forbid you to be planted," returned
+the Prince.
+"That does not sound especially pleasant," said the little man, looking
+at the one with the star uneasily. "But never mind. I'll beat Old
+Prickly, all right."
+"My name is Gwig," said the Sorcerer, turning his heartless, cruel eyes
+upon his rival. "Let me see you equal the sorcery I am about to
+perform."
+He waved a thorny hand and at once the tinkling of bells was heard,
+playing sweet music. Yet, look where she would, Dorothy could discover
+no bells at all in the great glass hall.
+The Mangaboo people listened, but showed no great interest. It was one
+of the things Gwig usually did to prove he was a sorcerer.
+Now was the Wizard's turn, so he smiled upon the assemblage and asked:
+"Will somebody kindly loan me a hat?"
+No one did, because the Mangaboos did not wear hats, and Zeb had lost
+his, somehow, in his flight through the air.
+"Ahem!" said the Wizard, "will somebody please loan me a handkerchief?"
+But they had no handkerchiefs, either.
+"Very good," remarked the Wizard. "I'll use my own hat, if you please.
+Now, good people, observe me carefully. You see, there is nothing up my
+sleeve and nothing concealed about my person. Also, my hat is quite
+empty." He took off his hat and held it upside down, shaking it
+briskly.
+"Let me see it," said the Sorcerer.
+He took the hat and examined it carefully, returning it afterward to the
+Wizard.
+"Now," said the little man, "I will create something out of nothing."
+He placed the hat upon the glass floor, made a pass with his hand, and
+then removed the hat, displaying a little white piglet no bigger than a
+mouse, which began to run around here and there and to grunt and squeal
+in a tiny, shrill voice.
+The people watched it intently, for they had never seen a pig before,
+big or little. The Wizard reached out, caught the wee creature in his
+hand, and holding its head between one thumb and finger and its tail
+between the other thumb and finger he pulled it apart, each of the two
+parts becoming a whole and separate piglet in an instant.
+He placed one upon the floor, so that it could run around, and pulled
+apart the other, making three piglets in all; and then one of these was
+pulled apart, making four piglets. The Wizard continued this surprising
+performance until nine tiny piglets were running about at his feet, all
+squealing and grunting in a very comical way.
+"Now," said the Wizard of Oz, "having created something from nothing, I
+will make something nothing again."
+With this he caught up two of the piglets and pushed them together, so
+that the two were one. Then he caught up another piglet and pushed it
+into the first, where it disappeared. And so, one by one, the nine tiny
+piglets were pushed together until but a single one of the creatures
+remained. This the Wizard placed underneath his hat and made a mystic
+sign above it. When he removed his hat the last piglet had disappeared
+entirely.
+The little man gave a bow to the silent throng that had watched him, and
+then the Prince said, in his cold, calm voice:
+"You are indeed a wonderful Wizard, and your powers are greater than
+those of my Sorcerer."
+"He will not be a wonderful Wizard long," remarked Gwig.
+"Why not?" enquired the Wizard.
+"Because I am going to stop your breath," was the reply. "I perceive
+that you are curiously constructed, and that if you cannot breathe you
+cannot keep alive."
+The little man looked troubled.
+"How long will it take you to stop my breath?" he asked.
+"About five minutes. I'm going to begin now. Watch me carefully."
+He began making queer signs and passes toward the Wizard; but the little
+man did not watch him long. Instead, he drew a leathern case from his
+pocket and took from it several sharp knives, which he joined together,
+one after another, until they made a long sword. By the time he had
+attached a handle to this sword he was having much trouble to breathe,
+as the charm of the Sorcerer was beginning to take effect.
+So the Wizard lost no more time, but leaping forward he raised the sharp
+sword, whirled it once or twice around his head, and then gave a mighty
+stroke that cut the body of the Sorcerer exactly in two.
+Dorothy screamed and expected to see a terrible sight; but as the two
+halves of the Sorcerer fell apart on the floor she saw that he had no
+bones or blood inside of him at all, and that the place where he was cut
+looked much like a sliced turnip or potato.
+"Why, he's vegetable!" cried the Wizard, astonished.
+"Of course," said the Prince. "We are all vegetable, in this country.
+Are you not vegetable, also?"
+"No," answered the Wizard. "People on top of the earth are all meat.
+Will your Sorcerer die?"
+"Certainly, sir. He is really dead now, and will wither very quickly. So
+we must plant him at once, that other Sorcerers may grow upon his bush,"
+continued the Prince.
+"What do you mean by that?" asked the little Wizard, greatly puzzled.
+"If you will accompany me to our public gardens," replied the Prince, "I
+will explain to you much better than I can here the mysteries of our
+Vegetable Kingdom."
+CHAPTER 4.
+THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM
+After the Wizard had wiped the dampness from his sword and taken it
+apart and put the pieces into their leathern case again, the man with
+the star ordered some of his people to carry the two halves of the
+Sorcerer to the public gardens.
+Jim pricked up his ears when he heard they were going to the gardens,
+and wanted to join the party, thinking he might find something proper to
+eat; so Zeb put down the top of the buggy and invited the Wizard to ride
+with them. The seat was amply wide enough for the little man and the two
+children, and when Jim started to leave the hall the kitten jumped upon
+his back and sat there quite contentedly.
+So the procession moved through the streets, the bearers of the Sorcerer
+first, the Prince next, then Jim drawing the buggy with the strangers
+inside of it, and last the crowd of vegetable people who had no hearts
+and could neither smile nor frown.
+The glass city had several fine streets, for a good many people lived
+there; but when the procession had passed through these it came upon a
+broad plain covered with gardens and watered by many pretty brooks that
+flowed through it. There were paths through these gardens, and over some
+of the brooks were ornamental glass bridges.
+Dorothy and Zeb now got out of the buggy and walked beside the Prince,
+so that they might see and examine the flowers and plants better.
+"Who built these lovely bridges?" asked the little girl.
+"No one built them," answered the man with the star. "They grow."
+"That's queer," said she. "Did the glass houses in your city grow, too?"
+"Of course," he replied. "But it took a good many years for them to grow
+as large and fine as they are now. That is why we are so angry when a
+Rain of Stones comes to break our towers and crack our roofs."
+"Can't you mend them?" she enquired.
+"No; but they will grow together again, in time, and we must wait until
+they do."
+They first passed through many beautiful gardens of flowers, which grew
+nearest the city; but Dorothy could hardly tell what kind of flowers
+they were, because the colors were constantly changing under the
+shifting lights of the six suns. A flower would be pink one second,
+white the next, then blue or yellow; and it was the same way when they
+came to the plants, which had broad leaves and grew close to the ground.
+When they passed over a field of grass Jim immediately stretched down
+his head and began to nibble.
+"A nice country this is," he grumbled, "where a respectable horse has to
+eat pink grass!"
+"It's violet," said the Wizard, who was in the buggy.
+"Now it's blue," complained the horse. "As a matter of fact, I'm eating
+rainbow grass."
+"How does it taste?" asked the Wizard.
+"Not bad at all," said Jim. "If they give me plenty of it I'll not
+complain about its color."
+By this time the party had reached a freshly plowed field, and the
+Prince said to Dorothy:
+"This is our planting-ground."
+Several Mangaboos came forward with glass spades and dug a hole in the
+ground. Then they put the two halves of the Sorcerer into it and covered
+him up. After that other people brought water from a brook and sprinkled
+the earth.
+"He will sprout very soon," said the Prince, "and grow into a large
+bush, from which we shall in time be able to pick several very good
+sorcerers."
+"Do all your people grow on bushes?" asked the boy.
+"Certainly," was the reply. "Do not all people grow upon bushes where
+you came from, on the outside of the earth."
+"Not that I ever heard of."
+"How strange! But if you will come with me to one of our folk gardens I
+will show you the way we grow in the Land of the Mangaboos."
+It appeared that these odd people, while they were able to walk through
+the air with ease, usually moved upon the ground in the ordinary way.
+There were no stairs in their houses, because they did not need them,
+but on a level surface they generally walked just as we do.
+The little party of strangers now followed the Prince across a few more
+of the glass bridges and along several paths until they came to a garden
+enclosed by a high hedge. Jim had refused to leave the field of grass,
+where he was engaged in busily eating; so the Wizard got out of the
+buggy and joined Zeb and Dorothy, and the kitten followed demurely at
+their heels.
+Inside the hedge they came upon row after row of large and handsome
+plants with broad leaves gracefully curving until their points nearly
+reached the ground. In the center of each plant grew a daintily dressed
+Mangaboo, for the clothing of all these creatures grew upon them and was
+attached to their bodies.
+The growing Mangaboos were of all sizes, from the blossom that had just
+turned into a wee baby to the full-grown and almost ripe man or woman.
+On some of the bushes might be seen a bud, a blossom, a baby, a
+half-grown person and a ripe one; but even those ready to pluck were
+motionless and silent, as if devoid of life. This sight explained to
+Dorothy why she had seen no children among the Mangaboos, a thing she
+had until now been unable to account for.
+"Our people do not acquire their real life until they leave their
+bushes," said the Prince. "You will notice they are all attached to the
+plants by the soles of their feet, and when they are quite ripe they are
+easily separated from the stems and at once attain the powers of motion
+and speech. So while they grow they cannot be said to really live, and
+they must be picked before they can become good citizens."
+"How long do you live, after you are picked?" asked Dorothy.
+"That depends upon the care we take of ourselves," he replied. "If we
+keep cool and moist, and meet with no accidents, we often live for five
+years. I've been picked over six years, but our family is known to be
+especially long lived."
+"Do you eat?" asked the boy.
+"Eat! No, indeed. We are quite solid inside our bodies, and have no need
+to eat, any more than does a potato."
+"But the potatoes sometimes sprout," said Zeb.
+"And sometimes we do," answered the Prince; "but that is considered a
+great misfortune, for then we must be planted at once."
+"Where did you grow?" asked the Wizard.
+"I will show you," was the reply. "Step this way, please."
+He led them within another but smaller circle of hedge, where grew one
+large and beautiful bush.
+"This," said he, "is the Royal Bush of the Mangaboos. All of our Princes
+and Rulers have grown upon this one bush from time immemorial."
+They stood before it in silent admiration. On the central stalk stood
+poised the figure of a girl so exquisitely formed and colored and so
+lovely in the expression of her delicate features that Dorothy thought
+she had never seen so sweet and adorable a creature in all her life.
+The maiden's gown was soft as satin and fell about her in ample folds,
+while dainty lace-like traceries trimmed the bodice and sleeves. Her
+flesh was fine and smooth as polished ivory, and her poise expressed
+both dignity and grace.
+"Who is this?" asked the Wizard, curiously.
+The Prince had been staring hard at the girl on the bush. Now he
+answered, with a touch of uneasiness in his cold tones:
+"She is the Ruler destined to be my successor, for she is a Royal
+Princess. When she becomes fully ripe I must abandon the sovereignty of
+the Mangaboos to her."
+"Isn't she ripe now?" asked Dorothy.
+He hesitated.
+"Not quite," said he, finally. "It will be several days before she needs
+to be picked, or at least that is my judgment. I am in no hurry to
+resign my office and be planted, you may be sure."
+"Probably not," declared the Wizard, nodding.
+"This is one of the most unpleasant things about our vegetable lives,"
+continued the Prince, with a sigh, "that while we are in our full prime
+we must give way to another, and be covered up in the ground to sprout
+and grow and give birth to other people."
+"I'm sure the Princess is ready to be picked," asserted Dorothy, gazing
+hard at the beautiful girl on the bush. "She's as perfect as she can
+be."
+"Never mind," answered the Prince, hastily, "she will be all right for a
+few days longer, and it is best for me to rule until I can dispose of
+you strangers, who have come to our land uninvited and must be attended
+to at once."
+"What are you going to do with us?" asked Zeb.
+"That is a matter I have not quite decided upon," was the reply. "I
+think I shall keep this Wizard until a new Sorcerer is ready to pick,
+for he seems quite skillful and may be of use to us. But the rest of you
+must be destroyed in some way, and you cannot be planted, because I do
+not wish horses and cats and meat people growing all over our country."
+"You needn't worry," said Dorothy. "We wouldn't grow under ground, I'm
+sure."
+"But why destroy my friends?" asked the little Wizard. "Why not let them
+live?"
+"They do not belong here," returned the Prince. "They have no right to
+be inside the earth at all."
+"We didn't ask to come down here; we fell," said Dorothy.
+"That is no excuse," declared the Prince, coldly.
+The children looked at each other in perplexity, and the Wizard sighed.
+Eureka rubbed her paw on her face and said in her soft, purring voice:
+"He won't need to destroy _me_, for if I don't get something to eat
+pretty soon I shall starve to death, and so save him the trouble."
+"If he planted you, he might grow some cat-tails," suggested the Wizard.
+"Oh, Eureka! perhaps we can find you some milk-weeds to eat," said the
+boy.
+"Phoo!" snarled the kitten; "I wouldn't touch the nasty things!"
+"You don't need milk, Eureka," remarked Dorothy; "you are big enough now
+to eat any kind of food."
+"If I can get it," added Eureka.
+"I'm hungry myself," said Zeb. "But I noticed some strawberries growing
+in one of the gardens, and some melons in another place. These people
+don't eat such things, so perhaps on our way back they will let us get
+them."
+"Never mind your hunger," interrupted the Prince. "I shall order you
+destroyed in a few minutes, so you will have no need to ruin our pretty
+melon vines and berry bushes. Follow me, please, to meet your doom."
+CHAPTER 5.
+DOROTHY PICKS THE PRINCESS
+The words of the cold and moist vegetable Prince were not very
+comforting, and as he spoke them he turned away and left the enclosure.
+The children, feeling sad and despondent, were about to follow him when
+the Wizard touched Dorothy softly on her shoulder.
+"Wait!" he whispered.
+"What for?" asked the girl.
+"Suppose we pick the Royal Princess," said the Wizard. "I'm quite sure
+she's ripe, and as soon as she comes to life she will be the Ruler, and
+may treat us better than that heartless Prince intends to."
+"All right!" exclaimed Dorothy, eagerly. "Let's pick her while we have
+the chance, before the man with the star comes back."
+So together they leaned over the great bush and each of them seized one
+hand of the lovely Princess.
+"Pull!" cried Dorothy, and as they did so the royal lady leaned toward
+them and the stems snapped and separated from her feet. She was not at
+all heavy, so the Wizard and Dorothy managed to lift her gently to the
+ground.
+The beautiful creature passed her hands over her eyes an instant, tucked
+in a stray lock of hair that had become disarranged, and after a look
+around the garden made those present a gracious bow and said, in a sweet
+but even toned voice:
+"I thank you very much."
+"We salute your Royal Highness!" cried the Wizard, kneeling and kissing
+her hand.
+Just then the voice of the Prince was heard calling upon them to hasten,
+and a moment later he returned to the enclosure, followed by a number of
+his people.
+Instantly the Princess turned and faced him, and when he saw that she
+was picked the Prince stood still and began to tremble.
+"Sir," said the Royal Lady, with much dignity, "you have wronged me
+greatly, and would have wronged me still more had not these strangers
+come to my rescue. I have been ready for picking all the past week, but
+because you were selfish and desired to continue your unlawful rule,
+you left me to stand silent upon my bush."
+"I did not know that you were ripe," answered the Prince, in a low
+voice.
+"Give me the Star of Royalty!" she commanded.
+Slowly he took the shining star from his own brow and placed it upon
+that of the Princess. Then all the people bowed low to her, and the
+Prince turned and walked away alone. What became of him afterward our
+friends never knew.
+The people of Mangaboo now formed themselves into a procession and
+marched toward the glass city to escort their new ruler to her palace
+and to perform those ceremonies proper to the occasion. But while the
+people in the procession walked upon the ground the Princess walked in
+the air just above their heads, to show that she was a superior being
+and more exalted than her subjects.
+No one now seemed to pay any attention to the strangers, so Dorothy and
+Zeb and the Wizard let the train pass on and then wandered by themselves
+into the vegetable gardens. They did not bother to cross the bridges
+over the brooks, but when they came to a stream they stepped high and
+walked in the air to the other side. This was a very interesting
+experience to them, and Dorothy said:
+"I wonder why it is that we can walk so easily in the air."
+"Perhaps," answered the Wizard, "it is because we are close to the
+center of the earth, where the attraction of gravitation is very slight.
+But I've noticed that many queer things happen in fairy countries."
+"Is this a fairy country?" asked the boy.
+"Of course it is," returned Dorothy, promptly. "Only a fairy country
+could have veg'table people; and only in a fairy country could Eureka
+and Jim talk as we do."
+"That's true," said Zeb, thoughtfully.
+In the vegetable gardens they found the strawberries and melons, and
+several other unknown but delicious fruits, of which they ate heartily.
+But the kitten bothered them constantly by demanding milk or meat, and
+called the Wizard names because he could not bring her a dish of milk by
+means of his magical arts.
+As they sat upon the grass watching Jim, who was still busily eating,
+Eureka said:
+"I don't believe you are a Wizard at all!"
+"No," answered the little man, "you are quite right. In the strict sense
+of the word I am not a Wizard, but only a humbug."
+"The Wizard of Oz has always been a humbug," agreed Dorothy. "I've known
+him for a long time."
+"If that is so," said the boy, "how could he do that wonderful trick
+with the nine tiny piglets?"
+"Don't know," said Dorothy, "but it must have been humbug."
+"Very true," declared the Wizard, nodding at her. "It was necessary to
+deceive that ugly Sorcerer and the Prince, as well as their stupid
+people; but I don't mind telling you, who are my friends, that the thing
+was only a trick."
+"But I saw the little pigs with my own eyes!" exclaimed Zeb.
+"So did I," purred the kitten.
+"To be sure," answered the Wizard. "You saw them because they were
+there. They are in my inside pocket now. But the pulling of them apart
+and pushing them together again was only a sleight-of-hand trick."
+"Let's see the pigs," said Eureka, eagerly.
+The little man felt carefully in his pocket and pulled out the tiny
+piglets, setting them upon the grass one by one, where they ran around
+and nibbled the tender blades.
+"They're hungry, too," he said.
+"Oh, what cunning things!" cried Dorothy, catching up one and petting
+it.
+"Be careful!" said the piglet, with a squeal, "you're squeezing me!"
+"Dear me!" murmured the Wizard, looking at his pets in astonishment.
+"They can actually talk!"
+"May I eat one of them?" asked the kitten, in a pleading voice. "I'm
+awfully hungry."
+"Why, Eureka," said Dorothy, reproachfully, "what a cruel question! It
+would be dreadful to eat these dear little things."
+"I should say so!" grunted another of the piglets, looking uneasily at
+the kitten; "cats are cruel things."
+"I'm not cruel," replied the kitten, yawning. "I'm just hungry."
+"You cannot eat my piglets, even if you are starving," declared the
+little man, in a stern voice. "They are the only things I have to prove
+I'm a wizard."
+"How did they happen to be so little?" asked Dorothy. "I never saw such
+small pigs before."
+"They are from the Island of Teenty-Weent," said the Wizard, "where
+everything is small because it's a small island. A sailor brought them
+to Los Angeles and I gave him nine tickets to the circus for them."
+"But what am I going to eat?" wailed the kitten, sitting in front of
+Dorothy and looking pleadingly into her face. "There are no cows here
+to give milk; or any mice, or even grasshoppers. And if I can't eat the
+piglets you may as well plant me at once and raise catsup."
+"I have an idea," said the Wizard, "that there are fishes in these
+brooks. Do you like fish?"
+"Fish!" cried the kitten. "Do I like fish? Why, they're better than
+piglets--or even milk!"
+"Then I'll try to catch you some," said he.
+"But won't they be veg'table, like everything else here?" asked the
+kitten.
+"I think not. Fishes are not animals, and they are as cold and moist as
+the vegetables themselves. There is no reason, that I can see, why they
+may not exist in the waters of this strange country."
+Then the Wizard bent a pin for a hook and took a long piece of string
+from his pocket for a fish-line. The only bait he could find was a
+bright red blossom from a flower; but he knew fishes are easy to fool if
+anything bright attracts their attention, so he decided to try the
+blossom. Having thrown the end of his line in the water of a nearby
+brook he soon felt a sharp tug that told him a fish had bitten and was
+caught on the bent pin; so the little man drew in the string and, sure
+enough, the fish came with it and was landed safely on the shore,
+where it began to flop around in great excitement.
+The fish was fat and round, and its scales glistened like beautifully
+cut jewels set close together; but there was no time to examine it
+closely, for Eureka made a jump and caught it between her claws, and in
+a few moments it had entirely disappeared.
+"Oh, Eureka!" cried Dorothy, "did you eat the bones?"
+"If it had any bones, I ate them," replied the kitten, composedly, as it
+washed its face after the meal. "But I don't think that fish had any
+bones, because I didn't feel them scratch my throat."
+"You were very greedy," said the girl.
+"I was very hungry," replied the kitten.
+The little pigs had stood huddled in a group, watching this scene with
+frightened eyes.
+"Cats are dreadful creatures!" said one of them.
+"I'm glad we are not fishes!" said another.
+"Don't worry," Dorothy murmured, soothingly, "I'll not let the kitten
+hurt you."
+Then she happened to remember that in a corner of her suit-case were one
+or two crackers that were left over from her luncheon on the train, and
+she went to the buggy and brought them. Eureka stuck up her nose at such
+food, but the tiny piglets squealed delightedly at the sight of the
+crackers and ate them up in a jiffy.
+"Now let us go back to the city," suggested the Wizard. "That is, if Jim
+has had enough of the pink grass."
+The cab-horse, who was browsing near, lifted his head with a sigh.
+"I've tried to eat a lot while I had the chance," said he, "for it's
+likely to be a long while between meals in this strange country. But I'm
+ready to go, now, at any time you wish."
+So, after the Wizard had put the piglets back into his inside pocket,
+where they cuddled up and went to sleep, the three climbed into the
+buggy and Jim started back to the town.
+"Where shall we stay?" asked the girl.
+"I think I shall take possession of the House of the Sorcerer," replied
+the Wizard; "for the Prince said in the presence of his people that he
+would keep me until they picked another Sorcerer, and the new Princess
+won't know but that we belong there."
+They agreed to this plan, and when they reached the great square Jim
+drew the buggy into the big door of the domed hall.
+"It doesn't look very homelike," said Dorothy, gazing around at the
+bare room. "But it's a place to stay, anyhow."
+"What are those holes up there?" enquired the boy, pointing to some
+openings that appeared near the top of the dome.
+"They look like doorways," said Dorothy; "only there are no stairs to
+get to them."
+"You forget that stairs are unnecessary," observed the Wizard. "Let us
+walk up, and see where the doors lead to."
+With this he began walking in the air toward the high openings, and
+Dorothy and Zeb followed him. It was the same sort of climb one
+experiences when walking up a hill, and they were nearly out of breath
+when they came to the row of openings, which they perceived to be
+doorways leading into halls in the upper part of the house. Following
+these halls they discovered many small rooms opening from them, and some
+were furnished with glass benches, tables and chairs. But there were no
+beds at all.
+"I wonder if these people never sleep," said the girl.
+"Why, there seems to be no night at all in this country," Zeb replied.
+"Those colored suns are exactly in the same place they were when we
+came, and if there is no sunset there can be no night."
+"Very true," agreed the Wizard. "But it is a long time since I have had
+any sleep, and I'm tired. So I think I shall lie down upon one of these
+hard glass benches and take a nap."
+"I will, too," said Dorothy, and chose a little room at the end of the
+hall.
+Zeb walked down again to unharness Jim, who, when he found himself free,
+rolled over a few times and then settled down to sleep, with Eureka
+nestling comfortably beside his big, boney body. Then the boy returned
+to one of the upper rooms, and in spite of the hardness of the glass
+bench was soon deep in slumberland.
+CHAPTER 6.
+THE MANGABOOS PROVE DANGEROUS
+When the Wizard awoke the six colored suns were shining down upon the
+Land of the Mangaboos just as they had done ever since his arrival. The
+little man, having had a good sleep, felt rested and refreshed, and
+looking through the glass partition of the room he saw Zeb sitting up on
+his bench and yawning. So the Wizard went in to him.
+"Zeb," said he, "my balloon is of no further use in this strange
+country, so I may as well leave it on the square where it fell. But in
+the basket-car are some things I would like to keep with me. I wish you
+would go and fetch my satchel, two lanterns, and a can of kerosene oil
+that is under the seat. There is nothing else that I care about."
+So the boy went willingly upon the errand, and by the time he had
+returned Dorothy was awake. Then the three held a counsel to decide what
+they should do next, but could think of no way to better their
+condition.
+"I don't like these veg'table people," said the little girl. "They're
+cold and flabby, like cabbages, in spite of their prettiness."
+"I agree with you. It is because there is no warm blood in them,"
+remarked the Wizard.
+"And they have no hearts; so they can't love anyone--not even
+themselves," declared the boy.
+"The Princess is lovely to look at," continued Dorothy, thoughtfully;
+"but I don't care much for her, after all. If there was any other place
+to go, I'd like to go there."
+"But _is_ there any other place?" asked the Wizard.
+"I don't know," she answered.
+Just then they heard the big voice of Jim the cab-horse calling to them,
+and going to the doorway leading to the dome they found the Princess and
+a throng of her people had entered the House of the Sorcerer.
+So they went down to greet the beautiful vegetable lady, who said to
+them:
+"I have been talking with my advisors about you meat people, and we have
+decided that you do not belong in the Land of the Mangaboos and must not
+remain here."
+"How can we go away?" asked Dorothy.
+"Oh, you cannot go away, of course; so you must be destroyed," was the
+answer.
+"In what way?" enquired the Wizard.
+"We shall throw you three people into the Garden of the Twining Vines,"
+said the Princess, "and they will soon crush you and devour your bodies
+to make themselves grow bigger. The animals you have with you we will
+drive to the mountains and put into the Black Pit. Then our country will
+be rid of all its unwelcome visitors."
+"But you are in need of a Sorcerer," said the Wizard, "and not one of
+those growing is yet ripe enough to pick. I am greater than any
+thorn-covered sorcerer that ever grew in your garden. Why destroy me?"
+"It is true we need a Sorcerer," acknowledged the Princess, "but I am
+informed that one of our own will be ready to pick in a few days, to
+take the place of Gwig, whom you cut in two before it was time for him
+to be planted. Let us see your arts, and the sorceries you are able to
+perform. Then I will decide whether to destroy you with the others or
+not."
+At this the Wizard made a bow to the people and repeated his trick of
+producing the nine tiny piglets and making them disappear again. He did
+it very cleverly, indeed, and the Princess looked at the strange
+piglets as if she were as truly astonished as any vegetable person could
+be. But afterward she said:
+"I have heard of this wonderful magic. But it accomplishes nothing of
+value. What else can you do?"
+The Wizard tried to think. Then he jointed together the blades of his
+sword and balanced it very skillfully upon the end of his nose. But even
+that did not satisfy the Princess.
+Just then his eye fell upon the lanterns and the can of kerosene oil
+which Zeb had brought from the car of his balloon, and he got a clever
+idea from those commonplace things.
+"Your Highness," said he, "I will now proceed to prove my magic by
+creating two suns that you have never seen before; also I will exhibit a
+Destroyer much more dreadful than your Clinging Vines."
+So he placed Dorothy upon one side of him and the boy upon the other and
+set a lantern upon each of their heads.
+"Don't laugh," he whispered to them, "or you will spoil the effect of my
+magic."
+Then, with much dignity and a look of vast importance upon his wrinkled
+face, the Wizard got out his match-box and lighted the two lanterns. The
+glare they made was very small when compared with the radiance of the
+six great colored suns; but still they gleamed steadily and clearly. The
+Mangaboos were much impressed because they had never before seen any
+light that did not come directly from their suns.
+Next the Wizard poured a pool of oil from the can upon the glass floor,
+where it covered quite a broad surface. When he lighted the oil a
+hundred tongues of flame shot up, and the effect was really imposing.
+"Now, Princess," exclaimed the Wizard, "those of your advisors who
+wished to throw us into the Garden of Clinging Vines must step within
+this circle of light. If they advised you well, and were in the right,
+they will not be injured in any way. But if any advised you wrongly, the
+light will wither him."
+The advisors of the Princess did not like this test; but she commanded
+them to step into the flame and one by one they did so, and were
+scorched so badly that the air was soon filled with an odor like that of
+baked potatoes. Some of the Mangaboos fell down and had to be dragged
+from the fire, and all were so withered that it would be necessary to
+plant them at once.
+"Sir," said the Princess to the Wizard, "you are greater than any
+Sorcerer we have ever known. As it is evident that my people have
+advised me wrongly, I will not cast you three people into the dreadful
+Garden of the Clinging Vines; but your animals must be driven into the
+Black Pit in the mountain, for my subjects cannot bear to have them
+around."
+The Wizard was so pleased to have saved the two children and himself
+that he said nothing against this decree; but when the Princess had gone
+both Jim and Eureka protested they did not want to go to the Black Pit,
+and Dorothy promised she would do all that she could to save them from
+such a fate.
+For two or three days after this--if we call days the periods between
+sleep, there being no night to divide the hours into days--our friends
+were not disturbed in any way. They were even permitted to occupy the
+House of the Sorcerer in peace, as if it had been their own, and to
+wander in the gardens in search of food.
+Once they came near to the enclosed Garden of the Clinging Vines, and
+walking high into the air looked down upon it with much interest. They
+saw a mass of tough green vines all matted together and writhing and
+twisting around like a nest of great snakes. Everything the vines
+touched they crushed, and our adventurers were indeed thankful to have
+escaped being cast among them.
+Whenever the Wizard went to sleep he would take the nine tiny piglets
+from his pocket and let them run around on the floor of his room to
+amuse themselves and get some exercise; and one time they found his
+glass door ajar and wandered into the hall and then into the bottom part
+of the great dome, walking through the air as easily as Eureka could.
+They knew the kitten, by this time, so they scampered over to where she
+lay beside Jim and commenced to frisk and play with her.
+The cab-horse, who never slept long at a time, sat upon his haunches and
+watched the tiny piglets and the kitten with much approval.
+"Don't be rough!" he would call out, if Eureka knocked over one of the
+round, fat piglets with her paw; but the pigs never minded, and enjoyed
+the sport very greatly.
+Suddenly they looked up to find the room filled with the silent,
+solemn-eyed Mangaboos. Each of the vegetable folks bore a branch covered
+with sharp thorns, which was thrust defiantly toward the horse, the
+kitten and the piglets.
+"Here--stop this foolishness!" Jim roared, angrily; but after being
+pricked once or twice he got upon his four legs and kept out of the way
+of the thorns.
+The Mangaboos surrounded them in solid ranks, but left an opening to the
+doorway of the hall; so the animals slowly retreated until they were
+driven from the room and out upon the street. Here were more of the
+vegetable people with thorns, and silently they urged the now frightened
+creatures down the street. Jim had to be careful not to step upon the
+tiny piglets, who scampered under his feet grunting and squealing, while
+Eureka, snarling and biting at the thorns pushed toward her, also tried
+to protect the pretty little things from injury. Slowly but steadily the
+heartless Mangaboos drove them on, until they had passed through the
+city and the gardens and come to the broad plains leading to the
+mountain.
+"What does all this mean, anyhow?" asked the horse, jumping to escape a
+thorn.
+"Why, they are driving us toward the Black Pit, into which they
+threatened to cast us," replied the kitten. "If I were as big as you
+are, Jim, I'd fight these miserable turnip-roots!"
+"What would you do?" enquired Jim.
+"I'd kick out with those long legs and iron-shod hoofs."
+"All right," said the horse; "I'll do it."
+An instant later he suddenly backed toward the crowd of Mangaboos and
+kicked out his hind legs as hard as he could. A dozen of them smashed
+together and tumbled to the ground, and seeing his success Jim kicked
+again and again, charging into the vegetable crowd, knocking them in
+all directions and sending the others scattering to escape his iron
+heels. Eureka helped him by flying into the faces of the enemy and
+scratching and biting furiously, and the kitten ruined so many vegetable
+complexions that the Mangaboos feared her as much as they did the horse.
+But the foes were too many to be repulsed for long. They tired Jim and
+Eureka out, and although the field of battle was thickly covered with
+mashed and disabled Mangaboos, our animal friends had to give up at last
+and allow themselves to be driven to the mountain.
+CHAPTER 7.
+INTO THE BLACK PIT AND OUT AGAIN
+When they came to the mountain it proved to be a rugged, towering chunk
+of deep green glass, and looked dismal and forbidding in the extreme.
+Half way up the steep was a yawning cave, black as night beyond the
+point where the rainbow rays of the colored suns reached into it.
+The Mangaboos drove the horse and the kitten and the piglets into this
+dark hole and then, having pushed the buggy in after them--for it seemed
+some of them had dragged it all the way from the domed hall--they began
+to pile big glass rocks within the entrance, so that the prisoners could
+not get out again.
+"This is dreadful!" groaned Jim. "It will be about the end of our
+adventures, I guess."
+"If the Wizard was here," said one of the piglets, sobbing bitterly, "he
+would not see us suffer so."
+"We ought to have called him and Dorothy when we were first attacked,"
+added Eureka. "But never mind; be brave, my friends, and I will go and
+tell our masters where you are, and get them to come to your rescue."
+The mouth of the hole was nearly filled up now, but the kitten gave a
+leap through the remaining opening and at once scampered up into the
+air. The Mangaboos saw her escape, and several of them caught up their
+thorns and gave chase, mounting through the air after her. Eureka,
+however, was lighter than the Mangaboos, and while they could mount only
+about a hundred feet above the earth the kitten found she could go
+nearly two hundred feet. So she ran along over their heads until she had
+left them far behind and below and had come to the city and the House of
+the Sorcerer. There she entered in at Dorothy's window in the dome and
+aroused her from her sleep.
+As soon as the little girl knew what had happened she awakened the
+Wizard and Zeb, and at once preparations were made to go to the rescue
+of Jim and the piglets. The Wizard carried his satchel, which was quite
+heavy, and Zeb carried the two lanterns and the oil can. Dorothy's
+wicker suit-case was still under the seat of the buggy, and by good
+fortune the boy had also placed the harness in the buggy when he had
+taken it off from Jim to let the horse lie down and rest. So there was
+nothing for the girl to carry but the kitten, which she held close to
+her bosom and tried to comfort, for its little heart was still beating
+rapidly.
+Some of the Mangaboos discovered them as soon as they left the House of
+the Sorcerer; but when they started toward the mountain the vegetable
+people allowed them to proceed without interference, yet followed in a
+crowd behind them so that they could not go back again.
+Before long they neared the Black Pit, where a busy swarm of Mangaboos,
+headed by their Princess, was engaged in piling up glass rocks before
+the entrance.
+"Stop, I command you!" cried the Wizard, in an angry tone, and at once
+began pulling down the rocks to liberate Jim and the piglets. Instead of
+opposing him in this they stood back in silence until he had made a
+good-sized hole in the barrier, when by order of the Princess they all
+sprang forward and thrust out their sharp thorns.
+Dorothy hopped inside the opening to escape being pricked, and Zeb and
+the Wizard, after enduring a few stabs from the thorns, were glad to
+follow her. At once the Mangaboos began piling up the rocks of glass
+again, and as the little man realized that they were all about to be
+entombed in the mountain he said to the children:
+"My dears, what shall we do? Jump out and fight?"
+"What's the use?" replied Dorothy. "I'd as soon die here as live much
+longer among those cruel and heartless people."
+"That's the way I feel about it," remarked Zeb, rubbing his wounds.
+"I've had enough of the Mangaboos."
+"All right," said the Wizard; "I'm with you, whatever you decide. But we
+can't live long in this cavern, that's certain."
+Noticing that the light was growing dim he picked up his nine piglets,
+patted each one lovingly on its fat little head, and placed them
+carefully in his inside pocket.
+Zeb struck a match and lighted one of the lanterns. The rays of the
+colored suns were now shut out from them forever, for the last chinks
+had been filled up in the wall that separated their prison from the Land
+of the Mangaboos.
+"How big is this hole?" asked Dorothy.
+"I'll explore it and see," replied the boy.
+So he carried the lantern back for quite a distance, while Dorothy and
+the Wizard followed at his side. The cavern did not come to an end, as
+they had expected it would, but slanted upward through the great glass
+mountain, running in a direction that promised to lead them to the side
+opposite the Mangaboo country.
+"It isn't a bad road," observed the Wizard, "and if we followed it it
+might lead us to some place that is more comfortable than this black
+pocket we are now in. I suppose the vegetable folk were always afraid to
+enter this cavern because it is dark; but we have our lanterns to light
+the way, so I propose that we start out and discover where this tunnel
+in the mountain leads to."
+The others agreed readily to this sensible suggestion, and at once the
+boy began to harness Jim to the buggy. When all was in readiness the
+three took their seats in the buggy and Jim started cautiously along the
+way, Zeb driving while the Wizard and Dorothy each held a lighted
+lantern so the horse could see where to go.
+Sometimes the tunnel was so narrow that the wheels of the buggy grazed
+the sides; then it would broaden out as wide as a street; but the floor
+was usually smooth, and for a long time they travelled on without any
+accident. Jim stopped sometimes to rest, for the climb was rather steep
+and tiresome.
+"We must be nearly as high as the six colored suns, by this time," said
+Dorothy. "I didn't know this mountain was so tall."
+"We are certainly a good distance away from the Land of the Mangaboos,"
+added Zeb; "for we have slanted away from it ever since we started."
+But they kept steadily moving, and just as Jim was about tired out with
+his long journey the way suddenly grew lighter, and Zeb put out the
+lanterns to save the oil.
+To their joy they found it was a white light that now greeted them, for
+all were weary of the colored rainbow lights which, after a time, had
+made their eyes ache with their constantly shifting rays. The sides of
+the tunnel showed before them like the inside of a long spy-glass, and
+the floor became more level. Jim hastened his lagging steps at this
+assurance of a quick relief from the dark passage, and in a few moments
+more they had emerged from the mountain and found themselves face to
+face with a new and charming country.
+CHAPTER 8.
+THE VALLEY OF VOICES
+By journeying through the glass mountain they had reached a delightful
+valley that was shaped like the hollow of a great cup, with another
+rugged mountain showing on the other side of it, and soft and pretty
+green hills at the ends. It was all laid out into lovely lawns and
+gardens, with pebble paths leading through them and groves of beautiful
+and stately trees dotting the landscape here and there. There were
+orchards, too, bearing luscious fruits that are all unknown in our
+world. Alluring brooks of crystal water flowed sparkling between their
+flower-strewn banks, while scattered over the valley were dozens of the
+quaintest and most picturesque cottages our travelers had ever beheld.
+None of them were in clusters, such as villages or towns, but each had
+ample grounds of its own, with orchards and gardens surrounding it.
+As the new arrivals gazed upon this exquisite scene they were enraptured
+by its beauties and the fragrance that permeated the soft air, which
+they breathed so gratefully after the confined atmosphere of the tunnel.
+Several minutes were consumed in silent admiration before they noticed
+two very singular and unusual facts about this valley. One was that it
+was lighted from some unseen source; for no sun or moon was in the
+arched blue sky, although every object was flooded with a clear and
+perfect light. The second and even more singular fact was the absence of
+any inhabitant of this splendid place. From their elevated position they
+could overlook the entire valley, but not a single moving object could
+they see. All appeared mysteriously deserted.
+The mountain on this side was not glass, but made of a stone similar to
+granite. With some difficulty and danger Jim drew the buggy over the
+loose rocks until he reached the green lawns below, where the paths and
+orchards and gardens began. The nearest cottage was still some distance
+away.
+"Isn't it fine?" cried Dorothy, in a joyous voice, as she sprang out of
+the buggy and let Eureka run frolicking over the velvety grass.
+"Yes, indeed!" answered Zeb. "We were lucky to get away from those
+dreadful vegetable people."
+"It wouldn't be so bad," remarked the Wizard, gazing around him, "if we
+were obliged to live here always. We couldn't find a prettier place, I'm
+sure."
+He took the piglets from his pocket and let them run on the grass, and
+Jim tasted a mouthful of the green blades and declared he was very
+contented in his new surroundings.
+"We can't walk in the air here, though," called Eureka, who had tried it
+and failed; but the others were satisfied to walk on the ground, and the
+Wizard said they must be nearer the surface of the earth than they had
+been in the Mangaboo country, for everything was more homelike and
+natural.
+"But where are the people?" asked Dorothy.
+The little man shook his bald head.
+"Can't imagine, my dear," he replied.
+They heard the sudden twittering of a bird, but could not find the
+creature anywhere. Slowly they walked along the path toward the nearest
+cottage, the piglets racing and gambolling beside them and Jim pausing
+at every step for another mouthful of grass.
+Presently they came to a low plant which had broad, spreading leaves, in
+the center of which grew a single fruit about as large as a peach. The
+fruit was so daintily colored and so fragrant, and looked so appetizing
+and delicious that Dorothy stopped and exclaimed:
+"What is it, do you s'pose?"
+The piglets had smelled the fruit quickly, and before the girl could
+reach out her hand to pluck it every one of the nine tiny ones had
+rushed in and commenced to devour it with great eagerness.
+"It's good, anyway," said Zeb, "or those little rascals wouldn't have
+gobbled it up so greedily."
+"Where are they?" asked Dorothy, in astonishment.
+They all looked around, but the piglets had disappeared.
+"Dear me!" cried the Wizard; "they must have run away. But I didn't see
+them go; did you?"
+"No!" replied the boy and the girl, together.
+"Here,--piggy, piggy, piggy!" called their master, anxiously.
+Several squeals and grunts were instantly heard at his feet, but the
+Wizard could not discover a single piglet.
+"Where are you?" he asked.
+"Why, right beside you," spoke a tiny voice. "Can't you see us?"
+"No," answered the little man, in a puzzled tone.
+"We can see you," said another of the piglets.
+The Wizard stooped down and put out his hand, and at once felt the small
+fat body of one of his pets. He picked it up, but could not see what he
+held.
+"It is very strange," said he, soberly. "The piglets have become
+invisible, in some curious way."
+"I'll bet it's because they ate that peach!" cried the kitten.
+"It wasn't a peach, Eureka," said Dorothy. "I only hope it wasn't
+poison."
+"It was fine, Dorothy," called one of the piglets.
+"We'll eat all we can find of them," said another.
+"But _we_ mus'n't eat them," the Wizard warned the children, "or we too
+may become invisible, and lose each other. If we come across another of
+the strange fruit we must avoid it."
+Calling the piglets to him he picked them all up, one by one, and put
+them away in his pocket; for although he could not see them he could
+feel them, and when he had buttoned his coat he knew they were safe for
+the present.
+The travellers now resumed their walk toward the cottage, which they
+presently reached. It was a pretty place, with vines growing thickly
+over the broad front porch. The door stood open and a table was set in
+the front room, with four chairs drawn up to it. On the table were
+plates, knives and forks, and dishes of bread, meat and fruits. The meat
+was smoking hot and the knives and forks were performing strange antics
+and jumping here and there in quite a puzzling way. But not a single
+person appeared to be in the room.
+"How funny!" exclaimed Dorothy, who with Zeb and the Wizard now stood in
+the doorway.
+A peal of merry laughter answered her, and the knives and forks fell to
+the plates with a clatter. One of the chairs pushed back from the table,
+and this was so astonishing and mysterious that Dorothy was almost
+tempted to run away in fright.
+"Here are strangers, mama!" cried the shrill and childish voice of some
+unseen person.
+"So I see, my dear," answered another voice, soft and womanly.
+"What do you want?" demanded a third voice, in a stern, gruff accent.
+"Well, well!" said the Wizard; "are there really people in this room?"
+"Of course," replied the man's voice.
+"And--pardon me for the foolish question--but, are you all invisible?"
+"Surely," the woman answered, repeating her low, rippling laughter.
+"Are you surprised that you are unable to see the people of Voe?"
+"Why, yes," stammered the Wizard. "All the people I have ever met before
+were very plain to see."
+"Where do you come from, then?" asked the woman, in a curious tone.
+"We belong upon the face of the earth," explained the Wizard, "but
+recently, during an earthquake, we fell down a crack and landed in the
+Country of the Mangaboos."
+"Dreadful creatures!" exclaimed the woman's voice. "I've heard of them."
+"They walled us up in a mountain," continued the Wizard; "but we found
+there was a tunnel through to this side, so we came here. It is a
+beautiful place. What do you call it?"
+"It is the Valley of Voe."
+"Thank you. We have seen no people since we arrived, so we came to this
+house to enquire our way."
+"Are you hungry?" asked the woman's voice.
+"I could eat something," said Dorothy.
+"So could I," added Zeb.
+"But we do not wish to intrude, I assure you," the Wizard hastened to
+say.
+"That's all right," returned the man's voice, more pleasantly than
+before. "You are welcome to what we have."
+As he spoke the voice came so near to Zeb that he jumped back in alarm.
+Two childish voices laughed merrily at this action, and Dorothy was sure
+they were in no danger among such light-hearted folks, even if those
+folks couldn't be seen.
+"What curious animal is that which is eating the grass on my lawn?"
+enquired the man's voice.
+"That's Jim," said the girl. "He's a horse."
+"What is he good for?" was the next question.
+"He draws the buggy you see fastened to him, and we ride in the buggy
+instead of walking," she explained.
+"Can he fight?" asked the man's voice.
+"No! he can kick pretty hard with his heels, and bite a little; but Jim
+can't 'zactly fight," she replied.
+"Then the bears will get him," said one of the children's voices.
+"Bears!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Are these bears here?"
+"That is the one evil of our country," answered the invisible man. "Many
+large and fierce bears roam in the Valley of Voe, and when they can
+catch any of us they eat us up; but as they cannot see us, we seldom get
+caught."
+"Are the bears invis'ble, too?" asked the girl.
+"Yes; for they eat of the dama-fruit, as we all do, and that keeps them
+from being seen by any eye, whether human or animal."
+"Does the dama-fruit grow on a low bush, and look something like a
+peach?" asked the Wizard.
+"Yes," was the reply.
+"If it makes you invis'ble, why do you eat it?" Dorothy enquired.
+"For two reasons, my dear," the woman's voice answered. "The dama-fruit
+is the most delicious thing that grows, and when it makes us invisible
+the bears cannot find us to eat us up. But now, good wanderers, your
+luncheon is on the table, so please sit down and eat as much as you
+like."
+CHAPTER 9.
+THEY FIGHT THE INVISIBLE BEARS
+The strangers took their seats at the table willingly enough, for they
+were all hungry and the platters were now heaped with good things to
+eat. In front of each place was a plate bearing one of the delicious
+dama-fruit, and the perfume that rose from these was so enticing and
+sweet that they were sorely tempted to eat of them and become invisible.
+But Dorothy satisfied her hunger with other things, and her companions
+did likewise, resisting the temptation.
+"Why do you not eat the damas?" asked the woman's voice.
+"We don't want to get invis'ble," answered the girl.
+"But if you remain visible the bears will see you and devour you," said
+a girlish young voice, that belonged to one of the children. "We who
+live here much prefer to be invisible; for we can still hug and kiss one
+another, and are quite safe from the bears."
+"And we do not have to be so particular about our dress," remarked the
+man.
+"And mama can't tell whether my face is dirty or not!" added the other
+childish voice, gleefully.
+"But I make you wash it, every time I think of it," said the mother;
+"for it stands to reason your face is dirty, Ianu, whether I can see it
+or not."
+Dorothy laughed and stretched out her hands.
+"Come here, please--Ianu and your sister--and let me feel of you," she
+requested.
+They came to her willingly, and Dorothy passed her hands over their
+faces and forms and decided one was a girl of about her own age and the
+other a boy somewhat smaller. The girl's hair was soft and fluffy and
+her skin as smooth as satin. When Dorothy gently touched her nose and
+ears and lips they seemed to be well and delicately formed.
+"If I could see you I am sure you would be beautiful," she declared.
+The girl laughed, and her mother said:
+"We are not vain in the Valley of Voe, because we can not display our
+beauty, and good actions and pleasant ways are what make us lovely to
+our companions. Yet we can see and appreciate the beauties of nature,
+the dainty flowers and trees, the green fields and the clear blue of the
+sky."
+"How about the birds and beasts and fishes?" asked Zeb.
+"The birds we cannot see, because they love to eat of the damas as much
+as we do; yet we hear their sweet songs and enjoy them. Neither can we
+see the cruel bears, for they also eat the fruit. But the fishes that
+swim in our brooks we can see, and often we catch them to eat."
+"It occurs to me you have a great deal to make you happy, even while
+invisible," remarked the Wizard. "Nevertheless, we prefer to remain
+visible while we are in your valley."
+Just then Eureka came in, for she had been until now wandering outside
+with Jim; and when the kitten saw the table set with food she cried out:
+"Now you must feed me, Dorothy, for I'm half starved."
+The children were inclined to be frightened by the sight of the small
+animal, which reminded them of the bears; but Dorothy reassured them by
+explaining that Eureka was a pet and could do no harm even if she wished
+to. Then, as the others had by this time moved away from the table, the
+kitten sprang upon the chair and put her paws upon the cloth to see what
+there was to eat. To her surprise an unseen hand clutched her and held
+her suspended in the air. Eureka was frantic with terror, and tried to
+scratch and bite, so the next moment she was dropped to the floor.
+"Did you see that, Dorothy?" she gasped.
+"Yes, dear," her mistress replied; "there are people living in this
+house, although we cannot see them. And you must have better manners,
+Eureka, or something worse will happen to you."
+She placed a plate of food upon the floor and the kitten ate greedily.
+"Give me that nice-smelling fruit I saw on the table," she begged, when
+she had cleaned the plate.
+"Those are damas," said Dorothy, "and you must never even taste them,
+Eureka, or you'll get invis'ble, and then we can't see you at all."
+The kitten gazed wistfully at the forbidden fruit.
+"Does it hurt to be invis'ble?" she asked.
+"I don't know," Dorothy answered; "but it would hurt me dre'fully to
+lose you."
+"Very well, I won't touch it," decided the kitten; "but you must keep it
+away from me, for the smell is very tempting."
+"Can you tell us, sir or ma'am," said the Wizard, addressing the air
+because he did not quite know where the unseen people stood, "if there
+is any way we can get out of your beautiful Valley, and on top of the
+Earth again."
+"Oh, one can leave the Valley easily enough," answered the man's voice;
+"but to do so you must enter a far less pleasant country. As for
+reaching the top of the earth, I have never heard that it is possible to
+do that, and if you succeeded in getting there you would probably fall
+off."
+"Oh, no," said Dorothy, "we've been there, and we know."
+"The Valley of Voe is certainly a charming place," resumed the Wizard;
+"but we cannot be contented in any other land than our own, for long.
+Even if we should come to unpleasant places on our way it is necessary,
+in order to reach the earth's surface, to keep moving on toward it."
+"In that case," said the man, "it will be best for you to cross our
+Valley and mount the spiral staircase inside the Pyramid Mountain. The
+top of that mountain is lost in the clouds, and when you reach it you
+will be in the awful Land of Naught, where the Gargoyles live."
+"What are Gargoyles?" asked Zeb.
+"I do not know, young sir. Our greatest Champion, Overman-Anu, once
+climbed the spiral stairway and fought nine days with the Gargoyles
+before he could escape them and come back; but he could never be induced
+to describe the dreadful creatures, and soon afterward a bear caught
+him and ate him up."
+The wanderers were rather discouraged by this gloomy report, but Dorothy
+said with a sigh:
+"If the only way to get home is to meet the Gurgles, then we've got to
+meet 'em. They can't be worse than the Wicked Witch or the Nome King."
+"But you must remember you had the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman to help
+you conquer those enemies," suggested the Wizard. "Just now, my dear,
+there is not a single warrior in your company."
+"Oh, I guess Zeb could fight if he had to. Couldn't you, Zeb?" asked the
+little girl.
+"Perhaps; if I had to," answered Zeb, doubtfully.
+"And you have the jointed sword that you chopped the veg'table Sorcerer
+in two with," the girl said to the little man.
+"True," he replied; "and in my satchel are other useful things to fight
+with."
+"What the Gargoyles most dread is a noise," said the man's voice. "Our
+Champion told me that when he shouted his battle-cry the creatures
+shuddered and drew back, hesitating to continue the combat. But they
+were in great numbers, and the Champion could not shout much because he
+had to save his breath for fighting."
+"Very good," said the Wizard; "we can all yell better than we can fight,
+so we ought to defeat the Gargoyles."
+"But tell me," said Dorothy, "how did such a brave Champion happen to
+let the bears eat him? And if he was invis'ble, and the bears invis'ble,
+who knows that they really ate him up?"
+"The Champion had killed eleven bears in his time," returned the unseen
+man; "and we know this is true because when any creature is dead the
+invisible charm of the dama-fruit ceases to be active, and the slain one
+can be plainly seen by all eyes. When the Champion killed a bear
+everyone could see it; and when the bears killed the Champion we all saw
+several pieces of him scattered about, which of course disappeared again
+when the bears devoured them."
+They now bade farewell to the kind but unseen people of the cottage, and
+after the man had called their attention to a high, pyramid-shaped
+mountain on the opposite side of the Valley, and told them how to travel
+in order to reach it, they again started upon their journey.
+They followed the course of a broad stream and passed several more
+pretty cottages; but of course they saw no one, nor did any one speak to
+them. Fruits and flowers grew plentifully all about, and there were many
+of the delicious damas that the people of Voe were so fond of.
+About noon they stopped to allow Jim to rest in the shade of a pretty
+orchard, and while they plucked and ate some of the cherries and plums
+that grew there a soft voice suddenly said to them:
+"There are bears near by. Be careful."
+The Wizard got out his sword at once, and Zeb grabbed the horse-whip.
+Dorothy climbed into the buggy, although Jim had been unharnessed from
+it and was grazing some distance away.
+The owner of the unseen voice laughed lightly and said:
+"You cannot escape the bears that way."
+"How _can_ we 'scape?" asked Dorothy, nervously, for an unseen danger is
+always the hardest to face.
+"You must take to the river," was the reply. "The bears will not venture
+upon the water."
+"But we would be drowned!" exclaimed the girl.
+"Oh, there is no need of that," said the voice, which from its gentle
+tones seemed to belong to a young girl. "You are strangers in the Valley
+of Voe, and do not seem to know our ways; so I will try to save you."
+The next moment a broad-leaved plant was jerked from the ground where it
+grew and held suspended in the air before the Wizard.
+"Sir," said the voice, "you must rub these leaves upon the soles of
+all your feet, and then you will be able to walk upon the water without
+sinking below the surface. It is a secret the bears do not know, and we
+people of Voe usually walk upon the water when we travel, and so escape
+our enemies."
+"Thank you!" cried the Wizard, joyfully, and at once rubbed a leaf upon
+the soles of Dorothy's shoes and then upon his own. The girl took a leaf
+and rubbed it upon the kitten's paws, and the rest of the plant was
+handed to Zeb, who, after applying it to his own feet, carefully rubbed
+it upon all four of Jim's hoofs and then upon the tires of the
+buggy-wheels. He had nearly finished this last task when a low growling
+was suddenly heard and the horse began to jump around and kick viciously
+with his heels.
+"Quick! To the water, or you are lost!" cried their unseen friend, and
+without hesitation the Wizard drew the buggy down the bank and out upon
+the broad river, for Dorothy was still seated in it with Eureka in her
+arms. They did not sink at all, owing to the virtues of the strange
+plant they had used, and when the buggy was in the middle of the stream
+the Wizard returned to the bank to assist Zeb and Jim.
+The horse was plunging madly about, and two or three deep gashes
+appeared upon its flanks, from which the blood flowed freely.
+"Run for the river!" shouted the Wizard, and Jim quickly freed himself
+from his unseen tormenters by a few vicious kicks and then obeyed. As
+soon as he trotted out upon the surface of the river he found himself
+safe from pursuit, and Zeb was already running across the water toward
+Dorothy.
+As the little Wizard turned to follow them he felt a hot breath against
+his cheek and heard a low, fierce growl. At once he began stabbing at
+the air with his sword, and he knew that he had struck some substance
+because when he drew back the blade it was dripping with blood. The
+third time that he thrust out the weapon there was a loud roar and a
+fall, and suddenly at his feet appeared the form of a great red bear,
+which was nearly as big as the horse and much stronger and fiercer. The
+beast was quite dead from the sword thrusts, and after a glance at its
+terrible claws and sharp teeth the little man turned in a panic and
+rushed out upon the water, for other menacing growls told him more bears
+were near.
+On the river, however, the adventurers seemed to be perfectly safe.
+Dorothy and the buggy had floated slowly down stream with the current of
+the water, and the others made haste to join her. The Wizard opened his
+satchel and got out some sticking-plaster with which he mended the cuts
+Jim had received from the claws of the bears.
+"I think we'd better stick to the river, after this," said Dorothy. "If
+our unknown friend hadn't warned us, and told us what to do, we would
+all be dead by this time."
+"That is true," agreed the Wizard, "and as the river seems to be flowing
+in the direction of the Pyramid Mountain it will be the easiest way for
+us to travel."
+Zeb hitched Jim to the buggy again, and the horse trotted along and drew
+them rapidly over the smooth water. The kitten was at first dreadfully
+afraid of getting wet, but Dorothy let her down and soon Eureka was
+frisking along beside the buggy without being scared a bit. Once a
+little fish swam too near the surface, and the kitten grabbed it in her
+mouth and ate it up as quick as a wink; but Dorothy cautioned her to be
+careful what she ate in this valley of enchantments, and no more fishes
+were careless enough to swim within reach.
+After a journey of several hours they came to a point where the river
+curved, and they found they must cross a mile or so of the Valley before
+they came to the Pyramid Mountain. There were few houses in this part,
+and few orchards or flowers; so our friends feared they might encounter
+more of the savage bears, which they had learned to dread with all their
+hearts.
+"You'll have to make a dash, Jim," said the Wizard, "and run as fast as
+you can go."
+"All right," answered the horse; "I'll do my best. But you must remember
+I'm old, and my dashing days are past and gone."
+All three got into the buggy and Zeb picked up the reins, though Jim
+needed no guidance of any sort. The horse was still smarting from the
+sharp claws of the invisible bears, and as soon as he was on land and
+headed toward the mountain the thought that more of those fearsome
+creatures might be near acted as a spur and sent him galloping along in
+a way that made Dorothy catch her breath.
+Then Zeb, in a spirit of mischief, uttered a growl like that of the
+bears, and Jim pricked up his ears and fairly flew. His boney legs moved
+so fast they could scarcely be seen, and the Wizard clung fast to the
+seat and yelled "Whoa!" at the top of his voice.
+"I--I'm 'fraid he's--he's running away!" gasped Dorothy.
+"I _know_ he is," said Zeb; "but no bear can catch him if he keeps up
+that gait--and the harness or the buggy don't break."
+Jim did not make a mile a minute; but almost before they were aware of
+it he drew up at the foot of the mountain, so suddenly that the Wizard
+and Zeb both sailed over the dashboard and landed in the soft
+grass--where they rolled over several times before they stopped.
+Dorothy nearly went with them, but she was holding fast to the iron rail
+of the seat, and that saved her. She squeezed the kitten, though, until
+it screeched; and then the old cab-horse made several curious sounds
+that led the little girl to suspect he was laughing at them all.
+CHAPTER 10.
+THE BRAIDED MAN OF PYRAMID MOUNTAIN
+The mountain before them was shaped like a cone and was so tall that its
+point was lost in the clouds. Directly facing the place where Jim had
+stopped was an arched opening leading to a broad stairway. The stairs
+were cut in the rock inside the mountain, and they were broad and not
+very steep, because they circled around like a cork-screw, and at the
+arched opening where the flight began the circle was quite big. At the
+foot of the stairs was a sign reading:
+        WARNING.
+  These steps lead to the
+        Land of the Gargoyles.
+    DANGER! KEEP OUT.
+"I wonder how Jim is ever going to draw the buggy up so many stairs,"
+said Dorothy, gravely.
+"No trouble at all," declared the horse, with a contemptuous neigh.
+"Still, I don't care to drag any passengers. You'll all have to walk."
+"Suppose the stairs get steeper?" suggested Zeb, doubtfully.
+"Then you'll have to boost the buggy-wheels, that's all," answered Jim.
+"We'll try it, anyway," said the Wizard. "It's the only way to get out
+of the Valley of Voe."
+So they began to ascend the stairs, Dorothy and the Wizard first, Jim
+next, drawing the buggy, and then Zeb to watch that nothing happened to
+the harness.
+The light was dim, and soon they mounted into total darkness, so that
+the Wizard was obliged to get out his lanterns to light the way. But
+this enabled them to proceed steadily until they came to a landing where
+there was a rift in the side of the mountain that let in both light and
+air. Looking through this opening they could see the Valley of Voe lying
+far below them, the cottages seeming like toy houses from that distance.
+After resting a few moments they resumed their climb, and still the
+stairs were broad and low enough for Jim to draw the buggy easily after
+him. The old horse panted a little, and had to stop often to get his
+breath. At such times they were all glad to wait for him, for
+continually climbing up stairs is sure to make one's legs ache.
+They wound about, always going upward, for some time. The lights from
+the lanterns dimly showed the way, but it was a gloomy journey, and they
+were pleased when a broad streak of light ahead assured them they were
+coming to a second landing.
+Here one side of the mountain had a great hole in it, like the mouth of
+a cavern, and the stairs stopped at the near edge of the floor and
+commenced ascending again at the opposite edge.
+The opening in the mountain was on the side opposite to the Valley of
+Voe, and our travellers looked out upon a strange scene. Below them was
+a vast space, at the bottom of which was a black sea with rolling
+billows, through which little tongues of flame constantly shot up. Just
+above them, and almost on a level with their platform, were banks of
+rolling clouds which constantly shifted position and changed color. The
+blues and greys were very beautiful, and Dorothy noticed that on the
+cloud banks sat or reclined fleecy, shadowy forms of beautiful beings
+who must have been the Cloud Fairies. Mortals who stand upon the earth
+and look up at the sky cannot often distinguish these forms, but our
+friends were now so near to the clouds that they observed the dainty
+fairies very clearly.
+"Are they real?" asked Zeb, in an awed voice.
+"Of course," replied Dorothy, softly. "They are the Cloud Fairies."
+"They seem like open-work," remarked the boy, gazing intently. "If I
+should squeeze one, there wouldn't be anything left of it."
+In the open space between the clouds and the black, bubbling sea far
+beneath, could be seen an occasional strange bird winging its way
+swiftly through the air. These birds were of enormous size, and reminded
+Zeb of the rocs he had read about in the Arabian Nights. They had fierce
+eyes and sharp talons and beaks, and the children hoped none of them
+would venture into the cavern.
+"Well, I declare!" suddenly exclaimed the little Wizard. "What in the
+world is this?"
+They turned around and found a man standing on the floor in the center
+of the cave, who bowed very politely when he saw he had attracted their
+attention. He was a very old man, bent nearly double; but the queerest
+thing about him was his white hair and beard. These were so long that
+they reached to his feet, and both the hair and the beard were
+carefully plaited into many braids, and the end of each braid fastened
+with a bow of colored ribbon.
+"Where did you come from?" asked Dorothy, wonderingly.
+"No place at all," answered the man with the braids; "that is, not
+recently. Once I lived on top the earth, but for many years I have had
+my factory in this spot--half way up Pyramid Mountain."
+"Are we only half way up?" enquired the boy, in a discouraged tone.
+"I believe so, my lad," replied the braided man. "But as I have never
+been in either direction, down or up, since I arrived, I cannot be
+positive whether it is exactly half way or not."
+"Have you a factory in this place?" asked the Wizard, who had been
+examining the strange personage carefully.
+"To be sure," said the other. "I am a great inventor, you must know, and
+I manufacture my products in this lonely spot."
+"What are your products?" enquired the Wizard.
+"Well, I make Assorted Flutters for flags and bunting, and a superior
+grade of Rustles for ladies' silk gowns."
+"I thought so," said the Wizard, with a sigh. "May we examine some of
+these articles?"
+
+"Yes, indeed; come into my shop, please," and the braided man turned and
+led the way into a smaller cave, where he evidently lived. Here, on a
+broad shelf, were several card-board boxes of various sizes, each tied
+with cotton cord.
+"This," said the man, taking up a box and handling it gently, "contains
+twelve dozen rustles--enough to last any lady a year. Will you buy it,
+my dear?" he asked, addressing Dorothy.
+"My gown isn't silk," she said, smiling.
+"Never mind. When you open the box the rustles will escape, whether you
+are wearing a silk dress or not," said the man, seriously. Then he
+picked up another box. "In this," he continued, "are many assorted
+flutters. They are invaluable to make flags flutter on a still day, when
+there is no wind. You, sir," turning to the Wizard, "ought to have this
+assortment. Once you have tried my goods I am sure you will never be
+without them."
+"I have no money with me," said the Wizard, evasively.
+"I do not want money," returned the braided man, "for I could not spend
+it in this deserted place if I had it. But I would like very much a blue
+hair-ribbon. You will notice my braids are tied with yellow, pink,
+brown, red, green, white and black; but I have no blue ribbons."
+"I'll get you one!" cried Dorothy, who was sorry for the poor man; so
+she ran back to the buggy and took from her suit-case a pretty blue
+ribbon. It did her good to see how the braided man's eyes sparkled when
+he received this treasure.
+"You have made me very, very happy, my dear!" he exclaimed; and then he
+insisted on the Wizard taking the box of flutters and the little girl
+accepting the box of rustles.
+"You may need them, some time," he said, "and there is really no use in
+my manufacturing these things unless somebody uses them."
+"Why did you leave the surface of the earth?" enquired the Wizard.
+"I could not help it. It is a sad story, but if you will try to restrain
+your tears I will tell you about it. On earth I was a manufacturer of
+Imported Holes for American Swiss Cheese, and I will acknowledge that I
+supplied a superior article, which was in great demand. Also I made
+pores for porous plasters and high-grade holes for doughnuts and
+buttons. Finally I invented a new Adjustable Post-hole, which I thought
+would make my fortune. I manufactured a large quantity of these
+post-holes, and having no room in which to store them I set them all end
+to end and put the top one in the ground. That made an extraordinary
+long hole, as you may imagine, and reached far down into the earth; and,
+as I leaned over it to try to see to the bottom, I lost my balance and
+tumbled in. Unfortunately, the hole led directly into the vast space you
+see outside this mountain; but I managed to catch a point of rock that
+projected from this cavern, and so saved myself from tumbling headlong
+into the black waves beneath, where the tongues of flame that dart out
+would certainly have consumed me. Here, then, I made my home; and
+although it is a lonely place I amuse myself making rustles and
+flutters, and so get along very nicely."
+When the braided man had completed this strange tale Dorothy nearly
+laughed, because it was all so absurd; but the Wizard tapped his
+forehead significantly, to indicate that he thought the poor man was
+crazy. So they politely bade him good day, and went back to the outer
+cavern to resume their journey.
+CHAPTER 11.
+THEY MEET THE WOODEN GARGOYLES
+Another breathless climb brought our adventurers to a third landing
+where there was a rift in the mountain. On peering out all they could
+see was rolling banks of clouds, so thick that they obscured all else.
+But the travellers were obliged to rest, and while they were sitting on
+the rocky floor the Wizard felt in his pocket and brought out the nine
+tiny piglets. To his delight they were now plainly visible, which proved
+that they had passed beyond the influence of the magical Valley of Voe.
+"Why, we can see each other again!" cried one, joyfully.
+"Yes," sighed Eureka; "and I also can see you again, and the sight
+makes me dreadfully hungry. Please, Mr. Wizard, may I eat just one of
+the fat little piglets? You'd never miss _one_ of them, I'm sure!"
+"What a horrid, savage beast!" exclaimed a piglet; "and after we've been
+such good friends, too, and played with one another!"
+"When I'm not hungry, I love to play with you all," said the kitten,
+demurely; "but when my stomach is empty it seems that nothing would fill
+it so nicely as a fat piglet."
+"And we trusted you so!" said another of the nine, reproachfully.
+"And thought you were respectable!" said another.
+"It seems we were mistaken," declared a third, looking at the kitten
+timorously, "no one with such murderous desires should belong to our
+party, I'm sure."
+"You see, Eureka," remarked Dorothy, reprovingly, "you are making
+yourself disliked. There are certain things proper for a kitten to eat;
+but I never heard of a kitten eating a pig, under _any_ cir'stances."
+"Did you ever see such little pigs before?" asked the kitten. "They are
+no bigger than mice, and I'm sure mice are proper for me to eat."
+"It isn't the bigness, dear; its the variety," replied the girl. "These
+are Mr. Wizard's pets, just as you are my pet, and it wouldn't be any
+more proper for you to eat them than it would be for Jim to eat you."
+"And that's just what I shall do if you don't let those little balls of
+pork alone," said Jim, glaring at the kitten with his round, big eyes.
+"If you injure any one of them I'll chew you up instantly."
+The kitten looked at the horse thoughtfully, as if trying to decide
+whether he meant it or not.
+"In that case," she said, "I'll leave them alone. You haven't many teeth
+left, Jim, but the few you have are sharp enough to make me shudder. So
+the piglets will be perfectly safe, hereafter, as far as I am
+concerned."
+"That is right, Eureka," remarked the Wizard, earnestly. "Let us all be
+a happy family and love one another."
+Eureka yawned and stretched herself.
+"I've always loved the piglets," she said; "but they don't love me."
+"No one can love a person he's afraid of," asserted Dorothy. "If you
+behave, and don't scare the little pigs, I'm sure they'll grow very fond
+of you."
+The Wizard now put the nine tiny ones back into his pocket and the
+journey was resumed.
+"We must be pretty near the top, now," said the boy, as they climbed
+wearily up the dark, winding stairway.
+"The Country of the Gurgles can't be far from the top of the earth,"
+remarked Dorothy. "It isn't very nice down here. I'd like to get home
+again, I'm sure."
+No one replied to this, because they found they needed all their breath
+for the climb. The stairs had become narrower and Zeb and the Wizard
+often had to help Jim pull the buggy from one step to another, or keep
+it from jamming against the rocky walls.
+At last, however, a dim light appeared ahead of them, which grew clearer
+and stronger as they advanced.
+"Thank goodness we're nearly there!" panted the little Wizard.
+Jim, who was in advance, saw the last stair before him and stuck his
+head above the rocky sides of the stairway. Then he halted, ducked down
+and began to back up, so that he nearly fell with the buggy onto the
+others.
+"Let's go down again!" he said, in his hoarse voice.
+"Nonsense!" snapped the tired Wizard. "What's the matter with you, old
+man?"
+"Everything," grumbled the horse. "I've taken a look at this place, and
+it's no fit country for real creatures to go to. Everything's dead, up
+there--no flesh or blood or growing thing anywhere."
+"Never mind; we can't turn back," said Dorothy; "and we don't intend to
+stay there, anyhow."
+"It's dangerous," growled Jim, in a stubborn tone.
+"See here, my good steed," broke in the Wizard, "little Dorothy and I
+have been in many queer countries in our travels, and always escaped
+without harm. We've even been to the marvelous Land of Oz--haven't we,
+Dorothy?--so we don't much care what the Country of the Gargoyles is
+like. Go ahead, Jim, and whatever happens we'll make the best of it."
+"All right," answered the horse; "this is your excursion, and not mine;
+so if you get into trouble don't blame me."
+With this speech he bent forward and dragged the buggy up the remaining
+steps. The others followed and soon they were all standing upon a broad
+platform and gazing at the most curious and startling sight their eyes
+had ever beheld.
+"The Country of the Gargoyles is all wooden!" exclaimed Zeb; and so it
+was. The ground was sawdust and the pebbles scattered around were hard
+knots from trees, worn smooth in course of time. There were odd wooden
+houses, with carved wooden flowers in the front yards. The tree-trunks
+were of coarse wood, but the leaves of the trees were shavings. The
+patches of grass were splinters of wood, and where neither grass nor
+sawdust showed was a solid wooden flooring. Wooden birds fluttered
+among the trees and wooden cows were browsing upon the wooden grass; but
+the most amazing things of all were the wooden people--the creatures
+known as Gargoyles.
+These were very numerous, for the palace was thickly inhabited, and a
+large group of the queer people clustered near, gazing sharply upon the
+strangers who had emerged from the long spiral stairway.
+The Gargoyles were very small of stature, being less than three feet in
+height. Their bodies were round, their legs short and thick and their
+arms extraordinarily long and stout. Their heads were too big for their
+bodies and their faces were decidedly ugly to look upon. Some had long,
+curved noses and chins, small eyes and wide, grinning mouths. Others had
+flat noses, protruding eyes, and ears that were shaped like those of an
+elephant. There were many types, indeed, scarcely two being alike; but
+all were equally disagreeable in appearance. The tops of their heads had
+no hair, but were carved into a variety of fantastic shapes, some having
+a row of points or balls around the top, other designs resembling
+flowers or vegetables, and still others having squares that looked like
+waffles cut criss-cross on their heads. They all wore short wooden wings
+which were fastened to their wooden bodies by means of wooden hinges
+with wooden screws, and with these wings they flew swiftly and
+noiselessly here and there, their legs being of little use to them.
+This noiseless motion was one of the most peculiar things about the
+Gargoyles. They made no sounds at all, either in flying or trying to
+speak, and they conversed mainly by means of quick signals made with
+their wooden fingers or lips. Neither was there any sound to be heard
+anywhere throughout the wooden country. The birds did not sing, nor did
+the cows moo; yet there was more than ordinary activity everywhere.
+The group of these queer creatures which was discovered clustered near
+the stairs at first remained staring and motionless, glaring with evil
+eyes at the intruders who had so suddenly appeared in their land. In
+turn the Wizard and the children, the horse and the kitten, examined the
+Gargoyles with the same silent attention.
+"There's going to be trouble, I'm sure," remarked the horse. "Unhitch
+those tugs, Zeb, and set me free from the buggy, so I can fight
+comfortably."
+"Jim's right," sighed the Wizard. "There's going to be trouble, and my
+sword isn't stout enough to cut up those wooden bodies--so I shall have
+to get out my revolvers."
+He got his satchel from the buggy and, opening it, took out two deadly
+looking revolvers that made the children shrink back in alarm just to
+look at.
+"What harm can the Gurgles do?" asked Dorothy. "They have no weapons to
+hurt us with."
+"Each of their arms is a wooden club," answered the little man, "and I'm
+sure the creatures mean mischief, by the looks of their eyes. Even these
+revolvers can merely succeed in damaging a few of their wooden bodies,
+and after that we will be at their mercy."
+"But why fight at all, in that case?" asked the girl.
+"So I may die with a clear conscience," returned the Wizard, gravely.
+"It's every man's duty to do the best he knows how; and I'm going to do
+it."
+"Wish I had an axe," said Zeb, who by now had unhitched the horse.
+"If we had known we were coming we might have brought along several
+other useful things," responded the Wizard. "But we dropped into this
+adventure rather unexpectedly."
+The Gargoyles had backed away a distance when they heard the sound of
+talking, for although our friends had spoken in low tones their words
+seemed loud in the silence surrounding them. But as soon as the
+conversation ceased the grinning, ugly creatures arose in a flock and
+flew swiftly toward the strangers, their long arms stretched out before
+them like the bowsprits of a fleet of sail-boats. The horse had
+especially attracted their notice, because it was the biggest and
+strangest creature they had ever seen; so it became the center of their
+first attack.
+But Jim was ready for them, and when he saw them coming he turned his
+heels toward them and began kicking out as hard as he could. Crack!
+crash! bang! went his iron-shod hoofs against the wooden bodies of the
+Gargoyles, and they were battered right and left with such force that
+they scattered like straws in the wind. But the noise and clatter seemed
+as dreadful to them as Jim's heels, for all who were able swiftly turned
+and flew away to a great distance. The others picked themselves up from
+the ground one by one and quickly rejoined their fellows, so for a
+moment the horse thought he had won the fight with ease.
+But the Wizard was not so confident.
+"Those wooden things are impossible to hurt," he said, "and all the
+damage Jim has done to them is to knock a few splinters from their noses
+and ears. That cannot make them look any uglier, I'm sure, and it is my
+opinion they will soon renew the attack."
+"What made them fly away?" asked Dorothy.
+"The noise, of course. Don't you remember how the Champion escaped them
+by shouting his battle-cry?"
+"Suppose we escape down the stairs, too," suggested the boy. "We have
+time, just now, and I'd rather face the invis'ble bears than those
+wooden imps."
+"No," returned Dorothy, stoutly, "it won't do to go back, for then we
+would never get home. Let's fight it out."
+"That is what I advise," said the Wizard. "They haven't defeated us yet,
+and Jim is worth a whole army."
+But the Gargoyles were clever enough not to attack the horse the next
+time. They advanced in a great swarm, having been joined by many more of
+their kind, and they flew straight over Jim's head to where the others
+were standing.
+The Wizard raised one of his revolvers and fired into the throng of his
+enemies, and the shot resounded like a clap of thunder in that silent
+place.
+Some of the wooden beings fell flat upon the ground, where they quivered
+and trembled in every limb; but most of them managed to wheel and escape
+again to a distance.
+Zeb ran and picked up one of the Gargoyles that lay nearest to him. The
+top of its head was carved into a crown and the Wizard's bullet had
+struck it exactly in the left eye, which was a hard wooden knot. Half of
+the bullet stuck in the wood and half stuck out, so it had been the jar
+and the sudden noise that had knocked the creature down, more than the
+fact that it was really hurt. Before this crowned Gargoyle had recovered
+himself Zeb had wound a strap several times around its body, confining
+its wings and arms so that it could not move. Then, having tied the
+wooden creature securely, the boy buckled the strap and tossed his
+prisoner into the buggy. By that time the others had all retired.
+CHAPTER 12.
+A WONDERFUL ESCAPE
+For a while the enemy hesitated to renew the attack. Then a few of them
+advanced until another shot from the Wizard's revolver made them
+retreat.
+"That's fine," said Zeb. "We've got 'em on the run now, sure enough."
+"But only for a time," replied the Wizard, shaking his head gloomily.
+"These revolvers are good for six shots each, but when those are gone we
+shall be helpless."
+The Gargoyles seemed to realize this, for they sent a few of their band
+time after time to attack the strangers and draw the fire from the
+little man's revolvers. In this way none of them was shocked by the
+dreadful report more than once, for the main band kept far away and
+each time a new company was sent into the battle. When the Wizard had
+fired all of his twelve bullets he had caused no damage to the enemy
+except to stun a few by the noise, and so he was no nearer to victory
+than in the beginning of the fray.
+"What shall we do now?" asked Dorothy, anxiously.
+"Let's yell--all together," said Zeb.
+"And fight at the same time," added the Wizard. "We will get near Jim,
+so that he can help us, and each one must take some weapon and do the
+best he can. I'll use my sword, although it isn't much account in this
+affair. Dorothy must take her parasol and open it suddenly when the
+wooden folks attack her. I haven't anything for you, Zeb."
+"I'll use the king," said the boy, and pulled his prisoner out of the
+buggy. The bound Gargoyle's arms extended far out beyond its head, so by
+grasping its wrists Zeb found the king made a very good club. The boy
+was strong for one of his years, having always worked upon a farm; so he
+was likely to prove more dangerous to the enemy than the Wizard.
+When the next company of Gargoyles advanced, our adventurers began
+yelling as if they had gone mad. Even the kitten gave a dreadfully
+shrill scream and at the same time Jim the cab-horse neighed loudly.
+This daunted the enemy for a time, but the defenders were soon out of
+breath. Perceiving this, as well as the fact that there were no more of
+the awful "bangs" to come from the revolvers, the Gargoyles advanced in
+a swarm as thick as bees, so that the air was filled with them.
+Dorothy squatted upon the ground and put up her parasol, which nearly
+covered her and proved a great protection. The Wizard's sword-blade
+snapped into a dozen pieces at the first blow he struck against the
+wooden people. Zeb pounded away with the Gargoyle he was using as a club
+until he had knocked down dozens of foes; but at the last they clustered
+so thickly about him that he no longer had room in which to swing his
+arms. The horse performed some wonderful kicking and even Eureka
+assisted when she leaped bodily upon the Gargoyles and scratched and bit
+at them like a wild-cat.
+But all this bravery amounted to nothing at all. The wooden things wound
+their long arms around Zeb and the Wizard and held them fast. Dorothy
+was captured in the same way, and numbers of the Gargoyles clung to
+Jim's legs, so weighting him down that the poor beast was helpless.
+Eureka made a desperate dash to escape and scampered along the ground
+like a streak; but a grinning Gargoyle flew after her and grabbed her
+before she had gone very far.
+All of them expected nothing less than instant death; but to their
+surprise the wooden creatures flew into the air with them and bore them
+far away, over miles and miles of wooden country, until they came to a
+wooden city. The houses of this city had many corners, being square and
+six-sided and eight-sided. They were tower-like in shape and the best of
+them seemed old and weather-worn; yet all were strong and substantial.
+To one of these houses which had neither doors nor windows, but only one
+broad opening far up underneath the roof, the prisoners were brought by
+their captors. The Gargoyles roughly pushed them into the opening, where
+there was a platform, and then flew away and left them. As they had no
+wings the strangers could not fly away, and if they jumped down from
+such a height they would surely be killed. The creatures had sense
+enough to reason that way, and the only mistake they made was in
+supposing the earth people were unable to overcome such ordinary
+difficulties.
+Jim was brought with the others, although it took a good many Gargoyles
+to carry the big beast through the air and land him on the high
+platform, and the buggy was thrust in after him because it belonged to
+the party and the wooden folks had no idea what it was used for or
+whether it was alive or not. When Eureka's captor had thrown the kitten
+after the others the last Gargoyle silently disappeared, leaving our
+friends to breathe freely once more.
+"What an awful fight!" said Dorothy, catching her breath in little
+gasps.
+"Oh, I don't know," purred Eureka, smoothing her ruffled fur with her
+paw; "we didn't manage to hurt anybody, and nobody managed to hurt us."
+"Thank goodness we are together again, even if we are prisoners," sighed
+the little girl.
+"I wonder why they didn't kill us on the spot," remarked Zeb, who had
+lost his king in the struggle.
+"They are probably keeping us for some ceremony," the Wizard answered,
+reflectively; "but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as
+possible in a short time."
+"As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it?" asked Dorothy.
+"Yes, my dear. But we have no need to worry about that just now. Let us
+examine our prison and see what it is like."
+The space underneath the roof, where they stood, permitted them to see
+on all sides of the tall building, and they looked with much curiosity
+at the city spread out beneath them. Everything visible was made of
+wood, and the scene seemed stiff and extremely unnatural.
+From their platform a stair descended into the house, and the children
+and the Wizard explored it after lighting a lantern to show them the
+way. Several stories of empty rooms rewarded their search, but nothing
+more; so after a time they came back to the platform again. Had there
+been any doors or windows in the lower rooms, or had not the boards of
+the house been so thick and stout, escape would have been easy; but to
+remain down below was like being in a cellar or the hold of a ship, and
+they did not like the darkness or the damp smell.
+In this country, as in all others they had visited underneath the
+earth's surface, there was no night, a constant and strong light coming
+from some unknown source. Looking out, they could see into some of the
+houses near them, where there were open windows in abundance, and were
+able to mark the forms of the wooden Gargoyles moving about in their
+dwellings.
+"This seems to be their time of rest," observed the Wizard. "All people
+need rest, even if they are made of wood, and as there is no night here
+they select a certain time of the day in which to sleep or doze."
+"I feel sleepy myself," remarked Zeb, yawning.
+"Why, where's Eureka?" cried Dorothy, suddenly.
+They all looked around, but the kitten was no place to be seen.
+"She's gone out for a walk," said Jim, gruffly.
+"Where? On the roof?" asked the girl.
+"No; she just dug her claws into the wood and climbed down the sides of
+this house to the ground."
+"She couldn't climb _down_, Jim," said Dorothy. "To climb means to go
+up."
+"Who said so?" demanded the horse.
+"My school-teacher said so; and she knows a lot, Jim."
+"To 'climb down' is sometimes used as a figure of speech," remarked the
+Wizard.
+"Well, this was a figure of a cat," said Jim, "and she _went_ down,
+anyhow, whether she climbed or crept."
+"Dear me! how careless Eureka is," exclaimed the girl, much distressed.
+"The Gurgles will get her, sure!"
+"Ha, ha!" chuckled the old cab-horse; "they're not 'Gurgles,' little
+maid; they're Gargoyles."
+"Never mind; they'll get Eureka, whatever they're called."
+"No they won't," said the voice of the kitten, and Eureka herself
+crawled over the edge of the platform and sat down quietly upon the
+floor.
+"Wherever have you been, Eureka?" asked Dorothy, sternly.
+"Watching the wooden folks. They're too funny for anything, Dorothy.
+Just now they are all going to bed, and--what do you think?--they unhook
+the hinges of their wings and put them in a corner until they wake up
+again."
+"What, the hinges?"
+"No; the wings."
+"That," said Zeb, "explains why this house is used by them for a prison.
+If any of the Gargoyles act badly, and have to be put in jail, they are
+brought here and their wings unhooked and taken away from them until
+they promise to be good."
+The Wizard had listened intently to what Eureka had said.
+"I wish we had some of those loose wings," he said.
+"Could we fly with them?" asked Dorothy.
+"I think so. If the Gargoyles can unhook the wings then the power to fly
+lies in the wings themselves, and not in the wooden bodies of the people
+who wear them. So, if we had the wings, we could probably fly as well as
+they do--at least while we are in their country and under the spell of
+its magic."
+"But how would it help us to be able to fly?" questioned the girl.
+"Come here," said the little man, and took her to one of the corners of
+the building. "Do you see that big rock standing on the hillside
+yonder?" he continued, pointing with his finger.
+"Yes; it's a good way off, but I can see it," she replied.
+"Well, inside that rock, which reaches up into the clouds, is an archway
+very much like the one we entered when we climbed the spiral stairway
+from the Valley of Voe. I'll get my spy-glass, and then you can see it
+more plainly."
+He fetched a small but powerful telescope, which had been in his
+satchel, and by its aid the little girl clearly saw the opening.
+"Where does it lead to?" she asked.
+"That I cannot tell," said the Wizard; "but we cannot now be far below
+the earth's surface, and that entrance may lead to another stairway that
+will bring us on top of our world again, where we belong. So, if we had
+the wings, and could escape the Gargoyles, we might fly to that rock and
+be saved."
+"I'll get you the wings," said Zeb, who had thoughtfully listened to all
+this. "That is, if the kitten will show me where they are."
+"But how can you get down?" enquired the girl, wonderingly.
+For answer Zeb began to unfasten Jim's harness, strap by strap, and
+to buckle one piece to another until he had made a long leather strip
+that would reach to the ground.
+"I can climb down that, all right," he said.
+"No you can't," remarked Jim, with a twinkle in his round eyes. "You may
+_go_ down, but you can only _climb_ up."
+"Well, I'll climb up when I get back, then," said the boy, with a laugh.
+"Now, Eureka, you'll have to show me the way to those wings."
+"You must be very quiet," warned the kitten; "for if you make the least
+noise the Gargoyles will wake up. They can hear a pin drop."
+"I'm not going to drop a pin," said Zeb.
+He had fastened one end of the strap to a wheel of the buggy, and now he
+let the line dangle over the side of the house.
+"Be careful," cautioned Dorothy, earnestly.
+"I will," said the boy, and let himself slide over the edge.
+The girl and the Wizard leaned over and watched Zeb work his way
+carefully downward, hand over hand, until he stood upon the ground
+below. Eureka clung with her claws to the wooden side of the house and
+let herself down easily. Then together they crept away to enter the low
+doorway of a neighboring dwelling.
+The watchers waited in breathless suspense until the boy again appeared,
+his arms now full of the wooden wings.
+When he came to where the strap was hanging he tied the wings all in a
+bunch to the end of the line, and the Wizard drew them up. Then the line
+was let down again for Zeb to climb up by. Eureka quickly followed him,
+and soon they were all standing together upon the platform, with eight
+of the much prized wooden wings beside them.
+The boy was no longer sleepy, but full of energy and excitement. He put
+the harness together again and hitched Jim to the buggy. Then, with the
+Wizard's help, he tried to fasten some of the wings to the old
+cab-horse.
+This was no easy task, because half of each one of the hinges of the
+wings was missing, it being still fastened to the body of the Gargoyle
+who had used it. However, the Wizard went once more to his
+satchel--which seemed to contain a surprising variety of odds and
+ends--and brought out a spool of strong wire, by means of which they
+managed to fasten four of the wings to Jim's harness, two near his head
+and two near his tail. They were a bit wiggley, but secure enough if
+only the harness held together.
+The other four wings were then fastened to the buggy, two on each side,
+for the buggy must bear the weight of the children and the Wizard as it
+flew through the air.
+These preparations had not consumed a great deal of time, but the
+sleeping Gargoyles were beginning to wake up and move around, and soon
+some of them would be hunting for their missing wings. So the prisoners
+resolved to leave their prison at once.
+They mounted into the buggy, Dorothy holding Eureka safe in her lap. The
+girl sat in the middle of the seat, with Zeb and the Wizard on each side
+of her. When all was ready the boy shook the reins and said:
+"Fly away, Jim!"
+"Which wings must I flop first?" asked the cab-horse, undecidedly.
+"Flop them all together," suggested the Wizard.
+"Some of them are crooked," objected the horse.
+"Never mind; we will steer with the wings on the buggy," said Zeb. "Just
+you light out and make for that rock, Jim; and don't waste any time
+about it, either."
+So the horse gave a groan, flopped its four wings all together, and flew
+away from the platform. Dorothy was a little anxious about the success
+of their trip, for the way Jim arched his long neck and spread out his
+bony legs as he fluttered and floundered through the air was enough to
+make anybody nervous. He groaned, too, as if frightened, and the wings
+creaked dreadfully because the Wizard had forgotten to oil them; but
+they kept fairly good time with the wings of the buggy, so that they
+made excellent progress from the start. The only thing that anyone could
+complain of with justice was the fact that they wobbled first up and
+then down, as if the road were rocky instead of being as smooth as the
+air could make it.
+The main point, however, was that they flew, and flew swiftly, if a bit
+unevenly, toward the rock for which they had headed.
+Some of the Gargoyles saw them, presently, and lost no time in
+collecting a band to pursue the escaping prisoners; so that when Dorothy
+happened to look back she saw them coming in a great cloud that almost
+darkened the sky.
+CHAPTER 13.
+THE DEN OF THE DRAGONETTES
+Our friends had a good start and were able to maintain it, for with
+their eight wings they could go just as fast as could the Gargoyles. All
+the way to the great rock the wooden people followed them, and when Jim
+finally alighted at the mouth of the cavern the pursuers were still some
+distance away.
+"But, I'm afraid they'll catch us yet," said Dorothy, greatly excited.
+"No; we must stop them," declared the Wizard. "Quick Zeb, help me pull
+off these wooden wings!"
+They tore off the wings, for which they had no further use, and the
+Wizard piled them in a heap just outside the entrance to the cavern.
+Then he poured over them all the kerosene oil that was left in his
+oil-can, and lighting a match set fire to the pile.
+The flames leaped up at once and the bonfire began to smoke and roar and
+crackle just as the great army of wooden Gargoyles arrived. The
+creatures drew back at once, being filled with fear and horror; for such
+a dreadful thing as a fire they had never before known in all the
+history of their wooden land.
+Inside the archway were several doors, leading to different rooms built
+into the mountain, and Zeb and the Wizard lifted these wooden doors from
+their hinges and tossed them all on the flames.
+"That will prove a barrier for some time to come," said the little man,
+smiling pleasantly all over his wrinkled face at the success of their
+stratagem. "Perhaps the flames will set fire to all that miserable
+wooden country, and if it does the loss will be very small and the
+Gargoyles never will be missed. But come, my children; let us explore
+the mountain and discover which way we must go in order to escape from
+this cavern, which is getting to be almost as hot as a bake-oven."
+To their disappointment there was within this mountain no regular flight
+of steps by means of which they could mount to the earth's surface. A
+sort of inclined tunnel led upward for a way, and they found the floor
+of it both rough and steep. Then a sudden turn brought them to a narrow
+gallery where the buggy could not pass. This delayed and bothered them
+for a while, because they did not wish to leave the buggy behind them.
+It carried their baggage and was useful to ride in wherever there were
+good roads, and since it had accompanied them so far in their travels
+they felt it their duty to preserve it. So Zeb and the Wizard set to
+work and took off the wheels and the top, and then they put the buggy
+edgewise, so it would take up the smallest space. In this position they
+managed, with the aid of the patient cab-horse, to drag the vehicle
+through the narrow part of the passage. It was not a great distance,
+fortunately, and when the path grew broader they put the buggy together
+again and proceeded more comfortably. But the road was nothing more than
+a series of rifts or cracks in the mountain, and it went zig-zag in
+every direction, slanting first up and then down until they were puzzled
+as to whether they were any nearer to the top of the earth than when
+they had started, hours before.
+"Anyhow," said Dorothy, "we've 'scaped those awful Gurgles, and that's
+_one_ comfort!"
+"Probably the Gargoyles are still busy trying to put out the fire,"
+returned the Wizard. "But even if they succeeded in doing that it
+would be very difficult for them to fly amongst these rocks; so I am
+sure we need fear them no longer."
+Once in a while they would come to a deep crack in the floor, which made
+the way quite dangerous; but there was still enough oil in the lanterns
+to give them light, and the cracks were not so wide but that they were
+able to jump over them. Sometimes they had to climb over heaps of loose
+rock, where Jim could scarcely drag the buggy. At such times Dorothy,
+Zeb and the Wizard all pushed behind, and lifted the wheels over the
+roughest places; so they managed, by dint of hard work, to keep going.
+But the little party was both weary and discouraged when at last, on
+turning a sharp corner, the wanderers found themselves in a vast cave
+arching high over their heads and having a smooth, level floor.
+The cave was circular in shape, and all around its edge, near to the
+ground, appeared groups of dull yellow lights, two of them being always
+side by side. These were motionless at first, but soon began to flicker
+more brightly and to sway slowly from side to side and then up and down.
+"What sort of a place is this?" asked the boy, trying to see more
+clearly through the gloom.
+"I cannot imagine, I'm sure," answered the Wizard, also peering about.
+"Woogh!" snarled Eureka, arching her back until her hair stood straight
+on end; "it's a den of alligators, or crocodiles, or some other dreadful
+creatures! Don't you see their terrible eyes?"
+"Eureka sees better in the dark than we can," whispered Dorothy. "Tell
+us, dear, what do the creatures look like?" she asked, addressing her
+pet.
+"I simply can't describe 'em," answered the kitten, shuddering. "Their
+eyes are like pie-plates and their mouths like coal-scuttles. But their
+bodies don't seem very big."
+"Where are they?" enquired the girl.
+"They are in little pockets all around the edge of this cavern. Oh,
+Dorothy--you can't imagine what horrid things they are! They're uglier
+than the Gargoyles."
+"Tut-tut! be careful how you criticise your neighbors," spoke a rasping
+voice near by. "As a matter of fact you are rather ugly-looking
+creatures yourselves, and I'm sure mother has often told us we were the
+loveliest and prettiest things in all the world."
+Hearing these words our friends turned in the direction of the sound,
+and the Wizard held his lanterns so that their light would flood one of
+the little pockets in the rock.
+"Why, it's a dragon!" he exclaimed.
+"No," answered the owner of the big yellow eyes which were blinking at
+them so steadily; "you are wrong about that. We hope to grow to be
+dragons some day, but just now we're only dragonettes."
+"What's that?" asked Dorothy, gazing fearfully at the great scaley head,
+the yawning mouth and the big eyes.
+"Young dragons, of course; but we are not allowed to call ourselves real
+dragons until we get our full growth," was the reply. "The big dragons
+are very proud, and don't think children amount to much; but mother says
+that some day we will all be very powerful and important."
+"Where is your mother?" asked the Wizard, anxiously looking around.
+"She has gone up to the top of the earth to hunt for our dinner. If she
+has good luck she will bring us an elephant, or a brace of rhinoceri, or
+perhaps a few dozen people to stay our hunger."
+"Oh; are you hungry?" enquired Dorothy, drawing back.
+"Very," said the dragonette, snapping its jaws.
+"And--and--do you eat people?"
+"To be sure, when we can get them. But they've been very scarce for a
+few years and we usually have to be content with elephants or
+buffaloes," answered the creature, in a regretful tone.
+"How old are you?" enquired Zeb, who stared at the yellow eyes as if
+fascinated.
+"Quite young, I grieve to say; and all of my brothers and sisters that
+you see here are practically my own age. If I remember rightly, we were
+sixty-six years old the day before yesterday."
+"But that isn't young!" cried Dorothy, in amazement.
+"No?" drawled the dragonette; "it seems to me very babyish."
+"How old is your mother?" asked the girl.
+"Mother's about two thousand years old; but she carelessly lost track of
+her age a few centuries ago and skipped several hundreds. She's a little
+fussy, you know, and afraid of growing old, being a widow and still in
+her prime."
+"I should think she would be," agreed Dorothy. Then, after a moment's
+thought, she asked: "Are we friends or enemies? I mean, will you be good
+to us, or do you intend to eat us?"
+"As for that, we dragonettes would love to eat you, my child; but
+unfortunately mother has tied all our tails around the rocks at the back
+of our individual caves, so that we can not crawl out to get you. If you
+choose to come nearer we will make a mouthful of you in a wink; but
+unless you do you will remain quite safe."
+There was a regretful accent in the creature's voice, and at the words
+all the other dragonettes sighed dismally.
+Dorothy felt relieved. Presently she asked:
+"Why did your mother tie your tails?"
+"Oh, she is sometimes gone for several weeks on her hunting trips, and
+if we were not tied we would crawl all over the mountain and fight with
+each other and get into a lot of mischief. Mother usually knows what she
+is about, but she made a mistake this time; for you are sure to escape
+us unless you come too near, and you probably won't do that."
+"No, indeed!" said the little girl. "We don't wish to be eaten by such
+awful beasts."
+"Permit me to say," returned the dragonette, "that you are rather
+impolite to call us names, knowing that we cannot resent your insults.
+We consider ourselves very beautiful in appearance, for mother has told
+us so, and she knows. And we are of an excellent family and have a
+pedigree that I challenge any humans to equal, as it extends back about
+twenty thousand years, to the time of the famous Green Dragon of
+Atlantis, who lived in a time when humans had not yet been created. Can
+you match that pedigree, little girl?"
+"Well," said Dorothy, "I was born on a farm in Kansas, and I guess
+that's being just as 'spectable and haughty as living in a cave with
+your tail tied to a rock. If it isn't I'll have to stand it, that's
+all."
+"Tastes differ," murmured the dragonette, slowly drooping its scaley
+eyelids over its yellow eyes, until they looked like half-moons.
+Being reassured by the fact that the creatures could not crawl out of
+their rock-pockets, the children and the Wizard now took time to examine
+them more closely. The heads of the dragonettes were as big as barrels
+and covered with hard, greenish scales that glittered brightly under the
+light of the lanterns. Their front legs, which grew just back of their
+heads, were also strong and big; but their bodies were smaller around
+than their heads, and dwindled away in a long line until their tails
+were slim as a shoe-string. Dorothy thought, if it had taken them
+sixty-six years to grow to this size, that it would be fully a hundred
+years more before they could hope to call themselves dragons, and that
+seemed like a good while to wait to grow up.
+"It occurs to me," said the Wizard, "that we ought to get out of this
+place before the mother dragon comes back."
+"Don't hurry," called one of the dragonettes; "mother will be glad to
+meet you, I'm sure."
+"You may be right," replied the Wizard, "but we're a little particular
+about associating with strangers. Will you kindly tell us which way your
+mother went to get on top the earth?"
+"That is not a fair question to ask us," declared another dragonette.
+"For, if we told you truly, you might escape us altogether; and if we
+told you an untruth we would be naughty and deserve to be punished."
+"Then," decided Dorothy, "we must find our way out the best we can."
+They circled all around the cavern, keeping a good distance away from
+the blinking yellow eyes of the dragonettes, and presently discovered
+that there were two paths leading from the wall opposite to the place
+where they had entered. They selected one of these at a venture and
+hurried along it as fast as they could go, for they had no idea when the
+mother dragon would be back and were very anxious not to make her
+acquaintance.
+Chapter 14.
+OZMA USES THE MAGIC BELT
+For a considerable distance the way led straight upward in a gentle
+incline, and the wanderers made such good progress that they grew
+hopeful and eager, thinking they might see sunshine at any minute. But
+at length they came unexpectedly upon a huge rock that shut off the
+passage and blocked them from proceeding a single step farther.
+This rock was separate from the rest of the mountain and was in motion,
+turning slowly around and around as if upon a pivot. When first they
+came to it there was a solid wall before them; but presently it revolved
+until there was exposed a wide, smooth path across it to the other side.
+This appeared so unexpectedly that they were unprepared to take
+advantage of it at first, and allowed the rocky wall to swing around
+again before they had decided to pass over. But they knew now that there
+was a means of escape and so waited patiently until the path appeared
+for the second time.
+The children and the Wizard rushed across the moving rock and sprang
+into the passage beyond, landing safely though a little out of breath.
+Jim the cab-horse came last, and the rocky wall almost caught him; for
+just as he leaped to the floor of the further passage the wall swung
+across it and a loose stone that the buggy wheels knocked against fell
+into the narrow crack where the rock turned, and became wedged there.
+They heard a crunching, grinding sound, a loud snap, and the turn-table
+came to a stop with its broadest surface shutting off the path from
+which they had come.
+"Never mind," said Zeb, "we don't want to get back, anyhow."
+"I'm not so sure of that," returned Dorothy. "The mother dragon may come
+down and catch us here."
+"It is possible," agreed the Wizard, "if this proves to be the path she
+usually takes. But I have been examining this tunnel, and I do not see
+any signs of so large a beast having passed through it."
+"Then we're all right," said the girl, "for if the dragon went the other
+way she can't poss'bly get to us now."
+"Of course not, my dear. But there is another thing to consider. The
+mother dragon probably knows the road to the earth's surface, and if she
+went the other way then we have come the wrong way," said the Wizard,
+thoughtfully.
+"Dear me!" cried Dorothy. "That would be unlucky, wouldn't it?"
+"Very. Unless this passage also leads to the top of the earth," said
+Zeb. "For my part, if we manage to get out of here I'll be glad it isn't
+the way the dragon goes."
+"So will I," returned Dorothy. "It's enough to have your pedigree flung
+in your face by those saucy dragonettes. No one knows what the mother
+might do."
+They now moved on again, creeping slowly up another steep incline. The
+lanterns were beginning to grow dim, and the Wizard poured the remaining
+oil from one into the other, so that the one light would last longer.
+But their journey was almost over, for in a short time they reached a
+small cave from which there was no further outlet.
+They did not realize their ill fortune at first, for their hearts were
+gladdened by the sight of a ray of sunshine coming through a small crack
+in the roof of the cave, far overhead. That meant that their world--the
+real world--was not very far away, and that the succession of perilous
+adventures they had encountered had at last brought them near the
+earth's surface, which meant home to them. But when the adventurers
+looked more carefully around them they discovered that they were in a
+strong prison from which there was no hope of escape.
+"But we're _almost_ on earth again," cried Dorothy, "for there is the
+sun--the most _beau'ful_ sun that shines!" and she pointed eagerly at
+the crack in the distant roof.
+"Almost on earth isn't being there," said the kitten, in a discontented
+tone. "It wouldn't be possible for even me to get up to that crack--or
+through it if I got there."
+"It appears that the path ends here," announced the Wizard, gloomily.
+"And there is no way to go back," added Zeb, with a low whistle of
+perplexity.
+"I was sure it would come to this, in the end," remarked the old
+cab-horse. "Folks don't fall into the middle of the earth and then get
+back again to tell of their adventures--not in real life. And the whole
+thing has been unnatural because that cat and I are both able to talk
+your language, and to understand the words you say."
+"And so can the nine tiny piglets," added Eureka. "Don't forget them,
+for I may have to eat them, after all."
+"I've heard animals talk before," said Dorothy, "and no harm came of
+it."
+"Were you ever before shut up in a cave, far under the earth, with no
+way of getting out?" enquired the horse, seriously.
+"No," answered Dorothy. "But don't you lose heart, Jim, for I'm sure
+this isn't the end of our story, by any means."
+The reference to the piglets reminded the Wizard that his pets had not
+enjoyed much exercise lately, and must be tired of their prison in his
+pocket. So he sat down upon the floor of the cave, brought the piglets
+out one by one, and allowed them to run around as much as they pleased.
+"My dears," he said to them, "I'm afraid I've got you into a lot of
+trouble, and that you will never again be able to leave this gloomy
+cave."
+"What's wrong?" asked a piglet. "We've been in the dark quite a while,
+and you may as well explain what has happened."
+The Wizard told them of the misfortune that had overtaken the wanderers.
+"Well," said another piglet, "you are a wizard, are you not?"
+"I am," replied the little man.
+"Then you can do a few wizzes and get us out of this hole," declared the
+tiny one, with much confidence.
+"I could if I happened to be a real wizard," returned the master sadly.
+"But I'm not, my piggy-wees; I'm a humbug wizard."
+"Nonsense!" cried several of the piglets, together.
+"You can ask Dorothy," said the little man, in an injured tone.
+"It's true enough," returned the girl, earnestly. "Our friend Oz is
+merely a humbug wizard, for he once proved it to me. He can do several
+very wonderful things--if he knows how. But he can't wiz a single thing
+if he hasn't the tools and machinery to work with."
+"Thank you, my dear, for doing me justice," responded the Wizard,
+gratefully. "To be accused of being a real wizard, when I'm not, is a
+slander I will not tamely submit to. But I am one of the greatest humbug
+wizards that ever lived, and you will realize this when we have all
+starved together and our bones are scattered over the floor of this
+lonely cave."
+"I don't believe we'll realize anything, when it comes to that,"
+remarked Dorothy, who had been deep in thought. "But I'm not going to
+scatter my bones just yet, because I need them, and you prob'ly need
+yours, too."
+"We are helpless to escape," sighed the Wizard.
+"_We_ may be helpless," answered Dorothy, smiling at him, "but there are
+others who can do more than we can. Cheer up, friends. I'm sure Ozma
+will help us."
+"Ozma!" exclaimed the Wizard. "Who is Ozma?"
+"The girl that rules the marvelous Land of Oz," was the reply. "She's a
+friend of mine, for I met her in the Land of Ev, not long ago, and went
+to Oz with her."
+"For the second time?" asked the Wizard, with great interest.
+"Yes. The first time I went to Oz I found you there, ruling the Emerald
+City. After you went up in a balloon, and escaped us, I got back to
+Kansas by means of a pair of magical silver shoes."
+"I remember those shoes," said the little man, nodding. "They once
+belonged to the Wicked Witch. Have you them here with you?"
+"No; I lost them somewhere in the air," explained the child. "But the
+second time I went to the Land of Oz I owned the Nome King's Magic Belt,
+which is much more powerful than were the Silver Shoes."
+"Where is that Magic Belt?" enquired the Wizard, who had listened with
+great interest.
+"Ozma has it; for its powers won't work in a common, ordinary country
+like the United States. Anyone in a fairy country like the Land of Oz
+can do anything with it; so I left it with my friend the Princess Ozma,
+who used it to wish me in Australia with Uncle Henry."
+"And were you?" asked Zeb, astonished at what he heard.
+"Of course; in just a jiffy. And Ozma has an enchanted picture hanging
+in her room that shows her the exact scene where any of her friends may
+be, at any time she chooses. All she has to do is to say: 'I wonder what
+So-and-so is doing,' and at once the picture shows where her friend is
+and what the friend is doing. That's _real_ magic, Mr. Wizard; isn't it?
+Well, every day at four o'clock Ozma has promised to look at me in that
+picture, and if I am in need of help I am to make her a certain sign and
+she will put on the Nome King's Magic Belt and wish me to be with her in
+Oz."
+"Do you mean that Princess Ozma will see this cave in her enchanted
+picture, and see all of us here, and what we are doing?" demanded Zeb.
+"Of course; when it is four o'clock," she replied, with a laugh at his
+startled expression.
+"And when you make a sign she will bring you to her in the Land of Oz?"
+continued the boy.
+"That's it, exactly; by means of the Magic Belt."
+"Then," said the Wizard, "you will be saved, little Dorothy; and I am
+very glad of it. The rest of us will die much more cheerfully when we
+know you have escaped our sad fate."
+"_I_ won't die cheerfully!" protested the kitten. "There's nothing
+cheerful about dying that I could ever see, although they say a cat has
+nine lives, and so must die nine times."
+"Have you ever died yet?" enquired the boy.
+"No, and I'm not anxious to begin," said Eureka.
+"Don't worry, dear," Dorothy exclaimed, "I'll hold you in my arms, and
+take you with me."
+"Take us, too!" cried the nine tiny piglets, all in one breath.
+"Perhaps I can," answered Dorothy. "I'll try."
+"Couldn't you manage to hold me in your arms?" asked the cab-horse.
+Dorothy laughed.
+"I'll do better than that," she promised, "for I can easily save you
+all, once I am myself in the Land of Oz."
+"How?" they asked.
+"By using the Magic Belt. All I need do is to wish you with me, and
+there you'll be--safe in the royal palace!"
+"Good!" cried Zeb.
+"I built that palace, and the Emerald City, too," remarked the Wizard,
+in a thoughtful tone, "and I'd like to see them again, for I was very
+happy among the Munchkins and Winkies and Quadlings and Gillikins."
+"Who are they?" asked the boy.
+"The four nations that inhabit the Land of Oz," was the reply. "I wonder
+if they would treat me nicely if I went there again."
+"Of course they would!" declared Dorothy. "They are still proud of their
+former Wizard, and often speak of you kindly."
+"Do you happen to know whatever became of the Tin Woodman and the
+Scarecrow?" he enquired.
+"They live in Oz yet," said the girl, "and are very important people."
+"And the Cowardly Lion?"
+"Oh, he lives there too, with his friend the Hungry Tiger; and Billina
+is there, because she liked the place better than Kansas, and wouldn't
+go with me to Australia."
+"I'm afraid I don't know the Hungry Tiger and Billina," said the Wizard,
+shaking his head. "Is Billina a girl?"
+"No; she's a yellow hen, and a great friend of mine. You're sure to like
+Billina, when you know her," asserted Dorothy.
+"Your friends sound like a menagerie," remarked Zeb, uneasily.
+"Couldn't you wish me in some safer place than Oz."
+"Don't worry," replied the girl. "You'll just love the folks in Oz, when
+you get acquainted. What time is it, Mr. Wizard?"
+The little man looked at his watch--a big silver one that he carried in
+his vest pocket.
+"Half-past three," he said.
+"Then we must wait for half an hour," she continued; "but it won't take
+long, after that, to carry us all to the Emerald City."
+They sat silently thinking for a time. Then Jim suddenly asked:
+"Are there any horses in Oz?"
+"Only one," replied Dorothy, "and he's a sawhorse."
+"A what?"
+"A sawhorse. Princess Ozma once brought him to life with a witch-powder,
+when she was a boy."
+"Was Ozma once a boy?" asked Zeb, wonderingly.
+"Yes; a wicked witch enchanted her, so she could not rule her kingdom.
+But she's a girl now, and the sweetest, loveliest girl in all the
+world."
+"A sawhorse is a thing they saw boards on," remarked Jim, with a sniff.
+"It is when it's not alive," acknowledged the girl. "But this sawhorse
+can trot as fast as you can, Jim; and he's very wise, too."
+"Pah! I'll race the miserable wooden donkey any day in the week!" cried
+the cab-horse.
+Dorothy did not reply to that. She felt that Jim would know more about
+the Saw-Horse later on.
+The time dragged wearily enough to the eager watchers, but finally the
+Wizard announced that four o'clock had arrived, and Dorothy caught up
+the kitten and began to make the signal that had been agreed upon to the
+far-away, invisible Ozma.
+"Nothing seems to happen," said Zeb, doubtfully.
+"Oh, we must give Ozma time to put on the Magic Belt," replied the girl.
+She had scarcely spoken the words when she suddenly disappeared from the
+cave, and with her went the kitten. There had been no sound of any kind
+and no warning. One moment Dorothy sat beside them with the kitten in
+her lap, and a moment later the horse, the piglets, the Wizard and the
+boy were all that remained in the underground prison.
+"I believe we will soon follow her," announced the Wizard, in a tone of
+great relief; "for I know something about the magic of the fairyland
+that is called the Land of Oz. Let us be ready, for we may be sent for
+any minute."
+He put the piglets safely away in his pocket again and then he and Zeb
+got into the buggy and sat expectantly upon the seat.
+"Will it hurt?" asked the boy, in a voice that trembled a little.
+"Not at all," replied the Wizard. "It will all happen as quick as a
+wink."
+And that was the way it did happen.
+The cab-horse gave a nervous start and Zeb began to rub his eyes to make
+sure he was not asleep. For they were in the streets of a beautiful
+emerald-green city, bathed in a grateful green light that was especially
+pleasing to their eyes, and surrounded by merry faced people in gorgeous
+green-and-gold costumes of many extraordinary designs.
+Before them were the jewel-studded gates of a magnificent palace, and
+now the gates opened slowly as if inviting them to enter the courtyard,
+where splendid flowers were blooming and pretty fountains shot their
+silvery sprays into the air.
+Zeb shook the reins to rouse the cab-horse from his stupor of amazement,
+for the people were beginning to gather around and stare at the
+strangers.
+"Gid-dap!" cried the boy, and at the word Jim slowly trotted into the
+courtyard and drew the buggy along the jewelled driveway to the great
+entrance of the royal palace.
+CHAPTER 15.
+OLD FRIENDS ARE REUNITED
+Many servants dressed in handsome uniforms stood ready to welcome the
+new arrivals, and when the Wizard got out of the buggy a pretty girl in
+a green gown cried out in surprise:
+"Why, it's Oz, the Wonderful Wizard, come back again!"
+The little man looked at her closely and then took both the maiden's
+hands in his and shook them cordially.
+"On my word," he exclaimed, "it's little Jellia Jamb--as pert and pretty
+as ever!"
+"Why not, Mr. Wizard?" asked Jellia, bowing low. "But I'm afraid you
+cannot rule the Emerald City, as you used to, because we now have a
+beautiful Princess whom everyone loves dearly."
+"And the people will not willingly part with her," added a tall soldier
+in a Captain-General's uniform.
+The Wizard turned to look at him.
+"Did you not wear green whiskers at one time?" he asked.
+"Yes," said the soldier; "but I shaved them off long ago, and since then
+I have risen from a private to be the Chief General of the Royal
+Armies."
+"That's nice," said the little man. "But I assure you, my good people,
+that I do not wish to rule the Emerald City," he added, earnestly.
+"In that case you are very welcome!" cried all the servants, and it
+pleased the Wizard to note the respect with which the royal retainers
+bowed before him. His fame had not been forgotten in the Land of Oz, by
+any means.
+"Where is Dorothy?" enquired Zeb, anxiously, as he left the buggy and
+stood beside his friend the little Wizard.
+"She is with the Princess Ozma, in the private rooms of the palace,"
+replied Jellia Jamb. "But she has ordered me to make you welcome and to
+show you to your apartments."
+The boy looked around him with wondering eyes. Such magnificence and
+wealth as was displayed in this palace was more than he had ever dreamed
+of, and he could scarcely believe that all the gorgeous glitter was real
+and not tinsel.
+"What's to become of me?" asked the horse, uneasily. He had seen
+considerable of life in the cities in his younger days, and knew that
+this regal palace was no place for him.
+It perplexed even Jellia Jamb, for a time, to know what to do with the
+animal. The green maiden was much astonished at the sight of so unusual
+a creature, for horses were unknown in this Land; but those who lived in
+the Emerald City were apt to be astonished by queer sights, so after
+inspecting the cab-horse and noting the mild look in his big eyes the
+girl decided not to be afraid of him.
+"There are no stables here," said the Wizard, "unless some have been
+built since I went away."
+"We have never needed them before," answered Jellia; "for the Sawhorse
+lives in a room of the palace, being much smaller and more natural in
+appearance than this great beast you have brought with you."
+"Do you mean that I'm a freak?" asked Jim, angrily.
+"Oh, no," she hastened to say, "there may be many more like you in the
+place you came from, but in Oz any horse but a Sawhorse is unusual."
+This mollified Jim a little, and after some thought the green maiden
+decided to give the cab-horse a room in the palace, such a big building
+having many rooms that were seldom in use.
+So Zeb unharnessed Jim, and several of the servants then led the horse
+around to the rear, where they selected a nice large apartment that he
+could have all to himself.
+Then Jellia said to the Wizard:
+"Your own room--which was back of the great Throne Room--has been vacant
+ever since you left us. Would you like it again?"
+"Yes, indeed!" returned the little man. "It will seem like being at home
+again, for I lived in that room for many, many years."
+He knew the way to it, and a servant followed him, carrying his satchel.
+Zeb was also escorted to a room--so grand and beautiful that he almost
+feared to sit in the chairs or lie upon the bed, lest he might dim their
+splendor. In the closets he discovered many fancy costumes of rich
+velvets and brocades, and one of the attendants told him to dress
+himself in any of the clothes that pleased him and to be prepared to
+dine with the Princess and Dorothy in an hour's time.
+Opening from the chamber was a fine bath-room having a marble tub with
+perfumed water; so the boy, still dazed by the novelty of his
+surroundings, indulged in a good bath and then selected a maroon velvet
+costume with silver buttons to replace his own soiled and much worn
+clothing. There were silk stockings and soft leather slippers with
+diamond buckles to accompany his new costume, and when he was fully
+dressed Zeb looked much more dignified and imposing than ever before in
+his life.
+He was all ready when an attendant came to escort him to the presence of
+the Princess; he followed bashfully and was ushered into a room more
+dainty and attractive than it was splendid. Here he found Dorothy seated
+beside a young girl so marvelously beautiful that the boy stopped
+suddenly with a gasp of admiration.
+But Dorothy sprang up and ran to seize her friend's hand, drawing him
+impulsively toward the lovely Princess, who smiled most graciously upon
+her guest. Then the Wizard entered, and his presence relieved the boy's
+embarrassment. The little man was clothed in black velvet, with many
+sparkling emerald ornaments decorating his breast; but his bald head and
+wrinkled features made him appear more amusing than impressive.
+Ozma had been quite curious to meet the famous man who had built the
+Emerald City and united the Munchkins, Gillikins, Quadlings and Winkies
+into one people; so when they were all four seated at the dinner table
+the Princess said:
+"Please tell me, Mr. Wizard, whether you called yourself Oz after this
+great country, or whether you believe my country is called Oz after you.
+It is a matter that I have long wished to enquire about, because you are
+of a strange race and my own name is Ozma. No one, I am sure, is better
+able to explain this mystery than you."
+"That is true," answered the little Wizard; "therefore it will give me
+pleasure to explain my connection with your country. In the first place,
+I must tell you that I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a
+politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle
+Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could
+think of no more to go before it. Taken altogether, it was a dreadfully
+long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest
+lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I
+just called myself O. Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D;
+and that spelled 'pinhead,' which was a reflection on my intelligence."
+"Surely no one could blame you for cutting your name short," said Ozma,
+sympathetically. "But didn't you cut it almost too short?"
+"Perhaps so," replied the Wizard. "When a young man I ran away from home
+and joined a circus. I used to call myself a Wizard, and do tricks of
+ventriloquism."
+"What does that mean?" asked the Princess.
+"Throwing my voice into any object I pleased, to make it appear that the
+object was speaking instead of me. Also I began to make balloon
+ascensions. On my balloon and on all the other articles I used in the
+circus I painted the two initials: 'O. Z.', to show that those things
+belonged to me.
+"One day my balloon ran away with me and brought me across the deserts
+to this beautiful country. When the people saw me come from the sky they
+naturally thought me some superior creature, and bowed down before me. I
+told them I was a Wizard, and showed them some easy tricks that amazed
+them; and when they saw the initials painted on the balloon they called
+me Oz."
+"Now I begin to understand," said the Princess, smiling.
+"At that time," continued the Wizard, busily eating his soup while
+talking, "there were four separate countries in this Land, each one of
+the four being ruled by a Witch. But the people thought my power was
+greater than that of the Witches; and perhaps the Witches thought so
+too, for they never dared oppose me. I ordered the Emerald City to be
+built just where the four countries cornered together, and when it was
+completed I announced myself the Ruler of the Land of Oz, which included
+all the four countries of the Munchkins, the Gillikins, the Winkies and
+the Quadlings. Over this Land I ruled in peace for many years, until I
+grew old and longed to see my native city once again. So when Dorothy
+was first blown to this place by a cyclone I arranged to go away with
+her in a balloon; but the balloon escaped too soon and carried me back
+alone. After many adventures I reached Omaha, only to find that all my
+old friends were dead or had moved away. So, having nothing else to do,
+I joined a circus again, and made my balloon ascensions until the
+earthquake caught me."
+"That is quite a history," said Ozma; "but there is a little more
+history about the Land of Oz that you do not seem to understand--perhaps
+for the reason that no one ever told it you. Many years before you came
+here this Land was united under one Ruler, as it is now, and the Ruler's
+name was always 'Oz', which means in our language 'Great and Good'; or,
+if the Ruler happened to be a woman, her name was always 'Ozma.' But
+once upon a time four Witches leagued together to depose the king and
+rule the four parts of the kingdom themselves; so when the Ruler, my
+grandfather, was hunting one day, one Wicked Witch named Mombi stole him
+and carried him away, keeping him a close prisoner. Then the Witches
+divided up the kingdom, and ruled the four parts of it until you came
+here. That was why the people were so glad to see you, and why they
+thought from your initials that you were their rightful ruler."
+"But, at that time," said the Wizard, thoughtfully, "there were two Good
+Witches and two Wicked Witches ruling in the land."
+"Yes," replied Ozma, "because a good Witch had conquered Mombi in the
+North and Glinda the Good had conquered the evil Witch in the South. But
+Mombi was still my grandfather's jailor, and afterward my father's
+jailor. When I was born she transformed me into a boy, hoping that no
+one would ever recognize me and know that I was the rightful Princess of
+the Land of Oz. But I escaped from her and am now the Ruler of my
+people."
+"I am very glad of that," said the Wizard, "and hope you will consider
+me one of your most faithful and devoted subjects."
+"We owe a great deal to the Wonderful Wizard," continued the Princess,
+"for it was you who built this splendid Emerald City."
+"Your people built it," he answered. "I only bossed the job, as we say
+in Omaha."
+"But you ruled it wisely and well for many years," said she, "and made
+the people proud of your magical art. So, as you are now too old to
+wander abroad and work in a circus, I offer you a home here as long as
+you live. You shall be the Official Wizard of my kingdom, and be treated
+with every respect and consideration."
+"I accept your kind offer with gratitude, gracious Princess," the little
+man said, in a soft voice, and they could all see that tear-drops were
+standing in his keen old eyes. It meant a good deal to him to secure a
+home like this.
+"He's only a humbug Wizard, though," said Dorothy, smiling at him.
+"And that is the safest kind of a Wizard to have," replied Ozma,
+promptly.
+"Oz can do some good tricks, humbug or no humbug," announced Zeb, who
+was now feeling more at ease.
+"He shall amuse us with his tricks tomorrow," said the Princess. "I have
+sent messengers to summon all of Dorothy's old friends to meet her and
+give her welcome, and they ought to arrive very soon, now."
+Indeed, the dinner was no sooner finished than in rushed the Scarecrow,
+to hug Dorothy in his padded arms and tell her how glad he was to see
+her again. The Wizard was also most heartily welcomed by the straw man,
+who was an important personage in the Land of Oz.
+"How are your brains?" enquired the little humbug, as he grasped the
+soft, stuffed hands of his old friend.
+"Working finely," answered the Scarecrow. "I'm very certain, Oz, that
+you gave me the best brains in the world, for I can think with them day
+and night, when all other brains are fast asleep."
+"How long did you rule the Emerald City, after I left here?" was the
+next question.
+"Quite awhile, until I was conquered by a girl named General Jinjur. But
+Ozma soon conquered her, with the help of Glinda the Good, and after
+that I went to live with Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman."
+Just then a loud cackling was heard outside; and, when a servant threw
+open the door with a low bow, a yellow hen strutted in. Dorothy sprang
+forward and caught the fluffy fowl in her arms, uttering at the same
+time a glad cry.
+"Oh, Billina!" she said; "how fat and sleek you've grown."
+"Why shouldn't I?" asked the hen, in a sharp, clear voice. "I live on
+the fat of the land--don't I, Ozma?"
+"You have everything you wish for," said the Princess.
+Around Billina's neck was a string of beautiful pearls, and on her legs
+were bracelets of emeralds. She nestled herself comfortably in Dorothy's
+lap until the kitten gave a snarl of jealous anger and leaped up with a
+sharp claw fiercely bared to strike Billina a blow. But the little girl
+gave the angry kitten such a severe cuff that it jumped down again
+without daring to scratch.
+"How horrid of you, Eureka!" cried Dorothy. "Is that the way to treat my
+friends?"
+"You have queer friends, seems to me," replied the kitten, in a surly
+tone.
+"Seems to me the same way," said Billina, scornfully, "if that beastly
+cat is one of them."
+"Look here!" said Dorothy, sternly. "I won't have any quarrelling in the
+Land of Oz, I can tell you! Everybody lives in peace here, and loves
+everybody else; and unless you two, Billina and Eureka, make up and be
+friends, I'll take my Magic Belt and wish you both home again,
+_immejitly_. So, there!"
+They were both much frightened at the threat, and promised meekly to be
+good. But it was never noticed that they became very warm friends, for
+all of that.
+And now the Tin Woodman arrived, his body most beautifully
+nickle-plated, so that it shone splendidly in the brilliant light of the
+room. The Tin Woodman loved Dorothy most tenderly, and welcomed with joy
+the return of the little old Wizard.
+"Sir," said he to the latter, "I never can thank you enough for the
+excellent heart you once gave me. It has made me many friends, I assure
+you, and it beats as kindly and lovingly today as it ever did."
+"I'm glad to hear that," said the Wizard. "I was afraid it would get
+moldy in that tin body of yours."
+"Not at all," returned Nick Chopper. "It keeps finely, being preserved
+in my air-tight chest."
+Zeb was a little shy when first introduced to these queer people; but
+they were so friendly and sincere that he soon grew to admire them very
+much, even finding some good qualities in the yellow hen. But he became
+nervous again when the next visitor was announced.
+"This," said Princess Ozma, "is my friend Mr. H. M. Woggle-Bug, T. E.,
+who assisted me one time when I was in great distress, and is now the
+Dean of the Royal College of Athletic Science."
+"Ah," said the Wizard; "I'm pleased to meet so distinguished a
+personage."
+"H. M.," said the Woggle-Bug, pompously, "means Highly Magnified; and T.
+E. means Thoroughly Educated. I am, in reality, a very big bug, and
+doubtless the most intelligent being in all this broad domain."
+"How well you disguise it," said the Wizard. "But I don't doubt your
+word in the least."
+"Nobody doubts it, sir," replied the Woggle-Bug, and drawing a book from
+its pocket the strange insect turned its back on the company and sat
+down in a corner to read.
+Nobody minded this rudeness, which might have seemed more impolite in
+one less thoroughly educated; so they straightway forgot him and joined
+in a merry conversation that kept them well amused until bed-time
+arrived.
+CHAPTER 16.
+JIM, THE CAB-HORSE
+Jim the Cab-horse found himself in possession of a large room with a
+green marble floor and carved marble wainscoting, which was so stately
+in its appearance that it would have awed anyone else. Jim accepted it
+as a mere detail, and at his command the attendants gave his coat a good
+rubbing, combed his mane and tail, and washed his hoofs and fetlocks.
+Then they told him dinner would be served directly and he replied that
+they could not serve it too quickly to suit his convenience. First they
+brought him a steaming bowl of soup, which the horse eyed in dismay.
+"Take that stuff away!" he commanded. "Do you take me for a
+salamander?"
+They obeyed at once, and next served a fine large turbot on a silver
+platter, with drawn gravey poured over it.
+"Fish!" cried Jim, with a sniff. "Do you take me for a tom-cat? Away
+with it!"
+The servants were a little discouraged, but soon they brought in a great
+tray containing two dozen nicely roasted quail on toast.
+"Well, well!" said the horse, now thoroughly provoked. "Do you take me
+for a weasel? How stupid and ignorant you are, in the Land of Oz, and
+what dreadful things you feed upon! Is there nothing that is decent to
+eat in this palace?"
+The trembling servants sent for the Royal Steward, who came in haste and
+said:
+"What would your Highness like for dinner?"
+"Highness!" repeated Jim, who was unused to such titles.
+"You are at least six feet high, and that is higher than any other
+animal in this country," said the Steward.
+"Well, my Highness would like some oats," declared the horse.
+"Oats? We have no whole oats," the Steward replied, with much
+defference. "But there is any quantity of oatmeal, which we often cook
+for breakfast. Oatmeal is a breakfast dish," added the Steward, humbly.
+"I'll make it a dinner dish," said Jim. "Fetch it on, but don't cook it,
+as you value your life."
+You see, the respect shown the worn-out old cab-horse made him a little
+arrogant, and he forgot he was a guest, never having been treated
+otherwise than as a servant since the day he was born, until his arrival
+in the Land of Oz. But the royal attendants did not heed the animal's
+ill temper. They soon mixed a tub of oatmeal with a little water, and
+Jim ate it with much relish.
+Then the servants heaped a lot of rugs upon the floor and the old horse
+slept on the softest bed he had ever known in his life.
+In the morning, as soon as it was daylight, he resolved to take a walk
+and try to find some grass for breakfast; so he ambled calmly through
+the handsome arch of the doorway, turned the corner of the palace,
+wherein all seemed asleep, and came face to face with the Sawhorse.
+Jim stopped abruptly, being startled and amazed. The Sawhorse stopped at
+the same time and stared at the other with its queer protruding eyes,
+which were mere knots in the log that formed its body. The legs of the
+Sawhorse were four sticks driven into holes bored in the log; its tail
+was a small branch that had been left by accident and its mouth a place
+chopped in one end of the body which projected a little and served as
+a head. The ends of the wooden legs were shod with plates of solid gold,
+and the saddle of the Princess Ozma, which was of red leather set with
+sparkling diamonds, was strapped to the clumsy body.
+Jim's eyes stuck out as much as those of the Sawhorse, and he stared at
+the creature with his ears erect and his long head drawn back until it
+rested against his arched neck.
+In this comical position the two horses circled slowly around each other
+for a while, each being unable to realize what the singular thing might
+be which it now beheld for the first time. Then Jim exclaimed:
+"For goodness sake, what sort of a being are you?"
+"I'm a Sawhorse," replied the other.
+"Oh; I believe I've heard of you," said the cab-horse; "but you are
+unlike anything that I expected to see."
+"I do not doubt it," the Sawhorse observed, with a tone of pride. "I am
+considered quite unusual."
+"You are, indeed. But a rickety wooden thing like you has no right to be
+alive."
+"I couldn't help it," returned the other, rather crestfallen. "Ozma
+sprinkled me with a magic powder, and I just had to live. I know I'm not
+much account; but I'm the only horse in all the Land of Oz, so they
+treat me with great respect."
+"You, a horse!"
+"Oh, not a real one, of course. There are no real horses here at all.
+But I'm a splendid imitation of one."
+Jim gave an indignant neigh.
+"Look at me!" he cried. "Behold a real horse!"
+The wooden animal gave a start, and then examined the other intently.
+"Is it possible that you are a Real Horse?" he murmured.
+"Not only possible, but true," replied Jim, who was gratified by the
+impression he had created. "It is proved by my fine points. For example,
+look at the long hairs on my tail, with which I can whisk away the
+flies."
+"The flies never trouble me," said the Saw-Horse.
+"And notice my great strong teeth, with which I nibble the grass."
+"It is not necessary for me to eat," observed the Saw-horse.
+"Also examine my broad chest, which enables me to draw deep, full
+breaths," said Jim, proudly.
+"I have no need to breathe," returned the other.
+"No; you miss many pleasures," remarked the cab-horse, pityingly. "You
+do not know the relief of brushing away a fly that has bitten you, nor
+the delight of eating delicious food, nor the satisfaction of drawing a
+long breath of fresh, pure air. You may be an imitation of a horse, but
+you're a mighty poor one."
+"Oh, I cannot hope ever to be like you," sighed the Sawhorse. "But I am
+glad to meet at last a Real Horse. You are certainly the most beautiful
+creature I ever beheld."
+This praise won Jim completely. To be called beautiful was a novelty in
+his experience. Said he:
+"Your chief fault, my friend, is in being made of wood, and that I
+suppose you cannot help. Real horses, like myself, are made of flesh and
+blood and bones."
+"I can see the bones all right," replied the Sawhorse, "and they are
+admirable and distinct. Also I can see the flesh. But the blood, I
+suppose, is tucked away inside."
+"Exactly," said Jim.
+"What good is it?" asked the Sawhorse.
+Jim did not know, but he would not tell the Sawhorse that.
+"If anything cuts me," he replied, "the blood runs out to show where I
+am cut. You, poor thing! cannot even bleed when you are hurt."
+"But I am never hurt," said the Sawhorse. "Once in a while I get broken
+up some, but I am easily repaired and put in good order again. And I
+never feel a break or a splinter in the least."
+Jim was almost tempted to envy the wooden horse for being unable to feel
+pain; but the creature was so absurdly unnatural that he decided he
+would not change places with it under any circumstances.
+"How did you happen to be shod with gold?" he asked.
+"Princess Ozma did that," was the reply; "and it saves my legs from
+wearing out. We've had a good many adventures together, Ozma and I, and
+she likes me."
+The cab-horse was about to reply when suddenly he gave a start and a
+neigh of terror and stood trembling like a leaf. For around the corner
+had come two enormous savage beasts, treading so lightly that they were
+upon him before he was aware of their presence. Jim was in the act of
+plunging down the path to escape when the Sawhorse cried out:
+"Stop, my brother! Stop, Real Horse! These are friends, and will do you
+no harm."
+Jim hesitated, eyeing the beasts fearfully. One was an enormous Lion
+with clear, intelligent eyes, a tawney mane bushy and well kept, and a
+body like yellow plush. The other was a great Tiger with purple stripes
+around his lithe body, powerful limbs, and eyes that showed through the
+half closed lids like coals of fire. The huge forms of these monarchs of
+the forest and jungle were enough to strike terror to the stoutest
+heart, and it is no wonder Jim was afraid to face them.
+But the Sawhorse introduced the stranger in a calm tone, saying,
+"This, noble Horse, is my friend the Cowardly Lion, who is the valiant
+King of the Forest, but at the same time a faithful vassal of Princess
+Ozma. And this is the Hungry Tiger, the terror of the jungle, who longs
+to devour fat babies but is prevented by his conscience from doing so.
+These royal beasts are both warm friends of little Dorothy and have come
+to the Emerald City this morning to welcome her to our fairyland."
+Hearing these words Jim resolved to conquer his alarm. He bowed his head
+with as much dignity as he could muster toward the savage looking
+beasts, who in return nodded in a friendly way.
+"Is not the Real Horse a beautiful animal?" asked the Sawhorse
+admiringly.
+"That is doubtless a matter of taste," returned the Lion. "In the forest
+he would be thought ungainly, because his face is stretched out and his
+neck is uselessly long. His joints, I notice, are swollen and overgrown,
+and he lacks flesh and is old in years."
+"And dreadfully tough," added the Hungry Tiger, in a sad voice. "My
+conscience would never permit me to eat so tough a morsel as the Real
+Horse."
+"I'm glad of that," said Jim; "for I, also, have a conscience, and it
+tells me not to crush in your skull with a blow of my powerful hoof."
+If he thought to frighten the striped beast by such language he was
+mistaken. The Tiger seemed to smile, and winked one eye slowly.
+"You have a good conscience, friend Horse," it said, "and if you attend
+to its teachings it will do much to protect you from harm. Some day I
+will let you try to crush in my skull, and afterward you will know more
+about tigers than you do now."
+"Any friend of Dorothy," remarked the Cowardly Lion, "must be our
+friend, as well. So let us cease this talk of skull crushing and
+converse upon more pleasant subjects. Have you breakfasted, Sir Horse?"
+"Not yet," replied Jim. "But here is plenty of excellent clover, so if
+you will excuse me I will eat now."
+"He's a vegetarian," remarked the Tiger, as the horse began to munch the
+clover. "If I could eat grass I would not need a conscience, for nothing
+could then tempt me to devour babies and lambs."
+Just then Dorothy, who had risen early and heard the voices of the
+animals, ran out to greet her old friends. She hugged both the Lion and
+the Tiger with eager delight, but seemed to love the King of Beasts a
+little better than she did his hungry friend, having known him longer.
+By the time they had indulged in a good talk and Dorothy had told them
+all about the awful earthquake and her recent adventures, the breakfast
+bell rang from the palace and the little girl went inside to join her
+human comrades. As she entered the great hall a voice called out, in a
+rather harsh tone:
+"What! are _you_ here again?"
+"Yes, I am," she answered, looking all around to see where the voice
+came from.
+"What brought you back?" was the next question, and Dorothy's eye rested
+on an antlered head hanging on the wall just over the fireplace, and
+caught its lips in the act of moving.
+"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were stuffed."
+"So I am," replied the head. "But once on a time I was part of the Gump,
+which Ozma sprinkled with the Powder of Life. I was then for a time the
+Head of the finest Flying Machine that was ever known to exist, and we
+did many wonderful things. Afterward the Gump was taken apart and I was
+put back on this wall; but I can still talk when I feel in the mood,
+which is not often."
+"It's very strange," said the girl. "What were you when you were first
+alive?"
+"That I have forgotten," replied the Gump's Head, "and I do not think it
+is of much importance. But here comes Ozma; so I'd better hush up, for
+the Princess doesn't like me to chatter since she changed her name from
+Tip to Ozma."
+Just then the girlish Ruler of Oz opened the door and greeted Dorothy
+with a good-morning kiss. The little Princess seemed fresh and rosy and
+in good spirits.
+"Breakfast is served, dear," she said, "and I am hungry. So don't let us
+keep it waiting a single minute."
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+THE NINE TINY PIGLETS
+After breakfast Ozma announced that she had ordered a holiday to be
+observed throughout the Emerald City, in honor of her visitors. The
+people had learned that their old Wizard had returned to them and all
+were anxious to see him again, for he had always been a rare favorite.
+So first there was to be a grand procession through the streets, after
+which the little old man was requested to perform some of his wizardries
+in the great Throne Room of the palace. In the afternoon there were to
+be games and races.
+The procession was very imposing. First came the Imperial Cornet Band of
+Oz, dressed in emerald velvet uniforms with slashes of pea-green satin
+and buttons of immense cut emeralds. They played the National air
+called "The Oz Spangled Banner," and behind them were the standard
+bearers with the Royal flag. This flag was divided into four quarters,
+one being colored sky-blue, another pink, a third lavender and a fourth
+white. In the center was a large emerald-green star, and all over the
+four quarters were sewn spangles that glittered beautifully in the
+sunshine. The colors represented the four countries of Oz, and the green
+star the Emerald City.
+Just behind the royal standard-bearers came the Princess Ozma in her
+royal chariot, which was of gold encrusted with emeralds and diamonds
+set in exquisite designs. The chariot was drawn on this occasion by the
+Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger, who were decorated with immense pink
+and blue bows. In the chariot rode Ozma and Dorothy, the former in
+splendid raiment and wearing her royal coronet, while the little Kansas
+girl wore around her waist the Magic Belt she had once captured from the
+Nome King.
+Following the chariot came the Scarecrow mounted on the Sawhorse, and
+the people cheered him almost as loudly as they did their lovely Ruler.
+Behind him stalked with regular, jerky steps, the famous machine-man
+called Tik-tok, who had been wound up by Dorothy for the occasion.
+Tik-tok moved by clockwork, and was made all of burnished copper. He
+really belonged to the Kansas girl, who had much respect for his
+thoughts after they had been properly wound and set going; but as the
+copper man would be useless in any place but a fairy country Dorothy had
+left him in charge of Ozma, who saw that he was suitably cared for.
+There followed another band after this, which was called the Royal Court
+Band, because the members all lived in the palace. They wore white
+uniforms with real diamond buttons and played "What is Oz without Ozma"
+very sweetly.
+Then came Professor Woggle-Bug, with a group of students from the Royal
+College of Scientific Athletics. The boys wore long hair and striped
+sweaters and yelled their college yell every other step they took, to
+the great satisfaction of the populace, which was glad to have this
+evidence that their lungs were in good condition.
+The brilliantly polished Tin Woodman marched next, at the head of the
+Royal Army of Oz which consisted of twenty-eight officers, from Generals
+down to Captains. There were no privates in the army because all were so
+courageous and skillful that they had been promoted one by one until
+there were no privates left. Jim and the buggy followed, the old
+cab-horse being driven by Zeb while the Wizard stood up on the seat and
+bowed his bald head right and left in answer to the cheers of the
+people, who crowded thick about him.
+Taken altogether the procession was a grand success, and when it had
+returned to the palace the citizens crowded into the great Throne Room
+to see the Wizard perform his tricks.
+The first thing the little humbug did was to produce a tiny white piglet
+from underneath his hat and pretend to pull it apart, making two. This
+act he repeated until all of the nine tiny piglets were visible, and
+they were so glad to get out of his pocket that they ran around in a
+very lively manner. The pretty little creatures would have been a
+novelty anywhere, so the people were as amazed and delighted at their
+appearance as even the Wizard could have desired. When he had made them
+all disappear again Ozma declared she was sorry they were gone, for she
+wanted one of them to pet and play with. So the Wizard pretended to take
+one of the piglets out of the hair of the Princess (while really he
+slyly took it from his inside pocket) and Ozma smiled joyously as the
+creature nestled in her arms, and she promised to have an emerald collar
+made for its fat neck and to keep the little squealer always at hand to
+amuse her.
+Afterward it was noticed that the Wizard always performed his famous
+trick with eight piglets, but it seemed to please the people just as
+well as if there had been nine of them.
+In his little room back of the Throne Room the Wizard had found a lot of
+things he had left behind him when he went away in the balloon, for no
+one had occupied the apartment in his absence. There was enough material
+there to enable him to prepare several new tricks which he had learned
+from some of the jugglers in the circus, and he had passed part of the
+night in getting them ready. So he followed the trick of the nine tiny
+piglets with several other wonderful feats that greatly delighted his
+audience and the people did not seem to care a bit whether the little
+man was a humbug Wizard or not, so long as he succeeded in amusing them.
+They applauded all his tricks and at the end of the performance begged
+him earnestly not to go away again and leave them.
+"In that case," said the little man, gravely, "I will cancel all of my
+engagements before the crowned heads of Europe and America and devote
+myself to the people of Oz, for I love you all so well that I can deny
+you nothing."
+After the people had been dismissed with this promise our friends joined
+Princess Ozma at an elaborate luncheon in the palace, where even the
+Tiger and the Lion were sumptuously fed and Jim the Cab-horse ate his
+oatmeal out of a golden bowl with seven rows of rubies, sapphires and
+diamonds set around the rim of it.
+In the afternoon they all went to a great field outside the city gates
+where the games were to be held. There was a beautiful canopy for Ozma
+and her guests to sit under and watch the people run races and jump and
+wrestle. You may be sure the folks of Oz did their best with such a
+distinguished company watching them, and finally Zeb offered to wrestle
+with a little Munchkin who seemed to be the champion. In appearance he
+was twice as old as Zeb, for he had long pointed whiskers and wore a
+peaked hat with little bells all around the brim of it, which tinkled
+gaily as he moved. But although the Munchkin was hardly tall enough to
+come to Zeb's shoulder he was so strong and clever that he laid the boy
+three times on his back with apparent ease.
+Zeb was greatly astonished at his defeat, and when the pretty Princess
+joined her people in laughing at him he proposed a boxing-match with the
+Munchkin, to which the little Ozite readily agreed. But the first time
+that Zeb managed to give him a sharp box on the ears the Munchkin sat
+down upon the ground and cried until the tears ran down his whiskers,
+because he had been hurt. This made Zeb laugh, in turn, and the boy
+felt comforted to find that Ozma laughed as merrily at her weeping
+subject as she had at him.
+Just then the Scarecrow proposed a race between the Sawhorse and the
+Cab-horse; and although all the others were delighted at the suggestion
+the Sawhorse drew back, saying:
+"Such a race would not be fair."
+"Of course not," added Jim, with a touch of scorn; "those little wooden
+legs of yours are not half as long as my own."
+"It isn't that," said the Sawhorse, modestly; "but I never tire, and you
+do."
+"Bah!" cried Jim, looking with great disdain at the other; "do you
+imagine for an instant that such a shabby imitation of a horse as you
+are can run as fast as I?"
+"I don't know, I'm sure," replied the Sawhorse.
+"That is what we are trying to find out," remarked the Scarecrow. "The
+object of a race is to see who can win it--or at least that is what my
+excellent brains think."
+"Once, when I was young," said Jim, "I was a race horse, and defeated
+all who dared run against me. I was born in Kentucky, you know, where
+all the best and most aristocratic horses come from."
+"But you're old, now, Jim," suggested Zeb.
+"Old! Why, I feel like a colt today," replied Jim. "I only wish there
+was a real horse here for me to race with. I'd show the people a fine
+sight, I can tell you."
+"Then why not race with the Sawhorse?" enquired the Scarecrow.
+"He's afraid," said Jim.
+"Oh, no," answered the Sawhorse. "I merely said it wasn't fair. But if
+my friend the Real Horse is willing to undertake the race I am quite
+ready."
+So they unharnessed Jim and took the saddle off the Sawhorse, and the
+two queerly matched animals were stood side by side for the start.
+"When I say 'Go!'" Zeb called to them, "you must dig out and race until
+you reach those three trees you see over yonder. Then circle 'round them
+and come back again. The first one that passes the place where the
+Princess sits shall be named the winner. Are you ready?"
+"I suppose I ought to give the wooden dummy a good start of me," growled
+Jim.
+"Never mind that," said the Sawhorse. "I'll do the best I can."
+"Go!" cried Zeb; and at the word the two horses leaped forward and the
+race was begun.
+Jim's big hoofs pounded away at a great rate, and although he did not
+look very graceful he ran in a way to do credit to his Kentucky
+breeding. But the Sawhorse was swifter than the wind. Its wooden legs
+moved so fast that their twinkling could scarcely be seen, and
+although so much smaller than the cab-horse it covered the ground much
+faster. Before they had reached the trees the Sawhorse was far ahead,
+and the wooden animal returned to the starting place and was being
+lustily cheered by the Ozites before Jim came panting up to the canopy
+where the Princess and her friends were seated.
+I am sorry to record the fact that Jim was not only ashamed of his
+defeat but for a moment lost control of his temper. As he looked at the
+comical face of the Sawhorse he imagined that the creature was laughing
+at him; so in a fit of unreasonable anger he turned around and made a
+vicious kick that sent his rival tumbling head over heels upon the
+ground, and broke off one of its legs and its left ear.
+An instant later the Tiger crouched and launched its huge body through
+the air swift and resistless as a ball from a cannon. The beast struck
+Jim full on his shoulder and sent the astonished cab-horse rolling over
+and over, amid shouts of delight from the spectators, who had been
+horrified by the ungracious act he had been guilty of.
+When Jim came to himself and sat upon his haunches he found the Cowardly
+Lion crouched on one side of him and the Hungry Tiger on the other, and
+their eyes were glowing like balls of fire.
+"I beg your pardon, I'm sure," said Jim, meekly. "I was wrong to kick
+the Sawhorse, and I am sorry I became angry at him. He has won the race,
+and won it fairly; but what can a horse of flesh do against a tireless
+beast of wood?"
+Hearing this apology the Tiger and the Lion stopped lashing their tails
+and retreated with dignified steps to the side of the Princess.
+"No one must injure one of our friends in our presence," growled the
+Lion; and Zeb ran to Jim and whispered that unless he controlled his
+temper in the future he would probably be torn to pieces.
+Then the Tin Woodman cut a straight and strong limb from a tree with his
+gleaming axe and made a new leg and a new ear for the Sawhorse; and when
+they had been securely fastened in place Princess Ozma took the coronet
+from her own head and placed it upon that of the winner of the race.
+Said she:
+"My friend, I reward you for your swiftness by proclaiming you Prince of
+Horses, whether of wood or of flesh; and hereafter all other horses--in
+the Land of Oz, at least--must be considered imitations, and you the
+real Champion of your race."
+There was more applause at this, and then Ozma had the jewelled saddle
+replaced upon the Sawhorse and herself rode the victor back to the city
+at the head of the grand procession.
+"I ought to be a fairy," grumbled Jim, as he slowly drew the buggy home;
+"for to be just an ordinary horse in a fairy country is to be of no
+account whatever. It's no place for us, Zeb."
+"It's lucky we got here, though," said the boy; and Jim thought of the
+dark cave, and agreed with him.
+CHAPTER 18.
+THE TRIAL OF EUREKA THE KITTEN
+Several days of festivity and merry-making followed, for such old
+friends did not often meet and there was much to be told and talked over
+between them, and many amusements to be enjoyed in this delightful
+country.
+Ozma was happy to have Dorothy beside her, for girls of her own age with
+whom it was proper for the Princess to associate were very few, and
+often the youthful Ruler of Oz was lonely for lack of companionship.
+It was the third morning after Dorothy's arrival, and she was sitting
+with Ozma and their friends in a reception room, talking over old times,
+when the Princess said to her maid:
+"Please go to my boudoir, Jellia, and get the white piglet I left on the
+dressing-table. I want to play with it."
+Jellia at once departed on the errand, and she was gone so long that
+they had almost forgotten her mission when the green robed maiden
+returned with a troubled face.
+"The piglet is not there, your Highness," said she.
+"Not there!" exclaimed Ozma. "Are you sure?"
+"I have hunted in every part of the room," the maid replied.
+"Was not the door closed?" asked the Princess.
+"Yes, your Highness; I am sure it was; for when I opened it Dorothy's
+white kitten crept out and ran up the stairs."
+Hearing this, Dorothy and the Wizard exchanged startled glances, for
+they remembered how often Eureka had longed to eat a piglet. The little
+girl jumped up at once.
+"Come, Ozma," she said, anxiously; "let us go ourselves to search for
+the piglet."
+So the two went to the dressing-room of the Princess and searched
+carefully in every corner and among the vases and baskets and ornaments
+that stood about the pretty boudoir. But not a trace could they find of
+the tiny creature they sought.
+Dorothy was nearly weeping, by this time, while Ozma was angry and
+indignant. When they returned to the others the Princess said:
+"There is little doubt that my pretty piglet has been eaten by that
+horrid kitten, and if that is true the offender must be punished."
+"I don't b'lieve Eureka would do such a dreadful thing!" cried Dorothy,
+much distressed. "Go and get my kitten, please, Jellia, and we'll hear
+what she has to say about it."
+The green maiden hastened away, but presently returned and said:
+"The kitten will not come. She threatened to scratch my eyes out if I
+touched her."
+"Where is she?" asked Dorothy.
+"Under the bed in your own room," was the reply.
+So Dorothy ran to her room and found the kitten under the bed.
+"Come here, Eureka!" she said.
+"I won't," answered the kitten, in a surly voice.
+"Oh, Eureka! Why are you so bad?"
+The kitten did not reply.
+"If you don't come to me, right away," continued Dorothy, getting
+provoked, "I'll take my Magic Belt and wish you in the Country of the
+Gurgles."
+"Why do you want me?" asked Eureka, disturbed by this threat.
+"You must go to Princess Ozma. She wants to talk to you."
+"All right," returned the kitten, creeping out. "I'm not afraid of
+Ozma--or anyone else."
+Dorothy carried her in her arms back to where the others sat in grieved
+and thoughtful silence.
+"Tell me, Eureka," said the Princess, gently: "did you eat my pretty
+piglet?"
+"I won't answer such a foolish question," asserted Eureka, with a snarl.
+"Oh, yes you will, dear," Dorothy declared. "The piglet is gone, and you
+ran out of the room when Jellia opened the door. So, if you are
+innocent, Eureka, you must tell the Princess how you came to be in her
+room, and what has become of the piglet."
+"Who accuses me?" asked the kitten, defiantly.
+"No one," answered Ozma. "Your actions alone accuse you. The fact is
+that I left my little pet in my dressing-room lying asleep upon the
+table; and you must hove stolen in without my knowing it. When next the
+door was opened you ran out and hid yourself--and the piglet was gone."
+"That's none of my business," growled the kitten.
+"Don't be impudent, Eureka," admonished Dorothy.
+"It is you who are impudent," said Eureka, "for accusing me of such a
+crime when you can't prove it except by guessing."
+Ozma was now greatly incensed by the kitten's conduct. She summoned her
+Captain-General, and when the long, lean officer appeared she said:
+"Carry this cat away to prison, and keep her in safe confinement until
+she is tried by law for the crime of murder."
+So the Captain-General took Eureka from the arms of the now weeping
+Dorothy and in spite of the kitten's snarls and scratches carried it
+away to prison.
+"What shall we do now?" asked the Scarecrow, with a sigh, for such a
+crime had cast a gloom over all the company.
+"I will summon the Court to meet in the Throne Room at three o'clock,"
+replied Ozma. "I myself will be the judge, and the kitten shall have a
+fair trial."
+"What will happen if she is guilty?" asked Dorothy.
+"She must die," answered the Princess.
+"Nine times?" enquired the Scarecrow.
+"As many times as is necessary," was the reply. "I will ask the Tin
+Woodman to defend the prisoner, because he has such a kind heart I am
+sure he will do his best to save her. And the Woggle-Bug shall be the
+Public Accuser, because he is so learned that no one can deceive him."
+"Who will be the jury?" asked the Tin Woodman.
+"There ought to be several animals on the jury," said Ozma, "because
+animals understand each other better than we people understand them.
+So the jury shall consist of the Cowardly Lion, the Hungry Tiger, Jim
+the Cab-horse, the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Wizard, Tik-tok the
+Machine Man, the Sawhorse and Zeb of Hugson's Ranch. That makes the nine
+which the law requires, and all my people shall be admitted to hear the
+testimony."
+They now separated to prepare for the sad ceremony; for whenever an
+appeal is made to law sorrow is almost certain to follow--even in a
+fairyland like Oz. But it must be stated that the people of that Land
+were generally so well-behaved that there was not a single lawyer
+amongst them, and it had been years since any Ruler had sat in judgment
+upon an offender of the law. The crime of murder being the most dreadful
+crime of all, tremendous excitement prevailed in the Emerald City when
+the news of Eureka's arrest and trial became known.
+The Wizard, when he returned to his own room, was exceedingly
+thoughtful. He had no doubt Eureka had eaten his piglet, but he realized
+that a kitten cannot be depended upon at all times to act properly,
+since its nature is to destroy small animals and even birds for food,
+and the tame cat that we keep in our houses today is descended from the
+wild cat of the jungle--a very ferocious creature, indeed. The Wizard
+knew that if Dorothy's pet was found guilty and condemned to death the
+little girl would be made very unhappy; so, although he grieved over the
+piglet's sad fate as much as any of them, he resolved to save Eureka's
+life.
+Sending for the Tin Woodman the Wizard took him into a corner and
+whispered:
+"My friend, it is your duty to defend the white kitten and try to save
+her, but I fear you will fail because Eureka has long wished to eat a
+piglet, to my certain knowledge, and my opinion is that she has been
+unable to resist the temptation. Yet her disgrace and death would not
+bring back the piglet, but only serve to make Dorothy unhappy. So I
+intend to prove the kitten's innocence by a trick."
+He drew from his inside pocket one of the eight tiny piglets that were
+remaining and continued:
+"This creature you must hide in some safe place, and if the jury decides
+that Eureka is guilty you may then produce this piglet and claim it is
+the one that was lost. All the piglets are exactly alike, so no one can
+dispute your word. This deception will save Eureka's life, and then we
+may all be happy again."
+"I do not like to deceive my friends," replied the Tin Woodman; "still,
+my kind heart urges me to save Eureka's life, and I can usually trust my
+heart to do the right thing. So I will do as you say, friend Wizard."
+After some thought he placed the little pig inside his funnel-shaped
+hat, and then put the hat upon his head and went back to his room to
+think over his speech to the jury.
+CHAPTER 19.
+THE WIZARD PERFORMS ANOTHER TRICK
+At three o'clock the Throne Room was crowded with citizens, men, women
+and children being eager to witness the great trial.
+Princess Ozma, dressed in her most splendid robes of state, sat in the
+magnificent emerald throne, with her jewelled sceptre in her hand and
+her sparkling coronet upon her fair brow. Behind her throne stood the
+twenty-eight officers of her army and many officials of the royal
+household. At her right sat the queerly assorted Jury--animals, animated
+dummies and people--all gravely prepared to listen to what was said. The
+kitten had been placed in a large cage just before the throne, where she
+sat upon her haunches and gazed through the bars at the crowds around
+her, with seeming unconcern.
+And now, at a signal from Ozma, the Woggle-Bug arose and addressed the
+jury. His tone was pompous and he strutted up and down in an absurd
+attempt to appear dignified.
+"Your Royal Highness and Fellow Citizens," he began; "the small cat you
+see a prisoner before you is accused of the crime of first murdering and
+then eating our esteemed Ruler's fat piglet--or else first eating and
+then murdering it. In either case a grave crime has been committed which
+deserves a grave punishment."
+"Do you mean my kitten must be put in a grave?" asked Dorothy.
+"Don't interrupt, little girl," said the Woggle-Bug. "When I get my
+thoughts arranged in good order I do not like to have anything upset
+them or throw them into confusion."
+"If your thoughts were any good they wouldn't become confused," remarked
+the Scarecrow, earnestly. "My thoughts are always----"
+"Is this a trial of thoughts, or of kittens?" demanded the Woggle-Bug.
+"It's a trial of one kitten," replied the Scarecrow; "but your manner is
+a trial to us all."
+"Let the Public Accuser continue," called Ozma from her throne, "and I
+pray you do not interrupt him."
+"The criminal who now sits before the court licking her paws," resumed
+the Woggle-Bug, "has long desired to unlawfully eat the fat piglet,
+which was no bigger than a mouse. And finally she made a wicked plan to
+satisfy her depraved appetite for pork. I can see her, in my mind's
+eye----"
+"What's that?" asked the Scarecrow.
+"I say I can see her in my mind's eye----"
+"The mind has no eye," declared the Scarecrow. "It's blind."
+"Your Highness," cried the Woggle-Bug, appealing to Ozma, "have I a
+mind's eye, or haven't I?"
+"If you have, it is invisible," said the Princess.
+"Very true," returned the Woggle-Bug, bowing. "I say I see the criminal,
+in my mind's eye, creeping stealthily into the room of our Ozma and
+secreting herself, when no one was looking, until the Princess had gone
+away and the door was closed. Then the murderer was alone with her
+helpless victim, the fat piglet, and I see her pounce upon the innocent
+creature and eat it up----"
+"Are you still seeing with your mind's eye?" enquired the Scarecrow.
+"Of course; how else could I see it? And we know the thing is true,
+because since the time of that interview there is no piglet to be found
+anywhere."
+"I suppose, if the cat had been gone, instead of the piglet, your mind's
+eye would see the piglet eating the cat," suggested the Scarecrow.
+"Very likely," acknowledged the Woggle-Bug. "And now, Fellow Citizens
+and Creatures of the Jury, I assert that so awful a crime deserves
+death, and in the case of the ferocious criminal before you--who is now
+washing her face--the death penalty should be inflicted nine times."
+There was great applause when the speaker sat down. Then the Princess
+spoke in a stern voice:
+"Prisoner, what have you to say for yourself? Are you guilty, or not
+guilty?"
+"Why, that's for you to find out," replied Eureka. "If you can prove I'm
+guilty, I'll be willing to die nine times, but a mind's eye is no proof,
+because the Woggle-Bug has no mind to see with."
+"Never mind, dear," said Dorothy.
+Then the Tin Woodman arose and said:
+"Respected Jury and dearly beloved Ozma, I pray you not to judge this
+feline prisoner unfeelingly. I do not think the innocent kitten can be
+guilty, and surely it is unkind to accuse a luncheon of being a murder.
+Eureka is the sweet pet of a lovely little girl whom we all admire, and
+gentleness and innocence are her chief virtues. Look at the kitten's
+intelligent eyes;" (here Eureka closed her eyes sleepily) "gaze at her
+smiling countenance!" (here Eureka snarled and showed her teeth) "mark
+the tender pose of her soft, padded little hands!" (Here Eureka bared
+her sharp claws and scratched at the bars of the cage.) "Would such a
+gentle animal be guilty of eating a fellow creature? No; a thousand
+times, no!"
+"Oh, cut it short," said Eureka; "you've talked long enough."
+"I'm trying to defend you," remonstrated the Tin Woodman.
+"Then say something sensible," retorted the kitten. "Tell them it would
+be foolish for me to eat the piglet, because I had sense enough to know
+it would raise a row if I did. But don't try to make out I'm too
+innocent to eat a fat piglet if I could do it and not be found out. I
+imagine it would taste mighty good."
+"Perhaps it would, to those who eat," remarked the Tin Woodman. "I
+myself, not being built to eat, have no personal experience in such
+matters. But I remember that our great poet once said:
+    "'To eat is sweet
+    When hunger's seat
+    Demands a treat
+    Of savory meat.'
+"Take this into consideration, friends of the Jury, and you will readily
+decide that the kitten is wrongfully accused and should be set at
+liberty."
+When the Tin Woodman sat down no one applauded him, for his arguments
+had not been very convincing and few believed that he had proved
+Eureka's innocence. As for the Jury, the members whispered to each other
+for a few minutes and then they appointed the Hungry Tiger their
+spokesman. The huge beast slowly arose and said:
+"Kittens have no consciences, so they eat whatever pleases them. The
+jury believes the white kitten known as Eureka is guilty of having eaten
+the piglet owned by Princess Ozma, and recommends that she be put to
+death in punishment of the crime."
+The judgment of the jury was received with great applause, although
+Dorothy was sobbing miserably at the fate of her pet. The Princess was
+just about to order Eureka's head chopped off with the Tin Woodman's axe
+when that brilliant personage once more arose and addressed her.
+"Your Highness," said he, "see how easy it is for a jury to be mistaken.
+The kitten could not have eaten your piglet--for here it is!"
+He took off his funnel hat and from beneath it produced a tiny white
+piglet, which he held aloft that all might see it clearly.
+Ozma was delighted and exclaimed, eagerly:
+"Give me my pet, Nick Chopper!"
+And all the people cheered and clapped their hands, rejoicing that the
+prisoner had escaped death and been proved to be innocent.
+As the Princess held the white piglet in her arms and stroked its soft
+hair she said: "Let Eureka out of the cage, for she is no longer a
+prisoner, but our good friend. Where did you find my missing pet, Nick
+Chopper?"
+"In a room of the palace," he answered.
+"Justice," remarked the Scarecrow, with a sigh, "is a dangerous thing to
+meddle with. If you hadn't happened to find the piglet, Eureka would
+surely have been executed."
+"But justice prevailed at the last," said Ozma, "for here is my pet, and
+Eureka is once more free."
+"I refuse to be free," cried the kitten, in a sharp voice, "unless the
+Wizard can do his trick with eight piglets. If he can produce but seven,
+then this it not the piglet that was lost, but another one."
+"Hush, Eureka!" warned the Wizard.
+"Don't be foolish," advised the Tin Woodman, "or you may be sorry for
+it."
+"The piglet that belonged to the Princess wore an emerald collar," said
+Eureka, loudly enough for all to hear.
+"So it did!" exclaimed Ozma. "This cannot be the one the Wizard gave
+me."
+"Of course not; he had nine of them, altogether," declared Eureka; "and
+I must say it was very stingy of him not to let me eat just a few. But
+now that this foolish trial is ended, I will tell you what really became
+of your pet piglet."
+At this everyone in the Throne Room suddenly became quiet, and the
+kitten continued, in a calm, mocking tone of voice:
+"I will confess that I intended to eat the little pig for my breakfast;
+so I crept into the room where it was kept while the Princess was
+dressing and hid myself under a chair. When Ozma went away she closed
+the door and left her pet on the table. At once I jumped up and told the
+piglet not to make a fuss, for he would be inside of me in half a
+second; but no one can teach one of these creatures to be reasonable.
+Instead of keeping still, so I could eat him comfortably, he trembled so
+with fear that he fell off the table into a big vase that was standing
+on the floor. The vase had a very small neck, and spread out at the top
+like a bowl. At first the piglet stuck in the neck of the vase and I
+thought I should get him, after all, but he wriggled himself through and
+fell down into the deep bottom part--and I suppose he's there yet."
+All were astonished at this confession, and Ozma at once sent an officer
+to her room to fetch the vase. When he returned the Princess looked down
+the narrow neck of the big ornament and discovered her lost piglet, just
+as Eureka had said she would.
+There was no way to get the creature out without breaking the vase, so
+the Tin Woodman smashed it with his axe and set the little prisoner
+free.
+Then the crowd cheered lustily and Dorothy hugged the kitten in her arms
+and told her how delighted she was to know that she was innocent.
+"But why didn't you tell us at first?" she asked.
+"It would have spoiled the fun," replied the kitten, yawning.
+Ozma gave the Wizard back the piglet he had so kindly allowed Nick
+Chopper to substitute for the lost one, and then she carried her own
+into the apartments of the palace where she lived. And now, the trial
+being over, the good citizens of the Emerald City scattered to their
+homes, well content with the day's amusement.
+CHAPTER 20.
+ZEB RETURNS TO THE RANCH
+Eureka was much surprised to find herself in disgrace; but she was, in
+spite of the fact that she had not eaten the piglet. For the folks of Oz
+knew the kitten had tried to commit the crime, and that only an accident
+had prevented her from doing so; therefore even the Hungry Tiger
+preferred not to associate with her. Eureka was forbidden to wander
+around the palace and was made to stay in confinement in Dorothy's room;
+so she began to beg her mistress to send her to some other place where
+she could enjoy herself better.
+Dorothy was herself anxious to get home, so she promised Eureka they
+would not stay in the Land of Oz much longer.
+The next evening after the trial the little girl begged Ozma to allow
+her to look in the enchanted picture, and the Princess readily
+consented. She took the child to her room and said: "Make your wish,
+dear, and the picture will show the scene you desire to behold."
+Then Dorothy found, with the aid of the enchanted picture, that Uncle
+Henry had returned to the farm in Kansas, and she also saw that both he
+and Aunt Em were dressed in mourning, because they thought their little
+niece had been killed by the earthquake.
+"Really," said the girl, anxiously, "I must get back as soon as poss'ble
+to my own folks."
+Zeb also wanted to see his home, and although he did not find anyone
+mourning for him, the sight of Hugson's Ranch in the picture made him
+long to get back there.
+"This is a fine country, and I like all the people that live in it," he
+told Dorothy. "But the fact is, Jim and I don't seem to fit into a
+fairyland, and the old horse has been begging me to go home again ever
+since he lost the race. So, if you can find a way to fix it, we'll be
+much obliged to you."
+"Ozma can do it, easily," replied Dorothy. "Tomorrow morning I'll go to
+Kansas and you can go to Californy."
+That last evening was so delightful that the boy will never forget it as
+long as he lives. They were all together (except Eureka) in the
+pretty rooms of the Princess, and the Wizard did some new tricks, and
+the Scarecrow told stories, and the Tin Woodman sang a love song in a
+sonorous, metallic voice, and everybody laughed and had a good time.
+Then Dorothy wound up Tik-tok and he danced a jig to amuse the company,
+after which the Yellow Hen related some of her adventures with the Nome
+King in the Land of Ev.
+The Princess served delicious refreshments to those who were in the
+habit of eating, and when Dorothy's bed time arrived the company
+separated after exchanging many friendly sentiments.
+Next morning they all assembled for the final parting, and many of the
+officials and courtiers came to look upon the impressive ceremonies.
+Dorothy held Eureka in her arms and bade her friends a fond good-bye.
+"You must come again, some time," said the little Wizard; and she
+promised she would if she found it possible to do so.
+"But Uncle Henry and Aunt Em need me to help them," she added, "so I
+can't ever be very long away from the farm in Kansas."
+Ozma wore the Magic Belt; and, when she had kissed Dorothy farewell and
+had made her wish, the little girl and her kitten disappeared in a
+twinkling.
+"Where is she?" asked Zeb, rather bewildered by the suddenness of it.
+"Greeting her uncle and aunt in Kansas, by this time," returned Ozma,
+with a smile.
+Then Zeb brought out Jim, all harnessed to the buggy, and took his seat.
+"I'm much obliged for all your kindness," said the boy, "and very
+grateful to you for saving my life and sending me home again after all
+the good times I've had. I think this is the loveliest country in the
+world; but not being fairies Jim and I feel we ought to be where we
+belong--and that's at the ranch. Good-bye, everybody!"
+He gave a start and rubbed his eyes. Jim was trotting along the
+well-known road, shaking his ears and whisking his tail with a contented
+motion. Just ahead of them were the gates of Hugson's Ranch, and Uncle
+Hugson now came out and stood with uplifted arms and wide open mouth,
+staring in amazement.
+"Goodness gracious! It's Zeb--and Jim, too!" he exclaimed. "Where in the
+world have you been, my lad?"
+"Why, in the world, Uncle," answered Zeb, with a laugh.
\ No newline at end of file
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+Three Friars, says a legend, hid themselves near the Witch Sabbath
+orgies that they might count the devils; but the Chief of these,
+discovering the friars, said--'Reverend Brothers, our army is such
+that if all the Alps, their rocks and glaciers, were equally divided
+among us, none would have a pound's weight.' This was in one Alpine
+valley. Any one who has caught but a glimpse of the world's Walpurgis
+Night, as revealed in Mythology and Folklore, must agree that this
+courteous devil did not overstate the case. Any attempt to catalogue
+the evil spectres which have haunted mankind were like trying to count
+the shadows cast upon the earth by the rising sun. This conviction
+has grown upon the author of this work at every step in his studies
+of the subject.
+In 1859 I contributed, as one of the American 'Tracts for the Times,'
+a pamphlet entitled 'The Natural History of the Devil.' Probably
+the chief value of that essay was to myself, and this in that
+its preparation had revealed to me how pregnant with interest and
+importance was the subject selected. Subsequent researches in the
+same direction, after I had come to reside in Europe, revealed how
+slight had been my conception of the vastness of the domain upon which
+that early venture was made. In 1872, while preparing a series of
+lectures for the Royal Institution on Demonology, it appeared to me
+that the best I could do was to print those lectures with some notes
+and additions; but after they were delivered there still remained with
+me unused the greater part of materials collected in many countries,
+and the phantasmal creatures which I had evoked would not permit me
+to rest from my labours until I had dealt with them more thoroughly.
+The fable of Thor's attempt to drink up a small spring, and his
+failure because it was fed by the ocean, seems aimed at such efforts
+as mine. But there is another aspect of the case which has yielded
+me more encouragement. These phantom hosts, however unmanageable as
+to number, when closely examined, present comparatively few types;
+they coalesce by hundreds; from being at first overwhelmed by their
+multiplicity, the classifier finds himself at length beating bushes to
+start a new variety. Around some single form--the physiognomy, it may
+be, of Hunger or Disease, of Lust or Cruelty--ignorant imagination
+has broken up nature into innumerable bits which, like mirrors of
+various surface, reflect the same in endless sizes and distortions;
+but they vanish if that central fact be withdrawn.
+In trying to conquer, as it were, these imaginary monsters, they
+have sometimes swarmed and gibbered around me in a mad comedy
+which travestied their tragic sway over those who believed in their
+reality. Gargoyles extended their grin over the finest architecture,
+cornices coiled to serpents, the very words of speakers started out of
+their conventional sense into images that tripped my attention. Only
+as what I believed right solutions were given to their problems were
+my sphinxes laid; but through this psychological experience it appeared
+that when one was so laid his or her legion disappeared also. Long ago
+such phantasms ceased to haunt my nerves, because I discovered their
+unreality; I am now venturing to believe that their mythologic forms
+cease to haunt my studies, because I have found out their reality.
+Why slay the slain? Such may be the question that will arise in the
+minds of many who see this book. A Scotch song says, 'The Devil is
+dead, and buried at Kirkcaldy;' if so, he did not die until he had
+created a world in his image. The natural world is overlaid by an
+unnatural religion, breeding bitterness around simplest thoughts,
+obstructions to science, estrangements not more reasonable than if
+they resulted from varying notions of lunar figures,--all derived from
+the Devil-bequeathed dogma that certain beliefs and disbeliefs are of
+infernal instigation. Dogmas moulded in a fossil demonology make the
+foundation of institutions which divert wealth, learning, enterprise,
+to fictitious ends. It has not, therefore, been mere intellectual
+curiosity which has kept me working at this subject these many years,
+but an increasing conviction that the sequelæ of such superstitions are
+exercising a still formidable influence. When Father Delaporte lately
+published his book on the Devil, his Bishop wrote--'Reverend Father, if
+every one busied himself with the Devil as you do, the kingdom of God
+would gain by it.' Identifying the kingdom here spoken of as that of
+Truth, it has been with a certain concurrence in the Bishop's sentiment
+that I have busied myself with the work now given to the public.
+Origin of Deism--Evolution from the far to the near--Illustrations
+from witchcraft--The primitive Pantheism--The dawn of Dualism.
+A college in the State of Ohio has adopted for its motto the words
+'Orient thyself.' This significant admonition to Western youth
+represents one condition of attaining truth in the science of
+mythology. Through neglect of it the glowing personifications and
+metaphors of the East have too generally migrated to the West only to
+find it a Medusa turning them to stone. Our prosaic literalism changes
+their ideals to idols. The time has come when we must learn rather to
+see ourselves in them: out of an age and civilisation where we live in
+habitual recognition of natural forces we may transport ourselves to a
+period and region where no sophisticated eye looks upon nature. The sun
+is a chariot drawn by shining steeds and driven by a refulgent deity;
+the stars ascend and move by arbitrary power or command; the tree is
+the bower of a spirit; the fountain leaps from the urn of a naiad. In
+such gay costumes did the laws of nature hold their carnival until
+Science struck the hour for unmasking. The costumes and masks have
+with us become materials for studying the history of the human mind,
+but to know them we must translate our senses back into that phase
+of our own early existence, so far as is consistent with carrying
+our culture with us.
+Without conceding too much to Solar mythology, it may be pronounced
+tolerably clear that the earliest emotion of worship was born out
+of the wonder with which man looked up to the heavens above him. The
+splendours of the morning and evening; the azure vault, painted with
+frescoes of cloud or blackened by the storm; the night, crowned with
+constellations: these awakened imagination, inspired awe, kindled
+admiration, and at length adoration, in the being who had reached
+intervals in which his eye was lifted above the earth. Amid the rapture
+of Vedic hymns to these sublimities we meet sharp questionings whether
+there be any such gods as the priests say, and suspicion is sometimes
+cast on sacrifices. The forms that peopled the celestial spaces may
+have been those of ancestors, kings, and great men, but anterior to
+all forms was the poetic enthusiasm which built heavenly mansions for
+them; and the crude cosmogonies of primitive science were probably
+caught up by this spirit, and consecrated as slowly as scientific
+generalisations now are.
+Our modern ideas of evolution might suggest the reverse of this--that
+human worship began with things low and gradually ascended to high
+objects; that from rude ages, in which adoration was directed to
+stock and stone, tree and reptile, the human mind climbed by degrees
+to the contemplation and reverence of celestial grandeurs. But the
+accord of this view with our ideas of evolution is apparent only. The
+real progress seems here to have been from the far to the near, from
+the great to the small. It is, indeed, probably inexact to speak of
+the worship of stock and stone, weed and wort, insect and reptile,
+as primitive. There are many indications that such things were by no
+race considered intrinsically sacred, nor were they really worshipped
+until the origin of their sanctity was lost; and even now, ages
+after their oracular or symbolical character has been forgotten, the
+superstitions that have survived in connection with such insignificant
+objects point to an original association with the phenomena of the
+heavens. No religions could, at first glance, seem wider apart than
+the worship of the serpent and that of the glorious sun; yet many
+ancient temples are covered with symbols combining sun and snake,
+and no form is more familiar in Egypt than the solar serpent standing
+erect upon its tail, with rays around its head.
+Nor is this high relationship of the adored reptile found only in
+regions where it might have been raised up by ethnical combinations as
+the mere survival of a savage symbol. William Craft, an African who
+resided for some time in the kingdom of Dahomey, informed me of the
+following incident which he had witnessed there. The sacred serpents
+are kept in a grand house, which they sometimes leave to crawl in
+their neighbouring grounds. One day a negro from some distant region
+encountered one of these animals and killed it. The people learning
+that one of their gods had been slain, seized the stranger, and having
+surrounded him with a circle of brushwood, set it on fire. The poor
+wretch broke through the circle of fire and ran, pursued by the crowd,
+who struck him with heavy sticks. Smarting from the flames and blows,
+he rushed into a river; but no sooner had he entered there than the
+pursuit ceased, and he was told that, having gone through fire and
+water, he was purified, and might emerge with safety. Thus, even in
+that distant and savage region, serpent-worship was associated with
+fire-worship and river-worship, which have a wide representation in
+both Aryan and Semitic symbolism. To this day the orthodox Israelites
+set beside their dead, before burial, the lighted candle and a basin
+of pure water. These have been associated in rabbinical mythology with
+the angels Michael (genius of Water) and Gabriel (genius of Fire);
+but they refer both to the phenomenal glories and the purifying
+effects of the two elements as reverenced by the Africans in one
+direction and the Parsees in another.
+Not less significant are the facts which were attested at the
+witch-trials. It was shown that for their pretended divinations they
+used plants--as rue and vervain--well known in the ancient Northern
+religions, and often recognised as examples of tree-worship; but it
+also appeared that around the cauldron a mock zodiacal circle was
+drawn, and that every herb employed was alleged to have derived its
+potency from having been gathered at a certain hour of the night or
+day, a particular quarter of the moon, or from some spot where sun or
+moon did or did not shine upon it. Ancient planet-worship is, indeed,
+still reflected in the habit of village herbalists, who gather their
+simples at certain phases of the moon, or at certain of those holy
+periods of the year which conform more or less to the pre-christian
+festivals.
+These are a few out of many indications that the small and senseless
+things which have become almost or quite fetishes were by no means such
+at first, but were mystically connected with the heavenly elements
+and splendours, like the animal forms in the zodiac. In one of the
+earliest hymns of the Rig-Veda it is said--'This earth belongs to
+Varuna (Ouranos) the king, and the wide sky: he is contained also in
+this drop of water.' As the sky was seen reflected in the shining curve
+of a dew-drop, even so in the shape or colour of a leaf or flower,
+the transformation of a chrysalis, or the burial and resurrection
+of a scarabæus' egg, some sign could be detected making it answer in
+place of the typical image which could not yet be painted or carved.
+The necessities of expression would, of course, operate to invest
+the primitive conceptions and interpretations of celestial phenomena
+with those pictorial images drawn from earthly objects of which the
+early languages are chiefly composed. In many cases that are met
+in the most ancient hymns, the designations of exalted objects are
+so little descriptive of them, that we may refer them to a period
+anterior to the formation of that refined and complex symbolism by
+which primitive religions have acquired a representation in definite
+characters. The Vedic comparisons of the various colours of the dawn
+to horses, or the rain-clouds to cows, denotes a much less mature
+development of thought than the fine observation implied in the
+connection of the forked lightning with the forked serpent-tongue and
+forked mistletoe, or symbolisation of the universe in the concentric
+folds of an onion. It is the presence of these more mystical and
+complex ideas in religions which indicate a progress of the human
+mind from the large and obvious to the more delicate and occult, and
+the growth of the higher vision which can see small things in their
+large relationships. Although the exaltation in the Vedas of Varuna
+as king of heaven, and as contained also in a drop of water, is in
+one verse, we may well recognise an immense distance in time between
+the two ideas there embodied. The first represents that primitive
+pantheism which is the counterpart of ignorance. An unclassified
+outward universe is the reflection of a mind without form and void:
+it is while all within is as yet undiscriminating wonder that the
+religious vesture of nature will be this undefined pantheism. The
+fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has not yet been
+tasted. In some of the earlier hymns of the Rig-Veda, the Maruts,
+the storm-deities, are praised along with Indra, the sun; Yama,
+king of Death, is equally adored with the goddess of Dawn. 'No real
+foe of yours is known in heaven, nor in earth.' 'The storms are thy
+allies.' Such is the high optimism of sentences found even in sacred
+books which elsewhere mask the dawn of the Dualism which ultimately
+superseded the harmony of the elemental Powers. 'I create light
+and I create darkness, I create good and I create evil.' 'Look unto
+Yezdan, who causeth the shadow to fall.' But it is easy to see what
+must be the result when this happy family of sun-god and storm-god
+and fire-god, and their innumerable co-ordinate divinities, shall
+be divided by discord. When each shall have become associated with
+some earthly object or fact, he or she will appear as friend or foe,
+and their connection with the sources of human pleasure and pain will
+be reflected in collisions and wars in the heavens. The rebel clouds
+will be transformed to Titans and Dragons. The adored Maruts will be
+no longer storm-heroes with unsheathed swords of lightning, marching
+as the retinue of Indra, but fire-breathing monsters--Vritras and
+Ahis,--and the morning and evening shadows from faithful watch-dogs
+become the treacherous hell-hounds, like Orthros and Cerberus. The
+vehement antagonisms between animals and men and of tribe against
+tribe, will be expressed in the conception of struggles among gods,
+who will thus be classified as good or evil deities.
+This was precisely what did occur. The primitive pantheism was broken
+up: in its place the later ages beheld the universe as the arena of
+a tremendous conflict between good and evil Powers, who severally,
+in the process of time, marshalled each and everything, from a world
+to a worm, under their flaming banners.
+THE GENESIS OF DEMONS.
+Their good names euphemistic--Their mixed character--Illustrations:
+Beelzebub, Loki--Demon-germs--The knowledge of good and
+evil--Distinction between Demon and Devil.
+The first pantheon of each race was built of intellectual
+speculations. In a moral sense, each form in it might be described
+as more or less demonic; and, indeed, it may almost be affirmed that
+religion, considered as a service rendered to superhuman beings,
+began with the propitiation of demons, albeit they might be called
+gods. Man found that in the earth good things came with difficulty,
+while thorns and weeds sprang up everywhere. The evil powers seemed to
+be the strongest. The best deity had a touch of the demon in him. The
+sun is the most beneficent, yet he bears the sunstroke along with
+the sunbeam, and withers the blooms he calls forth. The splendour,
+the might, the majesty, the menace, the grandeur and wrath of the
+heavens and the elements were blended in these personifications,
+and reflected in the trembling adoration paid to them. The flattering
+names given to these powers by their worshippers must be interpreted
+by the costly sacrifices with which men sought to propitiate them. No
+sacrifice would have been offered originally to a purely benevolent
+power. The Furies were called the Eumenides, 'the well-meaning,'
+and there arises a temptation to regard the name as preserving the
+primitive meaning of the Sanskrit original of Erinyes, namely, Saranyu,
+which signifies the morning light stealing over the sky. But the
+descriptions of the Erinyes by the Greek poets--especially of Æschylus,
+who pictures them as black, serpent-locked, with eyes dropping blood,
+and calls them hounds--show that Saranyu as morning light, and thus
+the revealer of deeds of darkness, had gradually been degraded into
+a personification of the Curse. And yet, while recognising the name
+Eumenides as euphemistic, we may admire none the less the growth of
+that rationalism which ultimately found in the epithet a suggestion of
+the soul of good in things evil, and almost restored the beneficent
+sense of Saranyu. 'I have settled in this place,' says Athene in the
+'Eumenides' of Æschylus, 'these mighty deities, hard to be appeased;
+they have obtained by lot to administer all things concerning men. But
+he who has not found them gentle knows not whence come the ills of
+life.' But before the dread Erinyes of Homer's age had become the
+'venerable goddesses' (semnai theai) of popular phrase in Athens,
+or the Eumenides of the later poet's high insight, piercing their
+Gorgon form as portrayed by himself, they had passed through all the
+phases of human terror. Cowering generations had tried to soothe the
+remorseless avengers by complimentary phrases. The worship of the
+serpent, originating in the same fear, similarly raised that animal
+into the region where poets could invest it with many profound and
+beautiful significances. But these more distinctly terrible deities
+are found in the shadowy border-land of mythology, from which we may
+look back into ages when the fear in which worship is born had not yet
+been separated into its elements of awe and admiration, nor the heaven
+of supreme forces divided into ranks of benevolent and malevolent
+beings; and, on the other hand, we may look forward to the ages in
+which the moral consciousness of man begins to form the distinctions
+between good and evil, right and wrong, which changes cosmogony into
+religion, and impresses every deity of the mind's creation to do his
+or her part in reflecting the physical and moral struggles of mankind.
+The intermediate processes by which the good and evil were detached,
+and advanced to separate personification, cannot always be traced, but
+the indications of their work are in most cases sufficiently clear. The
+relationship, for instance, between Baal and Baal-zebub cannot be
+doubted. The one represents the Sun in his glory as quickener of
+Nature and painter of its beauty, the other the insect-breeding power
+of the Sun. Baal-zebub is the Fly-god. Only at a comparatively recent
+period did the deity of the Philistines, whose oracle was consulted
+by Ahaziah (2 Kings i.), suffer under the reputation of being 'the
+Prince of Devils,' his name being changed by a mere pun to Beelzebul
+(dung-god). It is not impossible that the modern Egyptian mother's
+hesitation to disturb flies settling on her sleeping child, and the
+sanctity attributed to various insects, originated in the awe felt
+for him. The title Fly-god is parallelled by the reverent epithet
+apomuios, applied to Zeus as worshipped at Elis, [1] the Myiagrus
+deus of the Romans, [2] and the Myiodes mentioned by Pliny. [3] Our
+picture is probably from a protecting charm, and evidently by the god's
+believers. There is a story of a peasant woman in a French church who
+was found kneeling before a marble group, and was warned by a priest
+that she was worshipping the wrong figure--namely, Beelzebub. 'Never
+mind,' she replied, 'it is well enough to have friends on both
+sides.' The story, though now only ben trovato, would represent the
+actual state of mind in many a Babylonian invoking the protection of
+the Fly-god against formidable swarms of his venomous subjects.
+Not less clear is the illustration supplied by Scandinavian
+mythology. In Sæmund's Edda the evil-minded Loki says:--
+Odin! dost thou remember
+When we in early days
+Blended our blood together?
+The two became detached very slowly; for their separation implied
+the crumbling away of a great religion, and its distribution into
+new forms; and a religion requires, relatively, as long to decay
+as it does to grow, as we who live under a crumbling religion have
+good reason to know. Protap Chunder Mozoomdar, of the Brahmo-Somaj,
+in an address in London, said, 'The Indian Pantheon has many millions
+of deities, and no space is left for the Devil.' He might have added
+that these deities have distributed between them all the work that
+the Devil could perform if he were admitted. His remark recalled to
+me the Eddaic story of Loki's entrance into the assembly of gods in
+the halls of Oegir. Loki--destined in a later age to be identified
+with Satan--is angrily received by the deities, but he goes round
+and mentions incidents in the life of each one which show them to be
+little if any better than himself. The gods and goddesses, unable to
+reply, confirm the cynic's criticisms in theologic fashion by tying
+him up with a serpent for cord.
+The late Theodore Parker is said to have replied to a Calvinist who
+sought to convert him--'The difference between us is simple: your god
+is my devil.' There can be little question that the Hebrews, from whom
+the Calvinist inherited his deity, had no devil in their mythology,
+because the jealous and vindictive Jehovah was quite equal to any
+work of that kind,--as the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, bringing
+plagues upon the land, or deceiving a prophet and then destroying him
+for his false prophecies. [4] The same accommodating relation of the
+primitive deities to all natural phenomena will account for the absence
+of distinct representatives of evil of the most primitive religions.
+The earliest exceptions to this primeval harmony of the gods,
+implying moral chaos in man, were trifling enough: the occasional
+monster seems worthy of mention only to display the valour of the god
+who slew him. But such were demon-germs, born out of the structural
+action of the human mind so soon as it began to form some philosophy
+concerning a universe upon which it had at first looked with simple
+wonder, and destined to an evolution of vast import when the work of
+moralising upon them should follow.
+Let us take our stand beside our barbarian, but no longer savage,
+ancestor in the far past. We have watched the rosy morning as it
+waxed to a blazing noon: then swiftly the sun is blotted out, the
+tempest rages, it is a sudden night lit only by the forked lightning
+that strikes tree, house, man, with angry thunder-peal. From an
+instructed age man can look upon the storm blackening the sky not as
+an enemy of the sun, but one of its own superlative effects; but some
+thousands of years ago, when we were all living in Eastern barbarism,
+we could not conceive that a luminary whose very business it was to
+give light, could be a party to his own obscuration. We then looked
+with pity upon the ignorance of our ancestors, who had sung hymns to
+the storm-dragons, hoping to flatter them into quietness; and we came
+by irresistible logic to that Dualism which long divided the visible,
+and still divides the moral, universe into two hostile camps.
+This is the mother-principle out of which demons (in the ordinary
+sense of the term) proceeded. At first few, as distinguished from the
+host of deities by exceptional harmfulness, they were multiplied with
+man's growth in the classification of his world. Their principle of
+existence is capable of indefinite expansion, until it shall include
+all the realms of darkness, fear, and pain. In the names of demons,
+and in the fables concerning them, the struggles of man in his ages of
+weakness with peril, want, and death, are recorded more fully than in
+any inscriptions on stone. Dualism is a creed which all superficial
+appearances attest. Side by side the desert and the fruitful land,
+the sunshine and the frost, sorrow and joy, life and death, sit
+weaving around every life its vesture of bright and sombre threads,
+and Science alone can detect how each of these casts the shuttle
+to the other. Enemies to each other they will appear in every realm
+which knowledge has not mastered. There is a refrain, gathered from
+many ages, in William Blake's apostrophe to the tiger:--
+Tiger! tiger! burning bright
+In the forests of the night;
+What immortal hand or eye
+Framed thy fearful symmetry?
+In what distant deeps or skies
+Burned that fire within thine eyes?
+On what wings dared he aspire?
+What the hand dared seize the fire?
+When the stars threw down their spears
+And water heaven with their tears,
+Did he smile his work to see?
+Did he who made the lamb make thee?
+That which one of the devoutest men of genius whom England has produced
+thus asked was silently answered in India by the serpent-worshipper
+kneeling with his tongue held in his hand; in Egypt, by Osiris seated
+on a throne of chequer. 
+It is necessary to distinguish clearly between the Demon and the Devil,
+though, for some purposes, they must be mentioned together. The world
+was haunted with demons for many ages before there was any embodiment
+of their spirit in any central form, much less any conception of
+a Principle of Evil in the universe. The early demons had no moral
+character, not any more than the man-eating tiger. There is no outburst
+of moral indignation mingling with the shout of victory when Indra
+slays Vritra, and Apollo's face is serene when his dart pierces the
+Python. It required a much higher development of the moral sentiment
+to give rise to the conception of a devil. Only that intensest light
+could cast so black a shadow athwart the world as the belief in a
+purely malignant spirit. To such a conception--love of evil for its
+own sake--the word Devil is limited in this work; Demon is applied to
+beings whose harmfulness is not gratuitous, but incidental to their
+own satisfactions.
+Deity and Demon are from words once interchangeable, and the latter has
+simply suffered degradation by the conventional use of it to designate
+the less beneficent powers and qualities, which originally inhered
+in every deity, after they were detached from these and separately
+personified. Every bright god had his shadow, so to say; and under
+the influence of Dualism this shadow attained a distinct existence
+and personality in the popular imagination. The principle having
+once been established, that what seemed beneficent and what seemed
+the reverse must be ascribed to different powers, it is obvious that
+the evolution of demons must be continuous, and their distribution
+co-extensive with the ills that flesh is heir to.
+DEGRADATION.
+The degradation of deities--Indicated in names--Legends of their
+fall--Incidental signs of the divine origin of demons and devils.
+The atmospheric conditions having been prepared in the human mind for
+the production of demons, the particular shapes or names they would
+assume would be determined by a variety of circumstances, ethnical,
+climatic, political, or even accidental. They would, indeed, be rarely
+accidental; but Professor Max Müller, in his notes to the Rig-Veda,
+has called attention to a remarkable instance in which the formation of
+an imposing mythological figure of this kind had its name determined
+by what, in all probability, was an accident. There appears in the
+earliest Vedic hymns the name of Aditi, as the holy Mother of many
+gods, and thrice there is mentioned the female name Diti. But there
+is reason to believe that Diti is a mere reflex of Aditi, the a being
+dropped originally by a reciter's license. The later reciters, however,
+regarding every letter in so sacred a book, or even the omission of a
+letter, as of eternal significance, Diti--this decapitated Aditi--was
+evolved into a separate and powerful being, and, every niche of
+beneficence being occupied by its god or goddess, the new form was at
+once relegated to the newly-defined realm of evil, where she remained
+as the mother of the enemies of the gods, the Daityas. Unhappily this
+accident followed the ancient tendency by which the Furies and Vices
+have, with scandalous constancy, been described in the feminine gender.
+The close resemblance between these two names of Hindu mythology,
+severally representing the best and the worst, may be thus accidental,
+and only serve to show how the demon-forming tendency, after it began,
+was able to press even the most trivial incidents into its service. But
+generally the names of demons, and for whole races of demons, report
+far more than this; and in no inquiry more than that before us is it
+necessary to remember that names are things. The philological facts
+supply a remarkable confirmation of the statements already made
+as to the original identity of demon and deity. The word 'demon'
+itself, as we have said, originally bore a good instead of an evil
+meaning. The Sanskrit deva, 'the shining one,' Zend daêva, correspond
+with the Greek theos, Latin deus, Anglo-Saxon Tiw; and remain in
+'deity,' 'deuce' (probably; it exists in Armorican, teuz, a phantom),
+'devel' (the gipsy name for God), and Persian div, demon. The Demon
+of Socrates represents the personification of a being still good, but
+no doubt on the path of decline from pure divinity. Plato declares
+that good men when they die become 'demons,' and he says 'demons
+are reporters and carriers between gods and men.' Our familiar word
+bogey, a sort of nickname for an evil spirit, comes from the Slavonic
+word for God--bog. Appearing here in the West as bogey (Welsh bwg,
+a goblin), this word bog began, probably, as the 'Baga' of cuneiform
+inscriptions, a name of the Supreme Being, or possibly the Hindu
+'Bhaga,' Lord of Life. In the 'Bishop's Bible' the passage occurs,
+'Thou shalt not be afraid of any bugs by night:' the word has been
+altered to 'terror.'  When we come to the particular names of demons,
+we find many of them bearing traces of the splendours from which they
+have declined. 'Siva,' the Hindu god of destruction, has a meaning
+('auspicious') derived from Svi, 'thrive'--thus related ideally to
+Pluto, 'wealth'--and, indeed, in later ages, appears to have gained
+the greatest elevation. In a story of the Persian poem Masnavi,
+Ahriman is mentioned with Bahman as a fire-fiend, of which class are
+the Magian demons and the Jinns generally; which, the sanctity of
+fire being considered, is an evidence of their high origin. Avicenna
+says that the genii are ethereal animals. Lucifer--light-bearing--is
+the fallen angel of the morning star. Loki--the nearest to an evil
+power of the Scandinavian personifications--is the German leucht,
+or light. Azazel--a word inaccurately rendered 'scape-goat' in the
+Bible--appears to have been originally a deity, as the Israelites
+were originally required to offer up one goat to Jehovah and
+another to Azazel, a name which appears to signify the 'strength
+of God.' Gesenius and Ewald regard Azazel as a demon belonging
+to the pre-Mosaic religion, but it can hardly be doubted that the
+four arch-demons mentioned by the Rabbins--Samaël, Azazel, Asaël,
+and Maccathiel--are personifications of the elements as energies
+of the deity. Samaël would appear to mean the 'left hand of God;'
+Azazel, his strength; Asaël, his reproductive force; and Maccathiel,
+his retributive power, but the origin of these names is doubtful..
+Although Azazel is now one of the Mussulman names for a devil,
+it would appear to be nearly related to Al Uzza of the Koran,
+one of the goddesses of whom the significant tradition exists,
+that once when Mohammed had read, from the Sura called 'The Star,'
+the question, 'What think ye of Allat, Al Uzza, and Manah, that
+other third goddess?' he himself added, 'These are the most high
+and beauteous damsels, whose intercession is to be hoped for,' the
+response being afterwards attributed to a suggestion of Satan. Belial is merely a word for godlessness; it has become personified
+through the misunderstanding of the phrase in the Old Testament by
+the translators of the Septuagint, and thus passed into christian
+use, as in 2 Cor. vi. 15, 'What concord hath Christ with Belial?' The
+word is not used as a proper name in the Old Testament, and the late
+creation of a demon out of it may be set down to accident.
+Even where the names of demons and devils bear no such traces of
+their degradation from the state of deities, there are apt to be
+characteristics attributed to them, or myths connected with them,
+which point in the direction indicated. Such is the case with Satan,
+of whom much must be said hereafter, whose Hebrew name signifies
+the adversary, but who, in the Book of Job, appears among the sons
+of God. The name given to the devil in the Koran--Eblis--is almost
+certainly diabolos Arabicised; and while this Greek word is found
+in Pindar [7] (5th century B.C.), meaning a slanderer, the fables
+in the Koran concerning Eblis describe him as a fallen angel of the
+highest rank.
+One of the most striking indications of the fall of demons from heaven
+is the wide-spread belief that they are lame. Mr. Tylor has pointed
+out the curious persistence of this idea in various ethnical lines of
+development. [8] Hephaistos was lamed by his fall when hurled by Zeus
+from Olympos; and it is not a little singular that in the English
+travesty of limping Vulcan, represented in Wayland the Smith, there should appear the suggestion, remarked by Mr. Cox, of the name
+'Vala' (coverer), one of the designations of the dragon destroyed by
+Indra. 'In Sir Walter Scott's romance,' says Mr. Cox, 'Wayland is a
+mere impostor, who avails himself of a popular superstition to keep
+up an air of mystery about himself and his work, but the character to
+which he makes pretence belongs to the genuine Teutonic legend.' The Persian demon Aeshma--the Asmodeus of the Book of Tobit--appears
+with the same characteristic of lameness in the 'Diable Boiteux'
+of Le Sage. The christian devil's clubbed or cloven foot is notorious.
+Even the horns popularly attributed to the devil may possibly have
+originated with the aureole which indicates the glory of his 'first
+estate.' Satan is depicted in various relics of early art wearing the
+aureole, as in a miniature of the tenth century (from Bible No. 6,
+Bib. Roy.), given by M. Didron. [11] The same author has shown that
+Pan and the Satyrs, who had so much to do with the shaping of our
+horned and hoofed devil, originally got their horns from the same
+high source as Moses in the old Bibles, [12] and in the great statue
+of him at Rome by Michel Angelo.
+It is through this mythologic history that the most powerful
+demons have been associated in the popular imagination with stars,
+planets,--Ketu in India, Saturn and Mercury the 'Infortunes,'--comets,
+and other celestial phenomena. The examples of this are so numerous
+that it is impossible to deal with them here, where I can only hope
+to offer a few illustrations of the principles affirmed; and in this
+case it is of less importance for the English reader, because of the
+interesting volume in which the subject has been specially dealt
+with. [13] Incidentally, too, the astrological demons and devils
+must recur from time to time in the process of our inquiry. But it
+will probably be within the knowledge of some of my readers that the
+dread of comets and of meteoric showers yet lingers in many parts
+of Christendom, and that fear of unlucky stars has not passed away
+with astrologers. There is a Scottish legend told by Hugh Miller
+of an avenging meteoric demon. A shipmaster who had moored his
+vessel near Morial's Den, amused himself by watching the lights
+of the scattered farmhouses. After all the rest had gone out one
+light lingered for some time. When that light too had disappeared,
+the shipmaster beheld a large meteor, which, with a hissing noise,
+moved towards the cottage. A dog howled, an owl whooped; but when
+the fire-ball had almost reached the roof, a cock crew from within
+the cottage, and the meteor rose again. Thrice this was repeated,
+the meteor at the third cock-crow ascending among the stars. On the
+following day the shipmaster went on shore, purchased the cock, and
+took it away with him. Returned from his voyage, he looked for the
+cottage, and found nothing but a few blackened stones. Nearly sixty
+years ago a human skeleton was found near the spot, doubled up as
+if the body had been huddled into a hole: this revived the legend,
+and probably added some of those traits which make it a true bit of
+mosaic in the mythology of Astræa. 
+The fabled 'fall of Lucifer' really signifies a process similar to
+that which has been noticed in the case of Saranyu. The morning star,
+like the morning light, as revealer of the deeds of darkness, becomes
+an avenger, and by evolution an instigator of the evil it originally
+disclosed and punished. It may be remarked also that though we have
+inherited the phrase 'Demons of Darkness,' it was an ancient rabbinical
+belief that the demons went abroad in darkness not only because it
+facilitated their attacks on man, but because being of luminous forms,
+they could recognise each other better with a background of darkness.
+THE ABGOTT.
+The ex-god--Deities demonised by conquest--Theological animosity
+--Illustration from the Avesta--Devil-worship an arrested Deism--
+Sheik Adi--Why demons were painted ugly--Survivals of their beauty.
+The phenomena of the transformation of deities into demons meet the
+student of Demonology at every step. We shall have to consider many
+examples of a kind similar to those which have been mentioned in the
+preceding chapter; but it is necessary to present at this stage of our
+inquiry a sufficient number of examples to establish the fact that in
+every country forces have been at work to degrade the primitive gods
+into types of evil, as preliminary to a consideration of the nature
+of those forces.
+We find the history of the phenomena suggested in the German word for
+idol, Abgott--ex-god. Then we have 'pagan,' villager, and 'heathen,' of
+the heath, denoting those who stood by their old gods after others had
+transferred their faith to the new. These words bring us to consider
+the influence upon religious conceptions of the struggles which have
+occurred between races and nations, and consequently between their
+religions. It must be borne in mind that by the time any tribes had
+gathered to the consistency of a nation, one of the strongest forces of
+its coherence would be its priesthood. So soon as it became a general
+belief that there were in the universe good and evil Powers, there
+must arise a popular demand for the means of obtaining their favour;
+and this demand has never failed to obtain a supply of priesthoods
+claiming to bind or influence the præternatural beings. These
+priesthoods represent the strongest motives and fears of a people,
+and they were gradually intrenched in great institutions involving
+powerful interests. Every invasion or collision or mingling of races
+thus brought their respective religions into contact and rivalry;
+and as no priesthood has been known to consent peaceably to its own
+downfall and the degradation of its own deities, we need not wonder
+that there have been perpetual wars for religious ascendency. It
+is not unusual to hear sects among ourselves accusing each other
+of idolatry. In earlier times the rule was for each religion to
+denounce its opponent's gods as devils. Gregory the Great wrote
+to his missionary in Britain, the Abbot Mellitus, second Bishop of
+Canterbury, that 'whereas the people were accustomed to sacrifice
+many oxen in honour of demons, let them celebrate a religious and
+solemn festival, and not slay the animals to the devil (diabolo),
+but to be eaten by themselves to the glory of God.' Thus the devotion
+of meats to those deities of our ancestors which the Pope pronounces
+demons, which took place chiefly at Yule-tide, has survived in our
+more comfortable Christmas banquets. This was the fate of all the
+deities which Christianity undertook to suppress. But it had been the
+habit of religions for many ages before. They never denied the actual
+existence of the deities they were engaged in suppressing. That would
+have been too great an outrage upon popular beliefs, and might have
+caused a reaction; and, besides, each new religion had an interest
+of its own in preserving the basis of belief in these invisible
+beings. Disbelief in the very existence of the old gods might be
+followed by a sceptical spirit that might endanger the new. So the
+propagandists maintained the existence of native gods, but called
+them devils. Sometimes wars or intercourse between tribes led to their
+fusion; the battle between opposing religions was drawn, in which case
+there would be a compromise by which several deities of different
+origin might continue together in the same race and receive equal
+homage. The differing degrees of importance ascribed to the separate
+persons of the Hindu triad in various localities of India, suggest
+it as quite probable that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva signalled in their
+union the political unity of certain districts in that country. The blending of the names of Confucius and Buddha, in many Chinese
+and Japanese temples, may show us an analogous process now going on,
+and, indeed, the various ethnical ideas combined in the christian
+Trinity render the fact stated one of easy interpretation. But the
+religious difficulty was sometimes not susceptible of compromise. The
+most powerful priesthood carried the day, and they used every ingenuity
+to degrade the gods of their opponents. Agathodemons were turned into
+kakodemons. The serpent, worshipped in many lands, might be adopted
+as the support of sleeping Vishnu in India, might be associated with
+the rainbow ('the heavenly serpent') in Persia, but elsewhere was
+cursed as the very genius of evil.
+The operation of this force in the degradation of deities, is
+particularly revealed in the Sacred Books of Persia. In that country
+the great religions of the East would appear to have contended
+against each other with especial fury, and their struggles were
+probably instrumental in causing one or more of the early migrations
+into Western Europe. The great celestial war between Ormuzd and
+Ahriman--Light and Darkness--corresponded with a violent theological
+conflict, one result of which is that the word deva, meaning 'deity'
+to Brahmans, means 'devil' to Parsees. The following extract from
+the Zend-Avesta will serve as an example of the spirit in which the
+war was waged:--
+'All your devas are only manifold children of the Evil Mind--and the
+great one who worships the Saoma of lies and deceits; besides the
+treacherous acts for which you are notorious throughout the seven
+regions of the earth.
+'You have invented all the evil which men speak and do, which is
+indeed pleasant to the Devas, but is devoid of all goodness, and
+therefore perishes before the insight of the truth of the wise.
+'Thus you defraud men of their good minds and of their immortality
+by your evil minds--as well through those of the Devas as that of the
+Evil Spirit--through evil deeds and evil words, whereby the power of
+liars grows.' 
+That is to say--Ours is the true god: your god is a devil.
+The Zoroastrian conversion of deva (deus) into devil does not
+alone represent the work of this odium theologicum. In the early
+hymns of India the appellation asuras is given to the gods. Asura
+means a spirit. But in the process of time asura, like dæmon, came
+to have a sinister meaning: the gods were called suras, the demons
+asuras, and these were said to contend together. But in Persia the
+asuras--demonised in India--retained their divinity, and gave the name
+ahura to the supreme deity, Ormuzd (Ahura-mazda). On the other hand,
+as Mr. Muir supposes, Varenya, applied to evil spirits of darkness in
+the Zendavesta, is cognate with Varuna (Heaven); and the Vedic Indra,
+king of the gods--the Sun--is named in the Zoroastrian religion as
+one of the chief councillors of that Prince of Darkness.
+But in every country conquered by a new religion, there will always be
+found some, as we have seen, who will hold on to the old deity under
+all his changed fortunes. These will be called 'bigots,' but still they
+will adhere to the ancient belief and practise the old rites. Sometimes
+even after they have had to yield to the popular terminology, and call
+the old god a devil, they will find some reason for continuing the
+transmitted forms. It is probable that to this cause was originally
+due the religions which have been developed into what is now termed
+Devil-worship. The distinct and avowed worship of the evil Power in
+preference to the good is a rather startling phenomenon when presented
+baldly; as, for example, in a prayer of the Madagascans to Nyang,
+author of evil, quoted by Dr. Réville:--'O Zamhor! to thee we offer no
+prayers. The good god needs no asking. But we must pray to Nyang. Nyang
+must be appeased. O Nyang, bad and strong spirit, let not the thunder
+roar over our heads! Tell the sea to keep within its bounds! Spare,
+O Nyang, the ripening fruit, and dry not up the blossoming rice! Let
+not our women bring forth children on the accursed days. Thou reignest,
+and this thou knowest, over the wicked; and great is their number,
+O Nyang. Torment not, then, any longer the good folk!' 
+This is natural, and suggestive of the criminal under sentence of
+death, who, when asked if he was not afraid to meet his God, replied,
+'Not in the least; it's that other party I'm afraid of.' Yet it
+is hardly doubtful that the worship of Nyang began in an era when
+he was by no means considered morally baser than Zamhor. How the
+theory of Dualism, when attained, might produce the phenomenon
+called Devil-worship, is illustrated in the case of the Yezedis, now
+so notorious for that species of religion. Their theory is usually
+supposed to be entirely represented by the expression uttered by one
+of them, 'Will not Satan, then, reward the poor Izedis, who alone have
+never spoken ill of him, and have suffered so much for him?' But these words are significant, no doubt, of the underlying fact:
+they 'have never spoken ill of' the Satan they worship. The Mussulman
+calls the Yezedi a Satan-worshipper only as the early Zoroastrian held
+the worshipper of a deva to be the same. The chief object of worship
+among the Yezedis is the figure of the bird Taous, a half-mythical
+peacock. Professor King of Cambridge traces the Taous of this Assyrian
+sect to the "sacred bird called a phoenix," whose picture, as seen
+by Herodotus (ii. 73) in Egypt, is described by him as 'very like an
+eagle in outline and in size, but with plumage partly gold-coloured,
+partly crimson,' and which was said to return to Heliopolis every
+five hundred years, there to burn itself on the altar of the Sun,
+that another might rise from its ashes. [19] Now the name Yezedis
+is simply Izeds, genii; and we are thus pointed to Arabia, where we
+find the belief in genii is strongest, and also associated with the
+mythical bird Rokh of its folklore. There we find Mohammed rebuking
+the popular belief in a certain bird called Hamâh, which was said to
+take form from the blood near the brain of a dead person and fly away,
+to return, however, at the end of every hundred years to visit that
+person's sepulchre. But this is by no means Devil-worship, nor can we
+find any trace of that in the most sacred scripture of the Yezedis,
+the 'Eulogy of Sheikh Adi.' This Sheikh inherited from his father,
+Moosafir, the sanctity of an incarnation of the divine essence,
+of which he (Adi) speaks as 'the All-merciful.'
+By his light he hath lighted the lamp of the morning.
+I am he that placed Adam in my Paradise.
+I am he that made Nimrod a hot burning fire.
+I am he that guided Ahmet mine elect,
+I gifted him with my way and guidance.
+Mine are all existences together,
+They are my gift and under my direction.
+I am he that possesseth all majesty,
+And beneficence and charity are from my grace,
+I am he that entereth the heart in my zeal;
+And I shine through the power of my awfulness and majesty.
+I am he to whom the lion of the desert came:
+I rebuked him and he became like stone.
+I am he to whom the serpent came,
+And by my will I made him like dust.
+I am he that shook the rock and made it tremble,
+And sweet water flowed therefrom from every side. 
+The reverence shown in these sacred sentences for Hebrew names and
+traditions--as of Adam in Paradise, Marah, and the smitten rock--and
+for Ahmet (Mohammed), appears to have had its only requital in the
+odious designation of the worshippers of Taous as Devil-worshippers,
+a label which the Yezedis perhaps accepted as the Wesleyans and
+Friends accepted such names as 'Methodist' and 'Quaker.'
+Mohammed has expiated the many deities he degraded to devils by being
+himself turned to an idol (mawmet), a term of contempt all the more
+popular for its resemblance to 'mummery.' Despite his denunciations
+of idolatry, it is certain that this earlier religion represented
+by the Yezedis has never been entirely suppressed even among his own
+followers. In Dr. Leitner's interesting collection there is a lamp,
+which he obtained from a mosque, made in the shape of a peacock,
+and this is but one of many similar relics of primitive or alien
+symbolism found among the Mussulman tribes.
+The evolution of demons and devils out of deities was made real to
+the popular imagination in every country where the new religion found
+art existing, and by alliance with it was enabled to shape the ideas
+of the people. The theoretical degradation of deities of previously
+fair association could only be completed where they were presented to
+the eye in repulsive forms. It will readily occur to every one that a
+rationally conceived demon or devil would not be repulsive. If it were
+a demon that man wished to represent, mere euphemism would prevent its
+being rendered odious. The main characteristic of a demon--that which
+distinguishes it from a devil--is, as we have seen, that it has a real
+and human-like motive for whatever evil it causes. If it afflict or
+consume man, it is not from mere malignancy, but because impelled by
+the pangs of hunger, lust, or other suffering, like the famished wolf
+or shark. And if sacrifices of food were offered to satisfy its need,
+equally we might expect that no unnecessary insult would be offered in
+the attempt to portray it. But if it were a devil--a being actuated
+by simple malevolence--one of its essential functions, temptation,
+would be destroyed by hideousness. For the work of seduction we might
+expect a devil to wear the form of an angel of light, but by no means
+to approach his intended victim in any horrible shape, such as would
+repel every mortal. The great representations of evil, whether imagined
+by the speculative or the religious sense, have never been, originally,
+ugly. The gods might be described as falling swiftly like lightning
+out of heaven, but in the popular imagination they retained for a long
+time much of their splendour. The very ingenuity with which they were
+afterwards invested with ugliness in religious art, attests that there
+were certain popular sentiments about them which had to be distinctly
+reversed. It was because they were thought beautiful that they must be
+painted ugly; it was because they were--even among converts to the new
+religion--still secretly believed to be kind and helpful, that there
+was employed such elaboration of hideous designs to deform them. The
+pictorial representations of demons and devils will come under a more
+detailed examination hereafter: it is for the present sufficient to
+point out that the traditional blackness or ugliness of demons and
+devils, as now thought of, by no means militates against the fact
+that they were once the popular deities. The contrast, for instance,
+between the horrible physiognomy given to Satan in ordinary christian
+art, and the theological representation of him as the Tempter, is
+obvious. Had the design of Art been to represent the theological
+theory, Satan would have been portrayed in a fascinating form. But
+the design was not that; it was to arouse horror and antipathy for
+the native deities to which the ignorant clung tenaciously. It was
+to train children to think of the still secretly-worshipped idols
+as frightful and bestial beings. It is important, therefore, that we
+should guard against confusing the speculative or moral attempts of
+mankind to personify pain and evil with the ugly and brutal demons and
+devils of artificial superstition, oftenest pictured on church walls.
+Sometimes they are set to support water-spouts, often the brackets
+that hold their foes, the saints. It is a very ancient device. Our
+figure 2 is from the handle of a chalice in possession of Sir James
+Hooker, meant probably to hold the holy water of Ganges.  These are
+not genuine demons or devils, but carefully caricatured deities. Who
+that looks upon the grinning bestial forms carved about the roof of any
+old church--as those on Melrose Abbey and York Cathedral [21]--which,
+there is reason to believe, represent the primitive deities driven from
+the interior by potency of holy water, and chained to the uncongenial
+service of supporting the roof-gutter--can see in these gargoyles
+(Fr. gargouille, dragon), anything but carved imprecations? Was it
+to such ugly beings, guardians of their streams, hills, and forests,
+that our ancestors consecrated the holly and mistletoe, or with such
+that they associated their flowers, fruits, and homes? They were
+caricatures inspired by missionaries, made to repel and disgust, as
+the images of saints beside them were carved in beauty to attract. If
+the pagans had been the artists, the good looks would have been on
+the other side. And indeed there was an art of which those pagans
+were the unconscious possessors, through which the true characters of
+the imaginary beings they adored have been transmitted to us. In the
+fables of their folklore we find the Fairies that represent the spirit
+of the gods and goddesses to which they are easily traceable. That
+goddess who in christian times was pictured as a hag riding on a
+broom-stick was Frigga, the Earth-mother, associated with the first
+sacred affections clustering around the hearth; or Freya, whose very
+name was consecrated in frau, woman and wife. The mantle of Bertha did
+not cover more tenderness when it fell to the shoulders of Mary. The
+German child's name for the pre-christian Madonna was Mother Rose:
+distaff in hand, she watched over the industrious at their household
+work: she hovered near the cottage, perhaps to find there some weeping
+Cinderella and give her beauty for ashes.
+CLASSIFICATION.
+The obstructions of man--The twelve chief classes--Modifications
+of particular forms for various functions--Theological demons.
+The statements made concerning the fair names of the chief demons
+and devils which have haunted the imagination of mankind, heighten
+the contrast between their celestial origin and the functions
+attributed to them in their degraded forms. The theory of Dualism,
+representing a necessary stage in the mental development of every
+race, called for a supply of demons, and the supply came from the
+innumerable dethroned, outlawed, and fallen deities and angels which
+had followed the subjugation of races and their religions. But though
+their celestial origin might linger around them in some slight legend
+or characteristic as well as in their names, the evil phenomenon to
+which each was attached as an explanation assigned the real form and
+work with which he or she was associated in popular superstition. We
+therefore find in the demons in which men have believed a complete
+catalogue of the obstacles with which they have had to contend in the
+long struggle for existence. In the devils we discover equally the
+history of the moral and religious struggles through which priesthoods
+and churches have had to pass. And the relative extent of this or
+that particular class of demons or devils, and the intensity of
+belief in any class as shown in the number of survivals from it,
+will be found to reflect pretty faithfully the degree to which the
+special evil represented by it afflicted primitive man, as attested
+by other branches of pre-historic investigation.
+As to function, the demons we shall have to consider are those
+representing--1. Hunger; 2. Excessive Heat; 3. Excessive Cold;
+4. Destructive elements and physical convulsions; 5. Destructive
+animals; 6. Human enemies; 7. The Barrenness of the Earth, as rock and
+desert; 8. Obstacles, as the river or mountain; 9. Illusion, seductive,
+invisible, and mysterious agents, causing delusions; 10. Darkness
+(especially when unusual), Dreams, Nightmare; 11. Disease; 12. Death.
+These classes are selected, in obedience to necessary limitations,
+as representing the twelve chief labours of man which have given
+shape to the majority of his haunting demons, as distinguished from
+his devils. Of course all classifications of this character must be
+understood as made for convenience, and the divisions are not to be
+too sharply taken. What Plotinus said of the gods, that each contained
+all the rest, is equally true of both demons and devils. The demons
+of Hunger are closely related to the demons of Fire: Agni devoured
+his parents (two sticks consumed by the flame they produce); and
+from them we pass easily to elemental demons, like the lightning,
+or demons of fever. And similarly we find a relationship between
+other destructive forces. Nevertheless, the distinctions drawn are
+not fanciful, but exist in clear and unmistakable beliefs as to the
+special dispositions and employments of demons; and as we are not
+engaged in dealing with natural phenomena, but with superstitions
+concerning them, the only necessity of this classification is that
+it shall not be arbitrary, but shall really simplify the immense mass
+of facts which the student of Demonology has to encounter.
+But there are several points which require especial attention as
+preliminary to a consideration of these various classes of demons.
+First, it is to be borne in mind that a single demonic form will often
+appear in various functions, and that these must not be confused. The
+serpent may represent the lightning, or the coil of the whirlwind, or
+fatal venom; the earthquake may represent a swallowing Hunger-demon,
+or the rage of a chained giant. The separate functions must not be
+lost sight of because sometimes traceable to a single form, nor their
+practical character suffer disguise through their fair euphemistic
+or mythological names.
+Secondly, the same form appears repeatedly in a diabolic as well as
+a demonic function, and here a clear distinction must be maintained
+in the reader's mind. The distinction already taken between a demon
+and a devil is not arbitrary: the word demon is related to deity;
+the word devil, though sometimes connected with the Sanskrit deva,
+has really no relation to it, but has a bad sense as 'calumniator:'
+but even if there were no such etymological identity and difference,
+it would be necessary to distinguish such widely separate offices as
+those representing the afflictive forces of nature where attributed
+to humanly appreciable motives on the one hand, and evils ascribed to
+pure malignancy or a principle of evil on the other. The Devil may,
+indeed, represent a further evolution in the line on which the Demon
+has appeared; Ahriman the Bad in conflict with Ormuzd the Good may
+be a spiritualisation of the conflict between Light and Darkness, Sun
+and Cloud, as represented in the Vedic Indra and Vritra; but the two
+phases represent different classes of ideas, indeed different worlds,
+and the apprehension of both requires that they shall be carefully
+distinguished even when associated with the same forms and names.
+Thirdly, there is an important class of demons which the reader
+may expect to find fully treated of in the part of my work more
+particularly devoted to Demonology, which must be deferred, or further
+traced in that portion relating to the Devil; they are forms which in
+their original conception were largely beneficent, and have become of
+evil repute mainly through the anathema of theology. The chequer-board
+on which Osiris sat had its development in hosts of primitive shapes of
+light opposing shapes of darkness. The evil of some of these is ideal;
+others are morally amphibious: Teraphim, Lares, genii, were ancestors
+of the guardian angels and patron saints of the present day; they were
+oftenest in the shapes of dogs and cats and aged human ancestors,
+supposed to keep watch and ward about the house, like the friendly
+Domovoi respected in Russia; the evil disposition and harmfulness
+ascribed to them are partly natural but partly also theological,
+and due to the difficulty of superseding them with patron saints and
+angels. The degradation of beneficent beings, already described in
+relation to large demonic and diabolic forms, must be understood as
+constantly acting in the smallest details of household superstition,
+with what strange reaction and momentous result will appear when we
+come to consider the phenomena of Witchcraft.
+Finally, it must be remarked that the nature of our inquiry renders
+the consideration of the origin of myths--whether 'solar' or other--of
+secondary importance. Such origin it will be necessary to point out
+and discuss incidentally, but our main point will always be the forms
+in which the myths have become incarnate, and their modifications
+in various places and times, these being the result of those actual
+experiences with which Demonology is chiefly concerned. A myth, as
+many able writers have pointed out, is, in its origin, an explanation
+by the uncivilised mind of some natural phenomenon--not an allegory,
+not an esoteric conceit. For this reason it possesses fluidity, and
+takes on manifold shapes. The apparent sleep of the sun in winter
+may be represented in a vast range of myths, from the Seven Sleepers
+to the Man in the Moon of our nursery rhyme; but the variations all
+have relation to facts and circumstances. Comparative Mythology is
+mainly concerned with the one thread running through them, and binding
+them all to the original myth; the task of Demonology is rather to
+discover the agencies which have given their several shapes. If it be
+shown that Orthros and Cerberus were primarily the morning and evening
+twilight or howling winds, either interpretation is here secondary to
+their personification as dogs. Demonology would ask, Why dogs? why
+not bulls? Its answer in each case detaches from the anterior myth
+its mode, and shows this as the determining force of further myths.
+PART II.
+THE DEMON.
+HUNGER.
+Hunger-demons--Kephn--Miru--Kagura--Ráhu the Hindu
+sun-devourer--The earth monster at Pelsall--A Franconian
+custom--Sheitan as moon-devourer--Hindu offerings to the
+dead--Ghoul--Goblin--Vampyres--Leanness of demons--Old Scotch
+custom.--The origin of sacrifices.
+In every part of the earth man's first struggle was for his daily
+food. With only a rude implement of stone or bone he had to get fish
+from the sea, bird from the air, beast from the forest. For ages,
+with such poor equipment, he had to wring a precarious livelihood from
+nature. He saw, too, every living form around him similarly trying to
+satisfy its hunger. There seemed to be a Spirit of Hunger abroad. And,
+at the same time, there was such a resistance to man's satisfaction
+of his need--the bird and fish so hard to get, the stingy earth so
+ready to give him a stone when he asked for bread--that he came to the
+conclusion that there must be invisible voracious beings who wanted all
+good things for themselves. So the ancient world was haunted by a vast
+brood of Hunger-demons. There is an African tribe, the Karens, whose
+representation of the Devil (Kephn) is a huge stomach floating through
+the air; and this repulsive image may be regarded as the type of nearly
+half the demons which have haunted the human imagination. This, too,
+is the terrible Miru, with her daughters and slave, haunting the South
+Sea Islander. 'The esoteric doctrine of the priests was, that souls
+leave the body ere breath has quite gone, and travel to the edge of
+a cliff facing the setting sun (Ra). A large wave now approaches the
+base of the cliff, and a gigantic bua tree, covered with fragrant
+blossoms, springs up from Avaiki (nether world) to receive on its
+far-reaching branches human spirits, who are mysteriously impelled to
+cluster on its limbs. When at length the mystic tree is covered with
+human spirits, it goes down with its living freight to the nether
+world. Akaanga, the slave of fearful Miru, mistress of the invisible
+world, infallibly catches all these unhappy spirits in his net and
+laves them to and fro in a lake. In these waters the captive ghosts
+exhaust themselves by wriggling about like fishes, in the vain hope of
+escape. The net is pulled up, and the half-drowned spirits enter into
+the presence of dread Miru, who is ugliness personified. The secret
+of Miru's power over her intended victims is the 'kava' root (Piper
+mythisticum). A bowl of this drink is prepared for each visitor to the
+shades by her four lovely daughters. Stupefied with the draught, the
+unresisting victims are borne off to a mighty oven and cooked. Miru,
+her peerless daughters, her dance-loving son, and the attendants,
+subsist exclusively on human spirits decoyed to the nether world
+and then cooked. The drinking-cups of Miru are the skulls of her
+victims. She is called in song 'Miru-the-ruddy,' because her cheeks
+ever glow with the heat of the oven where her captives are cooked. As
+the surest way to Miru's oven is to die a natural death, one need not
+marvel that the Rev. Mr. Gill, who made these statements before the
+Anthropological Institute in London (February 8, 1876), had heard
+'many anecdotes of aged warriors, scarcely able to hold a spear,
+insisting on being led to the field of battle in the hope of gaining
+the house of the brave.' As the South Sea paradise seems to consist
+in an eternal war-dance, or, in one island, in an eternal chewing
+of sugar-cane, it is not unlikely that the aged seek violent death
+chiefly to avoid the oven. We have here a remarkable illustration of
+the distinguishing characteristic of the demon. Fearful as Miru is,
+it may be noted that there is not one gratuitous element of cruelty
+in her procedure. On the contrary, she even provides her victims
+with an anæsthetic draught. Her prey is simply netted, washed, and
+cooked, as for man are his animal inferiors. In one of the islands
+(Aitutaki), Miru is believed to resort to a device which is certainly
+terrible--namely, the contrivance that each soul entering the nether
+world shall drink a bowl of living centipedes; but this is simply
+with the one end in view of appeasing her own pangs of hunger, for
+the object and effect of the draught is to cause the souls to drown
+themselves, it being apparently only after entire death that they
+can be cooked and devoured by Miru and her household.
+Fortunately for the islanders, Miru is limited in her tortures to
+a transmundane sphere, and room is left for many a slip between
+her dreadful cup and the human lip. The floating stomach Kephn is,
+however, not other-worldly. We see, however, a softened form of him
+in some other tribes. The Greenlanders, Finns, Laps, conceived the
+idea that there is a large paunch-demon which people could invoke to
+go and suck the cows or consume the herds of their enemies; and the
+Icelanders have a superstition that some people can construct such a
+demon out of bones and skins, and send him forth to transmute the milk
+or flesh of cattle into a supply of flesh and blood. A form of this
+kind is represented in the Japanese Kagura (figure 3), the favourite
+mask of January dancers and drum-beaters seeking money. The Kagura
+is in precise contrast with the Pretas (Siam), which, though twelve
+miles in height, are too thin to be seen, their mouths being so small
+as to render it impossible to satisfy their fearful hunger.
+The pot-bellies given to demons in Travancore and other districts
+of India, and the blood-sacrifices by which the natives propitiate
+them--concerning which a missionary naively remarks, that even these
+heathen recognise, though in corrupted form, 'the great truth that
+without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins' [22]--refer
+to the Hunger-demon. They are the brood of Kali, girt round with
+human skulls.
+The expedition which went out to India to observe the last solar
+eclipse was incidentally the means of calling attention to a
+remarkable survival of the Hunger-demon in connection with astronomic
+phenomena. While the English observers were arranging their apparatus,
+the natives prepared a pile of brushwood, and, so soon as the eclipse
+began, they set fire to this pile and began to shout and yell as they
+danced around it. Not less significant were the popular observances
+generally. There was a semi-holiday in honour of the eclipse. The
+ghauts were crowded with pious worshippers. No Hindu, it is thought,
+ought to do any work whatever during an eclipse, and there was a
+general tendency to prolong the holiday a little beyond the exact
+time when the shadow disappears, and indeed to prolong it throughout
+the day. All earthenware vessels used for cooking were broken, and all
+cooked food in the houses at the time of the eclipse was thrown out. It
+is regarded as a time of peculiar blessings if taken in the right way,
+and of dread consequences to persons inclined to heterodoxy or neglect
+of the proper observances. Between nine and ten in the evening two
+shocks of an earthquake occurred, the latter a rather unpleasant one,
+shaking the tables and doors in an uncomfortable fashion for several
+seconds. To the natives it was no surprise--they believe firmly in
+the connection of eclipses and earthquakes. 
+Especially notable is the breaking of their culinary utensils by
+the Hindus during an eclipse. In Copenhagen there is a collection
+of the votive weapons of ancient Norsemen, every one broken as it
+was offered up to the god of their victory in token of good faith,
+lest they should be suspected of any intention to use again what they
+had given away. For the same reason the cup was offered--broken--with
+the libation. The Northman felt himself in the presence of the Jötunn
+(giants), whose name Grimm identifies as the Eaters. For the Hindu of
+to-day the ceremonies appropriate at an eclipse, however important,
+have probably as little rational meaning as the occasional Belfire
+that lights up certain dark corners of Europe has for those who build
+it. But the traditional observances have come up from the childhood
+of the world, when the eclipse represented a demon devouring the sun,
+who was to have his attention called by outcries and prayers to the
+fact that if it was fire he needed there was plenty on earth; and if
+food, he might have all in their houses, provided he would consent
+to satisfy his appetite with articles of food less important than
+the luminaries of heaven.
+Such is the shape now taken in India of the ancient myth of the
+eclipse. When at the churning of the ocean to find the nectar of
+immortality, a demon with dragon-tail was tasting that nectar, the sun
+and moon told on him, but not until his head had become immortal; and
+it is this head of Ráhu which seeks now to devour the informers--the
+Sun and Moon. [24] Mythologically, too, this Ráhu has been divided;
+for we shall hereafter trace the dragon-tail of him to the garden of
+Eden and in the christian devil, whereas in India he has been improved
+from a vindictive to a merely voracious demon.
+The fires kindled by the Hindus to frighten Ráhu on his latest
+appearance might have defeated the purpose of the expedition by the
+smoke it was sending up, had not two officers leaped upon the fire
+and scattered its fuel; but just about the time when these courageous
+gentlemen were trampling out the fires of superstition whose smoke
+would obscure the vision of science, an event occurred in England
+which must be traced to the same ancient belief--the belief, namely,
+that when anything is apparently swallowed up, as the sun and moon
+by an eclipse, or a village by earthquake or flood, it is the work
+of a hungry dragon, earthworm, or other monster. The Pelsall mine
+was flooded, and a large number of miners drowned. When the accident
+became known in the village, the women went out with the families of
+the unfortunate men, and sat beside the mouth of the flooded pit,
+at the bottom of which the dead bodies yet remained. These women
+then yelled down the pit with voices very different from ordinary
+lamentation. They also refused unanimously to taste food of any kind,
+saying, when pressed to do so, that so long as they could refrain from
+eating, their husbands might still be spared to them. When, finally,
+one poor woman, driven by the pangs of hunger, was observed to eat a
+crust of bread, the cries ceased, and the women, renouncing all hope,
+proceeded in silent procession to their homes in Pelsall.
+The Hindu people casting their food out of the window during
+an eclipse, the Pelsall wives refusing to eat when the mine is
+flooded, are acting by force of immemorial tradition, and so are
+doing unconsciously what the African woman does consciously when she
+surrounds the bed of her sick husband with rice and meat, and beseeches
+the demon to devour them instead of the man. To the same class of
+notions belong the old custom of trying to discover the body of one
+drowned by means of a loaf of bread with a candle stuck in it, which
+it was said would pause above the body, and the body might be made to
+appear by firing a gun over it--that is, the demon holding it would be
+frightened off. A variant, too, is the Persian custom of protecting a
+woman in parturition by spreading a table, with a lamp at each corner,
+with seven kinds of fruits and seven different aromatic seeds upon it.
+In 1769, when Pennant made his 'Scottish Tour,' he found fully
+observed in the Highlands the ceremony of making the Beltane Cake on
+the first of May, and dedicating its distributed fragments to birds
+and beasts of prey, with invocation to the dread being of whom they
+were the supposed agents to spare the herds. Demons especially love
+milk: the Lambton Worm required nine cows' milk daily; and Jerome
+mentions a diabolical baby which exhausted six nurses.
+The Devil nominally inherits, among the peasantry of Christendom, the
+attributes of the demons which preceded him; but it must be understood
+that in every case where mere voracity is ascribed to the Devil, a
+primitive demon is meant, and of this fact the superstitious peasant
+is dimly conscious. In Franconia, when a baker is about to put dough
+biscuits into an oven to be baked, he will first throw half-a-dozen of
+them into the fire, saying, 'There, poor devil! those are for you.' If
+pressed for an explanation, he will admit his fear that but for this
+offering his biscuits are in danger of coming out burnt; but that the
+'poor devil' is not bad-hearted, only driven by his hunger to make
+mischief. The being he fears is, therefore, clearly not the Devil at
+all--whose distinction is a love of wickedness for its own sake--but
+the half-starved gobbling ghosts of whom, in Christian countries,
+'Devil' has become the generic name. Of their sacrifices, Grace before
+meat is a remnant. In Moslem countries, however, 'Sheitan' combines the
+demonic and the malignant voracities. During the late lunar eclipse,
+the inhabitants of Pera and Constantinople fired guns over their houses
+to drive 'Sheitan' (Satan) away from the moon, for, whoever the foe,
+the Turk trusts in gunpowder. But superstitions representing Satan
+as a devourer are becoming rare. In the church of Nôtre Dame at Hal,
+Belgium, the lectern shows a dragon attempting to swallow the Bible,
+which is supported on the back of an eagle.
+There is another and much more formidable form in which the
+Hunger-demon appears in Demonology. The fondness for blood, so
+characteristic of supreme gods, was distributed as a special thirst
+through a large class of demons. In the legend of Ishtar descending
+to Hades [25] to seek some beloved one, she threatens if the door be
+not opened--
+I will raise the dead to be devourers of the living!
+Upon the living shall the dead prey!
+This menace shows that the Chaldæan and Babylonian belief in the
+vampyre, called Akhkharu in Assyrian, was fully developed at a very
+early date. Although the Hunger-demon was very fully developed in
+India, it does not appear to have been at any time so cannibalistic,
+possibly because the natives were not great flesh-eaters. In some
+cases, indeed, we meet with the vampyre superstition; as in the story
+of Vikram and the Vampyre, and in the Tamil drama of Harichándra,
+where the frenzied Sandramáti says to the king, 'I belong to the
+race of elves, and I have killed thy child in order that I might
+feed on its delicate flesh.' Such expressions are rare enough to
+warrant suspicion of their being importations. The Vetala's appetite
+is chiefly for corpses. The poor hungry demons of India--such as the
+Bhút, a dismal, ravenous ghost, dreaded at the moon-wane of the month
+Katik (Oct.-Nov.)--was not supposed to devour man, but only man's
+food. The Hindu demons of this class may be explained by reference
+to the sráddha, or oblation to ancestors, concerning which we read
+directions in the Manu Code. 'The ancestors of men are satisfied a
+whole month with tila, rice, &c.; two months with fish, &c. The Manes
+say, Oh, may that man be born in our line who may give us milky food,
+with honey and pure butter, both on the thirteenth of the moon and
+when the shadow of an elephant falls to the east!' The bloodthirsty
+demons of India have pretty generally been caught up like Kali into
+a higher symbolism, and their voracity systematised and satisfied in
+sacrificial commutations. The popular belief in the southern part of
+that country is indicated by Professor Monier Williams, in a letter
+written from Southern India, wherein he remarks that the devils alone
+require propitiation. It is generally a simple procedure, performed
+by offerings of food or other articles supposed to be acceptable
+to disembodied beings. For example, when a certain European, once a
+terror to the district in which he lived, died in the South of India,
+the natives were in the constant habit of depositing brandy and cigars
+on his tomb to propitiate his spirit, supposed to roam about the
+neighbourhood in a restless manner, and with evil proclivities. The
+very same was done to secure the good offices of the philanthropic
+spirit of a great European sportsman, who, when he was alive, delivered
+his district from the ravages of tigers. Indeed all evil spirits
+are thought to be opposed by good ones, who, if duly propitiated,
+make it their business to guard the inhabitants of particular places
+from demonic intruders. Each district, and even every village, has
+its guardian genius, often called its Mother. 
+Such ideas as these are represented in Europe in some varieties of
+the Kobold and the Goblin (Gk. kobalos). Though the goblin must,
+according to folk-philosophy, be fed with nice food, it is not
+a deadly being; on the contrary, it is said the Gobelin tapestry
+derives its name because the secret of its colours was gained from
+these ghosts. Though St. Taurin expelled one from Evreux, he found
+it so polite that he would not send it to hell, and it still haunts
+the credulous there and at Caen, without being thought very formidable.
+The demon that 'lurks in graveyards' is universal, and may have
+suggested cremation. In the East it is represented mainly by such forms
+as the repulsive ghoul, which preys on dead bodies; but it has been
+developed in some strange way to the Slavonic phantom called Vampyre,
+whose peculiar fearfulness is that it represents the form in which
+any deceased person may reappear, not ghoul-like to batten on the
+dead, but to suck the blood of the living. This is perhaps the most
+formidable survival of demonic superstition now existing in the world.
+A people who still have in their dictionary such a word as 'miscreant'
+(misbeliever) can hardly wonder that the priests of the Eastern
+Church fostered the popular belief that heretics at death changed
+into drinkers of the blood of the living. The Slavonic vampyres have
+declined in England and America to be the 'Ogres,' who 'smell the blood
+of an Englishman,' but are rarely supposed to enjoy it; but it exposes
+the real ugliness of the pious superstitions sometimes deemed pretty,
+that, in proportion to the intensity of belief in supernaturalism,
+the people live in terror of the demons that go about seeking whom
+they may devour. In Russia the watcher beside a corpse is armed with
+holy charms against attack from it at midnight. A vampyre may be the
+soul of any outcast from the Church, or one over whose corpse, before
+burial, a cat has leaped or a bird flown. It may be discovered in a
+graveyard by leading a black colt through; the animal will refuse to
+tread on the vampyre's grave, and the body is taken out and a stake
+driven through it, always by a single blow. A related class of demons
+are the 'heart-devourers.' They touch their victim with an aspen or
+other magical twig; the heart falls out, and is, perhaps, replaced
+by some baser one. Mr. Ralston mentions a Mazovian story in which a
+hero awakes with the heart of a hare, and remains a coward ever after;
+[27] and in another case a quiet peasant received a cock's heart and
+was always crowing. The Werewolf, in some respects closely related
+to the vampyre, also pursues his ravages among the priest-ridden
+peasantry of the South and East.
+In Germany, though the more horrible forms of the superstition are
+rare, the 'Nachzehrer' is much dreaded. Even in various Protestant
+regions it is thought safest that a cross should be set beside every
+grave to impede any demonic propensities that may take possession
+of the person interred; and where food is not still buried with the
+corpse to assuage any pangs of hunger that may arise, a few grains
+of corn or rice are scattered upon it in reminiscence of the old
+custom. In Diesdorf it is believed that if money is not placed in the
+dead person's mouth at burial, or his name not cut from his shirt, he
+is likely to become a Nachzehrer, and that the ghost will come forth
+in the form of a pig. It is considered a sure preventative of such
+a result to break the neck of the dead body. On one occasion, it is
+there related, several persons of one family having died, the suspected
+corpse was exhumed, and found to have eaten up its own grave-clothes.
+Dr. Dyer, an eminent physician of Chicago, Illinois, told me (1875)
+that a case occurred in that city within his personal knowledge,
+where the body of a woman who had died of consumption was taken out of
+the grave and the lungs burned, under a belief that she was drawing
+after her into the grave some of her surviving relatives. In 1874,
+according to the Providence Journal, in the village of Peacedale, Rhode
+Island, U.S., Mr. William Rose dug up the body of his own daughter,
+and burned her heart, under the belief that she was wasting away the
+lives of other members of his family.
+The characteristics of modern 'Spiritualism' appear to indicate
+that the superstitious have outgrown this ancient fear of ghostly
+malevolence where surrounded by civilisation. It is very rare in the
+ancient world or in barbarous regions to find any invocations for the
+return of the spirits of the dead. Mr. Tylor has quoted a beautiful
+dirge used by the Ho tribe of India, beginning--
+We never scolded you, never wronged you;
+Come to us back!
+But generally funereal customs are very significant of the fear that
+spirits may return, and their dirges more in the vein of the Bodo
+of North-East India: 'Take and eat: heretofore you have eaten and
+drunk with us, you can do so no more: you were one of us, you can be
+so no longer: we come no more to you, come you not to us.' 'Even,'
+says Mr. Tylor, 'in the lowest culture we find flesh holding its own
+against spirit, and at higher stages the householder rids himself with
+little scruple of an unwelcome inmate. The Greenlanders would carry
+the dead out by the window, not by the door, while an old woman,
+waving a firebrand behind, cried 'Piklerrukpok!' i.e., 'There is
+nothing more to be had here!' the Hottentots removed the dead from the
+hut by an opening broken out on purpose, to prevent him from finding
+the way back; the Siamese, with the same intention, break an opening
+through the house wall to carry the coffin through, and then hurry it
+at full speed thrice round the house; the Siberian Chuwashes fling a
+red-hot stone after the corpse is carried out, for an obstacle to bar
+the soul from coming back; so Brandenburg peasants pour out a pail of
+water at the door after the coffin to prevent the ghost from walking;
+and Pomeranian mourners returning from the churchyard leave behind
+the straw from the hearse, that the wandering soul may rest there,
+and not come back so far as home.' 
+It may be remarked, in this connection, that in nearly all the pictures
+of demons and devils, they are represented as very lean. The exceptions
+will be found generally in certain Southern and tropical demons which
+represent cloud or storm--Typhon, for instance--and present a swollen
+or bloated appearance. No Northern devil is fat. Shakespeare ascribes
+to Cæsar a suspicion of leanness--
+Yond' Cassius hath a lean and hungry look:
+He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
+When Antony defends Cassius, Cæsar only replies, 'Would he were
+fatter!' This mistrust of leanness is a reflection from all the
+Hunger-demons; it interprets the old sayings that a devil, however
+fair in front, may be detected by hollowness of the back, and that
+he is usually so thin as to cast no shadow. 
+Illustrations of the Hunger-demon and its survivals might be greatly
+multiplied, were it necessary. It need only, however, be mentioned that
+it is to this early and most universal conception of præternatural
+danger that the idea of sacrifice as well as of fasting must be
+ascribed. It is, indeed, too obvious to require extended demonstration
+that the notion of offering fruits and meat to an invisible being
+could only have originated in the belief that such being was hungry,
+however much the spiritualisation of such offerings may have attended
+their continuance among enlightened peoples. In the evolution of
+purer deities, Fire--'the devouring element'--was substituted for a
+coarser method of accepting sacrifices, and it became a sign of baser
+beings--such as the Assyrian Akhkharu, and the later Lamia--to consume
+dead bodies with their teeth; and this fire was the spiritual element
+in the idolatries whose objects were visible. But the original accent
+of sacrifice never left it. The Levitical Law says: 'The two kidneys,
+and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul
+above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And the
+priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering
+made by fire for a sweet savour: all the fat is the Lord's. It shall be
+a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings,
+that ye eat neither fat nor blood.' [30] We find the Hunger-demon
+shown as well in the wrath of Jehovah against the sons of Eli for
+eating the choice parts of the meats offered on his altar, as in that
+offering of tender infants to Moloch which his priests denounced,
+or in Saturn devouring his children, whom Aryan faith dethroned;
+and they all reappear as phantoms thinly veiled above the spotless
+Lamb offered up on Calvary, the sacrificed Macaria ('Blessed'), the
+pierced heart of Mary. The beautiful boy Menoeceus must be sacrificed
+to save Thebes; the gods will not have aged and tough Creon, though a
+king, in his place. Iphigenia, though herself saved from the refined
+palate of Artemis, through the huntress's fondness for kid's blood,
+becomes the priestess of human sacrifices. The human offering deemed
+half-divine could alone at last satisfy the Deity, gathered in his
+side this sheaf of sacrificial knives, whetted in many lands and
+ages, and in his self-sacrifice the Hunger-demon himself was made
+the victim. Theologians have been glad to rescue the First Person
+of their Trinity from association with the bloodthirsty demons of
+barbarous ages by describing the sacrifice of Jesus as God himself
+becoming the victim of an eternal law. But, whatever may be said of
+this complex device, it is sufficient evidence that man's primitive
+demon which personified his hunger has ended with being consumed on
+his own altar. For though fasting is a survival of the same savage
+notion that man may secure benefits from invisible beings by leaving
+them the food, it is a practice which survives rather through the
+desire of imitating ascetic saints than because of any understood
+principle. The strange yet natural consummation adds depth of meaning
+to the legend of Odin being himself sacrificed in his disguise on
+the Holy Tree at Upsala, where human victims were hung as offerings
+to him; and to his rune in the Havamal--
+I know that I hung
+On a wind-rocked tree
+Nine whole nights,
+With a spear wounded,
+And to Odin offered
+Myself to myself.
+HEAT.
+Demons of Fire--Agni--Asmodeus--Prometheus--Feast of fire--Moloch
+--Tophet--Genii of the lamp--Bel-fires--Hallowe'en--Negro
+superstitions--Chinese fire-god--Volcanic and incendiary demons--
+Mangaian fire-demon--Demons' fear of water.
+Fire was of old the element of fiends. No doubt this was in part due to
+the fact that it also was a devouring element. Sacrifices were burnt;
+the demon visibly consumed them. But the great flame-demons represent
+chiefly the destructive and painful action of intense heat. They
+originate in regions of burning desert, of sunstroke, and drouth.
+Agni, the Hindu god of fire, was adored in Vedic hymns as the twin
+of Indra.
+'Thy appearance is fair to behold, thou bright-faced Agni, when like
+gold thou shinest at hand; thy brightness comes like the lightning
+of heaven; thou showest splendour like the splendour of the bright sun.
+'Adorable and excellent Agni, emit the moving and graceful smoke.
+'The flames of Agni are luminous, powerful, fearful, and not to
+be trusted.
+'I extol the greatness of that showerer of rain, whom men celebrate
+as the slayer of Vritra: the Agni, Vaiswanara, slew the stealer of
+the waters.'
+The slaying of Vritra, the monster, being the chief exploit of Indra,
+Agni could only share in it as being the flame that darted with
+Indra's weapon, the disc (of the sun).
+'Thou (Agni) art laid hold off with difficulty, like the young of
+tortuously twining snakes, thou who art a consumer of many forests
+as a beast is of fodder.'
+Petrifaction awaits all these glowing metaphors of early time. Verbal
+inspiration will make Agni a literally tortuous serpent and consuming
+fire. His smoke, called Kali (black), is now the name of Siva's
+terrible bride.
+Much is said in Vedic hymns of the method of producing the sacred
+flame symbolising Agni; namely, the rubbing together of two sticks. 'He
+it is whom the two sticks have engendered, like a new-born babe.' It
+is a curious coincidence that a similar phrase should describe 'the
+devil on two sticks,' who has come by way of Persia into European
+romance. Asmodeus was a lame demon, and his 'two sticks' as 'Diable
+Boiteux' are crutches; but his lameness may be referable to the
+attenuated extremities suggested by spires of flame--'tortuously
+twining snakes,'--rather than to the rabbinical myth that he broke
+his leg on his way to meet Solomon. Benfey identified Asmodeus as
+Zend Aêshma-daêva, demon of lust. His goat-feet and fire-coal eyes
+are described by Le Sage, and the demon says he was lamed by falling
+from the air, like Vulcan, when contending with Pillardoc. It is not
+difficult to imagine how flame engendered by the rubbing of sticks
+might have attained personification as sensual passion, especially
+among Zoroastrians, who would detach from the adorable Fire all
+associations of evil. It would harmonise well with the Persian
+tendency to diabolise Indian gods, that they should note the lustful
+character occasionally ascribed to Agni in the Vedas. 'Him alone,
+the ever-youthful Agni, men groom like a horse in the evening and
+at dawn; they bed him as a stranger in his couch; the light of Agni,
+the worshipped male, is lighted.' Agni was the Indian 'Brulefer' or
+love-charmer, and patron of marriage; the fire-god Hephaistos was the
+husband of Aphrodite; the day of the Norse thunder-and-lightning god
+Thor (Thursday), is in Scandinavian regions considered the luckiest
+for marriages.
+The process of obtaining fire by friction is represented by a nobler
+class of myths than that referred to. In the Mahábhárata the gods
+and demons together churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality;
+and they use for their churning-stick the mountain Manthara. This word
+appears in pramantha, which means a fire-drill, and from it comes the
+great name of Prometheus, who stole fire from heaven, and conferred
+on mankind a boon which rendered them so powerful that the jealousy
+and wrath of Zeus were excited. This fable is generally read in its
+highly rationalised and mystical form, and on this account belongs to
+another part of our general subject; but it may be remarked here that
+the Titan so terribly tortured by Zeus could hardly have been regarded,
+originally, as the friend of man. At the time when Zeus was a god
+genuinely worshipped--when he first stood forth as the supplanter of
+the malign devourer Saturn--it could have been no friend of man who
+was seen chained on the rock for ever to be the vulture's prey. It
+was fire in some destructive form which must have been then associated
+with Prometheus, and not that power by which later myths represented
+his animating with a divine spark the man of clay. The Hindu myth
+of churning the ocean for the immortal draught, even if it be proved
+that the ocean is heaven and the draught lightning, does not help us
+much. The traditional association of Prometheus with the Arts might
+almost lead one to imagine that the early use of fire by some primitive
+inventor had brought upon him the wrath of his mates, and that Zeus'
+thunderbolts represented some early 'strike' against machinery.
+It is not quite certain that it may not have been through some
+euphemistic process that Fire-worship arose in Persia. Not only does
+fire occupy a prominent place in the tortures inflicted by Ahriman
+in the primitive Parsee Inferno, but it was one of the weapons by
+which he attempted to destroy the heavenly child Zoroaster. The evil
+magicians kindled a fire in the desert and threw the child on it;
+but his mother, Dogdo, found him sleeping tranquilly on the flames,
+which were as a pleasant bath, and his face shining like Zohore and
+Moschteri (Jupiter and Mercury). [31] The Zoroastrians also held
+that the earth would ultimately be destroyed by fire; its metals and
+minerals, ignited by a comet, would form streams which all souls would
+have to pass through: they would be pleasant to the righteous, but
+terrible to the sinful,--who, however, would come through, purified,
+into paradise, the last to arrive being Ahriman himself.
+The combustible nature of many minerals under the surface of the
+earth,--which was all the realm of Hades (invisible),--would assist
+the notion of a fiery abode for the infernal gods. Our phrase 'plutonic
+rock' would then have a very prosaic sense. Pliny says that in his time
+sulphur was used to keep off evil spirits, and it is not impossible
+that it first came to be used as a medicine by this route. 
+Fire-festivals still exist in India, where the ancient raiment of Agni
+has been divided up and distributed among many deities. At the popular
+annual festival in honour of Dharma Rajah, called the Feast of Fire,
+the devotees walk barefoot over a glowing fire extending forty feet. It
+lasts eighteen days, during which time those that make a vow to keep
+it must fast, abstain from women, lie on the bare ground, and walk
+on a brisk fire. The eighteenth day they assemble on the sound of
+instruments, their heads crowned with flowers, their bodies daubed
+with saffron, and follow the figures of Dharma Rajah and Draupadi
+his wife in procession. When they come to the fire, they stir it
+to animate its activity, and take a little of the ashes, with which
+they rub their foreheads; and when the gods have been carried three
+times round it they walk over a hot fire, about forty feet. Some
+carry their children in their arms, and others lances, sabres, and
+standards. After the ceremony the people press to collect the ashes
+to rub their foreheads with, and obtain from devotees the flowers
+with which they were adorned, and which they carefully preserve. 
+The passion of Agni reappears in Draupadi purified by fire for
+her five husbands, and especially her union with Dharma Rajah,
+son of Yama, is celebrated in this unorthodox passion-feast. It has
+been so much the fashion for travellers to look upon all 'idolatry'
+with biblical eyes, that we cannot feel certain with Sonnerat that
+there was anything more significant in the carrying of children by
+the devotees, than the supposition that what was good for the parent
+was equally beneficial to the child. But the identification of Moloch
+with an Aryan deity is not important; the Indian Feast of Fire and
+the rites of Moloch are derived by a very simple mental process
+from the most obvious aspects of the Sun as the quickening and the
+consuming power in nature. The child offered to Moloch was offered
+to the god by whom he was generated, and as the most precious of all
+the fruits of the earth for which his genial aid was implored and his
+destructive intensity deprecated. Moloch, a word that means 'king,'
+was a name almost synonymous with human sacrifice. It was in all
+probability at first only a local (Ammonite) personification growing
+out of an ancient shrine of Baal. The Midianite Baal accompanied the
+Israelites into the wilderness, and that worship was never thoroughly
+eradicated. In the Egyptian Confession of Faith, which the initiated
+took even into their graves inscribed upon a scroll, the name of
+God is not mentioned, but is expressed only by the words Nuk pu Nuk,
+'I am he who I am.' [34] The flames of the burning bush, from which
+these same words came to Moses, were kindled from Baal, the Sun;
+and we need not wonder that while the more enlightened chiefs of
+Israel preserved the higher ideas and symbols of the countries they
+abandoned, the ignorant would still cling to Apis (the Golden Calf),
+to Ashtaroth, and to Moloch. Amos (v. 26), and after him Stephen the
+martyr (Acts vii. 43), reproach the Hebrews with having carried into
+the wilderness the tabernacle of their god Moloch. And though the
+passing of children through the fire to Moloch was, by the Mosaic Law,
+made a capital crime, the superstition and the corresponding practice
+retained such strength that we find Solomon building a temple to Moloch
+on the Mount of Olives (1 Kings xi. 7), and, long after, Manasseh
+making his son pass through the fire in honour of the same god.
+It is certain from the denunciations of the prophets [35] that the
+destruction of children in these flames was actual. From Jeremiah
+xix. 6, as well as other sources, we know that the burnings took
+place in the Valley of Tophet or Hinnom (Gehenna). The idol Moloch
+was of brass, and its throne of brass; its head was that of a calf,
+and wore a royal crown; its stomach was a furnace, and when the
+children were placed in its arms they were consumed by the fierce
+heat,--their cries being drowned by the beating of drums; from which,
+toph meaning a 'drum,' the place was also called Tophet. In the fierce
+war waged against alien superstitions by Josiah, he defiled Gehenna,
+filling it with ordure and dead men's bones to make it odious, 'that
+no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire
+to Moloch' (2 Kings xxiii. 10), and a perpetual fire was kept there
+to consume the filth of Jerusalem.
+From this horrible Gehenna, with its perpetual fire, its loathsome
+worm, its cruelties, has been derived the picture of a never-ending
+Hell prepared for the majority of human beings by One who, while they
+live on earth, sends the rain and sunshine alike on the evil and the
+good. Wo Chang, a Chinaman in London, has written to a journal his surprise that our religious teachers should be seized with such
+concern for the victims of Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, while
+they are so calm in view of the millions burning, and destined to
+burn endlessly, in the flames of hell. Our Oriental brothers will
+learn a great deal from our missionaries; among other things, that
+the theological god of Christendom is still Moloch.
+The Ammonites, of whom Moloch was the special demon, appear to have
+gradually blended with the Arabians. These received from many sources
+their mongrel superstitions, but among them were always prominent
+the planet-gods and fire-gods, whom their growing monotheism (to use
+the word still in a loose sense) transformed to powerful angels and
+genii. The genii of Arabia are slaves of the lamp; they are evoked
+by burning tufts of hair; they ascend as clouds of smoke. Though, as
+subordinate agents of the Fire-fiend, they may be consumed by flames,
+yet those who so fight them are apt to suffer a like fate, as in the
+case of the Lady of Beauty in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Many
+stories of this kind preceded the declarations of the Old Testament,
+that Jehovah breathes fire and brimstone, his breath kindling Tophet;
+and also the passages of the Koran, and of the New Testament describing
+Satan as a fiery fiend.
+Various superstitions connecting infernal powers with fire survive
+among the Jews of some remote districts of Europe. The Passover
+is kept a week by the Jewish inhabitants in the villages on the
+Vosges mountains and on the banks of the Rhine. The time of omer is
+the interval between the Passover and Pentecost, the seven weeks
+elapsing from the departure from Egypt and the giving of the law,
+marked in former days by the offering of an omer of barley daily at
+the temple. It is considered a fearful time, during which every Jew is
+particularly exposed to the evil influence of evil spirits. There is
+something dangerous and fatal in the air; every one should be on the
+watch, and not tempt the schedim (demons) in any way. Have a strict
+eye upon your cattle, say the Jews, for the sorceress will get into
+your stables, mount your cows and goats, bring diseases upon them,
+and turn their milk sour. In the latter case, try to lay your hand
+upon the suspected person; shut her up in a room with a basin of sour
+milk, and beat the milk with a hazel-wand, pronouncing God's name
+three times. Whilst you are doing this, the sorceress will make great
+lamentation, for the blows are falling upon her. Only stop when you see
+blue flames dancing on the surface of the milk, for then the charm is
+broken. If at nightfall a beggar comes to ask for a little charcoal to
+light his fire, be very careful not to give it, and do not let him go
+without drawing him three times by his coat-tail; and without losing
+time, throw some large handfuls of salt on the fire. In all of which
+we may trace traditions of parched wildernesses and fiery serpents,
+as well as of Abraham's long warfare with the Fire-worshippers, until,
+according to the tradition, he was thrown into the flames he refused
+to worship.
+It is probable that in all the popular superstitions which now
+connect devils and future punishments with fire are blended both the
+apotheosis and the degradation of demons. The first and most universal
+of deities being the Sun, whose earthly representative is fire, the
+student of Comparative Mythology has to pick his way very carefully
+in tracing by any ethnological path the innumerable superstitions of
+European folklore in which Fire-worship is apparently reflected. The
+collection of facts and records contained in a work so accessible to
+all who care to pursue the subject as that of Brand and his editors,
+[37] renders it unnecessary that I should go into the curious facts
+to any great extent here. The uniformity of the traditions by which
+the midsummer fires of Northern Europe have been called Baal-fires or
+Bel-fires warrant the belief that they are actually descended from
+the ancient rites of Baal, even apart from the notorious fact that
+they have so generally been accompanied by the superstition that
+it is a benefit to children to leap over or be passed through such
+fires. That this practice still survives in out-of-the way places of
+the British Empire appears from such communications as the following
+(from the Times), which are occasionally addressed to the London
+journals:--'Lerwick (Shetland), July 7, 1871.--Sir,--It may interest
+some of your readers to know that last night (being St. John's Eve,
+old style) I observed, within a mile or so of this town, seven bonfires
+blazing, in accordance with the immemorial custom of celebrating the
+Midsummer solstice. These fires were kindled on various heights around
+the ancient hamlet of Sound, and the children leaped over them, and
+'passed through the fire to Moloch,' just as their ancestors would
+have done a thousand years ago on the same heights, and their still
+remoter progenitors in Eastern lands many thousand years ago. This
+persistent adherence to mystic rites in this scientific epoch seems
+to me worth taking note of.--A. J.'
+To this may be added the following recent extract from a Scotch
+journal:--
+'Hallowe'en was celebrated at Balmoral Castle with unusual ceremony,
+in the presence of her Majesty, the Princess Beatrice, the ladies
+and gentlemen of the royal household, and a large gathering of the
+tenantry. The leading features of the celebration were a torchlight
+procession, the lighting of large bonfires, and the burning in effigy
+of witches and warlocks. Upwards of 150 torch-bearers assembled at
+the castle as dark set in, and separated into two parties, one band
+proceeding to Invergelder, and the other remaining at Balmoral. The
+torches were lighted at a quarter before six o'clock, and shortly
+after the Queen and Princess Beatrice drove to Invergelder, followed
+by the Balmoral party of torchbearers. The two parties then united
+and returned in procession to the front of Balmoral Castle, where
+refreshments were served to all, and dancing was engaged in round a
+huge bonfire. Suddenly there appeared from the rear of the Castle a
+grotesque apparition representing a witch with a train of followers
+dressed like sprites, who danced and gesticulated in all fashions. Then
+followed a warlock of demoniac shape, who was succeeded by another
+warlock drawing a car, on which was seated the figure of a witch,
+surrounded by other figures in the garb of demons. The unearthly
+visitors having marched several times round the burning pile,
+the principal figure was taken from the car and tossed into the
+flames amid the burning of blue lights and a display of crackers
+and fireworks. The health of her Majesty the Queen was then pledged,
+and drunk with Highland honours by the assembled hundreds. Dancing
+was then resumed, and was carried on till a late hour at night.'
+The Sixth Council of Constantinople (an. 680), by its sixty-fifth
+canon, forbids these fires in the following terms:--'Those bonefires
+that are kindled by certain people before their shops and houses,
+over which also they use ridiculously to leap, by a certain ancient
+custom, we command them from henceforth to cease. Whoever, therefore,
+shall do any such thing, if he be a clergyman, let him be deposed;
+if he be a layman, let him be excommunicated. For in the Fourth Book
+of the Kings it is thus written: And Manasseh built an altar to all
+the host of heaven, in the two courts of the Lord's house, and made
+his children to pass through the fire.' There is a charming naïveté
+in this denunciation. It is no longer doubtful that this 'bonefire'
+over which people leaped came from the same source as that Gehenna
+from which the Church derived the orthodox theory of hell, as we have
+already seen. When Shakespeare speaks (Macbeth) of 'the primrose way
+to the everlasting bonfire,' [38] he is, with his wonted felicity,
+assigning the flames of hell and the fires of Moloch and Baal their
+right archæological relation.
+In my boyhood I have often leaped over a bonfire in a part of the
+State of Virginia mainly settled by Scotch families, with whom
+probably the custom migrated thither. In the superstitions of the
+negroes of that and other Southern States fire plays a large part,
+but it is hardly possible now to determine whether they have drifted
+there from Africa or England. Sometimes there are queer coincidences
+between their notions and some of the early legends of Britain. Thus,
+the tradition of the shepherd guided by a distant fire to the entrance
+of King Arthur's subterranean hall, where a flame fed by no fuel
+coming through the floor reveals the slumbering monarch and his court,
+resembles somewhat stories I have heard from negroes of their being led
+by distant fires to lucky--others say unlucky--or at any rate enchanted
+spots. A negro belonging to my father told me that once, as he was
+walking on a country road, he saw a great fire in the distance; he
+supposed it must be a house on fire, and hastened towards it, meantime
+much puzzled, since he knew of no house in that direction. As he went
+on his way he turned into a small wood near which the fire seemed to
+be, but when he emerged, all he found was a single fire-coal burning
+in the path. There were no other traces whatever of fire, but just
+then a large dog leaped past him with a loud bark and disappeared.
+In a letter on 'Voudouism in Virginia,' which appeared in the New
+York Tribune, dated Richmond, September 17, 1875, occurs an account
+of a class of superstitions generally kept close from the whites,
+as I have always believed because of their purely African origin. As
+will be seen, fire represents an important element in the superstitious
+practices.
+'If an ignorant negro is smitten with a disease which he cannot
+comprehend, he often imagines himself the victim of witchcraft,
+and having no faith in 'white folks' physic' for such ailments,
+must apply to one of these quacks. A physician residing near this
+city was invited by such a one to witness his mode of procedure
+with a dropsical patient for whom the physician in question had
+occasionally charitably prescribed. Curiosity led him to attend the
+seance, having previously informed the quack that since the case was
+in such hands he relinquished all connection with it. On the coverlet
+of the bed on which the sick man lay was spread a quantity of bones,
+feathers, and other trash. The charlatan went through with a series of
+so-called conjurations, burned feathers, hair, and tiny fragments of
+wood in a charcoal furnace, and mumbled gibberish past the physician's
+comprehension. He then proceeded to rip open the pillows and bolsters,
+and took from them some queer conglomerations of feathers. These he
+said had caused all the trouble. Sprinkling a whitish powder over them,
+he burnt them in his furnace. A black offensive smoke was produced,
+and he announced triumphantly that the evil influence was destroyed
+and that the patient would surely get well. He died not many days
+later, believing, in common with all his friends and relatives, that
+the conjurations of the 'trick doctor' had failed to save him only
+because resorted to too late.'
+The following account of a spell from which his wife was rescued,
+was given me by a negro in Virginia:--
+'The wizard,' to quote the exact words of my informant, 'threw a stick
+on a chest; the stick bounded like a trapball three times; then he
+opened the chest, took out something looking like dust or clay, and
+put it into a cup with water over a fire; then he poured it over a
+board (after chopping it three times), which he then put up beneath
+the shingles of the house. Returning to the chest he took a piece of
+old chain, near the length of my hand, took a hoe and buried the chain
+near the sill of the door of my wife's house where she would pass;
+then he went away. I saw my wife coming and called to her not to pass,
+and to go for a hoe and dig up the place. She did this, and I took
+up the chain, which burned the ends of all my fingers clean off. The
+same night the conjuror came back: my wife took two half dollars and
+a quarter in silver and threw them on the ground before him. The man
+seemed as if he was shocked, and then offered her his hand, which
+she refused to take, as I had bid her not to let him touch her. He
+left and never came to the house again. The spell was broken.'
+I am convinced that this is a pure Voudou procedure, and it is
+interesting in several regards. The introduction of the chain may have
+been the result of the excitement of the time, for it was during the
+war when negroes were breaking their chains. The fire and water show
+how wide-spread in Africa is that double ordeal which, as we have
+seen, is well known in the kingdom of Dahomey. [39] But the mingling
+of 'something like dust' with the water held in a cup over the fire,
+is strongly suggestive of the Jewish method of preparing holy water,
+'the water of separation.' 'For an unclean person they shall take of
+the dust of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running
+water shall be put thereto in a vessel.' [40] The fiery element
+of the mixture was in this case imported with the ashes of the red
+heifer. As for this sacrifice of the red heifer itself [41] it was
+plainly the propitiation of a fiery demon. In Egypt red hair and red
+animals of all kinds were considered infernal, and all the details
+of this sacrifice show that the colour of this selected heifer was
+typical. The heifer was not a usual sacrifice: a red one was obviously
+by its colour marked for the genii of fire--the terrible Seven--and
+not to be denied them. Its blood was sprinkled seven times before the
+tabernacle, and the rest was utterly consumed--including the hide,
+which is particularly mentioned--and the ashes taken to make the
+'water of separation.' Calmet notes, in this connection, that the
+Apis of India was red-coloured.
+The following interesting story of the Chinese Fire-god was supplied
+to Mr. Dennys [42] by Mr. Playfair of H.M. Consulate, to whom it was
+related in Peking:--
+'The temples of the God of Fire are numerous in Peking, as is natural
+in a city built for the most part of very combustible materials. The
+idols representing the god are, with one exception, decked with red
+beards, typifying by their colour the element under his control. The
+exceptional god has a white beard, and 'thereby hangs a tale.'
+'A hundred years ago the Chinese imperial revenue was in much
+better case than it is now. At that time they had not yet come into
+collision with Western Powers, and the word 'indemnity' had not,
+so far, found a place in their vocabulary; internal rebellions were
+checked as soon as they broke out, and, in one word, Kien Lung was in
+less embarrassed circumstances than Kwang Hsu; he had more money to
+spend, and did lay out a good deal in the way of palaces. His favourite
+building, and one on which no expense had been spared, was the 'Hall of
+Contemplation.' This hall was of very large dimensions; the rafters and
+the pillars which supported the roof were of a size such as no trees
+in China furnish now-a-days. They were not improbably originally sent
+as an offering by the tributary monarch of some tropical country, such
+as Burmah or Siam. Two men could barely join hands round the pillars;
+they were cased in lustrous jet-black lacquer, which, while adding to
+the beauty of their appearance, was also supposed to make them less
+liable to combustion. Indeed, every care was taken that no fire should
+approach the building; no lighted lamp was allowed in the precincts,
+and to have smoked a pipe inside those walls would have been punished
+with death. The floor of the hall was of different-coloured marbles,
+in a mosaic of flowers and mystic Chinese characters, always kept
+polished like a mirror. The sides of the room were lined with rare
+books and precious manuscripts. It was, in short, the finest palace
+in the imperial city, and it was the pride of Kien Lung.
+'Alas for the vanity of human wishes! In spite of every precaution,
+one night a fire broke out, and the Hall of Contemplation was in
+danger. The Chinese of a century ago were not without fire-engines,
+and though miserably inefficient as compared with those of our London
+fire brigade, they were better than nothing, and a hundred of them
+were soon working round the burning building. The Emperor himself
+came out to superintend their efforts and encourage them to renewed
+exertions. But the hall was doomed; a more than earthly power was
+directing the flames, and mortal efforts were of no avail. For on
+one of the burning rafters Kien Lung saw the figure of a little old
+man, with a long white beard, standing in a triumphant attitude. 'It
+is the God of Fire,' said the Emperor, 'we can do nothing;' so the
+building was allowed to blaze in peace. Next day Kien Lung appointed a
+commission to go the round of the Peking temples in order to discover
+in which of them there was a Fire-god with a white beard, that he
+might worship him, and appease the offended deity. The search was
+fruitless; all the Fire-gods had red beards. But the commission had
+done its work badly; being highly respectable mandarins of genteel
+families, they had confined their search to such temples as were
+in good repair and of creditable exterior. Outside the north gate
+of the imperial city was one old, dilapidated, disreputable shrine
+which they had overlooked. It had been crumbling away for years, and
+even the dread figure of the God of Fire, which sat above the altar,
+had not escaped desecration. 'Time had thinned his flowing locks,'
+and the beard had fallen away altogether. One day some water-carriers
+who frequented the locality thought, either in charity or by way
+of a joke, that the face would look the better for a new beard. So
+they unravelled some cord, and with the frayed-out hemp adorned the
+beardless chin. An official passing the temple one day peeped in out
+of curiosity, and saw the hempen beard. 'Just the thing the Emperor
+was inquiring about,' said he to himself, and he took the news to
+the palace without delay. Next day there was a state visit to the
+dilapidated temple, and Kien Lung made obeisance and vowed a vow.
+'O Fire-god,' said he, 'thou hast been wroth with me in that I have
+built me palaces, and left thy shrine unhonoured and in ruins. Here do
+I vow to build thee a temple surpassed by none other of the Fire-gods
+in Peking; but I shall expect thee in future not to meddle with
+my palaces.'
+'The Emperor was as good as his word. The new temple is on the site of
+the old one, and the Fire-god has a flowing beard of fine white hair.'
+In the San Francisco Bulletin, I recently read a description of the
+celebration by the Chinese in that city of their Feast for the Dead,
+in which there are some significant features. The chief attention
+was paid, says the reporter, to a figure 'representing what answers
+in their theology to our devil, and whom they evidently think it
+necessary to propitiate before proceeding with their worship over
+individual graves.' This figure is on the west side of their temple;
+before and around it candles and joss-sticks were kept burning. On
+the east side was the better-looking figure, to which they paid
+comparatively little attention.
+It was of course but natural that the demons of fire should
+gradually be dispelled from that element in its normal aspects, as
+its uses became more important through human invention, and its evil
+possibilities were mastered. Such demons became gradually located in
+the region of especially dangerous fires, as volcanoes and boiling
+springs. The Titan whom the ancients believed struggling beneath
+Ætna remained there as the Devil in the christian age. St. Agatha
+is said to have prevented his vomiting fire for a century by her
+prayers. St. Philip ascended the same mountain, and with book and
+candle pronounced a prayer of exorcism, at which three devils came
+out like fiery flying stones, crying, 'Woe is us! we are still hunted
+by Peter through Philip the Elder!' The volcanoes originated the
+belief that hell is at the earth's centre, and their busy Vulcans of
+classic ages have been easily transformed into sulphurous lords of
+the christian Hell. Such is the mediæval Haborym, demon of arson,
+with his three heads--man, cat, and serpent--who rides through the
+air mounted on a serpent, and bears in his hand a flaming torch. The
+astrologers assigned him command of twenty-six legions of demons in
+hell, and the superstitious often saw him laughing on the roofs of
+burning houses. [43] But still more dignified is Raum, who commands
+thirty legions, and who destroys villages; hence, also, concerned in
+the destructions of war, he became the demon who awards dignities;
+and although this made his usual form of apparition on the right bank
+of the Rhine that of the Odinistic raven, on the left bank he may be
+detected in the little red man who was reported as the familiar of
+Napoleon I. during his career.
+Among Mr. Gill's South Pacific myths is one of a Prometheus, Maui, who
+by assistance of a red pigeon gets from the subterranean fire-demon
+the secret of producing fire (by rubbing sticks), the demon (Mauike)
+being then consumed with his realm, and fire being brought to the
+upper world to remain the friend of man. In Vedic legend, when the
+world was enveloped in darkness, the gods prayed to Agni, who suddenly
+burst out as Tvashtri--pure fire, the Vedic Vulcan--to the dismay of
+the universe. In Eddaic sagas, Loki was deemed the most voracious of
+beings until defeated in an eating match with Logi (devouring fire).
+Survivals of belief in the fiery nature of demons are very
+numerous. Thus it is a very common belief that the Devil cannot touch
+or cross water, and may therefore be escaped by leaping a stream. This
+has sometimes been supposed to have something to do with the purifying
+character of water; but there are many instances in Christian folklore
+where the Devil is shown quite independent of even holy water if it
+is not sprinkled on him or does not wet his feet. Thus in the Norfolk
+legend concerning St. Godric, the Devil is said to have thrown the
+vessel with its holy water at the saint's head out of anger at his
+singing a canticle which the Virgin taught him. But when the Devil
+attacked him in various ferocious animal shapes, St. Godric escaped
+by running into the Wear, where he sometimes stood all night in water
+up to his neck.
+The Kobolds get the red jackets they are said to wear from their fiery
+nature. Originally the lar familiaris of Germany, the Kobold became
+of many varieties; but in one line he has been developed from the
+house-spirit, whose good or evil temper was recognised in the comforts
+or dangers of fire, to a special Stone-demon. The hell-dog in Faust's
+room takes refuge from the spell of 'Solomon's Key' behind the stone,
+and is there transformed to human shape. The German maidens read many
+pretty oracles in the behaviour of the fire, and the like in that of
+its fellow Wahrsager the house-dog. It is indeed a widespread notion
+that imps and witches lurk about the fireside, obviously in cat and
+dog, and ride through the air on implements that usually stand about
+the fire,--shovel, tongs, or broom. In Paris it was formerly the
+custom to throw twenty-four cats into the fire on St. John's night,
+the animals being, according to M. De Plancy, emblems of the devil. So
+was replaced the holocaust of human witches, until at last civilisation
+rang out its curfew for all such fires as that.
+COLD.
+Descent of Ishtar into Hades--Bardism--Baldur--Hercules--Christ
+--Survivals of the Frost Giant in Slavonic and other countries--
+The Clavie--The Frozen Hell--The Northern abode of demons--North
+side of churches.
+Even across immemorial generations it is impossible to read without
+emotion the legend of the Descent of Ishtar into Hades. [44] Through
+seven gates the goddess of Love passes in search of her beloved,
+and at each some of her ornaments and clothing are removed by the
+dread guardian. Ishtar enters naked into the presence of the Queen
+of Death. But gods, men, and herds languish in her absence, and the
+wonder-working Hea, the Saviour, so charms the Infernal Queen, that
+she bids the Judge of her realm, Annunak, absolve Ishtar from his
+golden throne.
+'He poured out for Ishtar the waters of life and let her go.
+Then the first gate let her forth, and restored to her the first
+garment of her body.
+The second gate let her forth, and restored to her the diamonds of
+her hands and feet.
+The third gate let her forth, and restored to her the central girdle
+of her waist.
+The fourth gate let her forth, and restored to her the small lovely
+gems of her forehead.
+The fifth gate let her forth, and restored to her the precious stones
+of her head.
+The sixth gate let her forth, and restored to her the earrings of
+her ears.
+The seventh gate let her forth, and restored to her the great crown
+on her head.'
+This old miracle-play of Nature--the return of summer flower by
+flower--is deciphered from an ancient Assyrian tablet in a town
+within only a few hours of another, where a circle of worshippers
+repeat the same at every solstice! Myfyr Morganwg, the Arch-Druid,
+adores still Hea by name as his Saviour, and at the winter solstice
+assembles his brethren to celebrate his coming to bruise the head
+of the Serpent of Hades (Annwn, nearly the same as in the tablet),
+that seedtime and harvest shall not fail. 
+Is this a survival? No doubt; but there is no cult in the world which,
+if 'scratched,' as the proverb says, will not reveal beneath it the
+same conception. However it may be spiritualised, every 'plan of
+salvation' is cast in the mould of Winter conquered by the Sun, the
+Descent of Love to the Under World, the delivery of the imprisoned
+germs of Life.
+It is very instructive to compare with the myth of Ishtar that of
+Hermödr, seeking the release of Baldur the Beautiful from Helheim.
+The deadly powers of Winter are represented in the Eddaic account
+of the death of Baldur, soft summer Light, the Norse Baal. His blind
+brother Hödr is Darkness; the demon who directed his arrow is Loki,
+subterranean fire; the arrow itself is of mistletoe, which, fostered by
+Winter, owes no duty to Baldur; and the realm to which he is borne is
+that of Hel, the frozen zone. Hermödr, having arrived, assured Hel that
+the gods were in despair for the loss of Baldur. The Queen replied that
+it should now be tried whether Baldur was so beloved. 'If, therefore,
+all things in the world, both living and lifeless, weep for him, he
+shall return to the Æsir.' In the end all wept but the old hag Thokk
+(Darkness), who from her cavern sang--
+Thokk will wail
+With dry eyes
+Baldur's bale-fire.
+Nought quick or dead
+For Carl's son care I.
+Let Hel hold her own.
+So Baldur remained in Helheim. The myth very closely resembles that
+of Ishtar's Descent. In similar accent the messenger of the Southern
+gods weeps and lacerates himself as he relates the grief of the
+upper world, and all men and animals 'since the time that mother
+Ishtar descended into Hades.' But in the latter the messenger is
+successful, in the North he is unsuccessful. In the corresponding
+myths of warm and sunny climes the effort at release is more or
+less successful, in proportion to the extent of winter. In Adonis
+released from Hades for four months every year, and another four if
+he chose to abandon Persephone for Aphrodite, we have a reflection of
+a variable year. That, and the similar myth of Persephone, varied in
+the time specified for their passing in the upper and under worlds,
+probably in accordance with the climatic averages of the regions in
+which they were told. But in the tropics it was easy to believe the
+release complete, as in the myth of Ishtar. In Mangaian myths the hero,
+Maui, escapes from a nether world of fire, aided by a red pigeon.
+When this contest between Winter's Death and Spring's Life became
+humanised, it was as Hercules vanquishing Death and completely
+releasing Alcestis. When it became spiritualised it was as Christ
+conquering Death and Hell, and releasing the spirits from prison. The
+wintry desolation had to be artificially imitated in a forty days' fast
+and Lent, closing with a thrust from the spear (the mistletoe arrow)
+amid darkness (blind Hödr). But the myth of a swift resurrection
+had to be artificially preserved in the far North. The legend of a
+full triumph over Death and Hell could never have originated among
+our Norse ancestors. Their only story resembling it, that of Iduna,
+related how her recovery from the Giants brought back health to the
+gods, not men. But it was from the South that men had to hear tidings
+of a rescue for the earth and man.
+We cannot realise now what glad tidings were they which told this new
+gospel to peoples sitting in regions of ice and gloom, after it had
+been imposed on them against their reluctant fears. In manifold forms
+the old combat was renewed in their festivals, and peoples who had
+long been prostrate and helpless before the terrible powers of nature
+were never weary of the Southern fables of heroic triumphs over them,
+long interpreted in the simple physical sense.
+The great Demon of the Northern World is still Winter, and the
+hereditary hatred of him is such that he is still cursed, scourged,
+killed, and buried or drowned under various names and disguises. In
+every Slavonic country, says Mr. Ralston, there are to be found,
+about carnival time, traces of ancient rites, intended to typify the
+death of Winter and the birth of Spring or Summer. In Poland a puppet
+made of hemp or straw is flung into a pond or swamp with the words,
+'The Devil take thee!' Then the participators in the deed scamper home,
+and if one of them stumbles and falls it is believed he will die within
+the year. In Upper Lausatia a similar figure is fastened on a pole to
+be pelted, then taken to the village boundary and thrown across it or
+cast into the water, its bearers returning with green boughs. Sometimes
+the figure is shrouded in white, representing snow, and bears in its
+hands a broom (the sweeping storm) and a sickle (the fatal reaper). In
+Russia the 'Straw Mujik' is burned, and also in Bulgaria; in the latter
+the bonfire is accompanied by the firing of guns, and by dances and
+songs to Lado, goddess of Spring. This reminiscence of Leto, on whose
+account Apollo slew the Python, is rendered yet more striking by the
+week of archery which accompanies it, recalling the sunbeam darts of
+the god. In Spain and Italy the demon puppet is scourged under the name
+of Judas, as indeed is the case in the annual Good Friday performance
+of Portuguese sailors in the London Docks. Mr. Tylor found in Mexico a
+similar custom, the Judas being a regular horned and hoofed devil. In
+Scotland the pre-christian accessories of a corresponding custom are
+more pronounced both in the time selected (the last day of the year,
+old style) and the place. 'The Clavie,' as the custom of burning the
+puppet of Winter is mysteriously called, occurred on January 12 of
+this year (1878) at Burghead, a fishing village near Forres, where
+stands an old Roman altar locally named the 'Douro.' A tar-barrel
+was set on fire and carried by a fisherman round the town, while the
+people shouted and hallooed. (If the man who carries the barrel falls
+it is an evil omen.) The lighted barrel, having gone round the town,
+was carried to the top of the hill and placed on the Douro. More fuel
+was added. The sparks as they fly upwards are supposed to be witches
+and evil spirits leaving the town; the people therefore shout at and
+curse them as they disappear in vacancy. When the burning tar-barrel
+falls in pieces, the fishwomen rush in and endeavour to get a lighted
+bit of wood from its remains; with this light the fire on the cottage
+hearth is at once kindled, and it is considered lucky to keep this
+flame alive all the rest of the year. The charcoal of the Clavie is
+collected and put in bits up the chimney to prevent the witches and
+evil spirits coming into the house. The Douro is covered with a thick
+layer of tar from the fires that are annually lighted upon it. Close
+to it is a very ancient Roman well.
+It is an instance of the irony of etymology that the word 'Hell'
+means a place of fireless darkness. Nor is the fact that the name of
+the Scandinavian demoness Hel, phonetically corresponding with Kali,
+'the Black One' (Goth. Halja), whose abode was an icy hole, has her
+name preserved as a place of fiery torment, without significance. In
+regions where cold was known to an uncomfortable extent as well
+as heat, we usually find it represented in the ideas of future
+punishment. The realm called Hades, meaning just the same as Hell,
+suggests cold. Tertullian and Jerome say that Christ's own phrases
+'outer darkness' and the 'gnashing (chattering) of teeth' suggest a
+place of extreme cold alternating with the excessive heat. Traces of
+similar speculations are found with the Rabbins. Thus Rabbi Joseph
+says Gehenna had both water and fire. Noah saw the angel of death
+approaching and hid from him twelve months. Why twelve? Because
+(explains Rabbi Jehuda) such is the trial of sinners,--six in water,
+six in fire. Dante (following Virgil) has frigid as well as burning
+hells; and the idea was refined by some scholiasts to a statement
+which would seem to make the alternations of future punishment amount
+to a severe ague and fever. Milton (Paradise Lost, ii.) has blended
+the rabbinical notions with those of Virgil (Æn. vi.) in his terrible
+picture of the frozen continent, where
+The parching air
+Burns frore, and cold performs th' effect of fire:
+Thither by harpy-footed Furies haled
+At certain revolutions all the damn'd
+Are brought; and feel by turns the bitter change
+Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
+From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
+Their soft etherial warmth, and there to pine
+Immovable, infix'd, and frozen round.
+With which may be compared Shakespeare's lines in 'Measure for
+Measure'--
+The de-lighted spirit
+To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
+In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice.
+In Thibet hell is believed to have sixteen circles, eight burning,
+eight frozen, which M. Delepierre attributes to the rapid changes of
+their climate between the extremes of heat and cold. [46] Plutarch,
+relating the vision of Thespesius in Hades, speaks of the frozen region
+there. Denys le Chartreux (De Poenis Inferni) says the severest of
+infernal torments is freezing. In the 'Kalendar of Shepherds' (1506)
+a legend runs:--'Lazarus sayde, 'I sawe a flode of frosone yce in
+the whiche envyous men and women were plonged unto the navyll, and
+then sodynly came a colde wynde ryght great that blewe and dyd depe
+downe all the envyous into the colde water that nothynge was seen of
+them.' Such, too, is Persian Ardá Viráf's vision.
+The Demon of Cold has a habitat, naturally, in every
+Northern region. He is the Ke-mung of China, who--man-shaped,
+dragon-headed--haunts the Chang river, and causes rain-storms. [47] In
+Greenland it is Erleursortok, who suffers perpetual agues, and leaps
+on souls at death to satisfy his hunger. The Chenoos (demons) of the
+Mimacs of Nova Scotia present certain features of the race-demons,
+but are fearfully cold. The Chenoo weapon is a dragon's horn, his
+yell is fatal to the hearer, his heart is a block of ice. This heart
+must be destroyed if the demon is to be slain, but it can only be
+done by melting in the fire: the chief precaution required is that
+one is not drowned in the flood so caused. The icy demon survived
+long in Scotland. Sir James Melville, in his 'Memoirs,' says 'the
+spirit or devil that helped the Scottish witches to raise a storm
+in the sea of Norway was cold as ice and his body hard as iron;
+his face was terrible, his nose like the beak of an eagle, great
+burning eyes, his hands and legs hairy, with claws on his nails like
+a griffin.' Dr. Fian was burnt for raising this demon to oppose James
+I. on his stormy passage from Denmark.
+This type of demon haunted people's minds in Scandinavia, where,
+though traditions of a flame demon (Loki) and the end of the world
+by fire were imported, the popular belief seems to have been mainly
+occupied with Frost giants, and the formidable Oegir, god of the
+bleak sea east winds, preserved in our word awe (Anglo-Saxon ege),
+and more directly in the name of our familiar demon, the Ogre,
+so often slain in the child's Gladsheim. Loki (fire) was, indeed,
+speedily relegated by the Æsir (gods) to a hidden subterraneous
+realm, where his existence could only be known by the earthquakes,
+geysers, and Hecla eruptions which he occasioned. Yet he was to come
+forth at Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods. We can see a singular
+blending of tropical and frigid zones--the one traditional, the other
+native--in the Prose Edda. Thus:--'What will remain,' said Gangler,
+'after heaven and earth and the whole universe shall be consumed,
+and after all the gods and the homes of Valhalla and all mankind
+shall have perished?' 'There will be many abodes,' replied Thridi,
+'some good, some bad. The best place of all to be in will be Gimil,
+in heaven; and all who delight in quaffing good drink will find a
+great store in the hall called Brimir, which is also in heaven in the
+region Okolni. There is also a fair hall of ruddy gold, (for) Sindri,
+which stands on the mountains of Nida. In those halls righteous and
+well-minded men shall abide. In Ná-strönd there is a vast and direful
+structure with doors that face the north. It is formed entirely of the
+backs of serpents, wattled together like wicker-work. But the serpents'
+heads are turned towards the inside of the hall, and continually vomit
+forth floods of venom, in which wade all those who commit murder or
+who forswear themselves. As it is said in the Völuspá:--
+She saw a hall
+Far from the sun
+In Náströnd standing,
+Northward the doors look,
+And venom-drops
+Fall in through loopholes.
+Formed is that hall
+Of wreathed serpents.
+There saw she wade
+Through heavy streams
+Men forsworn
+And murderers.
+These names for the heavenly regions and their occupants indicate
+sunshine and fire. Gimil means fire (gímr): Brimir (brími, flame),
+the giant, and Sindri (cinder), the dwarf, jeweller of the gods,
+are raised to halls of gold. Nothing is said of a garden, or walking
+therein 'in the cool of the day.' On the other hand, Ná-strönd means
+Strand of the Dead, in that region whose 'doors face the north, far
+from the sun,' we behold an inferno of extreme cold. Christianity
+has not availed to give the Icelanders any demonic name suggestive of
+fire. They speak of 'Skratti' (the roarer, perhaps our Old Scratch),
+and 'Kolski' (the coal black one), but promise nothing so luminous
+and comfortable as fire or fire-fiend to the evil-doer.
+In the great Epic of the Nibelungen Lied we have probably the shape
+in which the Northman's dream of Paradise finally cohered,--a
+Rose-garden in the South, guarded by a huge Worm (water-snake,
+or glittering glacial sea intervening), whose glowing charms, with
+Beauty (Chriemhild) for their queen, could be won only by a brave
+dragon-slaying Siegfried. In passing by the pretty lakeside home of
+Richard Wagner, on my way to witness the Ammergau version of another
+dragon-binding and paradise-regaining legend, I noted that the
+old name of the (Starnberg) lake was Wurmsee, from the dragon that
+once haunted it, while from the composer's window might be seen its
+'Isle of Roses,' which the dragon guarded. Since then the myth of
+many forms has had its musical apotheosis at Bayreuth under his wand.
+England, partly perhaps on account of its harsh climate, once had the
+reputation of being the chief abode of demons. A demoness leaving her
+lover on the Continent says, 'My mother is calling me in England.' But England assigned them still higher latitudes; in christianising
+Ireland, Iona, and other islands far north, it was preliminary to
+expel the demons. 'The Clavie,' the 'Deis-iuil' of Lewis and other
+Hebrides islands--fire carried round cattle to defend them from demons,
+and around mothers not yet churched, to keep the babes from being
+'changed'--show that the expulsion still goes on, though in such
+regions Norse and christian notions have become so jumbled that it is
+'fighting the devil with fire.' So in the Havamal men are warned to
+invoke 'fire for distempers;' and Gudrun sings--
+Raise, ye Jarls, an oaken pile;
+Let it under heaven the lightest be.
+May it burn a breast full of woes!
+The fire round my heart its sorrows melt.
+The last line is in contrast with the Hindu saying, 'the flame of
+her husband's pyre cools the widow's breast.'
+The characters of the Northern Heaven and Hell survive in the English
+custom of burying the dead on the southern side of a church. How widely
+this usage prevailed in Brand's time may be seen by reference to his
+chapter on churchyards. The north side of the graveyard was set apart
+for unbaptized infants and executed criminals, and it was permitted
+the people to dance or play tennis in that part. Dr. Lee says that in
+the churchyard at Morwenstow the southern portion only contains graves,
+the north part being untenanted; as the Cornish believe (following old
+traditions) that the north is the region of demons. In some parishes
+of Cornwall when a baptism occurs the north door of the nave opposite
+the font is thrown open, so that the devil cast out may retire to his
+own region, the north. [49] This accords with the saying in Martin's
+'Month's Mind'--ab aquilone omne malum.
+Indeed, it is not improbable that the fact noted by White, in his
+'History of Selborne,' that 'the usual approach to most country
+churches is by the south,' indicated a belief that the sacred edifice
+should turn its back on the region of demons. It is a singular instance
+of survival which has brought about the fact that people who listen
+devoutly to sermons describing the fiery character of Satan and his
+abode should surround the very churches in which those sermons are
+heard with evidences of their lingering faith that the devil belongs to
+the region of ice, and that their dead must be buried in the direction
+of the happy abodes of Brimir and Sindri,--Fire and Cinders!
+M. François Lenormant has written an extremely instructive chapter
+in comparison of the Accadian and the Finnish mythologies. He there
+shows that they are as one and the same tree, adapted to antagonistic
+climates. [50] With similar triad, runes, charms, and even names in
+some cases, their regard for the fire worshipped by both varies in a
+way that seems at first glance somewhat anomalous. The Accadians in
+their fire-worship exhausted the resources of praise in ascription of
+glory and power to the flames; the Finns in their cold home celebrated
+the fire festival at the winter solstice, uttered invocations over
+the fire, and the mother of the family, with her domestic libation,
+said: 'Always rise so high, O my flame, but burn not larger nor more
+ardent!' This diminution of enthusiasm in the Northern fire-worshipper,
+as compared with the Southern, may only be the result of euphemism in
+the latter; or perhaps while the formidable character of the fire-god
+among the primitive Assyrians is indicated in the utter prostration
+before him characteristic of their litanies and invocations, in the
+case of the Finns the perpetual presence of the more potent cold
+led to the less excessive adoration. These ventured to recognise the
+faults of fire.
+The true nature of this anomaly becomes visible when we consider
+that the great demon, dreaded by the two countries drawing their
+cult from a common source, represented the excess of the power most
+dreaded. The demon in each case was a wind; among the Finns the north
+wind, among the Accadians the south-west (the most fiery) wind. The
+Finnish demon was Hiisi, speeding on his pale horse through the air,
+with a terrible train of monster dogs, cats, furies, scattering pain,
+disease, and death. [51] The Accadian demon, of which the bronze image
+is in the Louvre, is the body of a dog, erect on eagle's feet, its arms
+pointed with lion's paws; it has the tail of a scorpion and the head of
+a skeleton, half stripped of flesh, preserving the eyes, and mounted
+with the horns of a goat. It has four outspread wings. On the back
+of this ingeniously horrible image is an inscription in the Accadian
+language, apprising us that it is the demon of the south-west wind,
+made to be placed at the door or window, to avert its hostile action.
+As we observe such figures as these on the one hand, and on the other
+the fair beings imagined to be antagonistic to them; as we note in
+runes and incantations how intensely the ancients felt themselves to
+be surrounded by these good and evil powers, and, reading nature so,
+learned to see in the seasons successively conquering and conquered
+by each other, and alternation of longer days and longer nights, the
+changing fortunes of a never-ending battle; we may better realise
+the meaning of solstitial festivals, the customs that gathered
+around Yuletide and New Year, and the manifold survivals from them
+which annually masquerade in Christian costume and names. To our
+sun-worshipping ancestor the new year meant the first faint advantage
+of the warmer time over winter, as nearly as he could fix it. The
+hovering of day between superiority of light and darkness is now named
+after doubting Thomas. At Yuletide the dawning victory of the sun is
+seen as a holy infant in a manger amid beasts of the stall. The old
+nature-worship has bequeathed to christian belief a close-fitting
+mantle. But the old idea of a war between the wintry and the warm
+powers still haunts the period of the New Year; and the twelve days
+and nights, once believed to be the period of a fiercely-contested
+battle between good and evil demons, are still regarded by many
+as a period for especial watchfulness and prayer. New Year's Eve,
+in the north of England still 'Hogmanay,'--probably O. N. höku-nött,
+midwinter-night, when the sacrifices of Thor were prepared,--formerly
+had many observances which reflected the belief that good and evil
+ghosts were contending for every man and woman: the air was believed
+to be swarming with them, and watch must be kept to see that the
+protecting fire did not go out in any household; that no strange man,
+woman, or animal approached,--possibly a demon in disguise. Sacred
+plants were set in doors and windows to prevent the entrance of any
+malevolent being from the multitudes filling the air. John Wesley,
+whose noble heart was allied with a mind strangely open to stories
+of hobgoblins, led the way of churches and sects back into this
+ancient atmosphere. Nevertheless, the rationalism of the age has
+influenced St. Wesley's Feast--Watchnight. It can hardly recognise
+its brother in the Boar's Head Banquet of Queen's College, Oxford,
+which celebrated victory over tusky winter, the decapitated demon
+whose bristles were once icicles fallen beneath the sylvan spirits
+of holly and rosemary. Yet what the Watchnight really signifies in
+the antiquarian sense is just that old culminating combat between the
+powers of fire and frost, once believed to determine human fates. In
+White Russia, on New Year's Day, when the annual elemental battle has
+been decided, the killed and wounded on one hand, and the fortunate
+on the other, are told by carrying from house to house the rich and
+the poor Kolyadas. These are two children, one dressed in fine attire,
+and crowned with a wreath of full ears of grain, the other ragged, and
+wearing a wreath of threshed straw. These having been closely covered,
+each householder is called in, and chooses one. If his choice chances
+upon the 'poor Kolyada,' the attending chorus chant a mournful strain,
+in which he is warned to expect a bad harvest, poverty, and perhaps
+death; if he selects the 'rich Kolyada,' a cheerful song is sung
+promising him harvest, health, and wealth.
+The natives of certain districts of Dardistan assign political and
+social significance to their Feast of Fire, which is celebrated in the
+month preceding winter, at new moon, just after their meat provision
+for the season is laid in to dry. Their legend is, that it was then
+their national hero slew their ancient tyrant and introduced good
+government. This legend, related elsewhere, is of a tyrant slain
+through the discovery that his heart was made of snow. He was slain
+by the warmth of torches. In the celebrations all the men of the
+villages go forth with torches, which they swing round their heads,
+and throw in the direction of Ghilgit, where the snow-hearted tyrant
+so long held his castle. When the husbands return home from their
+torch-throwing a little drama is rehearsed. The wives refuse them
+entrance till they have entreated, recounting the benefits they have
+brought them; after admission the husband affects sulkiness, and must
+be brought round with caresses to join in the banquet. The wife leads
+him forward with this song:--'Thou hast made me glad, thou favourite
+of the Rajah! Thou hast rejoiced me, oh bold horseman! I am pleased
+with thee who so well usest the gun and sword! Thou hast delighted
+me, oh thou invested with a mantle of honours! Oh great happiness,
+I will buy it by giving pleasure's price! Oh thou nourishment to us,
+heap of corn, store of ghee--delighted will I buy it all by giving
+pleasure's price!'
+ELEMENTS.
+A Scottish Munasa--Rudra--Siva's lightning eye--The flaming
+sword--Limping demons--Demons of the storm--Helios, Elias,
+Perun--Thor arrows--The Bob-tailed Dragon--Whirlwind--Japanese
+thunder god--Christian survivals--Jinni--Inundations--Noah--Nik,
+Nicholas, Old Nick--Nixies--Hydras--Demons of the
+Danube--Tides--Survivals in Russia and England.
+During some recent years curious advertisements have appeared in a
+journal of Edinburgh, calling for pious persons to occupy certain
+hours of the night with holy exercises. It would appear that they
+refer to a band of prayerful persons who provide that there shall
+be an unbroken round of prayers during every moment of the day and
+night. Their theory is, that it is the usual cessation of christian
+prayers at night which causes so many disasters. The devils being then
+less restrained, raise storms and all elemental perils. The praying
+circle, which hopes to bind these demons by an uninterrupted chain of
+prayers, originated, as I am informed, in the pious enthusiasm of a
+lady whose kindly solicitude in some pre-existent sister was no doubt
+personified in the Hindu Munasa, who, while all gods slept, sat in the
+shape of a serpent on a branch of Euphorbia to preserve mankind from
+the venom of snakes. It is to be feared, however, that it is hardly
+the wisdom of the serpent which is on prayerful watch at Edinburgh,
+but rather a vigilance of that perilous kind which was exercised by
+'Meggie o' the Shore,' anno 1785, as related by Hugh Miller. On a boisterous night, when two young girls had taken refuge in her
+cottage, they all heard about midnight cries of distress mingling
+with the roar of the sea, 'Raise the window curtain and look out,'
+said Meggie. The terrified girls did so, and said, 'There is a bright
+light in the middle of the Bay of Udall. It hangs over the water about
+the height of a ship's mast, and we can see something below it like
+a boat riding at anchor, with the white sea raging around her.' 'Now
+drop the curtain,' said Meggie; 'I am no stranger, my lasses, to
+sights and noises like these--sights and noises of another world;
+but I have been taught that God is nearer to me than any spirit can
+be; and so have learned not to be afraid.' Afterwards it is not
+wonderful that a Cromarty yawl was discovered to have foundered,
+and all on board to have been drowned; though Meggie's neighbours
+seemed to have preserved the legend after her faith, and made the
+scene described a premonition of what actually occurred. It was in
+a region where mariners when becalmed invoke the wind by whistling;
+and both the whistling and the praying, though their prospects in
+the future may be slender, have had a long career in the past.
+In the 'Rig-Veda' there is a remarkable hymn to Rudra (the Roarer),
+which may be properly quoted here:--
+1. Sire of the storm gods, let thy favour extend to us; shut us not
+out from the sight of the sun; may our hero be successful in the
+onslaught. O Rudra, may we wax mighty in our offspring.
+2. Through the assuaging remedies conferred by thee, O Rudra, may
+we reach a hundred winters; drive away far from us hatred, distress,
+and all-pervading diseases.
+3. Thou, O Rudra, art the most excellent of beings in glory, the
+strongest of the strong, O wielder of the bolt; bear us safely through
+evil to the further shore; ward off all the assaults of sin.
+4. May we not provoke thee to anger, O Rudra, by our adorations,
+neither through faultiness in praises, nor through wantonness in
+invocations; lift up our heroes by thy remedies; thou art, I hear,
+the chief physician among physicians.
+5. May I propitiate with hymns this Rudra who is worshipped with
+invocations and oblations; may the tender-hearted, easily-entreated,
+tawny-haired, beautiful-chinned god not deliver us up to the plotter
+of evil [literally, to the mind meditating 'I kill'].
+6. The bounteous giver, escorted by the storm-gods, hath gladdened
+me, his suppliant, with most invigorating food; as one distressed by
+heat seeketh the shade, may I, free from harm, find shelter in the
+good-will of Rudra.
+7. Where, O Rudra, is that gracious hand of thine, which is healing
+and comforting? Do thou, removing the evil which cometh from the gods,
+O bounteous giver, have mercy upon me.
+8. To the tawny, the fair-complexioned dispenser of bounties, I send
+forth a great and beautiful song of praise; adore the radiant god
+with prostrations; we hymn the illustrious name of Rudra.
+9. Sturdy-limbed, many-shaped, fierce, tawny, he hath decked himself
+with brilliant ornaments of gold; truly strength is inseparable from
+Rudra, the sovereign of this vast world.
+10. Worthy of worship, thou bearest the arrows and the bow; worthy of
+worship, thou wearest a resplendent necklace of many forms; worthy
+of worship, thou rulest over this immense universe; there is none,
+O Rudra, mightier than thou.
+11. Celebrate the renowned and ever-youthful god who is seated on a
+chariot, who is, like a wild beast, terrible, fierce, and destructive;
+have mercy upon the singer, O Rudra, when thou art praised; may thy
+hosts strike down another than us.
+12. As a boy saluteth his father who approacheth and speaketh to him,
+so, O Rudra, I greet thee, the giver of much, the lord of the good;
+grant us remedies when thou art praised.
+13. Your remedies, O storm-gods, which are pure and helping, O
+bounteous givers, which are joy-conferring, which our father Manu
+chose, these and the blessing and succour of Rudra I crave.
+14. May the dart of Rudra be turned aside from us, may the great
+malevolence of the flaming-god be averted; unbend thy strong bow
+from those who are liberal with their wealth; O generous god, have
+mercy upon our offspring and our posterity (i.e., our children and
+children's children).
+15. Thus, O tawny Rudra, wise giver of gifts, listen to our cry,
+give heed to us here, that thou mayest not be angry with us, O god,
+nor slay us; may we, rich in heroic sons, utter great praise at the
+sacrifice. 
+In other hymns the malevolent character of Rudra is made still more
+prominent:--
+7. Slay not our strong man nor our little child, neither him who
+is growing nor him who is grown, neither our father nor our mother;
+hurt not, O Rudra, our dear selves.
+8. Harm us not in our children and children's children, nor in our men,
+nor in our kine, nor in our horses. Smite not our heroes in thy wrath;
+we wait upon thee perpetually with offerings. 
+In this hymn (verse 1) Rudra is described as 'having braided hair;'
+and in the 'Yajur-veda' and the 'Atharva-veda' other attributes
+of Siva are ascribed to him, such as the epithet nîla-grîva, or
+blue-necked. In the 'Rig-veda' Siva occurs frequently as an epithet,
+and means auspicious. It was used as a euphemistic epithet to appease
+Rudra, the lord of tempests; and finally, the epithet developed into
+a distinct god.
+The parentage of Siva is further indicated in the legends that
+his glance destroyed the head of the youthful deity Ganesa,
+who now wears the elephant head, with which it was replaced; and
+that the gods persuaded him to keep his eyes perpetually winking
+(like sheet-lightning), lest his concentrated look (the thunderbolt)
+should reduce the universe to ashes. With the latter legend the gaze
+of the evil eye in India might naturally be associated, though in
+the majority of countries this was rather associated with the malign
+influences ascribed to certain planets, especially Saturn; the charms
+against the evil eye being marked over with zodiacal signs. The very
+myth of Siva's eye survives in the Russian demon Magarko ('Winker')
+and the Servian Vii, whose glance is said to have power to reduce men,
+and even cities, to ashes.
+The terrible Rudra is represented in a vast number of beliefs, some
+of them perhaps survivals; in the rough sea and east-wind demon Oegir
+of the northern world, and Typhon in the south; and in Luther's faith
+that 'devils do house in the dense black clouds, and send storms,
+hail, thunder and lightning, and poison the air with their infernal
+stench,' a doctrine which Burton, the Anatomist of Melancholy, too,
+maintained against the meteorologists of his time.
+Among the ancient Aryans lightning seems to have been the supreme type
+of divine destructiveness. Rudra's dart, Siva's eye, reappear with
+the Singhalese prince of demons Wessamonny, described as wielding a
+golden sword, which, when he is angry, flies out of his hand, to which
+it spontaneously returns, after cutting off a thousand heads. A wonderful spear was borne by Odin, and was possibly the original
+Excalibur. The four-faced Sviatevit of Russia, whose mantle has fallen
+to St. George, whose statue was found at Zbrucz in 1851, bore a horn
+of wine (rain) and a sword (lightning).
+In Greece similar swords were wielded by Zeus, and also by the
+god of war. Through Zeus and Ares, the original wielders of the
+lightning--Indra and Siva--became types of many gods and semi-divine
+heroes. The evil eye of Siva glared from the forehead of the Cyclopes,
+forgers of thunderbolts; and the saving disc of Indra flashed in the
+swords and arrows of famous dragon-slayers--Perseus, Pegasus, Hercules,
+and St. George. The same sword defended the Tree of Life in Eden,
+and was borne in the hand of Death on the Pale Horse (a white horse
+was sacrificed to Sviatevit in Russia within christian times). And,
+finally, we have the wonderful sword which obeys the command 'Heads
+off!' delighting all nurseries by the service it does to the King of
+the Golden Mountain.
+'I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven.' To the Greeks
+this falling of rebellious deities out of heaven accounted, as we
+have seen explained, for their lameness. But a universal phenomenon
+can alone account for the many demons with crooked or crippled legs
+(like 'Diable Boiteux') [56] all around the world. The Namaquas of
+South Africa have a 'deity' whose occupation it is to cause pain
+and death; his name is Tsui'knap, that is 'wounded knee.' Livingstone says of the Bakwains, another people of South Africa,
+'It is curious that in all their pretended dreams or visions of
+their god he has always a crooked leg, like the Egyptian Thau.' In Mainas, South America, they believe in a treacherous demon,
+Uchuella-chaqui, or Lame-foot, who in dark forests puts on a friendly
+shape to lure Indians to destruction; but the huntsmen say they can
+never be deceived if they examine this demon's foot-track, because
+of the unequal size of the two feet. [59] The native Australians
+believed in a demon named Biam; he is black and deformed in his lower
+extremities; they attributed to him many of their songs and dances,
+but also a sort of small-pox to which they were liable. [60] We have
+no evidence that these superstitions migrated from a common centre;
+and there can be little doubt that many of these crooked legs are
+traceable to the crooked lightning. [61] At the same time this is by
+no means inconsistent with what has been already said of the fall of
+Titans and angels from heaven as often accounting for their lameness
+in popular myths. But in such details it is hard to reach certainty,
+since so many of the facts bear a suspicious resemblance to each
+other. A wild boar with 'distorted legs' attacked St. Godric, and
+the temptation is strong to generalise on the story, but the legs
+probably mean only to certify that it was the devil.
+Dr. Schliemann has unearthed among his other treasures the remarkable
+fact that a temple of Helios (the sun) once stood near the site of
+the present Church of Elias, at Mycenæ, which has from time immemorial
+been the place to which people repair to pray for rain. [62] When the
+storm-breeding Sun was succeeded by the Prophet whose prayer evoked
+the cloud, even the name of the latter did not need to be changed. The
+discovery is the more interesting because it has always been a part
+of the christian folklore of that region that, when a storm with
+lightning occurs, it is 'Elias in his chariot of fire.' A similar
+phrase is used in some part of every Aryan country, with variation
+of the name: it is Woden, or King Waldemar, or the Grand Veneur,
+or sometimes God, who is said to be going forth in his chariot.
+These storm-demons in their chariots have their forerunner in Vata
+or Vayu, the subject of one of the most beautiful Vedic hymns. 'I
+celebrate the glory of Vata's chariot; its noise comes rending and
+resounding. Touching the sky he moves onward, making all things ruddy;
+and he comes propelling the dust of the earth.
+'Soul of the gods, source of the universe, this deity moves as he
+lists. His sounds have been heard, but his form is not seen; this
+Vata let us worship with an oblation.' 
+This last verse, as Mr. Muir has pointed out, bears a startling
+resemblance to the passage in John, 'The Wind bloweth where it listeth,
+and thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is
+every one that is born of the Wind.' 
+But an equally striking development of the Vedic idea is represented
+in the Siamese legend of Buddha, and in this case the Vedic Wind-god
+Vayu reappears by name for the Angels of Tempests, or Loka Phayu. The
+first portent which preceded the descent of Buddha from the Tushita
+heavens was 'when the Angels of the Tempest, clothed in red garments,
+and with streaming hair, travel among the abodes of mankind crying,
+'Attend all ye who are near to death; repent and be not heedless! The
+end of the world approaches, but one hundred thousand years more
+and it will be destroyed. Exert yourselves, then, exert yourselves
+to acquire merit. Above all things be charitable; abstain from doing
+evil; meditate with love to all beings, and listen to the teachings of
+holiness. For we are all in the mouth of the king of death. Strive then
+earnestly for meritorious fruits, and seek that which is good.' 
+Not less remarkable is the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel to 1 Kings
+xix., where around Elias on the mountain gather 'a host of angels of
+the wind, cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the
+Lord;' and after these, 'angels of commotion,' and next 'of fire,'
+and, finally, 'voices singing in silence' preceded the descent of
+Jehovah. It can hardly be wondered that a prophet of whom this story
+was told, and that of the storm evoked from a small cloud, should
+be caught up into that chariot of the Vedic Vayu which has rolled on
+through all the ages of mythology.
+Mythologic streams seem to keep their channels almost as steadfastly
+as rivers, but as even these change at last or blend, so do the old
+traditions. Thus we find that while Thor and Odin remain as separate
+in survivals as Vayu and Parjanya in India, in Russia Elias has
+inherited not the mantle of the wind-god or storm-breeding sun,
+but of the Slavonic Thunderer Perun. There is little doubt that
+this is Parjanya, described in the 'Rig-Veda' as 'the thunderer,
+the showerer, the bountiful,' [66] who 'strikes down trees' and 'the
+wicked.' 'The people of Novgorod,' says Herberstein, 'formerly offered
+their chief worship and adoration to a certain idol named Perun. When
+subsequently they received baptism they removed it from its place,
+and threw it into the river Volchov; and the story goes that it swam
+against the stream, and that near the bridge a voice was heard saying,
+'This for you, O inhabitants of Novgorod, in memory of me;' and at
+the same time a certain rope was thrown upon the bridge. Even now
+it happens from time to time on certain days of the year that this
+voice of Perun may be heard, and on these occasions the citizens run
+together and lash each other with ropes, and such a tumult arises
+therefrom that all the efforts of the governor can scarcely assuage
+it.' [67] The statue of Perun in Kief, says Mr. Ralston, had a trunk
+of wood, while the head was of silver, with moustaches of gold, and
+among its weapons was a mace. Afanasief states that in White-Russian
+traditions Perun is tall and well-shaped, with black hair and a long
+golden beard. This beard relates him to Barbarossa, and, perhaps,
+though distantly, with the wood-demon Barbatos, the Wild Archer,
+who divined by the songs of birds. [68] Perun also has a bow which is
+'sometimes identified with the rainbow, an idea which is known also to
+the Finns. From it, according to the White Russians, are shot burning
+arrows, which set on fire all things that they touch. In many parts of
+Russia (as well as of Germany) it is supposed that these bolts sink
+deep into the soil, but that at the end of three or seven years they
+return to the surface in the shape of longish stones of a black or dark
+grey colour--probably belemnites, or masses of fused sand--which are
+called thunderbolts, and considered as excellent preservations against
+lightning and conflagrations. The Finns call them Ukonkiwi--the stone
+of thunder-god Ukko, and in Courland their name is Perkuhnsteine, which
+explains itself. In some cases the flaming dart of Perun became, in the
+imagination of the people, a golden key. With it he unlocked the earth,
+and brought to light its concealed treasures, its restrained waters,
+its captive founts of light. With it also he locked away in safety
+fugitives who wished to be put out of the power of malignant conjurors,
+and performed various other good offices. Appeals to him to exercise
+these functions still exist in the spells used by the peasants,
+but his name has given way to that of some christian personage. In
+one of them, for instance, the Archangel Michael is called upon to
+secure the invoker behind an iron door fastened by twenty-seven locks,
+the keys of which are given to the angels to be carried to heaven. In
+another, John the Baptist is represented as standing upon a stone in
+the Holy Sea [i.e., in heaven], resting upon an iron crook or staff,
+and is called upon to stay the flow of blood from a wound, locking
+the invoker's veins 'with his heavenly key.' In this case the myth has
+passed into a rite. In order to stay a violent bleeding from the nose,
+a locked padlock is brought, and the blood is allowed to drop through
+its aperture, or the sufferer grasps a key in each hand, either plan
+being expected to prove efficacious. As far as the key is concerned,
+the belief seems to be still maintained among ourselves.' 
+The Key has a holy sense in various religions, and consequently an
+infernal key is its natural counterpart. The Vedic hymns, which say
+so much about the shutting and opening, imprisoning and releasing,
+of heavenly rains and earthly fruits by demons and deities, interpret
+many phenomena of nature, and the same ideas have arisen in many
+lands. We cannot be certain, therefore, that Calmet is right in
+assigning an Indian origin to the subjoined Figure 5, an ancient
+Persian medal. The signs of the zodiac on its body show it to be one
+of those celestial demons believed able to bind the beneficent or
+loose the formidable powers of nature. The Key is of especial import
+in Hebrew faith. It was the high-priest Eliakim's symbol of office,
+as being also prefect in the king's house. 'The key of the house of
+David will I lay upon his shoulder: he shall open and none shall shut;
+he shall shut and none shall open.' [70] The Rabbins had a saying
+that God reserves to himself four keys, which he will intrust not
+even to the angels: the key of rain, the key of the grave, the key of
+fruitfulness, and the key of barrenness. It was the sign of one set
+above angels when Christ was seen with the keys of Hell and Death,
+or when he delivered the keys of heaven to Peter, [71]--still thrust
+down the backs of protestant children to cure nose-bleed.
+The ubiquitous superstition which attributes the flint arrows of
+pre-historic races to gods, shot by them as lightning, and, as some
+said, from a rainbow, is too childlike a theory to call for elaborate
+treatment. We need not, ethnographically, connect our 'Thor arrows'
+and 'Elf shots' with the stones hurled at mortals by the Thunder-Duke
+(Lui-tsz) of China. The ancient Parthians, who used to reply to the
+thunderstorm by shooting arrows at it, and the Turks, who attack an
+eclipse with guns, fairly represent the infancy of the human race,
+though perhaps with more than its average pluck. Dr. Macgowan relates,
+concerning the Lei-chau (Thunder District) of China, various myths
+which resemble those which surround the world. After thunderstorms,
+black stones, it is believed, may be found which emit light and
+peculiar sounds on being struck. In a temple consecrated to the
+Thunder Duke the people annually place a drum for that stormy demon
+to beat. The drum was formerly left on a mountain-top with a little
+boy as a sacrifice. [72] Mr. Dennys [73] speaks of the belief in the
+same country that violent winds and typhoons are caused by the passage
+through the air of the 'Bob-tailed Dragon,' and also of the rain-god
+Yü-Shüh. A storm-god connected with the 'Eagre,' or bore of the river
+Tsien-tang, presents a coincidence of name with the Scandinavian
+Oegir, which would be hardly noticeable were it not for the very close
+resemblance between the folklore concerning the 'Bob-tailed Dragon'
+and the storm-dragons of several Aryan races. Generally, in both
+China and Japan the Dragon is regarded with a veneration equal to
+the horror with which the serpent is visited. Of this phenomenon and
+its analogies in Britain I shall have an explanation to submit when
+we come to consider Dragon-myths more particularly. To this general
+rule the 'Bob-tailed Dragon' of China is a partial exception. His
+fidelity as a friend led to the ill return of an attack by which his
+tail was amputated, and ever since his soured temper has shown itself
+in raising storms. When a violent tempest arises the Cantonese say,
+'The Bob-tailed Dragon is passing,' in the same proverbial way as the
+Aryan peasantries attribute the same phenomenon to their storm-gods.
+The notion is widely prevalent in some districts of France that
+all whirlwinds, however slight, are caused by wizards or witches,
+who are in them, careering through the air; and it is stated by the
+Melusine that in the department of the Orne storms are attributed
+to the clergy, who are supposed to be circling in them. The same
+excellent journal states that some years ago, in that department, a
+parishioner who saw his crops threatened by a hail-storm fired into
+the cloud. The next day he heard that the parish priest had broken
+his leg by a fall for which he could not account.
+The following examples are given by Kuhn. Near Stangenhagen is a
+treasure hid in a mountain which Lord von Thümen tried to seek,
+but was caught up with his horse by a whirlwind and deposited at
+home again. The Devil is believed to be seated at the centre of
+every whirlwind. At Biesenthal it is said a noble lady became the
+Wind's bride. She was in her time a famous rider and huntress, who
+rode recklessly over farmers' fields and gardens; now she is herself
+hunted by snakes and dragons, and may be heard howling in every storm.
+I suspect that the bristling hair so frequently portrayed in the
+Japanese Oni, Devils, refers to their frequent residence at the
+centre of a gale of wind. Their demon of the storm is generally
+pictured throned upon a flower of flames, his upraised and extended
+fingers emitting the most terrific lightnings, which fall upon his
+victims and envelop them in flames. Sometimes, however, the Japanese
+artists poke fun at their thunder-god, and show him sprawling on the
+ground from the recoil of his own lightnings. The following extract
+from The Christian Herald (London, April 12, 1877) will show how
+far the dread of this Japanese Oni extends: 'A pious father writes,
+'A few days ago there was a severe thunderstorm, which seemed to
+gather very heavily in the direction where my son lived; and I had
+a feeling that I must go and pray that he might be protected, and
+not be killed by the lightning. The impression seemed to say, 'There
+is no time to be lost.' I obeyed, and went and knelt down and prayed
+that the Lord would spare his life. I believe he heard my prayer. My
+son called on me afterwards, and, speaking of the shower, said,
+'The lightning came downwards and struck the very hoe in my hands,
+and numbed me.' I said, 'Perhaps you would have been killed if some
+one had not been praying for you.' Since then he has been converted,
+and, I trust, will be saved in God's everlasting kingdom.''
+Such paragraphs may now strike even many christians as 'survivals.' But
+it is not so very long since some eminent clergymen looked upon
+Benjamin Franklin as the heaven-defying Ajax of Christendom, because
+he undertook to show people how they might divert the lightnings
+from their habitations. In those days Franklin personally visited a
+church at Streatham, whose steeple had been struck by lightning, and,
+after observing the region, gave an opinion that if the steeple were
+again erected without a lightning-rod, it would again be struck. The
+audacious man who 'snatched sceptres from tyrants and lightnings
+from heaven,' as the proverb ran, was not listened to: the steeple
+was rebuilt, and again demolished by lightning.
+The supreme god of the Quichuas (American), Viracocha ('sea foam'),
+rises out of Lake Titicaca, and journeys with lightnings for
+all opposers, to disappear in the Western Ocean. The Quichua is
+mentally brother of the Arab camel-driver. 'The sea,' it is said
+in the 'Arabian Nights,'--'the sea became troubled before them, and
+there arose from it a black pillar, ascending towards the sky, and
+approaching the meadow,' and 'behold it was a Jinn [74] of gigantic
+stature.' The Jinn is sometimes helpful as it is formidable; it repays
+the fisherman who unseals it from the casket fished up from the sea,
+as fruitfulness comes out of the cloud no larger than a man's hand
+evoked by Elijah. The perilous Jinn described in the above extract is
+the waterspout. Waterspouts are attributed in China to the battles
+of dragons in the air, and the same country recognises a demon of
+high tides. The newest goddess in China is a canonised protectress
+against the shipwrecking storm-demons of the coast, an exaltation
+recently proclaimed by the Government of the empire in obedience,
+as the edict stated, to the belief prevailing among sailors. In this
+the Chinese are a long way behind the mariners and fishermen of the
+French coast, who have for centuries, by a pious philology, connected
+'Maria' with 'La Marée' and 'La Mer;' and whenever they have been
+saved from storms, bring their votive offerings to sea-side shrines
+of the Star of the Sea.
+The old Jewish theology, in its eagerness to claim for Jehovah the
+absolutism which would make him 'Lord of lords,' instituted his
+responsibility for many doubtful performances, the burthen of which
+is now escaped by the device of saying that he 'permitted' them. In
+this way the Elohim who brought on the Deluge have been identified
+with Jehovah. None the less must we see in the biblical account
+of the Flood the action of tempestuous water-demons. What power a
+christian would recognise in such an event were it related in the
+sacred books of another religion may be seen in the vision of the
+Apocalypse--'The Serpent cast out of his mouth a flood of water after
+the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away with the flood;
+and the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up
+the flood.' This Demon of Inundation meets the explorer of Egyptian
+and Accadian inscriptions at every turn. The terrible Seven, whom
+even the God of Fire cannot control, 'break down the banks of the
+Abyss of Waters.' [75] The God of the Tigris, Tourtak (Tartak of the
+Bible), is 'the great destroyer.' [76] Leviathan 'maketh the deep to
+boil like a pot:' 'when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid;
+by reason of breakings they purify themselves.' 
+In the Astronomical Tablets, which Professor Sayce dates about
+B.C. 1600, we have the continual association of eclipse and flood:
+'On the fifteenth day an eclipse takes place. The king dies; and rains
+in the heaven, floods in the channels are.' 'In the month of Elul
+(August), the fourteenth day, an eclipse takes place.... Northward
+... its shadow is seen; and to the King of Mullias a crown is
+given. To the king the crown is an omen; and over the king the eclipse
+passes. Rains in heaven, floods in the channels flow. A famine is
+in the country. Men their sons for silver sell.' 'After a year the
+Air-god inundates.' 
+In the Chaldæo-Babylonian cosmogony the three zones of the universe
+were ruled over by a Triad as follows: the Heaven by Anu; the surface
+of the earth, including the atmosphere, by Bel; the under-world by
+Nouah. [79] This same Nouah is the Assyrian Hea or Saviour; and it
+is Noah of the Bible. The name means a rest or residence,--the place
+where man may dwell. When Tiamat the Dragon, or the Leviathan, opens
+'the fountains of the great deep,' and Anu 'the windows of Heaven,'
+it is Hea or Noah who saves the life of man. M. François Lenormant
+has shown this to be the probable sense of one of the most ancient
+Accadian fragments in the British Museum. In it allusion is made
+to 'the serpent of seven heads ... that beats the sea.' [80] Hea,
+however, appears to be more clearly indicated in a fragment which
+Professor Sayce appends to this:--
+Below in the abyss the forceful multitudes may they sacrifice.
+The overwhelming fear of Anu in the midst of Heaven encircles his path.
+The spirits of earth, the mighty gods, withstand him not.
+The king like a lightning-flash opened.
+Adar, the striker of the fortresses of the rebel band, opened.
+Like the streams in the circle of heaven I besprinkled the seed of men.
+His marching in the fealty of Bel to the temple I directed,
+(He is) the hero of the gods, the protector of mankind, far (and)
+near....
+O my lord, life of Nebo (breathe thy inspiration), incline thine ear.
+O Adar, hero, crown of light, (breathe) thy inspiration, (incline)
+thine ear.
+The overwhelming fear of thee may the sea know....
+Thy setting (is) the herald of his rest from marching,
+In thy marching Merodach (is) at rest [81]....
+Thy father on his throne thou dost not smite.
+Bel on his throne thou dost not smite.
+The spirits of earth on their throne may he consume.
+May thy father into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
+May Bel into the hands of thy valour cause (them) to go forth.
+(The king, the proclaimed) of Anu, the firstborn of the gods.
+He that stands before Bel, the heart of the life of the House of the
+Beloved. The hero of the mountain (for those that) die in multitudes.... the
+one god, he will not urge. 
+In this primitive fragment we find the hero of the mountain (Noah),
+invoking both Bel and Nebo, aerial and infernal Intelligences, and Adar
+the Chaldæan Hercules, for their 'inspiration'--that breath which, in
+the biblical story, goes forth in the form of the Dove ('the herald
+of his rest' in the Accadian fragment), and in the 'wind' by which
+the waters were assuaged (in the fragment 'the spirits of the earth'
+which are given into the hand of the violent 'hero of the mountain,'
+whom alone the gods 'will not urge').
+The Hydra may be taken as a type of the destructive water-demon in a
+double sense, for its heads remain in many mythical forms. The Syrian
+Dagon and Atergatis, fish-deities, have bequeathed but their element
+to our Undines of romance. Some nymphs have so long been detached
+from aqueous associations as to have made their names puzzling, and
+their place in demonology more so. To the Nixy (nêchô) of Germany,
+now merely mischievous like the British Pixy, many philologists trace
+the common phrase for the Devil,--'Old Nick.' I believe, however,
+that this phrase owes its popularity to St. Nicholas rather than to
+the Norse water-god whose place he was assigned after the christian
+accession. This saintly Poseidon, who, from being the patron of
+fishermen, gradually became associated with that demon whom, Sir
+Walter Scott said, 'the British sailor feared when he feared nothing
+else,' was also of old the patron of pirates; and robbers were called
+'St. Nicholas' clerks.' [84] In Norway and the Netherlands the ancient
+belief in the demon Nikke was strong; he was a kind of Wild Huntsman
+of the Sea, and has left many legends, of which 'The Flying Dutchman'
+is one. But my belief is that, through his legendary relation to boys,
+St. Nicholas gave the name Old Nick its modern moral accent. Because
+of his reputation for having restored to life three murdered children
+St. Nicholas was made their patron, and on his day, December 6, it
+was the old custom to consecrate a Boy-Bishop, who held office until
+the 28th of the month. By this means he became the moral appendage
+of the old Wodan god of the Germanic races, who was believed in
+winter time to find shelter in and shower benefits from evergreens,
+especially firs, on his favourite children who happened to wander
+beneath them. 'Bartel,' 'Klaubauf,' or whatever he might be called, was
+reduced to be the servant of St. Nicholas, whose name is now jumbled
+into 'Santaclaus.' According to the old custom he appeared attended
+by his Knecht Klaubauf--personated by those who knew all about the
+children--bringing a sort of doomsday. The gifts having been bestowed
+on the good children, St. Nicholas then ordered Klaubauf to put the
+naughty ones into his pannier and carry them off for punishment. The
+terror and shrieks thus caused have created vast misery among children,
+and in Munich and some other places the authorities have very properly
+made such tragedies illegal. But for many centuries it was the custom
+of nurses and mothers to threaten refractory children with being
+carried off at the end of the year by Nicholas; and in this way
+each year closed, in the young apprehension, with a Judgment Day,
+a Weighing of Souls, and a Devil or Old Nick as agent of retribution.
+Nick has long since lost his aquatic character, and we find his name in
+the Far West (America) turning up as 'The Nick of the Woods,'--the wild
+legend of a settler who, following a vow of vengeance for his wrongs,
+used to kill the red men while they slept, and was supposed to be a
+demon. The Japanese have a water-dragon--Kappa--of a retributive and
+moral kind, whose office it is to swallow bad boys who go to swim
+in disobedience to their parents' commands, or at improper times
+and places. It is not improbable that such dangers to the young
+originated some of the water-demons,--probably such as are thought
+of as diminutive and mischievous,--e.g., Nixies. The Nixa was for a
+long time on the Baltic coast the female 'Old Nick,' and much feared
+by fishermen. Her malign disposition is represented in the Kelpie
+of Scotland,--a water-horse, believed to carry away the unwary by
+sudden floods to devour them. In Germany there was a river-goddess
+whose temple stood at Magdeburg, whence its name. A legend exists of
+her having appeared in the market there in christian costume, but she
+was detected by a continual dripping of water from the corner of her
+apron. In Germany the Nixies generally played the part of the naiads
+of ancient times. [85] In Russia similar beings, called Rusalkas,
+are much more formidable.
+In many regions of Christendom it is related that these demons,
+relatives of the Swan-maidens, considered in another chapter, have
+been converted into friendly or even pious creatures, and baptized
+into saintly names. Sometimes there are legends which reveal this
+transition. Thus it is related that in the year 1440, the dikes of
+Holland being broken down by a violent tempest, the sea overflowed
+the meadows; and some maidens of the town of Edam, in West Friesland,
+going in a boat to milk their cows, espied a mermaid embarrassed in
+the mud, the waters being very shallow. They took it into their boat
+and brought it to Edam, and dressed it in women's apparel, and taught
+it to spin. It ate as they did, but could not be brought to speak. It
+was carried to Haarlem, where it lived for some years, though showing
+an inclination to water. Parival, who tells the story, relates that
+they had conveyed to it some notions of the existence of a deity,
+and it made its reverences devoutly whenever it passed a crucifix.
+Another creature of the same species was in the year 1531 caught in
+the Baltic, and sent as a present to Sigismund, King of Poland. It
+was seen by all the persons about the court, but only lived three days.
+The Hydra--the torrent which, cut off in one direction, makes many
+headways in others--has its survivals in the many diabolical names
+assigned to boiling springs and to torrents that become dangerously
+swollen. In California the boiling springs called 'Devil's Tea-kettle'
+and 'Devil's Mush-pot' repeat the 'Devil's Punch-bowls' of Europe,
+and the innumerable Devil's Dikes and Ditches.  St. Gerard's Hill,
+near Pesth, on which the saint suffered martyrdom, is believed to be
+crowded with devils whenever an inundation threatens the city; they
+indulge in fiendish laughter, and play with the telescopes of the
+observatory, so that they who look through them afterwards see only
+devils' and witches' dances! [86] At Buda, across the river from Pesth,
+is the famous 'Devil's Ditch,' which the inhabitants use as a sewer
+while it is dry, making it a Gehenna to poison them with stenches,
+but which often becomes a devastating torrent when thaw comes on the
+Blocksberg. In 1874 the inhabitants vaulted it over to keep away the
+normal stench, but the Hydra-head so lopped off grew again, and in
+July 1875 swallowed up a hundred people. 
+The once perilous Strudel and Wirbel of the Danube are haunted by
+diabolical legends. From Dr. William Beattie's admirable work on
+'The Danube' I quote the following passages:--'After descending the
+Greinerschwall, or rapids of Grein above mentioned, the river rolls
+on for a considerable space, in a deep and almost tranquil volume,
+which, by contrast with the approaching turmoil, gives increased
+effect to its wild, stormy, and romantic features. At first a hollow,
+subdued roar, like that of distant thunder, strikes the ear and
+rouses the traveller's attention. This increases every second, and
+the stir and activity which now prevail among the hands on board show
+that additional force, vigilance, and caution are to be employed
+in the use of the helm and oars. The water is now changed in its
+colour--chafed into foam, and agitated like a seething cauldron. In
+front, and in the centre of the channel, rises an abrupt, isolated,
+and colossal rock, fringed with wood, and crested with a mouldering
+tower, on the summit of which is planted a lofty cross, to which in
+the moment of danger the ancient boatmen were wont to address their
+prayers for deliverance. The first sight of this used to create
+no little excitement and apprehension on board; the master ordered
+strict silence to be observed, the steersman grasped the helm with a
+firmer hand, the passengers moved aside, so as to leave free space
+for the boatmen, while the women and children were hurried into
+the cabin, there to await, with feelings of no little anxiety, the
+result of the enterprise. Every boatman, with his head uncovered,
+muttered a prayer to his patron saint; and away dashed the barge
+through the tumbling breakers, that seemed as if hurrying it on
+to inevitable destruction. All these preparations, joined by the
+wildness of the adjacent scenery, the terrific aspect of the rocks,
+and the tempestuous state of the water, were sufficient to produce a
+powerful sensation on the minds even of those who had been all their
+lives familiar with dangers; while the shadowy phantoms with which
+superstition had peopled it threw a deeper gloom over the whole scene.'
+Concerning the whirlpool called Wirbel, and the surrounding ruins,
+the same author writes: 'Each of these mouldering fortresses was
+the subject of some miraculous tradition, which circulated at every
+hearth. The sombre and mysterious aspect of the place, its wild
+scenery, and the frequent accidents which occurred in the passage,
+invested it with awe and terror; but above all, the superstitions
+of the time, a belief in the marvellous, and the credulity of the
+boatmen, made the navigation of the Strudel and the Wirbel a theme of
+the wildest romance. At night, sounds that were heard far above the
+roar of the Danube issued from every ruin. Magical lights flashed
+through their loopholes and casements, festivals were held in the
+long-deserted halls, maskers glided from room to room, the waltzers
+maddened to the strains of an infernal orchestra, armed sentinels
+paraded the battlements, while at intervals the clash of arms, the
+neighing of steeds, and the shrieks of unearthly combatants smote
+fitfully on the boatmen's ear. But the tower on which these scenes
+were most fearfully enacted was that on the Longstone, commonly
+called the 'Devil's Tower,' as it well deserved to be--for here,
+in close communion with his master, resided the 'Black Monk,' whose
+office it was to exhibit false lights and landmarks along the gulf,
+so as to decoy the vessels into the whirlpool, or dash them against
+the rocks. He was considerably annoyed in his quarters, however,
+on the arrival of the great Soliman in these regions; for to repel
+the turbaned host, or at least to check their triumphant progress to
+the Upper Danube, the inhabitants were summoned to join the national
+standard, and each to defend his own hearth. Fortifications were
+suddenly thrown up, even churches and other religious edifices were
+placed in a state of military defence; women and children, the aged
+and the sick, as already mentioned in our notice of Schaumburg,
+were lodged in fortresses, and thus secured from the violence of
+the approaching Moslem. Among the other points at which the greatest
+efforts were made to check the enemy, the passage of the Strudel and
+Wirbel was rendered as impregnable as the time and circumstances of
+the case would allow. To supply materials for the work, patriotism
+for a time got the better of superstition, and the said Devil's Tower
+was demolished and converted into a strong breastwork. Thus forcibly
+dislodged, the Black Monk is said to have pronounced a malediction
+on the intruders, and to have chosen a new haunt among the recesses
+of the Harz mountains.'
+When the glaciers send down their torrents and flood the Rhone,
+it is the immemorial belief that the Devil may be sometimes seen
+swimming in it, with a sword in one hand and a golden globe in the
+other. Since it is contrary to all orthodox folklore that the Devil
+should be so friendly with water, the name must be regarded as a
+modern substitute for the earlier Rhone demon. We probably get closer
+to the original form of the superstition in the Swiss Oberland, which
+interprets the noises of the Furka Glacier, which feeds the Rhone,
+as the groans of wicked souls condemned for ever to labour there
+in directing the river's course; their mistress being a demoness
+who sometimes appears just before the floods, floating on a raft,
+and ordering the river to rise.
+There is a tidal demonolatry also. The author of 'Rambles in
+Northumberland' gives a tradition concerning the river Wansbeck:
+'This river discharges itself into the sea at a place called Cambois,
+about nine miles to the eastward, and the tide flows to within five
+miles of Morpeth. Tradition reports that Michael Scott, whose fame as a
+wizard is not confined to Scotland, would have brought the tide to the
+town had not the courage of the person failed upon whom the execution
+of this project depended. This agent of Michael, after his principal
+had performed certain spells, was to run from the neighbourhood of
+Cambois to Morpeth without looking behind, and the tide would follow
+him. After having advanced a certain distance he became alarmed at
+the roaring of the waters behind him, and forgetting the injunction,
+gave a glance over his shoulder to see if the danger was imminent,
+when the advancing tide immediately stopped, and the burgesses of
+Morpeth thus lost the chance of having the Wansbeck navigable between
+their town and the sea. It is also said that Michael intended to
+confer a similar favour on the inhabitants of Durham, by making the
+Wear navigable to their city; but his good intentions, which were to
+be carried into effect in the same manner, were also frustrated by
+the cowardice of the person who had to guide the tide.'
+The gentle and just king Æolus, who taught his islanders navigation, in
+his mythologic transfiguration had to share the wayward dispositions of
+the winds he was said to rule; but though he wrecked the Trojan fleet
+and many a ship, his old human heart remained to be trusted on the
+appearance of Halcyon. His unhappy daughter of that name cast herself
+into the sea after the shipwreck of her husband (Ceyx), and the two
+were changed into birds. It was believed that for seven days before and
+seven after the shortest day of the year, when the halcyon is breeding,
+Æolus restrains his winds, and the sea is calm. The accent of this
+fable has been transmitted to some variants of the folklore of swans.
+In Russia the Tsar Morskoi or Water Demon's beautiful daughters (swans)
+may naturally be supposed to influence the tides which the fair bathers
+of our time are reduced to obey. In various regions the tides are
+believed to have some relation to swans, and to respect them. I have
+met with a notion of this kind in England. On the day of Livingstone's
+funeral there was an extraordinary tide in the Thames, which had been
+predicted and provided for. The crowds which had gathered at the Abbey
+on that occasion repaired after the funeral to Westminster Bridge to
+observe the tide, and among them was a venerable disbeliever in
+science, who announced to a group that there would be no high tide,
+'because the swans were nesting.' This sceptic was speedily put to
+confusion by the result, and perhaps one superstition the less remained
+in the circle that seemed to regard him as an oracle.
+The Russian peasantry live in much fear of the Rusalkas and Vodyanuie,
+water-spirits who, of course, have for their chief the surly Neptune
+Tsar Morskoi. In deprecation of this tribe, the peasant is careful
+not to bathe without a cross round the neck, nor to ford a stream
+on horseback without signing a cross on the water with a scythe
+or knife. In the Ukrain these water-demons are supposed to be the
+transformed souls of Pharaoh and his host when they were drowned,
+and they are increased by people who drown themselves. In Bohemia
+fishermen are known sometimes to refuse aid to one drowning, for
+fear the Vodyany will be offended and prevent the fish, over which
+he holds rule, from entering their nets. The wrath of such beings is
+indicated by the upheavals of water and foam; and they are supposed
+especially mischievous in the spring, when torrents and floods are
+pouring from melted snow. Those undefined monsters which Beowulf slew,
+Grendel and his mother, are interpreted by Simrock as personifications
+of the untamed sea and stormy floods invading the low flat shores,
+whose devastations so filled Faust with horror (II. iv.), and in
+combating which his own hitherto desolating powers found their task.
+The Sea sweeps on in thousand quarters flowing,
+Itself unfruitful, barrenness bestowing;
+It breaks, and swells, and rolls, and overwhelms
+The desert stretch of desolated realms....
+Let that high joy be mine for evermore,
+To shut the lordly Ocean from the shore,
+The watery waste to limit and to bar,
+And push it back upon itself afar!
+In such brave work Faust had many forerunners, whose art and courage
+have their monument in the fairer fables of all these elemental powers
+in which fear saw demons. Pavana, in India, messenger of the gods,
+rides upon the winds, and in his forty-nine forms, corresponding with
+the points of the Hindu compass, guards the earth. Solomon, too,
+journeyed on a magic carpet woven of the winds, which still serves
+the purposes of the Wise. From the churned ocean rose Lakshmí (after
+the solar origin was lost to the myth), Hindu goddess of prosperity;
+and from the sea-foam rose Aphrodite, Beauty. These fair forms had
+their true worshipper in the Northman, who left on mastered wind and
+wave his song as Emerson found it--
+The gale that wrecked you on the sand,
+It helped my rowers to row;
+The storm is my best galley hand,
+And drives me where I go.
+ANIMALS.
+Animal demons distinguished--Trivial sources of
+Mythology--Hedgehog--Fox--Transmigrations in Japan--Horses
+bewitched--Rats--Lions--Cats--The Dog--Goethe's horror of
+dogs--Superstitions of the Parsees, people of Travancore,
+and American Negroes, Red Indians, &c.--Cynocephaloi--The
+Wolf--Traditions of the Nez Perces--Fenris--Fables--The Boar--The
+Bear--Serpent--Every animal power to harm demonised--Horns.
+The animal demons--those whose evil repute is the result of
+something in their nature which may be inimical to man--should
+be distinguished from the forms which have been diabolised by
+association with mythological personages or ideas. The lion, tiger,
+and wolf are examples of the one class; the stag, horse, owl, and
+raven of the other. But there are circumstances which render it very
+difficult to observe this distinction. The line has to be drawn, if
+at all, between the measureless forces of degradation on the one side,
+discovering some evil in animals which, but for their bad associations,
+would not have been much thought of; and of euphemism on the other,
+transforming harmful beasts to benignant agents by dwelling upon some
+minor characteristic.
+There are a few obviously dangerous animals, such as the serpent,
+where it is easy to pick our way; we can recognise the fear that
+flatters it to an agathodemon and the diminished fear that pronounces
+it accurst. [88] But what shall be said of the Goat? Was there really
+anything in its smell or in its flesh when first eaten, its butting,
+or injury to plants, which originally classed it among the unclean
+animals? or was it merely demonised because of its uncanny and
+shaggy appearance? What explanation can be given of the evil repute
+of our household friend the Cat? Is it derived by inheritance from
+its fierce ancestors of the jungle? Was it first suggested by its
+horrible human-like sleep-murdering caterwaulings at night? or has it
+simply suffered from a theological curse on the cats said to draw the
+chariots of the goddesses of Beauty? The demonic Dog is, if anything,
+a still more complex subject. The student of mythology and folklore
+speedily becomes familiar with the trivial sources from which vast
+streams of superstition often issue. The cock's challenge to the
+all-detecting sun no doubt originated his ominous career from the
+Code of Manu to the cock-headed devils frescoed in the cathedrals of
+Russia. The fleshy, forked roots of a soporific plant issued in that
+vast Mandrake Mythology which has been the subject of many volumes,
+without being even yet fully explored. The Italians have a saying that
+'One knavery of the hedgehog is worth more than many of the fox;' yet
+the nocturnal and hibernating habits and general quaintness of the
+humble hedgehog, rather than his furtive propensity to prey on eggs
+and chickens, must have raised him to the honours of demonhood. In
+various popular fables this little animal proves more than a match
+for the wolf and the serpent. It was in the form of a hedgehog that
+the Devil is said to have made the attempt to let in the sea through
+the Brighton Downs, which was prevented by a light being brought,
+though the seriousness of the scheme is still attested in the Devil's
+Dyke. There is an ancient tradition that when the Devil had smuggled
+himself into Noah's Ark, he tried to sink it by boring a hole; but
+this scheme was defeated, and the human race saved, by the hedgehog
+stuffing himself into the hole. In the Brighton story the Devil would
+appear to have remembered his former failure in drowning people,
+and to have appropriated the form which defeated him.
+The Fox, as incarnation of cunning, holds in the primitive belief of
+the Japanese almost the same position as the Serpent in the nations
+that have worshipped, until bold enough to curse it. In many of
+the early pictures of Japanese demons one may generally detect amid
+their human, wolfish, or other characters some traits of the kitsune
+(fox). He is always the soul of the three-eyed demon of Japan
+(fig. 7). He is the sagacious 'Vizier,' as the Persian Desatir
+calls him, and is practically the Japanese scape-goat. If a fox
+has appeared in any neighbourhood, the next trouble is attributed
+to his visit; and on such occasions the sufferers and their friends
+repair to some ancient gnarled tree in which the fox is theoretically
+resident and propitiate him, just as would be done to a serpent in
+other regions. In Japan the fox is not regarded as always harmful,
+but generally so. He is not to be killed on any account. Being thus
+spared through superstition, the foxes increase sufficiently to supply
+abundant material for the continuance of its demonic character. 'Take
+us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines,' [89] is an
+admonition reversed in Japan. The correspondence between the cunning
+respected in this animal and that of the serpent, reverenced elsewhere,
+is confirmed by Mr. Fitz Cunliffe Owen, who observed, as he informs
+me, that the Japanese will not kill even the poisonous snakes which
+crawl freely amid the decaying Buddhist temples of Nikko, one of the
+most sacred places in Japan, where once as many as eight thousand
+monastic Buddhists were harboured. It is the red fox that abounds
+in Japan, and its human-like cry at night near human habitations is
+such as might easily encourage these superstitions. But, furthermore,
+mythology supplies many illustrations of a creditable tendency among
+rude tribes to mark out for special veneration or fear any force in
+nature finer than mere strength. Emerson says, 'Foxes are so cunning
+because they are not strong.' In our Japanese demon, whose three
+eyes alone connect it with the præternatural vision ascribed by that
+race to the fox, the harelip is very pronounced. That little animal,
+the Hare, is associated with a large mythology, perhaps because
+out of its weakness proceeds its main forces of survival--timidity,
+vigilance, and swiftness. The superstition concerning the hare is found
+in Africa. The same animal is the much-venerated good genius of the
+Calmucs, who call him Sákya-muni (Buddha), and say that on earth he
+submitted himself to be eaten by a starving man, for which gracious
+deed he was raised to dominion over the moon, where they profess to
+see him. The legend is probably traceable back to the Sanskrit word
+sasin, moon, which means literally 'the hare-marked.' Sasa means
+'hare.' Pausanias relates the story of the moon-goddess instructing
+exiles to build their city where they shall see a hare take refuge in
+a myrtle-grove. [90] In the demonic fauna of Japan another cunning
+animal figures--the Weasel. The name of this demon is 'the sickle
+weasel,' and it also seems to occupy the position of a scape-goat. In
+the language of a Japanese report, 'When a person's clogs slip from
+under his feet, and he falls and cuts his face on the gravel, or when
+a person, who is out at night when he ought to have been at home,
+presents himself to his family with a freshly-scarred face, the wound
+is referred to the agency of the malignant invisible weasel and his
+sharp sickle.' In an aboriginal legend of America, also, two sister
+demons commonly take the form of weasels.
+The popular feeling which underlay much of the animal-worship in
+ancient times was probably that which is reflected in the Japanese
+notions of to-day, as told in the subjoined sketch from an amusing
+book.
+'One of these visitors was an old man, who himself was at the time a
+victim of a popular superstition that the departed revisit the scenes
+of their life in this world in shapes of different animals. We noticed
+that he was not in his usual spirits, and pressed him to unburden his
+mind to us. He said he had lost his little son Chiosin, but that was
+not so much the cause of his grief as the absurd way in which his
+wife, backed up by a whole conclave of old women who had taken up
+their abode in his house to comfort her, was going on. 'What do they
+all do?' we asked sympathetically. 'Why,' he replied, 'every beastly
+animal that comes to my house, there is a cry amongst them all,
+'Chiosin, Chiosin has come back!' and the whole house swarms with
+cats and dogs and bats--for they say they are not quite sure which
+is Chiosin, and that they had better be kind to the lot than run the
+chance of treating him badly; the consequence is, all these brutes are
+fed on my rice and meat, and now I am driven out of doors and called
+an unnatural parent because I killed a mosquito which bit me!' 
+The strange and inexplicable behaviour of animals in cases of fear,
+panic, or pain has been generally attributed by ignorant races to
+their possession by demons. Of this nature is the story of the devil
+entering the herd of swine and carrying them into the sea, related
+in the New Testament. It is said that even yet in some parts of
+Scotland the milkmaid carries a switch of the magical rowan to expel
+the demon that sometimes enters the cow. Professor Monier Williams
+writes from Southern India--'When my fellow-travellers and myself
+were nearly dashed to pieces over a precipice the other day by some
+restive horses on a ghat near Poona, we were told that the road at
+this particular point was haunted by devils who often caused similar
+accidents, and we were given to understand that we should have done
+well to conciliate Ganesa, son of the god Siva, and all his troops
+of evil spirits, before starting.' The same writer also tells us
+that the guardian spirits or 'mothers' who haunt most regions of
+the Peninsula are believed to ride about on horses, and if they are
+angry, scatter blight and disease. Hence the traveller just arrived
+from Europe is startled and puzzled by apparitions of rudely-formed
+terra-cotta horses, often as large as life, placed by the peasantry
+round shrines in the middle of fields as acceptable propitiatory
+offerings, or in the fulfilment of vows in periods of sickness. 
+This was the belief of the Corinthians in the Taraxippos, or shade
+of Glaucus, who, having been torn in pieces by the horses with which
+he had been racing, and which he had fed on human flesh to make more
+spirited, remained to haunt the Isthmus and frighten horses during
+the races.
+There is a modern legend in the Far West (America) of a horse called
+'The White Devil,' which, in revenge for some harm to its comrades,
+slew men by biting and trampling them, and was itself slain after
+defying many attempts at its capture; but among the many ancient
+legends of demon-horses there are few which suggest anything about
+that animal hostile to man. His occasional evil character is simply
+derived from his association with man, and is therefore postponed. For
+a similar reason the Goat also must be dealt with hereafter, and
+as a symbolical animal. A few myths are met with which relate to
+its unpleasant characteristics. In South Guinea the odour of goats
+is accounted for by the Saga that their ancestor having had the
+presumption to ask a goddess for her aromatic ointment, she angrily
+rubbed him with ointment of a reverse kind. It has also been said that
+it was regarded as a demon by the worshippers of Bacchus, because
+it cropped the vines; and that it thus originated the Trageluphoi,
+or goat-stag monsters mentioned by Plato, [93] and gave us also the
+word tragedy. [94] But such traits of the Goat can have very little
+to do with its important relations to Mythology and Demonology. To
+the list of animals demonised by association must also be added the
+Stag. No doubt the anxious mothers, wives, or sweethearts of rash
+young huntsmen utilised the old fables of beautiful hinds which
+in the deep forests changed to demons and devoured their pursuers,
+[95] for admonition; but the fact that such stags had to transform
+themselves for evil work is a sufficient certificate of character to
+prevent their being included among the animal demons proper, that is,
+such as have in whole or part supplied in their disposition to harm
+man the basis of a demonic representation.
+It will not be deemed wonderful that Rats bear a venerable rank in
+Demonology. The shudder which some nervous persons feel at sight
+of even a harmless mouse is a survival from the time when it was
+believed that in this form unshriven souls or unbaptized children
+haunted their former homes; and probably it would be difficult to
+estimate the number of ghost-stories which have originated in their
+nocturnal scamperings. Many legends report the departure of unhallowed
+souls from human mouths in the shape of a Mouse. During the earlier
+Napoleonic wars mice were used in Southern Germany as diviners,
+by being set with inked feet on the map of Europe to show where the
+fatal Frenchmen would march. They gained this sanctity by a series of
+associations with force stretching back to the Hindu fable of a mouse
+delivering the elephant and the lion by gnawing the cords that bound
+them. The battle of the Frogs and Mice is ascribed to Homer. Mice are
+said to have foretold the first civil war in Rome by gnawing the gold
+in the temple. Rats appear in various legends as avengers. The uncles
+of King Popelus II., murdered by him and his wife and thrown into a
+lake, reappear as rats and gnaw the king and queen to death. The same
+fate overtakes Miskilaus of Poland, through the transformed widows and
+orphans he had wronged. Mouse Tower, standing in the middle of the
+Rhine, is the haunted monument of cruel Archbishop Hatto, of Mainz,
+who (anno 970) bade the famine-stricken people repair to his barn,
+wherein he shut them fast and burned them. But next morning an army
+of rats, having eaten all the corn in his granaries, darkened the
+roads to the palace. The prelate sought refuge from them in the Tower,
+but they swam after, gnawed through the walls and devoured him. 
+St. Gertrude, wearing the funereal mantle of Holda, commands an army
+of mice. In this respect she succeeds to the Pied Piper of Hamelin,
+who also leads off children; and my ingenious friend Mr. John
+Fiske suggests that this may be the reason why Irish servant-maids
+often show such frantic terror at sight of a mouse. [97] The care
+of children is often intrusted to them, and the appearance of mice
+prognosticated of old the appearance of the præternatural rat-catcher
+and psychopomp. Pliny says that in his time it was considered
+fortunate to meet a white rat. The people of Bassorah always bow to
+these revered animals when seen, no doubt to propitiate them.
+The Lion is a symbol of majesty and of the sun in his glory (reached
+in the zodiacal Leo), though here and there his original demonic
+character appears,--as in the combats of Indra, Samson, and Herakles
+with terrible lions. Euphemism, in one sense, fulfils the conditions
+of Samson's riddle--Sweetness coming out of the Strong--and has
+brought honey out of the Lion. His cruel character has subtly fallen
+to Sirius the Dog-star, to whom are ascribed the drought and malaria
+of 'dog-days' (when the sun is in Leo); but the primitive fact is
+intimated in several fables like that of Aristæus, who, born after
+his mother had been rescued from the Lybian lion, was worshipped in
+Ceos as a saviour from both droughts and lions. The Lion couching at
+the feet of beautiful Doorga in India, reappears drawing the chariot
+of Aphrodite, and typifies the potency of beauty rather than, as
+Emerson interprets, that beauty depends on strength. The chariot
+of the Norse Venus, Freyja, was drawn by Cats, diminished forms of
+her Southern sister's steeds. It was partly by these routes the Cat
+came to play the sometimes beneficent rôle in Russian, and to some
+extent in German, French, and English folklore,--e.g., Puss in Boots,
+Whittington and his Cat, and Madame D'Aulnoy's La Chatte Blanche. The
+demonic characteristics of the destructive cats have been inherited
+by the black,--or, as in Macbeth, the brindled,--cat. In Germany the
+approach of a cat to a sick-bed announces death; to dream of one is
+an evil omen. In Hungary it is said every black cat becomes a witch
+at the age of seven. It is the witch's favourite riding-horse, but
+may sometimes be saved from such servitude by incision of the sign of
+the cross. A scratch from a black cat is thought to be the beginning
+of a fatal spell.
+De Gubernatis [98] has a very curious speculation concerning the origin
+of our familiar fable the Kilkenny Cats, which he traces to the German
+superstition which dreads the combat between cats as presaging death to
+one who witnesses it; and this belief he finds reflected in the Tuscan
+child's 'game of souls,' in which the devil and angel are supposed
+to contend for the soul. The author thinks this may be one outcome
+of the contest between Night and Twilight in Mythology; but, if the
+connection can be traced, it would probably prove to be derived from
+the struggle between the two angels of Death, one variation of which
+is associated with the legend of the strife for the body of Moses. The
+Book of Enoch says that Gabriel was sent, before the Flood, to excite
+the man-devouring giants to destroy one another. In an ancient Persian
+picture in my possession, animal monsters are shown devouring each
+other, while their proffered victim, like Daniel, is unharmed. The
+idea is a natural one, and hardly requires comparative tracing.
+Dr. Dennys tells us that in China there exists precisely the same
+superstition as in Scotland as to the evil omen of a cat (or dog)
+passing over a corpse. Brand and Pennant both mention this, the
+latter stating that the cat or dog that has so done is killed without
+mercy. This fact would seem to show that the fear is for the living,
+lest the soul of the deceased should enter the animal and become one
+of the innumerable werewolf or vampyre class of demons. But the origin
+of the superstition is no doubt told in the Slavonic belief that if
+a cat leap over a corpse the deceased person will become a vampyre.
+In Russia the cat enjoys a somewhat better reputation than it does
+in most other countries. Several peasants in the neighbourhood of
+Moscow assured me that while they would never be willing to remain in
+a church where a dog had entered, they would esteem it a good sign if
+a cat came to church. One aged woman near Moscow told me that when the
+Devil once tried to creep into Paradise he took the form of a mouse:
+the Dog and Cat were on guard at the gates, and the Dog allowed the
+evil one to pass, but the Cat pounced on him, and so defeated another
+treacherous attempt against human felicity.
+The Cat superstition has always been strong in Great Britain. It is,
+indeed, in one sense true, as old Howell wrote (1647)--'We need not
+cross the sea for examples of this kind, we have too many (God wot)
+at home: King James a great while was loath to believe there were
+witches; but that which happened to my Lord Francis of Rutland's
+children convinced him, who were bewitched by an old woman that was
+a servant of Belvoir Castle, but, being displeased, she contracted
+with the Devil, who conversed with her in the form of a Cat, whom she
+called Rutterkin, to make away those children out of mere malignity
+and thirst of revenge.' It is to be feared that many a poor woman
+has been burned as a witch against whom her cherished cat was the
+chief witness. It would be a curious psychological study to trace how
+far the superstition owns a survival in even scientific minds,--as
+in Buffon's vituperation of the cat, and in the astonishing story,
+told by Mr. Wood, of a cat which saw a ghost (anno 1877)!
+The Dog, so long the faithful friend of man, and even, possibly,
+because of the degree to which he has caught his master's manners,
+has a large demonic history. In the Semitic stories there are many
+that indicate the path by which 'dog' became the Mussulman synonym
+of infidel; and the one dog Katmir who in Arabic legend was admitted
+to Paradise for his faithful watching three hundred and nine years
+before the cave of the Seven Sleepers, [99] must have drifted among
+the Moslems from India as the Ephesian Sleepers did from the christian
+world. In the beautiful episode of the 'Mahábhárata,' Yudhisthira
+having journeyed to the door of heaven, refuses to enter into that
+happy abode unless his faithful dog is admitted also. He is told
+by Indra, 'My heaven hath no place for dogs; they steal away our
+offerings on earth;' and again, 'If a dog but behold a sacrifice,
+men esteem it unholy and void.'  This difficulty was solved by the
+Dog--Yama in disguise--revealing himself and praising his friend's
+fidelity. It is tolerably clear that it is to his connection with Yama,
+god of Death, and under the evolution of that dualism which divided the
+universe into upper and nether, that the Dog was degraded among our
+Aryan ancestors; at the same time his sometimes wolfish disposition
+and some other natural characters supplied the basis of his demonic
+character. He was at once a dangerous and a corruptible guard.
+In the early Vedic Mythology it is the abode of the gods that is
+guarded by the two dogs, identified by solar mythologists as the
+morning and evening twilight: a later phase shows them in the
+service of Yama, and they reappear in the guardian of the Greek
+Hades, Cerberus, and Orthros. The first of these has been traced
+to the Vedic Sarvara, the latter to the monster Vritra. 'Orthros'
+is the phonetical equivalent of Vritra. The bitch Sarama, mother
+of the two Vedic dogs, proved a treacherous guard, and was slain by
+Indra. Hence the Russian peasant comes fairly by another version of
+how the Dog, while on guard, admitted the Devil into heaven on being
+thrown a bone. But the two watch-dogs of the Hindu myth do not seem to
+bear an evil character. In a funeral hymn of the 'Rig-Veda' (x. 14),
+addressed to Yama, King of Death, we read:--'By an auspicious path
+do thou hasten past the two four-eyed brindled dogs, the offspring
+of Sarama; then approach the beautiful Pitris who rejoice together
+with Yama. Intrust him, O Yama, to thy two watch-dogs, four-eyed,
+road-guarding, and man-observing. The two brown messengers of Yama,
+broad of nostril and insatiable, wander about among men; may they give
+us again to-day the auspicious breath of life that we may see the sun!'
+And now thousands of years after this was said we find the Dog still
+regarded as the seer of ghosts, and watcher at the gates of death, of
+whose opening his howl forewarns. The howling of a dog on the night of
+December 9, 1871, at Sandringham, where the Prince of Wales lay ill,
+was thought important enough for newspapers to report to a shuddering
+country. I read lately of a dog in a German village which was supposed
+to have announced so many deaths that he became an object of general
+terror, and was put to death. In that country belief in the demonic
+character of the dog seems to have been strong enough to transmit an
+influence even to the powerful brain of Goethe.
+In Goethe's poem, it was when Faust was walking with the student
+Wagner that the black Dog appeared, rushing around them in spiral
+curves--spreading, as Faust said, 'a magic coil as a snare around
+them;' [100] that after this dog had followed Faust into his study,
+it assumed a monstrous shape, until changed to a mist, from which
+Mephistopheles steps forth--'the kernel of the brute'--in guise of a
+travelling scholar. This is in notable coincidence with the archaic
+symbolism of the Dog as the most frequent form of the 'Lares' (fig. 9),
+or household genii, originally because of its vigilance. The form here
+presented is nearly identical with the Cynocephalus, whom the learned
+author of 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny,' identifies as the Adamic
+being set as a watch and instructor in Eden (Gen. xvi. 15), an example
+of which, holding pen and tablet (as described by Horapollo), is given
+in that work from Philæ. Chrysippus says that these were afterwards
+represented as young men clothed with dog-skins. Remnants of the
+tutelary character of the dog are scattered through German folklore:
+he is regarded as oracle, ghost-seer, and gifted with second sight;
+in Bohemia he is sometimes made to lick an infant's face that it may
+see well.
+The passage in 'Faust' has been traced to Goethe's antipathy to
+dogs, as expressed in his conversation with Falk at the time of
+Wieland's death. 'Annihilation is utterly out of the question; but
+the possibility of being caught on the way by some more powerful
+and yet baser monas, and subordinated to it; this is unquestionably
+a very serious consideration; and I, for my part, have never been
+able entirely to divest myself of the fear of it, in the way of a
+mere observation of nature.' At this moment, says Falk, a dog was
+heard repeatedly barking in the street. Goethe, sprang hastily to the
+window and called to it: 'Take what form you will, vile larva, you
+shall not subjugate me!' After some pause, he resumed with the remark:
+'This rabble of creation is extremely offensive. It is a perfect pack
+of monades with which we are thrown together in this planetary nook;
+their company will do us little honour with the inhabitants of other
+planets, if they happen to hear anything about them.'
+In visiting the house where Goethe once resided in Weimar, I
+was startled to find as the chief ornament of the hall a large
+bronze dog, of full size, and very dark, looking proudly forth,
+as if he possessed the Goethean monas after all. However, it is not
+probable that the poet's real dislike of dogs arose solely from that
+speculation about monades. It is more probable that in observing the
+old wall-picture in Auerbach's cellar, wherein a dog stands beside
+Mephistopheles, Goethe was led to consider carefully the causes of
+that intimacy. Unfortunately, and notwithstanding the fables and
+the sentiment which invest that animal, there are some very repulsive
+things about him, such as his tendency to madness and the infliction on
+man of a frightful death. The Greek Mania's 'fleet hounds' (Bacchæ 977)
+have spread terrors far and wide.
+Those who carefully peruse the account given by Mr. Lewes of the
+quarrel between Karl August and Goethe, on account of the opposition
+of the latter to the introduction of a performing dog on the Weimar
+stage--an incident which led to his resignation of his position of
+intendant of the theatre--may detect this aversion mingling with
+his disgust as an artist; and it may be also suspected that it was
+not the mere noise which caused the tortures he described himself as
+having once endured at Göttingen from the barking of dogs.
+It is, however, not improbable that in the wild notion of Goethe,
+joined with his cynophobia, we find a survival of the belief of the
+Parsees of Surat, who venerate the Dog above all other animals,
+and who, when one is dying, place a dog's muzzle near his mouth,
+and make it bark twice, so that it may catch the departing soul,
+and bear it to the waiting angel.
+The devil-worshippers of Travancore to this day declare that the
+evil power approaches them in the form of a Dog, as Mephistopheles
+approached Faust. But before the superstition reached Goethe's poem
+it had undergone many modifications; and especially its keen scent
+had influenced the Norse imagination to ascribe to it præternatural
+wisdom. Thus we read in the Saga of Hakon the Good, that when Eystein
+the Bad had conquered Drontheim, he offered the people choice of
+his slave Thorer or his dog Sauer to be their king. They chose the
+Dog. 'Now the dog was by witchcraft gifted with three men's wisdom;
+and when he barked he spoke one word and barked two.' This Dog wore
+a collar of gold, and sat on a throne, but, for all his wisdom and
+power, seems to have been a dog still; for when some wolves invaded
+the cattle, he attacked and was torn to pieces by them.
+Among the negroes of the Southern States in America I have found the
+belief that the most frequent form of a diabolical apparition is that
+of a large Dog with fiery eyes, which may be among them an original
+superstition attributable to their horror of the bloodhound, by which,
+in some regions, they were pursued when attempting to escape. Among
+the whites of the same region I have never been able to find any
+instance of the same belief, though belief in the presage of the
+howling dog is frequent; and it is possible that this is a survival
+from some region in Africa, where the Dog has an evil name of the
+same kind as the scape-goat. Among some tribes in Fazogl there is
+an annual carnival at which every one does as he likes. The king
+is then seated in the open air, a dog tied to the leg of his chair,
+and the animal is then stoned to death.
+Mark Twain [101] records the folklore of a village of Missouri,
+where we find lads quaking with fear at the howling of a 'stray dog'
+in the night, but indifferent to the howling of a dog they recognise,
+which may be a form of the common English belief that it is unlucky
+to be followed by a 'strange' dog. From the same book it appears
+also that the dog will always have his head in the direction of the
+person whose doom is signified: the lads are entirely relieved when
+they find the howling animal has his back turned to them.
+It is remarkable that these fragments of European superstition should
+meet in the Far West a plentiful crop of their like which has sprung up
+among the aborigines, as the following extract from Mr. Brinton's work,
+'Myths of the New World,' will show: 'Dogs were supposed to stand
+in some peculiar relation to the moon, probably because they howl
+at it and run at night, uncanny practices which have cost them dear
+in reputation. The custom prevailed among tribes so widely asunder
+as Peruvians, Tupis, Creeks, Iroquois, Algonquins, and Greenland
+Eskimos to thrash the curs most soundly during an eclipse. The Creeks
+explained this by saying that the big Dog was swallowing the sun, and
+that by whipping the little ones they could make him desist. What
+the big Dog was they were not prepared to say. We know. It was
+the night goddess, represented by the Dog, who was thus shrouding
+the world at mid-day. In a better sense, they represented the more
+agreeable characteristics of the lunar goddess. Xochiquetzal, most
+fecund of Aztec divinities, patroness of love, of sexual pleasure,
+and of child-birth, was likewise called Itzcuinan, which, literally
+translated, is 'bitch-mother.' This strange and to us so repugnant
+title for a goddess was not without parallel elsewhere. When in his
+wars the Inca Pachacutec carried his arms into the province of Huanca,
+he found its inhabitants had installed in their temples the figure of
+a Dog as their highest deity.... This canine canonisation explains why
+in some parts of Peru a priest was called, by way of honour, allco,
+Dog!... Many tribes on the Pacific coast united in the adoration of
+a wild species, the coyote, the Canis latrans of naturalists.' Of
+the Dog-demon Chantico the legend of the Nahuas was, 'that he made a
+sacrifice to the gods without observing a preparatory fast, for which
+he was punished by being changed into a Dog. He then invoked the god
+of death to deliver him, which attempt to evade a just punishment so
+enraged the divinities that they immersed the world in water.'
+The common phrase 'hell-hounds' has come to us by various routes. Diana
+being degraded to Hecate, the dogs of Hades, Orthros and Cerberus,
+multiplied into a pack of hounds for her chase, were degraded with her
+into infernal howlers and hunters. A like degradation of Odin's hunt
+took place at a later date. The Wild Huntsman, being a diabolical
+character, is considered elsewhere. Concerning the Dog, it may be
+further said here, that there are probably various characteristics
+of that animal reflected in his demonic character. His liability
+to become rabid, and to afflict human beings with hydrophobia,
+appears to have had some part in it. Spinoza alludes to the custom
+in his time of destroying persons suffering from this canine rabies
+by suffocation; and his English biographer and editor, Dr. Willis,
+tells me that in his boyhood in Scotland he always heard this spoken
+of as the old custom. That such treatment could have prevailed can
+hardly be ascribed to anything but a belief in the demonic character
+of the rabid dog, cognate with the unconscious superstition which
+still causes rural magistrates to order a dog which has bitten any
+one to be slain. The notion is, that if the dog goes mad thereafter,
+the man will also. Of course it would be rational to preserve the
+dog's life carefully, in order that, if it continues healthy, the
+bitten may feel reassured, as he cannot be if it be dead.
+But the degradation of the dog had a cause even in his fidelity
+as a watch. For this, as we have just seen, made him a common form
+among Lares or domestic demons. The teraphim also were often in this
+shape. Christianity had therefore a special reason for ascribing an
+infernal character to these little idols, which interfered with the
+popular dependence on the saints. It will thus be seen that there
+were many causes operating to create that formidable class of demons
+which were called in the Middle Ages Cynocephaloi. The ancient holy
+pictures of Russia especially abound in these dog-headed devils; in
+the sixteenth century they were frequently represented rending souls
+in hell; and sometimes the dragon of the Apocalypse is represented
+with seven horrible canine heads.
+M. Toussenel, in his transcendental interpretations, has identified
+the Wolf as the bandit and outlaw. [102] The proverbial mediæval
+phrase for an outlaw--one who wears a teste loeve, caput lupinum,
+wulfesheofod, which the ingenious author perhaps remembered--is
+of good antiquity. The wolf is called robber in the 'Rig-Veda,'
+and he is there also demonised, since we find him fleeing before a
+devotee. (In the Zend 'Vendidad' the souls of the pious fear to meet
+the wolf on the way to heaven.) The god Pushan is invoked against the
+evil wolf, the malignant spirit. [103] Cardano says that to dream of
+a wolf announces a robber. There is in the wolf, at the same time,
+that always attractive love of liberty which, in the well-known fable,
+makes him prefer leanness to the comfort of the collar-wearing dog,
+which makes him among demonic animals sometimes the same as the mighty
+huntsmen Nimrod and shaggy Esau among humanised demons. One is not
+surprised to find occasionally good stories about the wolf. Thus the
+Nez Perces tribe in America trace the origin of the human race to a
+wolf. They say that originally, when there were nothing but animals,
+there was a huge monster which devoured them whole and alive. This
+monster swallowed a wolf, who, when he entered its belly, found
+the animals therein snarling at and biting one another as they had
+done on the earth outside. The wolf exhorted them that their common
+sufferings should teach them friendliness, and finally he induced them
+to a system of co-operation by which they made their way out through
+the side of the monster, which instantly perished. The animals so
+released were at once transformed to men, how and why the advocates
+of co-operation will readily understand, and founded the Nez Perces
+Indians. The myths of Asia and Europe are unhappily antipodal to this
+in spirit and form, telling of human beings transformed to wolves. In
+the Norse Mythology, however, there stands a demon wolf whose story
+bears a touch of feeling, though perhaps it was originally the mere
+expression for physical law. This is the wolf Fenris, which, from being
+at first the pet of the gods and lapdog of the goddesses, became so
+huge and formidable that Asgard itself was endangered. All the skill
+and power of the gods could not forge chains which might chain him;
+he snapped them like straws and toppled over the mountains to which
+he was fastened.  But the little Elves working underground made that
+chain so fine that none could see or feel it,--fashioned it out of
+the beards of women, the breath of fish, noise of the cat's footfall,
+spittle of birds, sinews of bears, roots of stones,--by which are meant
+things non-existent. This held him. Fenris is chained till the final
+destruction, when he shall break loose and devour Odin. The fine chain
+that binds ferocity,--is it the love that can tame all creatures? Is
+it the sunbeam that defines to the strongest creature its habitat?
+The two monsters formed when Ráhu was cloven in twain, in Hindu
+Mythology, reappear in Eddaic fable as the wolves Sköll and Hati,
+who pursue the sun and moon. As it is said in the Völuspá:--
+Eastward in the Iron-wood
+The old one sitteth,
+And there bringeth forth
+Fenrir's fell kindred.
+Of these one, the mightiest,
+The moon's devourer,
+In form most fiend-like,
+And filled with the life-blood
+Of the dead and the dying,
+Reddens with ruddy gore
+The seats of the high gods.
+Euphemism attending propitiation of such monsters may partly explain
+the many good things told of wolves in popular legend. The stories of
+the she-wolf nourishing children, as Romulus and Remus, are found in
+many lands. They must, indeed, have had some prestige, to have been
+so largely adopted in saintly tradition. Like the bears that Elisha
+called to devour the children, the wolves do not lose their natural
+ferocity by becoming pious. They devour heretics and sacrilegious
+people. One guarded the head of St. Edmund the Martyr of England;
+another escorted St. Oddo, Abbot of Cluny, as his ancestors did the
+priests of Cluny. The skin of the wolf appears in folklore as a charm
+against hydrophobia; its teeth are best for cutting children's gums,
+and its bite, if survived, is an assurance against any future wound
+or pain.
+The tragedy which is so foolishly sprung upon the nerves of children,
+Little Red Riding-Hood, shows the wolf as a crafty animal. There are
+many legends of a like character which have made it a favourite figure
+in which to represent pious impostors. In our figure 10, the wolf
+appears as the 'dangerous confessor;' it was intended, as Mr. Wright
+thought, for Mary of Modena, Queen of James II., and Father Petre. At
+the top of the original are the words 'Converte Angliam' and beneath,
+'It is a foolish sheep that makes the wolf her confessor.' The craft
+of the wolf is represented in a partly political partly social turn
+given by an American fabulist to one of Æsop's fables. The wolf
+having accused the lamb he means to devour of fouling the stream, and
+receiving answer that the lamb was drinking farther down the current,
+alters the charge and says, 'You opposed my candidature at the caucus
+two years ago.' 'I was not then born,' replies the lamb. The wolf then
+says, 'Any one hearing my accusations would testify that I am insane
+and not responsible for my actions,' and thereupon devours the lamb
+with full faith in a jury of his countrymen. M. Toussenel says the wolf
+is a terrible strategist, albeit the less observant have found little
+in his character to warrant this attribute of craft, his physiognomy
+and habits showing him a rather transparent highwayman. It is probable
+that the fables of this character have derived that trait from his
+association with demons and devils supposed to take on his shape.
+In a beautiful hymn to the Earth in the 'Atharva Veda' it is said, 'The
+Earth, which endureth the burden of the oppressor, beareth up the abode
+of the lofty and of the lowly, suffereth the hog, and giveth entrance
+to the wild boar.' Boar-hounds in Brittany and some other regions
+are still kept at Government expense. There are many indications of
+this kind that in early times men had to defend themselves vigorously
+against the ravages of the wild boar, and, as De Gubernatis remarks,
+[104] its character is generally demoniacal. The contests of Hercules
+with the Erymanthian, and of Meleager with the Calydonian, Boar,
+are enough to show that it was through its dangerous character that
+he became sacred to the gods of war, Mars and Odin. But it is also
+to be remembered that the third incarnation of Vishnu was as a Wild
+Boar; and as the fearless exterminator of snakes the pig merited
+this association with the Preserver. Provided with a thick coat of
+fat, no venom can harm him unless it be on the lip. It may be this
+ability to defy the snake-ordeal which, after its uncleanliness had
+excepted the hog from human voracity in some regions, assigned it a
+diabolical character. In rabbinical fable the hog and rat were created
+by Noah to clear the Ark of filth; but the rats becoming a nuisance,
+he evoked a cat from the lion's nose.
+It is clear that our Asiatic and Norse ancestors never had such a
+ferocious beast to encounter as the Grisly Bear (Ursus horribilis)
+of America, else the appearances of this animal in Demonology could
+never have been so respectable. The comparatively timid Asiatic
+Bear (U. labiatus), the small and almost harmless Thibetan species
+(U. Thibetanus), would appear to have preponderated over the fiercer
+but rarer Bears of the North in giving us the Indo-Germanic fables,
+in which this animal is, on the whole, a favourite. Emerson finds in
+the fondness of the English for their national legend of 'Beauty and
+the Beast' a sign of the Englishman's own nature. 'He is a bear with
+a soft place in his heart; he says No, and helps you.' The old legend
+found place in the heart of a particularly representative American
+also--Theodore Parker, who loved to call his dearest friend 'Bear,' and
+who, on arriving in Europe, went to Berne to see his favourites, from
+which its name is derived. The fondness of the Bear for honey--whence
+its Russian name, medv-jed, 'honey-eater'--had probably something to do
+with its dainty taste for roses and its admiration for female beauty,
+as told in many myths. In his comparative treatment of the mythology
+of the Bear, De Gubernatis [105] mentions the transformation of King
+Trisankus into a bear, and connects this with the constellation of the
+Great Bear; but it may with equal probability be related to the many
+fables of princes who remain under the form of a bear until the spell
+is broken by the kiss of some maiden. It is worthy of note that in the
+Russian legends the Bear is by no means so amiable as in those of our
+Western folklore. In one, the Bear-prince lurking in his fountain holds
+by the beard the king who, while hunting, tries to quench his thirst,
+and releases him only after a promise to deliver up whatever he has
+at home without his knowledge; the twins, Ivan and Maria, born during
+his absence, are thus doomed--are concealed, but discovered by the
+bear, who carries them away. They are saved by help of the bull. When
+escaping the bear Ivan throws down a comb, which becomes a tangled
+forest, which, however, the bear penetrates; but the spread-out
+towel which becomes a lake of fire sends the bear back. [106] It
+is thus the ferocious Arctic Bear which gives the story its sombre
+character. Such also is the Russian tale of the Bear with iron hairs,
+which devastates the kingdom, devouring the inhabitants until Ivan
+and Helena alone remain; after the two in various ways try to escape,
+their success is secured by the Bull, which, more kindly than Elisha,
+blinds the Bear with his horns. [107] (The Bear retires in winter.) In
+Norwegian story the Bear becomes milder,--a beautiful youth by night,
+whose wife loses him because she wishes to see him by lamplight: her
+place is taken by a long-nosed princess, until, by aid of the golden
+apple and the rose, she recovers her husband. In the Pentameron,
+[108] Pretiosa, to escape the persecutions of her father, goes into
+the forest disguised as a she-bear; she nurses and cures the prince,
+who is enamoured of her, and at his kiss becomes a beautiful maid. The
+Bear thus has a twofold development in folklore. He used to be killed
+(13th century) at the end of the Carnival in Rome, as the Devil. The Siberians, if they have killed a bear, hang his skin on a tree and
+apologise humbly to it, declaring that they did not forge the metal
+that pierced it, and they meant the arrow for a bird; from which it
+is plain that they rely more on its stupidity than its good heart. In
+Canada, when the hunters kill a bear, one of them approaches it and
+places between his teeth the stem of his pipe, breathes in the bowl,
+and thus, filling with smoke the animal's mouth, conjures its soul not
+to be offended at his death. As the bear's ghost makes no reply, the
+huntsman, in order to know if his prayer is granted, cuts the thread
+under the bear's tongue, and keeps it until the end of the hunt, when
+a large fire is kindled, and all the band solemnly throw in it what
+threads of this kind they have; if these sparkle and vanish, as is
+natural, it is a sign that the bears are appeased. [110] In Greenland
+the great demon, at once feared and invoked, especially by fishermen,
+is Torngarsuk, a huge Bear with a human arm. He is invisible to all
+except his priests, the Anguekkoks, who are the only physicians of
+that people.
+The extreme point of demonic power has always been held by the
+Serpent. So much, however, will have to be said of the destructiveness
+and other characteristics of this animal when we come to consider
+at length its unique position in Mythology, that I content myself
+here with a pictorial representation of the Singhalese Demon of
+Serpents. If any one find himself shuddering at sight of a snake,
+even in a country where they are few and comparatively harmless,
+perhaps this figure (11) may suggest the final cause of the shudder.
+In conclusion, it may be said that not only every animal ferocity,
+but every force which can be exerted injuriously, has had its
+demonic representations. Every claw, fang, sting, hoof, horn,
+has been as certain to be catalogued and labelled in demonology
+as in physical science. It is remarkable also how superstition
+rationalises. Thus the horn in the animal world, though sometimes
+dangerous to man, was more dangerous to animals, which, as foes of
+the horned animals, were foes to man's interests. The early herdsman
+knew the value of the horn as a defence against dog and wolf, besides
+its other utilities. Consequently, although it was necessary that the
+horn-principle, so to say, in nature must be regarded as one of its
+retractile and cruel features, man never demonised the animals whose
+butt was most dangerous, but for such purpose transferred the horns
+to the head of some nondescript creature. The horn has thus become
+a natural weapon of man-demons. The same evolution has taken place
+in America; for, although among its aboriginal legends we may meet
+with an occasional demon-buffalo, such are rare and of apocryphal
+antiquity. The accompanying American figure (12) is from a photograph
+sent me by the President of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, who
+found it in an old mound (Red Indian) in the State of Georgia. It is
+probably as ancient as any example of a human head with horns in the
+world; and as it could not have been influenced by European notions,
+it supplies striking evidence that the demonisation of the forces and
+dangers of nature belongs to the structural action of the human mind.
+ENEMIES.
+Aryas, Dasyus, Nagas--Yakkhos--Lycians--Ethiopians--Hirpini--
+Polites--Sosipolis--Were-wolves--Goths and Scythians--Giants and
+Dwarfs--Berserkers--Britons--Iceland--Mimacs--Gog and Magog.
+We paint the Devil black, says George Herbert. On the other hand the
+negro paints him white, with reason enough. The name of the Devil
+at Mozambique is Muzungu Maya, or Wicked White Man. Of this demon
+they make little images of extreme hideousness, which are kept by
+people on the coast, and occasionally displayed, in the belief that
+if the White Devil is lurking near them he will vanish out of sheer
+disgust with a glimpse of his own ugliness. The hereditary horror of
+the kidnapper displayed in this droll superstition may possibly have
+been assisted by the familiarity with all things infernal represented
+in the language of the white sailors visiting the coast. Captain
+Basil Hall, on visiting Mozambique about fifty years ago, found
+that the native dignitaries had appropriated the titles of English
+noblemen, and a dumpy little Duke of Devonshire met him with his whole
+vocabulary of English,--'How do you do, sir. Very glad see you. Damn
+your eyes. Johanna man like English very much. God damn. That very
+good? Eh? Devilish hot, sir. What news? Hope your ship stay too long
+while very. Damn my eye. Very fine day.'
+In most parts of India Siva also is painted white, which would indicate
+that there too was found reason to associate diabolism with the white
+face. It is said the Thugs spared Englishmen because their white faces
+suggested relationship to Siva. In some of the ancient Indian books
+the monster whom Indra slew, Vritra, is called Dasyu (enemy), a name
+which in the Vedas designates the Aborigines as contrasted with the
+Aryans of the North. 'In the old Sanskrit, in the hymns of the Veda,
+ârya occurs frequently as a national name and as a name of honour,
+comprising the worshippers of the gods of the Brahmans, as opposed to
+their enemies, who are called in the Veda Dasyus. Thus one of the gods,
+Indra, who in some respects answers to the Greek Zeus, is invoked
+in the following words (Rigveda, i. 57, 8):--'Know thou the Aryas,
+O Indra, and those who are Dasyus; punish the lawless, and deliver
+them unto thy servant! Be thou the mighty helper of the worshippers,
+and I will praise all these thy deeds at the festivals.' 
+Naglok (snakeland) was at an early period a Hindu name for hell. But
+the Nagas were not real snakes,--in that case they might have fared
+better,--but an aboriginal tribe in Ceylon, believed by the Hindus to
+be of serpent origin,--'naga' being an epithet for 'native.' [112] The
+Singhalese, on the other hand, have adapted the popular name for demons
+in India, 'Rakshasa,' in their Rakseyo, a tribe of invisible cannibals
+without supernatural powers (except invisibility), who no doubt merely
+embody the traditions of some early race. The dreaded powers were
+from another tribe designated Yakkhos (demons), and believed to have
+the power of rendering themselves invisible. Buddha's victories over
+these demonic beings are related in the 'Mahawanso.' 'It was known
+(by inspiration) by the vanquishers that in Lanka, filled by yakkhos,
+... would be the place where his religion would be glorified. In
+like manner, knowing that in the centre of Lanka, on the delightful
+bank of a river, ... in the agreeable Mahanaga garden, ... there
+was a great assembly of the principal yakkhos, ... the deity of
+happy advent, approaching that great congregation, ... immediately
+over their heads hovering in the air, ... struck terror into them
+by rains, tempests, and darkness. The yakkhos, overwhelmed with awe,
+supplicated of the vanquisher to be released from their terror.... The
+consoling vanquisher thus replied: 'I will release ye yakkhos from
+this your terror and affliction: give ye unto me here by unanimous
+consent a place for me to alight on.' All these yakkhos replied:
+'Lord, we confer on thee the whole of Lanka, grant thou comfort
+to us.' The vanquisher thereupon dispelling their terror and cold
+shivering, and spreading his carpet of skin on the spot bestowed on
+him, he there seated himself. He then caused the aforesaid carpet,
+refulgent with a fringe of flames, to extend itself on all sides:
+they, scorched by the flames, (receding) stood around on the shores
+(of the island) terrified. The Saviour then caused the delightful isle
+of Giri to approach for them. As soon as they transferred themselves
+thereto (to escape the conflagration), he restored it to its former
+position.' 
+This legend, which reminds one irresistibly of the expulsion of
+reptiles by saints from Ireland, and other Western regions, is
+the more interesting if it be considered that these Yakkhos are the
+Sanskrit Yakshas, attendants on Kuvera, the god of wealth, employed in
+the care of his garden and treasures. They are regarded as generally
+inoffensive. The transfer by English authorities of the Tasmanians from
+their native island to another, with the result of their extermination,
+may suggest the possible origin of the story of Giri.
+Buddha's dealings with the serpent-men or nagas is related as follows
+in the same volume:--
+'The vanquisher (i.e., of the five deadly sins), ... in the fifth
+year of his buddhahood, while residing at the garden of (the prince)
+Jeto, observing that, on account of a disputed claim for a gem-set
+throne between the naga Mahodaro and a similar Chalodaro, a maternal
+uncle and nephew, a conflict was at hand, ... taking with him his
+sacred dish and robes, out of compassion to the nagas, visited
+Nagadipo.... These mountain nagas were, moreover, gifted with
+supernatural powers.... The Saviour and dispeller of the darkness
+of sin, poising himself in the air over the centre of the assembly,
+caused a terrifying darkness to these nagas. Attending to the prayer
+of the dismayed nagas, he again called forth the light of day. They,
+overjoyed at having seen the deity of felicitous advent, bowed down
+at the feet of the divine teacher. To them the vanquisher preached
+a sermon of reconciliation. Both parties rejoicing thereat, made an
+offering of the gem-throne to the divine sage. The divine teacher,
+alighting on the earth, seated himself on the throne, and was served
+by the naga kings with celestial food and beverage. The lord of the
+universe procured for eighty kotis of nagas, dwelling on land and in
+the waters, the salvation of the faith and the state of piety.'
+At every step in the conversion of the native Singhalese,--the demons
+and serpent-men,--Buddha and his apostles are represented as being
+attended by the devas,--the deities of India,--who are spoken of as
+if glad to become menials of the new religion. But we find Zoroaster
+using this term in a demonic sense, and describing alien worshippers
+as children of the Devas (a Semite would say, Sons of Belial). And
+in the conventional Persian pictures of the Last Judgment (moslem),
+the archfiend has the Hindu complexion. A similar phenomenon may
+be observed in various regions. In the mediæval frescoes of Moscow,
+representing infernal tortures, it is not very difficult to pick out
+devils representing the physical characteristics of most of the races
+with which the Muscovite has struggled in early times. There are also
+black Ethiopians among them, which may be a result of devils being
+considered the brood of Tchernibog, god of Darkness; but may also, not
+impossibly, have come of such apocryphal narratives as that ascribed
+to St. Augustine. 'I was already Bishop of Hippo when I went into
+Ethiopia with some servants of Christ, there to preach the gospel. In
+this country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two
+great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more southerly
+we saw a people who had but one eye in their foreheads.' 
+In considering animal demons, the primitive demonisation of the Wolf
+has been discussed. But it is mainly as a transformation of man and
+a type of savage foes that this animal has been a prominent figure
+in Mythology.
+Professor Max Müller has made it tolerably clear that Bellerophon
+means Slayer of the Hairy; and that Belleros is the transliteration
+of Sanskrit varvara, a term applied to the dark Aborigines by their
+Aryan invaders, equivalent to barbarians. [115] This points us for the
+origin of the title rather to Bellerophon's conquest of the Lycians,
+or Wolf-men, than to his victory over the Chimæra. The story of
+Lycaon and his sons--barbarians defying the gods and devouring human
+flesh--turned into wolves by Zeus, connects itself with the Lycians
+(hairy, wolfish barbarians), whom Bellerophon conquered.
+It was not always, however, the deity that conquered in such
+encounters. In the myth of Soracte, the Wolf is seen able to hold
+his own against the gods. Soranus, worshipped on Mount Soracte,
+was at Rome the god of Light, and is identified with Apollo by
+Virgil. [116] A legend states that he became associated with the
+infernal gods, though called Diespiter, because of the sulphurous
+exhalations from the side of Mount Soracte. It is said that once when
+some shepherds were performing a sacrifice, some wolves seized the
+flesh; the shepherds, following them, were killed by the poisonous
+vapours of the mountain to which the wolves retreated. An oracle gave
+out that this was a punishment for their pursuing the sacred animals;
+and a general pestilence also having followed, it was declared that it
+could only cease if the people were all changed to wolves and lived by
+prey. Hence the Hirpini, from the Sabine 'hirpus,' a wolf. The story
+is a variant of that of the Hirpinian Samnites, who were said to have
+received their name from their ancestors having followed a sacred wolf
+when seeking their new home. The Wolf ceremonies were, like the Roman
+Lupercalia, for purposes of purification. The worshippers ran naked
+through blazing fires. The annual festival, which Strabo describes
+as occurring in the grove of Feronia, goddess of Nature, became at
+last a sort of fair. Its history, however, is very significant of
+the formidable character of the Hirpini, or Wolf-tribe, which could
+alone have given rise to such euphemistic celebrations of the wolf.
+It is interesting to note that in some regions this wolf of
+superstition was domesticated into a dog. Pierius says there was a
+temple of Vulcan in Mount Ætna, in whose grove were dogs that fawned
+on the pious, but rent the polluted worshippers. It will be seen by
+the left form of Fig. 13 that the wolf had a diminution, in pictorial
+representation similar to that which the canine Lares underwent
+(p. 135). This picture is referred by John Beaumont [117] to Cartarius'
+work on 'The Images of the Gods of the Ancients;' the form wearing
+a wolf's skin and head is that of the demon Polites, who infested
+Temesa in Italy, according to a story related by Pausanias. Ulysses,
+in his wanderings, having come to this town, one of his companions
+was stoned to death for having ravished a virgin; after which his
+ghost appeared in form of this demon, which had to be appeased, by
+the direction of the oracle of Apollo, by the annual sacrifice to
+him of the most beautiful virgin in the place. Euthymus, enamoured
+of a virgin about to be so offered, gave battle to this demon, and,
+having expelled him from the country, married the virgin. However,
+since the infernal powers cannot be deprived of their rights without
+substitution, this saviour of Temesa disappeared in the river Cæcinus.
+The form on the right in Fig. 13 represents the genius of the
+city of Rome, and is found on some of Hadrian's coins; he holds
+the cornucopia and the sacrificial dish. The child and the serpent
+in the same picture represent the origin of the demonic character
+attributed to the Eleans by the Arcadians. This child-and-serpent
+symbol, which bears resemblance to certain variants of Bel and the
+Dragon, no doubt was brought to Elea, or Velia in Italy, by the
+Phocæans, when they abandoned their Ionian homes rather than submit
+to Cyrus, and founded that town, B.C. 544. The two forms were jointly
+worshipped with annual sacrifices in the temple of Lucina, under the
+name Sosipolis. The legend of this title is related by Pausanias. When
+the Arcadians invaded the Eleans, a woman came to the Elean commander
+with an infant at her breast, and said that she had been admonished
+in a dream to place her child in front of the army. This was done;
+as the Arcadians approached the child was changed to a serpent, and,
+astounded at the prodigy, they fled without giving battle. The child
+was represented by the Eleans decorated with stars, and holding the
+cornucopia; by the Arcadians, no doubt, in a less celestial way. It
+is not uncommon in Mythology to find the most dangerous demons
+represented under some guise of weakness, as, for instance, among
+the South Africans, some of whom recently informed English officers
+that the Galeikas were led against them by a terrible sorcerer in
+the form of a hare. The most fearful traditional demon ever slain
+by hero in Japan was Shuden Dozi--the Child-faced Drinker. In Ceylon
+the apparition of a demon is said to be frequently under the form of
+a woman with a child in her arms.
+Many animal demons are mere fables for the ferocity of human
+tribes. The Were-wolf superstition, which exists still in Russia, where
+the transformed monster is called volkodlák (volk, a wolf, and dlak,
+hair), might even have originated in the costume of Norse barbarians
+and huntsmen. The belief was always more or less rationalised,
+resembling that held by Verstegan three hundred years ago, and which
+may be regarded as prevalent among both the English and Flemish people
+of his day. 'These Were-wolves,' he says, 'are certain sorcerers,
+who, having anointed their bodies with an ointment they make by the
+instinct of the devil, and putting on a certain enchanted girdle,
+do not only unto the view of others seem as wolves, but to their own
+thinking have both the nature and shape of wolves so long as they
+wear the said girdle; and they do dispose themselves as very wolves,
+in worrying and killing, and waste of human creatures.' During the
+Franco-German war of 1870-71, a family of ladies on the German side
+of the Rhine, sitting up all night in apprehension, related to me
+such stories of the 'Turcos' that I have since found no difficulty
+in understanding the belief in weird and præternatural wolves which
+once filled Europe with horror. The facility with which the old Lycian
+wolf-girdle, so to say, was caught up and worn in so many countries
+where race-wars were chronic for many ages, renders it nearly certain
+that this superstition (Lycanthropy), however it may have originated,
+was continued through the custom of ascribing demonic characteristics
+to hostile and fierce races. It has been, indeed, a general opinion
+that the theoretical belief originated in the Pythagorean doctrine
+of metempsychosis. Thus Shakspere:--
+Thou almost makest me waver in my faith,
+To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
+That souls of animals infuse themselves
+Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
+Governed a wolf, who, hanged for human slaughter,
+Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
+And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam
+Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
+Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.
+But the superstition is much older than Pythagoras, who, no doubt,
+tried to turn it into a moral theory of retributions,--as indeed did
+Plato in his story of the Vision of Er the Armenian.
+Professor Weber and others have adduced evidence indicating that
+although belief in the transformation of men into beasts was not
+developed in the Vedic age of India, the matrix of it was there. But
+of our main fact--the association of demonic characters with certain
+tribes--India has presented many examples. In the mountains of
+Travancore there are tribes which are still generally believed to
+be on terms of especial familiarity with the devils of that region;
+and the dwellers on the plains relate that on these mountains gigantic
+demons, sixteen or seventeen feet high, may sometimes be seen hurling
+firebrands at each other.
+Professor Monier Williams contributes an interesting note concerning
+this general phase of South-Indian demonology. 'Furthermore, it
+must not be forgotten that although a belief in devils and homage
+to bhutas, or spirits, of all kinds is common all over India, yet
+what is called devil-worship is far more systematically practised
+in the South of India and Ceylon than in the North. And the reason
+may be that as the invading Aryans advanced towards Southern India,
+they found portions of it peopled by wild aboriginal savages, whose
+behaviour and aspect appeared to them to resemble that of devils. The
+Aryan mind, therefore, naturally pictured to itself the regions of the
+South as the chief resort and stronghold of the demon race, and the
+dread of demonical agency became more deeply rooted in Southern India
+than in the North. Curiously enough, too, it is commonly believed in
+Southern India that every wicked man contributes by his death to swell
+the ever-increasing ranks of devil legions. His evil passions do not
+die with him; they are intensified, concentrated, and perpetuated in
+the form of a malignant and mischievous spirit.' 
+It is obvious that this principle may be extended from individuals
+to entire tribes. The Cimmerians were regarded as dwelling in a land
+allied with hell. In the legend of the Alhambra, as told by Washington
+Irving, the astrologer warns the Moorish king that the beautiful
+damsel is no doubt one of those Gothic sorceresses of whom they have
+heard so much. Although, as we have seen, England was regarded on the
+Continent as an island of demons because of its northern latitude,
+probably some of its tribes were of a character dangerous enough to
+prolong the superstition. The nightmare elves were believed to come
+from England, and to hurry away through the keyholes at daybreak,
+saying 'The bells are calling in England.' [119] Visigoth probably
+left us our word bigot; and 'Goths and Vandals' sometimes designate
+English roughs, as 'Turks' those of Constantinople. Herodotus says
+the Scythians of the Black Sea regarded the Neurians as wizards,
+who transformed themselves into wolves for a few days annually; but
+the Scythians themselves are said by Herodotus to have sprung from a
+monster, half-woman half-serpent; and possibly the association of the
+Scotch with the Scythians by the Germans, who called them both Scutten,
+had something to do with the uncanny character ascribed to the British
+Isles. Sir Walter Raleigh described the Red Men of America as gigantic
+monsters. 'Red Devils' is still the pioneer's epithet for them in the
+Far West. The hairy Dukes of Esau were connected with the goat, and
+demonised as Edom; and Ishmael was not believed much better by the
+more peaceful Semitic tribes. Such notions are akin to those which
+many now have of the Thugs and Bashi-Bazouks, and are too uniform
+and natural to tax much the ingenuity of Comparative Mythology.
+Underlying many of the legends of giants and dwarfs may be found a
+similar demonologic formation. A principle of natural selection would
+explain the existence of tribes, which, though of small stature,
+are able to hold their own against the larger and more powerful by
+their superior cunning. That such equalisation of apparently unequal
+forces has been known in pre-historic ages may be gathered from many
+fables. Before Bali, the monarch already mentioned, whose power alarmed
+the gods themselves, Vishnu appeared as a dwarf, asking only so much
+land as he could measure with three steps; the apparently ridiculous
+request granted, the god strode over the whole earth with two steps
+and brought his third on the head of Bali. In Scandinavian fable
+we have the young giantess coming to her mother with the plough and
+ploughman in her apron, which she had picked up in the field. To her
+child's inquiry, 'What sort of beetle is this I found wriggling in
+the sand?' the giantess replies, 'Go put it back in the place where
+thou hast found it.  We must be gone out of this land, for these
+little people will dwell in it.'
+The Sagas contain many stories which, while written in glorification
+of the 'giant' race, relate the destruction of their chiefs by
+the magical powers of the dwarfs. I must limit myself to a few
+notes on the Ynglinga Saga. 'In Swithiod,' we are told, 'are many
+great domains, and many wonderful races of men, and many kinds of
+languages. There are giants, and there are dwarfs, and there are also
+blue men. There are wild beasts, and dreadfully large dragons.' We
+learn that in Asaland was a great chief, Odin, who went out to conquer
+Vanaland. The Vanalanders are declared to have magic arts,--such as
+are ascribed to Finns and Lapps to this day by the more ignorant of
+their neighbours. But that the people of Asaland learned their magic
+charms. 'Odin was the cleverest of them all, and from him all the
+others learned their magic arts.' 'Odin could make his enemies in
+battle blind, or deaf, or terror-struck, and their weapons so blunt
+that they could no more cut than a willow twig; on the other hand, his
+men rushed forward without armour, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit
+their shields, and were as strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed
+people at a blow, and neither fire nor iron told upon them. These
+were called Berserkers.' (From ber, bear, and serkr, sark or coat;
+the word being probably, as Maurer says, a survival of an earlier
+belief in the transformation of men into bears.) But the successors of
+Odin did not preserve his occult power. Svegdir, for instance, saw a
+large stone and a dwarf at the door entering in it. The dwarf called
+him to come in and he should see Odin. 'Swedger ran into the stone,
+which instantly closed behind him, and Swedger never came back.' The
+witchcraft of the Finn people is said to have led Vanlandi (Svegdir's
+son) to his death by Mara (night-mare). Vanlandi's son too, Visbur,
+fell a victim to sorcery. Such legends as these, and many others which
+may be found in Sturleson's Heimskringla, have influenced our popular
+stories whose interest turns on the skill with which some little Jack
+or Thumbling overcomes his adversary by superior cunning.
+Superstitions concerning dwarf-powers are especially rife in
+Northumberland, where they used to be called Duergar, and they were
+thought to abound on the hills between Rothbury and Elsdon. They
+mislead with torches. One story relates that a traveller, beguiled at
+night into a hut where a dwarf prepared a comfortable fire for him,
+found himself when daylight returned sitting upon the edge of a deep
+rugged precipice, where the slightest movement had caused him to be
+dashed to pieces. [120] The Northumbrian stories generally, however,
+do not bear the emphasis of having grown out of aboriginal conditions,
+or even of having been borrowed for such. The legends of Scotland,
+and of the South-West of England, appear to me much more suggestive of
+original struggles between large races and small. They are recalled by
+the superstitions which still linger in Norway concerning the Lapps,
+who are said to carry on unholy dealings with gnomes.
+In the last century the 'Brownie' was commonly spoken of in Scotland
+as appearing in shape of 'a tall man,' and the name seems to refer
+to the brown complexion of that bogey, and its long brown hair,
+hardly Scottish. [121] It is generally the case that Second Sight,
+which once attained the dignity of being called 'Deuteroscopia,'
+sees a doomed man or woman shrink to the size of a dwarf. The 'tall
+man' is not far off in such cases. 'In some age of the world more
+remote than even that of Alypos,' says Hugh Miller, 'the whole of
+Britain was peopled by giants--a fact amply supported by early English
+historians and the traditions of the North of Scotland. Diocletian,
+king of Syria, say the historians, had thirty-three daughters, who,
+like the daughters of Danaus, killed their husbands on their wedding
+night. The king, their father, in abhorrence of the crime, crowded
+them all into a ship, which he abandoned to the mercy of the waves,
+and which was drifted by tides and winds till it arrived on the coast
+of Britain, then an uninhabited island. There they lived solitary,
+subsisting on roots and berries, the natural produce of the soil,
+until an order of demons, becoming enamoured of them, took them for
+their wives; and a tribe of giants, who must be regarded as the true
+aborigines of the country, if indeed the demons have not a prior claim,
+were the fruit of these marriages. Less fortunate, however, than even
+their prototypes the Cyclops, the whole tribe was extirpated a few ages
+after by Brutus the parricide, who, with a valour to which mere bulk
+could offer no effectual resistance, overthrew Gog-Magog and Termagol,
+and a whole host of others with names equally terrible. Tradition
+is less explicit than the historians in what relates to the origin
+and extinction of the race, but its narratives of their prowess are
+more minute. There is a large and ponderous stone in the parish
+of Edderston which a giantess of the tribe is said to have flung
+from the point of a spindle across the Dornoch Firth; and another,
+within a few miles of Dingwall, still larger and more ponderous,
+which was thrown by a person of the same family, and which still
+bears the marks of a gigantic finger and thumb.' 
+Perhaps we may find the mythological descendants of these Titans,
+and also of the Druids, in the so-called 'Great Men' once dreaded
+by Highlanders. The natives of South Uist believed that a valley,
+called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side
+of the island, was haunted by these Great Men, and that if any one
+entered the valley without formally resigning themselves to the
+conduct of those beings, they would infallibly become mad. Martin,
+having remonstrated with the people against this superstition, was told
+of a woman's having come out of the valley a lunatic because she had
+not uttered the spell of three sentences. They also told him of voices
+heard in the air. The Brownie ('a tall man with very long brown hair'),
+who has cow's milk poured out for him on a hill in the same region,
+probably of this giant tribe, might easily have been demonised at
+the time when the Druids were giving St. Columba so much trouble,
+and trying to retain their influence over the people by professing
+supernatural powers. 
+The man of the smaller stature, making up for his inferiority by
+invention, perhaps first forged the sword, the coat of mail, and the
+shield, and so confronted the giant with success. The god with the
+Hammer might thus supersede the god of the Flint Spear. Magic art
+seemed to have rendered invulnerable the man from whom the arrow
+rebounded.
+It would appear from King Olaf Tryggvason's Saga that nine hundred
+years ago the Icelanders and the Danes reciprocally regarded each
+other as giants and dwarfs. The Icelanders indited lampoons against
+the Danes which allude to their diminutive size:--
+The gallant Harald in the field
+Between his legs lets drop his shield,
+Into a pony he was changed, &c.
+On the other hand, the Danes had by no means a contemptuous idea of
+their Icelandic enemies, as the following narrative from Heimskringla
+proves. 'King Harald told a warlock to hie to Iceland in some altered
+shape, and to try what he could learn there to tell him: and he set
+out in the shape of a whale. And when he came near to the land he
+went to the west side of Iceland, north around the land, when he
+saw all the mountains and hills full of land-serpents, some great,
+some small. When he came to Vapnafiord he went in towards the land,
+intending to go on shore; but a huge dragon rushed down the dale
+against him, with a train of serpents, paddocks, and toads, that blew
+poison towards him. Then he turned to go westward around the land as
+far as Eyafiord, and he went into the fiord. Then a bird flew against
+him, which was so great that its wings stretched over the mountains
+on either side of the fiord, and many birds, great and small, with
+it. Then he swam further west, and then south into Breidafiord. When
+he came into the fiord a large grey bull ran against him, wading into
+the sea, and bellowing fearfully, and he was followed by a crowd of
+land-serpents. From thence he went round by Reikaness and wanted to
+land at Vikarsted, but there came down a hill-giant against him with
+an iron staff in his hands. He was a head higher than the mountains,
+and many other giants followed him.' The most seductive Hesperian
+gardens of the South and East do not appear to have been so thoroughly
+guarded or defended as Iceland, and one can hardly call it cowardice
+when (after the wizard-whale brought back the log of its voyage)
+it is recorded: 'Then the Danish king turned about with his fleet
+and sailed back to Denmark.'
+It is a sufficiently curious fact that the Mimacs, aborigines of
+Nova Scotia, [124] were found with a whale-story, already referred to
+(p. 46), so much like this. They also have the legend of an ancient
+warrior named Booin, who possessed the præternatural powers especially
+ascribed to Odin, those of raising storms, causing excessive cold,
+increasing or diminishing his size, and assuming any shape. Besides
+the fearful race of gigantic ice-demons dreaded by this tribe, as
+elsewhere stated (p. 84), they dread also a yellow-horned dragon called
+Cheepichealm, (whose form the great Booin sometimes assumes). They
+make offerings to the new moon. They believe in pixies, calling them
+Wigguladum-moochkik, 'very little people.' They anciently believed in
+two great spirits, good and evil, both called Manitoos; since their
+contact with christians only the evil one has been so called.
+The entire motif of the Mimac Demonology is, to my mind, that of
+early conflicts with some formidable races. It is to be hoped that
+travellers will pay more attention to this unique race before it
+has ceased to exist. The Chinese theory of genii is almost exactly
+that of the Mimacs. The Chinese genii are now small as a moth, now
+fill the world; can assume any form; they command demons; they never
+die, but, at the end of some centuries, ride to heaven on a dragon's
+back. [125] Ordinarily the Chinese genii use the yellow heron as an
+aerial courser. The Mimacs believe in a large præternatural water-bird,
+Culloo, which devours ordinary people, but bears on its back those
+who can tame it by magic.
+Mr. Mayers, in his 'Chinese Reader's Manual,' suggests that the
+designation of Formosa as 'Isles of the Genii' (San Shén Shan) by the
+Chinese, has some reference to their early attempts at colonisation
+in Japan. Su Fuh, a necromancer, who lived B.C. 219, is said to have
+announced their discovery, and at the head of a troop of young men
+and maidens, voyaged with an expedition towards them, but, when within
+sight of the magic islands, were driven back by contrary winds.
+Gog and Magog stand in London Guildhall, though much diminished
+in stature, to suit the English muscles that had to bear them in
+processions, monuments of the præternatural size attributed to
+the enemies which the Aryan race encountered in its great westward
+migrations. Even to-day, when the progress of civilisation is harassed
+by untamed Scythian hordes, how strangely fall upon our ears the
+ancient legends and prophecies concerning them!
+Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
+Behold I am against thee, O Gog,
+Prince of Rosh, of Meshech, and of Tubul:
+And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee;
+And I will cause thee to come up from the north parts,
+And will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
+And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand,
+And will cause thine arrows to fall from thy right hand.
+Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel,
+Thou and all thy bands. 
+In the Koran it is related of Dhulkarnein:--'He journeyed from south to
+north until he came between the two mountains, beneath which he found
+a people who could scarce understand what was said. And they said, O
+Dhulkarnein, verily Gog and Magog waste the land; shall we, therefore,
+pay thee tribute, on condition that thou build a rampart between us
+and them? He answered, The power wherewith my Lord hath strengthened
+me is better than your tribute; but assist me strenuously and I will
+set a strong wall between you and them.... Wherefore when this wall
+was finished, Gog and Magog could not scale it, neither could they
+dig through it. And Dhulkarnein said, This is a mercy from my Lord;
+but when the prediction of my Lord shall come to be fulfilled, he
+will reduce the wall to dust.'
+The terror inspired by these barbarians is reflected in the prophecies
+of their certain irruption from their supernaturally-built fastnesses;
+as in Ezekiel:--
+Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm,
+Thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land,
+Thou and all thy bands,
+And many people with thee;
+and in the Koran, 'Gog and Magog shall have a passage open for them,
+and they shall hasten from every high hill;' and in the Apocalypse,
+'Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive
+the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,
+to gather them in battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the
+sea.' Five centuries ago Sir John Maundeville was telling in England
+the legend he had heard in the East. 'In that same regioun ben the
+mountaynes of Caspye, that men clepen Uber in the contree. Betwene the
+mountaynes the Jews of 10 lynages ben enclosed, that men clepen Gothe
+and Magothe: and they mowe not gon out on no syde. There weren enclosed
+22 kynges, with hire peple, that dwelleden betwene the mountayns
+of Sythe. There King Alisandre chacede hem betwene the mountaynes,
+and there he thought for to enclose hem thorghe work of his men. But
+when he saughe that he might not doon it, ne bringe it to an ende,
+he preyed to God of Nature, that he wolde performe that that he had
+begoune. And all were it so, that he was a Payneme, and not worthi to
+ben herd, zit God of his grace closed the mountaynes to gydre: so that
+thei dwellen there, all fast ylokked and enclosed with highe mountaynes
+all aboute, saf only on o syde; and on that syde is the See of Caspye.'
+BARRENNESS.
+Indian famine and Sun-spots--Sun-worship--Demon of the Desert--The
+Sphinx--Egyptian plagues described by Lepsius: Locusts, Hurricane,
+Flood, Mice, Flies--The Sheikh's ride--Abaddon--Set--Typhon--The
+Cain wind--Seth--Mirage--The Desert Eden--Azazel--Tawiscara and
+the Wild Rose.
+In their adoration of rain-giving Indra as also a solar majesty,
+the ancient Hindus seem to have been fully aware of his inconsistent
+habits. 'Thy inebriety is most intense,' exclaims the eulogist,
+and soothingly adds, 'Thou desirest that both thy inebriety and thy
+beneficence should be the means of destroying enemies and distributing
+riches.' [127] Against famine is invoked the thunderbolt of Indra,
+and it is likened to the terrible Tvashtri, in whose fearful shape
+(pure fire) Agni once appeared to the terror of gods and men. This Tvashtri was not an evil being himself, but, as we have seen, an
+artificer for the gods similar to Vulcan; he was, however, father of a
+three-headed monster who has been identified with Vritra. Though these
+early worshippers recognised that their chief trouble was connected
+with 'glaring heat' (which Tvashtri seems to mean in the passage just
+referred to), Indra's celebrants beheld him superseding his father
+Dyaus, and reigning in the day's splendour as well as in the cloud's
+bounty. This monopolist of parts in their theogony anticipated Jupiter
+Pluvius. Vedic mythology is pervaded with stories of the demons that
+arrested the rain and stole the cloud-cows of Indra--shutting them
+away in caves,--and the god is endlessly praised for dealing death
+to such. He slays Vritra, the 'rain-arresting,' and Dribhika, Bala,
+Urana, Arbuda, 'devouring Swasna,' 'unabsorbable Súshna,' Pipru,
+Namuchi, Rudhikrá, Varchin and his hundred thousand descendants; the deadly strangling serpent Ahi, especial type of Drouth as it dries
+up rivers; and through all these combats with the alleged authors of
+the recurring Barrenness and Famine, as most of these monsters were,
+the seat of the evil was the Sun-god's adorable self!
+Almost pathetic does the long and vast history appear just now,
+when competent men of science are giving us good reason to believe
+that right knowledge of the sun, and the relation of its spots to
+the rainfall, might have covered India with ways and means which
+would have adapted the entire realm to its environment, and wrested
+from Indra his hostile thunderbolt--the sunstroke of famine. The
+Hindus have covered their lands with temples raised to propitiate and
+deprecate the demons, and to invoke the deities against such sources
+of drouth and famine. Had they concluded that famine was the result of
+inexactly quartered sun-dials, the land would have been covered with
+perfect sun-dials; but the famine would have been more destructive,
+because of the increasing withdrawal of mind and energy from the
+true cause, and its implied answer. Even so were conflagrations in
+London attributed to inexact city clocks; the clocks would become
+perfect, the conflagrations more numerous, through misdirection
+of vigilance. But how much wiser are we of Christendom than the
+Hindus? They have adapted their country perfectly for propitiation of
+famine-demons that do not exist, at a cost which would long ago have
+rendered them secure from the famine-forces that do exist. We have
+similarly covered Christendom with a complete system of securities
+against hells and devils and wrathful deities that do not exist, while
+around our churches, chapels, cathedrals, are the actually-existent
+seething hells of pauperism, shame, and crime.
+'Nothing can advance art in any district of this accursed
+machine-and-devil-driven England until she changes her mind in many
+things.' So wrote John Ruskin recently. Of course, so long as the
+machine toils and earns wealth and other power which still goes to
+support and further social and ecclesiastical forms, constituted with
+reference to salvation from a devil or demons no longer believed in,
+the phrase 'machine-and-devil-driven' is true. Until the invention
+and enterprise of the nation are administered in the interest of right
+ideas, we may still sigh, like John Sterling, for 'a dozen men to stand
+up for ideas as Cobden and his friends do for machinery.' But it still
+remains as true that all the machinery and wealth of England devoted
+to man might make its every home happy, and educate every inhabitant,
+as that every idolatrous temple in India might be commuted into a
+shield against famine.
+Our astronomers and economists have enabled us to see clearly how
+the case is with the country whose temples offer no obstruction
+to christian vision. The facts point to the conclusion that the
+sun-spots reach their maximum and minimum of intensity at intervals of
+eleven years, and that their high activity is attended with frequent
+fluctuations of the magnetic needle, and increased rainfall. In 1811,
+and since then, famines in India have, with one exception, followed
+years of minimum sun-spots. [130] These facts are sufficiently well
+attested to warrant the belief that English science and skill will
+be able to realise in India the provision which Joseph is said to
+have made for the seven lean years of which Pharaoh dreamed.
+Until that happy era shall arrive, the poor Hindus will only go
+on alternately adoring and propitiating the sun, as its benign or
+its cruel influences shall fall upon them. The artist Turner said,
+'The sun is God.' The superb effects of light in Turner's pictures
+could hardly have come from any but a sun-worshipper dwelling amid
+fogs. Unfamiliarity often breeds reverence. There are few countries
+in which the sun, when it does shine, is so likely to be greeted with
+enthusiasm, and observed in all its variations of splendour, as one
+in which its appearance is rare. Yet the superstition inherited from
+regions where the sun is equally a desolation was strong enough to
+blot out its glory in the mind of a writer famous in his time, Tobias
+Swinden, M.A., who wrote a work to prove the sun to be the abode of
+the damned. [131] The speculation may now appear only curious, but,
+probably, it is no more curious than a hundred years from now will
+seem to all the vulgar notion of future fiery torments for mankind,
+the scriptural necessity of which led the fanciful rector to his
+grotesque conclusion. These two extremes--the Sun-worship of Turner,
+the Sun-horror of Swinden,--survivals in England, represent the two
+antagonistic aspects of the sun, which were of overwhelming import
+to those who dwelt beneath its greatest potency. His ill-humour, or
+his hunger and thirst, in any year transformed the earth to a desert,
+and dealt death to thousands.
+In countries where drouth, barrenness, and consequent famine were
+occasional, as in India, it would be an inevitable result that
+they would represent the varying moods of a powerful will, and
+in such regions we naturally find the most extensive appliances
+for propitiation. The preponderant number of fat years would
+tell powerfully on the popular imagination in favour of priestly
+intercession, and the advantage of sacrifices to the great Hunger-demon
+who sometimes consumed the seeds of the earth. But in countries
+where barrenness was an ever-present, visible, unvarying fact,
+the Demon of the Desert would represent Necessity, a power not to
+be coaxed or changed. People dwelling in distant lands might invent
+theoretical myths to account for the desert. It might be an accident
+resulting from the Sun-god having given up his chariot one day to an
+inexperienced driver who came too close to the earth. But to those
+who lived beside the desert it could only seem an infernal realm,
+quite irrecoverable. The ancient civilisation of Egypt, so full of
+grandeur, might, in good part, have been due to the lesson taught
+them by the desert, that they could not change the conditions around
+them by any entreaties, but must make the best of what was left. If
+such, indeed, was the force that built the ancient civilisation
+whose monuments remain so magnificent in their ruins, its decay
+might be equally accounted for when that primitive faith passed into
+a theological phase. For as Necessity is the mother of invention,
+Fate is fatal to the same. Belief in facts, and laws fixed in the
+organic nature of things, stimulates man to study them and constitute
+his life with reference to them; but belief that things are fixed by
+the arbitrary decree of an individual power is the final sentence
+of enterprise. Fate might thus steadily bring to ruin the grandest
+achievements of Necessity.
+Had we only the true history of the Sphinx--the Binder--we
+might find it a landmark between the rise and decline of Egyptian
+civilisation. When the great Limitation surrounding the powers of man
+was first personified with that mystical grandeur, it would stand
+in the desert not as the riddle but its solution. No such monument
+was ever raised by Doubt. But once personified and outwardly shaped,
+the external Binder must bind thought as well; nay, will throttle
+thought if it cannot pierce through the stone and discover the
+meaning of it. 'How true is that old fable of the Sphinx who sat by
+the wayside propounding her riddle to the passengers, which if they
+could not answer she destroyed them! Such a Sphinx is this Life of
+ours to all men and societies of men. Nature, like the Sphinx, is of
+womanly celestial loveliness and tenderness; the face and bosom of
+a goddess, but ending in claws and the body of a lioness. There is
+in her a celestial beauty,--which means celestial order, pliancy
+to wisdom; but there is also a darkness, a ferocity, fatality,
+which are infernal. She is a goddess, but one not yet disimprisoned;
+one still half-imprisoned,--the articulate, lovely still encased in
+the inarticulate, chaotic. How true! And does she not propound her
+riddles to us? Of each man she asks daily, in mild voice, yet with
+a terrible significance, 'Knowest thou the meaning of this Day? What
+thou canst do To-day, wisely attempt to do.' Nature, Universe, Destiny,
+Existence, howsoever we name this grand unnameable Fact, in the midst
+of which we live and struggle, is as a heavenly bride and conquest to
+the wise and brave, to them who can discern her behests and do them; a
+destroying fiend to them who cannot. Answer her riddle, it is well with
+thee. Answer it not, pass on regarding it not, it will answer itself;
+the solution for thee is a thing of teeth and claws; Nature to thee
+is a dumb lioness, deaf to thy pleadings, fiercely devouring. Thou
+art not now her victorious bridegroom; thou art her mangled victim,
+scattered on the precipices, as a slave found treacherous, recreant,
+ought to be, and must.' 
+On the verge of the Desert, Prime Minister to the Necropolis at
+whose gateway it stands, the Sphinx reposes amid the silence of
+science and the centuries. Who built it? None can answer, so far as
+the human artist, or the king under whom he worked, is concerned. But
+the ideas and natural forces which built the Sphinx surround even now
+the archæologist who tries to discover its history and chronology. As
+fittest appendage to Carlyle's interpretation, let us read some
+passages from Lepsius.
+'The Oedipus for this king of the Sphinxes is yet wanting. Whoever
+would drain the immeasurable sand-flood which buries the tombs
+themselves, and lay open the base of the Sphinx, the ancient
+temple-path, and the surrounding hills, could easily decide it. But
+with the enigmas of history there are joined many riddles and wonders
+of nature, which I must not leave quite unnoticed. The newest of all,
+at least, I must describe.
+'I had descended with Abeken into a mummy-pit, to open some
+newly discovered sarcophagi, and was not a little astonished, upon
+descending, to find myself in a regular snow-drift of locusts, which,
+almost darkening the heavens, flew over our heads from the south-west
+from the desert in hundreds of thousands to the valley. I took it
+for a single flight, and called my companions from the tombs, where
+they were busy, that they might see this Egyptian wonder ere it was
+over. But the flight continued; indeed the work-people said it had
+begun an hour before. Then we first observed that the whole region,
+near and far, was covered with locusts. I sent an attendant into the
+desert to discover the breadth of the flock. He ran for the distance
+of a quarter of an hour, then returned and told us that, as far as
+he could see, there was no end to them. I rode home in the midst of
+the locust shower. At the edge of the fruitful plain they fell down
+in showers; and so it went on the whole day until the evening, and
+so the next day from morning till evening, and the third; in short to
+the sixth day, indeed in weaker flights much longer. Yesterday it did
+seem that a storm of rain in the desert had knocked down and destroyed
+the last of them. The Arabs are now lighting great smoke-fires in the
+fields, and clattering and making loud noises all day long to preserve
+their crops from the unexpected invasion. It will, however, do little
+good. Like a new animated vegetation, these millions of winged spoilers
+cover even the neighbouring sand-hills, so that scarcely anything
+is to be seen of the ground; and when they rise from one place they
+immediately fall down somewhere in the neighbourhood; they are tired
+with their long journey, and seem to have lost all fear of their
+natural enemies, men, animals, smoke, and noise, in their furious
+wish to fill their stomachs, and in the feeding of their immense
+number. The most wonderful thing, in my estimation, is their flight
+over the naked wilderness, and the instinct which has guided them from
+some oasis over the inhospitable desert to the fat soil of the Nile
+vale. Fourteen years ago, it seems, this Egyptian plague last visited
+Egypt with the same force. The popular idea is that they are sent by
+the comet which we have observed for twelve days in the South-west,
+and which, as it is now no longer obscured by the rays of the moon,
+stretches forth its stately tail across the heavens in the hours
+of the night. The Zodiacal light, too, so seldom seen in the north,
+has lately been visible for several nights in succession.'
+Other plagues of Egypt are described by Lepsius:--
+'Suddenly the storm grew to a tremendous hurricane, such as I have
+never seen in Europe, and hail fell upon us in such masses as almost
+to turn day into night.... Our tents lie in a valley, whither the
+plateau of the pyramids inclines, and are sheltered from the worst
+winds from the north and west. Presently I saw a dashing mountain
+flood hurrying down upon our prostrate and sand-covered tents, like
+a giant serpent upon its certain prey. The principal stream rolled
+on to the great tent; another arm threatened mine without reaching
+it. But everything that had been washed from our tents by the shower
+was torn away by the two streams, which joined behind the tents, and
+carried into a pool behind the Sphinx, where a great lake immediately
+formed, which fortunately had no outlet. Just picture this scene
+to yourself! Our tents, dashed down by the storm and heavy rain,
+lying between two mountain torrents, thrusting themselves in several
+places to the depth of six feet in the sand, and depositing our books,
+drawings, sketches, shirts, and instruments--yes, even our levers and
+iron crow-bars; in short, everything they could seize, in the dark
+foaming mud-ocean. Besides this, ourselves wet to the skin, without
+hats, fastening up the weightier things, rushing after the lighter
+ones, wading into the lake to the waist to fish out what the sand had
+not yet swallowed; and all this was the work of a quarter of an hour,
+at the end of which the sun shone radiantly again, and announced the
+end of this flood by a bright and glorious rainbow.
+'Now comes the plague of mice, with which we were not formerly
+acquainted; in my tent they grow, play, and whistle, as if they
+had been at home here all their lives, and quite regardless of my
+presence. At night they have already run across my bed and face,
+and yesterday I started terrified from my slumbers, as I suddenly
+felt the sharp tooth of such a daring guest at my foot.
+'Above me a canopy of gauze is spread, in order to keep off the flies,
+these most shameless of the plagues of Egypt, during the day, and the
+mosquitos at night.... Scorpions and serpents have not bitten us yet,
+but there are very malicious wasps, which have often stung us.
+'The dale (in the Desert) was wild and monotonous, nothing but
+sandstone rock, the surfaces of which were burned as black as coals,
+but turned into burning golden yellow at every crack, and every ravine,
+whence a number of sand-rivulets, like fire-streams from black dross,
+ran and filled the valleys. No tree, no tuft of grass had we yet seen,
+also no animals, except a few vultures and crows feeding on the carcase
+of the latest fallen camel.... Over a wild and broken path, and cutting
+stones, we came deeper and deeper into the gorge. The first wide
+basins were empty, we therefore left the camels and donkeys behind,
+climbed up the smooth granite wall, and thus proceeded amidst these
+grand rocks from one basin to another; they were all empty. Behind
+there, in the farthest ravine, the guide said there must be water,
+for it was never empty; but there proved to be not a single drop. We
+were obliged to return dry.... We saw the most beautiful mirages very
+early in the day; they most minutely resemble seas and lakes, in which
+mountains, rocks, and everything in their vicinity, are reflected
+as in the clearest water. They form a remarkable contrast with the
+staring dry desert, and have probably deceived many a poor wanderer,
+as the legend goes. If one be not aware that no water is there, it is
+quite impossible to distinguish the appearance from the reality. A
+few days ago I felt quite sure that I perceived an overflowing of
+the Nile, or a branch near El Mechêref, and rode towards it, but only
+found Bahr Sheitan, Satan's water, as the Arabs call it.' 
+Amid such scenery the Sphinx arose. Egypt was able to recognise the
+problem of blended barrenness and beauty--alternation of Nature's
+flowing breast and leonine claw--but could she return the right
+answer? The primitive Egyptian answer may, indeed, as I have guessed,
+be the great monuments of her civilisation, but her historic solution
+has been another world. This world a desert, with here and there a
+momentary oasis, where man may dance and feast a little, stimulated
+by the corpse borne round the banquet, ere he passes to paradise. So
+thought they and were deceived; from generation to generation have
+they been destroyed, even unto this day. How destroyed, Lepsius may
+again be our witness.
+'The Sheîkh of the Saadîch-derwishes rides to the chief Sheîkh of all
+the derwishes of Egypt, El Bekri. On the way thither, a great number
+of these holy folk, and others, too, who fancy themselves not a whit
+behind-hand in piety, throw themselves flat on the ground, with their
+faces downward, and so that the feet of one lie close to the head of
+the next; over this living carpet the sheîkh rides on his horse, which
+is led on each side by an attendant, in order to compel the animal to
+the unnatural march. Each body receives two treads of the horse; most
+of them jump up again without hurt, but whoever suffers serious, or as
+it occasionally happens, mortal injury, has the additional ignominy
+to bear of not having pronounced, or not being able to pronounce,
+the proper prayers and magical charms that alone could save him.'
+'What a fearful barbarous worship' (the Sikr, in which the derwishes
+dance until exhausted, howling 'No God but Allah') 'which the astounded
+multitude, great and small, gentle and simple, gaze upon seriously,
+and with stupid respect, and in which it not unfrequently takes a
+part! The invoked deity is manifestly much less an object of reverence
+than the fanatic saints who invoke him; for mad, idiotic, or other
+psychologically-diseased persons are very generally looked upon as
+holy by the Mohammedans, and treated with great respect. It is the
+demoniacal, incomprehensibly-acting, and therefore fearfully-observed,
+power of nature that the natural man always reveres when he perceives
+it, because he is sensible of some connection between it and his
+intellectual power, without being able to command it; first in the
+mighty elements, then in the wondrous but obscure law-governed
+instincts of animals, and at last in the yet more overpowering
+ecstatical or generally abnormal mental condition of his own race.'
+The right answer to the enigma of the Sphinx is Man. But this creature
+prostrating himself under the Sheîkh's horse, or under the invisible
+Sheîkh called Allah, and ascribing sanctity to the half-witted, is not
+Man at all. Those hard-worked slaves who escaped into the wilderness,
+and set up for worship an anthropomorphic Supreme Will, and sought
+their promised milk and honey in this world alone, carried with them
+the only force that could rightly answer the Sphinx. Their Allah or
+Elohim they heard say,--'Why howlest thou to me? Go forward.' Somewhat
+more significant than his usual jests was that cartoon of Punch which
+represented the Sphinx with relaxed face smiling recognition on the
+most eminent of contemporary Israelites returning to the land of his
+race's ancient bondage, to buy the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal half
+answers the Sphinx; when man has subdued the Great Desert to a sea,
+the solution will be complete, and the Sphinx may cast herself into it.
+Far and wide through the Southern world have swarmed the
+locusts described by Lepsius, and with them have migrated many
+superstitions. The writer of this well remembers the visit of the
+so-called 'Seventeen-year locusts,' to the region of Virginia where he
+was born, and across many years can hear the terrible never-ceasing
+roar coming up from the woods, uttering, as all agreed, the ominous
+word 'Pharaoh.' On each wing every eye could see the letter W,
+signifying War. With that modern bit of ancient Egypt in my memory,
+I find the old Locust-mythology sufficiently impressive.
+By an old tradition the Egyptians, as described by Lepsius, connected
+the locusts with the comet. In the Apocalypse (ix.) a falling star
+is the token of the descent of the Locust-demon to unlock the pit
+that his swarms may issue forth for their work of destruction. Their
+king Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon,--Destroyer,--has had an evolution
+from being the angel of the two (rabbinical) divisions of Hades to the
+successive Chiefs of Saracenic hordes. It is interesting to compare the
+graphic description of a locust-storm in Joel, with its adaptation to
+an army of human destroyers in the Apocalypse. And again the curious
+description of these hosts of Abaddon in the latter book, partly repeat
+the strange notions of the Bedouins concerning the locust,--one of
+whom, says Niebuhr, 'compared the head of the locust to that of the
+horse; its breast to that of a lion; its feet to those of a camel;
+its body to that of the serpent; its tail to that of the scorpion;
+its horns (antennæ) to the locks of hair of a virgin.' The present
+generation has little reason to deny the appropriateness of the
+biblical descriptions of Scythian hordes as locusts. 'The land is as
+the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness.'
+The ancient seeming contest between apparent Good and Evil in Egypt,
+was represented in the wars of Ra and Set. It is said (Gen. iv. 26),
+'And to Seth, to him also was born a son; and he called his name
+Enos; then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.' Aquila
+reads this--'Then Seth began to be called by the name of the
+Lord.' Mr. Baring-Gould remarks on this that Seth was at first regarded
+by the Egyptians as the deity of light and civilisation, but that
+they afterwards identified as Typhon, because he was the chief god of
+the Hyksos or shepherd kings; and in their hatred of these oppressors
+the name of Seth was everywhere obliterated from their monuments, and
+he was represented as an ass, or with an ass's head. [134] But the
+earliest date assigned to the Hyksos dominion in Egypt, B.C. 2000,
+coincides with that of the Egyptian planisphere in Kircher, where Seth is found identified with Sirius, or the dog-headed Mercury,
+in Capricorn. This is the Sothiac Period, or Cycle of the Dog-star. He
+was thus associated with the goat and the winter solstice, to which
+(B.C. 2000) Capricorn was adjacent. That Seth or Set became the
+name for the demon of disorder and violence among the Egyptians is,
+indeed, probably due to his being a chief god, among some tribes
+Baal himself, among the Asiatics, before the time of the Hyksos. It
+was already an old story to put their neighbours' Light for their own
+Darkness. The Ass's ears they gave him referred not to his stupidity,
+but to his hearing everything, as in the case of the Ass of Apuleius,
+and the ass Nicon of Plutarch, or, indeed, the many examples of the
+same kind which preceeded the appearance of this much misunderstood
+animal as the steed of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. In
+Egyptian symbolism those long ears were as much dreaded as devils'
+horns. From the eyes of Ra all beneficent things, from the eyes of Set
+all noxious things, were produced. Amen-Ra, as the former was called,
+slew the son of Set, the great serpent Naka, which in one hymn is
+perhaps tauntingly said to have 'saved his feet.' Amen-Ra becomes
+Horus and Set becomes Typhon. The Typhonian myth is very complex,
+and includes the conflict between the Nile and all its enemies--the
+crocodiles that lurk in it, the sea that swallows it, the drouth that
+dries it, the burning heat that brings malaria from it, the floods
+that render it destructive--and Set was through it evolved to a point
+where he became identified with Saturn, Sheitan, or Satan. Plutarch,
+identifying Set with Typho, says that those powers of the universal
+Soul, which are subject to the influences of passions, and in the
+material system whatever is noxious, as bad air, irregular seasons,
+eclipses of the sun and moon, are ascribed to Typho. The name Set,
+according to him, means 'violent' and 'hostile;' and he was described
+as 'double-headed,' 'he who has two countenances,' and 'the Lord of
+the World.' Not the least significant fact, in a moral sense, is that
+Set or Typho is represented as the brother of Osiris whom he slew.
+Without here going into the question of relationship between Typhaon
+and Typhoeus, we may feel tolerably certain that the fire-breathing
+hurricane-monster Typhaon of Homer, and the hundred-headed,
+fierce-eyed roarer Typhoeus--son of Tartarus, father of Winds and
+Harpies--represent the same ferocities of Nature. No fitter place
+was ever assigned him than the African desert, and the story of
+the gods and goddesses fleeing before Typhon into Egypt, and there
+transforming themselves into animals, from terror, is a transparent
+tribute to the dominion over the wilderness of sand exercised by the
+typhoon in its many moods. The vulture-harpy tearing the dead is his
+child. He is many-headed; now hot, stifling, tainted; now tempestuous;
+here sciroc, there hurricane, and often tornado. It may be indeed that
+as at once coiled in the whirlwind and blistering, he is the fiery
+serpent to appease whom Moses lifted the brasen serpent for the worship
+of Israel. I have often seen snakes hung up by negroes in Virginia,
+to bring rain in time of drouth. Typhon, as may easily be seen by the
+accompanying figure (14), is a hungry and thirsty demon. His tongue is
+lolling out with thirst. [136] His later connection with the underworld
+is shown in various myths, one of which seems to suggest a popular
+belief that Typhon is not pleased with the mummies withheld from him,
+and that he can enjoy his human viands only through burials of the
+dead. In Egypt, after the Coptic Easter Monday--called Shemmen-Nesseem
+(smelling the zephyr)--come the fifty-days' hot wind, called Khamseen
+or Cain wind. After slaying Abel, Cain wandered amid such a wind,
+tortured with fever and thirst. Then he saw two birds fight in the
+air; one having killed the other scratched a hole in the desert sand
+and buried it. Cain then did the like by his brother's body, when a
+zephyr sprang up and cooled his fever. But still, say the Alexandrians,
+the fifty-days' hot Cain wind return annually.
+In pictures of the mirage, or in cloud-shapes faintly illumined by
+the afterglow, the dwellers beside the plains of sand saw, as in
+phantasmagoria, the gorgeous palaces, the air-castles, and mysterious
+cities, which make the romance of the desert. Unwilling to believe
+that such realms of barrenness had ever been created by any good god,
+they beheld in dreams, which answer to nature's own mirage-dreaming,
+visions of dynasties passed away, of magnificent palaces and monarchs
+on whose pomp and heaven-defying pride the fatal sand-storm had fallen,
+and buried their glories in the dust for ever. The desert became the
+emblem of immeasurable all-devouring Time. In many of these legends
+there are intimations of a belief that Eden itself lay where now all is
+unbroken desert. In the beautiful legend in the Midrash of Solomon's
+voyage on the Wind, the monarch alighted near a lofty palace of gold,
+'and the scent there was like the scent of the garden of Eden.' The
+dust had so surrounded this palace that Solomon and his companions only
+learned that there had been an entrance from an eagle in it thirteen
+centuries old, which had heard from its father the tradition of an
+entrance on the western side. The obedient Wind having cleared away
+the sand, a door was found on whose lock was written, 'Be it known to
+you, ye sons of men, that we dwelt in this palace in prosperity and
+delight many years. When the famine came upon us we ground pearls
+in the mill instead of wheat, but it profited us nothing.' Amid
+marvellous splendours, from chamber to chamber garnished with ruby,
+topaz, emerald, Solomon passed to a mansion on whose three gates
+were written admonitions of the transitory nature of all things
+but--Death. 'Let not fortune deceive thee.' 'The world is given from
+one to another.' On the third gate was written, 'Take provision for
+thy journey, and make ready food for thyself while it is yet day;
+for thou shalt not be left on the earth, and thou knowest not the day
+of thy Death.' This gate Solomon opened and saw within a life-like
+image seated: as the monarch approached, this image cried with a
+loud voice, 'Come hither, ye children of Satan; see! King Solomon is
+come to destroy you.' Then fire and smoke issued from the nostrils of
+the image; and there were loud and bitter cries, with earthquake and
+thunder. But Solomon uttered against them the Ineffable Name, and all
+the images fell on their faces, and the sons of Satan fled and cast
+themselves into the sea, that they might not fall into the hands of
+Solomon. The king then took from the neck of the image a silver tablet,
+with an inscription which he could not read, until the Almighty sent
+a youth to assist him. It said:--'I, Sheddad, son of Ad, reigned over
+a thousand thousand provinces, and rode on a thousand thousand horses;
+a thousand thousand kings were subject to me, and a thousand thousand
+warriors I slew. Yet in the hour that the Angel of Death came against
+me, I could not withstand him. Whoso shall read this writing let him
+not trouble himself greatly about this world, for the end of all men
+is to die, and nothing remains to man but a good name.' 
+Azazel--'of doubtful meaning'--is the biblical name of the Demon of the
+Desert (Lev. xvi.). 'Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot
+for Jehovah, and the other for Azazel. And Aaron shall bring the goat
+upon which the lot for Jehovah fell, and offer him for a sin-offering:
+But the goat, on which the lot for Azazel fell, shall be presented
+alive before Jehovah, to make an atonement with him, to let him go to
+Azazel in the wilderness.... And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon
+the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of
+the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins,
+putting them upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand
+of a fit man into the desert. And the goat shall bear upon him all
+their iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and he shall let go the
+goat in the desert.' Of the moral elements here involved much will
+have to be said hereafter. This demon ultimately turned to a devil;
+and persisting through both forms is the familiar principle that it
+is 'well enough to have friends on both sides' so plainly at work in
+the levitical custom; but it is particularly interesting to observe
+that the same animal should be used as offerings to the antagonistic
+deities. In Egyptian Mythology we find that the goat had precisely
+this two-fold consecration. It was sacred to Chem, the Egyptian Pan,
+god of orchards and of all fruitful lands; and it became also sacred
+to Mendes, the 'Destroyer,' or 'Avenging Power' of Ra. It will thus
+be seen that the same principle which from the sun detached the
+fructifying from the desert-making power, and made Typhon and Osiris
+hostile brothers, prevailed to send the same animal to Azazel in the
+Desert and Jehovah of the milk and honey land. Originally the goat was
+supreme. The Samaritan Pentateuch, according to Aben Ezra (Preface to
+Esther), opens, 'In the beginning Ashima created the heaven and the
+earth.' In the Hebrew culture-myth of Cain and Abel, also brothers,
+there may be represented, as Goldziher supposes, the victory of the
+agriculturist over the nomad or shepherd; but there is also traceable
+in it the supremacy of the Goat, Mendez or Azima. 'Abel brought the
+firstling of the goats.'
+Very striking is the American (Iroquois) myth of the conflict between
+Joskeha and Tawiscara,--the White One and the Dark One. They were
+twins, born of a virgin who died in giving them life. Their grandmother
+was the moon (Ataensic, she who bathes). These brothers fought, Joskeha
+using as weapon the horns of a stag, Tawiscara the wild-rose. The
+latter fled sorely wounded, and the blood gushing from him turned to
+flint-stones. The victor, who used the stag-horns (the same weapon
+that Frey uses against Beli, in the Prose Edda, and denoting perhaps a
+primitive bone-age art), destroyed a monster frog which swallowed all
+the waters, and guided the torrents into smooth streams and lakes. He
+stocked the woods with game, invented fire, watched and watered crops,
+and without him, says the old missionary Brebeuf, 'they think they
+could not boil a pot.' The use by the desert-demon Tawiscara of a
+wild rose as his weapon is a beautiful touch in this myth. So much
+loveliness grew even amid the hard flints. One is reminded of the
+closing scene in the second part of Goethe's Faust. There, when Faust
+has realised the perfect hour to which he can say, 'Stay, thou art
+fair!' by causing by his labour a wilderness to blossom as a rose,
+he lies down in happy death; and when the demons come for his soul,
+angels pelt them with roses, which sting them like flames. Not wild
+roses were these, such as gave the Dark One such poor succour. The
+defence of Faust is the roses he has evoked from briars.
+OBSTACLES.
+Mephistopheles on Crags--Emerson on Monadnoc--Ruskin on
+Alpine peasants--Holy and Unholy Mountains--The Devil's
+Pulpit--Montagnards--Tarns--Tenjo--T'ai-shan--Apocatequil--Tyrolese
+Legends--Rock Ordeal--Scylla and Charybdis--Scottish
+Giants--Pontifex--Devil's Bridges--Le géant Yéous.
+Related to the demons of Barrenness, and to the hostile human demons,
+but still possessing characteristics of their own, are the demons
+supposed to haunt gorges, mountain ranges, ridges of rocks, streams
+which cannot be forded and are yet unbridged, rocks that wreck the
+raft or boat. Each and every obstruction that stood in the way of man's
+plough, or of his first frail ship, or his migration, has been assigned
+its demon. The reader of Goethe's page has only to turn to the opening
+lines of Walpurgisnacht in Faust to behold the real pandemonium of
+the Northern man, as in Milton he may find that of the dweller amid
+fiery deserts and volcanoes. That labyrinth of vales, crossed with
+wild crag and furious torrent, is the natural scenery to surround
+the orgies of the phantoms which flit from the uncultured brain to
+uncultured nature. Elsewhere in Goethe's great poem, Mephistopheles
+pits against the philosophers the popular theory of the rugged remnants
+of chaos in nature, and the obstacles before which man is powerless.
+FAUST. For me this mountain mass rests nobly dumb;
+I ask not whence it is, nor why 'tis come?
+Herself when Nature in herself did found
+This globe of earth, she then did purely round;
+The summit and abyss her pleasure made,
+Mountain to mountain, rock to rock she laid;
+The hillocks down she neatly fashion'd then,
+To valleys soften'd them with gentle train.
+Then all grew green and bloom'd, and in her joy
+She needs no foolish spoutings to employ.
+MEPHISTOPHELES. So say ye! It seems clear as noon to ye,
+Yet he knows who was there the contrary.
+I was hard by below, when seething flame
+Swelled the abyss, and streaming fire forth came;
+When Moloch's hammer forging rock to rock,
+Far flew the fragment-cliffs beneath the shock:
+Of masses strange and huge the land was full;
+Who clears away such piles of hurl'd misrule?
+Philosophers the reason cannot see;
+There lies the rock, and they must let it be.
+We have reflected till ashamed we've grown;
+The common folk can thus conceive alone,
+And in conception no disturbance know,
+Their wisdom ripen'd has long while ago:
+A miracle it is, they Satan honour show.
+My wanderer on faith's crutches hobbles on
+Towards the devil's bridge and devil's stone. 
+The great American poet made his pilgrimage to the mountain so
+beautiful in the distance, thinking to find there the men of equal
+elevation. Did not Milton describe Freedom as 'a mountain nymph?'
+To myself I oft recount
+The tale of many a famous mount,--
+Wales, Scotland, Uri, Hungary's dells;
+Roys, and Scanderbergs, and Tells.
+Here Nature shall condense her powers,
+Her music, and her meteors,
+And lifting man to the blue deep
+Where stars their perfect courses keep,
+Like wise preceptor, lure his eye.
+To sound the science of the sky.
+But instead of finding there the man using those crags as a fastness
+to fight pollution of the mind, he
+searched the region round
+And in low hut my monarch found:
+He was no eagle, and no earl;--
+Alas! my foundling was a churl,
+With heart of cat and eyes of bug,
+Dull victim of his pipe and mug. 
+Ruskin has the same gloomy report to make of the mountaineers of
+Europe. 'The wild goats that leap along those rocks have as much
+passion of joy in all that fair work of God as the men that toil
+among them. Perhaps more.' 'Is it not strange to reflect that hardly
+an evening passes in London or Paris but one of those cottages is
+painted for the better amusement of the fair and idle, and shaded
+with pasteboard pines by the scene-shifter; and that good and kind
+people,--poetically minded,--delight themselves in imagining the
+happy life led by peasants who dwell by Alpine fountains, and kneel
+to crosses upon peaks of rock? that nightly we lay down our gold to
+fashion forth simulacra of peasants, in gay ribbons and white bodices,
+singing sweet songs and bowing gracefully to the picturesque crosses;
+and all the while the veritable peasants are kneeling, songlessly, to
+veritable crosses in another temper than the kind and fair audiences
+dream of, and assuredly with another kind of answer than is got out
+of the opera catastrophe.' 
+The writer remembers well the emphasis with which a poor woman at whose
+cottage he asked the path to the Natural Bridge in Virginia said,
+'I don't know why so many people come to these rocks; for my part,
+give me a level country.' Many ages lay between that aged crone and
+Emerson or Ruskin, and they were ages of heavy war with the fortresses
+of nature. The fabled ordeals of water and fire through which the human
+race passed were associated with Ararat and Sinai, because to migrating
+or farming man the mountain was always an ordeal, irrespective even of
+its torrents or its occasional lava-streams. A terrible vista is opened
+by the cry of Lot, 'I cannot escape to the mountain lest some evil take
+me!' Not even the fire consuming Sodom in the plains could nerve him
+to dare cope with the demons of the steep places. As time went on,
+devotees proved to the awe-stricken peasantries their sanctity and
+authority by combating those mountain demons, and erecting their altars
+in the 'high places.' So many summits became sacred. But this very
+sanctity was the means of bringing on successive demoniac hordes to
+haunt them; for every new religion saw in those altars in 'high places'
+not victories over demons, but demon-shrines. And thus mountains became
+the very battlefields between rival deities, each demon to his or her
+rival; and the conflict lasts from the cursing of the 'high places'
+by the priests of Israel [141] to the Devil's Pulpits of the Alps
+and Apennines. Among the beautiful frescoes at Baden is that of the
+Angel's and the Devil's Pulpit, by Götzenberger. Near Gernsbach,
+appropriately at the point where the cultivable valley meets the
+unconquerable crests of rock, stand the two pulpits from which Satan
+and an Angel contended, when the first Christian missionaries had
+failed to convert the rude foresters. When, by the Angel's eloquence,
+all were won from the Devil's side except a few witches and usurers,
+the fiend tore up great masses of rock and built the 'Devil's Mill'
+on the mountain-top; and he was hurled down by the Almighty on the
+rocks near 'Lord's Meadow,' where the marks of his claws may still
+be seen, and where, by a diminishing number of undiminished ears,
+his groans are still heard when a storm rages through the valley.
+Such conflicts as these have been in some degree associated with every
+mountain of holy or unholy fame. Each was in its time a prosaic Hill
+Difficulty, with lions by no means chained, to affright the hearts
+of Mistrust and Timorous, till Dervish or Christian impressed there
+his holy footprint, visible from Adam's Peak to Olivet, or built
+there his convents, discernible from Meru and Olympus to Pontyprydd
+and St. Catharine's Hill. By necessary truces the demons and deities
+repair gradually to their respective summits,--Seir and Sinai hold
+each their own. But the Holy Hills have never equalled the number of
+Dark Mountains [142] dreaded by man. These obstructive demons made
+the mountains Moul-ge and Nin-ge, names for the King and Queen of
+the Accadian Hell; they made the Finnish Mount Kippumaki the abode
+of all Pests. They have identified their name (Elf) with the Alps,
+given nearly every tarn an evil fame, and indeed created a special
+class of demons, 'Montagnards,' much dreaded by mediæval miners,
+whose faces they sometimes twisted so that they must look backward
+physically, as they were much in the habit of doing mentally, for ever
+afterward. Gervais of Tilbury, in his Chronicle, declares that on the
+top of Mount Canigon in France, which has a very inaccessible summit,
+there is a black lake of unknown depth, at whose bottom the demons
+have a palace, and that if any one drops a stone into that water,
+the wrath of the mountain demons is shown in sudden and frightful
+tempests. From a like tarn in Cornwall, as Cornish Folklore claims,
+on an accessible but very tedious hill, came up the hand which received
+the brand Escalibore when its master could wield it no more,--as told
+in the Morte D'Arthur, with, however, clear reference to the sea.
+I cannot forbear enlivening my page with the following sketch of a
+visit of English officers to the realm of Ten-jo, the long-nosed
+Mountain-demon of Japan, which is very suggestive of the mental
+atmosphere amid which such spectres exist. The mountains and forests
+of Japan are, say these writers, inhabited as thickly by good and
+evil spirits as the Hartz and Black Forest, and chief among them,
+in horrible sanctity, is O-yama,--the word echoes the Hindu Yama,
+Japanese Amma, kings of Hades,--whose demon is Ten-jo. 'Abdul and
+Mulney once started, on three days' leave, with the intention of
+climbing to the summit--not of Ten-jo's nose, but of the mountain;
+their principal reason for so doing being simply that they were told
+by every one that they had better not. They first tried the ascent on
+the most accessible side, but fierce two-sworded yakomins jealously
+guarded it; and they were obliged to make the attempt on the other,
+which was almost inaccessible, and was Ten-jo's region. The villagers
+at the base of the mountain begged them to give up the project; and
+one old man, a species of patriarch, reasoned with them. 'What are
+you going to do when you get to the top?' he asked. Our two friends
+were forced to admit that their course, then, would be very similar
+to that of the king of France and his men--come down again.
+The old man laughed pityingly, and said, 'Well, go if you like; but,
+take my word for it, Ten-jo will do you an injury.'
+They asked who Ten-jo was.
+'Why Ten-jo,' said the old man, 'is an evil spirit, with a long nose,
+who will dislocate your limbs if you persist in going up the mountain
+on this side.'
+'How do you know he has got a long nose?' they asked, 'Have you ever
+seen him?'
+'Because all evil spirits have long noses'--here Mulney hung his
+head,--'and,' continued the old man, not noticing how dreadfully
+personal he was becoming to one of the party, 'Ten-jo has the longest
+of the lot. Did you ever know a man with a long nose who was good?'
+'Come on,' said Mulney hurriedly to Abdul, 'or the old fool will make
+me out an evil spirit.'
+'Syonara,' said the old man as they walked away, 'but look out for
+Ten-jo!'
+After climbing hard for some hours, and not meeting a single human
+being,--not even the wood-cutter could be tempted by the fine timber
+to encroach on Ten-jo's precincts,--they reached the top, and enjoyed
+a magnificent view. After a rest they started on their descent,
+the worst part of which they had accomplished, when, as they were
+walking quietly along a good path, Abdul's ankle turned under him,
+and he went down as if he had been shot, with his leg broken in two
+places. With difficulty Mulney managed to get him to the village
+they had started from, and the news ran like wild-fire that Ten-jo
+had broken the leg of one of the adventurous tojins.
+'I told you how it would be,' exclaimed the old man, 'but you would
+go. Ah, Ten-jo is a dreadful fellow!'
+All the villagers, clustering round, took up the cry, and shook
+their heads. Ten-jo's reputation had increased wonderfully by this
+accident. Poor Abdul was on his back for eleven weeks, and numbers of
+Japanese--for he was a general favourite amongst them--went to see him,
+and to express their regret and horror at Ten-jo's behaviour. 
+It is obvious that to a demon dwelling in a high mountain a
+long nose would be variously useful to poke into the affairs of
+people dwelling in the plains, and also to enjoy the scent of
+their sacrifices offered at a respectful distance. That feature
+of the face which Napoleon I. regarded as of martial importance,
+and which is prominent in the warriors marked on the Mycenæ pottery,
+has generally been a physiognomical characteristic of European ogres,
+who are blood-smellers. That the significance of Ten-jo's long nose
+is this, appears probable when we compare him with the Calmuck
+demon Erlik, whose long nose is for smelling out the dying. The
+Cossacks believed that the protector of the earth was a many-headed
+elephant. The snouted demon (figure 15) is from a picture of Christ
+delivering Adam and Eve from hell, by Lucas Van Leyden, 1521.
+The Chinese Mountains also have their demons. The demon of the mountain
+T'ai-shan, in Shantung, is believed to regulate the punishments
+of men in this world and the next. Four other demon princes rule
+over the principal mountain chains of the Empire. Mr. Dennys remarks
+that mountainous localities are so regularly the homes of fairies in
+Chinese superstition that some connection between the fact and the
+relation of 'Elf' to 'Alp' in Europe is suggested. [144] But this
+coincidence is by no means so remarkable as the appearance among
+these Chinese mountain sprites of the magical 'Sesame,' so familiar
+to us in Arabian legend. The celebrated mountain Ku'en Lun (usually
+identified with the Hindoo Kush) is said to be peopled with fairies,
+who cultivate upon its terraces the 'fields of sesamum and gardens
+of coriander seeds,' which are eaten as ordinary food by those who
+possess the gift of longevity.
+In the superstitions of the American Aborigines we find gigantic demons
+who with their hands piled up mountain-chains as their castles, from
+whose peak-towers they hurled stones on their enemies in the plains,
+and slung them to the four corners of the earth. [145] Such was the
+terrible Apocatequil, whose statue was erected on the mountains, with
+that of his mother on the one hand and his brother on the other. He
+was Prince of Evil and the chief god of the Peruvians. From Quito
+to Cuzco every Indian would give all he possessed to conciliate
+him. Five priests, two stewards, and a crowd of slaves served his
+image. His principal temple was surrounded by a considerable village,
+whose inhabitants had no other occupation than to wait on him. 
+The plaudits which welcomed the first railway train that sped beneath
+the Alps, echoing amid their crags and gorges, struck with death
+the old phantasms which had so long held sway in the imagination of
+the Southern peasantry. The great tunnel was hewn straight through
+the stony hearts of giants whom Christianity had tried to slay, and,
+failing that, baptised and adopted. It is in the Tyrol that we find
+the clearest survivals of the old demons of obstruction, the mountain
+monarchs. Such is Jordan the Giant of Kohlhütte chasm, near Ungarkopf,
+whose story, along with others, is so prettily told by the Countess Von
+Gunther. This giant is something of a Ten-jo as to nose, for he smells
+'human meat' where his pursued victims are hidden, and his snort makes
+things tremble as before a tempest; but he has not the intelligence
+ascribed to large noses, for the boys ultimately persuade him that
+the way to cross a stream is to tie a stone around his neck, and he
+is drowned. One of the giants of Albach could carry a rock weighing
+10,000 pounds, and his comrades, while carrying others of 700 pounds,
+could leap from stone to stone across rivers, and stoop to catch
+the trout with their hands as they leaped. The ferocious Orco, the
+mountain-ghost who never ages, fulfils the tradition of his classic
+name by often appearing as a monstrous black dog, from whose side
+stones rebound, and fills the air with a bad smell (like Mephisto). His
+employment is hurling wayfarers down precipices. In her story of the
+'Unholdenhof'--or 'monster farm' in the Stubeithal--the Countess Von
+Gunther describes the natural character of the mountain demons.
+'It was on this self-same spot that the forester and his son took up
+their abode, and they became the dread and abomination of the whole
+surrounding country, for they practised, partly openly and partly in
+secret, the most manifold iniquities, so that their nature and bearing
+grew into something demoniacal. As quarrellers very strong, and as
+enemies dreadfully revengeful, they showed their diabolical nature by
+the most inhuman deeds, which brought down injury not only on those
+against whom their wrath was directed, but also upon their families for
+centuries. In the heights of the mountains they turned the beds of the
+torrents, and devastated by this means the most flourishing tracts of
+land; on other places the Unholde set on fire whole mountain forests,
+to allow free room for the avalanches to rush down and overwhelm the
+farms. Through certain means they cut holes and fissures in the rocks,
+in which, during the summer, quantities of water collected, which froze
+in the winter, and then in the spring the thawing ice split the rocks,
+which then rolled down into the valleys, destroying everything before
+them.... But at last Heaven's vengeance reached them. An earthquake
+threw the forester's house into ruins, wild torrents tore over it,
+and thunderbolts set all around it in a blaze; and by fire and water,
+with which they had sinned, father and son perished, and were condemned
+to everlasting torments. Up to the present day they are to be seen
+at nightfall on the mountain in the form of two fiery boars.' 
+Some of these giants, as has been intimated, were converted. Such was
+the case with Heimo, who owned and devastated a vast tract of country
+on the river Inn, which, however, he bridged--whence Innsbruck--when
+he became a christian and a monk. This conversion was a terrible
+disappointment to the devil, who sent a huge dragon to stop the
+building of the monastery; but Heimo attacked the dragon, killed him,
+and cut out his tongue. With this tongue, a yard and a half long, in
+his hand, he is represented in his statue, and the tongue is still
+preserved in the cloister. Heimo became a monk at Wilten, lived
+a pious life, and on his death was buried near the monastery. The
+stone coffin in which the gigantic bones repose is shown there,
+and measures over twenty-eight feet.
+Of nearly the same character as the Mountain Demons, and possessing
+even more features of the Demons of Barrenness, are the monsters
+guarding rocky passes. They are distributed through land, sea,
+and rivers. The famous rocks between Italy and Sicily bore the
+names of dangerous monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, which have now
+become proverbial expressions for alternative perils besetting any
+enterprise. According to Homer, Scylla was a kind of canine monster
+with six long necks, the mouths paved each with three rows of sharp
+teeth; while Charybdis, sitting under her fig-tree, daily swallowed
+the waters and vomited them up again. [148] Distantly related to these
+fabulous monsters, probably, are many of the old notions of ordeals
+undergone between rocks standing close together, or sometimes through
+holes in rocks, of which examples are found in Great Britain. An
+ordeal of this kind exists at Pera, where the holy well is reached
+through a narrow slit. Visitors going there recently on New Year's
+Day were warned by the dervish in charge--'Look through it at the
+water if you please, but do not essay to enter unless your consciences
+are completely free from sin, for as sure as you try to pass through
+with a taint upon your soul, you will be gripped by the rock and held
+there for ever.' [149] The 'Bocca della Verità'--a great stone face
+like a huge millstone--stands in the portico of the church S. Maria
+in Cosmedin at Rome, and its legend is that a suspected person was
+required to place his hand through the open mouth; if he swore falsely
+it would bite off the hand--the explanation now given being that a
+swordsman was concealed behind to make good the judicial shrewdness
+of the stone in case the oath were displeasing to the authorities.
+The myth of Scylla, which relates that she was a beautiful maiden,
+beloved by Glaucus, whom Circe through jealousy transformed to a
+monster by throwing magic herbs into the well where she was wont to
+bathe, is recalled by various European legends. In Thuringia, on the
+road to Oberhof, stands the Red Stone, with its rosebush, and a stream
+issuing from beneath it, where a beautiful maid is imprisoned. Every
+seven years she may be seen bathing in the stream. On one occasion
+a peasant passing by heard a sneeze in the rock, and called out,
+'God help thee!' The sneeze and the benediction were repeated,
+until at the seventh time the man cried, 'Oh, thou cursed witch,
+deceive not honest people!' As he then walked off, a wailing voice
+came out of the stone, 'Oh, hadst thou but only wished the last time
+that God would help me. He would have helped me, and thou wouldst
+have delivered me; now I must tarry till the Day of Judgment!' The
+voice once cried out to a wedding procession passing by the stone,
+'To-day wed, next year dead;' and the bride having died a year after,
+wedding processions dread the spot.
+The legends of giants and giantesses, so numerous in Great Britain,
+are equally associated with rocky mountain-passes, or the boulders
+they were supposed to have tossed thence when sportively stoning each
+other. They are the Tor of the South and Ben of the North. The hills of
+Ross-shire in Scotland are mythological monuments of Cailliachmore,
+great woman, who, while carrying a pannier filled with earth and
+stones on her back, paused for a moment on a level spot, now the site
+of Ben-Vaishard, when the bottom of the pannier gave way, forming the
+hills. The recurrence of the names Gog and Magog in Scotland suggests
+that in mountainous regions the demons were especially derived from the
+hordes of robbers and savages, among whom, in their uncultivable hills,
+the ploughshare could never conquer the spear and club. Richard Doyle
+enriched the first Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery in London, 1877,
+with many beautiful pictures inspired by European Folklore. They were
+a pretty garniture for the cemetery of dead religions. The witch once
+seen on her broom departing from the high crags of Cuhillan, cheered
+by her faithful dwarf, is no longer unlovely as in the days when she
+was burned by proxy in some poor human hag; obedient to art--a more
+potent wand than her own--she reascends to the clouds from which she
+was borne, and is hardly distinguishable from them. Slowly man came
+to learn with the poet--
+It was the mountain streams that fed
+The fair green plain's amenities. 
+Then the giants became fairies, and not a few of these wore at last
+the mantles of saints. A similar process has been undergone by another
+subject, which finds its pretty epitaph in the artist's treatment. We
+saw in two pictures the Dame Blanche of Normandy, lurking in the ravine
+beside a stream under the dusk, awaiting yon rustic wood-cutter who is
+presently horizontal in the air in that mad dance, after which he will
+be found exhausted. As her mountain-sister is faintly shaped out of
+the clouds that cap Cuhillan, this one is an imaginative outgrowth of
+the twilight shadows, the silvery glintings of moving clouds mirrored
+in pools, and her tresses are long luxuriant grasses. She is of a
+sisterhood which passes by hardly perceptible gradations into others,
+elsewhere described--the creations of Illusion and Night. She is not
+altogether one of these, however, but a type of more direct danger--the
+peril of fords, torrents, thickets, marshes, and treacherous pools,
+which may seem shallow, but are deep.
+The water-demons have been already described in their obvious aspects,
+but it is necessary to mention here the simple obstructive river-demons
+haunting fords and burns, and hating bridges. Many tragedies, and
+many personifications of the forces which caused them, preceded the
+sanctity of the title Pontifex. The torrent that roared across man's
+path seemed the vomit of a demon: the sacred power was he who could
+bridge it. In one of the most beautiful celebrations of Indra it is
+said: 'He tranquillised this great river so that it might be crossed;
+he conveyed across it in safety the sages who had been unable to pass
+over it, and who, having crossed, proceeded to realise the wealth
+they sought; in the exhilaration of the soma, Indra has done these
+deeds.' [151] In Ceylon, the demon Tota still casts malignant spells
+about fords and ferries.
+Many are the legends of the opposition offered by demons to
+bridge-building, and of the sacrifices which had to be made to them
+before such works could be accomplished. A few specimens must suffice
+us. Mr. Dennys relates a very interesting one of the 'Loh-family
+bridge' at Shanghai. Difficulty having been found in laying the
+foundations, the builder vowed to Heaven two thousand children if the
+stones could be placed properly. The goddess addressed said she would
+not require their lives, but that the number named would be attacked by
+small-pox, which took place, and half the number died. A Chinese author
+says, 'If bridges are not placed in proper positions, such as the
+laws of geomancy indicate, they may endanger the lives of thousands,
+by bringing about a visitation of small-pox or sore eyes.' At Hang-Chow
+a tea-merchant cast himself into the river Tsien-tang as a sacrifice
+to the Spirit of the dikes, which were constantly being washed away.
+The 'Devil's Bridges,' to which Mephistopheles alludes so proudly, are
+frequent in Germany, and most of them, whether natural or artificial,
+have diabolical associations. The oldest structures often have legends
+in which are reflected the conditions exacted by evil powers, of
+those who spanned the fords in which men had often been drowned. Of
+this class is the Montafon Bridge in the Tyrol, and another is the
+bridge at Ratisbon. The legend of the latter is a fair specimen of
+those which generally haunt these ancient structures. Its architect
+was apprentice to a master who was building the cathedral, and laid
+a wager that he would bridge the Danube before the other laid the
+coping-stone of the sacred edifice. But the work of bridging the river
+was hard, and after repeated failures the apprentice began to swear,
+and wished the devil had charge of the business! Whereupon he of the
+cloven foot appeared in guise of a friar, and agreed to build the
+fifteen arches--for a consideration. The fee was to be the first three
+that crossed the bridge. The cunning apprentice contrived that these
+three should not be human, but a dog, a cock, and a hen. The devil,
+in wrath at the fraud, tore the animals to pieces and disappeared;
+a procession of monks passed over the bridge and made it safe;
+and thereon are carved figures of the three animals. In most of the
+stories it is a goat which is sent over and mangled, that poor animal
+having preserved its character as scape-goat in a great deal of the
+Folklore of Christendom. The Danube was of old regarded as under the
+special guardianship of the Prince of Darkness, who used to make great
+efforts to obstruct the Crusaders voyaging down it to rescue the Holy
+Land from pagans. On one occasion, near the confluence of the Vilz
+and Danube, he began hurling huge rocks into the river-bed from the
+cliffs; the holy warriors resisted successfully by signing the cross
+and singing an anthem, but the huge stone first thrown caused a whirl
+and swell in that part of the river, which were very dangerous until
+it was removed by engineers.
+It is obvious, especially to the English, who have so long found a
+defensive advantage in the silver streak of sea that separates them
+from the Continent, that an obstacle, whether of mountain-range
+or sea, would, at a certain point in the formation of a nation,
+become as valuable as at another it might be obstructive. Euphemism
+is credited with having given the friendly name 'Euxine' to the
+rough 'Axine' Sea,--'terrible to foreigners.' But this is not so
+certain. Many a tribe has found the Black Sea a protection and a
+friend. In the case of mountains, their protective advantages would
+account at once for Milton's celebration of Freedom as a mountain
+nymph, and for the stupidity of the people that dwell amid them,
+so often remarked; the very means of their independence would also
+be the cause of their insulation and barbarity. It is for those who
+go to and fro that knowledge is increased. The curious and inquiring
+are most apt to migrate; the enterprising will not submit to be shut
+away behind rocks and mountains; by their departure there would be
+instituted, behind the barriers of rock and hill, a survival of the
+stupidest. These might ultimately come to worship their chains and
+cover their craggy prison-walls with convents and crosses. The demons
+of aliens would be their gods. The climbing Hannibals would be their
+devils. It might have been expected, after the passages quoted from
+Mr. Ruskin concerning the bovine condition of Alpine peasantries,
+that he would salute the tunnel through Mont Cenis. The peasantries
+who would see in the sub-alpine engine a demon are extinct. Admiration
+of the genii of obstruction, and horror of the demons that vanquished
+them, are discoverable only in folk-tales distant enough to be pretty,
+such as the interesting Serbian story of 'Satan's jugglings and God's
+might,' in which fairies hiding in successively opened nuts vainly
+try to oppose with fire and flood a she-demon pursuing a prince and
+his bride, to whose aid at last comes a flash of lightning which
+strikes the fiend dead.
+One of the beautiful 'Contes d'une Grand'mère,' by George Sand,
+Le géant Yéous, has in it the sense of many fables born of man's
+struggle with obstructive nature. With her wonted felicity she
+places the scene of this true human drama near the mountain Yéous,
+in the Pyrenees, whose name is a far-off echo of Zeus. The summit
+bore an enormous rock which, seen from a distance, appeared somewhat
+like a statue. The peasant Miquelon, who had his little farm at the
+mountain's base, whenever he passed made the sign of the cross and
+taught his little son Miquel to do the same, telling him that the
+great form was that of a pagan god, an enemy of the human race. An
+avalanche fell upon the home and garden of Miquelon; the poor man
+himself was disabled for life, his house and farm turned in a moment
+into a wild mass of stones. Miquel looked up to the summit of Yéous;
+the giant had disappeared; henceforth it was the mighty form of an
+organic monster which the boy saw stretched over what had once been
+their happy home and smiling acres. The family went about begging,
+Miquelon repeating his strange appeal, 'Le géant s'est couché sur
+moi.' But when at last the old man dies, the son resolves to fulfil the
+silent dream of his life; he will encounter the giant Yéous still in
+possession of his paternal acres. With eyes of the young world this
+boy sees starting up here and there amid the vast debris, the head
+of the demon he wishes to crush. He hurls stones hither and thither
+where some fearful feature or limb appears. He is filled with rage;
+his dreams are filled with attacks on the giant, in which the colossal
+head tumbles only to reappear on the shoulders; every broken limb has
+the self-repairing power. There is no progress. But as the boy grows,
+and the contest grows, and need comes, there gathers in Miquel a
+desire to clear the ground. When he begins to think, it is no longer
+the passion to avenge his father on the stony giant which possesses
+him, but to recover their lost garden. Thus, indeed, the giant himself
+could alone be conquered. The huge rocks are split by gunpowder, some
+fragments are made into fences, others into a comfortable mansion
+for Miquel's mother and sisters. When the garden smiles again, and
+all are happy the demon form is no longer discoverable. 
+This little tale interprets with fine insight the demonology of
+barrenness and obstruction. The boy's wrath against the unconscious
+cause of his troubles is the rage often observed in children
+who retaliate upon the table or chair on which they have been
+bruised, and it repeats embryologically the rage of the world's
+boyhood inspired by ascription of personal motives to inanimate
+obstructions. Possibly such wrath might have added something to
+the force with which man entered upon his combat with nature; but
+George Sand's tale reminds us that whatever was gained in force was
+lost in its misdirection. Success came in the proportion that fury
+was replaced by the youth's growing recognition that he was dealing
+with facts that could not be raged out of existence. It is crowned
+when he makes friends with the unconquerable remnant of the giant,
+and sees that he is not altogether evil.
+It is at this stage that the higher Art, conversant with Beauty, enters
+to relieve man of many moral wounds received in the struggle. Clothed
+with moss and clematis, Yéous appears not so hideous after all. Further
+invested by the genius of a Turner, he would be beautiful. Yéous is
+a fair giant after all, only he needed finish. He is a type of nature.
+The boyhood of the world has not passed away with Miquel. We find a
+fictitious dualism cherished by the lovers of nature in their belief or
+feeling that nature exerts upon man some spiritual influence. Ruskin
+has said that in looking from the Campanile at Venice to the circle
+of snow which crowns the Adriatic, and then to the buildings which
+contain the works of Titian and Tintoret, he has felt unable to
+answer the question of his own heart, By which of these--the nature
+or the manhood--has God given mightier evidence of Himself? So nature
+may teach the already taught. While Ruskin looks from the Campanile,
+the peasant is fighting the mountain and calling its rocky grandeurs
+by the devil's name; before the pictures he kneels. Untaught by art
+and science, the mind can derive no elevation from nature, can find no
+sympathy in it. It is a false notion that there is any compensation for
+the ignorant, denied access to art-galleries, in ability to pass their
+Sundays amid natural scenery. Health that may bring them, but mentally
+they are still inside the prison-walls from which look the stony eyes
+of Fates and Furies. Natural sublimities cannot refine minds crude
+as themselves; they must pass through thought before they can feed
+thought; it is nature transfigured in art that changes the snow-clad
+mountain from a heartless giant to a saviour in snow-pure raiment.
+ILLUSION.
+Maya--Natural Treacheries--Misleaders--Glamour--Lorelei--Chinese
+Mermaid--Transformations--Swan Maidens--Pigeon Maidens--The
+Seal-skin--Nudity--Teufelsee--Gohlitsee--Japanese Siren--Dropping
+Cave--Venusberg--Godiva--Will-o'-Wisp--Holy Fräulein--The Forsaken
+Merman--The Water-Man--Sea Phantom--Sunken Treasures--Suicide.
+Most beautiful of all the goddesses of India is Maya, Illusion. In
+Hindu iconography she is portrayed in drapery of beautiful colours,
+with decoration of richest gems and broidery of flowers. From above
+her crown falls a veil which, curving above her knees, returns on
+the other side, making, as it were, also an apron in which are held
+fair animal forms--prototypes of the creation over which she has
+dominion. The youthful yet serious beauty of her face and head is
+surrounded with a semi-aureole, fringed with soft lightning, striated
+with luminous sparks; and these are background for a cruciform nimbus
+made of three clusters of rays. Maya presses her full breasts, from
+which flow fountains of milk which fall in graceful streams to mingle
+with the sea on which she stands.
+So to our Aryan ancestors appeared the spirit that paints the universe,
+flushing with tints so strangely impartial fruits forbidden and
+unforbidden for man and beast. Mankind are slandered by the priest's
+creed, Populus vult decipi; they are justly vindicated in Plato's
+aphorism, 'Unwillingly is the soul deprived of truth;' but still
+they are deceived. Large numbers are truly described by Swedenborg,
+who found hells whose occupants believed themselves in heaven and
+sang praises therefor. Such praises we may hear in the loud laughter
+proceeding from dens where paradise has been gained by the cheap charm
+of a glass of gin or a prostitute's caress. Serpent finds its ideal
+in serpent. In heaven, says Swedenborg, we shall see things as they
+are. But it is the adage of those who have lost their paradise, and
+eat still the dry dust of reality not raised by science; the general
+world has not felt that divine curse, or it has been wiped away so that
+the most sensual fool may rejoice in feeling himself God's darling,
+and pities the paganism of Plato. Man and beast are certain that they
+do see things as they are. Maya's milk is tinctured from the poppies
+of her robe; untold millions of misgivings have been put to sleep by
+her tender bounty; the waters that sustain her are those of Lethe.
+But beneath every illusive heaven Nature stretches also an illusive
+hell. The poppies lose their force at last, and under the scourge
+of necessity man wakes to find all his paradise of roses turned to
+briars. Maya's breast-fountains pass deeper than the surface--from
+one flows soft Lethe, the other issues at last in Phlegethon. Fear is
+even a more potent painter than Hope, and out of the manifold menaces
+of Nature can at last overlay the fairest illusions. It is a pathetic
+fact, that so soon as man begins to think his first theory infers a
+will at work wherever he sees no cause; his second, to suppose that
+it will harm him!
+Harriet Martineau's account of her childish terror caused by seeing
+some prismatic colours dancing on the wall of a vacant room she was
+entering--'imps' that had no worse origin than a tremulous candelabrum,
+but which haunted her nerves through life--is an experience which may
+be traced in the haunted childhood of every nation. There are other
+phenomena besides these prismatic colours, which have had an evil name
+in popular superstition, despite their beauty. Strange it might seem to
+a Buddhist that yon exquisite tree with its blood-red buds should be
+called the Judas-tree, as to us that the graceful swan which might be
+the natural emblem of purity should be associated with witchcraft! But
+the student of mythology will at every moment be impressed by the fact
+that myths oftener represent a primitive science than mere fancies
+and conceits. The sinuous neck of the swan, its passionate jealousy,
+and the uncanny whistle, or else dumbness, found where, from so snowy
+an outside, melody might have been looked for, may have made this
+animal the type of a double nature. The treacherous brilliants of
+the serpent, or honey protected by stings, or the bright blossoms of
+poisons, would have trained the instinct which apprehends evil under
+the apparition of beauty. This, as we shall have occasion to see,
+has had a controlling influence upon the ethical constitution of our
+nature. But it is at present necessary to observe that the primitive
+science generally reversed the induction of our later philosophy; for
+where an evil or pain was discovered in anything, it concluded that
+such was its raison d'être, and its attractive qualities were simply
+a demon's treacherous bait. However, here are the first stimulants
+to self-control in the lessons that taught distrust of appearances.
+Because many a pilgrim perished through a confidence in the
+lake-pictures of the mirage which led to carelessness about economising
+his skin of water, the mirage gained its present name--Bahr Sheitan,
+or Devil's Water. The 'Will o' wisp,' which appeared to promise the
+night-wanderer warmth or guidance, but led him into a bog, had its
+excellent directions as to the place to avoid perverted by an unhappy
+misunderstanding into a wilful falsehood, and has been branded ignis
+fatuus. Most of the mimicries in nature gradually became as suspicious
+to the primitive observer as aliases to a magistrate. The thing
+that seemed to be fire, or water, but was not; the insect or animal
+which took its hue or form from some other, from the leaf-spotted
+or stem-striped cats to that innocent insect whose vegetal disguise
+has gained for it the familiar name of 'Devil's Walking-stick;'
+the humanlike hiss, laugh, or cry of animals; the vibratory sound or
+movement which so often is felt as if near when it really is far; the
+sand which seems hard but sinks; the sward which proves a bog;--all
+these have their representation in the demonology of delusion. The
+Coroados of Brazil says that the Evil One 'sometimes transforms
+(himself) into a swamp, &c., leads him astray, vexes him, brings him
+into danger, and even kills him.' [153] It is like an echo of Burton's
+account. 'Terrestrial devils are those lares, genii, faunes, satyrs,
+wood-nymphs, foliots, fairies, Robin Good-fellows, trulli, &c., which,
+as they are most conversant with men, so they do them most harm. These
+are they that dance on heaths and greens, as Lavater thinks with
+Trithemius, and, as Olaus Magnus adds, leave that green circle which
+we commonly find in plain fields. They are sometimes seen by old women
+and children. Hieron. Pauli, in his description of the city of Bercino,
+Spain, relates how they have been familiarly seen near that town, about
+fountains and hills. 'Sometimes,' saith Trithemius, 'they lead simple
+people into the recesses of mountains and show them wonderful sights,'
+&c. Giraldus Cambrensis gives an instance of a monk of Wales that was
+so deluded. Paracelsus reckons up many places in Germany where they
+do usually walk about in little coats, some two feet long. [154] Real
+dangers beset the woods and mountain passes, the swamp and quicksand;
+in such forms did they haunt the untamed jungles of imagination!
+Over that sea on which Maya stands extends the silvery wand of
+Glamour. It descended to the immortal Old Man of the Sea, favourite
+of the nymphs, oracle of the coasts, patron of fishermen, friend of
+Proteus, who could see through all the sea's depths and assume all
+shapes. How many witcheries could proceed from the many-tinted sea to
+affect the eyes and enable them to see Triton with his wreathed horn,
+and mermaids combing their hair, and marine monsters, and Aphrodite
+poised on the white foam! Glaucoma it may be to the physicians;
+but Glaucus it is in the scheme of Maya, who has never left land
+or sea without her witness. Beside the Polar Sea a Samoyed sailor,
+asked by Castrén 'where is Num' (i.e., Jumala, his god), pointed to
+the dark distant sea, and said, He is there.
+To the ancients there were two seas,--the azure above, and that
+beneath. The imaginative child in its development passes all those
+dreamy coasts; sees in clouds mountains of snow on the horizon, and in
+the sunset luminous seas laving golden isles. When as yet to the young
+world the shining sun was Berchta, the white fleecy clouds were her
+swans. When she descended to the sea, as a thousand stories related,
+it was to repeat the course of the sun for all tribes looking on a
+westward sea. No one who has read that charming little book, 'The
+Gods in Exile,' [155] will wonder at the happy instinct of learning
+shown in Heine's little poem, 'Sonnenuntergang,' [156] wherein we
+see shining solar Beauty compelled to become the spinning housewife,
+or reluctant spouse of Poseidon:--
+A lovely dame whom the old ocean-god
+For convenience once had married;
+And in the day-time she wanders gaily
+Through the high heaven, purple-arrayed,
+And all in diamonds gleaming,
+And all beloved, and all amazing
+To every worldly being,
+And every worldly being rejoicing
+With warmth and splendour from her glances.
+Alas! at evening, sad and unwilling,
+Back must she bend her slow steps
+To the dripping house, to the barren embrace
+Of grisly old age.
+This of course is Heinesque, and has no relation to any legend of
+Bertha, but is a fair specimen of mythology in the making, and is
+quite in the spirit of many of the myths that have flitted around
+sunset on the sea. Whatever the explanation of their descent, the
+Shining One and her fleecy retinue were transformed. When to sea or
+lake came Berchta (or Perchta), it was as Bertha of the Large Foot
+(i.e., webbed), or of the Long Nose (beak), and her troop were
+Swan-maidens. Their celestial character was changed with that of
+their mistress. They became familiars of sorcerers and sorceresses. To
+'wear yellow slippers' became the designation of a witch.
+How did these fleecy white cloud-phantoms become demonised? What
+connection is there between them and the enticing Lorelei and the
+dangerous Rhine-daughters watching over golden treasures, once,
+perhaps, metaphors of moonlight ripples? They who have listened to
+the wild laughter of these in Wagner's opera, Das Rheingold, and
+their weird 'Heiayaheia!' can hardly fail to suspect that they became
+associated with the real human nymphs whom the summer sun still finds
+freely sporting in the bright streams of Russia, Hungary, Austria,
+and East Germany, naked and not ashamed. Many a warning voice against
+these careless Phrynes, who may have left tattered raiment on the shore
+to be transfigured in the silvery waves, must have gone forth from
+priests and anxious mothers. Nor would there be wanting traditions
+enough to impress such warnings. Few regions have been without such
+stories as those which the traveller Hiouen-Thsang (7th century)
+found in Buddhist chronicles of the Rakshasis of Ceylon. 'They waylay
+the merchants who land in the isle, and, changing themselves to women
+of great beauty, come before them with fragrant flowers and music;
+attracting them with kind words to the town of Iron, they offer them
+a feast, and give themselves up to pleasure with them; then shut them
+in an iron prison, and eat them one after the other.'
+There is a strong accent of human nature in the usual plot of the
+Swan-maiden legend, her garments stolen while she bathes, and her
+willingness to pay wondrous prices for them--since they are her
+feathers and her swanhood, without which she must remain for ever
+captive of the thief. The stories are told in regions so widely
+sundered, and their minor details are so different, that we may at
+any rate be certain that they are not all traceable solely to fleecy
+clouds. Sometimes the garments of the demoness--and these beings
+are always feminine--are not feathery, as in the German stories, but
+seal-skins, or of nondescript red tissue. Thus, the Envoy Li Ting-yuan
+(1801) records a Chinese legend of a man named Ming-ling-tzu, a poor
+and worthy farmer without family, who, on going to draw water from
+a spring near his house, saw a woman bathing in it. She had hung
+her clothes on a pine tree, and, in punishment for her 'shameless
+ways' and for her fouling the well, he carried off the dress. The
+clothing was unlike the familiar Lewchewan in style, and 'of a ruddy
+sunset colour.' The woman, having finished her bath, cried out in
+great anger, 'What thief has been here in broad day? Bring back my
+clothes, quick.' She then perceived Ming-ling-tzu, and threw herself
+on the ground before him. He began to scold her, and asked why she
+came and fouled his water; to which she replied that both the pine
+tree and the well were made by the Creator for the use of all. The
+farmer entered into conversation with her, and pointed out that fate
+evidently intended her to be his wife, as he absolutely refused to
+give up her clothes, while without them she could not get away. The
+result was that they were married. She lived with him for ten years,
+and bore him a son and a daughter. At the end of that time her fate
+was fulfilled: she ascended a tree during the absence of her husband,
+and having bidden his children farewell, glided off on a cloud and
+disappeared. 
+In South Africa a parallel myth, in its demonological aspect, bears
+no trace of a cloud origin. In this case a Hottentot, travelling with
+a Bushwoman and her child, met a troop of wild horses. They were all
+hungry; and the woman, taking off a petticoat made of human skin,
+was instantly changed into a lioness. She struck down a horse, and
+lapped its blood; then, at the request of the Hottentot, who in his
+terror had climbed a tree, she resumed her petticoat and womanhood, and
+the friends, after a meal of horseflesh, resumed their journey. Among the Minussinian Tartars these demons partake of the nature of
+the Greek Harpies; they are bloodthirsty vampyre-demons who drink
+the blood of men slain in battle, darken the air in their flight,
+and house themselves in one great black fiend. [159] As we go East
+the portrait of the Swan-maiden becomes less dark, and she is not
+associated with the sea or the under-world. Such is one among the
+Malays, related by Mr. Tylor. In the island of Celebes it is said
+that seven nymphs came down from the sky to bathe, and were seen by
+Kasimbaha, who at first thought them white doves, but in the bath
+perceived they were women. He stole the robe of one of them, Utahagi,
+and as she could not fly without it, she became his wife and bare him
+a son. She was called Utahagi because of a single magic white hair
+she had; this her husband pulled out, when immediately a storm arose,
+and she flew to heaven. The child was in great grief, and the husband
+cast about how he should follow her up into the sky.
+The Swan-maiden appears somewhat in the character of a Nemesis in
+a Siberian myth told by Mr. Baring-Gould. A certain Samoyed who had
+stolen a Swan-maiden's robe, refused to return it unless she secured
+for him the heart of seven demon robbers, one of whom had killed
+the Samoyed's mother. The robbers were in the habit of hanging
+up their hearts on pegs in their tent. The Swan-maiden procured
+them. The Samoyed smashed six of the hearts; made the seventh robber
+resuscitate his mother, whose soul, kept in a purse, had only to be
+shaken over the old woman's grave for that feat to be accomplished,
+and the Swan-maiden got back her plumage and flew away rejoicing. 
+In Slavonic Folklore the Swan-maiden is generally of a dangerous
+character, and if a swan is killed they are careful not to show it to
+children for fear they will die. When they appear as ducks, geese,
+and other water-fowl, they are apt to be more mischievous than when
+they come as pigeons; and it is deemed perilous to kill a pigeon,
+as among sailors it was once held to kill an albatross. Afanasief
+relates a legend which shows that, even when associated with the
+water-king, the Tsar Morskoi or Slavonic Neptune, the pigeon preserves
+its beneficent character. A king out hunting lies down to drink from
+a lake (as in the story related on p. 146), when Tsar Morskoi seizes
+him by the beard, and will not release him until he agrees to give
+him his infant son. The infant prince, deserted on the edge of the
+fatal lake, by advice of a sorceress hides in some bushes, whence he
+presently sees twelve pigeons arrive, which, having thrown off their
+feathers, disport themselves in the lake. At length a thirteenth,
+more beautiful than the rest, arrives, and her sorochka (shift) Ivan
+seizes. To recover it she agrees to be his wife, and, having told
+him he will find her beneath the waters, resumes her pigeon-shape and
+flies away. Beneath the lake he finds a beautiful realm, and though
+the Tsar Morskoi treats him roughly and imposes heavy tasks on him,
+the pigeon-maiden (Vassilissa) assists him, and they dwell together
+happily. 
+In Norse Mythology the vesture of the uncanny maid is oftenest a
+seal-skin, and a vein of pathos enters the legends. Of the many
+legends of this kind, still believed in Sweden and Norway, one has
+been pleasantly versified by Miss Eliza Keary. A fisherman having
+found a pretty white seal-skin, took it home with him. At night there
+was a wailing at his door; the maid enters, becomes his wife, and
+bears him three children. But after seven years she finds the skin,
+and with it ran to the shore. The eldest child tells the story to
+the father on his return home.
+Then we three, Daddy,
+Ran after, crying, 'Take us to the sea!
+Wait for us, Mammy, we are coming too!
+Here's Alice, Willie can't keep up with you!
+Mammy, stop--just for a minute or two!'
+At last we came to where the hill
+Slopes straight down to the beach,
+And there we stood all breathless, still
+Fast clinging each to each.
+We saw her sitting upon a stone,
+Putting the little seal-skin on.
+O Mammy! Mammy!
+She never said goodbye, Daddy,
+She didn't kiss us three;
+She just put the little seal-skin on
+And slipt into the sea!
+Some of the legends of this character are nearly as realistic as
+Mr. Swinburne's 'Morality' of David and Bathsheba. To imagine
+the scarcity of wives in regions to which the primitive Aryan
+race migrated, we have only to remember the ben trovato story of
+Californians holding a ball in honour of a bonnet, in the days before
+women had followed them in migration. To steal Bathsheba's clothes,
+and so capture her, might at one period have been sufficiently common
+in Europe to require all the terrors contained in the armoury of
+tradition concerning the demonesses that might so be taken in, and
+might so tempt men to take them in. In the end they might disappear,
+carrying off treasures in the most prosaic fashion, or perhaps they
+might bring to one's doors a small Trojan war. It is probable that
+the sentiment of modesty, so far as it is represented in the shame
+of nudity, was the result of prudential agencies. Though the dread
+of nudity has become in some regions a superstition in the female
+mind strong enough to have its martyrs--as was seen at the sinking
+of the Northfleet and the burning hotel in St. Louis--it is one
+that has been fostered by men in distrust of their own animalism. In
+barbarous regions, where civilisation introduces clothes, the women
+are generally the last to adopt them; and though Mr. Herbert Spencer
+attributes this to female conservatism, it appears more probable
+that it is because the men are the first to lose their innocence and
+the women last to receive anything expensive. It is noticeable how
+generally the Swan-maidens are said in the myths to be captured by
+violence or stratagem. At the same time the most unconscious temptress
+might be the means of breaking up homes and misleading workmen, and
+thus become invested with all the wild legends told of the illusory
+phenomena of nature in popular mythology.
+It is marvellous to observe how all the insinuations of the bane were
+followed by equal dexterities in the antedote. The fair tempters might
+disguise their intent in an appeal to the wayfarer's humanity; and,
+behold, there were a thousand well-attested narratives ready for the
+lips of wife and mother showing the demoness appealing for succour
+to be fatalest of all!
+There is a stone on the Müggelsberger, in Altmark, which is said to
+cover a treasure; this stone is sometimes called 'Devil's Altar,'
+and sometimes it is said a fire is seen there which disappears when
+approached. It lies on the verge of Teufelsee,--a lake dark and small,
+and believed to be fathomless. Where the stone lies a castle once
+stood which sank into the ground with its fair princess. But from the
+underground castle there is a subterranean avenue to a neighbouring
+hill, and from this hill of an evening sometimes comes an old woman,
+bent over her staff. Next day there will be seen a most beautiful lady
+combing her long golden hair. To all who pass she makes her entreaties
+that they will set her free, her pathetic appeals being backed by offer
+of a jewelled casket which she holds. The only means of liberating her
+is, she announces, that some one shall bear her on his shoulders three
+times round Teufelsee church without looking back. The experiment
+has several times been made. One villager at his first round saw a
+large hay-waggon drawn past him by four mice, and following it with
+his eyes received blows on the ears. Another saw a waggon drawn by
+four coal-black fire-breathing horses coming straight against him,
+started back, and all disappeared with the cry 'Lost again for ever!' A
+third tried and almost got through. He was found senseless, and on
+recovering related that when he took the princess on his shoulders
+she was light as a feather, but she grew heavier and heavier as he
+bore her round. Snakes, toads, and all horrible animals with fiery
+eyes surrounded him; dwarfs hurled blocks of wood and stones at him;
+yet he did not look back, and had nearly completed the third round,
+when he saw his village burst into flames; then he looked behind--a
+blow felled him--and he seems to have only lived long enough to tell
+this story. The youth of Köpernick are warned to steel their hearts
+against any fair maid combing her hair near Teufelsee. But the folklore
+of the same neighbourhood admits that it is by no means so dangerous
+for dames to listen to appeals of this kind. In the Gohlitzsee, for
+example, a midwife was induced to plunge in response to a call for aid;
+having aided a little Merwoman in travail, she was given an apronful of
+dust, which appeared odd until on shore it proved to be many thalers.
+In countries where the popular imagination, instead of being
+scientific, is trained to be religiously retrospective, it relapses
+at the slightest touch into the infantine speculations of the human
+race. Not long ago, standing at a shop-window in Ostend where a
+'Japanese Siren' was on view, the clever imposture interested me
+less than the comments of the passing and pausing observers. The
+most frequent wonders seriously expressed were, whether she sang,
+or combed her hair, or was under a doom, or had a soul to be
+saved. Every question related to Circe, Ulysses and the Sirens, and
+other conceptions of antiquity. The Japanese artists rightly concluded
+they could float their Siren in any intellectual waters where Jonah
+in his whale could pass, or a fish appear with its penny. Nay, even
+in their primitive form the Sirens find their kith and kin still
+haunting all the coasts of northern Europe. A type of the Irish and
+Scottish Siren may be found in the very complete legend of one seen
+by John Reid, shipmaster of Cromarty. With long flowing yellow hair
+she sat half on a rock, half in water, nude and beautiful, half woman
+half fish, and John managed to catch and hold her tight till she had
+promised to fulfil three wishes; then, released, she sprang into the
+sea. The wishes were all fulfilled, and to one of them (though John
+would never reveal it) the good-luck of the Reids was for a century
+after ascribed. 
+The scene of this legend is the 'Dropping Cave,' and significantly
+near the Lover's Leap. One of John's wishes included the success of
+his courtship. These Caves run parallel with that of Venusberg, where
+the minstrel Tannhäuser is tempted by Venus and her nymphs. Heine
+finishes off his description of this Frau Venus by saying he fancied
+he met her one day in the Place Bréda. 'What do you take this lady
+to be?' asked he of Balzac, who was with him. 'She is a mistress,'
+replied Balzac. 'A duchess rather,' returned Heine. But the friends
+found on further explanation that they were both quite right. Venus'
+doves, soiled for a time, were spiritualised at last and made white,
+while the snowy swan grew darker. An old German word for swan,
+elbiz, originally denoting its whiteness (albus), furthered its
+connection with all 'elfish' beings--elf being from the same word,
+meaning white; but, as in Goethe's 'Erl König,' often disguising a
+dark character. The Swan and the Pigeon meet (with some modifications)
+as symbols of the Good and Evil powers in the legend of Lohengrin. The
+witch transforms the boy into a Swan, which, however, draws to save his
+sister, falsely accused of his murder, the Knight of the Sangreal, who,
+when the mystery of his holy name is inquired into by his too curious
+bride, is borne away by white doves. These legends all bear in them,
+however faintly, the accent of the early conflict of religion with
+the wild passions of mankind. Their religious bearings bring us to
+inquiries which must be considered at a later phase of our work. But
+apart from purely moral considerations, it is evident that there must
+have been practical dangers surrounding the early social chaos amid
+which the first immigrants in Europe found themselves.
+Although the legend of Lady Godiva includes elements of another origin,
+it is probable that in the fate of Peeping Tom there is a distant
+reflection of the punishment sometimes said to overtake those who
+gazed too curiously upon the Swan-maiden without her feathers. The
+devotion of the nude lady of Coventry would not be out of keeping
+with one class of these mermaiden myths. There is a superstition, now
+particularly strong in Iceland, that all fairies are children of Eve,
+whom she hid away on an occasion when the Lord came to visit her,
+because they were not washed and presentable. So he condemned them
+to be for ever invisible. This superstition seems to be related to
+an old debate whether these præternatural beings are the children of
+Adam and Eve or not. A Scotch story bears against that conclusion. A
+beautiful nymph, with a slight robe of green, came from the sea and
+approached a fisherman while he was reading his Bible. She asked him if
+it contained any promise of mercy for her. He replied that it contained
+an offer of salvation to 'all the children of Adam;' whereupon with a
+loud shriek she dashed into the sea again. Euphemism would co-operate
+with natural compassion in saying a good word for 'the good little
+people,' whether hiding in earth or sea. In Altmark, 'Will-o'-wisps'
+are believed to be the souls of unbaptized children--sometimes of
+lunatics--unable to rest in their graves; they are called 'Light-men,'
+and it is said that though they may sometimes mislead they often guide
+rightly, especially if a small coin be thrown them,--this being also
+an African plan of breaking a sorcerer's spell. Christianity long
+after its advent in Germany had to contend seriously with customs and
+beliefs found in some lakeside villages where the fishermen regarded
+themselves as in friendly relations with the præternatural guardians
+of the waters, and unto this day speak of their presiding sea-maiden
+as a Holy Fräulein. They hear her bells chiming up from the depths in
+holy seasons to mingle with those whose sounds are wafted from church
+towers; and it seems to have required many fables, told by prints of
+fishermen found sitting lifeless on their boats while listening to
+them, to gradually transfer reverence to the new christian fairy.
+It may be they heard some such melody as that which has found its
+finest expression in Mr. Matthew Arnold's 'Forsaken Merman:'--
+Children dear, was it yesterday
+(Call yet once) that she went away?
+Once she sate with you and me,
+On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea,
+And the youngest sate on her knee.
+She comb'd its bright hair, and she tended it well,
+When down swung the sound of the far-off bell.
+She sigh'd, she look'd up through the clear green sea;
+She said: 'I must go, for my kinsfolk pray
+In the little grey church on the shore to-day.
+'Twill be Easter-time in the world--ah me!
+And I lose my poor soul, Merman, here with thee.'
+I said, 'Go up, dear heart, through the waves,
+Say thy prayer, and come back to the kind sea-caves.'
+She smil'd, she went up through the surf in the bay.
+Children dear, was it yesterday?
+Perhaps we should find the antecedents of this Merman's lost Margaret,
+whom he called back in vain, in the Danish ballad of 'The Merman and
+the Marstig's Daughter,' who, in Goethe's version, sought the winsome
+May in church, thither riding as a gay knight on
+horse of the water clear,
+The saddle and bridle of sea-sand were.
+They went from the church with the bridal train,
+They danced in glee, and they danced full fain;
+They danced them down to the salt-sea strand,
+And they left them standing there, hand in hand.
+'Now wait thee, love, with my steed so free,
+And the bonniest bark I'll bring for thee.'
+And when they passed to the white, white sand,
+The ships came sailing on to the land;
+But when they were out in the midst of the sound,
+Down went they all in the deep profound!
+Long, long on the shore, when the winds were high,
+They heard from the waters the maiden's cry.
+I rede ye, damsels, as best I can--
+Tread not the dance with the Water-Man!
+According to other legends, however, the realm under-sea was not a
+place for weeping. Child-eyes beheld all that the Erl-king promised,
+in Goethe's ballad--
+Wilt thou go, bonny boy? wilt thou go with me?
+My daughters shall wait on thee daintily;
+My daughters around thee in dance shall sweep,
+And rock thee and kiss thee, and sing thee to sleep!
+Or perhaps child-eyes, lingering in the burning glow of manhood's
+passion, might see in the peaceful sea some picture of lost love like
+that so sweetly described in Heine's 'Sea Phantom:'--
+But I still leaned o'er the side of the vessel,
+Gazing with sad-dreaming glances
+Down at the water, clear as a mirror,
+Looking yet deeper and deeper,--
+Till far in the sea's abysses,
+At first like dim wavering vapours,
+Then slowly--slowly--deeper in colour,
+Domes of churches and towers seemed rising,
+And then, as clear as day, a city grand....
+Infinite longing, wondrous sorrow,
+Steal through my heart,--
+My heart as yet scarce healed;
+It seems as though its wounds, forgotten,
+By loving lips again were kissed,
+And once again were bleeding
+Drops of burning crimson,
+Which long and slowly trickle down
+Upon an ancient house below there
+In the deep, deep sea-town,
+On an ancient, high-roofed, curious house,
+Where, lone and melancholy,
+Below by the window a maiden sits,
+Her head on her arm reclined,--
+Like a poor and uncared-for child;
+And I know thee, thou poor and long-sorrowing child!
+... I meanwhile, my spirit all grief,
+Over the whole broad world have sought thee,
+And ever have sought thee,
+Thou dearly beloved,
+Thou long, long lost one,
+Thou finally found one,--
+At last I have found thee, and now am gazing
+Upon thy sweet face,
+With earnest, faithful glances,
+Still sweetly smiling;
+And never will I again on earth leave thee.
+I am coming adown to thee,
+And with longing, wide-reaching embraces,
+Love, I leap down to thy heart!
+The temptations of fishermen to secure objects seen at the bottom of
+transparent lakes, sometimes appearing like boxes or lumps of gold,
+and even more reflections of objects in the upper world or air, must
+have been sources of danger; there are many tales of their being so
+beguiled to destruction. These things were believed treasures of the
+little folk who live under water, and would not part with them except
+on payment. In Blumenthal lake, 'tis said, there is an iron-bound
+yellow coffer which fishermen often have tried to raise, but their
+cords are cut as it nears the surface. At the bottom of the same
+lake valuable clothing is seen, and a woman who once tried to secure
+it was so nearly drowned that it is thought safer to leave it. The
+legends of sunken towns (as in Lake Paarsteinchen and Lough Neagh),
+and bells (whose chimes may be heard on certain sacred days), are
+probably variants of this class of delusions. They are often said to
+have been sunk by some final vindictive stroke of a magician or witch
+resolved to destroy the city no longer trusting them. Landslides,
+engulfing seaside homes, might originate legends like that of King
+Gradlon's daughter Dahut, whom the Breton peasant sees in rough weather
+on rocks around Poul-Dahut, where she unlocked the sluice-gates on
+the city Is in obedience to her fiend-lover.
+If it be remembered that less than fifty years ago Dr. Belon thought it desirable to anatomise gold fishes, and prove in various
+ways that it is a fallacy to suppose they feed on pure gold (as
+many a peasant near Lyons declares of the laurets sold daily in the
+market), it will hardly be thought wonderful that perilous visions of
+precious things were seen by early fishermen in pellucid depths, and
+that these should at last be regarded as seductive arts of Lorelei,
+who have given many lakes and rivers the reputation of requiring one
+or more annual victims.
+Possibly it was through accumulation of many dreams about beautiful
+realms beneath the sea or above the clouds that suicide became among
+the Norse folk so common. It was a proverb that the worst end was to
+die in bed, and to die by suicide was to be like Egil, and Omund, and
+King Hake, like nearly all the heroes who so passed to Valhalla. The
+Northman had no doubt concerning the paradise to which he was going,
+and did not wish to reach it enfeebled by age. But the time would come
+when the earth and human affection must assert their claims, and the
+watery tribes be pictured as cruel devourers of the living. Even so
+would the wood-nymphs and mountain-nymphs be degraded, and fearful
+legends of those lost and wandering in dark forests be repeated to
+shuddering childhood. The actual dangers would mask themselves in
+the endless disguises of illusion, the wold and wave be peopled with
+cruel and treacherous seducers. Thus suicide might gradually lose
+its charms, and a dismal underworld of heartless gnomes replace the
+grottoes and fairies.
+We may close this chapter with a Scottish legend relating to the
+'Shi'ichs,' or Men of Peace, in which there is a strange intimation
+of a human mind dreaming that it dreams, and so far on its way to
+waking. A woman was carried away by these shadowy beings in order that
+she might suckle her child which they had previously stolen. During her
+retention she once observed the Shi'ichs anointing their eyes from a
+caldron, and seizing an opportunity, she managed to anoint one of her
+own eyes with the ointment. With that one eye she now saw the secret
+abode and all in it 'as they really were.' The deceptive splendour
+had vanished. The gaudy ornaments of a fairy grot had become the
+naked walls of a gloomy cavern. When this woman had returned to live
+among human beings again, her anointed eye saw much that others saw
+not; among other things she once saw a 'man of peace,' invisible to
+others, and asked him about her child. Astonished at being recognised,
+he demanded how she had been able to discover him; and when she had
+confessed, he spit in her eye and extinguished it for ever.
+DARKNESS.
+Shadows--Night Deities--Kobolds--Walpurgisnacht--Night as
+Abettor of Evil-doers--Nightmare--Dreams--Invisible Foes--Jacob
+and his Phantom--Nott--The Prince of Darkness--The Brood of
+Midnight--Second-Sight--Spectres of Souter Fell--The Moonshine
+Vampyre--Glamour--Glam and Grettir--A Story of Dartmoor.
+From the little night which clings to man even by day--his own
+shadow--to the world's great shade of darkness, innumerable are the
+coverts from which have emerged the black procession of phantoms which
+have haunted the slumbers of the world, and betrayed the enterprise
+of man.
+How strange to the first man seemed that shadow walking beside him,
+from the time when he saw it as a ghost tracking its steps and giving
+him his name for a ghost, on to the period in which it seemed the
+emanation of an occult power, as to them who brought their sick into
+the streets to be healed by the passing shadow of Peter; and still
+on to the day when Beaumont wrote--
+Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
+Our fatal shadows that walk by us still;
+or that in which Goethe found therein the mystical symbol of the
+inward arrest of our moral development, and said 'No man can jump
+off of his shadow.' And then from the culture of Europe we pass to
+the Feejee-Islanders, and find them believing that every man has
+two spirits. One is his shadow, which goes to Hades; the other is
+his image as reflected in water, and it is supposed to stay near the
+place where the man dies. [164] But, like the giants of the Brocken,
+these demons of the Shadow are trembled at long after they are known
+to be the tremblers themselves mirrored on air. Have we not priests
+in England still fostering the belief that the baptized child goes
+attended by a white spirit, the unbaptized by a dark one? Why then
+need we apologise for the Fijians?
+But little need be said here of demons of the Dark, for they are
+closely related to the phantasms of Delusion, of Winter, and others
+already described. Yet have they distinctive characters. As many as
+were the sunbeams were the shadows; every goddess of the Dawn (Ushas)
+cast her shadow; every Day was swallowed up by Night. This is the
+cavern where hide the treacherous Panis (fog) in Vedic mythology,
+they who steal and hide Indra's cows; this is the realm of Hades (the
+invisible); this is the cavern of the hag Thökk (dark) in Scandinavian
+mythology,--she who alone of all in the universe refused to weep
+for Baldur when he was shut up in Helheim, where he had been sent
+by the dart of his blind brother Hödr (darkness). In the cavern of
+Night sleep the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, and Barbarossa, and all
+slumbering phantoms whose genius is the night-winged raven. Thorr,
+the Norse Hercules, once tried to lift a cat--as it seemed to him--from
+the ground; but it was the great mid-earth serpent which encircles the
+whole earth. Impossible feat as it was for Thorr--who got only one paw
+of the seeming cat off the ground--in that glassless and gasless era,
+invention has accomplished much in that direction; but the black Cat
+is still domiciled securely among idols of the mental cave.
+There is an Anglo-Saxon word, cof-godas (lit. cove-gods), employed as
+the equivalent of the Latin lares (the Penates, too, are interpreted as
+cof-godu, cofa signifying the inner recess of a house, penetrale). The
+word in German corresponding to this cofa, is koben; and from this
+Hildebrand conjectures kob-old to be derived. The latter part of
+the word he supposes to be walt (one who 'presides over,' e.g.,
+Walter); so that the original form would be kob-walt. [165] Here,
+then, in the recesses of the household, among the least enlightened
+of its members--the menials, who still often neutralise the efforts
+of rational people to dispel the delusions of their children--the
+discredited deities and demons of the past found refuge, and through
+a little baptismal change of names are familiars of millions unto
+this day. In the words of the ancient Hebrew, 'they lay in their
+own houses prisoners of darkness, fettered with the bonds of a long
+night.' 'No power of the fire might give them light, neither could
+the bright flames of the stars lighten that horrible night.' Well is it added, 'Fear is nothing else but a betraying of the succours
+which reason offereth,' a truth which finds ample illustration in the
+Kobolds. These imaginary beings were naturally associated with the dark
+recesses of mines. There they gave the name to our metal Cobalt. The
+value of Cobalt was not understood until the 17th century, and the
+metal was first obtained by the Swedish chemist Brandt in 1733. The
+miners had believed that the silver was stolen away by Kobolds, and
+these 'worthless' ores left in its place. Nickel had the like history,
+and is named after Old Nick. So long did those Beauties slumber in
+the cavern of Ignorance till Science kissed them with its sunbeam,
+and led them forth to decorate the world!
+How passed this (mental) cave-dweller even amid the upper splendours
+and vastnesses of his unlit world? A Faust guided by his Mephistopheles
+only amid interminable Hartz labyrinths.
+How sadly rises, incomplete and ruddy,
+The moon's lone disk, with its belated glow,
+And lights so dimly, that, as one advances,
+At every step one strikes a rock or tree!
+Let us then use a Jack-o'-lantern's glances:
+I see one yonder, burning merrily.
+Ho, there! my friend! I'll levy thine attendance:
+Why waste so vainly thy resplendence?
+Be kind enough to light us up the steep!
+Tell me, if we still are standing,
+Or if further we're ascending?
+All is turning, whirling, blending,
+Trees and rocks with grinning faces,
+Wandering lights that spin in mazes,
+Still increasing and expanding. 
+It could only have been at a comparatively late period of social
+development that Sancho's benediction on the inventor of sleep could
+have found general response. The Red Indian found its helplessness
+fatal when the 'Nick of the Woods' was abroad; the Scotch sailor found
+in it a demon's opiate when the 'Nigg of the Sea' was gathering his
+storms above the sleeping watchman. It was among the problems of Job,
+the coöperation of darkness with evil-doers.
+The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight;
+He saith, No eye will see me,
+And putteth a mask upon his face.
+In the dark men break into houses;
+In the day-time they shut themselves up;
+They are strangers to the light.
+The morning to them is the shadow of death;
+They are familiar with the dark terrors of midnight.
+Besides this fact that the night befriends and masks every treacherous
+foe, it is also to be remembered that man is weakest at night. Not
+only is he weaker than by day in the veil drawn over his senses,
+but physiologically also. When the body is wearied out by the toils
+or combats of the day, and the mind haunted by dreams of danger,
+there are present all the terrors which Byron portrays around the
+restless pillow of Sardanapalus. The war-horse of the day becomes
+a night-mare in the darkness. In the Heimskringla it is recorded:
+'Vanland, Svegdir's son, succeeded his father and ruled over the
+Upsal domain. He was a great warrior, and went far around in different
+lands. Once he took up his winter abode in Finland with Snio the Old,
+and got his daughter Drisa in marriage; but in spring he set out
+leaving Drisa behind, and although he had promised to return within
+three years he did not come back for ten. Then Drisa sent a message to
+the witch Hulda; and sent Visbur, her son by Vanland, to Sweden. Drisa
+bribed the witch-wife Hulda, either that she should bewitch Vanland
+to return to Finland or kill him. When this witch-work was going
+on Vanland was at Upsal, and a great desire came over him to go to
+Finland, but his friends and counsellors advised him against it, and
+said the witchcraft of the Fin people showed itself in this desire of
+his to go there.  He then became very drowsy, and laid himself down to
+sleep; but when he had slept but a little while he cried out, saying,
+'Mara was treading on him.' His men hastened to help him; but when they
+took hold of his head she trod on his legs, and when they laid hold
+of his legs she pressed upon his head; and it was his death.' 
+This witch is, no doubt, Hildur, a Walkyr of the Edda, leading heroes
+to Walhalla. Indeed, in Westphalia, nightmare is called Walriderske. It
+is a curious fact that 'Mara' should be preserved in the French
+word for nightmare, Cauche-mar, 'cauche' being from Latin calcare,
+to tread. Through Teutonic folklore this Night-demon of many names,
+having floated from England in a sieve paddled with cow-ribs, rides to
+the distress of an increasingly unheroic part of the population. Nearly
+always still the 'Mahrt' is said to be a pretty woman,--sometimes,
+indeed, a sweetheart is involuntarily transformed to one,--every
+rustic settlement abounding with tales of how the demoness has been
+captured by stopping the keyhole, calling the ridden sleeper by his
+baptismal name, and making the sign of the cross; by such process the
+wicked beauty appears in human form, and is apt to marry the sleeper,
+with usually evil results. The fondness of cats for getting on the
+breasts of sleepers, or near their breath, for warmth, has made that
+animal a common form of the 'Mahrt.' Sometimes it is a black fly with
+red ring around its neck. This demoness is believed to suffer more
+pain than it inflicts, and vainly endeavours to destroy herself.
+In savage and nomadic times sound sleep being an element of danger, the
+security which required men to sleep on their arms demanded also that
+they should sleep as it were with one eye open. Thus there might have
+arisen both the intense vividness which demons acquired by blending
+subjective and objective impressions, and the curious inability, so
+frequent among barbarians and not unknown among the men civilised, to
+distinguish dream from fact. The habit of day-dreaming seems, indeed,
+more general than is usually supposed. Dreams haunt all the region of
+our intellectual twilight,--the borderland of mystery, where rise the
+sources of the occult and the mystical which environ our lives. The
+daily terrors of barbarous life avail to haunt the nerves of civilised
+people, now many generations after they have passed away, with special
+and irrational shudders at certain objects or noises: how then must
+they have haunted the dreams of humanity when, like the daughter of
+Nathan the Wise, rescued from flames, it passed the intervals of strife
+With nerves unstrung through fear,
+And fire and flame in all she sees or fancies;
+Her soul awake in sleep, asleep when wide awake?
+Among the sources of demoniac beliefs few indeed are more prolific than
+Dreams. 'The witchcraft of sleep,' says Emerson, 'divides with truth
+the empire of our lives. This soft enchantress visits two children
+lying locked in each other's arms, and carries them asunder by wide
+spans of land and sea, wide intervals of time. 'Tis superfluous to
+think of the dreams of multitudes; the astonishment remains that
+one should dream; that we should resign so quietly this deifying
+reason and become the theatre of delusions, shows, wherein time,
+space, persons, cities, animals, should dance before us in merry and
+mad confusion, a delicate creation outdoing the prime and flower of
+actual nature, antic comedy alternating with horrid spectres. Or we
+seem busied for hours and days in peregrinations over seas and lands,
+in earnest dialogues, strenuous actions for nothings and absurdities,
+cheated by spectral jokes, and waking suddenly with ghostly laughter,
+to be rebuked by the cold lonely silent midnight, and to rake with
+confusion in memory among the gibbering nonsense to find the motive
+of this contemptible cachinnation.' 
+It has always been the worst of periods of religious excitement that
+they shape the dreams of old and young, and find there a fearful
+and distorted, but vivid and realistic, embodiment of their feverish
+experiences. In the days of witchcraft thousands visited the Witches'
+Sabbaths, as they believed and danced in the Walpurgis orgies,
+borne (by hereditary orthodox canon) on their own brooms up their own
+chimneys; and to-day, by the same morbid imaginations, the victims are
+able to see themselves or others elongated, levitated, floating through
+the air. If people only knew how few are ever really wide-awake,
+these spiritual nightmares would soon reach their termination. The
+natural terrors before which helpless man once cowered, have been
+prolonged past all his real victories over his demons by a succession
+of such nightmares, so that the vulgar religion might be portrayed
+somewhat as Richard Wagner described his first tragedy, in which,
+having killed off forty-two of his characters, he had to bring them
+back as ghosts to carry on the fifth act!
+The perils of darkness, as ambush of foes human and animal,
+concealer of pitfalls, misguider of footsteps, misdirector of aims,
+were more real than men can well imagine in an age of gaslight plus
+the policeman. The myth of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still;
+the cry of Ajax when darkness fell on the combat, 'Grant me but to
+see!' refer us to the region from which come all childish shudders
+at going into the dark. The limit of human courage is reached where
+its foe is beyond the reach of its force. Fighting in the dark may
+even be suicidal. A German fable of blindfold zeal--the awakened
+sleeper demolishing his furniture and knocking out his own teeth in
+the attempt to punish cats--has its tragical illustrations also. But
+none of these actual dangers have been of more real evil to man than
+the demonisation of them. This rendered his very skill a blunder, his
+energy weakness. If it was bad to retreat in the dusk from an innocent
+bush into an unrecognised well, it was worse to meet the ghost with
+rune or crucifix and find it an assassin. When man fights with his
+shadow, he instantly makes it the demon he fears; ghoul-like it preys
+upon his paralysed strength, vampyre-like it sucks his blood, and he is
+consigned disarmed to the evil that is no shadow. The Scottish Sinclair
+marching through Norway, in the 16th century, owes his monument at
+Wiblungen rather to the magpie believed to precede him as a spy,
+with night and day upon its wings, than to his own prowess or power.
+In a sense all demons, whatever their shapes, are the ancient
+brood of night. Mental darkness, even more moral darkness within,
+supply the phantasmagoria in which unknown things shape themselves as
+demons. Esau is already reconciled, but guilty Jacob must still wrestle
+with him as a phantom of Fear till daybreak. A work has already been
+written on 'The Night-side of Nature,' but it would require many
+volumes to tell the story of what monsters have been conjured out
+of the kind protecting darkness. How great is the darkness which
+man makes for himself out of the imagination which should be his
+light and vision! Much of the so-called 'religion' of our time is
+but elaborate demoniculture and artificial preservation of mental
+Walpurgis-nights. Nott (Night) says the Edda rides first on her horse
+called Hrimfaxi (frost-maned), which every morning as he ends his
+course bedews the earth with the foam that falls from his bit. Though
+the horse of Day--Skinfaxi, or Shining-mane--follows hard after her,
+yet the foam is by no means drunk up by his fires. Foam of the old
+phantasms still lingers in our mediæval liturgies, and even falls
+afresh where the daylight is shut out that altar-candles may burn,
+or for other dark seances are prepared the conditions necessary for
+whatsoever loves not the light.
+What we call the Dark Ages were indeed spiritually a perpetual seance
+with lights lowered. Nay, human superstition was able to turn the
+very moon and stars into mere bluish night-tapers, giving just light
+enough to make the darkness visible in fantastic shapes fluttering
+around the Prince of Darkness,--or Non-existence in Chief! How much
+of the theosophic speculation of our time is the mere artificial
+conservation of that darkness? How much that still flits bat-winged
+from universities, will, in the future, be read with the same wonder
+as that with which even the more respectable bats can now read account
+of the midnight brood which now for the most part sleep tranquilly in
+such books as Burton's 'Anatomy of Melancholy'? 'There are,' he says,
+'certain spirits which Miraldus calls Ambulones, that walk about
+midnight on great heaths and desert places, which (saith Lavater)
+draw men out of their way, and lead them all night by a byway, or
+quite bar them of their way. These have several names in several
+places. We commonly call them Pucks. In the deserts of Lop, in Asia,
+such illusions of walking spirits are often perceived, as you may read
+in M. Paulus, the Venetian, his travels. If one lose his company by
+chance, these devils will call him by his name, and counterfeit voices
+of his companions to seduce him. Lavater and Cicogna have a variety of
+examples of spirits and walking devils in this kind. Sometimes they
+sit by the wayside to give men falls, and make their horses stumble
+and start as they ride (according to the narration of that holy man
+Ketellus in Nubrigensis, that had an especial grace to see devils);
+and if a man curse and spur his horse for stumbling, they do heartily
+rejoice at it.'
+While observing a spirited and imaginative picture by Macallum of
+the Siege of Jerusalem, it much interested me to observe the greater
+or less ease with which other visitors discovered the portents in
+the air which, following the narrative of Josephus, the artist had
+vaguely portrayed. The chariots and horsemen said to have been seen
+before that event were here faintly blent with indefinite outlines
+of clouds; and while some of the artist's friends saw them with a
+distinctness greater, perhaps, than that with which they impressed
+the eye of the artist himself, others could hardly be made to see
+anything except shapeless vapour, though of course they all agreed
+that they were there and remarkably fine.
+It would seem that thus, in a London studio, there were present all
+the mental pigments for frescoing the air and sky with those visions
+of aërial armies or huntsmen which have become so normal in history
+as to be, in a subjective sense, natural. In the year 1763, an author,
+styling himself Theophilus Insulanus, published at Edinburgh a book on
+Second-Sight, in which he related more than a hundred instances of the
+power he believed to exist of seeing events before they had occurred,
+and whilst, of course, they did not exist. It is not difficult in
+reading them to see that they are all substantially one and the
+same story, and that the sight in operation was indeed second; for
+man or woman, at once imaginative and illiterate, have a second and
+supernumerary pair of eyes inherited from the traditional superstitions
+and ghost stories which fill all the air they breathe from the cradle
+to the grave. While the mind is in this condition, that same nature
+whose apparitions and illusions originally evoked and fostered the
+glamoury, still moves on with her minglings of light and shade, cloud
+and mirage, giving no word of explanation. There are never wanting the
+shadowy forms without that cast their shuttles to the dark idols of the
+mental cave, together weaving subtle spells round the half-waking mind.
+In the year 1743 all the North of England and Scotland was in alarm
+on account of some spectres which were seen on the mountain of Souter
+Fell in Cumberland. The mountain is about half-a-mile high. On a summer
+evening a farmer and his servant, looking from Wilton Hall, half a
+mile off, saw the figures of a man and a dog pursuing some horses
+along the mountain-side, which is very steep; and on the following
+morning they repaired to the place, expecting to find dead bodies, but
+finding none. About one year later a troop of horsemen were seen riding
+along the same mountain-side by one of the same persons, the servant,
+who then called others who also saw the aërial troopers. After a year
+had elapsed the above vision was attested before a magistrate by two
+of those who saw it. The event occurred on the eve of the Rebellion,
+when horsemen were exercising, and when also the popular mind along
+the Border may be supposed to have been in a highly excited condition.
+What was seen on this strongly-authenticated occasion? Was anything
+seen? None can tell. It is open to us to believe that there may have
+been some play of mirage. As there are purely aërial echoes, so are
+there aërial reflectors for the eye. On the other hand, the vision so
+nearly resembles the spectral processions which have passed through
+the mythology of the world, that we can never be sure that it was
+not the troop of King Arthur, emerging from Avallon to announce
+the approaching strife. A few fleecy, strangely-shaped clouds,
+chasing each other along the hillside in the evening's dusk would
+have amply sufficed to create the latter vision, and the danger of
+the time would easily have supplied all the Second-Sight required to
+reveal it to considerable numbers. In questions of this kind a very
+small circumstance--a phrase, a name, perhaps--may turn the balance
+of probabilities. Thus it may be noted that, in the instance just
+related, the vision was seen on the steep side of Souter Fell. Fell
+means a hill or a steep rock, as in Drachenfels. But as to Souter,
+although, as Mr. Robert Ferguson says, the word may originally
+have meant sheep, [170] it is found in Scotland used as 'shoemaker'
+in connection with the fabulous giants of that region. Sir Thomas
+Urquhart, in the seventeenth century, relates it as the tradition
+of the two promontories of Cromarty, called 'Soutars,' that they
+were the work-stools of two giants who supplied their comrades with
+shoes and buskins. Possessing but one set of implements, they used
+to fling these to each other across the opening of the firth, where
+the promontories are only two miles apart. In process of time the name
+Soutar, shoemaker, was bequeathed by the craftsmen to their stools. It
+is not improbable that the name gradually connected itself with other
+places bearing traditions connecting them with the fabulous race,
+and that in this way the Souter Fell, from meaning in early times
+much the same as Giants' Hill, preserved even in 1743-44 enough of the
+earlier uncanny associations to awaken the awe of Borderers in a time
+of rebellion. The vision may therefore have been seen by light which
+had journeyed all the way from the mythologic heavens of ancient India:
+substantially subjective--such stuff as dreams and dreamers are made
+of--no doubt there were outer clouds, shapes and afterglows enough,
+even in the absence of any fata morgana to supply canvas and pigment
+to the cunning artist that hides in the eye.
+In an old tale, the often-slain Vampyre-bat only requests, with
+pathos, that his body may be laid where no sunlight, but only the
+moonlight, will fall on it--only that! But it is under the moonshine
+that it always gains new life. No demon requires absolute darkness,
+but half-darkness, in which to live: enough light to disclose a
+Somewhat, but not enough to define and reveal its nature, is just
+what has been required for the bat-eyes of fable and phantasy, which
+can make vampyre of a sparrow or giant out of a windmill.
+Glamour! A marvellous history has this word of the artists and
+poets,--sometimes meaning the charm with which the eye invests any
+object; or, in Wordsworth's phrase, 'the light that never was on
+land or sea.' But no artist or poet ever rose to the full height
+of the simple term itself, which well illustrates Emerson's saying,
+'Words are fossil poetry.' Professor Cowell of Cambridge says: 'Glám,
+or in the nominative Glámr, is also a poetical name for the Moon. It
+does not actually occur in the ancient literature, but it is given in
+the glossary in the Prose Edda in the list of the very old words for
+the Moon.' Vigfusson in his dictionary says, 'The word is interesting
+on account of its identity with Scot. Glamour, which shows that the
+tale of Glam was common to Scotland and Iceland, and this much older
+than Grettir (in the year 1014).' The Ghost or Goblin Glam seems
+evidently to have arisen from a personification of the delusive and
+treacherous effects of moonlight on the benighted traveller,
+Quale per incertam lunam sub luce malignâ,
+Est iter in sylvis.
+Now, there is a curious old Sanskrit word, glau or gláv, which is
+explained in all the old native lexicons as meaning 'the moon.' It
+might either be taken as 'waning,' or in a casual sense 'obscuring.'
+The following lines from an early mediæval poet, Bhása (seventh
+century), will illustrate the deceptive character of moonlight from
+a Hindu point of view. The strong and wild Norse imagination delights
+in what is terrible and gloomy: the Hindu loves to dwell on the milder
+and quieter aspects of human life.
+'The cat laps the moonbeams in the bowl of water, thinking them to
+be milk: the elephant thinks that the moonbeams, threaded through
+the intervals of the trees, are the fibres of the lotus-stalk. The
+woman snatches at the moonbeams as they lie on the bed, taking them
+for her muslin garment: oh, how the moon, intoxicated with radiance,
+bewilders all the world!'
+A similar passage, no doubt imitated from this, is also quoted:
+'The bewildered herdsmen place the pails under the cows, thinking
+that the milk is flowing; the maidens also put the blue lotus blossom
+in their ears, thinking that it is the white; the mountaineer's wife
+snatches up the jujube fruit, avaricious for pearls. Whose mind is
+not led astray by the thickly clustering moonbeams?' 
+In the Icelandic legend of the struggle between the hero Grettir,
+translated by Magnússen and Morris (London, 1869), the saga
+supplies a scenery as archæological as if the philologists had been
+consulted. 'Bright moonlight was there without, and the drift was
+broken, now drawn over the moon, now driven off from her; and even as
+Glam fell, a cloud was driven from the moon, and Glam glared up against
+her.' When the hero beheld these glaring eyes of the giant Ghost, he
+felt some fiendish craft in them, and could not draw his short sword,
+and 'lay well nigh 'twixt home and hell.' This half-light of the moon,
+which robs the Strong of half his power, is repeated in Glam's curse:
+'Exceedingly eager hast thou sought to meet me, Grettir, but no
+wonder will it be deemed, though thou gettest no good hap of me;
+and this I must tell thee, that thou now hast got half the strength
+and manhood which was thy lot if thou hadst not met me: now I may
+not take from thee the strength which thou hast got before this;
+but that may I rule, that thou shalt never be mightier than now thou
+art ... therefore this weird I lay on thee, ever in those days to
+see these eyes with thine eyes, and thou wilt find it hard to be
+alone--and that shalt drag thee unto death.'
+The Moon-demon's power is limited to the spell of illusion he can
+cast. Presently he is laid low; the 'short sword' of a sunbeam pales,
+decapitates him. But after Glam is burned to cold coals, and his
+ashes buried in skin of a beast 'where sheep-pastures were fewest,
+or the ways of men,' the spell lay upon the hero's eyes. 'Grettir
+said that his temper had been nowise bettered by this, that he was
+worse to quiet than before, and that he deemed all trouble worse than
+it was; but that herein he found the greatest change, in that he was
+become so fearsome a man in the dark, that he durst go nowhither alone
+after nightfall, for then he seemed to see all kinds of horrors. And
+that has fallen since into a proverb, that Glam lends eyes, or gives
+Glamsight to those who see things nowise as they are.'
+In reading which one may wonder how this world would look if for
+a little moment one's eyes could be purged of glamour. Even at the
+moon's self one tries vainly to look: where Hindu and Zulu see a hare,
+the Arab sees coils of a serpent, and the Englishman sees a man; and
+the most intelligent of these several races will find it hard to see in
+the moon aught save what their primitive ancestors saw. And this small
+hint of the degree to which the wisest, like Merlin, are bound fast
+in an air-prison by a Vivien whose spells are spun from themselves,
+would carry us far could we only venture to follow it out. 'The Moon,'
+observed Dr. Johnson unconsciously, 'has great influence in vulgar
+philosophy.' How much lunar theology have we around us, so that
+many from the cradle to the grave get no clear sight of nature or of
+themselves! Very closely did Carlyle come to the fable of Glam when
+speaking of Coleridge's 'prophetic moonshine,' and its effect on poor
+John Sterling. 'If the bottled moonshine beactually substance? Ah,
+could one but believe in a church while finding it incredible!... The
+bereaved young lady has taken the veil then!... To such lengths can
+transcendental moonshine, cast by some morbidly radiating Coleridge
+into the chaos of a fermenting life, act magically there, and produce
+divulsions and convulsions and diseased developments.' One can almost
+fancy Carlyle had ringing in his memory the old Scottish ballad of
+the Rev. Robert Kirk, translator of the Psalms into Gaelic, who,
+while walking in his night-gown at Aberfoyle, was 'snatched away to
+the joyless Elfin bower.'
+It was between the night and day
+When the fairy-king has power.
+The item of the night-gown might have already prepared us for the
+couplet; and it has perhaps even a mystical connection with the
+vestment of the 'black dragoon' which Sterling once saw patrolling
+in every parish, to whom, however, he surrendered at last.
+A story is told of a man wandering on a dark night over Dartmoor,
+whose feet slipped over the edge of a pit. He caught the branch of
+a tree suspended over the terrible chasm, but unable to regain the
+ground, shrieked for help. None came, though he cried out till his
+voice was gone; and there he remained dangling in agony until the grey
+light revealed that his feet were only a few inches from the solid
+ground. Such are the chief demons that bind man till cockcrow. Such are
+the apprehensions that waste also the moral and intellectual strength
+of man, and murder his peace as he regards the necessary science of his
+time to be cutting some frail tenure sustaining him over a bottomless
+pit, instead of a release from real terror to the solid ground.
+DISEASE.
+The Plague Phantom--Devil-dances--Destroying Angels--Ahriman in
+Astrology---Saturn--Satan and Job--Set--The Fatal Seven--Yakseyo
+--The Singhalese Pretraya--Reeri--Maha Sohon--Morotoo--Luther on
+Disease-demons--Gopolu--Madan--Cattle-demon in Russia--Bihlweisen
+--The Plough.
+A familiar fable in the East tells of one who met a fearful phantom,
+which in reply to his questioning answered--'I am Plague: I have come
+from yon city where ten thousand lie dead: one thousand were slain by
+me, the rest by Fear.' Perhaps even this story does not fully report
+the alliance between the plague and fear; for it is hardly doubtful
+that epidemics retain their power in the East largely because they have
+gained personification through fear as demons whose fatal power man
+can neither prevent nor cure, before which he can only cower and pray.
+In the missionary school at Canterbury the young men prepare themselves
+to help the 'heathen' medically, and so they go forth with materia
+medica in one hand, and in the other an infallible revelation from
+heaven reporting plagues as the inflictions of Jehovah, or the
+destroying angel, or Satan, and the healing of disease the jealously
+reserved monopoly of God. 
+The demonisation of diseases is not wonderful. To thoughtful
+minds not even science has dispelled the mystery which surrounds
+many of the ailments that afflict mankind, especially the normal
+diseases besetting children, hereditary complaints, and the strange
+liabilities to infection and contagion. A genuine, however partial,
+observation would suggest to primitive man some connection between
+the symptoms of many diseases and the mysterious universe of which he
+could not yet recognise himself an epitome. There were indications
+that certain troubles of this kind were related to the seasons,
+consequently to the celestial rulers of the seasons,--to the sun
+that smote by day, and the moon at night. Professor Monier Williams,
+describing the Devil-dances of Southern India, says that there seems
+to be an idea among them that when pestilences are rife exceptional
+measures must be taken to draw off the malignant spirits, supposed
+to cause them, by tempting them to enter into these wild dancers,
+and so become dissipated. He witnessed in Ceylon a dance performed by
+three men who personated the forms and phases of typhus fever. These dances probably belong to the same class of ideas as those of
+the dervishes in Persia, whose manifold contortions are supposed
+to repeat the movements of planets. They are invocations of the
+souls of good stars, and propitiations of such as are evil. Belief
+in such stellar and planetary influences has pervaded every part of
+the world, and gave rise to astrological dances. 'Gebelin says that
+the minuet was the danse oblique of the ancient priests of Apollo,
+performed in their temples. The diagonal line and the two parallels
+described in this dance were intended to be symbolical of the zodiac,
+and the twelve steps of which it is composed were meant for the twelve
+signs and the months of the year. The dance round the Maypole and the
+Cotillon has the same origin. Diodorus tells us that Apollo was adored
+with dances, and in the island of Iona the god danced all night. The
+Christians of St. Thomas till a very late day celebrated their worship
+with dances and songs. Calmet says there were dancing-girls in the
+temple at Jerusalem.' 
+The influence of the Moon upon tides, the sleeplessness it causes,
+the restlessness of the insane under its occasional light, and such
+treacheries of moonshine as we have already considered, have populated
+our uninhabited satellite with demons. Lunar legends have decorated
+some well-founded suspicions of moonlight. The mother draws the
+curtain between the moonshine and her little Endymion, though not
+because she sees in the waning moon a pining Selene whose kiss may
+waste away the beauty of youth. A mere survival is the 'bowing to
+the new moon:' a euphonism traceable to many myths about 'lunacy,'
+among them, as I think, to Delilah ('languishing'), in whose lap
+the solar Samson is shorn of his locks, leaving him only the blind
+destructive strength of the 'moonstruck.'
+In the purely Semitic theories of the Jews we find diseases ascribed
+to the wrath of Jehovah, and their cure to his merciful mood. 'Jehovah
+will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed; ... he
+will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt whereof thou wast
+afraid.' [175] The emerods which smote the worshippers of Dagon were
+ascribed directly to the hand of Jehovah. [176] In that vague degree
+of natural dualistic development which preceded the full Iranian
+influence upon the Jews, the infliction of diseases was delegated to
+an angel of Jehovah, as in the narratives of smiting the firstborn
+of Egypt, wasting the army of Sennacherib, and the pestilence sent
+upon Israel for David's sin. In the progress of this angel to be
+a demon of disease we find a phase of ambiguity, as shown in the
+hypochondria of Saul. 'The spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul,
+and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.' 
+All such ambiguities disappeared under the influence of Iranian
+dualism. In the Book of Job we find the infliction of diseases and
+plagues completely transferred to a powerful spirit, a fully formed
+opposing potentate. The 'sons of God,' who in the first chapter
+of Job are said to have presented themselves before Jehovah, may
+be identified in the thirty-eighth as the stars which shouted for
+joy at the creation. Satan is the wandering or malign planet which
+leads in the Ahrimanic side of the Persian planisphere. In the
+cosmographical theology of that country Ormuzd was to reign for
+six thousand years, and then Ahriman was to reign for a similar
+period. The moral associations of this speculation are discussed
+elsewhere; it is necessary here only to point out the bearing of the
+planispheric conception upon the ills that flesh is heir to. Ahriman
+is the 'star-serpent' of the Zendavasta. 'When the pâris rendered
+this world desolate, and overran the universe; when the star-serpent
+made a path for himself between heaven and earth,' &c.; 'when Ahriman
+rambles on the earth, let him who takes the form of a serpent glide
+on the earth; let him who takes the form of the wolf run on the earth,
+and let the violent north wind bring weakness.' 
+The dawn of Ormuzd corresponds with April. The sun returns from
+winter's death by sign of the lamb (our Aries), and thenceforth
+every month corresponds with a thousand years of the reign of the
+Beneficent. September is denoted by the Virgin and Child. To the dark
+domain of Ahriman the prefecture of the universe passes by Libra,--the
+same balances which appear in the hand of Satan. The star-serpent
+prevails over the Virgin and Child. Then follow the months of the
+scorpion, the centaur, goat, &c., every month corresponding to a
+thousand years of the reign of Ahriman.
+While this scheme corresponds in one direction with the demons of
+cold, and in another with the entrance and reign of moral evil in
+the world, beginnings of disease on earth were also ascribed to this
+seventh thousand of years when the Golden Age had passed. The depth of
+winter is reached in domicile of the goat, or of Sirius, Seth, Saturn,
+Satan--according to the many variants. And these, under their several
+names, make the great 'infortune' of astrology, wherein old Culpepper
+amply instructed our fathers. 'In the general, consider that Saturn
+is an old worn-out planet, weary, and of little estimation in this
+world; he causeth long and tedious sicknesses, abundance of sadness,
+and a Cartload of doubts and fears; his nature is cold, and dry,
+and melancholy. And take special notice of this, that when Saturn is
+Lord of an Eclipse (as he is one of the Lords of this), he governs all
+the rest of the planets, but none can govern him. Melancholy is made
+of all the humors in the body of man, but no humor of melancholy. He
+is envious, and keeps his anger long, and speaks but few words, but
+when he speaks he speaks to purpose. A man of deep cogitations; he
+will plot mischief when men are asleep; he hath an admirable memory,
+and remembers to this day how William the Bastard abused him; he
+cannot endure to be a slave; he is poor with the poor, fearful with
+the fearful; he plots mischief against the Superiours, with them that
+plot mischief against them; have a care of him, Kings and Magistrates
+of Europe; he will show you what he can do in the effects of this
+Eclipse; he is old, and therefore hath large experience, and will
+give perilous counsel; he moves but slowly, and therefore doth the
+more mischief; all the planets contribute their natures and strength
+to him, and when he sets on doing mischief he will do it to purpose;
+he doth not regard the company of the rest of the Planets, neither
+do any of the rest of the Planets regard his; he is a barren Planet,
+and therefore delights not in women; he brings the Pestilence; he is
+destructive to the fruits of the earth; he receives his light from
+the Sun, and yet he hates the Sun that gives it him.' 
+Many ages anterior to this began in India the dread of Ketu,
+astronomically the ninth planet, mythologically the tail of the
+demon Rahu, cut in twain as already told (p. 46), supposed to be
+the prolific source of comets, meteors, and falling stars, also of
+diseases. From this Ketu or dragon's tail were born the Arunah Ketavah
+(Red Ketus or apparitions), and Ketu has become almost another word
+for disease. 
+Strongly influenced as were the Jews by the exact division of the
+duodecimal period between Good and Evil, affirmed by the Persians,
+they never lost sight of the ultimate supremacy of Jehovah. Though
+Satan had gradually become a voluntary genius of evil, he still had
+to receive permission to afflict, as in the case of Job, and during
+the lifetime of Paul appears to have been still denied that 'power of
+death' which is first asserted by the unknown author of the Epistle
+to the Hebrews. [181] Satan's especial office was regarded as the
+infliction of disease. Paul delivers the incestuous Corinthian to
+Satan 'for the destruction of the flesh,' and he also attributed the
+sickness and death of many to their communicating unworthily. He also recognises his own 'thorn in the flesh' as 'an angel from
+Satan,' though meant for his moral advantage. 
+A penitential Psalm (Assyrian) reads as follows:--
+O my Lord! my sins are many, my trespasses are great; and the wrath
+of the gods has plagued me with disease, and with sickness and sorrow.
+I fainted, but no one stretched forth his hand!
+I groaned, but no one drew nigh!
+I cried aloud, but no one heard!
+O Lord, do not abandon thy servant!
+In the waters of the great storm seize his hand!
+The sins which he has committed turn them to righteousness. 
+This Psalm would hardly be out of place in the English burial-service,
+which deplores death as a visitation of divine wrath. Wherever such
+an idea prevails, the natural outcome of it is a belief in demons of
+disease. In ancient Egypt--following the belief in Ra the Sun, from
+whose eyes all pleasing things proceeded, and Set, from whose eyes came
+all noxious things,--from the baleful light of Set's eyes were born the
+Seven Hathors, or Fates, whose names are recorded in the Book of the
+Dead. Mr. Fox Talbot has translated 'the Song of the Seven Spirits:'--
+They are seven! they are seven!
+In the depths of ocean they are seven!
+In the heights of heaven they are seven!
+In the ocean-stream in a palace they were born!
+Male they are not: female they are not!
+Wives they have not: children are not born to them!
+Rule they have not: government they know not!
+Prayers they hear not!
+They are seven! they are seven! twice over they are seven! 
+These demons have a way of herding together; the Assyrian tablets
+abundantly show that their occupation was manifested by diseases,
+physical and mental. One prescription runs thus:--
+The god (...) shall stand by his bedside:
+Those seven evil spirits he shall root out, and shall expel them
+from his body:
+And those seven shall never return to the sick man again!
+It is hardly doubtful that these were the seven said to have been
+cast out of Mary Magdalen; for their father Set is Shedîm (devils)
+of Deut. xxxii. 17, and Shaddai (God) of Gen. xvi. 1. But the fatal
+Seven turn to the seven fruits that charm away evil influences at
+parturition in Persia, also the Seven Wise Women of the same country
+traditionally present on holy occasions. When Ardá Viráf was sent
+to Paradise by a sacred narcotic to obtain intelligence of the true
+faith, seven fires were kept burning for seven days around him,
+and the seven wise women chanted hymns of the Avesta. 
+The entrance of the seven evil powers into a dwelling was believed by
+the Assyrians to be preventible by setting in the doorway small images,
+such as those of the sun-god (Hea) and the moon-goddess, but especially
+of Marduk, corresponding to Serapis the Egyptian Esculapius. These
+powers were reinforced by writing holy texts over and on each side
+of the threshold. 'In the night time bind around the sick man's head
+a sentence taken from a good book.' The phylacteries of the Jews were
+originally worn for the same purpose. They were called Tefila, and were
+related to teraphim, the little idols [187] used by the Jews to keep
+out demons--such as those of Laban, which his daughter Rachel stole.
+The resemblance of teraphim to the Tarasca (connected by some with
+G. teras, a monster) of Spain may be noted,--the serpent figures
+carried about in Corpus Christi processions. The latter word is
+known in the south of France also, and gave its name to the town
+Tarascon. The legend is that an amphibious monster haunted the Rhone,
+preventing navigation and committing terrible ravages, until sixteen
+of the boldest inhabitants of the district resolved to encounter
+it. Eight lost their lives, but the others, having destroyed the
+monster, founded the town of Tarascon, where the 'Fête de la tarasque'
+is still kept up. [188] Calmet, Sedley, and others, however, believe
+that teraphim is merely a modification of seraphim, and the Tefila,
+or phylacteries, of the same origin.
+The phylactery was tied into a knot. Justin Martyr says that the
+Jewish exorcists used 'magic ties or knots.' The origin of this
+custom among the Jews and Babylonians may be found in the Assyrian
+Talismans preserved in the British Museum, of which the following
+has been translated by Mr. Fox Talbot:--
+Hea says: Go, my son!
+Take a woman's kerchief,
+Bind it round thy right hand, loose it from the left hand!
+Knot it with seven knots: do so twice:
+Sprinkle it with bright wine:
+Bind it round the head of the sick man:
+Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters.
+Sit down on his bed:
+Sprinkle holy water over him.
+He shall hear the voice of Hea,
+Darkness shall protect him!
+And Marduk, eldest son of Heaven, shall find him a happy
+habitation. 
+The number seven holds an equally high degree of potency in Singhalese
+demonolatry, which is mainly occupied with diseases. The Capuas or
+conjurors of that island enumerate 240,000 magic spells, of which all
+except one are for evil, which implies a tolerably large preponderance
+of the emergencies in which their countervailing efforts are required
+by their neighbours. That of course can be easily appreciated by
+those who have been taught that all human beings are included under a
+primal curse. The words of Micah, 'Thou wilt cast all their sins into
+the depths of the sea,' [190] are recalled by the legend of these
+evil spells of Ceylon. The king of Oude came to marry one of seven
+princesses, all possessing præternatural powers, and questioned each
+as to her art. Each declared her skill in doing harm, except one who
+asserted her power to heal all ills which the others could inflict. The
+king having chosen this one as his bride, the rest were angry, and
+for revenge collected all the charms in the world, enclosed them in a
+pumpkin--the only thing that can contain spells without being reduced
+to ashes--and sent this infernal machine to their sister. It would
+consume everything for sixteen hundred miles round; but the messenger
+dropped it in the sea. A god picked it up and presented it to the King
+of Ceylon, and these, with the healing charm known to his own Queen,
+make the 240,000 spells known to the Capuas of that island, who have
+no doubt deified the rescuer of the spells on the same principle that
+inspires some seaside populations to worship Providence more devoutly
+on the Sunday after a valuable wreck in their neighbourhood.
+The astrological origin of the evils ascribed to the Yakseyo (Demons)
+of Ceylon, and the horoscope which is a necessary preliminary to
+any dealing with their influences; the constant recurrence of the
+number seven, denoting origin with races holding the seven-planet
+theories of the universe; and the fact that all demons are said, on
+every Saturday evening, to attend an assemblage called Yaksa Sabawa
+(Witches' Sabbath), are facts that may well engage the attention
+of Comparative Mythologists. [191] In Dardistan the evil spirits are
+called Yatsh; they dwell 'in the regions of snow,' and the overthrow of
+their reign over the country is celebrated at the new moon of Daykio,
+the month preceding winter.
+The largest proportion of the Disease Demons of Ceylon are descended
+from its Hunger Demons. The Preta there is much the same phantom
+as in Siam, only they are not quite so tall. [192] They range from
+two to four hundred feet in height, and are so numerous that a Pali
+Buddhist book exhorts people not to throw stones, lest they should
+harm one of these harmless starveling ghosts, who die many times
+of hunger, and revive to suffer on in expiation of their sins in a
+previous existence. They are harmless in one sense, but filthy; and
+bad smells are personified in them. The great mass of demons resemble
+the Pretraya, in that their king (Wessamony) has forbidden them to
+satisfy themselves directly upon their victims, but by inflicting
+diseases they are supposed to receive an imaginative satisfaction
+somewhat like that of eating people.
+Reeri is the Demon of Blood-disease. His form is that of a man with
+face of a monkey; he is fiery red, rides on a red bull, and all
+hemorrhages and diseases of the blood are attributed to him. Reeri
+has eighteen different disguises or avatars. One of these recalls his
+earlier position as a demon of death, before Vishnu revealed to Capuas
+the means of binding him: he is now supposed to be present at every
+death-bed in the form of a delighted pigmy, one span and six inches
+high. On such occasions he bears a cock in one hand, a club in the
+other, and in his mouth a corpse. In the same country Maha Sohon is the
+'great graveyard demon.' He resides in a hill where he is supposed to
+surround himself with carcases. He is 122 feet high, has four hands
+and three eyes, and a red skin. He has the head of a bear; the legend
+being that while quarrelling with another giant his head was knocked
+off, and the god Senasura was gracious enough to tear off the head
+of a bear and clap it on the decapitated giant. His capua threatens
+him with a repetition of this catastrophe if he does not spare any
+threatened victim who has called in his priestly aid. Except for this
+timidity about his head, Maha is formidable, being chief of 30,000
+demons. But curiously enough he is said to choose for his steeds the
+more innocent animals,--goat, deer, horse, elephant, and hog.
+One of the demons most dreaded in Ceylon is the 'Foreign Demon'
+Morotoo, said to have come from the coast of Malabar, and from
+his residence in a tree disseminated diseases which could not be
+cured until, the queen being afflicted, one capua was found able
+to master him. Seven-eighths of the charms used in restraining the
+disease-demons of Ceylon, of which I have mentioned but a few, are
+in the Tamil tongue. In various parts of India are found very nearly
+the same systematic demonolatry and 'devil-dancing;' for example in
+Travancore, to whose superstitions of this character the Rev. Samuel
+Mateer has devoted two chapters in his work 'The Land of Charity.'
+The great demon of diseases in Ceylon is entitled Maha Cola Sanni
+Yakseya. His father, a king, ordered his queen to be put to death in
+the belief that she had been faithless to him. Her body was to be cut
+in two pieces, one of which was to be hung upon a tree (Ukberiya),
+the other to be thrown at its foot to the dogs. The queen before
+her execution said, 'If this charge be false, may the child in my
+womb be born this instant a demon, and may that demon destroy the
+whole of this city and its unjust king.' So soon as the executioners
+had finished their work, the two severed parts of the queen's body
+reunited, a child was born who completely devoured his mother,
+and then repaired to the graveyard (Sohon), where for a time he
+fattened on corpses. Then he proceeded to inflict mortal diseases
+upon the city, and had nearly depopulated it when the gods Iswara
+and Sekkra interfered, descending to subdue him in the disguise of
+mendicants. Possibly the great Maha Sohon mentioned above, and the
+Sohon (graveyard) from which Sanni dealt out deadliness, may be best
+understood by the statement of the learned writer from whom these facts
+are quoted, that, 'excepting the Buddhist priests, and the aristocrats
+of the land, whose bodies were burnt in regular funeral-piles after
+death, the corpses of the rest of the people were neither burned nor
+buried, but thrown into a place called Sohona, which was an open piece
+of ground in the jungle, generally a hollow among the hills, at the
+distance of three or four miles from any inhabited place, where they
+were left in the open air to be decomposed or devoured by dogs and
+wild beasts.' [193] There would appear to be even more ground for
+the dread of the Great Graveyard Demon in many parts of Christendom,
+where, through desire to preserve corpses for a happy resurrection,
+they are made to steal through the water-veins of the earth, and find
+their resurrection as fell diseases. Iswara and Sekkra were probably
+two reformers who persuaded the citizens to bury the poor deep in
+the earth; had they been wise enough to place the dead where nature
+would give them speedy resurrection and life in grass and flowers,
+it would not have been further recorded that 'they ordered him (the
+demon) to abstain from eating men, but gave him Wurrun or permission
+to inflict disease on mankind, and to obtain offerings.' This is very
+much the same as the privilege given our Western funeral agencies and
+cemeteries also; and when the Modliar adds that Sanni 'has eighteen
+principal attendants,' one can hardly help thinking of the mummers,
+gravediggers, chaplains, all engaged unconsciously in the work of
+making the earth less habitable.
+The first of the attendants of this formidable avenger of his mother's
+wrongs is named Bhoota Sanni Yakseya, Demon of Madness. The whole
+demonolatry and devil-dancing of that island are so insane that one is
+not surprised that this Bhoota had but little special development. It
+is amid clear senses we might naturally look for full horror of
+madness, and there indeed do we find it. One of the most horrible
+forms of the disease-demon was the personification of madness among
+the Greeks, as Mania. [194] In the Hercules Furens of Euripides,
+where Madness, 'the unwedded daughter of black Night,' and sprung of
+'the blood of Coelus,' is evoked from Tartarus for the express purpose
+of imbreeding in Hercules 'child-slaying disturbances of reason,'
+there is a suggestion of the hereditary nature of insanity. Obedient
+to the vindictive order of Juno, 'in her chariot hath gone forth the
+marble-visaged, all-mournful Madness, the Gorgon of Night, and with
+the hissing of hundred heads of snakes, she gives the goad to her
+chariot, on mischief bent.' We may plainly see that the religion
+which embodied such a form was itself ending in madness. Already
+ancient were the words mantikê (prophecy) and manikê (madness) when
+Plato cited their identity to prove one kind of madness the special
+gift of Heaven: [195] the notion lingers in Dryden's line, 'Great
+wits to madness sure are near allied;' and survive in regions where
+deference is paid to lunatics and idiots. Other diseases preserve in
+their names indications of similar association: e.g., Nympholepsy,
+St. Vitus's Dance, St. Anthony's Fire. Wesley attributes still epilepsy
+to 'possession.' This was in pursuance of ancient beliefs. Typhus, a
+name anciently given to every malady accompanied with stupor (typhos),
+seemed the breath of feverish Typhon. Max Müller connects the word
+quinsy with Sanskrit amh, 'to throttle,' and Ahi the throttling
+serpent, its medium being angina; and this again is kynanchê,
+dog-throttling, the Greek for quinsy. 
+The genius of William Blake, steeped in Hebraism, never showed
+greater power than in his picture of Plague. A gigantic hideous form,
+pale-green, with the slime of stagnant pools, reeking with vegetable
+decays and gangrene, the face livid with the motley tints of pallor
+and putrescence, strides onward with extended arms like a sower sowing
+his seeds, only in this case the germs of his horrible harvest are not
+cast from the hands, but emanate from the fingers as being of their
+essence. Such, to the savage mind, was the embodiment of malaria,
+sultriness, rottenness, the putrid Pretraya, invisible, but smelt
+and felt. Such, to the ignorant imagination, is the Destroying Angel
+to which rationalistic artists and poets have tried to add wings
+and majesty; but which in the popular mind was no doubt pictured
+more like this form found at Ostia (fig. 16), and now passing in
+the Vatican for a Satan,--probably a demon of the Pontine Marshes,
+and of the fever that still has victims of its fatal cup (p. 291). In
+these fearful forms the poor savage believed with such an intensity
+that he was able to shape the brain of man to his phantasy; bringing
+about the anomaly that the great reformer, Luther, should affirm,
+even while fighting superstition, that a Christian ought to know
+that he lives in the midst of devils, and that the devil is nearer
+to him than his coat or his shirt. The devils, he tells us, are
+all around us, and are at every moment seeking to ensnare our lives,
+salvation, and happiness. There are many of them in the woods, waters,
+deserts, and in damp muddy places, for the purpose of doing folk a
+mischief. They also house in the dense black clouds, and send storms,
+hail, thunder and lightning, and poison the air with their infernal
+stench. In one place, Luther tells us that the devil has more vessels
+and boxes full of poison, with which he kills people, than all the
+apothecaries in the whole world. He sends all plagues and diseases
+among men. We may be sure that when any one dies of the pestilence,
+is drowned, or drops suddenly dead, the devil does it.
+Knowing nothing of Zoology, the primitive man easily falls into the
+belief that his cattle--the means of life--may be the subjects of
+sorcery. Jesus sending devils into a herd of swine may have become
+by artificial process a divine benefactor in the eye of Christendom,
+but the myth makes Him bear an exact resemblance to the dangerous
+sorcerer that fills the savage mind with dread. It is probable that the
+covetous eye denounced in the decalogue means the evil eye, which was
+supposed to blight an object intensely desired but not to be obtained.
+Gopolu, already referred to (p. 136) as the Singhalese demon of
+hydrophobia, bears the general name of the 'Cattle Demon.' He
+is said to have been the twin of the demigod Mangara by a queen
+on the Coromandel coast. The mother died, and a cow suckled the
+twins, but afterwards they quarrelled, and Gopolu being slain was
+transformed into a demon. He repaired to Arangodde, and fixed his
+abode in a Banyan where there is a large bee-hive, whence proceed
+many evils. The population around this Banyan for many miles being
+prostrated by diseases, the demigod Mangara and Pattini (goddess of
+chastity) admonished the villagers to sacrifice a cow regularly,
+and thus they were all resuscitated. Gopolu now sends all cattle
+diseases. India is full of the like superstitions. The people of
+Travancore especially dread the demon Madan, 'he who is like a cow,'
+believed to strike oxen with sudden illness,--sometimes men also.
+In Russia we find superstition sometimes modified by common
+sense. Though the peasant hopes that Zegory (St. George) will defend
+his cattle, he begins to see the chief foes of his cattle. As in
+the folk-song--
+We have gone around the field,
+We have called Zegory....
+O thou, our brave Zegory,
+Save our cattle,
+In the field and beyond the field,
+In the forest and beyond the forest,
+Under the bright moon,
+Under the red sun,
+From the rapacious wolf,
+From the cruel bear,
+From the cunning beast. 
+Nevertheless when a cattle plague occurs many villages relapse into a
+normally extinct state of mind. Thus, a few years ago, in a village
+near Moscow, all the women, having warned the men away, stripped
+themselves entirely naked and drew a plough so as to make a furrow
+entirely around the village. At the point of juncture in this circle
+they buried alive a cock, a cat, and a dog. Then they filled the
+air with lamentations, crying--'Cattle Plague! Cattle Plague! spare
+our cattle! Behold, we offer thee cock, cat, and dog!' The dog is
+a demonic character in Russia, while the cat is sacred; for once
+when the devil tried to get into Paradise in the form of a mouse,
+the dog allowed him to pass, but the cat pounced on him--the two
+animals being set on guard at the door. The offering of both seems to
+represent a desire to conciliate both sides. The nudity of the women
+may have been to represent to the hungry gods their utter poverty,
+and inability to give more; but it was told me in Moscow, where I
+happened to be staying at the time, that it would be dangerous for
+any man to draw near during the performance.
+In Altmark [198] the demons who bewitch cattle are called 'Bihlweisen,'
+and are believed to bury certain diabolical charms under thresholds
+over which the animals are to pass, causing them to wither away, the
+milk to cease, etc. The prevention is to wash the cattle with a lotion
+of sea cabbage boiled with infusion of wine. In the same province it
+is related that once there appeared in a harvest-field at one time
+fifteen, at another twelve men (apparently), the latter headless.
+They all laboured with scythes, but though the rustling could be
+heard no grain fell. When questioned they said nothing, and when
+the people tried to seize them they ran away, cutting fruitlessly as
+they ran. The priests found in this a presage of the coming cattle
+plague. The Russian superstition of the plough, above mentioned, is
+found in fragmentary survivals in Altmark. Thus, it is said that to
+plough around a village and then sit under the plough (placed upright),
+will enable any one to see the witches; and in some villages, some
+bit of a plough is hung up over a doorway through which cattle pass,
+as no devil can then approach them. The demons have a natural horror
+of honest work, and especially the culture of the earth. Goethe,
+as we have seen, notes their fear of roses: perhaps he remembered
+the legend of Aspasia, who, being disfigured by a tumour on the chin,
+was warned by a dove-maiden to dismiss her physicians and try a rose
+from the garland of Venus; so she recovered health and beauty.
+DEATH.
+The Vendetta of Death--Teoyaomiqui--Demon of Serpents--Death on
+the Pale Horse--Kali--War-gods--Satan as Death--Death-beds--
+Thanatos--Yama--Yimi--Towers of Silence--Alcestis--Hercules,
+Christ, and Death--Hel--Salt--Azraël--Death and the Cobbler--
+Dance of Death--Death as Foe, and as Friend.
+Savage races believe that no man dies except by sorcery. Therefore
+every death must be avenged. The Actas of the Philippines regard the
+'Indians' as the cause of the deaths among them; and when one of them
+loses a relative, he lurks and watches until he has spied an 'Indian'
+and killed him. [199] It is a progress from this when primitive man
+advances to the belief that the fatal sorcerer is an invisible man--a
+demon. When this doctrine is taught in the form of a belief that death
+entered the world through the machinations of Satan, and was not in the
+original scheme of creation, it is civilised; but when it is inculcated
+under a set of African or other non-christian names, it is barbarian.
+The following sketch, by Mr. Gideon Lang, will show the intensity of
+this conviction among the natives of New South Wales:--
+'While at Nanima I constantly saw one of these, named Jemmy, a
+remarkably fine man, about twenty-eight years of age, who was the
+'model Christian' of the missionaries, and who had been over and
+over again described in their reports as a living proof that, taken
+in infancy, the natives were as capable of being truly christianised
+as a people who had had eighteen centuries of civilisation. I confess
+that I strongly doubted, but still there was no disputing the apparent
+facts. Jemmy was not only familiar with the Bible, which he could
+read remarkably well, but he was even better acquainted with the more
+abstruse tenets of christianity; and so far as the whites could see,
+his behaviour was in accordance with his religious acquirements. One
+Sunday morning I walked down to the black fellows' camp, to have
+a talk with Jemmy, as usual. I found him sitting in his gunyah,
+overlooking a valley of the Macquarrie, whose waters glanced brightly
+in the sunshine of the delicious spring morning. He was sitting in a
+state of nudity, excepting his waistcloth, very earnestly reading the
+Bible, which indeed was his constant practice; and I could see that
+he was perusing the Sermon on the Mount. I seated myself, and waited
+till he concluded the chapter, when he laid down the Bible, folded
+his hands, and sat with his eyes fixed abstractedly on his fire. I
+bade him 'good morning,' which he acknowledged without looking up. I
+then said, 'Jemmy, what is the meaning of your spears being stuck
+in a circle round you?' He looked me steadily in the eyes, and said
+solemnly and with suppressed fierceness, 'Mother's dead!' I said that
+I was very sorry to hear it; 'but what had her death to do with the
+spears being stuck around so?' 'Bogan black-fellow killed her!' was
+the fierce and gloomy reply. 'Killed by a Bogan black!' I exclaimed:
+'why, your mother has been dying a fortnight, and Dr. Curtis did not
+expect her to outlive last night, which you know as well as I do.' His
+only reply was a dogged repetition of the words: 'A Bogan black-fellow
+killed her!' I appealed to him as a Christian--to the Sermon on the
+Mount, that he had just been reading; but he absolutely refused to
+promise that he would not avenge his mother's death. In the afternoon
+of that day we were startled by a yell which can never be mistaken by
+any person who has once heard the wild war-whoop of the blacks when
+in battle array. On marching out we saw all the black fellows of the
+neighbourhood formed into a line, and following Jemmy in an imaginary
+attack upon an enemy. Jemmy himself disappeared that evening. On the
+following Wednesday morning I found him sitting complacently in his
+gunyah, plaiting a rope of human hair, which I at once knew to be that
+of his victim. Neither of us spoke; I stood for some time watching him
+as he worked with a look of mocking defiance of the anger he knew I
+felt. I pointed to a hole in the middle of his fire, and said, 'Jemmy,
+the proper place for your Bible is there.' He looked up with his eyes
+flashing as I turned away, and I never saw him again. I afterwards
+learned that he had gone to the district of the Bogan tribe, where
+the first black he met happened to be an old friend and companion of
+his own. This man had just made the first cut in the bark of a tree,
+which he was about to climb for an opossum; but on hearing footsteps
+he leaped down and faced round, as all blacks do, and whites also,
+when blacks are in question. Seeing that it was only Jemmy, however,
+he resumed his occupation, but had no sooner set to work than Jemmy
+sent a spear through his back and nailed him to the tree. 
+Perhaps if Jemmy could have been cross-examined by the non-missionary
+mind, he might have replied with some effect to Mr. Lang's suggestion
+that he ought to part with his Bible. Surely he must have found
+in that volume a sufficient number of instances to justify his
+faith in the power of demons over human health and life. Might he
+not have pondered the command, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to
+live,' and imagined that he was impaling another Manasseh, who 'used
+enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit,
+and with wizards (and) wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to
+provoke Him to anger.' [201] Those who hope that the Bible may carry
+light into the dark places of superstition and habitations of cruelty
+might, one would say, reflect upon the long contest which European
+science had with bibliolators in trying to relieve the popular mind
+from the terrors of witchcraft, whose genuineness it was (justly)
+declared contrary to the Scriptures to deny. There are districts in
+Great Britain and America, and many more on the continent of Europe,
+where the spells that waste and destroy are still believed in; where
+effigies of wax or even onions are labelled with some hated name,
+and stuck over with pins, and set near fires to be melted or dried
+up, in full belief that some subject of the charm will be consumed by
+disease along with the object used. Under every roof where such coarse
+superstitions dwell the Bible dwells beside them, and experience proves
+that the infallibility of all such talismans diminishes pari passu.
+What the savage is really trying to slay when he goes forth to avenge
+his relative's death on the first alien he finds may be seen in the
+accompanying figure (17), which represents the Mexican goddess of
+death--Teoyaomiqui. The image is nine feet high, and is kept in
+a museum in the city of Mexico. Mr. Edward B. Tylor, from whose
+excellent book of travels in that country the figure is copied,
+says of it:--'The stone known as the statue of the war-goddess is a
+huge block of basalt covered with sculptures. The antiquaries think
+that the figures on it stand for different personages, and that it is
+three gods--Huitzilopochtli, the god of war; Teoyaomiqui, his wife; and
+Mictlanteuctli, the god of hell. It has necklaces of alternate hearts
+and dead men's hands, with death's heads for a central ornament. At the
+bottom of the block is a strange sprawling figure, which one cannot
+see now, for it is the base which rests on the ground; but there are
+two shoulders projecting from the idol, which show plainly that it
+did not stand on the ground, but was supported aloft on the tops of
+two pillars. The figure carved upon the bottom represents a monster
+holding a skull in each hand, while others hang from his knees and
+elbows. His mouth is a mere oval ring, a common feature of Mexican
+idols, and four tusks project just above it. The new moon laid down
+like a bridge forms his forehead, and a star is placed on each side
+of it. This is thought to have been the conventional representation
+of Mictlanteuctli (Lord of the Land of the Dead), the god of hell,
+which was a place of utter and eternal darkness. Probably each victim
+as he was led to the altar could look up between the two pillars and
+see the hideous god of hell staring down upon him from above. There is
+little doubt that this is the famous war-idol which stood on the great
+teocalli of Mexico, and before which so many thousands of human beings
+were sacrificed. It lay undisturbed under ground in the great square,
+close to the very site of the teocalli, until sixty years ago. For
+many years after that it was kept buried, lest the sight of one of
+their old deities might be too exciting for the Indians, who, as I
+have mentioned before, had certainly not forgotten it, and secretly
+ornamented it with garlands of flowers while it remained above ground.'
+If my reader will now turn to the (fig. 11) portrait of the Demon
+of Serpents, he will find a conception fundamentally similar to
+the Mexican demoness of death or slaughter, but one that is not
+shut up in a museum of antiquities; it still haunts and terrifies a
+vast number of the people born in Ceylon. He is the principal demon
+invoked in Ceylon by the malignant sorcerers in performing the 84,000
+different charms that afflict evils (Hooniyan). His general title is
+Oddy Cumara Hooniyan Dewatawa; but he has a special name for each of
+his six several apparitions, the chief of these being Cali Oddisey,
+or demon of incurable diseases, therefore of death, and Naga Oddisey,
+demon of serpents--deadliest of animals. Beneath him is the Pale Horse
+which has had its career so long and far,--even to the White Mare on
+which, in some regions, Christ is believed to revisit the earth every
+Christmas; and also the White Mare of Yorkshire Folklore which bore
+its rider from Whitestone Cliff to hell. This Singhalese form also,
+albeit now associated by Capuas with fatal disease, was probably at
+first, like the Mexican, a war goddess and god combined, as is shown
+by the uplifted sword, and reeking hand uplifted in triumph. Equally
+a god of war is our 'Death on the Pale Horse,' which christian art,
+following the so-called Apocalypse, has made so familiar. 'I looked,
+and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and
+Hell followed with him. And power was given to him over the fourth
+part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death,
+and with the beasts of the earth.' This is but a travesty of the Greek
+Ares, the Roman Mars, or god of War. In the original Greek-form Ares
+was not solely the god of war, but of destruction generally. In the
+OEdipus Tyrannus of Sophocles we have the popular conception of him
+as one to whom the deadly plague is ascribed. He is named as the
+'god unhonoured among gods,' and it is said:--'The city is wildly
+tossing, and no more can lift up her head from the waves of death;
+withering the ripening grain in the husks, withering the kine in their
+pastures; blighted are the babes through the failing labours of women;
+the fire-bearing god, horrid Pestilence, having darted down, ravages
+the city; by him the house of Cadmus is empty, and dark Hades enriched
+with groans and lamentations.'
+Mother of the deadliest 'Calas' of Singhalese demonolatry, sister of
+the Scandinavian Hel in name and nature, is Kali. Although the Hindu
+writers repudiate the idea that there is any devil among their three
+hundred and thirty millions of deities, it is difficult to deny Kali
+that distinction. Her wild dance of delight over bodies of the slain
+would indicate pleasure taken in destruction for its own sake, so
+fulfilling the definition of a devil; but, on the other hand, there
+is a Deccan legend that reports her as devouring the dead, and this
+would make her a hunger-demon. We may give her the benefit of the
+doubt, and class her among the demons--or beings whose evil is not
+gratuitous--all the more because the mysteriously protruding tongue,
+as in the figure of Typhon (p. 185), probably suggests thirst. Hindu
+legend does, indeed, give another interpretation, and say that when she
+was dancing for joy at having slain a hundred-headed giant demigod, the
+shaking of the earth was so formidable that Siva threw himself among
+the slain, whom she was crushing at every step, hoping to induce her
+to pause; but when, unheeding, she trod upon the body of her husband,
+she paused and thrust out her tongue from surprise and shame. The
+Vedic description of Agni as an ugra (ogre), with 'tongue of flame,'
+may better interpret Kali's tongue. It is said Kali is pleased for
+a hundred years by the blood of a tiger; for a thousand by that of
+a man; for a hundred thousand by the blood of three men.
+How are we to understand this dance of Death, and the further legend
+of her tossing dead bodies into the air for amusement? Such a figure
+found among a people who shudder at taking life even from the lowest
+animals is hardly to be explained by the destructiveness of nature
+personified in her spouse Siva.  Her looks and legends alike represent
+slaughter by human violence. May it not be that Kali represents some
+period when the abhorrence of taking life among a vegetarian people--a
+people, too, believing in transmigration--might have become a public
+danger? When Krishna appeared it was, according to the Bhágavat Gita,
+as charioteer inciting Arjoon to war. There must have been various
+periods when a peaceful people must fall victims to more savage
+neighbours unless they could be stimulated to enter on the work of
+destruction with a light heart. There may have been periods when the
+human Kalis of India might stimulate their husbands and sons to war
+with such songs as the women of Dardistan sing at the Feast of Fire
+(p. 91). The amour of the Greek goddess of Beauty with the god of War,
+leaving her lawful spouse the Smith, is full of meaning. The Assyrian
+Venus, Istar, appeared in a vision, with wings and halo, bearing a bow
+and arrow for Assurbanipal. The Thug appears to have taken some such
+view of Kali, regarding her as patroness of their plan for reducing
+population. They are said to have claimed that Kali left them one of
+her teeth for a pickaxe, her rib for a knife, her garment's hem for
+a noose, and wholesale murder for a religion. The uplifted right
+hand of the demoness has been interpreted as intimating a divine
+purpose in the havoc around her, and it is possible that some such
+euphemism attached to the attitude before the Thug accepted it as his
+own benediction from this highly decorated personage of human cruelty.
+The ancient reverence for Kali has gradually passed to her mitigated
+form--Durgá. Around her too are visible the symbols of destruction;
+but she is supposed to be satisfied with pumpkin-animals, and the
+weapons in her ten hands are believed to be directed against the
+enemies of the gods, especially against the giant king Muheshu. She
+is mother of the beautiful boy Kartik, and of the elephant-headed
+inspirer of knowledge Ganesa. She is reverenced now as female energy,
+the bestower of beauty and fruitfulness on women.
+The identity of war-gods and death-demons, in the most frightful
+conceptions which have haunted the human imagination, is of profound
+significance. These forms do not represent peaceful and natural death,
+not death by old age,--of which, alas, those who cowered before them
+knew but little,--but death amid cruelty and agony, and the cutting
+down of men in the vigour of life. That indeed was terrible,--even
+more than these rude images could describe.
+But there are other details in these hideous forms. The priest has
+added to the horse and sword of war the adored serpent, and hideous
+symbols of the 'Land of the Dead.' For it is not by terror of death,
+but of what he can persuade men lies beyond, that the priest has
+reigned over mankind. When Isabel (in 'Measure for Measure') is
+trying to persuade her brother that the sense of death lies most in
+apprehension, the sentenced youth still finds death 'a fearful thing.'
+Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
+To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
+This sensible warm motion to become
+A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
+To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
+In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;
+To be imprisoned in the viewless winds,
+And blown with violence round about
+The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
+Of these, that lawless and incertain thoughts
+Imagine howling!--'tis too horrible!
+The weariest and most loathed worldly life
+That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
+Can lay on nature, is a paradise
+To what we fear of death.
+In all these apprehensions of Claudio there is no thought of
+annihilation. What if he had seen death as an eternal sleep? Let
+Hamlet answer:--
+To die,--to sleep;--
+No more;--and, by a sleep, to say we end
+The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
+That flesh is heir to,--'tis a consummation
+Devoutly to be wished.
+The greater part of the human race still belong to religions which,
+in their origin, promised eternal repose as the supreme final
+bliss. Had death in itself possessed horrors for the human mind,
+the priest need not have conjured up beyond it those tortures that
+haunted Hamlet with the dreams of possible evils beyond which make
+even the wretched rather bear the ills they have than fly to others
+they know not of. It would have been sufficient sanction to promise
+immortality only to the pious. But as in Claudio's shuddering lines
+every hell is reflected--whether of ice, fire, or brutalisation--so
+are the same mixed with the very blood and brain of mankind, even
+where literally outgrown. Christianity superadded to the horrors by
+importing the idea that death came by human sin, and so by gradual
+development ascribing to Satan the power of death; thereby forming a
+new devil who bore in him the power to make death a punishment. How
+the matter stood in the mediæval belief may be seen in figure 19,
+copied from a Russian Bible of the (early) seventeenth century. Lazarus
+smiles to see the nondescript soul of Dives torn from him by a devil
+with a hook, while another drowns the groans with a drum. Satan
+squirts an infernal baptism on the departing soul, and the earnest
+co-operation of the archangel justifies the satisfaction of Lazarus
+and Abraham. This degraded belief is still found in the almost gleeful
+pulpit-picturings of physical agonies as especially attending the
+death-beds of 'infidels,'--as Voltaire and Paine,--and its fearful
+result is found in the degree to which priesthoods are still able
+to paralyse the common sense and heart of the masses by the barbaric
+ceremonials with which they are permitted to surround death, and the
+arrogant line drawn between unorthodox goats and credulous sheep by
+'consecrated' ground.
+Mr. Keary, in his interesting volume on 'The Dawn of History,' says that it has been suggested that the youthful winged figure
+on the drum of a column from the temple of Diana at Ephesus to the
+British Museum, may be a representation of Thanatos, Death. It would
+be agreeable to believe that the only important representation of Death
+left by Greek art is that exquisite figure, whose high tribute is that
+it was at first thought to be Love! The figure is somewhat like the
+tender Eros of preraphaelite art, and with the same look of gentle
+melancholy. Such a sweet and simple form of Death would be worthy of
+the race which, amid all the fiery or cold rivers of the underworld
+which had gathered about their religion, still saw running there the
+soft-flowing stream of forgetfulness. Let one study this Ephesian
+Thanatos reverently--no engraving or photograph can do it even partial
+justice--and then in its light read those myths of Death which seem to
+bear us back beyond the savagery of war and the artifices of priests
+to the simpler conceptions of humanity. In its serene light we may
+especially read both Vedic and Iranian hymns and legends of Yama.
+The first man to die became the powerful Yama of the Hindus, the
+monarch of the dead; and he became invested with metaphors of the sun
+that had set. [203] In a solemn and pathetic hymn of the Vedas he is
+said to have crossed the rapid waters, to have shown the way to many,
+to have first known the path on which our fathers crossed over. But in the splendours of sunset human hope found its prophetic pictures
+of a heaven beyond. The Vedic Yama is ever the friend. It is one of
+the most picturesque facts of mythology that, after Yama had become
+in India another name for Death, the same name reappeared in Persia,
+and in the Avesta, as a type at once of the Golden Age in the past
+and of paradise in the future.
+Such was the Iranian Yima. He was that 'flos regum' whose reign
+represented 'the ideal of human happiness, when there was neither
+illness nor death, neither heat nor cold,' and who has never
+died. 'According to the earlier traditions of the Avesta,' says
+Spiegel, 'Jima does not die, but when evil and misery began to prevail
+on earth, retires to a smaller space, a kind of garden or Eden, where
+he continues his happy life with those who remained true to him.' Such
+have been the antecedents of our many beautiful myths which ascribe
+even an earthly immortality to the great,--to Barbarossa, Arthur,
+and even to the heroes of humbler races as Hiawatha and Glooscap
+of North American tribes,--who are or were long believed to have
+'sailed into the fiery sunset,' or sought some fair island, or to
+slumber in a hidden grotto, until the world shall have grown up to
+their stature and requires their return.
+In Japan the (Sintoo) god of Hell is now named Amma, and one may
+suspect that it is some imitation of Yama by reason of the majesty he
+still retains in the popular conception. He is pictured as a grave
+man, wearing a judicial cap, and no cruelties seem to be attributed
+to him personally, but only to the oni or demons of whom he is lord.
+The kindly characteristics of the Hindu Yama seem in Persia to have
+been replaced by the bitterness of Ahriman, or Anra-mainyu, the
+genius of evil. Haug interprets Anra-mainyu as 'Death-darting.' The
+word is the counterpart of Speñta-mainyu, and means originally the
+'throttling spirit;' being thus from anh, philologically the root of
+all evil, as we shall see when we consider its dragon brood. Professor
+Whitney translates the name 'Malevolent.' But, whatever may be the
+meaning of the word, there is little doubt that the Twins of Vedic
+Mythology--Yama and Yami--parted into genii of Day and Night, and
+were ultimately spiritualised in the Spirit of Light and Spirit of
+Darkness which have made the basis of all popular theology from the
+time of Zoroaster until this day.
+Nothing can be more remarkable than the extreme difference between
+the ancient Hindu and the Persian view of death. As to the former it
+was the happy introduction to Yama, to the latter it was the visible
+seal of Ahriman's equality with Ormuzd. They held it in absolute
+horror. The Towers of Silence stand in India to-day as monuments of
+this darkest phase of the Parsî belief. The dead body belonged to
+Ahriman, and was left to be devoured by wild creatures; and although
+the raising of towers for the exposure of the corpse, so limiting its
+consumption to birds, has probably resulted from a gradual rationalism
+which has from time to time suggested that by such means souls of the
+good may wing their way to Ormuzd, yet the Parsî horror of death is
+strong enough to give rise to such terrible suspicions, even if they
+were unfounded, as those which surrounded the Tower (Khao's Dokhma)
+in June 1877. The strange behaviour of the corpse-bearers in leaving
+one tower, going to another, and afterwards (as was said) secretly
+repairing to the first, excited the belief that a man had been found
+alive in the first and was afterwards murdered. The story seems to have
+begun with certain young Parsîs themselves, and, whether it be true
+or not, they have undoubtedly interpreted rightly the ancient feeling
+of that sect with regard to all that had been within the kingdom of
+the King of Terrors. 'As sickness and death,' says Professor Whitney,
+'were supposed to be the work of the malignant powers, the dead body
+itself was regarded with superstitious horror. It had been gotten by
+the demons into their own peculiar possession, and became a chief
+medium through which they exercised their defiling action upon the
+living. Everything that came into its neighbourhood was unclean, and to
+a certain extent exposed to the influences of the malevolent spirits,
+until purified by the ceremonies which the law prescribed.' It is to be feared this notion has crept in among the Brahmans;
+the Indian Mirror (May 26, 1878) states that a Chandernagore lady,
+thrown into the Ganges, but afterwards found to be alive, was believed
+to be possessed by Dano (an evil spirit), and but for interference
+would have found a watery grave. The Jews also were influenced by
+this belief, and to this day it is forbidden a Cohen, or descendant
+of the priesthood, to touch a dead body.
+The audience at the Crystal Palace which recently witnessed the
+performance of Euripides' Alcestis could hardly, it is to be feared,
+have realised the relation of the drama to their own religion. Apollo
+induces the Fates to consent that Admetus shall not die provided he
+can find a substitute for him. The pure Alcestis steps forward and
+devotes herself to death to save her husband. Apollo tries to persuade
+Death to give back Alcestis, but Death declares her fate demanded
+by justice. While Alcestis is dying, Admetus bids her entreat the
+gods for pity; but Alcestis says it is a god who has brought on the
+necessity, and adds, 'Be it so!' She sees the hall of the dead, with
+'the winged Pluto staring from beneath his black eyebrows.' She reminds
+her husband of the palace and regal sway she might have enjoyed in
+Thessaly had she not left it for him. Bitterly does Pheres reproach
+Admetus for accepting life through the vicarious suffering and death
+of another. Then comes Hercules; he vanquishes Death; he leads forth
+Alcestis from 'beneath into the light.' With her he comes into the
+presence of Admetus, who is still in grief. Admetus cannot recognise
+her; but when he recognises her with joy, Hercules warns him that it
+is not lawful for Alcestis to address him 'until she is unbound from
+her consecration to the gods beneath, and the third day come.'
+It only requires a change of names to make Alcestis a Passion-play. The
+unappeasable Justice which is as a Fate binding the deity, though it
+may be satisfied vicariously; 'the last enemy, Death;' the atonement
+by sacrifice of a saintly human being, who from a father's palace is
+brought by love freely to submit to death; the son of a god (Zeus) by a
+human mother (Alcmene),--the god-man Herakles,--commissioned to destroy
+earthly evils by twelve great labours,--descending to conquer Death and
+deliver one of the 'spirits in prison,' the risen spirit not recognised
+at first, as Jesus was not by Mary; still bearing the consecration
+of the grave until the third day, which forbade intercourse with the
+living ('Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father'),--all
+these enable us to recognise in the theologic edifices around us the
+fragments of a crumbled superstition as they lay around Euripides.
+From the old pictures of Christ's triumphal pilgrimage on earth
+parallels for the chief Labours of Herakles may be found; he is shown
+treading on the lion, asp, dragon, and Satan; but the myths converge
+in the Descent into Hades and the conquest of Death. It is remarkable
+that in the old pictures of Christ delivering souls from Hades he is
+generally represented closely followed by Eve, whose form so emerging
+would once have been to the greater part of Europe already familiar as
+that of either Alcestis, Eurydice, or Persephone. One of the earliest
+examples of the familiar subject, Christ conquering Death, is that in
+the ancient (tenth century) Missal of Worms,--that city whose very name
+preserves the record of the same combat under the guise of Siegfried
+and the Worm, or Dragon. The cross is now the sword thrust near the
+monster's mouth. The picture illustrates the chant of Holy Week:
+'De manu Mortis liberabo eos, de Morte redimam eos. Ero Mors tua,
+O Mors; morsus tuus ero, inferne.' From the pierced mouth of Death
+are vomited flames, which remind us of his ethnical origin; but it
+is not likely that to the christianised pagans of Worms the picture
+could ever have conveyed an impression so weirdly horrible as that
+of their own goddess of Death, Hel. 'Her hall is called Elvidnir,
+realm of the cold storm: Hunger is her table; Starvation, her knife;
+Delay, her man; Slowness, her maid; Precipice, her threshold; Care,
+her bed; burning Anguish, the hangings of her apartments. One half
+of her body is livid, the other half the colour of human flesh.'
+With the Scandinavian picture of the Abode of Death may be compared the
+description of the Abode of Nin-ki-gal, the Assyrian Queen of Death,
+from a tablet in the British Museum, translated by Mr. Fox Talbot:
+[206]--
+To the House men enter--but cannot depart from:
+To the Road men go--but cannot return.
+The abode of darkness and famine
+Where Earth is their food: their nourishment Clay:
+Light is not seen; in darkness they dwell:
+Ghosts, like birds, flutter their wings there;
+On the door and the gate-posts the dust lies undisturbed.
+The Semitic tribes, undisturbed, like the importers of their theology
+into the age of science, by the strata in which so many perished animal
+kingdoms are entombed, attributed all death, even that of animals,
+to the forbidden fruit. The Rabbins say that not only Adam and Eve,
+but the animals in Eden, partook of that fruit, and came under the
+power of Sammaël the Violent, and of his agent Azraël, the demon of
+Death. The Phoenix, having refused this food, preserved the power of
+renovating itself.
+It is an example of the completeness and consistency with which a
+theory may organise its myth, that the fatal demons are generally
+represented as abhorring salt--the preserving agent and foe of
+decay. The 'Covenant of Salt' among the ancient Jews probably had
+this significance, and the care with which Job salted his sacrifice
+is considered elsewhere. Aubrey says, 'Toads (Saturnine animals) are
+killed by putting salt upon them. I have seen the experiment.' The
+devil, as heir of death-demons, appears in all European folklore
+as a hater of salt. A legend, told by Heine, relates that a knight,
+wandering in a wood in Italy, came upon a ruin, and in it a wondrous
+statue of the goddess of Beauty. Completely fascinated, the knight
+haunted the spot day after day, until one evening he was met by a
+servant who invited him to enter a villa which he had not before
+remarked. What was his surprise to be ushered into the presence of
+the living image of his adored statue! Amid splendour and flowers
+the enraptured knight is presently seated with his charmer at
+a banquet. Every luxury of the world is there; but there is no
+salt! When he hints this want a cloud passes over the face of his
+Beauty. Presently he asks the servant to bring the salt; the servant
+does so, shuddering; the knight helps himself to it. The next sip of
+wine he takes elicits a cry from him: it is liquid fire. Madness seizes
+upon him; caresses, burning kisses follow, until he falls asleep on the
+bosom of his goddess. But what visions! Now he sees her as a wrinkled
+crone, next a great bat bearing a torch as it flutters around him,
+and again as a frightful monster, whose head he cuts off in an agony
+of terror. When the knight awakes it is in his own villa. He hastens
+to his ruin, and to the beloved statue; he finds her fallen from the
+pedestal, and the beautiful head cut from the neck lying at her feet.
+The Semitic Angel of Death is a figure very different from any that
+we have considered. He is known in theology only in the degradation
+which he suffered at the hands of the Rabbins, but originally was an
+awful but by no means evil genius. The Persians probably imported him,
+under the name of Asuman, for we do not find him mentioned in their
+earlier books, and the name has a resemblance to the Hebrew shamad,
+to exterminate, which would connect it with the biblical 'destroyer'
+Abaddon. This is rendered more probable because the Zoroastrians
+believed in an earlier demon, Vízaresha, who carried souls after death
+to the region of Deva-worshippers (India). The Chaldaic Angel of Death,
+Malk-ad Mousa, may have derived his name from the legend of his having
+approached Moses with the object of forcing his soul out of his body,
+but, being struck by the glory of Moses' face, and by virtue of the
+divine name on his rod, was compelled to retire. The legend is not
+so ancient as the name, and was possibly a Saga suggested by the
+name; it is obviously the origin of the tradition of the struggle
+between Michael and Satan for the body of Moses (Jude 9.). This
+personification had thus declined among the Jews into being evil enough
+to be identified with Samaël,--who, in the Book of the Assumption of
+Moses, is named as his assailant,--and subsequently with Satan himself,
+named in connection with the New Testament version. It was on account
+of this degradation of a being described in the earlier books of the
+Bible as the commissioner of Jehovah that there was gradually developed
+among the Jews two Angels of Death, one (Samaël, or his agent Azraël)
+for those who died out of the land of Israel, and the other (Gabriel)
+for those who had the happier lot of dying in their own country.
+This relegation of Samaël to the wandering Jews--who if they died
+abroad were not supposed to reach Paradise with facility, if at
+all--is significant. For Samaël is pretty certainly a conception
+borrowed from outlying Semitic tribes. What that conception was we
+find in Job xviii. 18, where he is 'the king of Terrors,' and still
+more in the Arabic Azraël. The legend of this typical Angel of Death
+is that he was promoted to his high office for special service. When
+Allah was about to create man he sent the angels Gabriel, Michael,
+and Israfil to the earth to bring clay of different colours for that
+purpose; but the Earth warned them that the being about to be formed
+would rebel against his creator and draw down a curse upon her (the
+Earth), and they returned without bringing the clay. Then Azraël was
+sent by Allah, and he executed his commission without fear; and for
+this he was appointed the angel to separate souls from bodies. Azraël
+had subordinate angels under him, and these are alluded to in the
+opening lines of the Sura 79 of the Koran:
+By the angels who tear forth the souls of some with violence;
+And by those who draw forth the souls of others with gentleness.
+The souls of the righteous are drawn forth with gentleness, those
+of the wicked torn from them in the way shown in the Russian picture
+(Fig. 19), which is indeed an illustration of the same mythology.
+These terrible tasks were indeed such as were only too likely to
+bring Azraël into the evil repute of an executioner in the course
+of time; but no degradation of him seems to have been developed
+among the Moslems. He seems to have been associated in their minds
+with Fate, and similar stories were told of him. Thus it is related
+that once when Azraël was passing by Solomon he gazed intently upon
+a man with whom Solomon was conversing. Solomon told his companion
+that it was the Angel of Death who was looking at him, and the man
+replied, 'He seems to want me: order the wind to carry me from hence
+into India;' when this was done Azraël approached Solomon and said,
+'I looked earnestly at that man from wonder, for I was commanded to
+take his soul in India.' 
+Azraël was often represented as presenting to the lips a cup of
+poison. It is probable that this image arose from the ancient ordeal
+by poison, whereby draughts, however manipulated beforehand with
+reference to the results, were popularly held to be divinely mingled
+for retributive or beneficent effects. 'Cup' thus became among Semitic
+tribes a symbol of Fate. The 'cup of consolation,' 'cup of wrath,'
+'cup of trembling,' which we read of in the Old Testament; the 'cup
+of blessing,' and 'cup of devils,' spoken of by Paul, have this
+significance. The cup of Nestor, ornamented with the dove (Iliad,
+xi. 632), was probably a 'cup of blessing,' and Mr. Schliemann has
+found several of the same kind at Mycenæ. The symbol was repeatedly
+used by Christ,--'Let this cup pass from me,' 'The cup that my Father
+hath given me to drink shall I not drink it,' 'Are ye able to drink
+of the cup that I drink of,'--and the familiar association of Azraël's
+cup is expressed in the phrase 'taste of death.'
+One of the most pleasing modifications of the belief in the Angel of
+Death is that found by Lepsius [208] among the Mohammedan negroes of
+Kordofan. Osraîn (Azraël), it is said, receives the souls of the dead,
+and leads the good to their reward, the bad to punishment. 'He lives
+in a tree, el segerat mohana (the tree of fulfilling), which has as
+many leaves as there are inhabitants in the world. On each leaf is
+a name, and when a child is born a new one grows. If any one becomes
+ill his leaf fades, and should he be destined to die, Osraîn breaks
+it off. Formerly he used to come visibly to those whom he was going
+to carry away, and thus put them in great terror. Since the prophet's
+time, however, he has become invisible; for when he came to fetch
+Mohammed's soul he told him that it was not good that by his visible
+appearance he should frighten mankind. They might then easily die of
+terror, before praying; for he himself, although a courageous and
+spirited man, was somewhat perturbed at his appearance. Therefore
+the prophet begged God to make Osraîn invisible, which prayer was
+granted.' Mr. Mackenzie adds on this that, among the Moravian Jews,
+at new moon a branch is held in its light, and the name of a person
+pronounced: his face will appear between the horns of the moon,
+and should he be destined to die the leaves will fade.
+Mr. John Ruskin has been very severe upon the Italians for the humour
+with which they introduce Death as a person of their masque. 'When I
+was in Venice in 1850,' he says, 'the most popular piece of the comic
+opera was "Death and the Cobbler," in which the point of the plot was
+the success of a village cobbler as a physician, in consequence of
+the appearance of Death to him beside the bed of every patient who
+was not to recover; and the most applauded scene in it was one in
+which the physician, insolent in success, and swollen with luxury,
+was himself taken down into the abode of Death, and thrown into an
+agony of terror by being shown lives of men, under the form of wasting
+lamps, and his own ready to expire.' On which he expresses the opinion
+that 'this endurance of fearful images is partly associated with
+indecency, partly with general fatuity and weakness of mind.' But may it not rather be the healthy reaction from morbid images of
+terror, with which a purely natural and inevitable event has so long
+been invested by priests, and portrayed in such popular pictures as
+'The Dance of Death?' The mocking laughter with which the skeletons
+beset the knight in our picture (Fig. 20), from the wall of La Chaise
+Dieu, Auvergne, marks the priestly terrorism, which could not fail
+to be vulgarised even more by the frivolous. In 1424 there was a
+masquerade of the Dance of Death in the Cemetery of the Innocents
+at Paris, attended by the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Burgundy,
+just returned from battle. It may have been the last outcome in
+the west of Kali's dance over the slain; but it is fortunate when
+Fanaticism has no worse outcome than Folly. The Skeleton Death has
+the advantage over earlier forms of suggesting the naturalness of
+death. It is more scientific. The gradual discovery by the people
+that death is not caused by sin has largely dissipated its horrors
+in regions where the ignorance and impostures of priestcraft are of
+daily observation; and although the reaction may not be expressed with
+good taste, there would seem to be in it a certain vigour of nature,
+reasserting itself in simplicity.
+In the northern world we are all too sombre in the matter. It is the
+ages of superstition which have moulded our brains, and too generally
+given to our natural love of life the unnatural counterpart of a
+terror of death. What has been artificially bred into us can be
+cultivated out of us. There are indeed deaths corresponding to the
+two Angels--the death that comes by lingering disease and pain, and
+that which comes by old age. There are indeed Azraëls in our cities
+who poison the food and drink of the people, and mingle death in the
+cup of water; and of them there should be increasing horror until the
+gentler angel abides with us, and death by old age becomes normal. The
+departure from life being a natural condition of entering upon it,
+it is melancholy indeed that it should be ideally confused with the
+pains and sorrows often attending it. It is fabled that Menippus
+the Cynic, travelling through Hades, knew which were the kings there
+by their howling louder than the rest. They howled loudest because
+they had parted from most pleasures on earth. But all the happy and
+young have more reason to lament untimely death than kings. The only
+tragedy of Death is the ruin of living Love. Mr. Watts, in his great
+picture of Love and Death (Grosvenor Gallery, 1877), revealed the
+real horror. Not that skeleton which has its right time and place,
+not the winged demon (called angel), who has no right time or place,
+is here, but a huge, hard, heartless form, as of man half-blocked out
+of marble; a terrible emblem of the remorseless force that embodies
+the incompleteness and ignorance of mankind--a force that steadily
+crushes hearts where intellects are devoting their energies to alien
+worlds. Poor Love has little enough science; his puny arm stretched
+out to resist the colossal form is weak as the prayers of agonised
+parents and lovers directed against never-swerving laws; he is almost
+exhausted; his lustrous wings are broken and torn in the struggle;
+the dove at his feet crouches mateless; the rose that climbed on his
+door is prostrate; over his shoulder the beam-like arm has set the
+stony hand against the door where the rose of joy must fall.
+The aged when they die do but follow the treasures that have gone
+before. One by one the old friends have left them, the sweet ties
+parted, and the powers to enjoy and help become feeble. When of the
+garden that once bloomed around them memory alone is left, friendly
+is death to scatter also the leaves of that last rose where the loved
+ones are sleeping. This is the real office of death. Nay, even when
+it comes to the young and happy it is not Death but Disease that is
+the real enemy; in disease there is almost no compensation at all but
+learning its art of war; but Death is Nature's pity for helpless pain;
+where love and knowledge can do no more it comes as a release from
+sufferings which were sheer torture if prolonged. The presence of
+death is recognised oftenest by the cessation of pain. Superstition
+has done few heavier wrongs to humanity than by the mysterious terrors
+with which it has invested that change which, to the simpler ages,
+was pictured as the gentle river Lethe, flowing from the abode of
+sleep, from which the shades drank oblivion alike of their woes and
+of the joys from which they were torn.
+PART III.
+THE DRAGON.
+DECLINE OF DEMONS.
+The Holy Tree of Travancore--The growth of Demons in India and
+their decline--The Nepaul Iconoclast--Moral Man and unmoral
+Nature--Man's physical and mental migrations--Heine's 'Gods in
+Exile'--The Goban Saor--Master Smith--A Greek caricature of
+the Gods--The Carpenter v. Deity and Devil--Extermination of
+the Werewolf--Refuges of Demons--The Giants reduced to Little
+People--Deities and Demons returning to nature.
+Having indicated, necessarily in mere outline and by selected
+examples, the chief obstacles encountered by primitive man, and his
+apprehensions, which he personified as demons, it becomes my next
+task to show how and why many of these demons declined from their
+terrible proportions and made way for more general forms, expressing
+comparatively abstract conceptions of physical evil. This will involve
+some review of the processes through which man's necessary adaptation
+to his earthly environment brought him to the era of Combat with
+multiform obstruction.
+There was, until within a few recent years, in a mountain of
+Travancore, India, an ancient, gigantic Tree, regarded by the natives
+as the residence of a powerful and dangerous deity who reigned over
+the mountains and the wild beasts. [210] Sacrifices were offered to
+this tree, sermons preached before it, and it seems to have been the
+ancient cathedral of the district. Its trunk was so large that four
+men with outstretched arms could not compass it.
+This tree in its early growth may symbolise the upspringing of natural
+religion. Its first green leaves may be regarded as corresponding
+to the first crude imaginations of man as written, for instance,
+on leaves of the Vedas. Perceiving in nature, as we have seen, a
+power of contrivance like his own, a might far superior to his own,
+man naturally considered that all things had been created and were
+controlled by invisible giants; and bowing helplessly beneath them
+sang thus his hymns and supplications.
+'This earth belongs to Varuna, the king, and the wide sky, with its
+ends far apart: the two seas (sky and ocean) are Varuna's loins;
+he is also contained in this drop of water. He who would flee far
+beyond the sky even he would not be rid of Varuna. His spies proceed
+from heaven towards this earth.'
+'Through want of strength, thou ever strong and bright god, have I
+gone wrong: have mercy, have mercy!'
+'However we break thy laws from day to day, men as we are, O god
+Varuna, do not deliver us to death!'
+'Was it an old sin, Varuna, that thou wished to destroy the friend
+who always praises thee!'
+'O Indra, have mercy, give me my daily bread! Raise up wealth to the
+worshipper, thou mighty Dawn!'
+'Thou art the giver of horses, Indra, thou art the giver of cows,
+the giver of corn, the strong lord of wealth: the old guide of
+man disappointing no desires: to him we address this song. All this
+wealth around here is known to be thine alone: take from it conqueror,
+bring it hither!'
+In these characteristic sentences from various hymns we behold
+man making his first contract with the ruling powers of nature:
+so much adoration and flattery on his part for so much benefit on
+theirs. But even in these earliest hymns there are intimations that
+the gods were not fulfilling their side of the engagement. 'Why is
+it,' pleads the worshipper, 'that you wish to destroy one who always
+praises you? Was it an old sin?' The simple words unconsciously report
+how faithfully man was performing his part of the contract. Having
+omitted no accent of the prayer, praise, or ritual, he supposes the
+continued indifference of the gods must be due to an old sin, one he
+has forgotten, or perhaps one committed by some ancestor.
+In this state of mind the suggestion would easily take root that
+words alone were too cheap to be satisfactory to the gods. There must
+be offerings. Like earthly kings they must have their revenues. We
+thus advance to the phase of sacrifices. But still neither in answer
+to prayer, flattery, or sacrifice did the masses receive health or
+wealth. Poverty, famine, death, still continued their remorseless
+course with the silent machinery of sun, moon, and star.
+But why, then, should man have gone on fulfilling his part of
+the contract--believing and worshipping deities, who when he
+begged for corn gave him famine, and when he asked for fish gave
+him a serpent? The priest intervened with ready explanation. And
+here we may consult the holy Tree of Travancore again? Why should
+that particular Tree--of a species common in the district and not
+usually very large--have grown so huge? 'Because it is holy,' said
+the priest. 'Because it was believed holy,' says the fact. For ages
+the blood and ashes of victims fed its roots and swelled its trunk;
+until, by an argument not confined to India, the dimensions of
+the superstition were assumed to prove its truth. When the people
+complained that all their offerings and worship did not bring
+any returns the priest replied, You stint the gods and they stint
+you. The people offered the fattest of their flocks and fruits:
+More yet! said the priest. They built fine altars and temples for
+the gods: More yet! said the priest. They built fine houses for the
+priests, and taxed themselves to support them. And when thus, fed by
+popular sacrifices and toils, the religion had grown to vast power,
+the priest was able to call to his side the theologian for further
+explanation. The theologian and the priest said--'Of course there must
+be good reasons why the gods do not answer all your prayers (if they
+did not answer some you would be utterly consumed); mere mortals must
+not dare to inquire into their mysteries; but that there are gods,
+and that they do attend to human affairs, is made perfectly plain
+by this magnificent array of temples, and by the care with which
+they have supplied all the wants of us, their particular friends,
+whose cheeks, as you see, hang down with fatness.'
+If, after this explanation, any scepticism or rebellion arose among
+the less favoured, the priest might easily add--'Furthermore, we and
+our temples are now institutions; we are so strong and influential
+that it is evident that the gods have appointed us to be their
+representatives on earth, the dispensers of their favours. Also, of
+their disfavours. We are able to make up for the seeming indifference
+of the gods, rewarding you if you give us honour and wealth, but
+ruining you if you turn heretical.'
+So grew the holy Tree. But strong as it was there was something
+stronger. Some few years ago a missionary from London went to
+Travancore, and desired to build a chapel near the same tree, no
+doubt to be in the way of its worshippers and to borrow some of
+the immemorial sanctity of the spot. This missionary fixed a hungry
+eye upon that holy timber, and reflected how much holier it would
+be if ending its career in the beams of a christian chapel. So one
+day--English authorities being conveniently near--he and his workmen
+began to cut down the sacred Tree. The natives gradually gathered
+around, and looked on with horror. While the cutting proceeded a
+tiger drew near, but shouts drove him off: the natives breathed freer;
+the demon had come and looked on, but could not protect the Tree from
+the Englishman. They still shuddered, however, at the sacrilege, and
+when at last the Holy Tree of Travancore fell, its crash was mingled
+with the cries and screams of its former worshippers. The victorious
+missionary may be pointing out in his chapel the cut-up planks which
+reveal the impotence of the deity so long feared by the natives; and
+perhaps he is telling them of the bigness of his Tree, and claiming
+its flourishing condition in Europe as proof of its supernatural
+character. Possibly he may omit to mention the blood and ashes which
+have fattened the root and enlarged the trunk of his Holy Tree!
+That Tree in Travancore could never have been so destroyed if the
+primitive natural religion in which lay its deeper root had not
+previously withered. The gods, the natural forces, which through
+so many ages had not heeded man's daily martyrdoms, had now for a
+long time been shown quite as impotent to protect their own shrines,
+images, holy trees, and other interests. The priests as vainly invoked
+those gods to save their own country from subjugation by other nations
+with foreign gods, as the masses had invoked their personal aid. For
+a long time the gods in some parts of India have received only a
+formal service, coextensive with their association with a lingering
+order, or as part of princely establishments; but they topple down
+from time to time, as the masses realise their freedom to abandon
+them with impunity. They are at the mercy of any strong heretic
+who arises. The following narrative, quoted by Mr. Herbert Spencer,
+presents a striking example of what some Hindoos had been doing before
+the missionary cut down the Tree at Travancore:--
+'A Nepaul king, Rum Bahâdur, whose beautiful queen, finding her
+lovely face had been disfigured by smallpox, poisoned herself,
+cursed his kingdom, her doctors, and the gods of Nepaul, vowing
+vengeance on all. Having ordered the doctors to be flogged, and
+the right ear and nose of each to be cut off, he then wreaked his
+vengeance on the gods of Nepaul, and after abusing them in the most
+gross way, he accused them of having obtained from him 12,000 goats,
+some hundred-weights of sweetmeats, 2000 gallons of milk, &c., under
+false pretences. He then ordered all the artillery, varying from
+three to twelve-pounders, to be brought in front of the palace. All
+the guns were then loaded to the muzzle, and down he marched to
+the headquarters of the Nepaul deities. All the guns were drawn up
+in front of the several deities, honouring the most sacred with the
+heaviest metal. When the order to fire was given, many of the chiefs
+and soldiers ran away panic-stricken, and others hesitated to obey
+the sacrilegious order; and not till several gunners had been cut down
+were the guns opened. Down came the gods and the goddesses from their
+hitherto sacred positions; and after six hours' heavy cannonading,
+not a vestige of the deities remained.'
+However panic-stricken the Nepaulese may have been at this ferocious
+manifestation, it was but a storm bred out of a more general mental and
+moral condition. Rum Bahâdur only laid low in a few moments images of
+gods who, passing from the popular interest, had been successively
+laid to sleep on the innumerable shelves of Hindu mythology. The
+early Dualism was developed into Moral Man on one side, and Unmoral
+Nature on the other. Man had discovered that moral order in nature
+was represented solely by his own power: by his culture or neglect the
+plant or animal grew or withered, and where his control did not extend,
+there sprang the noxious weed or beast. So far as good gods had been
+imagined they were respected now only as incarnate in men. But the
+active powers of evil still remained, hurtful and hateful to man, and
+the pessimist view of nature became inevitable. To man engaged in his
+life-and-death struggle with nature many a beauty which now nourishes
+the theist's optimism was lost. The fragrant flower was a weed to
+the man hungry for bread, and he viewed many an idle treasure with
+the disappointment of Sâdi when, travelling in the desert, he found a
+bag in which he hoped to discover grain, but found only pearls. Fatal
+to every deity not anthropomorphic was the long pessimistic phase of
+human faith. Each became more purely a demon, and passed on the road
+to become a devil.
+Many particular demons man conquered as he progressively carried
+order amid the ruggedness and wildness of his planet. Every new weapon
+or implement he invented punctured a thousand phantoms. Only in the
+realms he could not yet conquer remained the hostile forces to which
+he ascribed præternatural potency, because not able to pierce them and
+see through them. Nevertheless, the early demonic forms had to give
+way, for man had discovered that they were not his masters. He could
+cut down the Upas and root up the nightshade; he had bruised many a
+serpent's head and slain many a wolf. In detail innumerable enemies
+had been proved his inferiors in strength and intelligence. Important
+migrations took place: man passes, geographically, away from the region
+of some of his worst enemies, inhabits countries more fruitful, less
+malarious, his habitat exceeding that of his animal foe in range;
+and, still better, he passes by mental migration out of the stone
+age, out of other helpless ages, to the age of metal and the skill to
+fashion and use it. He has made the fire-fiend his friend. No longer
+henceforth a naked savage, with bit of stone or bone only to meet
+the crushing powers of the world and win its reluctant supplies!
+There is a sense far profounder than its charming play of fancy in
+Heine's account of the 'Gods in Exile,' an essay which Mr. Pater
+well describes as 'full of that strange blending of sentiment which
+is characteristic of the traditions of the Middle Age concerning
+the Pagan religions.' [211] Heine writes: 'Let me briefly remind
+the reader how the gods of the older world, at the time of the
+definite triumph of Christianity, that is, in the third century,
+fell into painful embarrassments, which greatly resembled certain
+tragical situations of their earlier life. They now found themselves
+exposed to the same troublesome necessities to which they had once
+before been exposed during the primitive ages, in that revolutionary
+epoch when the Titans broke out of the custody of Orcus, and, piling
+Pelion on Ossa, scaled Olympus. Unfortunate gods! They had, then,
+to take flight ignominiously, and hide themselves among us here on
+earth under all sorts of disguises. Most of them betook themselves to
+Egypt, where for greater security they assumed the form of animals,
+as is generally known. Just in the same way they had to take flight
+again, and seek entertainment in remote hiding-places, when those
+iconoclastic zealots, the black brood of monks, broke down all the
+temples, and pursued the gods with fire and curses. Many of these
+unfortunate emigrants, entirely deprived of shelter and ambrosia,
+had now to take to vulgar handicrafts as a means of earning their
+bread. In these circumstances, many, whose sacred groves had been
+confiscated, let themselves out for hire as wood-cutters in Germany,
+and had to drink beer instead of nectar. Apollo seems to have been
+content to take service under graziers, and as he had once kept the
+cows of Admetus, so he lived now as a shepherd in Lower Austria. Here,
+however, having become suspected, on account of his beautiful singing,
+he was recognised by a learned monk as one of the old pagan gods,
+and handed over to the spiritual tribunal. On the rack he confessed
+that he was the god Apollo; and before his execution he begged that
+he might be suffered to play once more upon the lyre and to sing a
+song. And he played so touchingly, and sang with such magic, and was
+withal so beautiful in form and feature that all the women wept, and
+many of them were so deeply impressed that they shortly afterwards
+fell sick. And some time afterwards the people wished to drag him
+from the grave again, that a stake might be driven through his body,
+in the belief that he had been a vampire, and that the sick women
+would by this means recover. But they found the grave empty.'
+Naturally: it is hard to bury Apollo. The next time he appeared was, no
+doubt, as musical director in the nearest cathedral. The young singers
+and artists discovered by such severe lessons that it was dangerous
+to sing Pagan ballads too realistically; that a cowl is capable of a
+high degree of decoration; that Pan's pipe sounds well evolved into
+an organ; that Cupids look just as well if called Cherubs. It is odd
+that it should have required Robert Browning three centuries away to
+detect the real form and face beneath the vestment of the Bishop who
+orders his tomb at Saint Praxed's Church:--
+The bas-relief in bronze ye promised me,
+Those Pans and Nymphs ye wot of, and perchance
+Some tripod, thyrsus, with a vase or so,
+The Saviour at his sermon on the mount,
+Saint Praxed in a glory, and one Pan
+Ready to twitch the Nymph's last garment off,
+And Moses with the tables....
+So in one direction grew the hermitage to the Vatican; so Zeus regained
+his throne by exchanging his thunderbolts for Peter's keys, and Mars
+regained his steed as St. George, and Hercules as Christ wrestles with
+Death once more. But while these artificial restorations were going on
+in one direction, in another some of the gods were passing through many
+countries, outwitting and demolishing their former selves as lowered
+to demons. There are many legends which report this strange phase of
+development, one of the finest being that of The Goban Saor, told by
+Mr. Kennedy. The King of Munster sent for this wonderful craftsman to
+build him a castle. The Goban could fashion a spear with three strokes
+of his hammer--St. Patrick, who found the Trinity in the shamrock,
+may have determined the number of strokes,--and when he wished to drive
+in nails high up, had only to throw his hammer at them. On his way to
+work for the King, Goban, accompanied by his son, passed the night at
+the house of a farmer, whose daughters--one dark and industrious, the
+other fair and idle--received from him (Goban) three bits of advice:
+'Always have the head of an old woman by the hob; warm yourselves
+with your work in the morning; and some time before I come back take
+the skin of a newly-killed sheep to the market, and bring itself and
+the price of it home again.' As Goban, with his son, journeyed on,
+they found a poor man vainly trying to roof his house with three
+joists and mud; and by simply making one end of each joist rest on
+the middle of another, the other ends being on the wall, the structure
+was perfect. He relieved puzzled carpenters by putting up for them the
+pegless and nailless bridge described in Cæsar's Commentaries. Having
+done various great things, Goban returns to the homestead of the
+girls who had received his three bits of advice. The idle one had,
+of course, blundered at each point, and been ridiculed in the market
+for her proposition to bring back the sheep's skin and its price. The
+other, by kindly taking in an aged female relative, by working till
+she was warm, and by plucking and selling the wool of the sheep's
+skin and bringing home the latter, had obeyed the Goban's advice,
+and was selected as his daughter-in-law--the prince attending the
+wedding. Now, as to building the castle, Goban knew that the King had
+employed on previous castles four architects and then slain them, so
+that they should never build another palace equal to his. He therefore
+says he has left at home a necessary implement which his wife will
+only give to himself or one of royal blood. The King sends his son,
+who is kept as hostage till the husband's safe return.
+This is the Master Smith of Norse fable, who has a chair from which
+none can rise, and who therein binds the devil; which again is the
+story of Hephaistos, and the chair in which he entrapped Hera until
+she revealed the secret of his birth. The 'devil' whom the Master
+Smith entraps is, in Norse mythology, simply Loki: and as Loki is a
+degraded Hephaistos, fire in its demonic forms, we have in all these
+legends the fire-fiend fought with fire.
+This re-dualisation of the gods into demonic and saintly forms
+had a long preparation. The forces that brought it about may be
+seen already beginning in Hesiod's representations of the gods, in
+their presentation on the stage by Euripides, in a manner certain
+to demonise them to the vulgar, and to subject them to such laughter
+among scholars as still rings across the ages in the divine dialogues
+of Lucian. What the gods had become to the Lucians before they
+reached the Heines may be gathered from the accompanying caricature
+(Fig. 21). [212] Nothing can be more curious than the encounters of the
+gods with their dead selves, their Manes. What unconscious ingenuity
+in the combinations! St. Martin on his grey steed divides with the
+beggar the cloud-cloak of Wodan on his black horse, treading down
+just such paupers in his wild hunt; as saint he now shelters those
+whom as storm-demon he chilled; but the identity of Junker Martin
+is preserved in both titles and myths, and the Martinhorns (cakes),
+twisted after fashion of the horns of goat or buck pursued by Wodan,
+are deemed potent like horse-shoes to defend house or stable from
+the outlawed god. 
+The more impressive and attractive myths transferred to christian
+saints--as the flowers sacred to Freyja became Our Lady's-glove,
+or slipper, or smock--there remained to the old gods, in their own
+name, only the repulsive and puerile, and by this means they were
+doomed at once to become unmitigated knaves and fools. If Titans,
+Jötunn or Jinni, they were giant humbugs, whom any small Hans or Jack
+might outwit and behead. Our Fairy lore is full of stories which show
+that in the North as well as in Latin countries there had already
+been a long preparation for the contempt poured by Christianity
+upon the Norse deities. Many of the stories, as they now stand in
+Folktales, speak of the vanquished demon or giant as the devil,
+but it is perfectly easy to detach the being meant from the name
+so indiscriminately bestowed by christian priests upon most of the
+outlawed deities. In Lithuania, where survived too much reverence for
+some of the earlier deities to admit of their being identified with
+the devil, we still find them triumphed over by the wit and skill of
+the artisan. Such is the case in a favourite popular legend of that
+country in which Perkunas--the ancient Thunder-god, corresponding to
+Perun in Russia--is involved in disgrace along with the devil by the
+sagacity and skill of a carpenter. The aged god, the venerable Devil,
+and the young Carpenter, united for a journey. Perkun kept the beasts
+off with thunder and lightning, the Devil hunted up food, the Carpenter
+cooked. At length they built a hut and lived in it, and planted the
+ground with vegetables. Presently a thief invaded their garden. Perkun
+and the Devil successively tried to catch him, but were well thrashed;
+whereas the Carpenter by playing the fiddle fascinated the thief,
+who was a witch, a hag whose hand the fiddler managed to get into
+a split tree (under pretence of giving her a music lesson), holding
+her there till she gave up her iron waggon and the whip which she had
+used on his comrades. After this the three, having decided to separate,
+disputed as to which should have the hut; and they finally agreed that
+it should be the possession of him who should succeed in frightening
+the two others. The Devil raised a storm which frightened Perkun, and
+Perkun with his thunder and lightning frightened the Devil; but the
+Carpenter held out bravely, and, in the middle of the night, came in
+with the witch's waggon, and, cracking her whip, the Devil and Perkun
+both took flight, leaving the Carpenter in possession of the hut. 
+So far as Perkun is concerned, and may be regarded as representative
+of the gods, the hut may be symbol of Europe, and the Carpenter
+type of the power which conquered all that was left of them after
+their fair or noble associations had been transferred to christian
+forms. Somewhat later, the devil was involved in a like fate, as we
+shall have to consider in a future chapter.
+The most horrible superstitions, if tracked in their popular
+development, reveal with special impressiveness the progressive
+emancipation of man from the phantasms of ferocity which represented
+his primal helplessness. The universal werewolf superstition, for
+instance, drew its unspeakable horrors from deep and wide-spreading
+roots. Originating, probably, in occasional relapses to cannibalism
+among tribes or villages which found themselves amid circumstances as
+urgent as those which sometimes lead a wrecked crew to draw lots which
+shall die to support the rest, it would necessarily become demonised
+by the necessity of surrounding cannibalism with dangers worse than
+starvation. But it would seem that individuals are always liable,
+by arrest of development which usually takes the form of disease
+or insanity, to be dragged back to the savage condition of their
+race. In the course of this dark history, we note first an increasing
+tendency to show the means of the transformation difficult. In the
+Volsunga Saga it is by simply putting on a 'wolf-shirt' (wolfskin)
+that a man may become a wolf. Then it is said it is done by a belt
+made of the skin of a man who has been hung--all executed persons
+being sacred to Wodan (because not dying a natural death), to whom
+also the wolf was sacred. Then it is added, that the belt must be
+marked with the signs of the zodiac, and have a buckle with seven
+teeth. Then it is said that 'only a seventh son' is possessed of
+this diabolical power; or others say one whose brows meet over his
+nose. The means of detecting werewolves and retransforming them to
+human shape multiplied as those of transformation diminished in number,
+and such remedies reflected the advance of human skill. The werewolf
+could be restored by crossing his path with a knife or polished
+steel; by a sword laid on the ground with point towards him; by a
+silver ball. Human skill was too much for him. In Posen mothers had
+discovered that one who had bread in his or her mouth could by even
+such means discover werewolves; and fathers, to this hint about keeping
+'the wolf from the door,' added that no one could be attacked by any
+such monster if he were in a cornfield. The Slav levelled a plough
+at him. Thus by one prescription and another, and each representing a
+part of man's victory over chaos, the werewolf was driven out of all
+but a few 'unlucky' days in the year, and especially found his last
+refuge in Twelfth Night. But even on that night the werewolf might
+be generally escaped by the simple device of not speaking of him. If
+a wolf had to be spoken of he was then called Vermin, and Dr. Wuttke
+mentions a parish priest named Wolf in East Prussia who on Twelfth
+Night was addressed as Mr. Vermin! The actual wolf being already out
+of the forests in most places by art of the builder and the architect;
+the phantasmal wolf driven out of fear for most of the year by man's
+recognition of his own superiority to this exterminated beast; even
+the proverbial 'ears' of the vanishing werewolf ceased to be visible
+when on his particular fest-night his name was not mentioned.
+The last execution of a man for being an occasional werewolf was,
+I believe, in 1589, near Cologne, there being some evidence of
+cannibalism. But nine years later, in France, where the belief in
+the Loup-garou had been intense, a man so accused was simply shut
+up in a mad-house. It is an indication of the revolution which has
+occurred, that when next governments paid attention to werewolves
+it was because certain vagabonds went about professing to be able
+to transform themselves into wolves, in order to extort money from
+the more weak-minded and ignorant peasants. [215] There could hardly
+be conceived a more significant history: the werewolf leaves where
+he entered. Of ignorance and weakness trying, too often in vain,
+'to keep the wolf from the door,' was born this voracious phantom;
+with the beggar and vagabond, survivals of helplessness become
+inveterate, he wanders thin and crafty. He keeps out of the way of all
+culture, whether of field or mind. So is it indeed with all demons
+in decline--of which I can here only adduce a few characteristic
+examples. So runs the rune--
+When the barley there is,
+Then the devils whistle;
+When the barley is threshed,
+Then the devils whine;
+When the barley is ground,
+Then the devils roar;
+When the flour is produced,
+Then the devils perish.
+The old Scottish custom, mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, of leaving
+around each cultivated field an untilled fringe, called the Gude
+Man's Croft, is derived from the ancient belief that unless some
+wild place is left to the sylvan spirits they will injure the grain
+and vegetables; and, no doubt, some such notion leads the farmers of
+Thurgau still to graft mistletoe upon their fruit-trees. Many who can
+smile at such customs do yet preserve in their own minds, or those of
+their servants or neighbours, crofts which the ploughshare of science
+is forbidden to touch, and where the præternatural troops still hide
+their shrivelled forms. But this wild girdle becomes ever narrower,
+and the images within it tend to blend with rustling leaf and straw,
+and the insects, and to be otherwise invisible, save to that second
+sight which is received from Glam. As in some shadow-pantomime, the
+deities and demons pursue each other in endless procession, dropping
+down as awe-inspiring Titans, vanishing as grotesque pigmies--vanishing
+beyond the lamp into Nothingness!
+So came most of the monsters we have been describing--Animals,
+Volcanoes, Icebergs, Deserts, though they might be--by growing culture
+and mastery of nature to be called 'the little people;' and perhaps
+it is rather through pity than euphemism when they were so often
+called, as in Ireland (Duine Matha), 'the good little people.' At every step in time or space back of the era of mechanic arts
+the little fairy gains in physical proportions. The house-spirits
+(Domovoi) of Russia are full-sized, shaggy human-shaped beings. In
+Lithuania the corresponding phantoms (Kaukas) average only a foot
+in height. The Krosnyata, believed in by the Slavs on the Baltic
+coast, are similarly small; and by way of the kobolds, elves, fays,
+travelling westward, we find the size of such shapes diminishing, until
+warnings are given that the teeth must never be picked with a straw,
+that slender tube being a favourite residence of the elf! In Bavaria
+a little red chafer with seven spots (Coccinella septempunctata) is
+able to hold Thor with his lightnings, and in other regions is a form
+of the goddess of Love! [217] Our English name for the tiny beetle
+'Lady-bug' is derived from the latter notion; and Mr. Karl Blind has
+expressed the opinion that our children's rune--
+Lady-bug, lady-bug, fly away home,
+Thy house is on fire, thy children will roam--
+is last echo of the Eddaic prophecies of the destruction of the
+universe by the fire-fiend Loki! [218] Such reductions of the ancient
+gods, demons, and terrors to tiny dimensions would, of course, be
+only an indirect result of the general cause stated. They were driven
+from the great world, and sought the small world: they survived in
+the hut and were adapted to the nerves of the nursery. So alone can
+Tithonos live on: beyond the age for which he is born he shrinks to
+a grasshopper; and it is now by only careful listening that in the
+chirpings of the multitudinous immortals, of which Tithonos is type,
+may be distinguished the thunders and roarings of deities and demons
+that once made the earth to tremble.
+GENERALISATION OF DEMONS.
+The Demons' bequest to their conquerors--Nondescripts--
+Exaggerations of tradition--Saurian Theory of Dragons--
+The Dragon not primitive in Mythology--Monsters of Egyptian,
+Iranian, Vedic, and Jewish Mythologies--Turner's Dragon--
+Della Bella--The Conventional Dragon.
+After all those brave victories of man over the first chaos, organic
+and inorganic, whose effect upon his phantasms has been indicated;
+after fire had slain its thousands, and iron its tens of thousands of
+his demons, and the rough artisan become a Nemesis with his rudder and
+wheel pursuing the hosts of darkness back into Night and Invisibility;
+still stood the grim fact of manyformed pain and evil in the world,
+still defying the ascending purposes of mankind. Moreover, confronting
+these, he is by no means so different mentally from that man he was
+before conquering many foes in detail, and laying their phantoms, as
+he was morally. More courage man had gained, and more defiance; and,
+intellectually, a step had been taken, if only one: he had learned
+that his evils are related to each other. Hunger is of many heads
+and forms. Its yawning throat may be seen in the brilliant sky that
+lasts till it is as brass, in the deluge, the earthquake, in claw
+and fang; and then these together do but relate the hunger-brood to
+Fire and Ferocity; the summer sunbeam may be venomous as a serpent,
+and the end of them all is Death. Some tendency to these more general
+conceptions of an opposing principle and power in the world seems
+to be represented in that phase of development at which nondescript
+forms arise. These were the conquered demons' bequest.
+It is, of course, impossible to measure the various forces which
+combined to produce the complex symbolical forms of physical
+evil. Tradition is not always a good draughtsman, and in portraying
+for a distant generation in Germany a big snake killed in India might
+not be exact as to the number of its heads or other details. Heroes
+before Falstaff were liable to overstate their foes in buckram. The
+less measurable a thing by fact, the more immense in fancy: werewolves
+of especial magnitude haunted regions where there had not been actual
+wolves for centuries; huge serpents play a large part in the annals
+of Ireland, where not even the smallest have been found. But after all
+natural influences have been considered, one can hardly look upon the
+sphynx, the chimæra, or on a conventional dragon, without perceiving
+that he is in presence of a higher creation than a demonic bear or a
+giant ruffian. The fundamental difference between the two classes is
+that one is natural, the other præternatural. Of course a werewolf is
+as præternatural as a gryphon to the eye of science, but as original
+expressions of human imagination the former could hardly have been a
+more miraculous monster than the Siamese twins to intelligent people
+to-day. The demonic forms are generally natural, albeit caricatured
+or exaggerated. And this effort at a præternatural conception is,
+in this early form, by no means mere superstition; rather is it
+poetic and artistic,--a kind of crude effort at allgemeinheit, at
+realisation of the types of evil--the claw-principle, fang-principle
+in the universe, the physiognomies of venom and pain detached from
+forms to which they are accidental.
+Some of the particular forms we have been considering are, indeed,
+by no means of the prosaic type. Such conceptions as Ráhu, Cerberus,
+and several others, are transitional between the natural and mystical
+conceptions; while the sphynx, however complete a combination of ideal
+forms, is not all demonic. In this Part III. are included those forms
+whose combination is not found in objective nature, but which are
+yet travesties of nature and genuine fauna of the human mind.
+Perhaps it may be thought somewhat arbitrary that I should describe
+all these intermediate forms between demon and devil by the term
+Dragon; but I believe there is no other fabulous form which includes
+so many individual types of transition, or whose evolution may be
+so satisfactorily traced from the point where it is linked with the
+demon to that where it bequeathes its characters to the devil. While,
+however, this term is used as the best that suggests itself, it cannot
+be accepted as limiting our inquiry or excluding other abstract forms
+which ideally correspond to the dragon,--the generalised expression
+for an active, powerful, and intelligent enemy to mankind, a being
+who is antagonism organised, and able to command every weapon in
+nature for an antihuman purpose.
+The opinion has steadily gained that the conventional dragon is the
+traditional form of some huge Saurian. It has been suggested that some
+of those extinct forms may have been contemporaneous with the earliest
+men, and that the traditions of conflicts with them, transmitted orally
+and pictorially, have resulted in preserving their forms in fable
+(proximately). The restorations of Saurians on their islet at the
+Crystal Palace show how much common sense there is in this theory. The
+discoveries of Professor Marsh of Yale College have proved that the
+general form of the dragon is startlingly prefigured in nature; and
+Mr. Alfred Tylor, in an able paper read before the Anthropological
+Society, has shown that we are very apt to be on the safe side in
+sticking to the theory of an 'object-origin' for most things.
+Concerning this theory, it may be said that the earliest descriptions,
+both written and pictorial, which have been discovered of the
+reptilian monsters around which grew the germs of our dragon-myths,
+are crocodiles or serpents, and not dragons of any conventional
+kind,--with a few doubtful exceptions. In an Egyptian papyrus there
+is a hieroglyphic picture of San-nu Hut-ur, 'plunger of the sea;'
+it is a marine, dolphin-like monster, with four feet, and a tail
+ending in a serpent's head. [219] With wings, this might approach
+the dragon-form. Again, Amen-Ra slew Naka, and this serpent 'saved
+his feet.' Possibly the phrase is ironical, and means that the
+serpent saved nothing; but apart from that, the poem is too highly
+metaphorical--the victorious god himself being described in it
+as a 'beautiful bull'--for the phrase to be important. On Egyptian
+monuments are pictured serpents with human heads and members, and the
+serpent Nahab-ka is pictured on amulets with two perfect human legs
+and feet. [220] Winged serpents are found on Egyptian monuments, but
+almost as frequently with the incredible number of four as with the
+conceivable two wings of the pterodactyl. The forms of the serpents
+thus portrayed with anthropomorphic legs and slight wings are, in
+their main shapes, of ordinary species. In the Iranian tradition of the
+temptation of the first man and woman, Meschia and Meschiane, by the
+'two-footed serpent of lies.' And it is possible that out of this myth
+of the 'two-footed' serpent grew the puzzling legend of Genesis that
+the serpent of Eden was sentenced thereafter to crawl on his belly. The
+snake's lack of feet, however, might with equal probability have given
+rise to the explanation given in mussulman and rabbinical stories of
+his feet being cut off by the avenging angel. But the antiquity of the
+Iranian myth is doubtful; while the superior antiquity of the Hindu
+fable of Ráhu, to which it seems related, suggests that the two legs
+of the Ahriman serpent, like the four arms of serpent-tailed Ráhu,
+is an anthropomorphic addition. In the ancient planispheres we find
+the 'crooked serpent' mentioned in the Book of Job, but no dragon.
+The two great monsters of Vedic mythology, Vritra and Ahi, are
+not so distinguishable from each other in the Vedas as in more
+recent fables. Vritra is very frequently called Vritra Ahi--Ahi
+being explained in the St. Petersburg Dictionary as 'the Serpent
+of the Heavens, the demon Vritra.' Ahi literally means 'serpent,'
+answering to the Greek echi-s, echi-dna; and when anything is added
+it appears to be anthropomorphic--heads, arms, eyes--as in the case
+of the Egyptian serpent-monsters. The Vedic demon Urana is described
+as having three heads, six eyes, and ninety-nine arms.
+There would appear to be as little reason for ascribing to the
+Tannin of the Old Testament the significance of dragon, though it is
+generally so translated. It is used under circumstances which show it
+to mean whale, serpent, and various other beasts. Jeremiah (xiv. 6)
+compares them to wild asses snuffing the wind, and Micah (i. 8)
+describes their 'wailing.' The fiery serpents said to have afflicted
+Israel in the wilderness are called seraphim, but neither in their
+natural or mythological forms do they anticipate our conventional
+dragon beyond the fiery character that is blended with the serpent
+character. Nor do the descriptions of Behemoth and Leviathan comport
+with the dragon-form.
+The serpent as an animal is a consummate development. Its feet, so
+far from having been amputated, as the fables say, in punishment of
+its sin, have been withdrawn beneath the skin as crutches used in a
+feebler period. It is found as a tertiary fossil. Since, therefore,
+the dragon form ex hypothesi is a reminiscence of the huge, now fossil,
+Saurians which preceded the serpent in time, the early mythologies
+could hardly have so regularly described great serpents instead of
+dragons. If the realistic theory we are discussing were true, the
+earliest combats--those of Indra, for instance--ought to have been
+with dragons, and the serpent enemies would have multiplied as time
+went on; but the reverse is the case--the (alleged) extinct forms
+being comparatively modern in heroic legend.
+Mr. John Ruskin once remarked upon Turner's picture of the Dragon
+guarding the Hesperides, that this conception so early as 1806,
+when no Saurian skeleton was within the artist's reach, presented
+a singular instance of the scientific imagination. As a coincidence
+with such extinct forms Turner's dragon is surpassed by the monster on
+which a witch rides in one of the engravings of Della Bella, published
+in 1637. In that year, on the occasion of the marriage of the grand
+duke Ferdinand II. in Florence, there was a masque d'Inferno, whose
+representations were engraved by Della Bella, of which this is one, so
+that it may be rather to some scenic artist than to the distinguished
+imitator of Callot that we owe this grotesque form, which the late
+Mr. Wright said 'might have been borrowed from some distant geological
+period.' If so, the fact would present a curious coincidence with the
+true history of Turner's Dragon; for after Mr. Ruskin had published
+his remark about the scientific imagination represented in it,
+an old friend of the artist declared that Turner himself had told
+him that he copied that dragon from a Christmas spectacle in Drury
+Lane theatre. But Turner had shown the truest scientific instinct
+in repairing to the fossil-beds of human imagination, and drawing
+thence the conventional form which never had existence save as the
+structure of cumulative tradition.
+THE SERPENT.
+The beauty of the Serpent--Emerson on ideal forms--Michelet's
+thoughts on the viper's head--Unique characters of the
+Serpent--The monkey's horror of Snakes--The Serpent protected
+by superstition--Human defencelessness against its subtle
+powers--Dubufe's picture of the Fall of Man.
+In the accompanying picture, a medal of the ancient city of Tyre,
+two of the most beautiful forms of nature are brought together,--the
+Serpent and the Egg. Mr. D. R. Hay has shown the endless extent to
+which the oval arches have been reproduced in the ceramic arts of
+antiquity; and the same sense of symmetry which made the Greek vase
+a combination of Eggs prevails in the charm which the same graceful
+outline possesses wherever suggested,--as in curves of the swan,
+crescent of the moon, the elongated shell,--on which Aphrodite may well
+be poised, since the same contours find their consummate expression
+in the flowing lines attaining their repose in the perfect form of
+woman. The Serpent--model of the 'line of grace and beauty'--has had
+an even larger fascination for the eye of the artist and the poet. It
+is the one active form in nature which cannot be ungraceful, and to
+estimate the extent of its use in decoration is impossible, because
+all undulating and coiling lines are necessarily serpent forms. But
+in addition to the perfections of this form--which fulfil all the
+ascent of forms in Swedenborg's mystical morphology, circular, spiral,
+perpetual-circular, vortical, celestial--the Serpent bears on it, as
+it were, gems of the underworld that seem to find their counterpart
+in galaxies.
+One must conclude that Serpent-worship is mainly founded in fear. The
+sacrifices offered to that animal are alone sufficient to prove
+this. But as it is certain that the Serpent appears in symbolism
+and poetry in many ways which have little or no relation to its
+terrors, we may well doubt whether it may not have had a career in the
+human imagination previous to either of the results of its reign of
+terror,--worship and execration. It is the theory of Pestalozzi that
+every child is born an artist, and through its pictorial sense must be
+led on its first steps of education. The infant world displayed also
+in its selection of sacred trees and animals a profound appreciation
+of beauty. The myths in which the Serpent is represented as kakodemon
+refer rather to its natural history than to its appearance; and even
+when its natural history came to be observed, there was--there now
+is--such a wide discrepancy between its physiology and its functions,
+also between its intrinsic characters and their relation to man,
+that we can only accept its various aspects in mythology without
+attempting to trace their relative precedence in time.
+The past may in this case be best interpreted by the present. How
+different now to wise and observant men are the suggestions of this
+exceptional form in nature!
+Let us read a passage concerning it from Ralph Waldo Emerson:--
+'In the old aphorism, nature is always self-similar. In the plant,
+the eye or germinative point opens to a leaf, then to another leaf,
+with a power of transforming the leaf into radicle, stamen, pistil,
+petal, bract, sepal, or seed. The whole art of the plant is still to
+repeat leaf on leaf without end, the more or less of heat, light,
+moisture, and food, determining the form it shall assume. In the
+animal, nature makes a vertebra, or a spine of vertebræ, and helps
+herself still by a new spine, with a limited power of modifying its
+form,--spine on spine, to the end of the world. A poetic anatomist,
+in our own day, teaches that a snake being a horizontal line, and man
+being an erect line, constitute a right angle; and between the lines
+of this mystical quadrant, all animated beings find their place:
+and he assumes the hair-worm, the span-worm, or the snake, as the
+type or prediction of the spine. Manifestly, at the end of the spine,
+nature puts out smaller spines, as arms; at the end of the arms, new
+spines, as hands; at the other end she repeats the process, as legs
+and feet. At the top of the column she puts out another spine, which
+doubles or loops itself over, as a span-worm, into a ball, and forms
+the skull, with extremities again: the hands being now the upper jaw,
+the feet the lower jaw, the fingers and toes being represented this
+time by upper and lower teeth. This new spine is destined to high
+uses. It is a new man on the shoulders of the last.' 
+As one reads this it might be asked, How could its idealism be more
+profoundly pictured for the eye than in the Serpent coiled round
+the egg,--the seed out of which all these spines must branch out for
+their protean variations? What refrains of ancient themes subtly sound
+between the lines,--from the Serpent doomed to crawl on its belly in
+the dust, to the Serpent that is lifted up!
+Now let us turn to the page of Jules Michelet, and read what the
+Serpent signified to one mood of his sympathetic nature.
+'It was one of my saddest hours when, seeking in nature a refuge from
+thoughts of the age, I for the first time encountered the head of
+the viper. This occurred in a valuable museum of anatomical imitations.
+The head marvellously imitated and enormously enlarged, so as to
+remind one of the tiger's and the jaguar's, exposed in its horrible
+form a something still more horrible. You seized at once the delicate,
+infinite, fearfully prescient precautions by which the deadly machine
+is so potently armed. Not only is it provided with numerous keen-edged
+teeth, not only are these teeth supplied with an ingenious reservoir
+of poison which slays immediately, but their extreme fineness which
+renders them liable to fracture is compensated by an advantage that
+perhaps no other animal possesses, namely, a magazine of supernumerary
+teeth, to supply at need the place of any accidentally broken. Oh,
+what provisions for killing! What precautions that the victim shall
+not escape! What love for this horrible creature! I stood by it
+scandalised, if I may so speak, and with a sick soul. Nature, the great
+mother, by whose side I had taken refuge, shocked me with a maternity
+so cruelly impartial. Gloomily I walked away, bearing on my heart a
+darker shadow than rested on the day itself, one of the sternest in
+winter. I had come forth like a child; I returned home like an orphan,
+feeling the notion of a Providence dying away within me.' 
+Many have so gone forth and so returned; some to say, 'There is no
+God;' a few to say (as is reported of a living poet), 'I believe in
+God, but am against him;' but some also to discern in the viper's
+head Nature's ironclad, armed with her best science to defend the
+advance of form to humanity along narrow passes.
+The primitive man was the child that went forth when his world was also
+a child, and when the Serpent was still doing its part towards making
+him and it a man. It was a long way from him to the dragon-slayer; but
+it is much that he did not merely cower; he watched and observed, and
+there is not one trait belonging to his deadly crawling contemporaries
+that he did not note and spiritualise in such science as was possible
+to him.
+The last-discovered of the topes in India represents
+Serpent-worshippers gathered around their deity, holding their tongues
+with finger and thumb. No living form in nature could be so fitly
+regarded in that attitude. Not only is the Serpent normally silent,
+but in its action it has 'the quiet of perfect motion.' The maximum of
+force is shown in it, relatively to its size, along with the minimum
+of friction and visible effort. Footless, wingless, as a star, its
+swift gliding and darting is sometimes like the lightning whose forked
+tongue it seemed to incarnate. The least touch of its ingenious tooth
+is more destructive than the lion's jaw. What mystery in its longevity,
+in its self-subsistence, in its self-renovation! Out of the dark it
+comes arrayed in jewels, a crawling magazine of death in its ire,
+in its unknown purposes able to renew its youth, and fable for man
+imperishable life! Wonderful also are its mimicries. It sometimes
+borrows colours of the earth on which it reposes, the trees on which it
+hangs, now seems covered with eyes, and the 'spectacled snake' appeared
+to have artificially added to its vision. Altogether it is unique
+among natural forms, and its vast history in religious speculation
+and mythology does credit to the observation of primitive man.
+Recent experiments have shown the monkeys stand in the greatest terror
+of snakes. Such terror is more and more recognised as a survival in
+the European man. The Serpent is almost the only animal which can
+follow a monkey up a tree and there attack its young. Our arboreal
+anthropoid progenitors could best have been developed in some place
+naturally enclosed and fortified, as by precipices which quadrupeds
+could not scale, but which apes might reach by swinging and leaping
+from trees. But there could be no seclusion where the Serpent could
+not follow. I am informed by the King of Bonny that in his region
+of Africa the only serpent whose worship is fully maintained is the
+Nomboh (Leaper), a small snake, white and glistening, whose bite is
+fatal, and which, climbing into trees, springs thence upon its prey
+beneath, and can travel far by leaping from branch to branch. The
+first arboreal man who added a little to the natural defences of any
+situation might stand in tradition as a god planting a garden; but even
+he would not be supposed able to devise any absolute means of defence
+against the subtlest of all the beasts. Among the three things Solomon
+found too wonderful for him was 'the way of a serpent upon a rock'
+(Prov. xxx. 19). This comparative superiority of the Serpent to any and
+all devices and contrivances known to primitive men--whose proverbs
+must have made most of Solomon's wisdom--would necessarily have its
+effect upon the animal and mental nerves of our race in early times,
+and the Serpent would find in his sanctity a condition favourable to
+survival and multiplication. It is this fatal power of superstition
+to change fancies into realities which we find still protecting the
+Serpent in various countries. From being venerated as the arbiter of
+life and death, it might thus actually become such in large districts
+of country. In Dubufe's picture of the Fall of Man, the wrath of
+Jehovah is represented by the lightning, which has shattered the tree
+beneath which the offending pair are now crouching; beyond it Satan
+is seen in human shape raising his arm in proud defiance against the
+blackened sky. So would the Serpent appear. His victims were counted
+by many thousands where the lightning laid low one. Transmitted along
+the shuddering nerves of many generations came the confession of the
+Son of Sirach, 'There is no head above the head of a serpent.'
+THE WORM.
+An African Serpent-drama in America--The Veiled Serpent--The
+Ark of the Covenant--Aaron's Rod--The Worm--An Episode
+on the Dii Involuti--The Serapes--The Bambino at
+Rome--Serpent-transformations.
+On the eve of January 1, 1863,--that historic New Year's Day on
+which President Lincoln proclaimed freedom to American slaves,--I was
+present at a Watchnight held by negroes in a city of that country. In
+opening the meeting the preacher said,--though in words whose eloquent
+shortcomings I cannot reproduce:--'Brethren and sisters, the President
+of the United States has promised that, if the Confederates do not
+lay down their arms, he will free all their slaves to-morrow. They
+have not laid down their arms. To-morrow will be the day of liberty
+to the oppressed. But we all know that evil powers are around the
+President. While we sit here they are trying to make him break his
+word. But we have come together to watch, and see that he does not
+break his word. Brethren, the bad influences around the President
+to-night are stronger than any Copperheads. [223] The Old Serpent
+is abroad to-night, with all his emissaries, in great power. His
+wrath is great, because he knows his hour is near. He will be in this
+church this evening. As midnight comes on we shall hear his rage. But,
+brethren and sisters, don't be alarmed. Our prayers will prevail. His
+head will be bruised. His back will be broken. He will go raging to
+hell, and God Almighty's New Year will make the United States a true
+land of freedom.'
+The sensation caused among the hundreds of negroes present by these
+words was profound; they were frequently interrupted by cries of
+'Glory!' and there were tears of joy. But the scene and excitement
+which followed were indescribable. A few moments before midnight
+the congregation were requested to kneel, which they did, and prayer
+succeeded prayer with increasing fervour. Presently a loud, prolonged
+hiss was heard. There were cries--'He's here! he's here!' Then came a
+volley of hisses; they seemed to proceed from every part of the room,
+hisses so entirely like those of huge serpents that the strongest
+nerves were shaken; above them rose the preacher's prayer that
+had become a wild incantation, and ecstatic ejaculations became so
+universal that it was a marvel what voices were left to make the
+hisses. Finally, from a neighbouring steeple the twelve strokes
+of midnight sounded on the frosty air, and immediately the hisses
+diminished, and presently died away altogether, and the New Year
+that brought freedom to four millions of slaves was ushered in by
+the jubilant chorus of all present singing a hymn of victory.
+Far had come those hisses and that song of victory, terminating the
+dragon-drama of America. In them was the burden of Ezekiel: 'Son of
+man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against
+him and against all Egypt, saying, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah:
+Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon
+that lieth in the midst of the rivers ... I will put a hook in thy
+jaws.' In them was the burden of Isaiah: 'In that day Jehovah with
+his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the
+piercing serpent, even Leviathan that crooked serpent: he shall
+slay the dragon that is in the sea.' In it was the cry of Zophar:
+'His meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within
+him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again:
+God shall cast them out of his belly.' And these Hebrew utterances,
+again, were but the distant echoes of far earlier voices of those
+African slaves still seen pictured with their chains on the ruined
+walls of Egypt,--voices that gathered courage at last to announce the
+never-ending struggle of man with Oppression, as that combat between
+god and serpent which never had a nobler event than when the dying
+hiss of Slavery was heard in America, and the victorious Sun rose
+upon a New World of free and equal men.
+The Serpent thus exalted in America to a type of oppression is very
+different from any snake that may this day be found worshipped as a
+deity by the African in his native land. The swarthy snake-worshipper
+in his migration took his god along with him in his chest or
+basket--at once ark and altar--and in that hiding-place it underwent
+transformations. He emerged as the protean emblem of both good and
+evil. In a mythologic sense the serpent certainly held its tail in its
+mouth. No civilisation has reached the end of its typical supremacy.
+Concerning the accompanying Eleusinian form (Fig. 24), Calmet
+says:--'The mysterious trunk, coffer, or basket, may be justly
+reckoned among the most remarkable and sacred instruments of worship,
+which formed part of the processional ceremonies in the heathen
+world. This was held so sacred that it was not publicly exposed to
+view, or publicly opened, but was reserved for the inspection of the
+initiated, the fully initiated only. Completely to explain this symbol
+would require a dissertation; and, indeed, it has been considered,
+more or less, by those who have written on the nature of the Ark of
+the testimony among the Hebrews. Declining the inquiry at present, we
+merely call the attention of the reader to what this mystical coffer
+was supposed to contain--a serpent!' The French Benedictine who wrote
+this passage, though his usual candour shames the casuistry of our own
+time, found it necessary to conceal the Hebrew Ark: it was precisely
+so that the occupant of the Ark was originally concealed; and though
+St. John exorcised it from the Chalice its genius lingers in the Pyx,
+before whose Host 'lifted up' the eyes of worshippers are lowered.
+The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (chap. ix.), describing
+the Tabernacle, says: 'After the second veil, the tabernacle which
+is called the Holiest of all; which had the golden censer, and the
+ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was
+the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the
+tables of the covenant.' But this rod of Aaron, which, by budding,
+had swallowed up all rival pretensions to the tribal priesthood,
+was the same rod which had been changed to a serpent, and swallowed
+up the rod-serpents of the sorcerers in Pharaoh's presence. So soft
+and subtle is 'the way of a serpent upon a rock!'
+This veiling of the Serpent, significant of a great deal, is
+characteristic even of the words used to name it. Of these I have
+selected one to head this chapter, because it is one of the innumerable
+veils which shielded this reptile's transformation from a particular
+external danger to a demonic type. This general description of things
+that wind about or turn (vermes, traced by some to the Sanskrit
+root hvar, 'curved'), gradually came into use to express the demon
+serpents. Dante and Milton call Satan a worm. No doubt among the two
+hundred names for the Serpent, said to be mentioned in an Arabic work,
+we should find parallels to this old adaptation of the word 'worm.' In
+countries--as Germany and England--where no large serpents are found,
+the popular imagination could not be impressed by merely saying that
+Siegfried or Lambton had slain a snake. The tortuous character of
+the snake was preserved, but, by that unconscious dexterity which so
+often appears in the making of myths, it was expanded so as to include
+a power of supernatural transformation. The Lambton worm comes out of
+the well very small, but it afterwards coils in nine huge folds around
+its hill. The hag-ridden daughter of the King of Northumberland, who
+crept into a hole a worm
+And out stept a fair ladye,
+did but follow the legendary rule of the demonic serpent tribe.
+Why was the Serpent slipped into the Ark or coffer and hid behind
+veils? To answer this will require here an episode.
+In the Etruscan theology and ceremonial the supreme power was lodged
+with certain deities that were never seen. They were called the Dii
+Involuti, the veiled gods. Not even the priests ever looked upon
+them. When any dire calamity occurred, it was said these mysterious
+deities had spoken their word in the council of the gods,--a word
+always final and fatal.
+There have been fine theories on the subject, and the Etruscans
+have been complimented for having high transcendental views of the
+invisible nature of the Divine Being. But a more prosaic theory is
+probably true. These gods were wrapped up because they were not fit to
+be seen. The rude carvings of some savage tribe, they had been seen and
+adored at first: temples had been built for them, and their priesthood
+had grown powerful; but as art advanced and beautiful statues arose,
+these rude designs could not bear the contrast, and the only way of
+preserving reverence for them, and the institutions grown up around
+them, was to hide them out of sight altogether. Then it could be said
+they were so divinely beautiful that the senses would be overpowered
+by them.
+There have been many veiled deities, and though their veils have
+been rationalised, they are easily pierced. The inscription on the
+temple of Isis at Sais was: 'I am that which has been, which is,
+and which shall be, and no one has yet lifted the veil that hides
+me.' Isis at this time had probably become a negro Madonna, like
+that still worshipped in Spain as holiest of images, and called by
+the same title, 'Our Immaculate Lady.' As the fair race and the dark
+mingled in Egypt, the primitive Nubian complexion and features of
+Isis could not inspire such reverence as more anciently, and before
+her also a curtain was hung. The Ark of Moses carried this veil
+into the wilderness, and concealed objects not attractive to look
+at--probably two scrawled stones, some bones said to be those of
+Joseph, a pot of so-called manna, and the staff said to have once
+been a serpent and afterwards blossomed. Fashioned by a rude tribe,
+the Ark was a fit thing to hide, and hidden it has been to this
+day. When the veil of the Temple was rent,--allegorically at the
+death of Christ, actually by Titus,--nothing of the kind was found;
+and it would seem that the Jews must long have been worshipping before
+a veil with emptiness behind it. Paul discovered that the veil said
+to have covered the face of Moses when he descended from Sinai was a
+myth; it meant that the people should not see to the end of what was
+nevertheless transient. 'Their minds were blinded; for unto this day,
+when Moses is read, that veil is on their heart.'
+Kircher says the Seraphs of Egypt were images without any eminency of
+limbs, rolled as it were in swaddling clothes, partly made of stone,
+partly of metal, wood, or shell. Similar images, he says, were called
+by the Romans 'secret gods.' As an age of scepticism advanced, it was
+sometimes necessary that these 'involuti' should be slightly revealed,
+lest it should be said there was no god there at all.  Such is the
+case with the famous bambino of Aracoeli Church in Rome. This effigy,
+said to have been carved by a pilgrim out of a tree on the Mount of
+Olives, and painted by St. Luke while the pilgrim was sleeping, is now
+kept in its ark, and visitors are allowed to see part of its painted
+face. When the writer of this requested a sight of the whole form, or
+of the head at any rate, the exhibiting priest was astounded at the
+suggestion. No doubt he was right: the only wonder is that the face
+is not hid also, for a more ingeniously ugly thing than the flat,
+blackened, and rouged visage of the bambino it were difficult to
+conceive. But it wears a very cunning veil nevertheless. The face is
+set in marvellous brilliants, but these are of less effect in hiding
+its ugliness than the vesture of mythology around it. The adjacent
+walls are covered with pictures of the miracles it has performed,
+and which have attracted to it such faith that it is said at one
+time to have received more medical fees than all the physicians in
+Rome together. Priests have discovered that a veil over the mind
+is thicker than a veil on the god. Such is the popular veneration
+for the bambino, that, in 1849, the Republicans thought it politic
+to present the monks with the Pope's state coach to carry the idol
+about. In the end it was proved that the Pope was securely seated
+beside the bambino, and he presently emerged from behind his veil also.
+There came, then, a period when the Serpent crept behind the veil,
+or lid of the ark, or into a chalice,--a very small worm, but yet
+able to gnaw the staff of Solomon. No wisdom could be permitted to
+rise above fear itself, though its special sources might be here and
+there reduced or vanquished. The snake had taught man at last its arts
+of war. Man had summoned to his aid the pig, and the ibis made havoc
+among the reptiles; and some of that terror which is the parent of
+that kind of devotion passed away. When it next emerged, it was in
+twofold guise,--as Agathodemon and Kakodemon,--but in both forms as
+the familiar of some higher being. It was as the genius of Minerva,
+of Esculapius, of St. Euphemia. We have already seen him (Fig. 13)
+as the genius of the Eleans, the Sosopolis, where also we see the
+Serpent hurrying into his cavern, leaving the mother and child to
+be worshipped in the temple of Lucina. In Christian symbolism the
+Seraphim--'burning (sáraf) serpents'--veiled their faces and forms
+beneath their huge wings, crossed in front, and so have been able to
+become 'the eminent,' and to join in the praises of modern communities
+at being delivered from just such imaginary fiery worms as themselves!
+APOPHIS.
+The Naturalistic Theory of Apophis--The Serpent of Time--
+Epic of the Worm--The Asp of Melite--Vanquishers of Time--
+Nachash-Beriach--The Serpent-Spy--Treading on Serpents.
+The considerations advanced in the previous chapter enable us to
+dismiss with facility many of the rationalistic interpretations which
+have been advanced to explain the monstrous serpents of sacred books
+by reference to imaginary species supposed to be now extinct. Flying
+serpents, snakes many-headed, rain-bringing, woman-hating, &c., may be
+suffered to survive as the fauna of bibliolatrous imaginations. Such
+forms, however, are of such mythologic importance that it is necessary
+to watch carefully against this method of realistic interpretation,
+especially as there are many actual characteristics of serpents
+sufficiently mysterious to conspire with it. A recent instance of
+this literalism may here be noticed.
+Mr. W. R. Cooper [224] supposes the evil serpent of Egyptian Mythology
+to have a real basis in 'a large and unidentified species of coluber,
+of great strength and hideous longitude,' which 'was, even from the
+earliest ages, associated as the representative of spiritual, and
+occasionally physical evil, and was named Hof, Rehof, or Apophis,'
+the 'destroyer, the enemy of the gods, and the devourer of the souls
+of men.' That such a creature, he adds, 'once inhabited the Libyan
+desert, we have the testimony of both Hanno the Carthaginian and Lucan
+the Roman, and if it is now no longer an inhabitant of that region,
+it is probably owing to the advance of civilisation having driven it
+farther south.'
+Apart from the extreme improbability that African exploration should
+have brought no rumours of such a monster if it existed, it may be said
+concerning Mr. Cooper's theory: (1.) If, indeed, the references cited
+were to a reptile now unknown, we might be led by mythologic analogy
+to expect that it would have been revered beyond either the Asp or the
+Cobra. In proportion to the fear has generally been the exaltation of
+its objects. Primitive peoples have generally gathered courage to pour
+invective upon evil monsters when--either from their non-existence
+or rarity--there was least danger of its being practically resented
+as a personal affront. (2.) The regular folds of Apophis on the
+sarcophagus of Seti I. and elsewhere are so evidently mystical and
+conventional that, apparently, they refer to a serpent-form only as
+the guilloche on a wall may refer to sea-waves. Apophis (or Apap)
+would have been a decorative artist to fold himself in such order.
+These impossible labyrinthine coils suggest Time, as the serpent
+with its tail in its mouth signifies Eternity,--an evolution of the
+same idea. This was the interpretation given by a careful scholar,
+the late William Hickson, [225] to the procession of nine persons
+depicted on the sarcophagus mentioned as bearing a serpent, each
+holding a fold, all being regular enough for a frieze. 'The scene,'
+says this author, 'appears to relate to the Last Judgment, for Osiris
+is seen on his throne, passing sentence on a crowd before him; and
+in the same tableaux are depicted the river that divides the living
+from the dead, and the bridge of life. The death of the serpent may
+possibly be intended to symbolise the end of time.' This idea of long
+duration might be a general one relating to all time, or it might
+refer to the duration of individual life; it involved naturally the
+evils and agonies of life; but the fundamental conception is more
+simple, and also more poetic, than even these implications, and it
+means eternal waste and decay. One has need only to sit before a clock
+to see Apophis: there coil upon coil winds the ever-moving monster,
+whose tooth is remorseless, devouring little by little the strength
+and majesty of man, and reducing his grandest achievements--even his
+universe--to dust. Time is the undying Worm.
+God having made me worm, I make you--smoke.
+Though safe your nameless essence from my stroke,
+Yet do I gnaw no less
+Love in the heart, stars in the livid space,--
+God jealous,--making vacant thus your place,--
+And steal your witnesses.
+Since the star flames, man would be wrong to teach
+That the grave's worm cannot such glory reach;
+Naught real is save me.
+Within the blue, as 'neath the marble slab I lie,
+I bite at once the star within the sky,
+The apple on the tree.
+To gnaw yon star is not more tough to me
+Than hanging grapes on vines of Sicily;
+I clip the rays that fall;
+Eternity yields not to splendours brave.
+Fly, ant, all creatures die, and nought can save
+The constellations all.
+The starry ship, high in the ether sea,
+Must split and wreck in the end: this thing shall be:
+The broad-ringed Saturn toss
+To ruin: Sirius, touched by me, decay,
+As the small boat from Ithaca away
+That steers to Kalymnos. 
+The natural history of Apophis, so far as he has any, is probably
+suggested in the following passage cited by Mr. Cooper from
+Wilkinson:--'Ælian relates many strange stories of the asp, and the
+respect paid to it by the Egyptians; but we may suppose that in his
+sixteen species of asps other snakes were included. He also speaks
+of a dragon which was sacred in the Egyptian Melite, and another
+kind of snake called Paries or Paruas, dedicated to Æsculapius. The
+serpent of Melite had priests and ministers, a table and bowl. It
+was kept in a tower, and fed by the priests with cakes made of flour
+and honey, which they placed there in a bowl. Having done this they
+retired. The next day, on returning to the apartment, the food was
+found to be eaten, and the same quantity was again put into the bowl,
+for it was not lawful for any one to see the sacred reptile.' 
+It was in this concealment from the outward eye that the Serpent was
+able to assume such monstrous proportions to the eye of imagination;
+and, indeed, it is not beyond conjecture that this serpent of Melite,
+coming in conflict with Osirian worship, was degraded and demonised
+into that evil monster (Apophis) whom Horus slew to avenge his
+destruction of Osiris (for he was often identified with Typhon).
+Though Horus cursed and slew this terrible demon-serpent, he reappears
+in all Egyptian Mythology with undiminished strength, and all evil
+powers were the brood of himself or Typhon, who were sometimes
+described as brothers and sometimes as the same beings. From the
+'Ritual of the Dead' we learn that it was the high privilege and task
+of the heroic dead to be reconstructed and go forth to encounter
+and subdue the agents of Apophis, who sent out to engage them the
+crocodiles Seb, Hem, and Shui, and other crocodiles from north, south,
+east, and west; the hero having conquered these, acquires their might,
+and next prevails over the walking viper Ru; and so on with other
+demons called 'precursors of Apophis,' until their prince himself is
+encountered and slain, all the hero's guardian deities attending to
+fix a knife in each of the monster's folds. These are the Vanquishers
+of Time,--the immortal.
+In Apophis we find the Serpent fairly developed to a principle of
+evil. He is an 'accuser of the sun;' the twelve gateways into Hades
+are surmounted by his representatives, which the Sun must pass--twelve
+hours of night. He is at once the 'Nachash beriach' and 'Nachash
+aktalon'--the 'Cross-bar serpent' and the 'Tortuous serpent'--which we
+meet with in Isa. xxvii. 1: 'In that day the Lord with his sore and
+great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent,
+even leviathan that crooked serpent.' The marginal translation in the
+English version is 'crossing like a bar,' instead of piercing, and the
+Vulgate has serpens vectis. This refers to the moral function of the
+serpent, as barring the way, or guarding the door. No doubt this is the
+'crooked serpent' of Job xxvi. 13, for the astrological sense of it
+does not invalidate the terrestrial significance. Imagination could
+only project into the heavens what it had learned on earth. Bochart
+in identifying 'Nachash-beriach' as 'the flying Serpent,' is quite
+right: the Seraph, or winged Serpent, which barred the way to the tree
+of life in Eden, and in some traditions was the treacherous guard
+at the gate of the garden, and which bit Israel in the wilderness,
+was this same protean Apophis. For such tasks, and to soar into the
+celestial planisphere, the Serpent must needs have wings; and thus
+it is already far on its way to become the flying Dragon. But in one
+form, as the betrayer of man, it must lose its wings and crawl upon
+the ground for ever. The Serpent is thus not so much agathodemon
+and kakodemon in one form, as a principle of destructiveness which
+is sometimes employed by the deity to punish his enemies, as Horus
+employs fiery Kheti, but sometimes requires to be himself punished.
+There have been doubts whether the familiar derivation of ophis,
+serpent, from ops, the eye, shall continue. Some connect the Greek
+word with echis, but Curtius maintains that the old derivation from
+ops is correct. [228] Even were this not the etymology, the popularity
+of it would equally suggest the fact that this reptile was of old
+supposed to kill with its glance; and it was also generally regarded
+as gifted with præternatural vision. By a similar process to that
+which developed avenging Furies out of the detective dawn--Erinyes
+from Saranyu, Satan from Lucifer [229]--this subtle Spy might have
+become also a retributive and finally a malignant power. The Furies
+were portrayed bearing serpents in their hands, and each of these
+might carry ideally the terrors of Apophis: Time also is a detective,
+and the guilty heard it saying, 'Your sin will find you out.'
+Through many associations of this kind the Serpent became at an
+early period an agent of ordeal. Any one handling it with impunity
+was regarded as in league with it, or specially hedged about by the
+deity whose 'hands formed the crooked serpent.' It may have been
+as snake-charmers that Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh and
+influenced his imagination; or, if the story be a myth, its existence
+still shows that serpent performances would then have been regarded
+as credentials of divine authentication. So when Paul was shipwrecked
+on Malta, where a viper is said to have fastened on his hand, the
+barbarians, having at first inferred that he was a murderer, 'whom
+though he hath escaped the sea, yet Vengeance suffereth not to live,'
+concluded he was a god when they found him unharmed. Innumerable
+traditions preceded the words ascribed to Christ (Luke x. 19),
+'Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions,
+and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
+hurt you.' It is instructive to compare this sentence attributed to
+Christ with the notion of the barbarians concerning Paul's adventure,
+whatever it may have been. Paul's familiarity with the Serpent seems
+to them proof that he is a god. Such also is the idea represented
+in Isa. xi. 8, 'The sucking child shall play on the hole of the
+asp.' But the idea of treading on serpents marks a period more
+nearly corresponding to that of the infant Hercules strangling
+the serpents. Yet though these two conceptions--serpent-treading,
+and serpent-slaying--approach each other, they are very different
+in source and significance, both morally and historically. The word
+used in Luke, pateiin, conveys the idea of walking over something in
+majesty, not in hostility; it must be interpreted by the next sentence
+(x. 20), 'Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are
+subject unto you (ta pneumata hypotassetai).' The serpent-slayer
+or dragon-slayer is not of Semitic origin. The awful supremacy of
+Jehovah held all the powers of destruction chained to his hand;
+and to ask man if he could draw out Leviathan with a hook was only
+another form of reminding him of his own inferiority to the creator
+and lord of Leviathan. How true the Semitic ideas running through the
+Bible, and especially represented in the legend of Paul in Malta,
+are to the barbarian nature is illustrated by an incident related
+in Mr. Brinton's 'Myths of the New World.' The pious founder of the
+Moravian Brotherhood, Count Zinzendorf, was visiting a missionary
+station among the Shawnees in the Wyoming Valley, America. Recent
+quarrels with the white people had so irritated the red men that they
+resolved to make him their victim. After he had retired to his hut
+several of the braves softly peered in. Count Zinzendorf was seated
+before a fire, lost in perusal of the Scriptures; and while the
+red men gazed they saw what he did not--a huge rattlesnake trailing
+across his feet to gather itself in a coil before the comfortable
+warmth of the fire. Immediately they forsook their murderous purpose,
+and retired noiselessly, convinced that this was indeed a divine man.
+THE SERPENT IN INDIA.
+The Kankato na--The Vedic Serpents not worshipful--Ananta and
+Sesha--The Healing Serpent--The guardian of treasures--Miss
+Buckland's theory--Primitive rationalism--Underworld
+plutocracy--Rain and lightning--Vritra--History of the word
+'Ahi'--The Adder--Zohák--A Teutonic Laokoon.
+That Serpent-worship in India was developed by euphemism seems
+sufficiently shown in the famous Vedic hymn called Kankato na,
+recited as an antidote against all venom, of which the following is
+a translation:--
+'1. Some creature of little venom; some creature of great venom;
+or some venomous aquatic reptile; creatures of two kinds, both
+destructive of life, or poisonous, unseen creatures, have anointed
+me with their poison.
+'2. The antidote coming to the bitten person destroys the unseen
+venomous creatures; departing it destroys them; deprived of substance
+it destroys them by its odour; being ground it pulverises them.
+'3. Blades of sara grass, of kusara, of darhba, of sairya, of munja,
+of virana, all the haunt of unseen venomous creatures, have together
+anointed me with their venom.
+'4. The cows had lain down in their stalls; the wild beasts had
+retreated to their lairs; the senses of men were at rest; when the
+unseen venomous creatures anointed me with their venom.
+'5. Or they may be discovered in the dark, as thieves in the dusk
+of evening; for although they be unseen yet all are seen by them;
+therefore, men be vigilant.
+'6. Heaven, serpents, is your father; Earth, your mother; Soma, your
+brother; Aditi, your sister; unseen, all-seeing, abide in your holes;
+enjoy your own good pleasure.
+'7. Those who move with their shoulders, those who move with their
+bodies, those who sting with sharp fangs, those who are virulently
+venomous; what do ye here, ye unseen, depart together far from us.
+'8. The all-seeing Sun rises in the East, the destroyer of the unseen,
+driving away all the unseen venomous creatures, and all evil spirits.
+'9. The Sun has risen on high, destroying all the many poisons;
+Aditya, the all-seeing, the destroyer of the unseen, rises for the
+good of living beings.
+'10. I deposit the poison in the solar orb, like a leathern bottle
+in the house of a vendor of spirits; verily that adorable Sun never
+dies; nor through his favour shall we die of the venom; for, though
+afar off, yet drawn by his coursers he will overtake the poison:
+the science of antidotes converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia.
+'11. That insignificant little bird has swallowed thy venom; she does
+not die; nor shall we die; for although afar off, yet, drawn by his
+coursers, the Sun will overtake the poison: the science of antidotes
+has converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia.
+'12. May the thrice-seven sparks of Agni consume the influence of
+the venom; they verily do not perish; nor shall we die; for although
+afar off, the Sun, drawn by his coursers, will overtake the poison:
+the science of antidotes has converted thee, Poison, to ambrosia.
+'13. I recite the names of ninety and nine rivers, the destroyers
+of poison: although afar off, the Sun, drawn by his coursers, will
+overtake the poison: the science of antidotes will convert thee,
+Poison, to ambrosia.
+'14. May the thrice-seven peahens, the seven-sister rivers, carry off,
+O Body, thy poison, as maidens with pitchers carry away water.
+'15. May the insignificant mungoose carry off thy venom, Poison: if
+not, I will crush the vile creature with a stone: so may the poison
+depart from my body, and go to distant regions.
+'16. Hastening forth at the command of Agastya, thus spake the
+mungoose: The venom of the scorpion is innocuous; Scorpion, thy venom
+is innocuous.' 
+Though, in the sixth verse of this hymn, the serpents are said to
+be born of Heaven and Earth, the context does not warrant the idea
+that any homage to them is intended; they are associated with the
+evil Rakshasas, the Sun and Agni being represented as their haters
+and destroyers. The seven-sister rivers (streams of the sacred
+Ganges) supply an antidote to their venom, and certain animals,
+the partridge and the mungoose, are said, though insignificant,
+to be their superiors. The science of antidotes alluded to is that
+which Indra taught to Dadhyanch, who lost his head for communicating
+it to the Aswins. It is notable, however, that in the Vedic period
+there is nothing which represents the serpent as medicinal, unless by
+a roundabout process we connect the expression in the Rig-Veda that
+the wrath of the Maruts, or storm-gods, is 'as the ire of serpents,'
+with the fact that their chief, Rudra, is celebrated as the bestower of
+'healing herbs,' and they themselves solicited for 'medicaments.' This
+would be stretching the sense of the hymns too far. It is quite
+possible, however, that at a later day, when serpent-worship was fully
+developed in India, what is said in the sixth verse of the hymn may
+have been adduced to confirm the superstition.
+It seems clear, then, that at the time the Kankato na was written,
+the serpent was regarded with simple abhorrence. And we may remember,
+also, that even now, when the Indian cobra is revered as a Brahman
+of the highest caste, there is a reminiscence of his previous ill
+repute preserved in the common Hindu belief that a certain mark
+on his head was left there by the heel of Vishnu, Lord of Life,
+who trod on it when, in one of his avatars, he first stepped upon
+the earth. Although in the later mythology we find Vishnu, in the
+intervals between his avatars or incarnations, reposing on a serpent
+(Sesha), this might originally have signified only his lordship over
+it, though Sesha is also called Ananta, the Infinite. The idea of
+the Infinite is a late one, however, and the symbolisation of it
+by Sesha is consistent with a lower significance at first. In Hindu
+popular fables the snake appears in its simple character. Such is the
+fable of which so many variants are found, the most familiar in the
+West being that of Bethgelert, and which is the thirteenth of the 4th
+Hitopadesa. The Brahman having left his child alone, while he performs
+a rite to his ancestors, on his return finds a pet mungoose (nakula)
+smeared with blood. Supposing the mungoose has devoured his child,
+he slays it, and then discovers that the poor animal had killed a
+serpent which had crept upon the infant. In the Kankato na the word
+interpreted by Sáyana as mungoose (Viverra Mungo, or ichneumon) is
+not the same (nakula), but it evidently means some animal sufficiently
+unimportant to cast contempt upon the Serpent.
+The universality of the Serpent as emblem of the healing art--found
+as such among the Egyptians, Greeks, Germans, Aztecs, and natives
+of Brazil--suggests that its longevity and power of casting its old
+skin, apparently renewing its youth, may have been the basis of this
+reputation. No doubt, also, they would have been men of scientific
+tendencies and of close observation who first learned the snake's
+susceptibilities to music, and how its poison might be drawn, or even
+its fangs, and who so gained reputation as partakers of its supposed
+powers. Through such primitive rationalism the Serpent might gain an
+important alliance and climb to make the asp-crown of Isis as goddess
+of health (the Thermuthis), to twine round the staff of Esculapius,
+to be emblem of Hippocrates, and ultimately survive to be the sign of
+the European leech, twining at last as a red stripe round the barber's
+pole. The primitive zoologist and snake-charmer would not only, in all
+likelihood, be a man cunning in the secrets of nature, but he would
+study to meet as far as he could the popular demand for palliatives
+and antidotes against snake-bites; all who escaped death after such
+wounds would increase his credit as a practitioner; and even were his
+mitigations necessarily few, his knowledge of the Serpent's habits
+and of its varieties might be the source of valuable precautions.
+Such probable facts as these must, of course, be referred to a
+period long anterior to the poetic serpent-symbolism of Egypt,
+and the elaborate Serpent mythology of Greece and Scandinavia. How
+simple ideas, having once gained popular prestige, may be caught up
+by theologians, poets, metaphysicians, and quacks, and modified into
+manifold forms, requires no proof in an age when we are witnessing the
+rationalistic interpretations by which the cross, the sacraments, and
+the other plain symbols are invested with all manner of philosophical
+meanings. The Serpent having been adopted as the sign-post of Egyptian
+and Assyrian doctors--and it may have been something of that kind
+that was set up by Moses in the wilderness--would naturally become
+the symbol of life, and after that it would do duty in any capacity
+whatever.
+An ingenious anthropologist, Mr. C. Staniland Wake, [231] supposes the
+Serpent in India to have been there also the symbol of præternatural
+and occult knowledge. Possibly this may have been so to a limited
+extent, and in post-Vedic times, but to me the accent of Hindu
+serpent-mythology appears to be emphatically in the homage paid to
+it as the guardian of the treasures. I may mention here also the
+theory propounded by Miss A. W. Buckland in a paper submitted to the
+Anthropological Institute in London, March 10, 1874, on 'The Serpent in
+connection with Primitive Metallurgy.' In this learned monograph the
+writer maintains that a connection may be observed between the early
+serpent-worship and a knowledge of metals, and indeed that the Serpent
+was the sign of Turanian metallurgists in the same way as I have
+suggested that in Egypt and Assyria it was the sign of physicians. She
+believes that the Serpent must have played some part in the original
+discovery of the metals and precious stones by man, in recognition
+of which that animal was first assumed as a totem and thence became
+an emblem. She states that traditional and ornamentational evidences
+show that the Turanian races were the first workers in metals, and
+that they migrated westward, probably from India to Egypt and Chaldæa,
+and thence to Europe, and even to America, bearing their art and its
+sign; and that they fled before the Aryans, who had the further art
+of smelting, and that the Aryan myths of serpent-slaying record the
+overthrow of the Turanian serpent-worshippers.
+I cannot think that Miss Buckland has made out a case for crediting
+nomadic Turanians with being the original metallurgists; though it
+is not impossible that it may have been a Scythian tribe in Southern
+India who gave its fame to 'the gold of Ophir,' which Max Müller has
+shown to have been probably an Indian region. [232] But that these
+early jewellers may have had the Serpent as their sign or emblem is
+highly probable, and in explanation of it there seems little reason
+to resort to the hypothesis of aid having been given by the Serpent
+to man in his discovery of metals. Surely the jewelled decoration of
+the serpent would in itself have been an obvious suggestion of it
+as the emblem of gems. Where a reptile for some reasons associated
+with the snake--the toad--had not the like bright spots, the cognate
+superstition might arise that its jewel is concealed in its head. And,
+finally, when these reptiles had been connected with gems, the eye
+of either would easily receive added rays from manifold eye-beams
+of superstition.
+We might also credit the primitive people with sufficient logical power
+to understand why they should infer that an animal so wonderfully
+and elaborately provided with deadliness as the Serpent should have
+tasks of corresponding importance. The medicine which healed man
+(therefore possibly gods), the treasures valued most by men (therefore
+by anthropomorphic deities), the fruit of immortality (which the gods
+might wish to monopolise),--might seem the supreme things of value,
+which the supreme perfection of the serpent's fang might be created
+to guard. This might be so in the heavens as well as in the world
+or the underworld. The rainbow was called the 'Celestial Serpent'
+in Persia, and the old notion that there is a bag of gold at the end
+of it is known to many an English and American child.
+Whatever may have been the nature of the original suggestion, there
+are definite reasons why, when the Serpent was caught up to be part
+of combinations representing a Principle of Evil, his character as
+guardian of treasures should become of great importance. Wealth is
+the characteristic of the gods of the Hades, or unseen world beneath
+the surface of the earth.
+In the vast Sinhalese demonology we find the highest class of demons
+(dewatawas) described as resident in golden palaces, glittering with
+gems, themselves with skins of golden hue, wearing cobras as ornaments,
+their king, Wessamony seated on a gem-throne and wielding a golden
+sword. Pluto is from the word for wealth (ploutos), as also is his
+Latin name Dis (dives). For such are lords of all beneath the sod,
+or the sea's surface. Therefore, it is important to observe, they own
+all the seeds in the earth so long as they remain seeds. So soon as
+they spring to flower, grain, fruitage, they belong not to the gods
+of Hades but to man: an idea which originated the myth of Persephone,
+and seems to survive in a school of extreme vegetarians, who refuse
+to eat vegetables not ripened in the sun.
+These considerations may enable us the better to apprehend the
+earlier characters of Ahi, the Throttler, and Vritra, the Coverer. As
+guardians of such hidden treasures as metals and drugs the Serpent
+might be baroneted and invoked to bestow favours; but those particular
+serpents which by hiding away the cloud-cows withheld the rain,
+or choked the rivers with drought, all to keep under-world garners
+fat and those of the upper world lean, were to be combated. Against
+them man invoked the celestial deities, reminding them that their own
+altars must lack offerings if they did not vanquish these thievish
+Binders and Concealers.
+The Serpent with its jewelled raiment, its self-renovating power, and
+its matchless accomplishments for lurking, hiding, fatally striking,
+was gradually associated with undulations of rivers and sea-waves on
+the earth, with the Milky-way, with 'coverers' of the sky--night and
+cloud--above all, with the darting, crooked, fork-tongued lightning. It
+may have been the lightning that was the Amrita churned out of the
+azure sea in the myth of the 'Mahábhárata,' when the gods and demons
+turned the mountain with a huge serpent for cord (p. 59), meaning
+the descent of fire, or its discovery; but other fair and fruitful
+things emerged also,--the goddess of wine, the cow of plenty, the
+tree of heaven. The inhabitants of Burmah still have a custom of
+pulling at a rope to produce rain. A rain party and a drought party
+tug against each other, the rain party being allowed the victory,
+which, in the popular notion is generally followed by rain. I have
+often seen snakes hung up after being killed to bring rain, in the
+State of Virginia. For there also rain means wealth. It is there
+believed also that, however much it may be crushed, a snake will
+not die entirely until it thunders. These are distant echoes of the
+Vedic sentences. 'Friend Vishnu,' says Indra, 'stride vastly; sky give
+room for the thunderbolt to strike; let us slay Vritra and let loose
+the waters.' 'When, Thunderer, thou didst by thy might slay Vritra,
+who stopped up the streams, then thy dear steeds grew.'
+Vritra, though from the same root as Varuna (the sky), means at first
+a coverer of the sky--cloud or darkness; hence eventually he becomes
+the hider, the thief, who steals and conceals the bounties of heaven--a
+rainless cloud, a suffocating night; and eventually Vritra coalesces
+with the most fearful phantasm of the Aryan mind--the serpent Ahi.
+The Greek word for Adder, echis, is a modification of Ahi. Perhaps
+there exists no more wonderful example of the unconscious idealism of
+human nature than the history of the name of the great Throttler, as it
+has been traced by Professor Max Müller. The Serpent was also called
+ahi in Sanskrit, in Greece echis or echidna, in Latin anguis. The
+root is ah in Sanskrit, or amh, which means to press together,
+to choke, to throttle. It is a curious root this amh, and it still
+lives in several modern words, In Latin it appears as ango, anxi,
+anctum, to strangle; in angina, quinsy; in angor, suffocation. But
+angor meant not only quinsy or compression of the neck: it assumed
+a moral import, and signifies anguish or anxiety. The two adjectives
+angustus, narrow, and anxius, uneasy, both came from the same root. In
+Greek the root retained its natural and material meaning; in eggys,
+near, and echis, serpent, throttler. But in Sanskrit it was chosen
+with great truth as the proper name of sin. Evil no doubt presented
+itself under various aspects to the human mind, and its names are
+many; but none so expressive as those derived from our root amh, to
+throttle. Amhas in Sanskrit means sin, but it does so only because
+it meant originally throttling--the consciousness of sin being
+like the grasp of the assassin on the throat of the victim. All
+who have seen and contemplated the statue of Laokoon and his sons,
+with the serpent coiled around them from head to foot, may realise
+what those ancients felt and saw when they called sin amhas, or the
+throttler. This amhas is the same as the Greek agos, sin. In Gothic
+the same root has produced agis, in the sense of fear, and from the
+same source we have awe, in awful, i.e., fearful, and ug in ugly. The
+English anguish is from the French angoise, a corruption of the Latin
+angustitæ, a strait. [233] In this wonderful history of a word, whose
+biography, as Max Müller in his Hibbert Lectures said of Deva, might
+fill a volume, may also be included our ogre, and also the German unke,
+which means a 'frog' or 'toad,' but originally a 'snake'--especially
+the little house-snake which plays a large part in Teutonic folklore,
+and was supposed to bring good luck. 
+This euphemistic variant is, however, the only exception I can find
+to the baleful branches into which the root ah has grown through
+the world; one of its fearful fruits being the accompanying figure,
+copied from one of the ornamental bosses of Wells Cathedral.
+The Adder demon has been universal. Herodotus relates that from a
+monster, half-woman, half-serpent, sprang the Scythians, and the fable
+has often been remembered in the history of the Turks. The 'Zohák'
+of Firdusi is the Iranian form of Ahi. The name is the Arabicised form
+of the 'Azhi Daháka' of the Avesta, the 'baneful serpent' vanquished
+by Thraêtaono (Traitana of the Vedas), and this Iranian name again
+(Dásaka) is Ahi. The name reappears in the Median Astyages. [235] Zohák
+is represented as having two serpents growing out of his shoulders,
+which the late Professor Wilson supposed might have been suggested by
+a phrase in the Kankato na (ye ansyá ye angyáh) which he translates,
+'Those who move with their shoulders, those who move with their
+bodies,' which, however, may mean 'those produced on the shoulders,
+biting with them,' and 'might furnish those who seek for analogies
+between Iranian and Indian legends with a parallel in the story of
+Zohák.' The legend alluded to is a favourite one in Persia, where it
+is used to point a moral, as in the instruction of the learned Saib to
+the Prince, his pupil. Saib related to the boy the story of King Zohák,
+to whom a magician came, and, breathing on him, caused two serpents to
+come forth from the region of his breast, and told him they would bring
+him great glory and pleasure, provided he would feed these serpents
+with the poorest of his subjects. This Zohák did; and he had great
+pleasure and wealth until his subjects revolted and shut the King up
+in a cavern where he became himself a prey to the two serpents. The
+young Prince to whom this legend was related was filled with horror,
+and begged Saib to tell him a pleasanter one. The teacher then related
+that a young Sultan placed his confidence in an artful courtier
+who filled his mind with false notions of greatness and happiness,
+and introduced into his heart Pride and Voluptuousness. To those two
+passions the young Sultan sacrificed the interests of his kingdom,
+until his subjects banished him; but his Pride and Voluptuousness
+remained in him, and, unable to gratify them in his exile, he died
+of rage and despair. The prince-pupil said, 'I like this story better
+than the other.' 'And yet,' said Saib, 'it is the same.'
+It is curious that this old Persian fable should have survived in
+the witch-lore of America, and at last supplied Nathaniel Hawthorne
+with the theme of one of his beautiful allegorical romances,--that,
+namely, of the man with a snake in his bosom which ever threatened to
+throttle him if he did not feed it. It came to the American fabulist
+through many a mythical skin, so to say. One of the most beautiful it
+has worn is a story which is still told by mothers to their children
+in some districts of Germany. It relates that a little boy and girl
+went into the fields to gather strawberries. After they had gathered
+they met an aged woman, who asked for some of the fruit. The little
+girl emptied her basket into the old woman's lap; but the boy clutched
+his, and said he wanted his berries for himself. When they had passed
+on the old woman called them back, and presented to each a little
+box. The girl opened hers, and found in it two white caterpillars which
+speedily became butterflies, then grew to be angels with golden wings,
+and bore her away to Paradise. The boy opened his box, and from it
+issued two tiny black worms; these swiftly swelled to huge serpents,
+which, twining all about the boy's limbs, drew him away into the dark
+forest; where this Teutonic Laokoon still remains to illustrate in
+his helplessness the mighty power of little faults to grow into bad
+habits and bind the whole man.
+THE BASILISK.
+The Serpent's gem--The Basilisk's eye--Basiliscus mitratus--
+House-snakes in Russia and Germany--King-snakes--Heraldic
+dragon--Henry III.--Melusina--The Laidley Worm--Victorious
+dragons--Pendragon--Merlin and Vortigern--Medicinal dragons.
+A Dragoon once presented himself before Frederick the Great and offered
+the king a small pebble, which, he said, had been cut from the head
+of a king-snake, and would no doubt preserve the throne. Frederick
+probably trusted more to dragoons than dragons, but he kept the little
+curiosity, little knowing, perhaps, that it would be as prolific
+of legends as the cock's egg, to which it is popularly traceable,
+in cockatrices (whose name may have given rise to the cock-fables)
+or basilisks. It has now taken its place in German folklore that
+Frederick owed his greatness to a familiar kept near him in the form
+of a basilisk. But there are few parts of the world where similar
+legends might not spring up and coil round any famous reputation. An
+Indian newspaper, the Lawrence Gazette, having mentioned that the
+ex-king of Oudh is a collector of snakes, adds--'Perhaps he wishes to
+become possessed of the precious jewel which some serpents are said
+to contain, or of that species of snake by whose means, it is said,
+a person can fly in the air.' Dr. Dennys, in whose work on Chinese
+Folklore this is quoted, finds the same notion in China. In one
+story a foreigner repeatedly tries to purchase a butcher's bench,
+but the butcher refuses to sell it, suspecting there must be some
+hidden value in the article; for this reason he puts the bench by,
+and when the foreigner returns a year afterwards, learns from him
+that lodged in the bench was a snake, kept alive by the blood soaking
+through it, which held a precious gem in its mouth--quite worthless
+after the snake was dead. Cursing his stupidity at having put the
+bench out of use, the butcher cut it open and found the serpent dead,
+holding in its mouth something like the eye of a dried fish.
+Here we have two items which may only be accidental, and yet, on the
+other hand, possibly possess significance. The superior knowledge
+about the serpent attributed to a 'foreigner' may indicate that such
+stories in China are traditionally alien, imported with the Buddhists;
+and the comparison of the dead gem to an eye may add a little to
+the probabilities that this magical jewel, whether in head of toad or
+serpent, is the reptile's eye as seen by the glamour of human eyes. The
+eye of the basilisk is at once its wealth-producing, its fascinating,
+and its paralysing talisman, though all these beliefs have their
+various sources and their several representations in mythology. That
+it was seen as a gem was due, as I think, to the jewelled skin of most
+serpents, which gradually made them symbols of riches; that it was
+believed able to fascinate may be attributed to the general principles
+of illusion already considered; but its paralysing power, its evil
+eye, connects it with a notion, found alike in Egypt and India, that
+the serpent kills with its eye. Among Sanskrit words for serpent are
+'drig-visha' and 'drishti-visha'--literally 'having poison in the eye.'
+While all serpents were lords and guardians of wealth, certain of
+them were crested, or had small horns, which conveyed the idea of a
+crowned and imperial snake, the basiliskos. Naturalists have recognised
+this origin of the name by giving the same (Basiliscus mitratus)
+to a genus of Iguanidæ, remarkable for a membranous crest not only
+on the occiput but also along the back, which this lizard can raise
+and depress at pleasure. But folklore, the science of the ignorant,
+had established the same connection by alleging that the basilisk
+is hatched from the egg of a black cock,--which was the peasant's
+explanation of the word cockatrice. De Plancy traces one part of
+the belief to a disease which causes the cock to produce a small
+egg-like substance; but the resemblance between its comb and the
+crests of serpent and frog [236] was the probable link between them;
+while the ancient eminence of the cock as the bird of dawn relegated
+the origin of the basilisk to a very exceptional member of the
+family--a black cock in its seventh year. The useful fowl would seem,
+however, to have suffered even so slightly mainly through a phonetic
+misconception. The word 'cockatrice' is 'crocodile' transformed. We
+have it in the Old French 'cocatrix,' which again is from the Spanish
+'cocotriz,' meaning 'crocodile,'--krokodeilos; which Herodotus, by the
+way, uses to denote a kind of lizard, and whose sanctity has extended
+from the Nile to the Danube, where folklore declares that the skeleton
+of the lizard presents an image of the passion of Christ, and it must
+never be harmed. Thus 'cockatrice' has nothing to do with 'cock' or
+'coq,' though possibly the coincidence of the sound has marred the
+ancient fame of the 'Bird of Dawn.' Indeed black cocks have been so
+generally slain on this account that they were for a long time rare,
+and so the basilisks had a chance of becoming extinct. There were
+fabulous creatures enough, however, to perpetuate the basilisk's
+imaginary powers, some of which will be hereafter considered. We
+may devote the remainder of this chapter to the consideration of a
+variant of dragon-mythology, which must be cleared out of our way in
+apprehending the Dragon. This is the agathodemonic or heraldic Dragon,
+which has inherited the euphemistic characters of the treasure-guarding
+and crowned serpent.
+In Slavonic legend the king-serpent plays a large part, and innumerable
+stories relate the glories of some peasant child that, managing to
+secure a tiny gem from his crown, while the reptilian monarch was
+bathing, found the jewel daily surrounded with new treasures. This is
+the same serpent which, gathering up the myths of lightning and of
+comets, flies through many German legends as the red Drake, Kolbuk,
+Alp, or Alberflecke, dropping gold when it is red, corn if blue,
+and yielding vast services and powers to those who can magically
+master it. The harmless serpents of Germany were universally invested
+with agathodemonic functions, though they still bear the name that
+relates them to Ahi, viz., unken. Of these household-snakes Grimm
+and Simrock give much information. It is said that in fields and
+houses they approach solitary children and drink milk from the dish
+with them. On their heads they wear golden crowns, which they lay
+down before drinking, and sometimes forget when they retire. They
+watch over children in the cradle, and point out to their favourites
+where treasures are hidden. To kill them brings misfortune. If the
+parents surprise the snake with the child and kill it, the child
+wastes away. Once the snake crept into the mouth of a pregnant woman,
+and when the child was born the snake was found closely coiled around
+its neck, and could only be untwined by a milk-bath; but it never left
+the child's side, ate and slept with it, and never did it harm. If
+such serpents left a house or farm, prosperity went with them. In
+some regions it is said a male and female snake appear whenever the
+master or mistress of the house is about to die, and the legends of
+the Unken sometimes relapse into the original fear out of which they
+grew. Indeed, their vengeance is everywhere much dreaded, while their
+gratitude, especially for milk, is as imperishable as might be expected
+from their ancestor's quarrel with Indra about the stolen cows. In the
+Gesta Romanorum it is related that a milkmaid was regularly approached
+at milking-time by a large snake to which she gave milk. The maid
+having left her place, her successor found on the milking-stool a
+golden crown, on which was inscribed 'In Gratitude.' The crown was
+sent to the milkmaid who had gone, but from that time the snake was
+never seen again. 
+In England serpents were mastered by the vows of a saintly
+Christian. The Knight Bran in the Isle of Wight is said to have
+picked up the cockatrice egg, to have been pursued by the serpents,
+which he escaped by vowing to build St. Lawrence Church in that
+island,--the egg having afterwards brought him endless wealth and
+uniform success in combat. With the manifold fables concerning the
+royal dragon would seem to blend traditions of the astrological,
+celestial, and lightning serpents. But these would coincide with
+a development arising from the terrestrial worms and their heroic
+slayers. The demonic dragon with his terrible eye might discern
+from afar the advent of his predestined destroyer. It might seek
+to devour him in infancy. As the comet might be deemed a portent of
+some powerful prince born on earth, so it might be a compliment to a
+royal family, on the birth of a prince, to report that a dragon had
+been seen. Nor would it be a long step from this office of the dragon
+as the herald of greatness to placing that monster on banners. From
+these banners would grow sagas of dragons encountered and slain. The
+devices might thus multiply. Some process of this kind would account
+for the entirely good reputation of the dragon in China and Japan,
+where it is the emblem of all national grandeur. It would also appear
+to underlie the proud titles of the Pythian Apollo and Bellerophon,
+gained from the monsters they were said to have slain. The city of
+Worms takes its name from the serpent instead of its slayer. Pendragon, in the past--and even our dragoon of the present--are
+names in which the horrors of the monster become transformed in the
+hero's fame. The dragon, says Mr. Hardwicke, was the standard of the
+West Saxons, and of the English previous to the Norman Conquest. It
+formed one of the supporters of the royal arms borne by all the
+Tudor monarchs, with the exception of Queen Mary, who substituted the
+eagle. Several of the Plantagenet kings and princes inscribed a figure
+of the dragon on their banners and shields. Peter Langtoffe says,
+at the battle of Lewis, fought in 1264, 'The king schewed forth his
+schild, his dragon full austere.' Another authority says the said king
+(Henry III.) ordered to be made 'a dragon in the manner of a banner,
+of a certain red silk embroidered with gold; its tongue like a flaming
+fire must always seem to be moving; its eyes must be made of sapphire,
+or of some other stone suitable for that purpose.' 
+It will thus be seen that an influence has been introduced into
+dragon-lore which has no relation whatever to the demon itself. This
+will explain those variants of the legend of Melusina--the famous
+woman-serpent--which invest her with romance. Melusina, whose
+indiscreet husband glanced at her in forbidden hours, when she was in
+her serpent shape, was long the glory of the Chateau de Lusignan, where
+her cries announced the approaching death of her descendants. There is
+a peasant family still dwelling in Fontainebleau Forest who claim to
+be descended from Melusina; and possibly some instance of this kind
+may have dropped like a seed into the memory of the author of 'Elsie
+Venner' to reappear in one of the finest novels of our generation. The
+corresponding sentiment is found surrounding the dragon in the familiar
+British legend of the Laidley [240] Worm. The king of Northumberland
+brought home a new Queen, who was also a sorceress, and being envious
+of the beauty of her step-daughter, changed that poor princess into
+the worm which devastated all Spindleton Heugh. For seven miles every
+green thing was blighted by its venom, and seven cows had to yield
+their daily supplies of milk. Meanwhile the king and his son mourned
+the disappearance of the princess. The young prince fitted out a ship
+to go and slay the dragon. The wicked Queen tries unsuccessfully to
+prevent the expedition. The prince leaps from his ship into the shallow
+sea, and wades to the rock around which the worm lay coiled. But as
+he drew near the monster said to him:
+Oh, quit thy sword, and bend thy bow,
+And give me kisses three;
+If I'm not won ere the sun goes down,
+Won I shall never be.
+He quitted his sword and bent his bow,
+He gave her kisses three;
+She crept into a hole a worm,
+But out stept a ladye.
+In the end the prince managed to have the wicked Queen transformed
+into a toad, which in memory thereof, as every Northumbrian boy knows,
+spits fire to this day: but it is notable that the sorceress was not
+transformed into a dragon, as the story would probably have run if the
+dragon form had not already been detached from its original character,
+and by many noble associations been rendered an honourable though
+fearful shape for maidens like this princess and like Melusina.
+In the same direction point the legends which show dragons as sometimes
+victorious over their heroic assailants. Geoffrey of Monmouth so
+relates of King Morvidus of Northumbria, who encountered a dragon
+that came from the Irish Sea, and was last seen disappearing in
+the monster's jaws 'like a small fish.' A more famous instance is
+that of Beowulf, whose Anglo-Saxon saga is summed up by Professor
+Morley as follows:--'Afterward the broad land came under the sway of
+Beowulf. He held it well for fifty winters, until in the dark night
+a dragon, which in a stone mound watched a hoard of gold and cups,
+won mastery. It was a hoard heaped up in sin, its lords were long
+since dead; the last earl before dying hid it in the earth-cave, and
+for three hundred winters the great scather held the cave, until some
+man, finding by chance a rich cup, took it to his lord. Then the den
+was searched while the worm slept; again and again when the dragon
+awoke there had been theft. He found not the man but wasted the whole
+land with fire; nightly the fiendish air-flyer made fire grow hateful
+to the sight of men. Then it was told to Beowulf.... He sought out
+the dragon's den and fought with him in awful strife. One wound the
+poison-worm struck in the flesh of Beowulf.' Whereof Beowulf died.
+Equally significant is the legend that when King Arthur had embarked
+at Southampton on his expedition against Rome, about midnight he
+saw in a dream 'a bear flying in the air, at the noise of which all
+the shores trembled; also a terrible dragon, flying from the west,
+which enlightened the country with the brightness of its eyes. When
+these two met they had a dreadful fight, but the dragon with its fiery
+breath burned the bear which assaulted him, and threw him down scorched
+to the earth.' This vision was taken to augur Arthur's victory. The
+father of Arthur had already in a manner consecrated the symbol, being
+named Uther Pendragon (dragon's head). On the death of his brother
+Aurelius, it was told 'there appeared a star of wonderful magnitude
+and brightness,' darting forth a ray, at the end of which was a globe
+of fire, in form of a dragon, out of whose mouth issued two rays,
+one of which seemed to stretch out itself towards the Irish Sea,
+and ended in seven lesser rays.' Merlin interpreted this phenomenon
+to mean that Uther would be made king and conquer various regions;
+and after his first victory Uther had two golden dragons made, one
+of which he presented to Winchester Cathedral, retaining the other
+to attend him in his wars.
+In the legend of Merlin and Vortigern we find the Dragon so completely
+developed into a merely warrior-like symbol that its moral character
+has to be determined by its colour. As in the two armies of serpents
+seen by Zoroaster, in Persian legends, which fought in the air, the
+victory of the white over the black foreshowing the triumph of Ormuzd
+over Ahriman, the tyranny of Vortigern is represented by a red dragon,
+while Aurelius and Uther are the two heads of a white dragon. Merlin,
+about to be buried alive, in pursuance of the astrologer's declaration
+to Vortigern that so only would his ever-falling wall stand firm,
+had revealed that the recurring disaster was caused by the struggle
+of these two dragons underground. When the monsters were unearthed
+they fought terribly, until the white one
+Hent the red with all his might,
+And to the ground he him cast,
+And, with the fire of his blast,
+Altogether brent the red,
+That never of him was founden shred;
+But dust upon the ground he lay.
+The white dragon vanished and was seen no more; but the tyrant
+Vortigern fulfilled the fate of the red dragon, being burnt in his
+castle near Salisbury. These two dragons met again, however, as red
+and white roses.
+Many developments corresponding to these might be cited. One indeed
+bears a startling resemblance to our English legends. Of King Nuat
+Meiamoun, whose conquest of Egypt is placed by G. Maspero about
+B.C. 664-654, the Ethiopian 'Stele of the Dream' relates:--'His
+Majesty beheld a dream in the night, two snakes, one to his right,
+the other to his left, (and) when His Majesty awoke ... he said:
+'Explain these things to me on the moment,' and lo! they explained
+it to him, saying: 'Thou wilt have the Southern lands, and seize the
+Northern, and the two crowns will be put on thy head, (for) there is
+given unto thee the earth in all its width and its breadth.' These
+two snakes were probably suggested by the uræi of the Egyptian diadem.
+Beyond the glory reflected upon a monster from his conqueror,
+there would be reason why the alchemist and the wizard should
+encourage that aspect of the dragon. The more perilous that Gorgon
+whose blood Esculapius used, the more costly such medicament; while,
+that the remedy may be advantageous, the monster must not be wholly
+destructive. This is so with the now destructive now preservative
+forces of nature, and how they may blend in the theories, and subserve
+the interests, of pretenders is well shown in a German work on Alchemy
+(1625) quoted by Mr. Hardwicke. 'There is a dragon lives in the forest,
+who has no want of poison; when he sees the sun or fire he spits venom,
+which flies about fearfully. No living animal can be cured of it;
+even the basilisk does not equal him. He who can properly kill this
+serpent has overcome all his danger. His colours increase in death;
+physic is produced from his poison, which he entirely consumes,
+and eats his own venomous tail. This must be accomplished by him,
+in order to produce the noblest balm. Such great virtue as we will
+point out herein that all the learned shall rejoice.'
+It will be readily understood that these traditions and fables would
+combine to 'hedge about a king' by ascribing to him familiarity
+with a monster so formidable to common people, and even investing
+him with its attributes. The dragon's name, drakôn, derived from the
+Sanskrit word for serpent (drig-visha), came to mean 'the thing that
+sees.' While this gave rise to many legends of præternatural powers
+of vision gained by tasting or bathing in a dragon's blood, as in
+the poem of Siegfried; or from waters it guarded, as 'Eye Well,'
+in which Guy's dragon dipped its tail to recover from wounds; the
+Sanskrit sense of eye-poisoning was preserved in legends of occult
+and dangerous powers possessed by kings,--one of the latest being the
+potent evil eye popularly ascribed in Italy to the late Pius IX. But
+these stories are endless; the legends adduced will show the sense
+of all those which, if unexplained, might interfere with our clear
+insight into the dragon itself, whose further analysis will prove it
+to be wholly bad,--the concentrated terrors of nature.
+THE DRAGON'S EYE.
+The Eye of Evil--Turner's Dragons--Cloud-phantoms--Paradise and
+the Snake--Prometheus and Jove--Art and Nature--Dragon forms:
+Anglo-Saxon, Italian, Egyptian, Greek, German--The modern
+conventional Dragon.
+The etymologies of the words Dragon and Ophis given in the preceding
+chapter, ideally the same, both refer to powers of the serpent which
+it does not possess in nature,--the præternatural vision and the
+glance that kills. The real nature of the snake is thus overlaid;
+we have now to deal with the creation of another world.
+There are various conventionalised types of the Dragon, but through
+them all one feature is constant,--the idealised serpent. Its presence
+is the demonic or supernatural sign. The heroic dragon-slayer must not
+be supposed to have wrestled with mere flesh and blood, in whatever
+powerful form. The combat which immortalises him is waged with all
+the pains and terrors of earth and heaven concentrated and combined
+in one fearful form.
+Impossible and phantasmal as was this form in nature, its mystical
+meaning in the human mind was terribly real. It was this Eye of
+anti-human nature which filled man with dismay, and conjured up
+the typical phantom. It was this Pain, purposed and purposing, the
+Agony of far-searching vision, subtlest skill, silently creeping,
+winged, adapted to meet his every device with a cleverer device,
+which gradually impressed mankind with belief in a general principle
+of antagonism to human happiness.
+It is only as a combination that any dragon form is miraculous. Every
+constituent feature and factor of it is in nature, but here they are
+rolled together in one pandemonic expression and terror. Yet no such
+form loses its relations with nature: it is lightning and tempest,
+fever-bearing malaria and fire, venom and fang, slime and jungle,
+all the ferocities of the earth, air, and heavens, gathering to
+their fatal artistic force, and waylaying man at every step in his
+advance. In Turner's picture of Apollo slaying the Python there is
+a marvellous suggestion of the natural conceptions from which the
+dragon was evolved. The fearful folds of the monster, undulating
+with mound and rock on which he lies, at points almost blend with
+tangle of bushes and the jagged chaos amid which he stretches. The
+hard, wild, cruel aspects of inanimate nature seem here and there
+rankly swelling to horrible life, as yet but half-distinguishable
+from the stony-hearted matrix; the crag begins to coil and quiver,
+the jungle puts forth in claws; but above all appear the monstrous
+EYES, in which the forces of pain, hardship, obstacle have at last
+acquired purpose and direction. The god confronts them with eyes yet
+keener; his arrow, feathered with eyebeams, has reached its mark,
+straight between the monster's eyes; but there is no more anger in
+his face than might mar the calm strength of a gardener clearing away
+the stone and thicket that make the constituent parts of Python.
+If we turn now to the neighbouring picture in the National Gallery
+by the same artist, the Hesperian Gardens and their Guard, we behold
+the Dragon on his high crag outlining and vitalising not only the
+edge of rock but also the sky it meets. His breath steams up into
+cloud. The heavens also have their terrors, which take on eyes and
+coils. On the line of the horizon were hung the pictures of the
+primitive art-gallery. Imagination painted them with brush dipped
+now in blackness of the storm, now in fires of the lightning or the
+sunset, but the forms were born of experience, of earthly struggle,
+defeat, and victory.
+As I write these words, I lay aside my pen to look across a little
+lake amid the lonely hills of Wales to a sunset which is flooding the
+sky with glory. Through the almost greenish sky the wind is bearing
+fantastic clouds, that sometimes take the shape of chariots, in which
+cloud-veiled forms are seated, and now great birds with variegated
+plumage, all hastening as it were to some gathering-place of aerial
+gods. Beneath a long bar of maroon-tint stretches a sea of yellow
+light, on the hither side of which is set a garden of fleecy trees
+touched with golden fruit. Amid them plays a fountain of changing
+colours. On the left has stood, fast as a mountain range, a mass
+of dark-blue cloud with uneven peaks; suddenly a pink faint glow
+shines from behind that leaden mass, and next appears, sinuous with
+its long indented top, the mighty folds of a fiery serpent. Nay,
+its head is seen, its yawning lacertine jaws, its tinted crest. It
+is sleepless Ladon on his high barrier keeping watch and ward over
+the Hesperian garden.
+Juno set him there, but he is the son of Ge,--the earth. The tints of
+heaven invest and transform, and in a sense create him; but he would
+never have been born mythologically had it not been that in this world
+stings hover near all sweetness, danger environs beauty, and, as Plato
+said, 'Good things come hard.' The grace and lustre of the serpent
+with his fatal fang preceded him, and all the perils that lurk beneath
+things fair and fascinating. So far there is nothing essentially moral
+or unmoral about him. This dragon is a shape designed by primitive
+meteorology and metaphysics together. Man has asked what is so, and
+this is the answer: he has not yet asked why it is so, whether it ought
+to be so, and whether it may not be otherwise. The challenge has not
+yet been given, the era of combat not yet arrived. The panoplied guard
+and ally of gods as unmoral as himself has yet to be transformed under
+the touch of the religious sentiment, and expelled from the heaven of
+nobler deities as a dragon cast down, deformed, and degraded for ever.
+As thought goes on, such allies compromise their employers; the
+creator's work reflects the creator's character; and after many
+timorous ages we find the dragon-guarded deities going down with
+their cruel defenders. It is not without significance that in the
+Sanskrit dictionary the most ancient of all words for god, Asura,
+has for its primary meaning 'demon' or 'devil:' the gods and dragons
+united to churn the ocean for their own wealth, and in the end they
+were tarred with one brush. I have already described in the beginning
+of this work the degradation of deities, and need here barely recall
+to the reader's memory the forces which operated to that result. The
+bearing of that force upon the celestial or paradise-guarding Serpent
+is summed up in one quatrain of Omar Khayyám:--
+O Thou who man of baser earth didst make,
+And e'en in Paradise devised the Snake;
+For all the sin wherewith the face of man
+Is blackened, man's forgiveness give--and take!
+The heart of humanity anticipated its logic by many ages, and, long
+before the daring genius of the Persian poet wrote this immortal
+epitaph on the divine allies of the Serpent, heroes had given battle
+to the whole fraternity. Nay, in their place had arisen a new race
+of gods, whose theoretical omnipotence was gladly surrendered in the
+interest of their righteousness; and there was now war in heaven;
+the dragon and his allies were cast down, and man was now free to
+fight them as enemies of the gods as well as himself. Woe henceforth
+to any gods suspected of taking sides with the dragon in this man's
+life-and-death struggle with the ferocities of nature, and with his
+own terrors reflected from them! The legend of Prometheus was their
+unconsciously-given 'notice to quit,' though it waited many centuries
+for its great interpreter. It is Goethe who alone has seen how pale
+and weak grow Jove's fireworks before the thought-thunderbolts of
+the artist, launched far beyond the limitations that chain him in
+nature. Gods are even yet going down in many lands before the sublime
+sentence of Prometheus:--
+Curtain thy heavens, thou Jove, with clouds and mist,
+And, like a boy that moweth thistles down,
+Unloose thy spleen on oaks and mountain-tops;
+Yet canst thou not deprive me of my earth,
+Nor of my hut, the which thou didst not build,
+Nor of my hearth, whose little cheerful flame
+Thou enviest me!
+I know not aught within the universe
+More slight, more pitiful than you, ye gods!
+Who nurse your majesty with scant supplies
+Of offerings wrung from fear, and muttered prayers,
+And needs must starve, were't not that babes and beggars
+Are hope-besotted fools!
+When I was yet a child, and knew not whence
+My being came, nor where to turn its powers,
+Up to the sun I bent my wildered eye,
+As though above, within its glorious orb,
+There dwelt an ear to listen to my plaint,
+A heart, like mine, to pity the oppressed.
+Who gave me succour
+Against the Titans in their tyrannous might?
+Who rescued me from death--from slavery?
+Thou!--thou, my soul, burning with hallowed fire,
+Thou hast thyself alone achieved it all!
+Yet didst thou, in thy young simplicity,
+Glow with misguided thankfulness to him
+That slumbers on in idlenesse there above!
+I reverence thee?
+Wherefore? Hast thou ever
+Lightened the sorrows of the heavy laden?
+Thou ever stretch thy hand to still the tears
+Of the perplexed in spirit?
+Was it not
+Almighty Time, and ever-during Fate--
+My lords and thine--that shaped and fashioned me
+Into the MAN I am?
+Belike it was thy dream
+That I should hate life--fly to wastes and wilds,
+For that the buds of visionary thought
+Did not all ripen into goodly flowers?
+Here do I sit and mould
+Men after mine own image--
+A race that may be like unto myself,
+To suffer, weep; to enjoy, and to rejoice;
+And, like myself, unheeding all of thee!
+The myth of Prometheus reveals the very dam of all dragons,--the mere
+terrorism of nature which paralysed the energies of man. Man's first
+combat was to be with his own quailing heart. Apollo driving back the
+Argives to their ships with the image of the Gorgon's head on Jove's
+shield is Homer's picture of the fears that unnerved heroes:--
+Phoebus himself the rushing battle led;
+A veil of clouds involved his radiant head:
+High held before him, Jove's enormous shield
+Portentous shone, and shaded all the field:
+Vulcan to Jove th' immortal gift consigned,
+To scatter hosts, and terrify mankind....
+Deep horror seizes ev'ry Grecian breast,
+Their force is humbled, and their fear confest.
+So flies a herd of oxen, scattered wide,
+No swain to guard them, and no day to guide,
+When two fell lions from the mountain come,
+And spread the carnage thro' the shady gloom....
+The Grecians gaze around with wild despair,
+Confused, and weary all their pow'rs with prayer. 
+A generation whose fathers remembered the time when men educated
+in universities regarded Franklin with his lightning-rod as
+'heaven-defying,' can readily understand the legend of Vulcan--type of
+the untamed force of fire--being sent to bind Prometheus, master of
+fire. [242] How much fear of the forces of nature, as personified by
+superstition, levelled against the first creative minds and hands the
+epithets which Franklin heard, and which still fall upon the heads
+of some scientific investigators! Storm, lightning, rock, ocean,
+vulture,--these blend together with the intelligent cruelty of Jove
+in the end; and behold, the Dragon! The terrors of nature, which
+drive cowards to their knees, raise heroes to their height. Then
+it is a flame of genius matched against mad thunderbolts. Whether
+the jealous nature-god be Jehovah forbidding sculpture, demanding
+an altar of unhewn stone, and refusing the fruits of Cain's garden,
+or Zeus jealous of the artificer's flame, they are thrown into the
+Opposition by the artist; and when the two next meet, he of the
+thunderbolt with all his mob will be the Dragon, and Prometheus will
+be the god, sending to its heart his arrow of light.
+The dragon forms which have become familiar to us through mediæval
+and modern iconography are of comparatively little importance as
+illustrating the social or spiritual conditions out of which they
+grew, and of which they became emblems. They long ago ceased to be
+descriptive, and in the rude periods or places a very few scratches
+were sometimes enough to indicate the dragon; such mere suggestions
+in the end allowing large freedom to subsequent designers in varying
+original types.
+As to external form, the various shapes of the more primitive
+dragons have been largely determined by the mythologic currents
+amid which they have fallen, though their original basis in nature
+may generally be traced. In the far North, where the legends of
+swan-maidens, pigeon-maidens, and vampyres were paramount in the
+Middle Ages, we find the bird-shaped dragon very common. Sometimes
+the serpent-characteristics are pronounced, as in this ancient French
+Swan-Dragon (Fig. 26); but, again, and especially in regions where
+serpents are rare and comparatively innocuous, the serpent tail is
+often conventionalised away, as in this initial V from the Cædmon
+Manuscript, tenth century (Fig. 27), a fair example of the ornamental
+Anglo-Saxon dragon. The cuttlefish seems to have suggested the
+animalised form of the Hydra, which in turn helped to shape the Dragon
+of the Apocalypse. Yet the Hydra in pictorial representation appears
+to have been influenced by Assyrian ideas; for although the monster
+had nine heads, it is often given seven (number of the Hathors, or
+Fates) by the engravers, as in Fig. 6. The conflicts of Hercules with
+the Hydra repeated that of Bel with Tiamat ('the Deep'), and had no
+doubt its counterpart in that of Michael with the Dragon,--the finest
+representation of which, perhaps, is the great fresco by Spinello
+(fourteenth century) at Arezzo, a group from which is presented in
+Fig. 28. In this case the wings represent those always attributed
+in Semitic mythology to the Destroying Angel. The Egyptian Dragon,
+of which the crocodile is the basis, at an early period entered
+into christian symbolism, and gradually effaced most of the pagan
+monsters. The crocodile and the alligator, besides being susceptible
+of many horrible variations in pictorial treatment, were particularly
+acceptable to the Christian propaganda, because of the sanctity
+attached to them by African tribes,--a sanctity which continues to
+this day in many parts of that country, where to kill one of these
+reptiles is believed to superinduce dangerous inundations. In Semitic
+traditions, also, Leviathan was generally identified as a demonic
+crocodile, and the feat of destroying him was calculated to impress the
+imaginations of all varieties of people in the Southern countries for
+which Christianity struggled so long. This form contributed some of its
+characters to the lacertine dragons which were so often painted in the
+Middle Ages, with what effect may be gathered from the accompanying
+design by Albert Durer (Fig. 29). In this loathsome creature, which
+seeks to prevent deliverance of 'the spirits in prison,' we may remark
+the sly and cruel eye: the præternatural vision of such monsters was
+still strong in the traditions of the sixteenth century. In looking
+at this lizard-guard at the mouth of hell we may realise that it
+has been by some principle of psychological selection that the
+reptilian kingdom gradually gained supremacy in these portrayals of
+the repulsive. If we compare with Fig. 29 the well-known form of the
+Chimæra (Fig. 30), most of us will be conscious of a sense of relief;
+for though the reptilian form is present in the latter, it is but an
+appendage--almost an ornament--to the lion. It is impossible to feel
+any loathing towards this spirited Trisomatos, and one may recognise
+in it a different animus from that which depicted the christian
+dragon. One was meant to attest the boldness of the hero who dared
+to assail it; the other was meant, in addition to that, to excite
+hatred and horror of the monster assailed. We may, therefore, find a
+very distinct line drawn between such forms as the Chimæra and such as
+the Hydra, or our conventional Dragon. The hairy inhabitants of Lycia,
+human or bestial, whom Bellerophon conquered, [243] were not meant to
+be such an abstract expression of the evil principle in nature as the
+Dragon, and while they are generalised, the elements included are also
+limited. But the Dragon, with its claws, wings, scales, barbed and
+coiling tail, its fiery breath, forked tongue, and frequent horns,
+includes the organic, inorganic, the terrestrial and atmospheric,
+and is the combination of harmful contrivances in nature.
+Nearly all of the Dragon forms, whatever their original types and their
+region, are represented in the conventional monster of the European
+stage, which meets the popular conception. This Dragon is a masterpiece
+of the popular imagination, and it required many generations to give it
+artistic shape. Every Christmas he appears in some London pantomime,
+with aspect similar to that which he has worn for many ages. His body
+is partly green, with memories of the sea and of slime, and partly
+brown or dark, with lingering shadow of storm-clouds. The lightning
+flames still in his red eyes, and flashes from his fire-breathing
+mouth. The thunderbolt of Jove, the spear of Wodan, are in the barbed
+point of his tail. His huge wings--batlike, spiked--sum up all the
+mythical life of extinct Harpies and Vampyres. Spine of crocodile
+is on his neck, tail of the serpent, and all the jagged ridges of
+rocks and sharp thorns of jungles bristle around him, while the ice
+of glaciers and brassy glitter of sunstrokes are in his scales. He is
+ideal of all that is hard, obstructive, perilous, loathsome, horrible
+in nature: every detail of him has been seen through and vanquished
+by man, here or there, but in selection and combination they rise
+again as principles, and conspire to form one great generalisation
+of the forms of Pain--the sum of every creature's worst.
+THE COMBAT.
+The pre-Munchausenite world--The Colonial Dragon--Io's journey
+--Medusa--British Dragons--The Communal Dragon--Savage Saviours
+--A Mimac helper--The Brutal Dragon--Woman protected--The Saint
+of the Mikados.
+The realm of the Unknown has now, by exploration of our planet
+and by science, been pretty well pressed into annexation with the
+Unknowable. In early periods, however, unexplored lands and seas
+existed only in the human imagination, and men appear to have included
+them within the laws of analogy as slowly as their descendants so
+included the planets. The monstrous forms with which superstition
+now peoples regions of space that cannot be visited could then dwell
+securely in parts of the world where their existence or non-existence
+could not be verified. Science had not yet shown the simplicity and
+unity underlying the superficial varieties of nature; and though
+Rudolf Raspe appeared many times, and related the adventures of
+his Baron Munchausen in many languages, it was only a hundred years
+ago that he managed to raise a laugh over them. It has taken nearly
+another hundred to reveal the humour of Munchausenisms that relate
+to invisible and future worlds.
+The Dragon which now haunts the imagination of a few compulsory
+voyagers beyond the grave originated in speculations concerning the
+unseen shores of equally mythical realms, whose burning zones and
+frozen seas had not yet been detached from this planet to make the
+Inferno of another. In our section on Demonology we have considered
+many of these imaginary forms in detail, limiting ourselves generally
+to the more realistic embodiments of special obstacles. Just above that
+formation comes the stratum in which we find the separate features
+of the previous demonic fauna combining to forms which indicate the
+new creative power which, as we have seen, makes nature over again
+in its own image.
+Beginning thus on the physical plane, with a view of passing to the
+social, political, and metaphysical arenas where man has successively
+met his Dragons, we may first consider the combination of terrors
+and perils, real and imaginary, which were confronted by the early
+colonist. I will venture to call this the Colonial Dragon.
+This form may be represented by any of those forms against which
+the Prometheus of Æschylus cautions Io on her way to the realm which
+should be called Ionia. 'When thou shalt have crossed the stream that
+bounds the continents to the rosy realms of the morning where the sun
+sets forth, ... thou shalt reach beyond the roaring sea Cisthene's
+Gorgonian plains, where dwell the Phorkides, ... and hard by are
+their three winged sisters, the Snake-haired Gorgons, by mortals
+abhorred, on whom none of human race can look and live.... Be on
+thy guard against the Gryphons, sharp-fanged hounds of Jove that
+never bark, and against the cavalry host of one-eyed Arimaspians,
+dwelling on the gold-gushing fount, the stream of Pluto. Thou wilt
+reach a distant land, a dark tribe, near to the fount of the sun,
+where runs the river Æthiops.' 
+One who has looked upon Leonardo da Vinci's Medusa at Florence--one of
+the finest interpretations of a mythologic subject ever painted--may
+comprehend what to the early explorer and colonist were the
+fascinations of those rumoured regions where nature was fair but
+girt round with terrors. The Gorgon's head alone is given, with
+its fearful tangle of serpent tresses; her face, even in its pain,
+possesses the beauty that may veil a fatal power; from her mouth is
+exhaled a vapour which in its outline has brought into life vampyre,
+newt, toad, and loathsome nondescript creatures. Here is the malaria
+of undrained coasts, the vermin of noxious nature. The source of
+these must be destroyed before man can found his city; it is the
+fiery poisonous breath of the Colonial Dragon.
+Most of the Dragon-myths of Great Britain appear to have been
+importations of the Colonial monsters. Perhaps the most famous
+of these in all Europe was the Chimæra, which came westward upon
+coins, Bellerophon having become a national hero at Corinth--almost
+superseding the god of war himself--and his effigy spread with
+many migrations. Our conventional figure of St. George is still
+Bellerophon, though the Dragon has been substituted for Chimæra,--a
+change which christian tradition and national respect for the lion
+rendered necessary (Fig. 31). Corresponding to this change in outward
+representation, the monster-myths of Great Britain have been gradually
+pressed into service as moral and religious lessons. The Lambton Worm
+illustrates the duty of attending mass and sanctity of the sabbath;
+the demon serpents of Ireland and Cornwall prove the potency of
+holy exorcism; and this process of moralisation has extended, in the
+case of the Boar, whose head graces the Christmas table at Queen's
+College, Oxford, to an illustration of the value of Aristotelian
+philosophy. It was with a volume of Aristotle that the monster was
+slain, the mythologic affinities of the legend being quaintly preserved
+in the item that it was thrust down the boar's throat.
+But these modifications are very transparent, the British legends
+being mainly variants of one or two original myths which appear to have
+grown out of the heraldic devices imported by ancient families. These
+probably acquired realistic statement through the prowess and energy
+of chieftains, and were exaggerated by their descendants, perhaps also
+connected with some benefit to the community, in order to strengthen
+the family tenure of its estates. For this kind of duty the Colonial
+Dragon was the one usually imported by the family romancer or poet. The
+multiplication of these fables is, indeed, sufficiently curious. It
+looks as if there were some primitive agrarian sentiment which had
+to be encountered by aid of appeals to exceptional warrant. The
+family which could trace its title to an estate to an ancestor who
+rescued the whole district, was careful to preserve some memorial
+of the feat. On account of the interests concerned in old times we
+should be guarded in receiving the rationalised interpretations of
+such myths, which have become traditional in some localities. The
+barbaric achievements of knights did not lose in the ballads of
+minstrels any marvellous splendours, but gained many; and most of
+these came from the south and east. The Dragon which Guy of Warwick
+slew still retained traces of Chimæra; it had 'paws as a lion.' Sir
+William Dugdale thought that this was a romanticised version of a real
+combat which Guy fought with a Danish chief, A.C. 926. Similarly the
+Dragon of Wantley has been reduced to a fraudulent barrister.
+The most characteristic of this class of legends is that of
+Sockburn. Soon after the Norman conquest the Conyers family
+received that manor by episcopal grant, the tradition being that
+it was because Sir John Conyers, Knight, slew a huge Worm which had
+devoured many people. The falchion with which this feat was achieved
+is still preserved, and I believe it is still the custom, when a
+new bishop visits that diocese, for the lord of Sockburn to present
+this sword. The lord of the manor meets the bishop in the middle of
+the river Tees, and says:--'My Lord Bishop, I here present you with
+the falchion wherewith the Champion Conyers slew the Worm, Dragon,
+or fiery flying Serpent, which destroyed man, woman, and child, in
+memory of which the king then reigning gave him the manor of Sockburn
+to hold by this tenure,--that upon the first entrance of every bishop
+into the country this falchion should be presented.' The bishop
+returns the sword and wishes the lord long enjoyment of the tenure,
+which has been thus held since the year 1396. The family tradition
+is that the Dragon was a Scotch intruder named Comyn, whom Conyers
+compelled to kneel before the episcopal throne. The Conyers family
+of Sockburn seem to have been at last overtaken by a Dragon which was
+too much for them: the last knight was taken from a workhouse barely
+in time not to die there.
+In the 'Memoirs of the Somervilles' we read that one of that family
+acquired a parish by slaying a 'hydeous monster in forme of a
+worme.' 
+The wode Laird of Laristone
+Slew the Worme of Worme's Glen,
+And wan all Linton parochine.
+It was 'in lenth 3 Scots yards, and somewhat bigger than an ordinary
+man's leg, with a hede more proportionable to its lenth than its
+greatness; its forme and collour (like) to our common muir adders.'
+This was a very moderate dragon compared with others, by slaying
+which many knights won their spurs: this, for example, which Sir
+Dygore killed in the fourteenth century--
+----A Dragon great and grymme,
+Full of fyre, and also of venymme:
+With a wide throte and tuskes grete,
+Uppon that knight fast gan he bete;
+And as a Lionn then was his fete,
+His tayle was long and ful unmete;
+Between his hede and his tayle
+Was xxii. fote withouten fayle;
+His body was like a wine tonne,
+He shone full bright ageynst the sunne;
+His eyes were bright as any glasse,
+His scales were hard as any brasse.
+The familiar story of St. Patrick clearing the snakes out of Ireland,
+and the Cornish version of it, in which the exorcist is St. Petrox,
+presents some features which relate it to the colonist's combat
+with his dragon, though it is more interesting in other aspects. The
+Colonial Dragon includes the diseases, the wild beasts, the savages,
+and all manner of obstructions which environ a new country. But
+when these difficulties have been surmounted, the young settlement
+has still its foes to contend with,--war-like invaders from without,
+ambitious members within. We then find the Dragon taking on the form
+of a public enemy, and his alleged slayer is representative of the
+commune,--possibly in the end to transmit its more real devourer. Most
+of the British Dragon-myths have expanded beyond the stage in which
+they represent merely the struggles of immigrants with wild nature,
+and include the further stage where they represent the formation of
+the community. The growth of patriotism at length is measured by its
+shadow. The Colonial is transformed to the Communal Dragon. Many
+Dragon-myths are adaptations of the ancient symbolism to hostes
+communes: such are the monsters described as desolating villages and
+districts, until they are encountered by antagonists animated by public
+spirit. Such antagonists are distinguishable from the heroes that go
+forth to rescue the maiden in distress: their chief representative
+in mythology is Herakles, most of whose labours reveal the man of
+self-devotion redressing public wrongs, and raising the standard of
+humanity as well as civilisation.
+The age of chivalry has its legend in the Centaurs and Cheiron. The
+Hippo-centaurs are mounted savages: Cheiron is the true knight,
+withstanding monsters in his own shape, saving Peleus from them, and
+giving hospitality to the Argonauts. The mounted man was dragon to the
+man on foot until he became the chevalier; then the demonic character
+passed to the strategist who had no horse. It is curious enough to
+find existing among the Mormons a murderous order calling themselves
+Danites, or Destroying Angels, after the text of Gen. xlix. 17,
+'Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth
+the horse's heel that his rider shall fall backward.' The Ritter,
+however, so far as his Dragon was concerned, was as one winged, and
+every horse a Pegasus when it bore him to decide the day between the
+adder and its victim. It is remarkable that the Mormons should have
+carried from the East a cruel superstition to find even among the Red
+Men, who are disappearing before the western march of Saxon strength,
+more gentle fables.
+Among the Mimacs, the aborigines of Nova Scotia, there is a legend
+of a young hero named Keekwajoo, who, in seeking for a wife, is
+befriended by a good sage named Glooscap, who warns him against
+a powerful magician disguised as a beaver, and two demon sisters,
+who will waylay him in the disguise of large weasels. The youth is
+admonished to beat a certain drum as his canoe passes them, and he
+is saved as Orpheus in passing Cerberus and Ulysses in sailing past
+the Syrens. The weasels, hearing the music, aspire to wed the stars,
+but find themselves in an indescribable nest at the top of a tall
+white pine. 
+The chevalier encounters also the Brutal Dragon, whose victim is
+Woman. From immemorial time man's captive, unable to hold her own
+against brute force, she is at the mercy of all who are insensible to
+the refined and passive powers. The rock-bound Andromeda, the pursued
+Leto, or whatever fair maid it may be that the Dragon-slayer rescues,
+may have begun mythologically as emblem of the Dawn, whose swallower is
+the Night Cloud; but in the end she symbolises a brighter dawn,--that
+of civility and magnanimity among men.
+It is a notable fact that far away in Japan we should find a
+Dragon-myth which would appear to represent, with rare beauty, the
+social evolution we have been considering. Their great mythological
+Serpent, Yamati-no-orochi, that is, the serpent of eight heads and
+tails, stretching over eight valleys, would pretty certainly represent
+a river annually overflowing its banks. One is reminded by this monster
+of the accounts given by Mencius of the difficulties with streams
+which the Chinese had to surmount before they could make the Middle
+States habitable. But this Colonial Dragon, in the further evolution
+of the country, reappears as the Brutal Dragon. The admirable legend
+relates that, while the rest of the world were using stone implements,
+there came into the possession of Sosano-o-no-Mikoto (the Prince
+of Sosano) a piece of iron which was wrought into a sword. That
+maiden-sword of the world was fleshed to save a maiden from the jaws
+of a monster. The prince descended from heaven to a bank of the river
+Hino Kawa, and the country around seemed uninhabited; but presently
+he saw a chopped stick floating down the stream, and concluded that
+there must be beings dwelling farther up; so he travelled until he
+came to a spot where he beheld an aged man and his wife (Asinaduti
+and Tenaduti), with their beautiful daughter, Himé of Inada. The three
+were weeping bitterly, and the prince was informed that Himé was the
+last of their daughters, seven of whom had been devoured by a terrible
+serpent. This serpent had eight heads, and the condition on which it
+had ceased to desolate the district was that one of these eight maidens
+should be brought annually to this spot to satisfy his voracity. The
+last had now been brought to complete the dreadful compact. The
+Japanese are careful to distinguish this serpent from a dragon,
+with them an agathodemon. It had no feet, and its heads branched by
+as many necks from a single body, this body being so large that it
+stretched over eight valleys. It was covered with trees and moss,
+and its belly was red as blood. The prince doubted if even with his
+sword he could encounter such a monster, so he resorted to stratagem;
+he obtained eight vast bowls, filled them with eight different kinds
+of wine, and, having built a fence with the same number of openings,
+set a bowl in each. The result may be imagined: the eight heads in
+passing over the bowls paused, drank deep, and were soon in a state
+of beastly intoxication. In this condition the heads were severed
+from their neck, and the maiden saved to wed the first Mikado Prince.
+THE DRAGON-SLAYER.
+Demigods--Alcestis--Herakles--The Ghilghit Fiend--Incarnate
+deliverer of Ghilghit--A Dardistan Madonna--The religion
+of Atheism--Resuscitation of Dragons--St. George and his
+Dragon--Emerson and Ruskin on George--Saintly allies of the Dragon.
+Theology has pronounced Incarnation a mystery, but nothing is
+simpler. The demigod is man's appeal from the gods. It may also
+be, as Emerson says, that 'when the half-gods go the gods arrive,'
+but it is equally true that their coming signals the departure of
+deities which man had long invoked in vain. The great Heraklean myth
+presents us the ideal of godlike force united to human sympathy. Ra
+(the Sun) passing the twelve gates (Hours) of Hades (Night) is humanised in Herakles and his Twelve Labours. He is Son of Zeus
+by a human mother--Alcmene--and his labours for human welfare,
+as well as his miraculous conception, influenced Christianity. The
+divine Man assailing the monsters of divine creation represents human
+recognition of the fact that moral order in nature is co-extensive
+with the control of mankind. One expression of this perception is
+the Alcestis of Euripides, whose significance in relation to death
+we have considered. 
+'Alcestis,' as I have written in another work, 'is one of the few
+ancient Greek melodramas.  The majority of dramas left us by the
+poets of Greece turn upon religious themes, and usually they are
+tragedies. It is evident that to them the popular religion around them
+was itself a tragedy. Their heroes and heroines--such as Prometheus
+and Macaria--were generally victims of the jealousy or caprice of the
+gods; and though the poets display in their dramas the irresistible
+power of the gods, they do so without reverence for that power,
+and generally show the human victims to be more honourable than
+the gods. But the 'Alcestis' of Euripides is not a tragedy; it ends
+happily, and in the rescue of one of those victims of the gods. It
+stands as about the first notice served on the gods that the human
+heart had got tired of their high-handed proceedings, and they might
+prepare to quit the thrones of a universe unless they could exhibit
+more humanity.... Knowing that neither he nor any other deity can
+legally resist the decree of another deity, Apollo is reduced to
+hope for help from man. Human justice may save when divine justice
+sacrifices. He prophesies to Death that although he may seize Alcestis,
+a man will come who will conquer him, and deliver that woman from
+the infernal realm.... Then Hercules comes on the scene. He has been
+slaying lion and dragon, and he now resolves to conquer Death and
+deliver Alcestis. This he does.' 
+In this pre-christian yet christian Passion Play, the part played by
+the heart of woman is equally heroic with that which represents the
+honour of man. So in the religion which followed there was an effort
+to set beside the incarnate vanquisher of infernal powers the pierced
+heart of Mary. But among all the legends of this character it were
+difficult to find one more impressive than that which Dr. Leitner
+found in Dardistan, and one which, despite its length, will repay a
+careful perusal. This legend of the origin of the Ghilghit tribe and
+government was told by a native.
+'Once upon a time there lived a race at Ghilghit whose origin is
+uncertain. Whether they sprung from the soil or had immigrated from a
+distant region is doubtful; so much is believed that they were Gayupí,
+i.e., spontaneous, aborigines, unknown. Over them ruled a monarch who
+was a descendant of the evil spirits, the Yatsh, who terrorised over
+the world. His name was Shiribadatt, and he resided at a castle in
+front of which was a course for the performance of the manly game of
+Polo. His tastes were capricious, and in every one of his actions his
+fiendish origin could be discerned. The natives bore his rule with
+resignation, for what could they effect against a monarch at whose
+command even magic aids were placed? However, the country was rendered
+fertile, and round the capital bloomed attractive. The heavens,
+or rather the virtuous Peris, at last grew tired of his tyranny,
+for he had crowned his iniquities by indulging in a propensity for
+cannibalism. This taste had been developed by an accident. One day
+his cook brought him some mutton broth the like of which he had never
+tasted. After much inquiry as to the nature of the food on which the
+sheep had been brought up, it was eventually traced to an old woman,
+its first owner. She stated that her child and the sheep were born
+on the same day, and losing the former, she had consoled herself
+by suckling the latter. This was a revelation to the tyrant. He
+had discovered the secret of the palatability of the broth, and was
+determined to have a never-ending supply of it. So he ordered that
+his kitchen should be regularly provided with children of a tender
+age, whose flesh, when converted into broth, would remind him of
+the exquisite dish he had once so much relished. This cruel order was
+carried out. The people of the country were dismayed at such a state of
+things, and sought slightly to improve it by sacrificing, in the first
+place, all orphans and children of neighbouring tribes. The tyrant,
+however, was insatiable, and soon was his cruelty felt by many families
+at Ghilghit, who were compelled to give up their children to slaughter.
+'Relief came at last. At the top of the mountain Ko, which it takes
+a day to ascend, and which overlooks the village of Doyur, below
+Ghilghit, on the other side of the river, appeared three figures. They
+looked like men, but much more strong and handsome. In their arms they
+carried bows and arrows, and turning their eyes in the direction of
+Doyur, they perceived innumerable flocks of sheep and cattle grazing
+on a prairie between that village and the foot of the mountain. The
+three strangers were brothers, and none of them had been born at
+the same time. It was their intention to make Azru Shemsher, the
+youngest, Rajah of Ghilghit, and, in order to achieve their purpose,
+they hit upon the following plan. On the already noticed prairie,
+which is called Didingé, a sportive calf was gambolling towards
+and away from its mother. It was the pride of its owner, and its
+brilliant red colour could be seen from a distance. 'Let us see who
+is the best marksman,' exclaimed the eldest, and, saying this, he shot
+an arrow in the direction of the calf, but missed his aim. The second
+brother also tried to hit it, but also failed. At last, Azru Shemsher,
+who took a deep interest in the sport, shot his arrow, which pierced
+the poor animal from side to side and killed it. The brothers, whilst
+descending, congratulated Azru on his sportsmanship, and on arriving at
+the spot where the calf was lying, proceeded to cut its throat and to
+take out from its body the titbits, namely, the kidneys and the liver.
+'They then roasted these delicacies, and invited Azru to partake of
+them first. He respectfully declined, on the ground of his youth,
+but they urged him to do so, 'in order,' they said, 'to reward you
+for such an excellent shot.' Scarcely had the meat touched the lips of
+Azru than the brothers got up, and, vanishing into the air, called out,
+'Brother! you have touched impure food, which Peris never should eat,
+and we have made use of your ignorance of this law, because we want
+to make you a human being [250] who shall rule over Ghilghit; remain,
+therefore, at Doyur.' Azru, in deep grief at the separation, cried,
+'Why remain at Doyur, unless it be to grind corn?' 'Then,' said the
+brothers, 'go to Ghilghit.' 'Why,' was the reply, 'go to Ghilghit,
+unless it be to work in the gardens?' 'No, no,' was the last and
+consoling rejoinder; 'you will assuredly become the king of this
+country, and deliver it from its merciless oppressor!' No more
+was heard of the departing fairies, and Azru remained by himself,
+endeavouring to gather consolation from the great mission which
+had been bestowed on him. A villager met him, and, struck by his
+appearance, offered him shelter in his house. Next morning he went
+on the roof of his host's house, and calling out to him to come up,
+pointed to the Ko mountain, on which, he said, he plainly discerned
+a wild goat. The incredulous villager began to fear he had harboured
+a maniac, if no worse character; but Azru shot off his arrow, and,
+accompanied by the villager (who had assembled some friends for
+protection, as he was afraid his young guest might be an associate
+of robbers, and lead him into a trap), went in the direction of the
+mountain. There, to be sure, at the very spot that was pointed out,
+though many miles distant, was lying the wild goat, with Azru's arrow
+transfixing its body. The astonished peasants at once hailed him as
+their leader, but he exacted an oath of secrecy from them, for he had
+come to deliver them from their tyrant, and would keep his incognito
+till such time as his plans for the destruction of the monster would
+be matured.
+'He then took leave of the hospitable people of Doyur, and went
+to Ghilghit. On reaching this place, which is scarcely four miles
+distant from Doyur, he amused himself by prowling about in the
+gardens adjoining the royal residence. There he met one of the
+female companions of Shiribadatt's daughter fetching water for
+the princess. This lady was remarkably handsome, and of a sweet
+disposition. The companion rushed back, and told the young lady to look
+from over the ramparts of the castle at a wonderfully handsome young
+man whom she had just met. The princess placed herself in a place
+from which she could observe any one approaching the fort. Her maid
+then returned, and induced Azru to come with her in the Polo ground,
+in front of the castle; the princess was smitten with his beauty, and
+at once fell in love with him. She then sent word to the young prince
+to come and see her. When he was admitted into her presence he for a
+long time denied being anything more than a common labourer. At last
+he confessed to being a fairy's child, and the overjoyed princess
+offered him her heart and hand. It may be mentioned here that the
+tyrant Shiribadatt had a wonderful horse, which could cross a mile
+at every jump, and which its rider had accustomed to jump both into
+and out of the fort, over its walls. So regular were the leaps which
+this famous animal could take that he invariably alighted at the
+distance of a mile from the fort, and at the same place. On that
+very day on which the princess had admitted young Azru into the fort
+King Shiribadatt was out hunting, of which he was desperately fond,
+and to which he used sometimes to devote a week or two at a time.
+'We must now return to Azru, whom we left conversing with the
+princess. Azru remained silent when the lady confessed her love. Urged
+to declare his sentiments, he said that he would not marry her unless
+she bound herself to him by the most stringent oath; this she did,
+and they became in the sight of God as if they were wedded man and
+wife. He then announced that he had come to destroy her father, and
+asked her to kill him herself. This she refused; but as she had sworn
+to aid him in every way she could, he finally induced her to promise
+that she would ask her father where his soul was. 'Refuse food,' said
+Azru, 'for three or four days, and your father, who is devotedly fond
+of you, will ask for the reason of your strange conduct; then say,
+'Father, you are often staying away from me for several days at a
+time, and I am getting distressed lest something should happen to
+you; do reassure me by letting me know where your soul is, and let me
+feel certain that your life is safe.' This the princess promised to
+do, and when her father returned refused food for several days. The
+anxious Shiribadatt made inquiries, to which she replied by making
+the already named request. The tyrant was for a few moments thrown
+into mute astonishment, and finally refused compliance with her
+preposterous demand. The love-smitten lady went on starving herself,
+till at last her father, fearful for his daughter's life, told her
+not to fret herself about him as his soul was of snow, in the snows,
+and that he could only perish by fire. The princess communicated this
+information to her lover. Azru went back to Doyur and the villages
+around, and assembled his faithful peasants. Them he asked to take
+twigs of the fir-tree, bind them together, and light them; then to
+proceed in a body with torches to the castle in a circle, keep close
+together, and surround it on every side. He then went and dug out a
+very deep hole, as deep as a well, in the place where Shiribadatt's
+horse used to alight, and covered it with green boughs. The next
+day he received information that the torches were ready. He at once
+ordered the villagers gradually to draw near the fort in the manner
+which he had already indicated.
+King Shiribadatt was then sitting in his castle; near him his
+treacherous daughter, who was so soon to lose her parent. All at
+once he exclaimed, 'I feel very close; go out, dearest, and see what
+has happened.' The girl went out, and saw torches approaching from a
+distance; but fancying it to be something connected with the plans of
+her husband, she went back and said it was nothing. The torches came
+nearer and nearer, and the tyrant became exceedingly restless. 'Air,
+air,' he cried, 'I feel very ill; do see, daughter, what is the
+matter.' The dutiful lady went, and returned with the same answer
+as before. At last the torch-bearers had fairly surrounded the fort,
+and Shiribadatt, with a presentiment of impending danger, rushed out
+of the room, saying, 'that he felt he was dying.' He then ran to the
+stables and mounted his favourite charger, and with one blow of the
+whip made him jump over the wall of the castle. Faithful to its habit
+the noble animal alighted at the same place, but, alas! only to find
+itself engulfed in a treacherous pit. Before the king had time to
+extricate himself the villagers had run up with their torches. 'Throw
+them upon him,' cried Azru. With one accord all the blazing wood was
+thrown upon Shiribadatt, who miserably perished.'
+Azru was then most enthusiastically proclaimed king, celebrated his
+nuptials with the fair traitor, and, as sole tribute, exacted the
+offering of one sheep annually, instead of the human child, from
+every one of the natives.
+When Azru had safely ascended the throne he ordered the tyrant's place
+to be levelled to the ground. The willing peasants, manufacturing
+spades of iron, flocked to accomplish a grateful task, and sang whilst
+demolishing his castle:--
+'My nature is of a hard metal,' said Shiri and Badatt. 'Why hard? I,
+Koto, the son of the peasant Dem Singh, am alone hardy; with this iron
+spade I raze to the ground thy kingly house. Behold now, although
+thou art of race accursed, of Shatsho Malika, I, Dem Singh's son,
+am of a hard metal; for with this iron spade I level thy very palace;
+look out! look out!' 
+An account of the Feast of Torches, instituted as a memorial of this
+tradition, has already been given in another connection. [252] The
+legend, the festival, and the song just quoted constitute a noble
+human epic. That startling defiance of the icy-hearted god by the
+human-hearted peasant, that brave cry of the long cowering wretch who
+at last holds in his spade an iron weapon to wield against the hardness
+of nature, are the sublime pæan of the Dragon-slayer. Look out, ye
+snow-gods! Man's heart is there, and woman's heart; their courage,
+plus the spade, can level your palaces; their love will melt you,
+their arts and sciences kill you: so fatal may be torches!
+All great religions were born in this grand atheism. As the worship
+of Herakles meant the downfall of Zeus, the worship of Christ meant
+the overthrow of both Jove and Jehovah. Every race adores the epoch
+when their fathers grew ashamed of their gods and identified them as
+dragons--the supreme cruelties of nature--welcoming the man who first
+rose from his knees and defied them. But in the end the Priests of the
+Dragon manage to secure a compromise, and by labelling him with the
+name of his slayer, manage to resuscitate and re-enthrone him. For,
+as we shall presently see, the Dragon never really dies.
+Christianity did not fail to avail itself of the Dragon-slayer's
+prestige, which had preceded it in Europe and in Africa. It could
+not afford to offer for popular reverence saints less heroic than
+pagan warriors and demigods. The old Dragon-myths, especially
+those which made the fame of Herakles, were appropriated to invest
+saintly forms. St. Michael, St. Andrew, St. Margaret, and many
+another, were pictured subduing or treading on Dragons. Christ was
+shown crushing the serpent Sin, spearing the dragon Death, or even
+issuing from its impotent jaws, like Jason from the Dragon. But in this competition for the laurels of dead Dragon-slayers, and
+fierce hostility to dragons already slain, the real Dragon was left
+to revive and flourish in security, and in the end even inherited
+the mantle and the palm of his own former conqueror.
+The miscarriage of canonisation in the case of St. George is a small
+and merely curious thing in itself; but it is almost mystical in its
+coincidence with the great miscarriage which brought the cross of
+Christ to authorise the crucifixions of the men most like him for a
+thousand years.
+Mr. John Ruskin has sharply challenged Ralph Waldo Emerson's
+penetrating touch on the effigy that decorates the escutcheons of
+England and Russia. 'George of Cappadocia,' says Emerson, 'born
+at Epiphania in Cilicia, was a low parasite, who got a lucrative
+contract to supply the army with bacon. A rogue and an informer,
+he got rich and was forced to run from justice. He saved his money,
+embraced Arianism, collected a library, and got promoted by a faction
+to the episcopal throne of Alexandria. When Julian came, A.D. 361,
+George was dragged to prison. The prison was burst open by the mob,
+and George was lynched as he deserved. And this precious knave became
+in good time Saint George of England, patron of chivalry, emblem of
+victory and civility, and the pride of the best blood of the modern
+world.' Whereon Emerson further remarks that 'nature trips us up when
+we strut.'
+It is certainly rather hard for the founder of the St. George
+Association to be told that his patron was no Dragon-slayer at all,
+but the Dragon's ally. Mr. Ruskin may be right in contending that
+whatever may have been the facts, they who made George patron saint
+of England still meant their homage for a hero, or at any rate
+not for a rogue; but he is unsatisfactory in his argument that our
+St. George was another who died for his faith seventy years before
+the bacon-contractor. Even if the Ruskin St. George, said to have
+suffered under Diocletian, could be shown historical, his was a
+very commonplace martyrdom compared with that of a bishop torn in
+pieces by a 'pagan' mob. The distant christian nations would never
+have listened to the pagan version of the story even had it reached
+them. A bishop so martyred would have been the very man to give
+their armies a watchword. The martyr was portrayed as a Dragon-slayer
+only as a title might be added to the name of one knighted, or the
+badge of an order set upon his breast; the heraldic device grew
+into a variant of the common legend which suggests the origin of the
+mythical George. 'The magician Athanasius, successively an opponent
+of Christianity, a convert, and a martyr, is his chief antagonist;
+and the city of Alexandria appears as the Empress Alexandria, the wife
+of Diocletian, and herself a convert and a martyr.' This sentence
+from Smith's 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography' tells more
+than Professor Ruskin's seventeenth-century authority. The Dragon is
+the same Athanasius whose creed sends forth its anathemas in churches
+dedicated to the Arian canonised for having slain him!
+Though it be granted that they who made George of Cappadocia the
+ideal hero of England really intended their homage for a martyr and
+hero, it must equally be acknowledged that his halo was clearly drawn
+from Dragon-fire. He was a man who had taken to the sword, and by it
+perished; so much was known and announced in his canonisation. He
+was honoured as 'the Victor' among the Greeks, therefore to-day
+patron of Russia; as protector of Crusaders, therefore now patron of
+England; thus is he saint of a war waged by the strong against the
+weak, in interest of a church and priesthood against human freedom;
+therefore George was taking the side of the Dragon against Christ,
+restoring the priestly power he had assailed, and delivering up his
+brave brothers in all history to be nailed to Christianity as a cross.
+Let George remain! Whether naming fashionable temples or engraved on
+gold coins, the fictitious Dragon-slayer will remain the right saint
+in the right place so long as the real Dragon-slayer is made to name
+every power he hated, and to consecrate every lie in whose mouth he
+darted his spear.
+THE DRAGON'S BREATH.
+Medusa--Phenomena of recurrence--The Brood of Echidna and their
+survival--Behemoth and Leviathan--The Mouth of Hell--The Lambton
+Worm--Ragnar--The Lambton Doom--The Worm's Orthodoxy--The Serpent,
+Superstition, and Science.
+Asura has already been mentioned as the most ancient Aryan name for
+deity. The meaning of it is, the Breather. It has also been remarked
+that in the course of time the word came to signify both the good
+and the evil spirit. What this evil breath meant in nature is told
+in Leonardo da Vinci's picture of the expiring Medusa, referred to
+on p. 386, from whose breath noxious creatures are produced. It may
+have been that the artist meant only to interpret the Gorgon as a
+personification of the malarious vapours of nature and their organic
+kindred; if so, he painted better than he knew, and has suggested
+that fatal vitality of the evil power which raised it to its throne
+as a principle coeternal with good.
+The phenomena of recurrence in things evil made for man the mystery
+of iniquity. The darkness may be dispersed, but it returns; the storm
+may clear away, but it gathers again; inundations, sickly seasons,
+dog-days, Cain-winds, they go and return; the cancer is cut out and
+grows again; the tyrant may be slain, tyranny survives. The serpent
+slipping from one skin to another coils steadily into the symbol of
+endlessness. In another expression it is the poisonous breath of
+the Dragon. It is this breath that cannot be killed; the special
+incarnations of it, any temporary brood of it, may be destroyed,
+but the principle in nature which produces them cannot be exterminated.
+Dragon fables have this undertone to their brave strain. In the
+Rig Veda (v. 32) it is said that when Indra slew Ahi, 'another more
+powerful was generated.' Isaiah (xiv. 29) cries, 'Rejoice not thou,
+whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken:
+for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his
+fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.' Herakles struggles with the
+giant robber, Antæus, only to find the demon's strength restored by
+contact with the earth. He kills one head of the Hydra only to see two
+grow in its place; and even when he has managed to burn away these,
+the central head is found to be immortal, and he can only hide it
+under a rock. That one is the self-multiplying principle of evil. The
+vast brood of Echidna in mythology expresses the brood of evil in
+nature. Echidna, daughter of Ge and Tartarus, Earth and Hell--phonetic
+reappearance of Ahi--is half-serpent, half-woman, with black eyes,
+fearful and bloodthirsty. She becomes the mother of fire-breathing
+Typhon, buried beneath the earth by Jove's lightning when he aspired
+to scale Olympus; of the Dragon that guarded the Hesperian garden;
+of the Sphinx which puzzled and devoured; of three-headed Cerberus;
+of the eagle that preyed on rock-bound Prometheus; of the Nemæan lion
+which Herakles slew; of Chimæra; and of Scylla the monster whom Homer
+describes sitting between two large rocks waylaying mariners on the
+way from Italy to Sicily,--possessing twelve feet, six long necks
+and mouths, each with three rows of rushing teeth.
+The Dragon that Cadmus slew also had terrible teeth; and it will be
+remembered that when these teeth were sown they sprang up as armed
+men. Like them, the ancient Dragon-myths were also sown, broadcast, in
+the mental and moral fields, cleared and ploughed by a new theology,
+and they sprang up as dogmas more hard and cruel than the ferocious
+forces of nature which gave birth to their ancestral monsters.
+What the superstitious method of interpreting nature, forced as
+it is to personify its painful as well as its pleasant phenomena,
+inevitably results in, finds illustration in the two great lines of
+tradition--the Aryan and the Semitic--which have converged to form
+the christian mythology.
+The Hebrew personification, Jehovah, originating in a rude period,
+became invested with many savage and immoral traditions; but when his
+worshippers had reached a higher moral culture, national sentiment
+had become too deeply involved with the sovereign majesty of their
+deity for his alleged actions to be criticised, or his absolute
+supremacy and omnipotence to be questioned, even to save his moral
+character. Thus, the Rabbins appear to have been at their wits'
+end to account for the existence of the two great monsters which
+had got into their sacred records--from an early mythology--Behemoth
+and Leviathan. Unwilling to admit that Jehovah had created foes to
+his own kingdom, or that creatures which had become foes to it were
+beyond his power to control, they worked out a theory that Behemoth
+and Leviathan were made and preserved by special order of Jehovah to
+execute his decrees at the Messianic Day of Judgment. They probably
+corresponded at an earlier period with the gryphon, or grabber, and
+the serpent which bit, guardians at the gate of paradise; but the
+need of such guards, biters, and spies by the all-powerful all-seeing
+Shaddai having been recognised, the monsters had to be rationalised
+into accord with his character as a retributive ruler. Hence Behemoth
+and Leviathan are represented as being fattened with the wicked,
+who die in order to be the food of the righteous during the unsettled
+times that follow the revelation of the Messiah! Behemoth is Jehovah's
+'cattle on a thousand hills' (Ps. i. 10). In Pireque de Rabbi Eliezur
+he is described as feeding daily upon a thousand mountains on which
+the grass grows again every night; and the Jordan supplies him with
+drink, as it is said in Job (xl. 23), 'he trusteth that he can draw up
+Jordan into his mouth.' In the Talmud these monsters are divided into
+two pairs, but are said to have been made barren lest their progeny
+should destroy the earth. They are kept in the wilderness of Dendain,
+the mythical abode of the descendants of Cain, east of Eden, for the
+unique purpose mentioned.
+But now we may remark the steady progress of these monsters to
+the bounds of their mythological habitat. There came a time when
+Behemoth and Leviathan were hardly more presentable than other
+personified horrors. They too must 'take the veil,'--a period in the
+history of mythical, corresponding to extinction in that of actual,
+monsters. The following passage in the Book of Enoch is believed by
+Professor Drummond to be a later insertion, probably from the Book
+of Noah, and as early as the middle of the first century:--'In that
+day two monsters shall be divided; a female monster named Leviathan,
+to dwell in the abyss of the sea, above the sources of the waters;
+but the male is called Behemoth, which occupies with its breast a
+desolate wilderness named Dendain, on the east of the garden where
+the elect and righteous dwell, where my grandfather (Enoch) was
+taken up, being the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord
+of the spirits created. And I asked that other angel to show me the
+might of these monsters, how they were separated in one day, and one
+was set in the depth of the sea, the other on the firm land of the
+wilderness. And he spoke to me, 'Thou son of man, thou desirest in
+this to know what has been concealed.' And the other angel who went
+with me, and showed me what is in concealment, spake, ... 'These two
+monsters are prepared conformably to the greatness of God to be fed,
+in order that the penal judgment of God may not be in vain.' 
+We may thus see that there were antecedents to the sentiment of
+Aquinas,--'Beati in regno coelesti videbunt poenas damnatorum,
+ut beatitudo illis magis complaceat.' Or, perhaps, one might say
+rather to the logic of Aquinas; for though he saw that it would be
+necessary for souls in bliss to be happy at vision of the damned or
+else deficient in bliss, it is said he could hardly be happy from
+thinking of the irreversible doom of Satan himself. It would appear
+that only the followers of the Genevan who anticipated his god's hell
+for Servetus managed to adapt their hearts to such logic, and glory
+in the endless tortures of their fellow-creatures.
+An eloquent minister in New York, Octavius B. Frothingham, being
+requested to write out his views on the 'question' of everlasting
+damnation, began with the remark that he felt somewhat as a sportsman
+suddenly called upon to hunt the Iguanodon. Really it is Behemoth and
+Leviathan he was called to deal with. Leviathan transmitted from Jonah
+to the Middle Ages the idea of 'the belly of Hell,' and Behemoth's
+jaws expanded in the 'mouth of Hell' of the Miracle-plays; and their
+utility, as described in the Book of Enoch, perhaps originated
+the doctrine of souls tasting heavenly joys from the agonies of
+others. The dogma of Hell has followed the course of its prototype
+with precision. It has arrived at just that period when, as in the
+case of Enoch's inquiring, the investigator finds it has taken the
+veil. Theologians shake their heads, call it a terrible question,
+write about free-will and sin, but only a few, of the fatuous sort,
+confess belief in the old-fashioned Hell where the worm dieth not
+and the fire is not quenched.
+Let us now take under consideration the outcome of the Aryan Dragon,
+which has travelled far to meet Behemoth in the west. And it is
+probable that we could not, with much seeking, find an example so
+pregnant with instruction for our present inquiry as our little Durham
+folk-tale of the Lambton Worm.
+This Worm is said to have been slain by Sir Lambton, crusader, and
+ancestor of the Earls of Durham. This young Lambton was a wild fellow;
+he was fond of fishing in the river Wear, which runs near Durham
+Castle, and he had an especial taste for fishing there on Sunday
+mornings. He was profane, and on Sundays, when the people were all
+going to mass, they were often shocked by hearing the loud oaths
+which Lambton uttered whenever he had no rise. One Sunday morning
+something got hold of his hook, pulled strong, and he made sure of a
+good trout; what was his disappointment when instead thereof he found
+at the end of his line a tiny black worm. He tore it off with fierce
+imprecations and threw it in a well near by. However, soon after this
+the young man joined the crusaders and went off to the Holy Land,
+where he distinguished himself by slaying many Saracens.
+But while he was off there things were going on badly around Durham
+Castle. Some peasant passing that well into which the youth had cast
+the tiny black worm looked into it, and beheld a creature that made him
+shudder,--a diabolical big snake with nine ferocious eyes. A little
+time only had elapsed before this creature had grown too large for
+the well to hold it, and it came out and crawled on, making a path
+of desolation, breakfasting on a village, until it came to a small
+hill. Around that hill it coiled with nine coils, each weighty enough
+to make a separate terrace. One may still see this hill with its nine
+terraces, and be assured of the circumstances by peasants residing
+near. Having taken up its headquarters on this hill, the nine-eyed
+monster was in the habit of sallying forth every day and satisfying
+his hunger by devouring the plumpest family he could find, until
+at length the people consulted an oracle--some say a witch, others
+again a priest--and were told that the monster would be satisfied
+if it were given each day the milk of nine cows. So nine cows were
+got together, and a plucky dairymaid was found to milk the cows and
+carry it to the dragon. If a single gill of the milk was missing
+the monster took a dire revenge upon the nearest village. This was
+the unpleasant situation which young Lambton found when he returned
+home from the crusades. He was now an altered man. He was no longer
+given to fishing and profanity. He felt keenly that by raising the
+demon out of the river Wear he had brought woe upon his neighbours,
+and he resolved to engage the Worm in single combat. But he learned
+that it had already been fought by several knights, and had slain
+them, while no wounds received by itself availed anything, since,
+if it were cut in twain, the pieces grew together again. The knight
+then consulted the oracle, witch or priest, and was told that he could
+prevail in the combat on certain conditions. He must provide himself
+with special armour, all over which must be large razor-blades. He
+must manage to entice the worm into the middle of the river Wear,
+in whose waters the combat must take place. And, finally, he must
+vow to slay as a sacrifice the first living thing he should meet
+after his victory. These conditions having been fulfilled, the knight
+entered the stream. The dragon, not having received his milk as usual
+that morning, crawled from his hill seeking whom he might devour,
+and seeing the knight in the river, went at him. Quickly he coiled
+around the armour, but its big razors cut him into many sections;
+and these sections could not piece themselves together again because
+the current of the river washed them swiftly away.
+Now, observe how this dragon was pieced together mythologically. He is
+a storm cloud. He begins smaller than a man's hand and swells to huge
+dimensions; that characteristic of the howling storm was represented
+in the howling wolf Fenris of Norse Mythology, who was a little pet,
+a sort of lapdog for the gods at first, but when full grown broke the
+chains that tied him to mountains, and was only fettered at last by
+the thread finer than cobweb, which was really the sunbeam conquering
+winter. Then, when this worm was cut in two, the parts came together
+again. This feature of recurrence is especially characteristic of
+Hydras. In the Egyptian 'Tale of Setnau,' Ptah-nefer-ka saw the
+river-snake twice resume its form after he had killed it with his
+sword,--he succeeded the third time by placing sand between the two
+parts; and what returning floods taught the ancient scribe remained
+to characterise the dragon encountered by Guy of Warwick, which
+recovered from every wound by dipping its tail in the well it had
+guarded. The Lernean Hydra had nine heads, the Lambton Worm nine
+eyes and nine folds, and drank nine cows' milk. His fondness for
+the milk of cows connects him straightly with the dragon Vritra,
+whom Indra slew because he stole Indra's cows (that is, the good
+clouds, whose milk is gentle rain, and do no harm), and shut them up
+in a cavern to enjoy their milk himself. That is the oldest Dragon
+fable on record, and it is said in the Rig-Veda that beneath Indra's
+thunderbolt the monster broke up into pieces, and was washed away in a
+current of water. Finally, in being destroyed at last by razor blades,
+the dragon is connected with that slain by Ragnar, in whose armour the
+sun-darts of Apollo had turned to icicles. In the 'Death-Song of Ragnar
+Lodbrach,' preserved by Olaus Wormius, it is said that King Ella of
+Northumberland having captured that terror of the North (8th cent.),
+ordered him to be thrown into a pit of serpents. His surname, Lodbrach,
+or Hair Breeches, had been given because of his method of slaying a
+Worm which devastated Gothland, whose king had promised his daughter
+to the man who should slay the same. Ragnar dressed himself in hairy
+skins, and threw water over the hair, which, freezing, encased him in
+an armour of ice. The Worm, unable to bite through this, was impaled by
+Ragnar. Another version is that Ragnar killed two serpents which the
+King of Gothland had set to guard his daughter, but which had grown
+to such size that they terrified the country. It may be observed that
+the Lambton story christianises the Ragnar legend, showing that to be
+done in atonement for sin which in the other was done for love. The
+Cornish legend of St. Petrox has also taken a hint from Ragnar, and
+announces the rescue of christians from the serpent-pit in which the
+pagan hero perished. The icicles reappear on the slayer of the dragon
+of Wantley, represented by long spikes bristling from his armour.
+The Knight Lambton, remembering his vow to slay as a sacrifice the
+first living thing he might meet after the combat, had arranged that
+a dog should be placed where it would attract his eye. But it turned
+out that his own father came rushing to him. As he could not kill
+his father, he consulted the oracle again to know what would be the
+penalty of non-fulfilment of his vow. It was that no representative
+of the family should die in his bed for nine generations. The notion
+is still found in that neighbourhood that no Earl of Durham has since
+then died in his bed. The nine generations have long passed since
+any crusading Lambton lived, but several peasants of the district
+closed their narrative with, 'Strange to say, no Earl of Durham has
+died in his bed!' At the castle I talked with a servant on the estate
+while looking at the old statues of the knight, worm, and dairymaid,
+all kept there, and he told me he had heard that the late Earl, as
+death drew nigh, asked to sit up--insisted--and died in a chair. If
+there be any truth in this, it would show that the family itself has
+some morbid feeling about the legend which has been so long told them
+with pride. The old well from which the little worm emerged a monster
+is now much overgrown, but I was told that it was for a long time a
+wishing-well, and the pins cast in by rustics may still be seen at
+the bottom of it.
+Pins are the last offerings at the Worm's Well; 'wishes' its last
+prayers; but where go now the coins and the prayers? To propitiate a
+power and commute a doom resting upon much the same principles as those
+represented in the Lambton legend. A community desolated because one
+man is sinful miniatures a world's doom for Adam's sin. The demand of
+a human sacrifice is more clear in the Sockburn story, where Conyers
+offered up his only son to the Holy Ghost in the parish church before
+engaging the Dragon, that being a condition of success prescribed by
+the 'Oracle' or 'Sybil.' This claim of the infernal powers represented
+by the Worm--many-eyed, all-seeing--cannot be set aside; Lambton's
+filial love may resist it only to have it pass as the hereditary doom
+of his family, representing an imputed sin. 'For I, the Lord thy God,
+am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers on the children
+unto the third and fourth generation.'
+There are processes of this kind in nature, hereditary evils,
+transmitted diseases and disgraces, and afflictions of many
+through the offences of one. But a fearful Nemesis follows the
+deification and adoration of them. 'How can I be happy in heaven,'
+said a tender-hearted lady to her clerical adviser, 'when I must
+see others in hell?' 'You will be made to see that it is all for the
+best.' 'If I am to be made so heartless, I prefer to go to hell.' This
+genuine conversation reports the doom of all deities whose extension
+is in dragons. Hell implies a Dragon as its representative and
+ruler. Theology may induce the abject and cowardly to subject their
+human hearts to the process of induration required for loyalty to such
+powers, but in the end it makes atheism the only salvation of brave,
+pure, and loving natures. The Dragons' breath has clouded the ancient
+heavens and blighted the old gods; but the starry ideals they pursue
+in vain. Behemoth has supplied sirloins to many priesthoods for a
+long time, but he has at last become too tough even for their teeth,
+and they feed him less carefully every year. Nay, he is encountered
+now and then by his professional feeders, and has found even in
+Westminster Abbey his Guy of Warwick.
+Nor could this desp'rate champion daunt
+A Dun Cow bigger than elephant;
+But he, to prove his courage sterling,
+Cut from her enormous side a sirloin.
+The Worms--whether Semitic Leviathan or Aryan Dragon--are nearly
+fossilised as to their ancient form. The sacrifice of Jephtha's
+daughter to the one, and of young Conyers to the other, found
+commutation in the case of man's rescue from Satan by Christ's descent
+to Hades, and in the substitution of nine uneasy deaths for the
+demanded parricide in the Lambton case; and the most direct 'survival'
+of these may be found in any country lad trying to cure his warts by
+providing a weed for them to adhere to. Their end in Art was in such
+forms as this starveling creature of Callot's (Fig. 32), whose thin,
+spectacled rider, tilting at St. Anthony, denotes as well the doom
+of all powers, however lofty, whose majesty requires tali auxilio et
+istis defensoribus. The Dragon passes and leaves a roar of laughter
+behind him, in which even St. Anthony could now join. But Leviathan
+and Lambton Worm have combined and merged their life in a Dogma; it
+is a Dogma as remorseless and voracious as its prototype, and requires
+to be fed with all the milk of human kindness, or it at once begins to
+gnaw the foundations of Christendom itself. Christianity rests upon the
+past work of the Worm in Paradise, and its present work in Hell. It
+makes no real difference whether man's belief in a universe enmeshed
+in serpent-coils be expressed in the Hindu's cowering adoration
+of the venomous potentate, or the christian's imprecation upon it:
+fundamentally it is serpent-worship in each case. Vishnu reposes on
+his celestial Serpent; the god of Dogma maintains his government by
+support of the infernal Serpent. Fear beheld him appearing in Durham to
+vindicate the mass and the Sabbath; but the same fear still sees him
+in the fiery world punishing Sabbath-breakers and blasphemers against
+his Creator and chief. That fear built every cathedral in Christendom,
+and they must crumble with the phantasm evoked for their creation.
+The Serpent in itself is a perfect type of all evil in nature. It is
+irreconcilable with the reign of a perfectly good and omnipotent man
+over the universe. No amount of casuistry can explain its co-existence
+with anthropomorphic Love and Wisdom, as all acknowledge when a
+parallel casuistry attempts to defend any other god than their own
+from deeds that are, humanly considered, evil. It is just as easy to
+defend the jealousy and cruelty of Jove, on the ground that his ways
+are not as our ways, as it is to defend similar tempers in Jehovah. The
+monster sent by one to devour Prometheus is ethically atwin with the
+snake created by the other to bite the heel of man.
+Man is saved from the superstitious evolution of the venomous Serpent
+into a Dragon by recognising its real evolution as seen by the eye
+of Science. Science alone can tell the true story of the Serpent,
+and justify its place in nature. It forbids man his superstitious
+method of making a god in his own image, and his egotistic method
+of judging nature according to his private likes and dislikes, his
+convenience or inconvenience. Taught by Science man may, with a freedom
+the barbarian cannot feel, exterminate the Serpent; with a freedom the
+christian cannot know, he may see in that reptile the perfection of
+that economy in nature which has ever defended the advancing forms of
+life. It judges the good and evil of every form with reference to its
+adaptation to its own purposes. Thus Science alone wields the spear
+of Ithuriel, and beneath its touch every Dragon shrinks instantly to
+its little shape in nature to be dealt with according to what it is.
+FATE.
+Dorè's 'Love and Fate'--Moira and Moiræ--The 'Fates' of Æschylus
+--Divine absolutism surrendered--Jove and Typhon--Commutation of
+the Demon's share--Popular fatalism--Theological fatalism--Fate
+and Necessity--Deification of Will--Metaphysics, past and present.
+Gustave Dorè has painted a picture of 'Love and Fate,' in which the
+terrible hag is portrayed towering above the tender Eros, and while
+the latter is extending the thread as far as he can, the wrinkled
+hands of Destiny are the boundaries of his power, and the fatal shears
+close upon the joy he has stretched to its inevitable limit. To the
+ancient mind these two forms made the two great realms of the universe,
+their powers meeting in the fruit with a worm at its core, in seeds
+of death germinating amid the play of life, in all the limitations
+of man. They are projected in myths of Elysium and Hades, Eden and
+the Serpent, Heaven and Hell, and their manifold variants.
+Perhaps there is no one line of mythological development which more
+clearly and impressively illustrates the forces under which grew the
+idea of an evil principle, than the changes which the personification
+of Fate underwent in Greece and Rome. The Moira, or Fate with Homer,
+is only a secondary cause, if that, and simply carries out the
+decrees of her father, Zeus. Zeus is the real Fate. Nevertheless,
+while this is the Homeric theory or theology, there are intimations
+(see chap. xxvii. part 4) that the real awe of men was already
+transferred from Zeus to the Erinnyes. This foreshadows a change of
+government. With Hesiod we find, instead of one, three Moiræ. They
+are no longer offspring of Zeus, but, as it were, his Cabinet. They
+do not act independently of him, but when, in pursuance of their just
+counsels, Zeus issues decrees, the Moiræ administer them. Next we find
+the Moiræ of Hesiod developed by other writers into final Recorders;
+they write the decrees of Zeus on certain indestructible tablets,
+after which they are irrevocable and inevitable. With Æschylus we
+find the Moiræ developed into independent and supreme powers, above
+Zeus himself. The chained Prometheus looks not to Zeus but to Fate
+for his final liberation.
+Chorus. Who, then, is the guide of Necessity?
+Prometheus. The tri-form Fates and the unforgetting Furies.
+Cho. Is Zeus, then, less powerful than they?
+Prom. At least 'tis certain he cannot escape his own doom.
+Cho. And what can be Zeus' doom but everlasting rule?
+Prom. This ye may not learn; press it not.
+Cho. Surely some solemn mystery thou hidest.
+Prom. Turn to some other theme: for this disclosure time has not
+ripened: it must be veiled in deep mystery, for by the keeping of
+this secret shall come my liberty from base chains and misery.
+These great landmarks represent successive revolutions in the Olympian
+government. Absolutism became burthensome: as irresponsible monarch,
+Zeus became responsible for the woes of the world, and his priests were
+satisfied to have an increasing share of that responsibility allotted
+to his counsellors, until finally the whole of it is transferred. From
+that time the countenance of Zeus, or Jupiter, shines out unclouded by
+responsibility for human misfortunes and earthly evils; and, on the
+other hand, the once beautiful Fates are proportionately blackened,
+and they become hideous hags, the aged and lame crones of popular
+belief in Greece and Rome, every line of whose ugliness would have
+disfigured the face of Zeus had he not been subordinated to them.
+Moira means 'share,' and originally, perhaps, meant simply the
+power that meted out to each his share of life, and of the pains
+and pleasures woven in it till the term be reached. But as the Fates
+gained more definite personality they began to be regarded as having
+also a 'share' of their own. They came to typify all the dark and
+formidable powers as to their inevitableness. No divine power could
+set them aside, or more than temporarily subdue them. Fate measured
+out her share to the remorseless Gorgon as well as to the fairest
+god. But where destructive power was exercised in a way friendly to
+man, the Fates are put somewhat in the background, and the feat is
+claimed for some god. Such, in the 'Prometheus' of Æschylus, is the
+spirit of the wonderful passage concerning Typhon, rendered with
+tragic depth by Theodore Buckley:--'I commiserated too,' says the
+rock-bound Prometheus, 'when I beheld the earth-born inmate of the
+Cilician caverns, a tremendous prodigy, the hundred-headed impetuous
+Typhon, overpowered by force; who withstood all the gods, hissing
+slaughter from his hungry jaws, and from his eyes there flashed a
+hideous glare as if he would perforce overthrow the sovereignty
+of Jove. But the sleepless shaft of Jupiter came upon him, the
+descending thunderbolt breathing forth flame which scared him out of
+his presumptuous bravadoes; for having been smitten to his very soul
+he was crumbled to a cinder, and thunder-blasted in his prowess. And
+now, a hapless and paralysed form, is he lying hard by a narrow frith,
+pressed down beneath the roots of Ætna. And, seated on the topmost
+peaks, Vulcan forges the molten masses whence there shall burst forth
+floods, devouring with full jaws the level fields of fruitful Sicily;
+with rage such as this shall Typhon boil over in hot artillery of a
+never glutted fire-breathing storm; albeit he hath been reduced to
+ashes by the thunderbolt of Jupiter.'
+In this passage we see Jove invested with the glory of defeating
+a great demon; but we also recognise the demon still under the
+protection of Fate. Destiny must bear that burthen. So was it said
+in the Apocalypse Satan should be loosed after being bound in the
+Pit a thousand years; and so Mohammed declared Gog and Magog should
+break loose with terror and destruction from the mountain-prison in
+which Allah had cast them. The destructive Principle had its 'share'
+as well as the creative and preservative Principles, and could not
+be permanently deprived of it. Gradually the Fates of various regions
+and names were identified with the deities, whose interests, gardens,
+or treasures they guarded; and when some of these deities were degraded
+their retainers were still more degraded, while in other cases deities
+were enabled to maintain fair fame by fables of their being betrayed
+and their good intentions frustrated by such subordinates. Thus we
+find a certain notion of technical and official power investing such
+figures as Satan, Ahriman, Iblis, and the Dragon, as if the upper
+gods could not disown or reverse altogether the bad deeds done by
+these commissioners.
+But the large though limited degree of control necessarily claimed for
+the greatest and best gods had to be represented theologically. Hence
+there was devised a system of Commutation. The Demon or Dragon,
+though abusing his power, could not have it violently withdrawn, but
+might be compelled to accept some sacrifice in lieu of the precise
+object sought by his voracity. These substitutions are found in every
+theological system, and to apply them to individuals constitutes the
+raison d'être of every priesthood. In the progress towards civilisation
+the substitutes diminish in value, and finally they become merely
+nominal and ceremonial,--an effigy of a man instead of the man,
+or wine instead of blood. At first the commutation was often in the
+substitution of persons of lower for others of higher rank, as when
+slaves or wives were, or are, sacrificed to assure paradise to the
+master or husband. Thus, Death is allowed to take Alcestis instead
+of Admetus. A higher degree of civilisation substitutes animals
+for human victims. In keeping with this is the legend of Christ's
+sending demons out of two men into a herd of swine: [255] which,
+again, is referable to the same class of ideas as the legend that
+followed concerning Jesus himself as a vicarious offering; mankind
+in this case being the herd, as compared with the son of a god, and
+the transfer of the Satanic power from the human race to himself,
+for even a little time, being accepted in theology as an equivalent,
+on account of the divine dignity of the being who descended into
+hell. It was some time, however, before theology worked out this
+theory as it now stands, the candid fathers having rejoiced in the
+belief that the contract for commutation on its face implied that
+Christ was to remain for ever in hell, Satan being outwitted in this.
+The ancient Babylonian charms often end with the refrain:--'May the
+enchantment go forth and to its own dwelling-place betake itself,'
+Every evil spirit was supposed to have an appropriate dwelling,
+as in the case of Judas, into whom Satan entered, [256] and of whom
+it is said he 'by transgression fell, that he might go to his own
+place. [257] Very ingenious are some of the ancient speculations
+concerning the habitations and congenial resorts of demons. In some
+regions the colour of a disease on the skin is supposed to indicate
+the tastes of the demon causing it; and the spells of exorcism end
+by assigning him to something of the same hue. The demon of jaundice
+is generally consigned to the yellow parrots, and inflammation to
+the red or scarlet weeds. Their colours are respected. Humanity is
+little considered in the Eastern formulas of this kind, and it is
+pretty generally the case that in praying against plague or famine,
+populations are often found selecting a tribe to which their trouble is
+adjured to betake itself. 'May Nin-cigal,' says a Babylonian exorcism,
+'turn her face towards another place; may the noxious spirit go
+forth and seize another; may the female cherub and the female demon
+settle upon his body; may the king of heaven preserve, may the king
+of earth preserve!'
+So is it in regions and times which we generally think of as
+semi-barbarous. But every now and then communities which fancy
+themselves civilised and enlightened are brought face to face with
+the popular fatalism in its pagan form, and are shocked thereat, not
+remembering that it is equally the dogma of vicarious satisfaction
+or atonement. A lady residing in the neighbourhood of the Traunsee,
+Austria, informs me that recently two men were nearly drowned in
+that lake, being rescued at the last moment and brought to life with
+great difficulty. But this incident, instead of causing joy among
+the neighbours of the men, excited their displeasure; and this not
+because the rescued were at all unpopular, but because of a widespread
+notion that the Destinies required two lives, that they would have to
+be presently satisfied with two others, and that since the agonies of
+the drowning men had passed into unconsciousness, it would have been
+better to surrender the selected victims to their fate. At Elsinore,
+in Denmark, when the sea moans it is said to 'want somebody,' and
+it is generally the case that some story of a person just drowned
+circulates afterwards.
+While the early mythological forms of the Fates diminish and pass away
+as curious superstitions, they return in metaphysical disguises. They
+gather their kindred in primitive sciences and cosmogonies, and
+finding their old home swept free of pagan demons, and, garnished
+with philosophic phrases, they enter as grave theories; but their
+subtlety and their sting is with them, and the last state of the
+house they occupy is worse than the first.
+Yes, worse: for all that man ever won of courage or moral freedom,
+by conquering his dragons in detail, he surrenders again to the
+phantom-forces they typified when he gives up his mind to belief in
+a power not himself that makes for evil. The terrible conclusion that
+Evil is a positive and imperishable Principle in the universe carries
+in it the poisonous breath of every Dragon. It lurks in all theology
+which represents the universe as an arena of struggle between good
+and evil Principles, and human life as a war of the soul against the
+flesh. It animates all the pious horrors which identify Materialism
+with wickedness. It nestles in the mind which imagines a personal
+deity opposed by any part of nature. It coils around every heart
+which adores absolute sovereign Will, however apotheosised.
+All of these notions, most of all belief in a supreme arbitrary Will,
+are modern disguises of Fate; and belief in Fate is the one thing
+fatal to human culture and energy. The notion of Fate (fatum, the
+word spoken) carries in it the conception of arbitrariness in the
+universe, of power deliberately exerted without necessary reference
+to the nature of things; and it is precisely opposed to that idea of
+Necessity taught by Science, which is another name for the supremacy of
+Law. Happily the notion of a universe held at the mercy of a personal
+decree is suicidal in a world full of sorrows and agonies, which,
+on such a theory, can only be traced to some individual caprice
+or malevolence. However long abject fear may silence the lips of
+the suffering, rebellion is in their hearts. Every blow inflicted,
+directly or permissively, by mere Will, however omnipotent, every
+agony that is consciously detached from universal organic necessity,
+in order that it may be called 'providential,' can arouse no natural
+feeling in man nobler than indignation. The feeling of a suitor in
+a court of law, who knows that the adverse judgment that ruins him
+has no root in the facts or the law, but proceeds from the prejudice
+or whim of the judge, can be nowise different from that of a mother
+who sees her son stricken down by death, and hears at his grave that
+he was consumed by the wrath of a god who might have yielded to her
+prayer, but refused it. The heart's protest may be throttled for a
+time by the lingering coil of terror, but it is there, and christian
+theologians will be as anxious to protect their deity from it, at
+whatever cost to his sovereignty, as their predecessors who invented
+the Cabinet of Women to relieve Jove from responsibility.
+Metaphysics--which appear to have developed into the art of
+making things look true in words when their untruth in fact
+has been detected--have indeed already set about the task just
+predicted. Eminent divines are found writing about matter and spirit,
+freedom and natural law, as solemnly as if all this discussion were
+new, and had never been carried out to its inevitable results. They
+can only put in christian or modern phraseology conclusions which have
+been reached again and again in the history of human speculation. The
+various schools of Buddhist and Vedantist philosophy have come by every
+conceivable route to their fundamental unity of belief in God, Soul,
+and Matter; in a pessimist visible nature, an ideal invisible nature,
+and a human soul held in matter like a frog in a snake's mouth, but
+able by certain mysterious, mostly metaphysical or verbal, tactics,
+to gain release, and pass into a corresponding situation in the deity.
+'As a king, whose son had strayed away from him and lived in ignorance
+of his father among the Veddahs (wild men), will, on discovering
+his son, exclaim, 'Come to me, my darling son!' and make him a
+participator of the happiness he himself enjoys, even so will the
+Supreme God present himself before the soul when in distress--the
+soul enmeshed in the net of the five Veddahs (senses), and, severing
+that soul from Pâsam (Matter), assimilate it to himself, and bless
+it at his holy feet.'
+It is too late for man to be interested in an 'omnipotent' Personality,
+whose power is mysteriously limited at the precise point when it
+is needed, and whose moral government is another name for man's own
+control of nature. Nevertheless, this Oriental pessimism is the Pauline
+theory of Matter, and it is the speculative protoplasm out of which
+has been evolved, in many shapes, that personification which remains
+for our consideration--the Devil.
+PART IV.
+THE DEVIL.
+DIABOLISM.
+Dragon and Devil distinguished--Dragons' wings--War in Heaven--
+Expulsion of Serpents--Dissolution of the Dragon--Theological
+origin of the Devil--Ideal and actual--Devil Dogma--Debasement
+of ideal persons--Transmigration of phantoms.
+'We are all nothing other than Wills,' says St. Augustine; and he
+adds that of the good and bad angels the nature is the same, the will
+different. In harmony with this John Beaumont says, 'A good desire
+of mind is a good God.' [1] To which all the mythology of Evil adds,
+a bad desire of mind is a Devil. Every personification of an evil
+Will looks beyond the outward phenomena of pain, and conceives a
+heart that loves evil, a spirit that makes for wickedness. At this
+point a new element altogether enters. The physical pain incidentally
+represented by the Demon, generalised and organised into a principle
+of harmfulness in the Dragon, begins now to pass under the shadow cast
+by the ascending light of man's moral nature. Man becomes conscious of
+moral and spiritual pains: they may be still imaginatively connected
+with bodily agonies, but these drop out of the immediate conception,
+disappear into a distant future, and are even replaced by the notion
+of an evil symbolised by pleasure.
+The fundamental difference between either a Demon or Dragon and a
+Devil may be recognised in this: we never find the former voluntarily
+bestowing physical pleasure or happiness on man, whereas it is a
+chief part of the notion of a Devil that he often confers earthly
+favours in order to corrupt the moral nature.
+There are, indeed, apparent exceptions to this theorem presented
+in the agatho-dragons which have already been considered in our
+chapter on the Basilisk; but the reader will observe that there is
+no intimation in such myths of any malign ulterior purpose in the
+good omens brought by those exceptional monsters, and that they are
+really forms of malevolent power whose afflictive intent is supposed
+to have been vanquished by the superior might of the heroes or saints
+to whose glory they are reluctantly compelled to become tributary.
+Undoubtedly the Dragon attended this moral and religious development of
+man's inward nature very far, and still occupies, as at once prisoner
+and gaoler in the underworld, a subordinate relation to it. In the long
+process he has undergone certain transformations, and in particular
+his attribute of wings, if not derived from the notion of his struggle
+against holier beings, seems to have been largely enhanced thereby. The
+exceptional wings given to serpents in Greek art, those, for instance,
+which draw Demeter and Persephone in their chariot, are trifling as
+compared with the fully-developed wings of our conventional Dragon of
+the christian era. Such wings might have been developed occasionally
+to denote the flying cloud, the fire-breathing storm, or explain how
+some Ráhu was enabled to pursue the sun and moon and swallow them
+temporarily in the phenomena of eclipse. But these wings grew to
+more important dimensions when they were caught up into the Semitic
+conception of winged genii and destroying angels, and associated with
+an ambitious assault on heaven and its divine or angelic occupants.
+'There was war in Heaven,' says the Apocalypse. The traditional
+descriptions of this war follow pretty closely, in dramatic details,
+other and more ancient struggles which reflect man's encounters with
+the hardships of nature. In those encounters man imagined the gods
+descending earthward to mingle in the fray; but even where the struggle
+mounted highest the scenery is mainly terrestrial and the issues those
+of place and power, the dominion of visible Light established above
+Darkness, or of a comparatively civilised over a savage race. The
+wars between the Devas and Asuras in India, the Devs and Ahuras in
+Persia, Buddha and the Nagas in Ceylon, Garúra and the Serpent-men
+in the north of India, gods and Frost-giants in Scandinavia, still
+concern man's relation to the fruits of the earth, to heat and frost,
+to darkness or storm and sunshine.
+But some of these at length find versions which reveal their tendency
+towards spiritualisation. The differences presented by one of these
+legends which has survived among us in nearly its ancient form from
+the same which remains in a partly mystical form will illustrate
+the transitional phase. Thus, Garúra expelling the serpents from
+his realm in India is not a saintly legend; this exterminator of
+serpents is said to have compelled the reptile race to send him one
+of their number daily that he might eat it, and the rationalised
+tradition interprets this as the prince's cannibalism. The expulsion
+of Nagas or serpents from Ceylon by Buddha, in order that he might
+consecrate that island to the holy law, marks the pious accentuation
+of the fable. The expulsion of snakes from Ireland by St. Patrick
+is a legend conceived in the spirit of the curse pronounced upon the
+serpent in Eden, but in this case the modern myth is the more primitive
+morally, and more nearly represents the exploit of Garúra. St. Patrick
+expels the snakes that he may make Ireland a paradise physically,
+and establish his reputation as an apostle by fulfilling the signs
+of one named by Christ; [2] and in this particular it slightly rises
+above the Hindu story. In the case of the serpent cursed in Eden a
+further moralisation of the conflict is shown. The serpent is not
+present in Eden, as in the realms of Garúra and St. Patrick, for
+purposes of physical devastation or pain, but to bestow a pleasure
+on man with a view to success in a further issue between himself and
+the deity. Yet in this Eden myth the ancient combat is not yet fairly
+spiritualised; for the issue still relates, as in that between the
+Devas and Asuras, to the possession of a magical fruit which by no
+means confers sanctity. In the apocalyptic legend of the war in heaven,
+[3] the legend has become fairly spiritualised. The issue is no longer
+terrestrial, it is no longer for mere power; the Dragon is arrayed
+against the woman and child, and against the spiritual 'salvation'
+of mankind, of whom he is 'accuser' and 'deceiver.'
+Surely nobody could be 'deceived' by 'a great fiery-red Dragon, having
+seven heads and ten horns'! In this vision the Dragon is pressed as far
+as the form can go in the symbolisation of evil. To devour the child is
+its legitimate work, but as 'accuser of the brethren before God day and
+night' the monstrous shape were surely out of place by any mythologic
+analogy; and one could hardly imagine such a physiognomy capable of
+deceiving 'the whole world.' It is not wonderful, therefore, that the
+Dragon's presence in heaven is only mentioned in connection with his
+fall from it. It is significant that the wings are lost in this fall;
+for while his 'angelic' relationship suggests the previous wings,
+the woman is able to escape the fallen monster by the two wings given
+her. [4] Wingless now, 'the old serpent' once more, the monster's
+shape has no adaptation to the moral and religious struggle which
+is to ensue. For his shape is a method, and it means the perfection
+of brute force. That, indeed, also remains in the sequel of this
+magnificent myth. As in the legend of the Hydra two heads spring up
+in place of that which falls, so in this Christian legend out of the
+overthrown monster, henceforth himself concealed, two arise from his
+inspiration,--the seven-headed, ten-horned Beast who continues the work
+of wrath and pain; but also a lamb-like Beast, with only two horns
+(far less terrible), and able to deceive by his miracles, for he is
+even able to call down fire from heaven. The ancient Serpent-dragon,
+the expression of natural pain, thus goes to pieces. His older part
+remains to work mischief and hurt; and the cry is uttered, 'Be merry,
+ye heavens, and ye that tabernacle in them: woe to the earth and the
+sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath because
+he knows that he has a short time.' [5] But there is a lamb-like part
+of him too, and his relation to the Dragon is only known by his voice.
+This subtle adaptation of the symbol of external pain to the
+representation of the moral struggle, wherein the hostile power
+may assume deceptive forms of beauty and pleasure, is only one
+impressive illustration of the transfer of human conceptions of evil
+from outward to inward nature. The transition is from a malevolent,
+fatal, principle of harmfulness to the body to a malevolent, fatal,
+principle of evil to the conscience. The Demon was natural; the
+Dragon was both physical and metaphysical; the Devil was and is
+theological. In the primitive Zoroastrian theology, where the Devil
+first appears in clear definition, he is the opponent of the Good
+Mind, and the combat between the two, Ormuzd and Ahriman, is the
+spiritualisation of the combat between Light and Darkness, Pain and
+Happiness, in the external world. As these visible antagonists were
+supposed to be exactly balanced against each other, so are their
+spiritual correlatives. The Two Minds are described as Twins.
+'Those old Spirits, who are twins, made known what is good and what is
+evil in thoughts, words, and deeds. Those who are good distinguished
+between the two; not so those who are evil-doers.
+'When these two Spirits came together they made first life and death,
+so that there should be at last the most wretched life for the bad,
+but for the good blessedness.
+'Of these two Spirits the evil one chose the worst deeds; the
+kind Spirit, he whose garment is the immovable sky, chose what is
+right.' 
+This metaphysical theory follows closely the primitive scientific
+observations on which it is based; it is the cold of the cold,
+the gloom of the darkness, the sting of death, translated into some
+order for the intellect which, having passed through the Dragon, we
+find appearing in this Persian Devil; and against his blackness the
+glory of the personality from whom all good things proceed shines
+out in a splendour no longer marred by association with the evil
+side of nature. Ormuzd is celebrated as 'father of the pure world,'
+who sustains 'the earth and the clouds that they do not fall,' and
+'has made the kindly light and the darkness, the kindly sleep and the
+awaking;' [7] at every step being suggested the father of the impure
+world, the unkindly light, darkness or sleep.
+The ecstasy which attended man's first vision of an ideal life defied
+the contradictory facts of outward and inward nature. So soon as he
+had beheld a purer image of himself rising above his own animalism,
+he must not only regard that animalism as an instigation of a devil,
+but also the like of it in nature; and this conception will proceed
+pari passu with the creation of pure deities in the image of that
+higher self. There was as yet no philosophy demanding unity in the
+Cosmos, or forbidding man to hold as accursed so much of nature as
+did not obviously accord with his ideals.
+Mr. Edward B. Tylor has traced the growth of Animism from man's
+shadow and his breathing; Sir John Lubbock has traced the influence of
+dreams in forming around him a ghostly world; Mr. Herbert Spencer has
+given an analysis of the probable processes by which this invisible
+environment was shaped for the mental conception in accordance
+with family and social conditions. But it is necessary that we
+should here recognise the shadow that walked by the moral nature,
+the breathings of religious aspiration, and the dreams which visited
+a man whose moral sense was so generally at variance with his animal
+desires. The code established for the common good, while necessarily
+having a relation to every individual conscience, is a restriction
+upon individual liberty. The conflict between selfishness and duty is
+thus inaugurated; it continues in the struggle between the 'law in the
+members and the law in the spirit,' which led Paul to beat his body
+(hypopiaxomai) to keep it in subjection; it passes from the Latin
+poet to the Englishman, who turns his experience to a rune--
+I see the right, and I approve it too;
+Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.
+As the light which cast it was intense, even so intense was the shadow
+it cast beneath all it could not penetrate. Passionate as was the
+saintliest man's love of good, even so passionate was his spiritual
+enemy's love of evil. High as was the azure vault that mingled with his
+dreams of purity, so deep was the abyss beneath his lower nature. The
+superficial equalities of phenomena, painful and pleasurable, to his
+animal nature had cast the mould into which his theories of the inward
+and the moral phenomena must be cast; and thus man--in an august
+moment--surrendered himself to the dreadful conception of a supreme
+Principle of Wickedness: wherever good was there stood its adversary;
+wherever truth, there its denier; no light shone without the dark
+presence that would quench it; innocence had its official accuser,
+virtue its accomplished tempter, peace its breaker, faith its disturber
+and mocker. Nay, to this impersonation was added the last feature
+of fiendishness, a nature which found its supreme satisfaction in
+ultimately torturing human beings for the sins instigated by himself.
+It is open to question how far any average of mankind really conceived
+this theological dogma. Easy as it is to put into clear verbal
+statement; readily as the analogies of nature supply arguments for
+and illustrations of a balance between moral light and darkness, love
+and hatred; yet is man limited in subjective conceptions to his own
+possibilities, and it may almost be said that to genuinely believe in
+an absolute Fiend a man would have to be potentially one himself. But
+any human being, animated by causeless and purposeless desire to
+inflict pain on others, would be universally regarded as insane,
+much more one who would without motive corrupt as well as afflict.
+Even theological statements of the personality of Evil, and what that
+implies, are rare. The following is brave enough to be put on record,
+apart from its suggestiveness.
+'It cannot be denied that as there is an inspiration of holy love,
+so is there an inspiration of hatred, or frantic pleasure, with which
+men surrender themselves to the impulses of destructiveness; and when
+the popular language speaks of possessions of Satan, of incarnate
+devils, there lies at the bottom of this the grave truth that men,
+by continued sinning, may pass the ordinary limit between human and
+diabolic depravity, and lay open in themselves a deep abyss of hatred
+which, without any mixture of self-interest, finds its gratification
+in devastation and woe.' 
+On this it may be said that the popular commentary on cases of the
+kind is contained in the very phrase alluded to, 'possession,'--the
+implication being that such disinterested depravity is nowise possible
+within the range of simple human experience,--and, in modern times,
+'possessions' are treated in asylums. Morbid conditions, however, are
+of such varied degrees that it is probable many have imagined a Being
+in whom their worst impulses are unrestrained, and thus there have
+been sufficient popular approximations to an imaginative conception
+of a Devil to enable the theological dogma, which few can analyse,
+to survive.
+It must not be supposed, however, that the moral and spiritual ideals,
+to which allusion has just been made, are normally represented in the
+various Devils which we have to consider. It is the characteristic of
+personifications, whether celestial or infernal, to supersede gradually
+the ideas out of which they spring. As in the fable of Agni, who is
+said to have devoured his parents when he was born, a metaphor of fire
+consuming the two sticks which produce it, religious history shows both
+deities and devils, by the flame of personal devotion or hatred they
+engender, burning up the ideas that originate them. When instead of
+unconscious forces and inanimate laws working to results called good
+and evil, men see great personal Wills engaged in personal conflict,
+the universe becomes a government of combat; the stars of heaven, the
+angels and the imps, men and women, the very plants and animals, are
+caught up in the battle, to be marshalled on one side or the other;
+and in the military spirit and fury of the struggle the spiritual
+ideals become as insignificant beneath the phantom-hosts they evoked
+as the violets and daisies which an army tramples in its march. There
+is little difference at last between the moral characteristics of
+the respective armies of Ormuzd and Ahriman, Michael and Satan; their
+strategy and ferocity are the same. [9] Wherever the conception is that
+of a universe divided into hostile camps, the appropriate passions are
+kindled, and in the thick of the field, where Cruelty and Gentleness
+met, is seen at last a horned Beast confronted by a horned Lamb. On both sides is exaltation of the horn.
+We need only look at the outcome of the gentle and lowly Jesus through
+the exigencies of the church militant to see how potent are such
+forces. Although lay Christians of ordinary education are accustomed
+to rationalise their dogmas as well as they can, and dwell on the
+loving and patient characteristics of Jesus, the horns which were
+attached to the brow of him who said, 'Love your enemies' by ages of
+Christian warfare remain still in the Christ of Theology, and they
+are still depended on to overawe the 'sinner.' In an orthodox family
+with which I have had some acquaintance, a little boy, who had used
+naughty expressions of resentment towards a playmate was admonished
+that he should be more like Christ, 'who never did any harm to his
+enemies.' 'No,' answered the wrathful child, 'but he's a-going to.'
+As in Demonology we trace the struggles of man with external
+obstructions, and the phantasms in which these were reflected until
+they were understood or surmounted, we have now to consider the forms
+which report human progression on a higher plane,--that of social,
+moral, and religious evolution. Creations of a crude Theology, in its
+attempt to interpret the moral sentiment, the Devils to which we now
+turn our attention have multiplied as the various interests of mankind
+have come into relations with their conscience. Every degree of ascent
+of the moral nature has been marked by innumerable new shadows cast
+athwart the mind and the life of man. Every new heaven of ideas
+is followed by a new earth, but ere this conformity of things to
+thoughts can take place struggles must come and the old demons will
+be recalled for new service. As time goes on things new grow old;
+the fresh issues pass away, their battlefields grow cold; then the
+brood of superstition must flit away to the next field where carrion is
+found. Foul and repulsive as are these vultures of the mind--organisms
+of moral sewage--every one of them is a witness to the victories of
+mankind over the evils they shadow, and to the steady advance of a
+new earth which supplies them no habitat but the archæologist's page.
+THE SECOND BEST.
+Respect for the Devil--Primitive atheism--Idealisation--Birth of
+new gods--New gods diabolised--Compromise between new gods and
+old--Foreign deities degraded--Their utilisation.
+A lady residing in Hampshire, England, recently said to a friend of
+the present writer, both being mothers, 'Do you make your children
+bow their heads whenever they mention the Devil's name? I do,' she
+added solemnly,--'I think it's safer.'
+This instance of reverence for the Devil's name, occurring in a
+respectable English family, may excite a smile; but if my reader has
+perused the third and fourth chapters (Part I.) of this work, in which
+it was necessary to state certain facts and principles which underlie
+the phenomena of degradation in both Demonology and Devil-lore, he will
+already know the high significance of nearly all the names which have
+invested the personifications of evil; and he will not be surprised to
+find their original sanctity, though lowered, sometimes, surviving in
+such imaginary forms after the battles in which they were vanquished
+have passed out of all contemporary interest. If, for example, instead
+of the Devil, whose name is uttered with respect in the Hampshire
+household, any theological bogey of our own time were there mentioned,
+such as 'Atheist,' it might hardly receive such considerate treatment.
+The two chapters just referred to anticipate much that should be
+considered at this point of our inquiry. It is only necessary here
+to supplement them with a brief statement, and to some extent a
+recapitulation, of the processes by which degraded deities are
+preserved to continue through a structural development and fulfil
+a necessary part in every theological scheme which includes the
+conception of an eternal difference between good and evil.
+Every personification when it first appears expresses a higher
+and larger view. When deities representing the physical needs of
+mankind have failed, as they necessarily must, to meet those needs,
+atheism follows, though it cannot for a long time find philosophical
+expression. It is an atheism ad hoc, so to say, and works by
+degrading particular gods instead of by constructing antitheistic
+theories. Successive dynasties of deities arise and flourish in this
+way, each representing a less arbitrary relation to nature,--peril
+lying in that direction,--and a higher moral and spiritual ideal,
+this being the stronghold of deities. It is obvious that it is far
+easier to maintain the theory that prayers are heard and answered
+by a deity if those prayers are limited to spiritual requests, than
+when they are petitions for outward benefits. By giving over the
+cruel and remorseless forces of nature to the Devil,--i.e.,  to this
+or that personification of them who, as gods, had been appealed to
+in vain to soften such forces,--the more spiritual god that follows
+gains in security as well as beauty what he surrenders of empire and
+omnipotence. This law, illustrated in our chapter on Fate, operates
+with tremendous effect upon the conditions under which the old combat
+is spiritualised.
+An eloquent preacher has said:--'Hawthorne's fine fancy of the youth
+who ascribed heroic qualities to the stone face on the brow of a
+cliff, thus converting the rocky profile into a man, and, by dint of
+meditating on it with admiring awe, actually transferred to himself
+the moral elements he worshipped, has been made fact a thousand times,
+is made fact every day, by earnest spirits who by faithful longing
+turn their visions into verities, and obtain live answers to their
+petitions to shadows.' 
+However imaginary may be the benedictions so derived by the worshipper
+from his image, they are most real as they redound to the glory
+and power of the image. The crudest personification, gathering up
+the sanctities of generations, associated with the holiest hopes,
+the best emotions, the profoundest aspirations of human nature,
+may be at length so identified with these sentiments that they all
+seem absolutely dependent upon the image they invest. Every criticism
+of such a personification then seems like a blow aimed at the moral
+laws. If educated men are still found in Christendom discussing whether
+morality can survive the overthrow of such personifications, and
+whether life were worth living without them, we may readily understand
+how in times when the social, ethical, and psychological sciences
+did not exist at all, all that human beings valued seemed destined
+to stand or fall with the Person supposed to be their only keystone.
+But no Personage, however highly throned, can arrest the sun and
+moon, or the mind and life of humanity. With every advance in
+physical or social conditions moral elements must be influenced;
+every new combination involves a recast of experiences, and presently
+of convictions. Henceforth the deified image can only remain as a
+tyrant over the heart and brain which have created it,--
+Creatura a un tempo
+E tiranno de l'uom, da cui soltanto
+Ebbe nomi ed aspetti e regno e altari. 
+This personification, thus 'at once man's creature and his tyrant,' is
+objectively a name. But as it has been invested with all that has been
+most sacred, it is inevitable that any name raised against it shall be
+equally associated with all that has been considered basest. This also
+must be personified, for the same reason that the good is personified;
+and as names are chiefly hereditary, it pretty generally happens that
+the title of some fallen and discredited deity is advanced to receive
+the new anathema. But what else does he receive? The new ideas; the
+growing ideals and the fresh enthusiasms are associated with some
+fantastic shape with anathematised name evoked from the past, and
+thus a portentous situation is reached. The worshippers of the new
+image will not accept the bad name and its base associations; they
+even grow strong enough to claim the name and altars of the existing
+order, and give battle for the same. Then occurs the demoralisation,
+literally speaking, of the older theology. The personification reduced
+to struggle for its existence can no longer lay emphasis upon the
+moral principles it had embodied, these being equally possessed by
+their opponents; nay, its partisans manage to associate with their
+holy Name so much bigotry and cruelty that the innovators are at length
+willing to resign it. The personal loyalty, which is found to continue
+after loyalty to principles has ceased, proceeds to degrade the virtues
+once reverenced when they are found connected with a rival name. 'He
+casteth out devils through Beelzebub' is a very ancient cry. It was
+heard again when Tertullian said, 'Satan is God's ape.' St. Augustine
+recognises the similarity between the observances of Christians and
+pagans as proving the subtle imitativeness of the Devil; the phenomena
+referred to are considered elsewhere, but, in the present connection,
+it may be remarked that this readiness to regard the same sacrament
+as supremely holy or supremely diabolical as it is celebrated in
+honour of one name or another, accords closely with the reverence
+or detestation of things more important than sacraments, as they
+are, or are not, consecrated by what each theology deems official
+sanction. When sects talk of 'mere morality' we may recognise in
+the phrase the last faint war-cry of a god from whom the spiritual
+ideal has passed away, and whose name even can survive only through
+alliance with the new claimant of his altars. While the new gods were
+being called devils the old ones were becoming such.
+The victory of the new ideal turns the old one to an idol. But we are
+considering a phase of the world when superstition must invest the
+new as well as the old, though in a weaker degree. A new religious
+system prevails chiefly through its moral superiority to that it
+supersedes; but when it has succeeded to the temples and altars
+consecrated to previous divinities, when the ardour of battle is
+over and conciliation becomes a policy as well as a virtue, the old
+idol is likely to be treated with respect, and may not impossibly be
+brought into friendly relation with its victorious adversary. He may
+take his place as 'the second best,' to borrow Goethe's phrase, and be
+assigned some function in the new theologic régime. Thus, behind the
+simplicity of the Hampshire lady instructing her children to bow at
+mention of the Devil's name, stretch the centuries in which Christian
+divines have as warmly defended the existence of Satan as that of God
+himself. With sufficient reason: that infernal being, some time God's
+'ape' and rival, was necessarily developed into his present position
+and office of agent and executioner under the divine government. He
+is the great Second Best; and it is a strange hallucination to fancy
+that, in an age of peaceful inquiry, any divine personification can
+be maintained without this patient Goat, who bears blame for all
+the faults of nature, and who relieves divine Love from the odium
+of supplying that fear which is the mother of devotion,--at least in
+the many millions of illogical eyes into which priests can still look
+without laughing.
+Such, in brief outline, has been the interaction of moral and
+intellectual forces operating within the limits of established systems,
+and of the nations governed by them. But there are added factors,
+intensifying the forces on each side, when alien are brought into
+rivalry and collision with national deities. In such a contest, besides
+the moral and spiritual sentiments and the household sanctities, which
+have become intertwined with the internal deities, national pride is
+also enlisted, and patriotism. But on the other side is enlisted the
+charm of novelty, and the consciousness of fault and failure in the
+home system. Every system imported to a foreign land leaves behind
+its practical shortcomings, puts its best foot forward--namely, its
+theoretical foot--and has the advantage of suggesting a way of escape
+from the existing routine which has become oppressive. Napoleon I. said
+that no people profoundly attached to the institutions of their country
+can be conquered; but what people are attached to the priestly system
+over them? That internal dissatisfaction which, in secular government,
+gives welcome to a dashing Corsican or a Prince of Orange, has been
+the means of introducing many an alien religion, and giving to many a
+prophet the honour denied him in his own country. Buddha was a Hindu,
+but the triumph of his religion is not in India; Zoroaster was a
+Persian, but there are no Parsees in Persia; Christianity is hardly
+a colonist even in the native land of Christ.
+These combinations and changes were not effected without fierce
+controversies, ferocious wars, or persecutions, and the formation
+of many devils. Nothing is more normal in ancient systems than the
+belief that the gods of other nations are devils. The slaughter of
+the priests of Baal corresponds with the development of their god
+into Beelzebub. In proportion to the success of Olaf in crushing
+the worshippers of Odin, their deity is steadily transformed to a
+diabolical Wild Huntsman. But here also the forces of partial recovery,
+which we have seen operating in the outcome of internal reform,
+manifest themselves; the vanquished, and for a time outlawed deity, is,
+in many cases, subsequently conciliated and given an inferior, and,
+though hateful, a useful office in the new order. Sometimes, indeed,
+as in the case of the Hindu destroyer Siva, it is found necessary
+to assign a god, anathematised beyond all power of whitewash, to an
+equal rank with the most virtuous deity. Political forces and the
+exigencies of propagandism work many marvels of this kind, which will
+meet us in the further stages of our investigation.
+Every superseded god who survives in subordination to another is pretty
+sure to be developed into a Devil. Euphemism may tell pleasant fables
+about him, priestcraft may find it useful to perpetuate belief in his
+existence, but all the evils of the universe, which it is inconvenient
+to explain, are gradually laid upon him, and sink him down, until
+nothing is left of his former glory but a shining name.
+AHRIMAN: THE DIVINE DEVIL.
+Mr. Irving's impersonation of Superstition--Revolution against
+pious privilege--Doctrine of 'merits'--Saintly immorality in
+India--A Pantheon turned Inferno--Zendavesta on Good and Evil--
+Parsî Mythology--The Combat of Ahriman with Ormuzd--Optimism--
+Parsî Eschatology--Final Restoration of Ahriman.
+Any one who has witnessed Mr. Henry Irving's scholarly and masterly
+impersonation of the character of Louis XI. has had an opportunity of
+recognising a phase of superstition which happily it were now difficult
+to find off the stage. Nothing could exceed the fine realism with
+which that artist brought before the spectator the perfected type of a
+pretended religion from which all moral features have been eliminated
+by such slow processes that the final success is unconsciously reached,
+and the horrible result appears unchecked by even any affectation
+of actual virtue. We see the king at sound of a bell pausing in his
+instructions for a treacherous assassination to mumble his prayers,
+and then instantly reverting to the villany over whose prospective
+success he gloats. In the secrecy of his chamber no mask falls, for
+there is no mask; the face of superstition and vice on which we look
+is the real face which the ages of fanaticism have transmitted to him.
+Such a face has oftener been that of a nation than that of an
+individual, for the healthy forces of life work amid the homes
+and hearts of mankind long before their theories are reached and
+influenced. Such a face it was against which the moral insurrection
+which bears the name of Zoroaster arose, seeing it as physiognomy of
+the Evil Mind, naming it Ahriman, and, in the name of the conscience,
+aiming at it the blow which is still felt across the centuries.
+Ingenious theorists have accounted for the Iranian philosophy of
+a universal war between Ormuzd (Ahuramazda) the Good, and Ahriman
+(Angromainyus) the Evil, by vast and terrible climatic changes,
+involving extremes of heat and cold, of which geologists find traces
+about Old Iran, from which a colony of Aryans migrated to New Iran,
+or Persia. But although physical conditions of this character may have
+supplied many of the metaphors in which the conflict between Good and
+Evil is described in the Avesta, there are other characteristics of
+that ancient scripture which render it more probable that the early
+colonisation of Persia was, like that of New England, the result of a
+religious struggle. Some of the gods most adored in India reappear as
+execrated demons in the religion of Zoroaster; the Hindu word for god
+is the Parsî word for devil. These antagonisms are not merely verbal;
+they are accompanied in the Avesta with the most furious denunciations
+of theological opponents, whom it is not difficult to identify with
+the priests and adherents of the Brahman religion.
+The spirit of the early scriptures of India leaves no room for
+doubt as to the point at which this revolution began. It was against
+pious Privilege. The saintly hierarchy of India were a caste quite
+irresponsible to moral laws. The ancient gods, vague names for the
+powers of nature, were strictly limited in their dispensations to
+those of their priests; [13] and as to these priests the chief
+necessities were ample offerings, sacrifices, and fulfilment of
+the ceremonial ordinances in which their authority was organised,
+these were the performances rewarded by a reciprocal recognition of
+authority. To the image of this political régime, theology, always
+facile, accommodated the regulations of the gods. The moral law can
+only live by being supreme; and as it was not supreme in the Hindu
+pantheon, it died out of it. The doctrine of 'merits,' invented by
+priests purely for their own power, included nothing meritorious,
+humanly considered; the merits consisted of costly sacrifices,
+rich offerings to temples, tremendous penances for fictitious sins,
+ingeniously devised to aggrandise the penances which disguised power,
+and prolonged austerities that might be comfortably commuted by the
+wealthy. When this doctrine had obtained general adherence, and was
+represented by a terrestrial government corresponding to it, the
+gods were necessarily subject to it. That were only to say that the
+powers of nature were obedient to the 'merits' of privileged saints;
+and from this it is an obvious inference that they are relieved from
+moral laws binding on the vulgar.
+The legends which represent this phase of priestly dominion are
+curiously mixed. It would appear that under the doctrine of 'merits'
+the old gods declined. Such appears to be the intimation of the
+stories which report the distress of the gods through the power
+of human saints. The Rajah Ravana acquired such power that he was
+said to have arrested the sun and moon, and so oppressed the gods
+that they temporarily transformed themselves to monkeys in order
+to destroy him. Though Viswámitra murders a saint, his merits are
+such that the gods are in great alarm lest they become his menials;
+and the completeness, with which moral considerations are left out
+of the struggle on both sides is disclosed in the item that the gods
+commissioned a nymph to seduce the saintly murderer, and so reduce a
+little the force of his austerities. It will be remembered that the
+ancient struggle of the Devas and Asuras was not owing to any moral
+differences, but to an alleged unfair distribution of the ambrosia
+produced by their joint labours in churning the ocean. The fact that
+the gods cheated the demons on that occasion was never supposed to
+affect the supremacy they acquired by the treachery; and it could,
+therefore, cause no scandal when later legends reported that the demons
+were occasionally able to take gods captive by the practice of these
+wonderful 'merits' which were so independent of morals. One Asura
+is said to have gained such power in this way that he subjugated the
+gods, and so punished them that Siva, who had originally endowed that
+demon, called into being Scanda, a war-god, to defend the tortured
+deities. The most ludicrous part of all is that the gods themselves
+were gradually reduced to the necessity of competing like others for
+these tremendous powers; thus the Bhagavat Purana states that Brahma
+was enabled to create the universe by previously undergoing penance
+for sixteen thousand years.
+The legends just referred to are puranic, and consequently of much
+later date than the revolution traceable in the Iranian religion;
+but these later legends are normal growths from vedic roots. These
+were the principles of ancient theology, and the foundation of
+priestly government. In view of them we need not wonder that Hindu
+theology devised no special devil; almost any of its gods might
+answer the purposes of one. Nor need we be surprised that it had no
+particular hell; any society organised by the sanctions of religion,
+but irresponsible to its moral laws, would render it unnecessary to
+look far for a hell.
+From this cosmological chaos the more intelligent Hindus were of
+course liberated; but the degree to which the fearful training had
+corrupted the moral tissues of those who had been subjected to it
+was revealed in the bald principle of their philosophers, that the
+superstition must continue to be imposed on the vulgar, whilst the
+learned might turn all the gods into a scientific terminology.
+The first clear and truthful eye that touched that system would
+transform it from a Heaven to an Inferno. So was it changed under
+the eye of Zoroaster. That ancient pantheon which had become a refuge
+for all the lies of the known world; whose gods were liars and their
+supporters liars; was now turned into a realm of organised disorder, of
+systematised wrong; a vast creation of wickedness, at whose centre sat
+its creator and inspirer, the immoral god, the divine devil--Ahriman.
+It is indeed impossible to ascertain how far the revolt against the old
+Brahmanic system was political. It is, of course, highly improbable
+that any merely speculative system would excite a revolution; but at
+the same time it must be remembered that, in early days, an importance
+was generally attached to even abstract opinions such as we still
+find among the superstitious who regard an atheistic sentiment as
+worse than a theft. However this may have been, the Avesta does
+not leave us in any doubt as to the main fact,--namely, that at a
+certain time and place man came to a point where he had to confront
+antagonism to fundamental moral principles, and that he found the
+so-called gods against him. In the establishment of those principles
+priests recognised their own disestablishment. What those moral laws
+that had become necessary to society were is also made clear. 'We
+worship the Pure, the Lord of Purity!' 'We honour the good spirit,
+the good kingdom, the good law,--all that is good.' 'Evil doctrine
+shall not again destroy the world.' 'Good is the thought, good the
+word, good the deed, of the pure Zarathustra.' 'In the beginning
+the two heavenly Ones spoke--the Good to the Evil--thus: Our souls,
+doctrines, words, works, do not unite together.' These sentences are
+from the oldest Gâthâs of the Avesta.
+The following is a very ancient Gâthâ:--'All your Devas (Hindu 'gods')
+are only manifold children of the Evil Mind, and the great One who
+worships the Saoma of lies and deceits; besides the treacherous acts
+for which you are notorious in the Seven Regions of the earth. You have
+invented all the evil that men speak and do, which is indeed pleasant
+to the Devas, and is devoid of all goodness, and therefore perishes
+before the insight of the truth of the wise. Thus you defraud men of
+their good minds and of their immortality by your evil minds--as well
+by those of the Devas as through that of the Evil Spirit--through
+evil deeds and evil words, whereby the power of liars grows.
+'1. Come near, and listen to the wise sayings of the omniscient,
+the songs in praise of the Living One, and the prayers of the Good
+Spirit, the glorious truths whose origin is seen in the flames.
+'2. Listen, therefore, to the Earth spirit--Look at the flames with
+reverent mind. Every one, man and woman, is to be distinguished
+according to his belief. Ye ancient Powers, watch and be with us!
+'3. From the beginning there were two Spirits, each active in
+itself. They are the good and the bad in thought, word, and
+deed. Choose ye between them: do good, not evil!
+'4. And these two Spirits meet and create the first existence,
+the earthy, that which is and that which is not, and the last,
+the spiritual. The worst existence is for the liars, the best for
+the truthful.
+'5. Of these two spirits choose ye one, either the lying, the worker
+of Evil, or the true holiest spirit. Whoso chooses the first chooses
+the hardest fate; whoso the last, honours Ahuramazda in faith and in
+truth by his deeds.
+'6. Ye cannot serve both of these two. An evil spirit whom we will
+destroy surprises those who deliberate, saying, Choose the Evil
+Mind! Then do those spirits gather in troops to attack the two lives
+of which the prophets prophesy.
+'7. And to this earthly life came Armaiti with earthly power to help
+the truth, and the good disposition: she, the Eternal, created the
+material world, but the Spirit is with thee, O Wise One! the first
+of creations in time.
+'8. When any evil falls upon the spirit, thou, O Wise One, givest
+temporal possessions and a good disposition; but him whose promises
+are lies, and not truth, thou punishest.'
+Around the hymns of the Avesta gradually grew a theology and a
+mythology which were destined to exert a powerful influence on
+the world. These are contained in the Bundehesch. [14] Anterior to
+all things and all beings was Zeruane-Akrene ('Boundless Time'), so
+exalted that he can only be worshipped in silence. From him emanated
+two Ferouers, spiritual types, which took form in two beings, Ormuzd
+and Ahriman. These were equally pure; but Ahriman became jealous of his
+first-born brother, Ormuzd. To punish Ahriman for his evil feeling, the
+Supreme Being condemned him to 12,000 years' imprisonment in an empire
+of rayless Darkness. During that period must rage the conflict between
+Light and Darkness, Good and Evil. As Ormuzd had his pre-existing type
+or Ferouer, so by a similar power--much the same as the Platonic Logos
+or Word--he created the pure or spiritual world, by means of which the
+empire of Ahriman should be overthrown. On the earth (still spiritual)
+he raised the exceeding high mountain Albordj, Elburz (snow mountain),
+[15] on whose summit he fixed his throne; whence he stretched the
+bridge Chinevat, which, passing directly over Duzhak, the abyss of
+Ahriman (or hell), reaches to the portal of Gorodman, or heaven. All
+this was but a Ferouer world--a prototype of the material world. In
+anticipation of its incorporation in a material creation, Ormuzd
+(by emanations) created in his own image six Amshaspands, or agents,
+of both sexes, to be models of perfection to lower spirits--and to
+mankind, when they should be created--and offer up their prayers to
+himself. The second series of emanations were the Izeds, benevolent
+genii and guardians of the world, twenty-eight in number, of whom the
+chief is Mithras, the Mediator. The third series of emanations were the
+innumerable Ferouers of things and men--for each must have its soul,
+which shall purify them in the day of resurrection. In antagonism to
+all these, Ahriman produced an exactly similar host of dark and evil
+powers. These Devas rise, rank on rank, to their Arch-Devs--each
+of whom is chained to his planet--and their head is Ash-Mogh, the
+'two-footed serpent of lies,' who seems to correspond to Mithras,
+the divine Mediator.
+After a reign of 3000 years Ormuzd entered on the work of realising
+his spiritual emanations in a material universe. He formed the sun
+as commander-in-chief, the moon as his lieutenant, the planets as
+captains of a great host--the stars--who were soldiers in his war
+against Ahriman. The dog Sirius he set to watch at the bridge Chinevat
+(the Milky Way), lest thereby Ahriman should scale the heavens. Ormuzd
+then created earth and water, which Ahriman did not try to prevent,
+knowing that darkness was inherent in these. But he struck a blow
+when life was produced. This was in form of a Bull, and Ahriman
+entered it and it perished; but on its destruction there came out
+of its left shoulder the seed of all clean and gentle animals, and,
+out of its right shoulder--Man.
+Ahriman had matched every creation thus far; but to make man was
+beyond his power, and he had no recourse but to destroy him. However,
+when the original man was destroyed, there sprang from his body a tree
+which bore the first human pair, whom Ahriman, however, corrupted in
+the manner elsewhere described.
+It is a very notable characteristic of this Iranian theology, that
+although the forces of good and evil are co-extensive and formally
+balanced, in potency they are not quite equal. The balance of force
+is just a little on the side of the Good Spirit. And this advantage
+appears in man. Zoroaster said, 'No earthly man with a hundredfold
+strength does so much evil as Mithra with heavenly strength does good;'
+and this thought reappears in the Parsî belief that the one part
+of paradisiac purity, which man retained after his fall, balances
+the ninety-nine parts won by Ahriman, and in the end will redeem
+him. For this one divine ray preserved enables him to receive and
+obey the Avesta, and to climb to heaven by the stairway of three
+vast steps--pure thought, pure word, pure deed. The optimistic
+essence of the mythology is further shown in the belief that every
+destructive effort of Ahriman resulted in a larger benefit than Ormuzd
+had created. The Bull (Life) destroyed, man and animal sprang into
+being; the man destroyed, man and woman appeared. And so on to the
+end. In the last quarter of the 12,000 years for which Ahriman was
+condemned, he rises to greater power even than Ormuzd, and finally
+he will, by a fiery comet, set the visible universe in conflagration;
+but while this scheme is waxing to consummation Ormuzd will send his
+holy Prophet Sosioch, who will convert mankind to the true law, so that when Ahriman's comet consumes the earth he will really be
+purifying it. Through the vast stream of melted metals and minerals
+the righteous shall pass, and to them it will be as a bath of warm
+milk: the wicked in attempting to pass shall be swept into the abyss
+of Duzhak; having then suffered three days and nights, they shall be
+raised by Ormuzd refined and purified. Duzhak itself shall be purified
+by this fire, and last of all Ahriman himself shall ascend to his
+original purity and happiness. Then from the ashes of the former
+world shall bloom a paradise that shall remain for ever.
+In this system it is notable that we find the monster serpent
+of vedic mythology, Ahi, transformed into an infernal region,
+Duzhak. The dragon, being a type of physical suffering, passes away
+in Iranian as in the later Semitic mythology before the new form,
+which represents the stings of conscience though it may be beneath
+external pleasure. In this respect, therefore, Ahriman fulfils the
+definition of a devil already given. In the Avesta he fulfils also
+another condition essential to a devil, the love of evil in and for
+itself. But in the later theology it will be observed that evil
+in Ahriman is not organic. The war being over and its fury past,
+the hostile chief is seen not so black as he had been painted;
+the belief obtains that he does not actually love darkness and
+evil. He was thrust into them as a punishment for his jealousy,
+pride, and destructive ambition. And because that dark kingdom was a
+punishment--therefore not congenial--it was at length (the danger past)
+held to be disciplinary. Growing faith in the real supremacy of Good
+discovers the immoral god to be an exaggerated anthropomorphic egoist;
+this divine devil is a self-centred potentate who had attempted to
+subordinate moral law and human welfare to his personal ascendancy. His
+fate having sealed the sentence on all ambitions of that character,
+humanity is able to pardon the individual offender, and find a hope
+that Ahriman, having learned that no real satisfaction for a divine
+nature can be found in mere power detached from rectitude, will join
+in the harmony of love and loyalty at last.
+VISWÁMITRA: THE THEOCRATIC DEVIL.
+Priestcraft and Pessimism--An Aryan Tetzel and his Luther--Brahman
+Frogs--Evolution of the sacerdotal Saint--Viswámitra the Accuser
+of Virtue--The Tamil Passion-play 'Harischandra'--Ordeal of
+Goblins--The Martyr of Truth--Virtue triumphant over ceremonial
+'merits'--Harischandra and Job.
+Priestcraft in government means pessimism in the creed and despair in
+the heart. Under sacerdotal rule in India it seemed paradise enough to
+leave the world, and the only hell dreaded was a return to it. 'The
+twice-born man,' says Manu, 'who shall without intermission have
+passed the time of his studentship, shall ascend after death to the
+most exalted of regions, and no more spring to birth again in this
+lower world.' Some clause was necessary to keep the twice-born man
+from suicide. Buddha invented a plan of suicide-in-life combined with
+annihilation of the gods, which was driven out of India because it put
+into the minds of the people the philosophy of the schools. Thought
+could only be trusted among classes interested to conceal it.
+The power and authority of a priesthood can only be maintained on
+the doctrine that man is 'saved' by the deeds of a ceremonial law;
+any general belief that morality is more acceptable to gods than
+ceremonies must be fatal to those occult and fictitious virtues which
+hedge about every pious impostor. Sacerdotal power in India depended on
+superstitions carefully fostered concerning the mystical properties of
+a stimulating juice (soma), litanies, invocations, and benedictions
+by priests; upon sacrifices to the gods, including their priests,
+austerities, penances, pilgrimages, and the like; one characteristic
+running through all the performances--their utter worthlessness to any
+being in the universe except the priest. An artificial system of this
+kind has to create its own materials, and evoke forces of evolution
+from many regions of nature. It is a process requiring much more
+than the wisdom of the serpent and more than its harmfulness; and
+there is a bit of nature's irony in the fact that when the Brahman
+Rishi gained supremacy, the Cobra was also worshipped as belonging
+to precisely the same caste and sanctity.
+There are traces of long and fierce struggles preceding this
+consummation. Even in the Vedic age--in the very dawn of religious
+history--Tetzel appears with his indulgences and Luther confronts
+him. The names they bore in ancient India were Viswámitra and
+Vasishtha. Both of these were among the seven powerful Rishis who
+made the hierarchy of India in the earliest age known to us. Both were
+composers of some of the chief hymns of the Vedas, and their respective
+hymns bear the stamp of the sacerdotal and the anti-sacerdotal parties
+which contended before the priestly sway had reached its complete
+triumph. Viswámitra was champion of the high priestly party and its
+political pretensions. In the Rig-Veda there are forty hymns ascribed
+to him and his family, nearly all of which celebrate the divine
+virtues of Soma-juice and the Soma-sacrifice. As the exaltation of
+the priestly caste in Israel was connected with a miracle, in which
+the Jordan stopped flowing till the ark had been carried over, so
+the rivers Sutledge and Reyah were said to have rested from their
+course when Viswámitra wished to cross them in seeking the Soma. This
+Rishi became identified in the Hindu mind for all time with political
+priestcraft. On the other hand, Vasishtha became equally famous for
+his hostility to that power, as well as for his profoundly religious
+character,--the finest hymns of the Vedas, as to moral feeling, being
+those that bear his name. The anti-sacerdotal spirit of Vasishtha is
+especially revealed in a strange satirical hymn in which he ridicules
+the ceremonial Bráhmans under the guise of a panegyric on frogs. In
+this composition occur such verses as these:--
+'Like Bráhmans at the Soma-sacrifice of Atirâtra, sitting round a
+full pond and talking, you, O frogs, celebrate this day of the year
+when the rainy season begins.
+'These Bráhmans, with their Soma, have had their say, performing the
+annual rite. These Adhwaryus, sweating while they carry the hot pots,
+pop out like hermits.
+'They have always observed the order of the gods as they are to
+be worshipped in the twelvemonth; these men do not neglect their
+season....
+'Cow-noise gave, Goat-noise gave, the Brown gave, and the Green gave
+us treasures. The frogs, who give us hundreds of cows, lengthened
+our life in the rich autumn.' 
+Viswámitra and Vasishtha appear to have been powerful rivals in
+seeking the confidence of King Sudás, and from their varying fortunes
+came the tremendous feud between them which plays so large a part
+in the traditions of India. The men were both priests, as are both
+ritualists and broad-churchmen in the present day. They were borne
+on the stream of mythologic evolution to representative regions
+very different from any they could have contemplated. Vasishtha,
+ennobled by the moral sentiment of ages, appears as the genius of
+truth and justice, maintaining these as of more 'merit' than any
+ceremonial perfections. The Bráhmans, whom he once ridiculed, were
+glad enough in the end to make him their patron saint, though they
+did not equally honour his principles. On the other hand, Viswámitra
+became the type of that immoral divinity which received its Iranian
+anathema in Ahriman. The murder he commits is nothing in a personage
+whose Soma-celebrations have raised him so high above the trivialities
+of morality.
+It is easy to see what must be the further development of such a
+type as Viswámitra when he shall have passed from the guarded pages
+of puranic tradition to the terrible simplicities of folklore. The
+saint whose majesty is built on 'merits,' which have no relation
+to what the humble deem virtues, naturally holds such virtues in
+cynical contempt; naturally also he is indignant if any one dares
+to suggest that the height he has reached by costly and prolonged
+observances may be attained by poor and common people through the
+practice of virtue. The next step is equally necessary. Since it is
+hard to argue down the facts of human nature, Vasishtha is pretty
+sure to have a strong, if sometimes silent, support for his heretical
+theory of a priesthood representing virtue; consequently Viswámitra
+will be reduced at length to deny the existence of virtue, and will
+become the Accuser of those to whom virtues are attributed. Finally,
+from the Accuser to the Tempter the transition is inevitable. The
+public Accuser must try and make good his case, and if the facts do
+not support it, he must create other facts which will, or else bear
+the last brand of his tribe--Slanderer.
+Leaving out of sight all historical or probable facts concerning
+Viswámitra and Vasishtha, but remembering the spirit of them, let us
+read the great Passion-play of the East, in which their respective
+parts are performed again as intervening ages have interpreted
+them. The hero of this drama is an ancient king named Harischandra,
+who, being childless, and consequently unable to gain immortality,
+promised the god Varuna to sacrifice to him a son if one were granted
+him. The son having been born, the father beseeches Varuna for respite,
+which is granted again and again, but stands firmly by his promise,
+although it is finally commuted. The repulsive features of the ancient
+legend are eliminated in the drama, the promise now being for a vast
+sum of money which the king cannot pay, but which Viswámitra would
+tempt him to escape by a technical fiction. Sir Mutu Cumára Swámy,
+whose translation I follow, presents many evidences of the near
+relation in which this drama stands to the religious faith of the
+people in Southern India and parts of Ceylon, where its representation
+never fails to draw vast crowds from every part of the district in
+which it may occur, the impression made by it being most profound. 
+We are first introduced to Harischandra, King of Ayòdiah (Oude),
+in his palace, surrounded by every splendour, and by the devotion
+of his prosperous people. His first word is an ascription to the
+'God of gods.' His ministers come forward and recount the wealth
+and welfare of the nation. The first Act witnesses the marriage of
+Harischandra with the beautiful princess Chandravatí, and it closes
+with the birth of a son.
+The second Act brings us into the presence of Indra in the Abode of
+the Gods. The Chief enters the Audience Hall of his palace, where an
+assembly of deities and sages has awaited him. These sages are holy men
+who have acquired supernatural power by their tremendous austerities;
+and of these the most august is Viswámitra. By the magnitude and
+extent of his austerities he has gained a power beyond even that of
+the Triad, and can reduce the worlds to cinders. All the gods court
+his favour. As the Council proceeds, Indra addresses the sages--'Holy
+men! as gifted with supernatural attributes, you roam the universe
+with marvellous speed, there is no place unknown to you. I am curious
+to learn who, in the present times, is the most virtuous sovereign on
+the earth below. What chief of mortals is there who has never told a
+lie--who has never swerved from the course of justice?' Vasishtha,
+a powerful sage and family-priest of Harischandra, declares that
+his royal disciple is such a man. But the more powerful Viswámitra
+denounces Harischandra as cruel and a liar. The quarrel between the
+two Rishis waxes fierce, until Indra puts a stop to it by deciding
+that an experiment shall be made on Harischandra. Vasishtha agrees
+that if his disciple can be shown to have told a lie, or can be made
+to tell one, the fruit of his life-long austerities, and all the power
+so gained, shall be added to Viswámitra; while the latter must present
+his opponent with half of his 'merits' if Harischandra be not made
+to swerve from the truth. Viswámitra is to employ any means whatever,
+neither Indra or any other interfering.
+Viswámitra sets about his task of trying and tempting Harischandra by
+informing that king that, in order to perform a sacrifice of special
+importance, he has need of a mound of gold as high as a missile
+slung by a man standing on an elephant's back. With the demand
+of so sacred a being Harischandra has no hesitation in complying,
+and is about to deliver the gold when Viswámitra requests him to be
+custodian of the money for a time, but perform the customary ceremony
+of transfer. Holding Harischandra's written promise to deliver the
+gold whensoever demanded, Viswámitra retires with compliments. Then
+wild beasts ravage Harischandra's territory; these being expelled,
+a demon boar is sent, but is vanquished by the monarch. Viswámitra
+then sends unchaste dancing-girls to tempt Harischandra; and when he
+has ordered their removal, Viswámitra returns with them, and, feigning
+rage, accuses him of slaying innocent beasts and of cruelty to the
+girls. He declares that unless Harischandra yields to the Pariah
+damsels, he himself shall be reduced to a Pariah slave. Harischandra
+offers all his kingdom and possessions if the demand is withdrawn,
+absolutely refusing to swerve from his virtue. This Viswámitra accepts,
+is proclaimed sovereign of Ayòdiah, and the king goes forth a beggar
+with his wife and child. But now, as these are departing, Viswámitra
+demands that mound of gold which was to be paid when called for. In
+vain Harischandra pleads that he has already delivered up all he
+possesses, the gold included; the last concession is declared to
+have nothing to do with the first. Yet Viswámitra says he will
+be charitable; if Harischandra will simply declare that he never
+pledged the gold, or, having done so, does not feel bound to pay it,
+he will cancel that debt. 'Such a declaration I can never make,'
+replies Harischandra. 'I owe thee the gold, and pay it I shall. Let a
+messenger accompany me and leave me not till I have given him thy due.'
+From this time the efforts of Viswámitra are directed to induce
+Harischandra to declare the money not due. Amid his heartbroken
+people--who cry, 'Where are the gods? Can they tolerate this?'--he who
+was just now the greatest and happiest monarch in the world goes forth
+on the highway a wanderer with his Chandravatí and their son Devaráta
+dressed in coarsest garments. His last royal deed is to set the crown
+on his tempter's head. The people and officers follow, and beg his
+permission to slay Viswámitra, but he rebukes them, and counsels
+submission. Viswámitra orders a messenger, Nakshatra, to accompany
+the three wretched ones, and inflict the severest sufferings on them
+until the gold is paid, and amid each ordeal to offer Harischandra
+all his former wealth and happiness if he will utter a falsehood.
+They come to a desert whose sands are so hot that the wife
+faints. Harischandra bears his son in his arms, but in addition
+is compelled to bear Nakshatra (the Bráhman and tormentor) on his
+shoulders. They so pass amid snakes and scorpions, and receive
+terrible stings; they pass through storm and flood, and yet vainly
+does Nakshatra suggest the desired falsehood.
+Then follows the ordeal of Demons, which gives an interesting insight
+into Tamil Demonology. One of the company exclaims--'How frightful
+they look! Who can face them? They come in battalions, young and old,
+small and great--all welcome us. They disport themselves with a wild
+dance; flames shoot from their mouths; their feet touch not the earth;
+they move in the air. Observe you the bleeding corpses of human
+beings in their hands. They crunch them and feed on the flesh. The
+place is one mass of gore and filth. Wolves and hyænas bark at them;
+jackals and dogs follow them. They are near. May Siva protect us!'
+Nakshatra. How dreadful! Harischandra, what is this? Look! evil demons
+stare at me--I tremble for my life. Protect me now, and I ask you no
+more for the gold.
+Harischandra. Have no fear, Nakshatra. Come, place thyself in the
+midst of us.
+Chief of the Goblins. Men! little men! human vermin! intrude ye thus
+into my presence? Know that, save only the Bráhman standing in the
+midst of you, you are all my prey to-night.
+Harischandra. Goblin! certainly thou art not an evil-doer, for thou
+hast excepted this holy Bráhman. As for ourselves, we know that the
+bodies which begin to exist upon earth must also cease to exist on
+it. What matters it when death comes? If he spares us now he reserves
+us only for another season. Good, kind demon! destroy us then together;
+here we await our doom.
+Nakshatra. Harischandra! before you thus desert me, make the goblin
+promise you that he will not hurt me.
+Harischandra. Thou hast no cause for alarm; thou art safe.
+Chief of the Goblins. Listen! I find that all four of you are very
+thin; it is not worth my while to kill you. On examining closely, I
+perceive that the young Bráhman is plump and fat as a wild boar. Give
+him up to me--I want not the rest.
+Nakshatra. O Gods! O Harischandra! you are a great monarch! Have
+mercy on me! Save me, save me! I will never trouble you for the gold,
+but treat you considerately hereafter.
+Harischandra. Sir, thy life is safe, stand still.
+Nakshatra. Allow me, sirs, to come closer to you, and to hold you by
+the hand (He grasps their hands.)
+Harischandra. King of the Goblins! I address thee in all sincerity;
+thou wilt confer on us a great favour indeed by despatching us
+speedily to the Judgment Hall of the God of Death. The Bráhman must
+not be touched; devour us.
+The Goblin (grinding his teeth in great fury). What! dare you disobey
+me? Will you not deliver the Bráhman?
+Harischandra. No, we cannot. We alone are thy victims.
+Having thus withstood all temptation to harm his enemy, or to break
+a promise he had given to treat him kindly, Harischandra is again
+pressed for the gold or the lie, and, still holding out, an ordeal of
+fire follows. Trusting the God of Fire will cease to afflict if one is
+sacrificed, Harischandra prepares to enter the conflagration first,
+and a pathetic contention occurs between him and his wife and son
+as to which shall be sacrificed. In the end Harischandra rushes in,
+but does not perish.
+Harischandra is hoping to reach the temple of Vis Wanàth [19] at Kasi
+and invoke his aid to pay the gold. To the temple he comes only to
+plead in vain, and Nakshatra tortures him with instruments. Finally
+Harischandra, his wife and child, are sold as slaves to pay
+the debt. But Viswámitra, invisibly present, only redoubles his
+persecutions. Harischandra is subjected to the peculiar degradation
+of having to burn dead bodies in a cemetery. Chandravatí and her son
+are subjected to cruelties. The boy is one day sent to the forest,
+is bitten by a snake, and dies. Chandravatí goes out in the night to
+find the body. She repairs with it to the cemetery. In the darkness
+she does not recognise her husband, the burner of the bodies, nor he
+his wife. He has strictly promised his master that every fee shall be
+paid, and reproaches the woman for coming in the darkness to avoid
+payment. Chandravatí offers in payment a sacred chain which Siva
+had thrown round her neck at birth, invisible to all but a perfect
+man. Harischandra alone has ever seen it, and now recognises his
+wife. But even now he will not perform the last rites over his dead
+child unless the fee can be obtained as promised. Chandravatí goes
+out into the city to beg the money, leaving Harischandra seated beside
+the dead body of Devaráta. In the street she stumbles over the corpse
+of another child, and takes it up; it proves to be the infant Prince,
+who has been murdered. Chandravatí--arrested and dragged before the
+king--in a state of frenzy declares she has killed the child. She is
+condemned to death, and her husband must be her executioner. But the
+last scene must be quoted nearly in full.
+Verakvoo (Harischandra's master, leading on Chandravatí). Slave! this
+woman has been sentenced by our king to be executed without delay. Draw
+your sword and cut her head off. (Exit.)
+Harischandra. I obey, master. (Draws the sword and approaches her.)
+Chandravatí (coming to consciousness again). My husband! What! do I
+see thee again? I applaud thy resolution, my lord. Yes; let me die
+by thy sword. Be not unnerved, but be prompt, and perform thy duty
+unflinchingly.
+Harischandra. My beloved wife! the days allotted to you in
+this world are numbered; you have run through the span of your
+existence. Convicted as you are of this crime, there is no hope for
+your life; I must presently fulfil my instructions. I can only allow
+you a few seconds; pray to your tutelary deities, prepare yourself
+to meet your doom.
+Viswámitra (who has suddenly appeared). Harischandra! what, are you
+going to slaughter this poor woman? Wicked man, spare her! Tell a
+lie even now and be restored to your former state!
+Harischandra. I pray, my lord, attempt not to beguile me from the path
+of rectitude. Nothing shall shake my resolution; even though thou didst
+offer to me the throne of Indra I would not tell a lie. Pollute not thy
+sacred person by entering such unholy grounds. Depart! I dread not thy
+wrath; I no longer court thy favour. Depart. (Viswámitra disappears.)
+My love! lo I am thy executioner; come, lay thy head gently on this
+block with thy sweet face turned towards the east. Chandravatí,
+my wife, be firm, be happy! The last moment of our sufferings has
+at length come; for to sufferings too there is happily an end. Here
+cease our woes, our griefs, our pleasures. Mark! yet awhile, and thou
+wilt be as free as the vultures that now soar in the skies.
+This keen sabre will do its duty. Thou dead, thy husband dies too--this
+self-same sword shall pierce my breast. First the child--then the
+wife--last the husband--all victims of a sage's wrath. I the martyr of
+Truth--thou and thy son martyrs for me, the martyr of Truth. Yes; let
+us die cheerfully and bear our ills meekly. Yes; let all men perish,
+let all gods cease to exist, let the stars that shine above grow dim,
+let all seas be dried up, let all mountains be levelled to the ground,
+let wars rage, blood flow in streams, let millions of millions of
+Harischandras be thus persecuted; yet let Truth be maintained--let
+Truth ride victorious over all--let Truth be the light--Truth the
+guide--Truth alone the lasting solace of mortals and immortals. Die,
+then, O goddess of Chastity! Die, at this the shrine of thy sister
+goddess of Truth!
+[Strikes the neck of Chandravatí with great force; the sword, instead
+of harming her, is transformed into a string of superb pearls, which
+winds itself around her: the gods of heaven, all sages, and all kings
+appear suddenly to the view of Harischandra.]
+Siva (the first of the gods). Harischandra, be ever blessed! You have
+borne your severe trials most heroically, and have proved to all men
+that virtue is of greater worth than all the vanities of a fleeting
+world. Be you the model of mortals. Return to your land, resume your
+authority, and rule your state. Devaráta, victim of Viswámitra's wrath,
+rise! (He is restored to life.)
+Rise you, also, son of the King of Kasi, with whose murder you,
+Chandravatí, were charged through the machinations of Viswámitra. (He
+comes to life also.)
+Harischandra. All my misfortunes are of little consequence, since thou,
+O God of gods, hast deigned to favour me with thy divine presence. No
+longer care I for kingdom, or power, or glory. I value not children, or
+wives, or relations. To thy service, to thy worship, to the redemption
+of my erring soul, I devote myself uninterruptedly hereafter. Let me
+not become the sport of men. The slave of a Pariah cannot become a
+king; the slave-girl of a Bráhman cannot become a queen. When once the
+milk has been drawn from the udder of a cow nothing can restore the
+self-same milk to it. Our degradation, O God, is now beyond redemption.
+Viswámitra. I pray, O Siva, that thou wouldst pardon my folly. Anxious
+to gain the wager laid by me before the gods, I have most mercilessly
+tormented this virtuous king; yet he has proved himself the most
+truthful of all earthly sovereigns, triumphing victoriously over
+me and my efforts to divert him from his constancy. Harischandra,
+king of kings! I crave your forgiveness.
+Verakvoo (throwing off his disguise). King Harischandra, think not
+that I am a Pariah, for you behold in me even Yáma, the God of Death.
+Kalakanda (Chandravatí's cruel master, throwing off his
+disguise). Queen! rest not in the belief that you were the slave
+of a Bráhman. He to whom you devoted yourself am even I--the God of
+Fire, Agni.
+Vasishtha. Harischandra, no disgrace attaches to thee nor to the Solar
+race, of which thou art the incomparable gem. Even this cemetery
+is in reality no cemetery: see! the illusion lasts not, and thou
+beholdest here a holy grove the abode of hermits and ascetics. Like
+the gold which has passed through successive crucibles, devoid of all
+impurities, thou, O King of Ayòdiah, shinest in greater splendour than
+even yon god of light now rising to our view on the orient hills. (It
+is morning.)
+Siva. Harischandra, let not the world learn that Virtue is vanquished,
+and that its enemy, Vice, has become the victor. Go, mount yon throne
+again--proclaim to all that we, the gods, are the guardians of the
+good and the true. Indra! chief of the gods, accompany this sovereign
+with all your retinue, and recrown him emperor of Ayòdiah. May his
+reign be long--may all bliss await him in the other world!
+The plot of this drama has probably done as much and as various duty
+as any in the world. It has spread like a spiritual banyan, whose
+branches, taking root, have swelled to such size that it is difficult
+now to say which is the original trunk. It may even be that the only
+root they all had in common is an invisible one in the human heart,
+developed in its necessary struggles amid nature after the pure and
+perfect life.
+But neither in the Book of Job, which we are yet to consider, nor in
+any other variation of the theme, does it rise so high as in this drama
+of Harischandra. In Job it represents man loyal to his deity amid the
+terrible afflictions which that deity permits; but in Harischandra
+it shows man loyal to a moral principle even against divine orders
+to the contrary. Despite the hand of the licenser, and the priestly
+manipulations, visible here and there in it--especially towards the
+close--sacerdotalism stands confronted by its reaction at last, and
+receives its sentence in the joy with which the Hindu sees the potent
+Rishis with all their pretentious 'merits,' and the gods themselves,
+kneeling at the feet of the man who stands by Truth.
+It is amusing to find the wincings of the priests through many
+centuries embodied in a legend about Harischandra after he went to
+heaven. It is related that he was induced by Nárada to relate his
+actions with such unbecoming pride that he was lowered from Svarga
+(heaven) one stage after each sentence; but having stopped in time,
+and paid homage to the gods, he was placed with his capital in mid-air,
+where eyes sacerdotally actinised may still see the aerial city at
+certain times. The doctrine of 'merits' will no doubt be able for
+some time yet to charge 'good deeds' with their own sin--pride; but,
+after all, the priest must follow the people far enough to confess that
+one must look upward to find the martyr of Truth. In what direction
+one must look to find his accuser requires no further intimation than
+the popular legend of Viswámitra.
+ELOHIM AND JEHOVAH.
+Deified power--Giants and Jehovah--Jehovah's manifesto--The various
+Elohim--Two Jehovahs and two Tables--Contradictions--Detachment
+of the Elohim from Jehovah.
+The sacred books of the Hebrews bring us into the presence
+of the gods (Elohim) supposed to have created all things out
+of nothing--nature-gods--just as they are in transition to the
+conception of a single Will and Personality. Though the plural is
+used ('gods') a singular verb follows: the tendency is already to
+that concentration which resulted in the enthronement of one supreme
+sovereign--Jehovah. The long process of evolution which must have
+preceded this conception is but slightly traceable in the Bible. It
+is, however, written on the face of the whole world, and the same
+process is going on now in its every phase. Whether with Gesenius
+[20] we take the sense of the word Elohim to be 'the revered,' or,
+with Fürst, [21] 'the mighty,' makes little difference; the fact
+remains that the word is applied elsewhere to gods in general,
+including such as were afterwards deemed false gods by the Jews;
+and it is more important still that the actions ascribed to the
+Elohim, who created the heavens and the earth, generally reflect
+the powerful and un-moral forces of nature. The work of creation in
+Genesis (i. and ii. 1-3) is that of giants without any moral quality
+whatever. Whether or not we take in their obvious sense the words,
+'Elohim created man in his own image, ... male and female created
+he them,' there can be no question of the meaning of Gen. vi. 1, 2:
+'The sons of Elohim saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful,
+and they took to themselves for wives whomsoever they chose.' When
+good and evil come to be spoken of, the name Jehovah [22] at once
+appears. The Elohim appear again in the Flood, the wind that assuaged
+it, the injunction to be fruitful and multiply, the cloud and rainbow;
+and gradually the germs of a moral government begin to appear in their
+assigning the violence of mankind as reason for the deluge, and in
+the covenant with Noah. But even after the name Jehovah had generally
+blended with, or even superseded, the other, we find Elohim often
+used where strength and wonder-working are thought of--e.g., 'Thou
+art the god that doest wonders' (Ps. lxxvii.). 'Thy way is in the sea,
+and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.'
+Against the primitive nature-deities the personality and jealous
+supremacy of Jehovah was defined. The golden calf built by Aaron was
+called Elohim (plural, though there was but one calf). Solomon was
+denounced for building altars to the same; and when Jeroboam built
+altars to two calves, they are still so called. Other rivals--Dagon
+(Judges xvi.), Astaroth, Chemosh, Milcom (1 Kings xi.)--are called
+by the once-honoured name. The English Bible translates Elohim, God;
+Jehovah, the Lord; Jehovah Elohim, the Lord God; and the critical
+reader will find much that is significant in the varied use of these
+names. Thus (Gen. xxii.) it is Elohim that demands the sacrifice
+of Isaac, Jehovah that interferes to save him. At the same time, in
+editing the story, it is plainly felt to be inadmissible that Abraham
+should be supposed loyal to any other god than Jehovah; so Jehovah
+adopts the sacrifice as meant for himself, and the place where the
+ram was provided in place of Isaac is called Jehovah-Jireh. However,
+when we can no longer distinguish the two antagonistic conceptions
+by different names their actual incongruity is even more salient,
+and, as we shall see, develops a surprising result.
+Jehovah inaugurates his reign by a manifesto against these giants,
+the Elohim, for whom the special claim--clamorously asserted when
+Aaron built the Golden Calf, and continued as the plea for the same
+deity--was that they (Elohim) had brought Israel out of Egypt. 'I,'
+cries Jehovah, 'am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the
+land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: thou shalt have no other
+gods but me;' and the first four commandments of the law are devoted
+entirely to a declaration of his majesty, his power (claiming credit
+for the creation), his jealous determination to punish his opponents
+and reward his friends, to vindicate the slightest disrespect to his
+name. The narrative of the Golden Calf was plainly connected with
+Sinai in order to illustrate the first commandment. The punishment of
+the believers in another divine emancipator, even though they had not
+yet received the proclamation, must be signal. Jehovah is so enraged
+that by his order human victims are offered up to the number of three
+thousand, and even after that, it is said, Jehovah plagued Israel on
+account of their Elohim-worship. In the same direction is the command
+to keep holy the Sabbath day, because on it he rested from the work
+of creation (Gen. xx.), or because on that day he delivered Israel
+from Egypt (Deut. v.), the editors do not seem to remember exactly
+which, but it is well enough to say both, for it is taking the two
+picked laurels from the brow of Elohim and laying them on that of
+Jehovah. In all of which it is observable that there is no moral
+quality whatever. Nero might equally command the Romans to have no
+other gods before himself, to speak his name with awe, to rest when
+he stopped working. In the fifth commandment, arbitrarily ascribed to
+the First Table, we have a transition to the moral code; though even
+there the honour of parents is jealously associated with Jehovah's
+greatness ('that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah
+Elohim giveth thee'). The nature-gods were equal to that; for the
+Elohim had begotten the giants who were 'in the earth in those days.'
+'Elohim spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah; and I
+appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by (the name of) God
+Almighty (El-Shaddai), but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them'
+(Exod. vi. 2, 3).
+The ancient gods--the Elohim--were, in the process of absorption
+into the one great form, the repository of their several powers,
+distinguishable; and though, for the most part, they bear names related
+to the forces of nature, now and then they reflect the tendencies
+to humanisation. Thus we have 'the most high god' (El-elyon--e.g.,
+Gen. xiv. 18); 'the everlasting-god' (El-elim, Gen. xxi. 33); 'the
+jealous god' (El-kana, Exod. xx. 5); 'the mighty god, and terrible'
+(El-gadol and nora, Deut. vii. 21); 'the living god' (El-chi,
+Josh. iii. 10); 'the god of heaven' (El-shemim, Ps. cxxxvi. 26);
+the 'god almighty' (El-shaddai, [23] Exod. vi. 2). These Elohim,
+with each of whose names I have referred to an instance of its
+characteristic use, became epithets, as the powers they represented
+were more and more absorbed by the growing personality of Jehovah; but
+these epithets were also characters, and their historic expressions
+had also to undergo a process of slow and difficult digestion. The
+all-devouring grandeur of Jehovah showed what it had fed on. Not only
+all the honours, but many of the dishonours, of the primitive deities
+adhered to the sovereign whose rule was no doubt inaugurated by their
+disgrace and their barbarism. The costliness of the glory of divine
+absolutism is again illustrated in the evolution of the premature
+monotheism, which had for its figure-head the dread Jehovah, who,
+as heir of the nature-gods, became responsible for the monstrosities
+of a tribal demonolatry, thus being compelled to fill simultaneously
+the rôles of the demon and the lawgiver. 
+The two tables of the law--one written by Jehovistic theology, the
+other by the moral sense of mankind--ascribed to this dual deity, for
+whom unity was so fiercely insisted on, may be read in their outcome
+throughout the Bible. They are here briefly, in a few examples,
+set forth side by side.
+TABLE OF JEHOVAH I.                 TABLE OF JEHOVAH II.
+Exod. xxxiii. 27. 'Slay every       Exod. xx. 13. 'Thou shalt not
+man his brother, every man his      kill.'
+companion, and every man his
+neighbour.'
+Num. xv. 32. 'While the children    Exod. xx. 14. 'Thou shalt not
+of Israel were in the wilderness,   commit adultery.'
+they found a man that gathered
+sticks upon the Sabbath Day....
+And they put him in ward, because
+it was not declared what should
+be done to him. And the Lord said
+unto Moses, The man shall be
+surely put to death: all the
+congregation shall stone him with
+stones without the camp.' Neither
+this nor the similar punishment
+for blasphemy (Lev. xxiv.), were
+executions of existing law. For a
+fearful instance of murder
+inflicted on the innocent, and
+accepted as a human sacrifice by
+Jehovah, see 2 Sam. xxi.; and for
+the brutal murder of Shimei, who
+denounced and resented the crime
+which hung the seven sons of Saul
+'before the Lord,' see 1 Kings ii.
+But the examples are many.
+In the story of Abraham, Sarai,
+and Hagar (Gen. xvi.), Lot and
+his daughters (xix.), Abraham's
+presentation of his wife to
+Abimilech (xx.), the same done by
+Isaac (xxvi.), Judah, Tamar
+(xxxviii.), and other cases where
+the grossest violations of the
+seventh commandment go unrebuked
+by Jehovah, while in constant
+communication with the guilty
+parties, we see how little the
+second table was supported by
+the first.
+The extortions, frauds, and         Exod. xx. 15. 'Thou shalt not
+thefts of Jacob (Gen. xxv.,         steal.'
+xxvii., xxx.), which brought upon
+him the unparalleled blessings of
+Jehovah; the plundering of
+Nabal's property by David and his
+fellow-bandits; the smiting of
+the robbed farmer by Jehovah and
+the taking of his treacherous
+wife by David (1 Sam. xxv.), are
+narratives befitting a Bible of
+footpads.
+Jehovah said, 'Who shall deceive    Exod. xx. 16. 'Thou shalt not
+Ahab?... And there came forth a     bear false witness against thy
+spirit, and stood before Jehovah,   neighbour.'
+and said, I will deceive him. And
+Jehovah said, Wherewith? And he
+said, I will go forth and be a
+lying spirit in the mouth of all
+these thy prophets. And he said,
+Thou shalt deceive him, and
+prevail also: go forth and do so.
+Now, therefore, Jehovah hath put
+a lying spirit in the mouth of
+all these thy prophets, and
+Jehovah hath spoken evil
+concerning thee' (1 Kings xxii.).
+See Ezek. xx. 25.
+Deut xx. 10-18, is a complete       Exod. xx. 17. 'Thou shalt not
+instruction for invasion, murder,   covet they neighbour's wife,
+rapine, eating the spoil of the     thou shalt not covet thy
+invaded, taking their wives,        neighbour's wife, nor his
+their cattle, &c., all such as      man-servant, nor his maid-
+might have been proclaimed by a     servant, nor his ox, nor his
+Supreme Bashi-Bazouk.               ass, nor anything that is thy
+neighbour's.'
+Instances of this discrepancy might be largely multiplied. Any one who
+cares to pursue the subject can trace the building upon the powerful
+personal Jehovah of a religion of human sacrifices, anathemas, and
+priestly despotism; while around the moral ruler and judge of the
+same name, whose personality is more and more dispersed in pantheistic
+ascriptions, there grows the common law, and then the more moral law
+of equity, and the corresponding sentiments which gradually evolve
+the idea of a parental deity.
+It is obvious that the more this second idea of the deity prevails,
+the more he is regarded as 'merciful,' 'long-suffering,' 'a God
+of truth and without iniquity, just and right,' 'delighting not in
+sacrifice but mercifulness,' 'good to all,' and whose 'tender mercies
+are over all his works,' and having 'no pleasure in the death of him
+that dieth;' the less will it be possible to see in the very same
+being the 'man of war,' 'god of battles,' the 'jealous,' 'angry,'
+'fire-breathing' one, who 'visits the sins of the fathers upon the
+children,' who laughs at the calamities of men and mocks when their
+fear cometh. It is a structural necessity of the human mind that
+these two shall be gradually detached the one from the other. From
+one of the Jehovahs represented in parallel columns came the 'Father'
+whom Christ adored: from the other came the Devil he abhorred.
+THE CONSUMING FIRE.
+The Shekinah--Jewish idols--Attributes of the fiery and
+cruel Elohim compared with those of the Devil--The powers of
+evil combined under a head--Continuity--The consuming fire
+spiritualised.
+That Abraham was a Fire-worshipper might be suspected from the
+immemorial efforts of all Semitic authorities to relieve him of
+traditional connection with that particular idolatry. When the good
+and evil powers were being distinguished, we find the burning and
+the bright aspects of Fire severally regarded. The sign of Jehovah's
+covenant with Abram included both. 'It came to pass that when the sun
+went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning
+lamp that passed between those pieces' (of the sacrifice). In the
+legend of Moses we have the glory resting on Sinai and the burning
+bush, the bush which, it is specially remarked, was 'not consumed,'
+an exceptional circumstance in honour of Moses. To these corresponded
+the Urim and Thummim, marking the priest as source of light and
+of judgment. In his favourable and adorable aspect Jehovah was the
+Brightness of Fire. This was the Shekinah. In the Targum, Jonathan
+Ben Uzziel to the Prophets, it is said: 'The mountains trembled
+before the Lord; the mountains Tabor, Hermon, Carmel said one to the
+other: Upon me the Shekinah will rest, and to me will it come. But
+the Shekinah rested upon Mount Sinai, weakest and smallest of all the
+mountains. This Sinai trembled and shook, and its smoke went up as the
+smoke of an oven, because of the glory of the God of Israel which had
+manifested itself upon it.' The Brightness [25] passed on to illumine
+every event associated with the divine presence in Semitic mythology;
+it was 'the glory of the Lord' shining from the Star of Bethlehem,
+and the figure of the Transfiguration.
+The Consuming Fire also had its development. Among the spiritual
+it was spiritualised. 'Who among us shall dwell with the Devouring
+Fire?' cries Isaiah. 'Who among us shall dwell with the Everlasting
+Burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly; he
+that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from
+holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood,
+and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil.' It was by a prosaic route
+that the Devouring Fire became the residence of the wicked.
+After Jeroboam (1 Kings xiii.) had built altars to the Elohim,
+under form of Calves, a prophet came out of Judah to denounce the
+idolatry. 'And he cried against the altar in the word of Jehovah,
+and said, O altar, altar! thus saith Jehovah, Behold, a child shall
+be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall
+he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee,
+and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.' It was deemed so important
+that this prophecy should be fulfilled in the letter, when it could
+no longer be fulfilled in reality, that some centuries later Josiah
+dug up the bones of the Elohistic priests and burned them upon their
+long-ruined altars (2 Kings xxiii.).
+The incident is significant, both on account of the prophet's
+personification of the altar, and the institution of a sort of Gehenna
+in connection with it. The personification and the Gehenna became
+much more complete as time went on. The Jews originally had no Devil,
+as indeed had no races at first; and this for the obvious reason
+that their so-called gods were quite equal to any moral evils that
+were to be accounted for, as we have already seen they were adequate
+to explain all physical evils. But the antagonists of the moral
+Jehovah were recognised and personified with increasing clearness,
+and were quite prepared for connection with any General who might be
+theoretically proposed for their leadership. When the Jews came under
+the influence of Persian theology the archfiend was elected, and all
+the Elohim--Moloch, Dagon, Astarte, Chemosh, and the rest--took their
+place under his rebellious ensign.
+The descriptions of the Devil in the Bible are mainly borrowed from
+the early descriptions of the Elohim, and of Jehovah in his Elohistic
+character. [26] In the subjoined parallels I follow the received
+English version.
+Gen. xxii. 1. 'God tempted          Matt. iv. 1. 'Then was Jesus
+Abraham.'                           led up into the wilderness
+to be tempted of the devil.'
+See also 1 Cor. vii. 5, 1
+Thes. iii. 5, James 1.13.
+Exod. v. 3. 'I (Jehovah) will       John xiii. 2. 'The devil having
+harden Pharaoh's heart;' v. 13,     now put into the heart Judas
+'He hardened Pharaoh's heart.'      Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray
+him.'
+1 Kings xxii. 23. 'Behold the       John viii. 44. 'He (the devil) is
+Lord hath put a lying spirit in     a liar' ('and so is his father,'
+the mouth of all these thy          continues the sentence by right
+prophets, and the Lord hath         of translation). 1 Tim. iii. 2,
+spoken evil concerning them.'       'slanderers' (diabolous). 2 Tim.
+Ezek. xiv. 9. 'If the prophet be    iii. 3, 'false accusers'
+deceived when he hath spoken a      (diabolo). Also Titus ii. 3, Von
+thing, I the Lord have deceived     Tischendorf translates
+that prophet, and I will stretch    'calumniators.'
+out my hand upon him, and will
+destroy him from the midst of
+my people.'
+Isa. xlv. 7. 'I make peace and      Matt. xiii. 38. 'The tares are
+create evil. I the Lord do all      the children of the wickied
+these things.' Amos iii. 6.         one.' 1 John iii. 8. 'He that
+'Shall there be evil in a city      committeth sin is of the devil;
+and the Lord hath not done it?'     for the devil sinneth from the
+1 Sam. xvi. 14. 'An evil spirit     beginning.'
+from the Lord troubled him'
+(Saul).
+Exod. xii. 29. 'At midnight the     John viii. 44. 'He (the devil)
+Lord smote all the firstborn of     was a murderer from the
+Egypt.' Ver. 30. 'There was a       beginning.'
+great cry in Egypt; for there was
+not a house where there was not
+one dead.' Exod. xxxiii. 27.
+'Thus saith the Lord God of
+Israel, Put every man his sword
+by his side, and go in and out
+from gate to gate throughout the
+camp, and slay every man his
+brother, and every man his
+companion, and every man his
+neighbour.'
+Exod. vi. 9. 'Take thy rod and      Rev. xii. 7, &c. 'There was war
+cast it before Pharaoh and it       in heaven: Michael and his angels
+shall become a serpent.' Ver. 12.   fought against the dragon.... And
+'Aaron's rod swallowed up their     the great dragon was cast out,
+rods.' Num. xxi. 6. 'Jehovah sent   that old serpent, called the
+fiery serpents (Seraphim) among     Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
+the people.' Ver. 8. 'And the       the whole world.... Woe to the
+Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a   inhabiters of the earth and of
+fiery serpent, and set it upon a    the sea! for the devil has come
+pole: and it shall come to pass,    down to you, having great wrath.'
+that every one that is bitten,
+when he looketh upon it, shall
+live.' (This serpent was
+worshipped until destroyed by
+Hezekiah, 2 Kings xviii.) Compare
+Jer. viii. 17, Ps. cxlviii.,
+'Praise ye the Lord from the
+earth, ye dragons.'
+Gen. xix. 24. 'The Lord rained      Matt. xxv. 41. 'Depart from me,
+upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone   ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
+and fire from the Lord out of       prepared for the devil and his
+heaven.' Deut. iv. 24. 'The Lord    angels.' Mark ix. 44. 'Where
+thy God is a consuming fire.' Ps.   their worm dieth not, and the
+xi. 6. 'Upon the wicked he shall    fire is not quenched.' Rev. xx.
+rain snares, fire and brimstone.'   10. 'And the devil that
+Ps. xviii. 8. 'There went up a      deceiveth them was cast into the
+smoke out of his nostrils.' Ps.     lake of fire and brimstone.' In
+xcvii. 3. 'A fire goeth before      Rev. ix. Abaddon, or Apollyon, is
+him, and burneth up his enemies     represented as the king of the
+round about.' Ezek. xxxviii. 19,    scorpion tormentors; and the
+&c. 'For in my jealousy, and in     diabolical horses, with stinging
+the fire of my wrath, have I        serpent tails, are described as
+spoken.... I will plead against     killing with the smoke and
+him with pestilence and with        brimstone from their mouths.
+blood, and I will rain upon him
+... fire and brimstone.' Isa.
+xxx. 33. 'Tophet is ordained of
+old; yea, for the king is it
+prepared: he hath made it deep
+and wide; the pile thereof is
+fire and much wood; the breath
+of the Lord, like a stream of
+brimstone, doth kindle it.'
+In addition to the above passages may be cited a notable passage from
+Paul's Epistle to the Thessalonians (ii. 3). 'Let no man deceive you
+by any means: for that day (of Christ) shall not come, except there
+come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
+of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is
+called God, or that is worshipped; so that he, as God, sitteth in the
+temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that,
+when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what
+withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of
+iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he
+be taken out of the way: and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom
+the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy
+with the brightness of his coming: even him whose coming is after the
+working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and
+with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
+because they received not the love of the truth, that they might
+be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
+that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who
+believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.'
+This remarkable utterance shows how potent was the survival in the
+mind of Paul of the old Elohist belief. Although the ancient deity,
+who deceived prophets to their destruction, and sent forth lying
+spirits with their strong delusions, was dethroned and outlawed, he was
+still a powerful claimant of empire, haunting the temple, and setting
+himself up therein as God. He will be consumed by Christ's breath when
+the day of triumph comes; but meanwhile he is not only allowed great
+power in the earth, but utilised by the true God, who even so far
+cooperates with the false as to send on some men 'strong delusions'
+('a working of error,' Von Tischendorf translates), in order that
+they may believe the lie and be damned. Paul speaks of the 'mystery
+of iniquity;' but it is not so very mysterious when we consider the
+antecedents of his idea. The dark problem of the origin of evil, and
+its continuance in the universe under the rule of a moral governor,
+still threw its impenetrable shadow across the human mind. It was a
+terrible reality, visible in the indifference or hostility with which
+the new gospel was met on the part of the cultured and powerful; and it
+could only then be explained as a mysterious provisional arrangement
+connected with some divine purpose far away in the depths of the
+universe. But the passage quoted from Thessalonians shows plainly
+that all those early traditions about the divinely deceived prophets
+and lying spirits, sent forth from Jehovah Elohim, had finally, in
+Paul's time, become marshalled under a leader, a personal Man of Sin;
+but this leader, while opposing Christ's kingdom, is in some mysterious
+way a commissioner of God.
+We may remark here the beautiful continuity by which, through all
+these shadows of terror and vapours of speculation, 'clouding the
+glow of heaven,' [27] the unquenchable ideal from first to last is
+steadily ascending.
+'One or three things,' says the Talmud, 'were before this world--Water,
+Fire, and Wind. Water begat the Darkness, Fire begat Light, and
+Wind begat the Spirit of Wisdom.' This had become the rationalistic
+translation by a crude science of the primitive demons, once believed
+to have created the heavens and the earth. In the process we find
+the forces outlawed in their wild action, but becoming the choir of
+God in their quiet action:--
+1 Kings xix. 11-13. 'And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount
+before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and
+strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before
+the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an
+earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the
+earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the
+fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that
+he wrapped his face in his mantle.'
+But man must have a philosophical as well as a moral development: the
+human mind could not long endure this elemental anarchy. It asked,
+If the Lord be not in the hurricane, the earthquake, the volcanic
+flame, who is therein? This is the answer of the Targum: 
+'And he said, Arise and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And
+God revealed himself: and before him a host of angels of the wind,
+cleaving the mountain and breaking the rocks before the Lord; but
+not in the host of angels was the Shechinah. And after the host of
+the angels of the wind came a host of angels of commotion; but not in
+the host of the angels of commotion was the Shechinah of the Lord. And
+after the angels of commotion came a host of angels of fire; but not
+in the host of angels of fire was the Shechinah of the Lord. But after
+the host of the angels of the fire came voices singing in silence. And
+it was when Elijah heard this he hid his face in his mantle.'
+The moral sentiment takes another step in advance with the unknown but
+artistic writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Moses had described
+God as a 'consuming fire;' and 'the sight of the glory of the Lord
+was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the
+children of Israel' (Exod. xxiv. 17). When next we meet this phrase it
+is with this writer, who seeks to supersede what Moses (traditionally)
+built up. 'Whose voice,' he says, 'then shook the earth; but now he
+hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but
+also heaven. And this word, 'yet once more,' signifieth the removing
+of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those
+which cannot be shaken may remain.... For our God is a consuming fire.'
+'Our God also!' cries each great revolution that advances. His
+consuming wrath is not now directed against man, but the errors
+which are man's only enemies: the lightnings of the new Sinai, while
+they enlighten the earth, smite the old heaven of human faith and
+imagination, shrivelling it like a burnt scroll!
+In this nineteenth century, when the old heaven, amid which this
+fiery pillar glowed, is again shaken, the ancient phrase has still
+its meaning. The Russian Tourgenieff represents two friends who had
+studied together in early life, then parted, accidentally meeting
+once more for a single night. They compare notes as to what the long
+intervening years have taught them; and one sums his experience in the
+words--'I have burned what I used to worship, and worship what I used
+to burn.' The novelist artfully reproduces for this age a sentence
+associated with a crisis in the religious history of Europe. Clovis,
+King of the Franks, invoked the God of his wife Clotilda to aid him
+against the Germans, vowing to become a Christian if successful; and
+when, after his victory, he was baptized at Rheims, St. Remy said to
+him--'Bow thy head meekly, Sicambrian; burn what thou hast worshipped,
+and worship what thou hast burned!' Clovis followed the Bishop's advice
+in literal fashion, carrying fire and sword amid his old friends the
+'Pagans' right zealously. But the era has come in which that which
+Clovis' sword and St. Remy's theology set up for worship is being
+consumed in its turn. Tourgenieff's youths are consuming the altar on
+which their forerunners were consumed. And in this rekindled flame the
+world now sees shrivelling the heavens once fresh, but now reflecting
+the aggregate selfishness of mankind, the hells representing their
+aggregate cowardice, and feeds its nobler faith with this vision of the
+eternal fire which evermore consumes the false and refines the world.
+PARADISE AND THE SERPENT.
+Herakles and Athena in a holy picture--Human significance of
+Eden--The legend in Genesis puzzling--Silence of later books
+concerning it--Its Vedic elements--Its explanation--Episode of
+the Mahábhárata--Scandinavian variant--The name of Adam--The
+story re-read--Rabbinical interpretations.
+Montfaucon has among his plates one (XX.) representing an antique
+agate which he supposes to represent Zeus and Athena, but which
+probably relates to the myth of Herakles and Athena in the garden of
+Hesperides. The hero having penetrated this garden, slays the dragon
+which guards its immortalising fruit, but when he has gathered this
+fruit Athena takes it from him, lest man shall eat it and share the
+immortality of the gods. In this design the two stand on either side of
+the tree, around which a serpent is twined from root to branches. The
+history which Montfaucon gives of the agate is of equal interest
+with the design itself. It was found in an old French cathedral,
+where it had long been preserved and shown as a holy picture of the
+Temptation. It would appear also to have previously deceived some
+rabbins, for on the border is written in Hebrew characters, much
+more modern than the central figures, 'The woman saw that the tree
+was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree
+to be desired to make one wise.'
+This mystification about a design, concerning whose origin and design
+there is now no doubt, is significant. The fable of Paradise and
+the Serpent is itself more difficult to trace, so many have been the
+races and religions which have framed it with their holy texts and
+preserved it in their sacred precincts. In its essence, no doubt,
+the story grows from a universal experience; in that aspect it is a
+mystical rose that speaks all languages. When man first appears his
+counterpart is a garden. The moral nature means order. The wild forces
+of nature--the Elohim--build no fence, forbid no fruit. They say to
+man as the supreme animal, Subdue the earth; every tree and herb shall
+be your meat; every animal your slave; be fruitful and multiply. But
+from the conflict the more real man emerges, and his sign is a garden
+hedged in from the wilderness, and a separation between good and evil.
+The form in which the legend appears in the Book of Genesis presents
+one side in which it is simple and natural. This has already been
+suggested (vol. i. p. 330). But the legend of man defending his refuge
+from wild beasts against the most subtle of them is here overlaid by
+a myth in which it plays the least part. The mind which reads it by
+such light as may be obtained only from biblical sources can hardly
+fail to be newly puzzled at every step. So much, indeed, is confessed
+in the endless and diverse theological theories which the story has
+elicited. What is the meaning of the curse on the Serpent that it
+should for ever crawl thereafter? Had it not crawled previously? Why
+was the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil forbidden? Why,
+when its fruit was tasted, should the Tree of Life have been for the
+first time forbidden and jealously guarded? These riddles are nowhere
+solved in the Bible, and have been left to the fanciful inventions
+of theologians and the ingenuity of rabbins. Dr. Adam Clarke thought
+the Serpent was an ape before his sin, and many rabbins concluded he
+was camel-shaped; but the remaining enigmas have been fairly given up.
+The ancient Jews, they who wrote and compiled the Old Testament, more
+candid than their modern descendants and our omniscient christians,
+silently confessed their inability to make anything out of this
+snake-story. From the third chapter of Genesis to the last verse of
+Malachi the story is not once alluded to! Such a phenomenon would
+have been impossible had this legend been indigenous with the Hebrew
+race. It was clearly as a boulder among them which had floated from
+regions little known to their earlier writers; after lying naked
+through many ages, it became overgrown with rabbinical lichen and
+moss, and, at the Christian era, while it seemed part of the Hebrew
+landscape, it was exceptional enough to receive special reverence as
+a holy stone. That it was made the corner-stone of Christian theology
+may be to some extent explained by the principle of omne ignotum pro
+mirifico. But the boulder itself can only be explained by tracing it
+to the mythologic formation from which it crumbled.
+How would a Parsi explain the curse on a snake which condemned it to
+crawl? He would easily give us evidence that at the time when most
+of those Hebrew Scriptures were written, without allusion to such
+a Serpent, the ancient Persians believed that Ahriman had tempted
+the first man and woman through his evil mediator, his anointed son,
+Ash-Mogh, 'the two-footed Serpent.'
+But let us pass beyond the Persian legend, carrying that and the
+biblical story together, for submission to the criticism of a
+Bráhman. He will tell us that this Ash-Mogh of the Parsi is merely
+the ancient Aèshma-daéva of the Avesta, which in turn is Ahi, the
+great Vedic Serpent-monster whom Indra 'prostrated beneath the feet'
+of the stream he had obstructed--every stream having its deity. He
+would remind us that the Vedas describe the earliest dragon-slayer,
+Indra, as 'crushing the head' of his enemy, and that this figure of
+the god with his heel on a Serpent's head has been familiar to his race
+from time immemorial. And he would then tell us to read the Rig-Veda,
+v. 32, and the Mahábhárata, and we would find all the elements of
+the story told in Genesis.
+In the hymn referred to we find a graphic account of how, when Ahi
+was sleeping on the waters he obstructed, Indra hurled at him his
+thunderbolt. It says that when Indra had 'annihilated the weapon of
+that mighty beast from him (Ahi), another, more powerful, conceiving
+himself one and unmatched, was generated,' This 'wrath-born son,'
+'a walker in darkness,' had managed to get hold of the sacred Soma,
+the plant monopolised by the gods, and having drunk this juice, he
+lay slumbering and 'enveloping the world,' and then 'fierce Indra
+seized upon him,' and having previously discovered 'the vital part
+of him who thought, himself invulnerable,' struck that incarnation
+of many-formed Ahi, and he was 'made the lowest of all creatures'.
+But one who has perused the philological biography of Ahi already
+given, vol. i. p. 357, will not suppose that this was the end of
+him. We must now consider in further detail the great episode
+of the Mahábhárata, to which reference has been made in other
+connections. [29] During the Deluge the most precious treasure of
+the gods, the Amrita, the ambrosia that rendered them immortal, was
+lost, and the poem relates how the Devas and Asuras, otherwise gods
+and serpents, together churned the ocean for it. There were two great
+mountains,--Meru the golden and beautiful, adorned with healing plants,
+pleasant streams and trees, unapproachable by the sinful, guarded
+by serpents; Mandar, rocky, covered with rank vegetation, infested
+by savage beasts. The first is the abode of the gods, the last of
+demons. To find the submerged Amrita it was necessary to uproot Mandar
+and use it to churn the ocean. This was done by calling on the King
+Serpent Ananta, who called in the aid of another great serpent, Vásuki,
+the latter being used as a rope coiling and uncoiling to whirl the
+mountain. At last the Amrita appeared. But there also streamed forth
+from the ocean bed a terrible stench and venom, which was spreading
+through the universe when Siva swallowed it to save mankind,--the
+drug having stained his throat blue, whence his epithet 'Blue Neck.'
+When the Asuras saw the Amrita, they claimed it; but one of the Devas,
+Narya, assumed the form of a beautiful woman, and so fascinated them
+that they forgot the Amrita for the moment, which the gods drank. One
+of the Asuras, however, Ráhu, assumed the form of a god or Deva, and
+began to drink. The immortalising nectar had not gone farther than
+his throat when the sun and moon saw the deceit and discovered it to
+Naraya, who cut off Ráhu's head. The head of Ráhu, being immortal,
+bounded to the sky, where its efforts to devour the sun and moon,
+which betrayed him, causes their eclipses. The tail (Ketu) also enjoys
+immortality in a lower plane, and is the fatal planet which sends
+diseases on mankind. A furious war between the gods and the Asuras
+has been waged ever since. And since the Devas are the strongest,
+it is not wonderful that it should have passed into the folklore
+of the whole Aryan world that the evil host are for ever seeking to
+recover by cunning the Amrita. The Serpents guarding the paradise of
+the Devas have more than once, in a mythologic sense, been induced
+to betray their trust and glide into the divine precincts to steal
+the coveted draught. This is the Kvásir [30] of the Scandinavian
+Mythology, which is the source of that poetic inspiration whose songs
+have magical potency. The sacramental symbol of the Amrita in Hindu
+Theology is the Soma juice, and this plant Indra is declared in the
+Rig-Veda (i. 130) to have discovered "hidden, like the nestlings of
+a bird, amidst a pile of rocks enclosed by bushes," where the dragon
+Drought had concealed it. Indra, in the shape of a hawk, flew away
+with it. In the Prose Edda the Frost Giant Suttung has concealed the
+sacred juice, and it is kept by the maid Gunlauth in a cavern overgrown
+with bushes. Bragi bored a hole through the rock. Odin in the shape
+of a worm crept through the crevice; then resuming his godlike shape,
+charmed the maid into permitting him to drink one draught out of the
+three jars; and, having left no drop, in form of an eagle flew to
+Asgard, and discharged in the jars the wonder-working liquid. Hence
+poetry is called Odin's booty, and Odin's gift.
+Those who attentively compare these myths with the legend in Genesis
+will not have any need to rest upon the doubtful etymology of 'Adam'
+[31] to establish the Ayran origin of the latter. The Tree of the
+knowledge of Good and Evil which made man 'as one of us' (the Elohim)
+is the Soma of India, the Haoma of Persia, the kvásir of Scandinavia,
+to which are ascribed the intelligence and powers of the gods, and
+the ardent thoughts of their worshippers. The Tree of Immortality is
+the Amrita, the only monopoly of the gods. 'The Lord God said, Behold
+the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest
+he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
+and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth the garden
+of Eden to till the ground whence he had been taken. So he drove out
+the man; and he placed on the east of the garden of Eden cherubim,
+and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the
+tree of life.'
+This flaming sword turning every way is independent of the cherub,
+and takes the place of the serpent which had previously guarded the
+Meru paradise, but is now an enemy no longer to be trusted.
+If the reader will now re-read the story in Genesis with the old names
+restored, he will perceive that there is no puzzle at all in any part
+of it:--'Now Ráhu [because he had stolen and tasted Soma] was more
+subtle than any beast of the field which the Devas had made, and he
+said to Adea Suktee, the first woman, Have the Devas said you shall
+not eat of every tree in the garden? And she said unto Ráhu, We may
+eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the Soma-plant,
+which is in the middle of the garden, the Devas have said we shall
+not eat or touch it on pain of death. Then Ráhu said to Adea, You
+will not suffer death by tasting Soma [I have done so, and live]:
+the Devas know that on the day when you taste it your eyes shall be
+opened, and you will be equal to them in knowledge of good and evil
+... [and you will be able at once to discover which tree it is that
+bears the fruit which renders you immortal--the Amrita].... Adea took
+of the Soma and did eat, and gave also unto Adima, her husband, and the
+eyes of them both were opened.... And Indra, chief of the Devas, said
+to Ráhu, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle
+and above every beast of the field; [for they shall transmigrate,
+their souls ascend through higher forms to be absorbed in the Creative
+principle; but] upon thy belly shalt thou go [remaining transfixed in
+the form you have assumed to try and obtain the Amrita]; and [instead
+of the ambrosia you aimed at] you shall eat dirt through all your
+existence.... And Indra said, Adima and Adea Suktee have [tasted Soma,
+and] become as one of us Devas [so far as] to know good and evil;
+and now, lest man put forth his hand [on our precious Amrita], and
+take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever [giving
+us another race of Asuras or Serpent-men to compete with].... Indra
+and the Devas drove Adima out of Meru, and placed watch-dogs at the
+east of the garden; and [a sinuous darting flame, precisely matched
+to the now unchangeable form of Ráhu], a flaming sword which turned
+every way, to keep the way of the Amrita from Adima and Asuras.'
+While the gods and serpents were churning the ocean for the Amrita,
+all woes and troubles for mortals came up first. That ocean shrinks
+in one region to the box of Pandora, in another to the fruit eaten by
+Eve. How foreign such a notion is to the Hebrew theology is shown by
+the fact that even while the curses are falling from the fatal fruit
+on the earth and man, they are all said to have proceeded solely from
+Jehovah, who is thus made to supplement the serpent's work.
+It will be seen that in the above version of the story in Genesis I
+have left out various passages. These are in part such as must be more
+fully treated in the succeeding chapter, and in part the Semitic mosses
+which have grown upon the Aryan boulder. But even after the slight
+treatment which is all I have space to devote to the comparative
+study of the myth in this aspect, it may be safely affirmed that
+the problems which we found insoluble by Hebrew correlatives no
+longer exist if an Aryan origin be assumed. We know why the fruit
+of knowledge was forbidden: because it endangered the further fruit
+of immortality. We know how the Serpent might be condemned to crawl
+for ever without absurdity: because he was of a serpent-race, able
+to assume higher forms, and capable of transmigration, and of final
+absorption. We know why the eating of the fruit brought so many woes:
+it was followed by the stream of poison from the churned ocean which
+accompanied the Amrita, and which would have destroyed the race of both
+gods and men, had not Siva drank it up. If anything were required to
+make the Aryan origin of the fable certain, it will be found in the
+fact which will appear as we go on,--namely, that the rabbins of our
+era, in explaining the legend which their fathers severely ignored,
+did so by borrowing conceptions foreign to the original ideas of
+their race,--notions about human transformation to animal shapes,
+and about the Serpent (which Moses honoured), and mainly of a kind
+travestying the Iranian folklore. Such contact with foreign races
+for the first time gave the Jews any key to the legend which their
+patriarchs and prophets were compelled to pass over in silence.
+EVE.
+The Fall of Man--Fall of gods--Giants--Prajápati and Ráhu--Woman
+and Star-serpent in Persia--Meschia and Meschiane--Bráhman
+legends of the creation of Man--The strength of Woman--Elohist
+and Jehovist creations of Man--The Forbidden Fruit--Eve reappears
+as Sara--Abraham surrenders his wife to Jehovah--The idea not
+sensual--Abraham's circumcision--The evil name of Woman--Noah's
+wife--The temptation of Abraham--Rabbinical legends concerning
+Eve--Pandora--Sentiment of the Myth of Eve.
+The insignificance of the Serpent of Eden in the scheme and teachings
+of the Hebrew Bible is the more remarkable when it is considered that
+the pessimistic view of human nature is therein fully represented. In
+the story of the Temptation itself, there is, indeed, no such
+generalisation as we find in the modern dogma of the Fall of Man;
+but the elements of it are present in the early assumption that
+the thoughts of man's heart run to evil continually,--which must
+be an obvious fact everywhere while goodness is identified with
+fictitious merits. There are also expressions suggesting a theory
+of heredity, of a highly superstitious character,--the inheritance
+being by force of the ancestral word or act, and without reference
+to inherent qualities. Outward merits and demerits are transmitted
+for reward and punishment to the third and fourth generation; but
+the more common-sense view appears to have gradually superseded this,
+as expressed in the proverb that the fathers ate sour grapes and the
+children's teeth were on edge.
+In accounting for this condition of human nature, popular traditions
+among the Jews always pointed rather to a fall of the gods than to
+any such catastrophe to man. 'The sons of the Elohim (gods) saw the
+daughters of men that they were beautiful, and they took to themselves
+for wives whomsoever they chose.' 'There were giants in the earth in
+those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto
+the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became
+mighty men, which were of old men of renown.' [32] These giants were
+to the Semitic mind what the Ahis, Vritras, Sushnas and other monsters
+were to the Aryan, or Titans to the Greek mind. They were not traced
+to the Serpent, but to the wild nature-gods, the Elohim, and when
+Jehovah appears it is to wage war against them. The strength of this
+belief is illustrated in the ample accounts given in the Old Testament
+of the Rephaim and their king Og, the Anakim and Goliath, the Emim,
+the Zamzummim, and others, all of which gained full representation in
+Hebrew folklore. The existence of these hostile beings was explained
+by their fall from angelic estate.
+The Book of Enoch gives what was no doubt the popular understanding
+of the fall of the angels and its results. Two hundred angels took
+wives of the daughters of men, and their offspring were giants three
+thousand yards in height. These giants having consumed the food
+of mankind, began to devour men, whose cries were brought to the
+attention of Jehovah by his angels. One angel was sent to warn Noah
+of the Flood; another to bind Azazel in a dark place in the desert
+till the Judgment Day; Gabriel was despatched to set the giants to
+destroying one another; Michael was sent to bury the fallen angels
+under the hills for seventy generations, till the Day of Judgment, when
+they should be sent to the fiery abyss for ever. Then every evil work
+should come to an end, and the plant of righteousness spring up. 
+Such exploits and successes on the part of the legal Deity against
+outlaws, though they may be pitched high in heroic romance, are
+found beside a theology based upon a reverse situation. Nothing is
+more fundamental in the ancient Jewish system than the recognition
+of an outside world given over to idolatry and wickedness, while
+Jews are a small colony of the children of Israel and chosen of
+Jehovah. Such a conception in primitive times is so natural, and
+possibly may have been so essential to the constitution of nations,
+that it is hardly useful to look for parallels. Though nearly all
+races see in their traditional dawn an Age of Gold, a Happy Garden,
+or some corresponding felicity, these are normally defined against
+anterior chaos or surrounding ferocity. Every Eden has had its guards.
+When we come to legends which relate particularly to the way in
+which the early felicity was lost, many facts offer themselves for
+comparative study. And with regard to the myths of Eden and Eve,
+we may remark what appears to have been a curious interchange of
+legends between the Hebrews and Persians. The ancient doctrines of
+India and Persia concerning Origins are largely, if not altogether,
+astronomical. In the Genesis of India we see a golden egg floating
+on a shoreless ocean; it divides to make the heaven above and earth
+beneath; from it emerges Prajápati, who also falls in twain to make
+the mortal and immortal substances; the parts of him again divide to
+make men and women on earth, sun and moon in the sky. This is but one
+version out of many, but all the legends about Prajápati converge
+in making him a figure of Indian astronomy. In the Rig-Veda he is
+Orion, and for ever lies with the three arrows in his belt which
+Sirius shot at him because of his love for Aldebaran,--towards which
+constellation he stretches. Now, in a sort of antithesis to this,
+the evil Ráhu is also cut in twain, his upper and immortal part
+pursuing and trying to eclipse the sun and moon, his tail (Ketu)
+becoming the 9th planet, shedding evil influences on mankind. This tail, Ketu, is quite an independent monster, and we meet with
+him in the Persian planisphere, where he rules the first of the six
+mansions of Ahriman, and is the 'crooked serpent' mentioned in the
+Book of Job. By referring to vol. i. p. 253, the reader will see that
+this Star-serpent must stand as close to the woman with her child and
+sheaf as September stands to October. But unquestionably the woman
+was put there for honour and not disgrace; with her child and sheaf
+she represented the fruitage of the year.
+There is nothing in Persian Mythology going to show that the woman
+betrayed her mansion of fruitage--the golden year--to the Serpent
+near her feet. In the Bundehesch we have the original man, Kaiomarts,
+who is slain by Ahriman as Prajápati (Orion) was by Sirius; from his
+dead form came Meschia and Meschiane, the first human pair. Ahriman
+corrupts them by first giving them goats' milk, an evil influence
+from Capricorn. After they had thus injured themselves he tempted
+them with a fruit which robbed them of ninety-nine hundredths
+of their happiness. In all this there is no indication that the
+woman and man bore different relations to the calamity. But after a
+time we find a Parsî postscript to this effect: 'The woman was the
+first to sacrifice to the Devas.' This is the one item in the Parsî
+Mythology which shows bias against woman, and as it is unsupported
+by the narratives preceding it, we may suppose that it was derived
+from some foreign country.
+That country could hardly have been India. There is a story in remote
+districts of India which relates that the first woman was born out
+of an expanding lotus on the Ganges, and was there received in his
+paradise by the first man (Adima, or Manu). Having partaken of the
+Soma, they were expelled, after first being granted their prayer to be
+allowed a last draught from the Ganges; the effect of the holy water
+being to prevent entire corruption, and secure immortality to their
+souls. But nowhere in Indian legend or folklore do we find any special
+dishonour put upon woman such as is described in the Hebrew story.
+Rather we find the reverse. Early in the last century, a traveller,
+John Marshall, related stories of the creation which he says were
+told him by the Brahmins, and others 'by the Brahmins of Persia.' 
+'Once on a time,' the Brahmins said, 'as (God) was set in eternity,
+it came into his mind to make something, and immediately no sooner had
+he thought the same, but that the same minute was a perfect beautiful
+woman present immediately before him, which he called Adea Suktee,
+that is, the first woman. Then this figure put into his mind the
+figure of a man; which he had no sooner conceived in his mind, but
+that he also started up, and represented himself before him; this he
+called Manapuise, that is, the first man; then, upon a reflection of
+these things, he resolved further to create several places for them
+to abide in, and accordingly, assuming a subtil body, he breathed in
+a minute the whole universe, and everything therein, from the least
+to the greatest.'
+'The Brahmins of Persia tell certain long stories of a great Giant that
+was led into a most delicate garden, which, upon certain conditions,
+should be his own for ever. But one evening in a cool shade one of
+the wicked Devatas, or spirits, came to him, and tempted him with vast
+sums of gold, and all the most precious jewels that can be imagined;
+but he courageously withstood that temptation, as not knowing what
+value or use they were of: but at length this wicked Devata brought
+to him a fair woman, who so charmed him that for her sake he most
+willingly broke all his conditions, and thereupon was turned out.'
+In the first of these two stories the names given to the man and woman
+are popular words derived from Sanskrit. In the second the Persian
+characters are present, as in the use of Devatas to denote wicked
+powers; but for the rest, this latter legend appears to me certainly
+borrowed from the Jews so far as the woman is concerned. It was they
+who first perceived any connection between Virgo in the sixth mansion
+of Ormuzd, and Python in the seventh, and returned the Persians their
+planisphere with a new gloss. Having adopted the Dragon's tail (Ketu)
+for a little preliminary performance, the Hebrew system dismisses
+that star-snake utterly; for it has already evolved a terrestrial
+devil from its own inner consciousness.
+The name of that devil is--Woman. The diabolisation of woman in their
+theology and tradition is not to be regarded as any indication that
+the Hebrews anciently held women in dishonour; rather was it a tribute
+to her powers of fascination such as the young man wrote to be placed
+under the pillow of Darius--'Woman is strongest.' As Darius and his
+council agreed that, next to truth, woman is strongest--stronger than
+wine or than kings, so do the Hebrew fables testify by interweaving
+her beauty and genius with every evil of the world.
+Between the Elohist and Jahvist accounts of the creation of man,
+there are two differences of great importance. The Elohim are said to
+have created man in their own image, male and female,--the word for
+'created' being bará, literally meaning to carve out. Jehovah Elohim
+is said to have formed man,--nothing being said about his own image,
+or about male and female,--the word formed being yatsar'. The sense of
+this word yatsar in this place (Gen. ii. 7) must be interpreted by what
+follows: Jehovah is said to have formed man out of the aphar', which
+the English version translates dust, but the Septuagint more correctly
+sperma. The literal meaning is a finely volatilised substance, and in
+Numbers xxiii. 10, it is used to represent the seed of Jacob. In the
+Jehovistic creation it means that man was formed out of the seminal
+principle of the earth combined with the breath of Jehovah; and the
+legend closely resembles the account of the ancient Satapatha-Bráhmana,
+which shows the creative power in sexual union with the fluid world
+to produce the egg  from which Prajápati was born, to be divided into
+man and woman.
+These two accounts, therefore,--to wit, that in the first and that in
+the second chapter of Genesis,--must be regarded as being of different
+events, and not merely varying myths of the same event. The offspring
+of Jehovah were 'living souls,' an expression not used in connection
+with the created images of the giants or Elohim. The Elohist pair
+roam about the world freely eating all fruits and herbs, possessing
+nature generally, and, as male and female, encouraged to increase
+and multiply; but Jehovah carefully separates his two children from
+general nature, places them in a garden, forbids certain food, and
+does not say a word about sex even, much less encourage its functions.
+Adam was formed simply to be the gardener of Eden; no other motive
+is assigned. In proposing the creation of a being to be his helper
+and companion, nothing is said about a new sex,--the word translated
+'help-meet' (ézer) is masculine. Adam names the being made 'woman,'
+(Vulg. Virago) only because she has been made out of man, but sex
+is not even yet suggested. This is so marked that the compiler has
+filled up what he considered an omission with (verse 24) a little
+lecture on duty to wives.
+It is plain that the jealously-guarded ambrosia of Aryan gods has here
+been adapted to signify the sexual relation. That is the fruit in the
+midst of the garden which is reserved. The eating of it is immediately
+associated with consciousness of nudity and shame. The curse upon
+Eve is appropriate. Having taken a human husband, she is to be his
+slave; she shall bring forth children in sorrow, and many of them
+(Gen. iii. 16). Adam is to lose his position in Jehovah's garden,
+and to toil in accursed ground, barren and thorny.
+Cast out thus into the wilderness, the human progeny as it increased
+came in contact with the giant's progeny,--those created by the Elohim
+(Gen. i.). When these had intermarried, Jehovah said that the fact
+that the human side in such alliance had been originally vitalised
+by his breath could not now render it immortal, because 'he (man)
+also is flesh,' i.e., like the creatures of the nature-gods. After
+two great struggles with these Titans, drowning most of them, hurling
+down their tower and scattering them, Jehovah resolved upon a scheme
+of vast importance, and one which casts a flood of light upon the
+narrative just given. Jehovah's great aim is shown in the Abrahamic
+covenant to be to found a family on earth, of which he can say, 'Thou
+art my son; I have begotten thee.' Eve was meant to be the mother of
+that family, but by yielding to her passion for the man meant only
+to be her companion she had thwarted the purpose of Jehovah. But she
+reappears again under the name of Sara; and from first to last the
+sense of these records, however overlaid by later beliefs, is the
+expansion, varying fortunes, and gradual spiritualisation of this
+aspiration of a deity for a family of his own in the earth.
+Celsus said that the story of the Virgin Mary and the Holy Ghost
+is one in which Christians would find little 'mystery' if the names
+were Danaë and Jupiter. The same may be said of the story of Sara and
+Jehovah, of which that concerning Mary is a theological travesty. Sarai
+(as she was called before her transfer to Jehovah, who then forbade
+Abraham to call her 'My Princess,' but only 'Princess') was chosen
+because she was childless. Abraham was paid a large recompense
+for her surrender, and provision was made that he should have a
+mistress, and by her a son. This natural son was to be renowned
+and have great possessions; nominally Abraham was to be represented
+by Sara's miraculously-conceived son, and to control his fortunes,
+but the blood of the new race was to be purely divine in its origin,
+so that every descendant of Isaac might be of Jehovah's family in
+Abraham's household.
+Abraham twice gave over his wife to different kings who were
+jealously punished by Jehovah for sins they only came near committing
+unconsciously, while Abraham himself was not even rebuked for the sin
+he did commit. The forbidden fruit was not eaten this time; and the
+certificate and proof of the supernatural conception of Isaac were
+made clear in Sarah's words--'God hath made me to laugh: all that hear
+will laugh with me: who would have said unto Abraham that Sarah should
+have given children suck? for I have borne a son in his old age.' 
+It was the passionate nature and beauty of Woman which had thus far
+made the difficulty. The forbidden fruit was 'pleasant to the eyes,'
+and Eve ate it; and it was her 'voice' to which Adam had hearkened
+rather than to that of Jehovah (Gen. iii. 17). And, again, it was
+the easy virtue and extreme beauty of Sara (Gen. xii. 11, 14) which
+endangered the new scheme. The rabbinical traditions are again on
+this point very emphatic. It is related that when Abram came to
+the border of Egypt he hid Sara in a chest, and was so taking her
+into that country. The collector of customs charged that the chest
+contained raiment, silks, gold, pearls, and Abram paid for all these;
+but this only increased the official's suspicions, and he compelled
+Abram to open the chest; when this was done and Sara rose up, the
+whole land of Egypt was illumined by her splendour. 
+There is no reason for supposing that the ideas underlying the
+relation which Jehovah meant to establish with Eve, and succeeded in
+establishing with Sara, were of a merely sensual description. These
+myths belong to the mental region of ancestor-worship, and the
+fundamental conception is that of founding a family to reign over all
+other families. Jehovah's interest is in Isaac rather than Sara, who,
+after she has borne that patriarch, lapses out of the story almost
+as completely as Eve. The idea is not, indeed, so theological as it
+became in the Judaic-christian legend of the conception of Jesus
+by Mary as spouse of the Deity; it was probably, however, largely
+ethnical in the case of Eve, and national in that of Sara.
+It being considered of the utmost importance that all who claimed the
+advantages in the Jewish commonwealth accruing only to the legal,
+though nominal, 'children of Abraham,' should really be of divine
+lineage, security must be had against Isaac having any full brother. It
+might be that in after time some natural son of Sara might claim
+to be the one born of divine parentage, might carry on the Jewish
+commonwealth, slay the children of Jehovah by Sara, and so end the
+divine lineage with the authority it carried. Careful precautions
+having been taken that Ishmael should be an 'irreconcilable,'
+there is reason to suspect that the position of Isaac as Jehovah's
+'only-begotten son' was secured by means obscurely hinted in the
+circumcision first undergone by Abraham, and made the sign of the
+covenant. That circumcision, wheresoever it has survived, is the
+relic of a more horrible practice of barbarian asceticism, is hardly
+doubtful; that the original rite was believed to have been that by
+which Abraham fulfilled his contract with Jehovah, appears to me
+intimated in various passages of the narrative which have survived
+editorial arrangement in accordance with another view. For instance,
+the vast inducements offered Abraham, and the great horror that fell
+on the patriarch, appear hardly explicable on the theory that nothing
+was conceded on Abraham's side beyond the surrender of a wife whom
+he had freely consigned to earthly monarchs.
+Though the suspicion just expressed as to the nature of Abraham's
+circumcision may be doubted, it is not questionable that the rite of
+circumcision bears a significance in rabbinical traditions and Jewish
+usages which renders its initiation by Abraham at least a symbol of
+marital renunciation. Thus, the custom of placing in a room where
+the rite of circumcision was performed a pot of dust, was explained
+by the rabbins to have reference to the dust which Jehovah declared
+should be the serpent's food. [38] That circumcision should have been
+traditionally associated with the temptation of Eve is a confirmation
+of the interpretation which regards her (Eve) as the prototype of
+Sara and the serpent as sexual desire.
+Although, if the original sense of Abraham's circumcision were what
+has been suggested, it had been overlaid, when the Book of Genesis
+in its present form was compiled, by different traditions, and that
+patriarch is described as having married again and had other children,
+the superior sanctity of Sara's son was preserved. Indeed, there would
+seem to have continued for a long time a tradition that the Abrahamic
+line and covenant were to be carried out by 'the seed of the woman'
+alone, and the paternity of Jehovah. Like Sara, Rebekah is sterile, and
+after her Rachel; the birth of Jacob and Esau from one, and of Joseph
+and Benjamin from the other, being through the intervention of Jehovah.
+The great power of woman for good or evil, and the fact that it has
+often been exercised with subtlety--the natural weapon of the weak in
+dealing with the strong--are remarkably illustrated in the legends of
+these female figures which appear in connection with the divine schemes
+in the Book of Genesis. But even more the perils of woman's beauty
+are illustrated, especially in Eve and Sara. There were particular and
+obvious reasons why these representative women could not be degraded or
+diabolised in their own names or history, even where their fascinations
+tended to countervail the plans of Jehovah. The readiness with which
+Sara promoted her husband's prostitution and consented to her own,
+the treachery of Rebekah to her son Esau, could yet not induce Jewish
+orthodoxy to give evil names to the Madonnas of their race; but the
+inference made was expressed under other forms and names. It became
+a settled superstition that wherever evil was going on, Woman was at
+the bottom of it. Potiphar's wife, Jezebel, Vashti, and Delilah, were
+among the many she-scape-goats on whom were laid the offences of their
+august official predecessors who 'could do no wrong.' Even after Satan
+has come upon the scene, and is engaged in tempting Job, it seems to
+have been thought essential to the task that he should have an agent
+beside the troubled man in the wife who bade him 'curse God and die.'
+It is impossible to say at just what period the rabbins made their
+ingenious discovery that the devil and Woman entered the world at
+the same time,--he coming out of the hole left by removal of the
+rib from Adam before it was closed. This they found disclosed in the
+fact that it is in Genesis iii. 21, describing the creation of Woman,
+that there appears for the first time Samech--the serpent-letter S
+(in Vajisgor). [39] But there were among them many legends of a
+similar kind that leave one no wonder concerning the existence of
+a thanksgiving taught boys that they have not been created women,
+however much one may be scandalised at its continuance in the present
+day. It was only in pursuance of this theory of Woman that there was
+developed at a later day a female assistant of the Devil in another
+design to foil the plans of Jehovah, from the Scriptual narrative of
+which the female rôle is omitted. In the Scriptural legend of Noah
+his wife is barely mentioned, and her name is not given, but from an
+early period vague rumours to her discredit floated about, and these
+gathered consistency in the Gnostic legend that it was through her
+that Satan managed to get on board the Ark, as is elsewhere related
+(Part IV. chap. xxvii.), and was so enabled to resuscitate antediluvial
+violence in the drunken curses of Noah. Satan did this by working
+upon both the curiosity and jealousy of Noraita, the name assigned
+Noah's wife.
+It has been necessary to give at length the comparative view of the
+myth of Eden in order that the reader may estimate the grounds upon
+which rests a theory which has been submitted after much hesitation
+concerning its sense. The 'phallic' theory by which it has become
+the fashion to interpret so many of these old fables, appears
+to me to have been done to death; yet I cannot come to any other
+conclusion concerning the legend of Eve than that she represents
+that passional nature of Woman which, before it was brought under
+such rigid restraint, might easily be regarded as a weakness to any
+tribe desirous of keeping itself separate from other tribes. The
+oath exacted by Abraham of his servant that he should seek out a
+wife from among his own people, and not among Canaanitish women,
+is one example among many of this feeling, which, indeed, survives
+among Jews at the present day. Such a sentiment might underlie the
+stories of Eve and Sara--the one mingling the blood of the family
+of Jehovah with mere human flesh, the other nearly confusing it
+with aliens. As the idea of tribal sanctity and separateness became
+strengthened by the further development of theocratic government,
+such myths would take on forms representing Jehovah's jealousy in
+defending his family line against the evil powers which sought to
+confuse or destroy it. One such attempt appears to underlie the story
+of the proposed sacrifice of Isaac. Although the account we have of
+that proceeding in the Bible was written at a time when the Elohist
+and Jahvist parties had compromised their rivalries to some extent,
+and suggests the idea that Jehovah himself ordered the sacrifice in
+order to try the faith of Abraham, enough of the primitive tradition
+lingers in the narrative to make it probable that its original intent
+was to relate how one of the superseded Elohim endeavoured to tempt
+Abraham to sacrifice Sara's only son, and so subvert the aim of Jehovah
+to perpetuate his seed. The God who 'tempted Abraham' is throughout
+sharply distinguished from the Jehovah who sent his angel to prevent
+the sacrifice and substitute an animal victim for Isaac.
+Although, as we have seen, Sara was spared degradation into a she-devil
+in subsequent myths, because her body was preserved intact despite her
+laxity of mind, such was not the case with Eve. The silence concerning
+her preserved throughout the Bible after her fall is told was broken
+by the ancient rabbins, and there arose multitudinous legends in
+which her intimacies with devils are circumstantially reported. Her
+first child, Cain, was generally believed to be the son of one of the
+devils (Samaël) that consorted with her, and the world was said to be
+peopled with gnomes and demons which she brought forth during that
+130 years at the end of which it is stated that Adam begot a son in
+his own image and likeness, and called his name Seth (Gen. v. 3). The
+previous children were supposed to be not in purely human form, and
+not to have been of Adam's paternity. Adam had during that time refused
+to have any children, knowing that he would only rear inmates of hell.
+The legend of Eden has gone round the world doing various duty,
+but nearly always associated with the introduction of moral evil
+into the world. In the Lateran Museum at Rome there is a remarkable
+bas-relief representing a nude man and woman offering sacrifice before
+a serpent coiled around a tree, while an angel overthrows the altar
+with his foot. This was probably designed as a fling at the Ophites,
+and is very interesting as a survival from the ancient Aryan meaning
+of the Serpent. But since the adaptation of the myth by the Semitic
+race, it has generally emphasised the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
+and Evil, instead of the Tree of Immortality (Amrita), which is the
+chief point of interest in the Aryan myth. There are indeed traces of
+a conflict with knowledge and scepticism in it which we shall have
+to consider hereafter. The main popular association with it, the
+introduction into the world of all the ills that flesh is heir to,
+is perfectly consistent with the sense which has been attributed to
+its early Hebrew form; for this includes the longing for maternity,
+its temptations and its pains, and the sorrows and sins which are
+obviously traceable to it.
+Some years ago, when the spectacular drama of 'Paradise' was performed
+in Paris, the Temptation was effected by means of a mirror. Satan
+glided behind the tree as a serpent, and then came forth as a
+handsome man, and after uttering compliments that she could not
+understand, presented Eve with a small oval mirror which explained them
+all. Mlle. Abingdon as Eve displayed consummate art in her expression
+of awakening self-admiration, of the longing for admiration from the
+man before her, and the various stages of self-consciousness by which
+she is brought under the Tempter's power. This idea of the mirror
+was no doubt borrowed from the corresponding fable of Pandora. On
+a vase (Etruscan) in the Hamilton Collection there is an admirable
+representation of Pandora opening her box, from which all evils are
+escaping. She is seated beneath a tree, around which a serpent is
+coiled. Among the things which have come out of the box is this same
+small oval mirror. In this variant, Hope, coming out last corresponds
+with the prophecy that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's
+head. The ancient Etruscan and the modern Parisian version are both
+by the mirror finely connected with the sexual sense of the legend.
+The theological interpretation of the beautiful myth of Eden
+represents a sort of spiritual vivisection; yet even as a dogma the
+story preserves high testimony: when woman falls the human race falls
+with her; when man rises above his inward or outward degradations
+and recovers his Paradise, it is because his nature is refined by
+the purity of woman, and his home sweetened by her heart. There is a
+widespread superstition that every Serpent will single out a woman
+from any number of people for its attack. In such dim way is felt
+her gentle bruising of man's reptilian self. No wonder that woman is
+excluded from those regions of life where man's policy is still to
+crawl, eat dust, and bite the heel.
+It is, I suppose, the old Mystery of the Creation which left Coventry
+its legend of a Good Eve (Godiva, whose name is written 'good Eve'
+in a Conventry verse, 1494), whose nakedness should bring benefit to
+man, as that of the first Eve brought him evil. The fig-leaf of Eve,
+gathered no doubt from the tree whose forbidden fruit she had eaten,
+has gradually grown so large as to cloak her mind and spirit as well
+as her form. Her work must still be chiefly that of a spirit veiled
+and ashamed. Her passions suppressed, her genius disbelieved, her
+influence forced to seek hidden and often illegitimate channels,
+Woman now outwardly represents a creation of man to suit his own
+convenience. But the Serpent has also changed a great deal since
+the days of Eve, and now, as Intelligence, has found out man in his
+fool's-paradise, where he stolidly maintains that, with few exceptions,
+it is good for man to be alone. But good women are remembering Godiva;
+and realising that, the charms which have sometimes lowered man or
+cost him dear may be made his salvation. It shall be so when Woman
+can face with clear-eyed purity all the facts of nature, can cast
+away the mental and moral swathing-clothes transmitted from Eden,
+and put forth all her powers for the welfare of mankind,--a Good Eva,
+whom Coventry Toms may call naked, but who is 'not ashamed' of the
+garb of Innocence and Truth.
+LILITH.
+Madonnas--Adam's first wife--Her flight and doom--Creation of
+devils--Lilith marries Samaël--Tree of Life--Lilith's part
+in the Temptation--Her locks--Lamia--Bodeima--Meschia and
+Meschiane--Amazons--Maternity--Rib-theory of Woman--Káli and
+Durga--Captivity of Woman.
+The attempt of the compilers of the Book of Genesis to amalgamate
+the Elohist and Jehovist legends, ignoring the moral abyss that yawns
+between them, led to some sufficiently curious results. One of these
+it may be well enough to examine here, since, though later in form
+than some other legends which remain to be considered, it is closely
+connected in spirit with the ancient myth of Eden and illustrative
+of it.
+The differences between the two creations of man and woman critically
+examined in the previous chapter were fully recognised by the ancient
+rabbins, and their speculations on the subject laid the basis for
+the further legend that the woman created (Gen. i.) at the same time
+with Adam, and therefore not possibly the woman formed from his rib,
+was a first wife who turned out badly.
+To this first wife of Adam it was but natural to assign the name
+of one of the many ancient goddesses who had been degraded into
+demonesses. For the history of Mariolatry in the North of Europe has
+been many times anticipated: the mother's tenderness and self-devotion,
+the first smile of love upon social chaos, availed to give every race
+its Madonna, whose popularity drew around her the fatal favours of
+priestcraft, weighing her down at last to be a type of corruption. Even
+the Semitic tribes, with their hard masculine deities, seem to have
+once worshipped Alilat, whose name survives in Elohim and Allah. Among
+these degraded Madonnas was Lilith, whose name has been found in a
+Chaldean inscription, which says, when a country is at peace 'Lilith
+(Lilatu) is not before them.' The name is from Assyr. lay'lâ, Hebrew
+Lil (night), which already in Accadian meant 'sorcery.' It probably
+personified, at first, the darkness that soothed children to slumber;
+and though the word Lullaby has, with more ingenuity than accuracy,
+been derived from Lilith Abi, the theory may suggest the path by
+which the soft Southern night came to mean a nocturnal spectre.
+The only place where the name of Lilith occurs in the Bible is
+Isa. xxxiv. 14, where the English version renders it 'screech-owl.' In
+the Vulgate it is translated 'Lamia,' and in Luther's Bible, 'Kobold;'
+Gesenius explains it as 'nocturna, night-spectre, ghost.'
+The rabbinical myths concerning Lilith, often passed over as puerile
+fancies, appear to me pregnant with significance and beauty. Thus
+Abraham Ecchelensis, giving a poor Arabic version of the legend, says,
+'This fable has been transmitted to the Arabs from Jewish sources
+by some converts of Mahomet from Cabbalism and Rabbinism, who have
+transferred all the Jewish fooleries to the Arabs.' [40] But the
+rabbinical legend grew very slowly, and relates to principles and facts
+of social evolution whose force and meaning are not yet exhausted.
+Premising that the legend is here pieced together mainly from
+Eisenmenger, [41] who at each mention of the subject gives ample
+references to rabbinical authorities, I will relate it without further
+references of my own.
+Lilith was said to have been created at the same time and in the same
+way as Adam; and when the two met they instantly quarrelled about
+the headship which both claimed. Adam began the first conversation
+by asserting that he was to be her master. Lilith replied that she
+had equal right to be chief. Adam insisting, Lilith uttered a certain
+spell called Schem-hammphorasch--afterwards confided by a fallen angel
+to one of 'the daughters of men' with whom he had an intrigue, and of
+famous potency in Jewish folklore--the result of which was that she
+obtained wings. Lilith then flew out of Eden and out of sight. Adam then cried in distress--'Master of the world, the woman whom thou
+didst give me has flown away.' The Creator then sent three angels to
+find Lilith and persuade her to return to the garden; but she declared
+that it could be no paradise to her if she was to be the servant of
+man. She remained hovering over the Red Sea, where the angels had
+found her, while these returned with her inflexible resolution. And
+she would not yield even after the angels had been sent again to
+convey to her, as the alternative of not returning, the doom that
+she should bear many children but these should all die in infancy.
+This penalty was so awful that Lilith was about to commit suicide
+by drowning herself in the sea, when the three angels, moved by her
+anguish, agreed that she should have the compensation of possessing
+full power over all children after birth up to their eighth day; on
+which she promised that she would never disturb any babes who were
+under their (the angels') protection. Hence the charm (Camea) against
+Lilith hung round the necks of Jewish children bore the names of these
+three angels--Senói, Sansenói, and Sammangelóf. Lilith has special
+power over all children born out of wedlock for whom she watches,
+dressed in finest raiment; and she has especial power on the first
+day of the month, and on the Sabbath evening. When a little child
+laughs in its sleep it was believed that Lilith was with it, and the
+babe must be struck on the nose three times, the words being thrice
+repeated--'Away, cursed Lilith! thou hast no place here!'
+The divorce between Lilith and Adam being complete, the second Eve
+(i.e., Mother) was now formed, and this time out of Adam's rib in
+order that there might be no question of her dependence, and that the
+embarrassing question of woman's rights might never be raised again.
+But about this time the Devils were also created. These beings were
+the last of the six days' creation, but they were made so late in
+the day that there was no daylight by which to fashion bodies for
+them. The Creator was just putting them off with a promise that he
+would make them bodies next day, when lo! the Sabbath--which was
+for a long time personified--came and sat before him, to represent
+the many evils which might result from the precedent he would set
+by working even a little on the day whose sanctity had already been
+promulgated. Under these circumstances the Creator told the Devils
+that they must disperse and try to get bodies as they could find
+them. On this account they have been compelled ever since to seek
+carnal enjoyments by nestling in the hearts of human beings and
+availing themselves of human senses and passions.
+These Devils as created were ethereal spirits; they had certain
+atmospheric forms, but felt that they had been badly treated in not
+having been provided with flesh and blood, and they were envious
+of the carnal pleasures which human beings could enjoy. So long as
+man and woman remained pure, the Devils could not take possession of
+their bodies and enjoy such pleasures, and it was therefore of great
+importance to them that the first human pair should be corrupted. At
+the head of these Devils stood now a fallen angel--Samaël. Of this
+archfiend more is said elsewhere; at this point it need only be said
+that he had been an ideal flaming Serpent, leader of the Seraphim. He
+was already burning with lust and envy, as he witnessed the pleasures
+of Adam and Eve in Eden, when he found beautiful Lilith lamenting
+her wrongs in loneliness.
+She became his wife. The name of Samaël by one interpretation signifies
+'the Left'; and we may suppose that Lilith found him radical on
+the question of female equality which she had raised in Eden. He
+gave her a splendid kingdom where she was attended by 480 troops;
+but all this could not compensate her for the loss of Eden,--she
+seems never to have regretted parting with Adam,--and for the loss
+of her children. She remained the Lady of Sorrow. Her great enemy was
+Machalath who presided over 478 troops, and who was for ever dancing,
+as Lilith was for ever sighing and weeping. It was long believed that
+at certain times the voice of Lilith's grief could be heard in the air.
+Samaël found in Lilith a willing conspirator against Jehovah in
+his plans for man and woman. The corruption of these two meant, to
+the troops of Samaël, bringing their bodies down into a plane where
+they might be entered by themselves (the Devils), not to mention at
+present the manifold other motives by which they were actuated. It
+may be remarked also that in the rabbinical traditions, after their
+Aryan impregnation, there are traces of a desire of the Devils to
+reach the Tree of Life.
+Truly a wondrous Tree! Around it, in its place at the east of
+Eden, sang six hundred thousand lovely angels with happy hymns,
+and it glorified the vast garden. It possessed five hundred thousand
+different flavours and odours, which were wafted to the four sides
+of the world by zephyrs from seven lustrous clouds that made its
+canopy. Beneath it sat the disciples of Wisdom on resplendent seats,
+screened from the blaze of sun, moon, and cloud-veiled from potency
+of the stars (there was no night); and within were the joys referred
+to in the verse (Prov. viii. 21), 'That I may cause those that love
+me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.'
+Had there been an order of female rabbins the story of Lilith might
+have borne obvious modifications, and she might have appeared as
+a heroine anxious to rescue her sex from slavery to man. As it is
+the immemorial prerogative of man to lay all blame upon woman, that
+being part of the hereditary following of Adam, it is not wonderful
+that Lilith was in due time made responsible for the temptation of
+Eve. She was supposed to have beguiled the Serpent on guard at the
+gate of Eden to lend her his form for a time, after which theory the
+curse on the serpent might mean the binding of Lilith for ever in
+that form. This would appear to have originated the notion mentioned
+in Comestor (Hist. Schol., 12th cent.), that while the serpent was
+yet erect it had a virgin's head. The accompanying example is from a
+very early missal in the possession of Sir Joseph Hooker, of which I
+could not discover the date or history, but the theory is traceable
+in the eighth century. In this picture we have an early example of
+those which have since become familiar in old Bibles. Pietro d'Orvieto
+painted this serpent-woman in his finest fresco, at Pisa. Perhaps in
+no other picture has the genius of Michæl Angelo been more felicitous
+than in that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, in which Lilith is
+portrayed. In this picture (Fig. 2) the marvellous beauty of his first
+wife appears to have awakened the enthusiasm of Adam; and, indeed,
+it is quite in harmony with the earlier myth that Lilith should be
+of greater beauty than Eve.
+An artist and poet of our own time (Rossetti) has by both of his arts
+celebrated the fatal beauty of Lilith. His Lilith, bringing 'soft
+sleep,' antedates, as I think, the fair devil of the Rabbins, but is
+also the mediæval witch against whose beautiful locks Mephistopheles
+warns Faust when she appears at the Walpurgis-night orgie.
+The rose and poppy are her flowers; for where
+Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent
+And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare?
+Lo! as that youth's eyes burned at thine, so went
+Thy spell through him, and left his straight neck bent,
+And round his heart one strangling golden hair.
+The potency of Lilith's tresses has probably its origin in the hairy
+nature ascribed by the Rabbins to all demons (shedim), and found
+fully represented in Esau. Perhaps the serpent-locks of Medusa had a
+similar origin. Nay, there is a suggestion in Dante that these tresses
+of Medusa may have once represented fascinating rather than horrible
+serpents. As she approaches, Virgil is alarmed for his brother-poet:
+'Turn thyself back, and keep thy vision hid;
+For, if the Gorgon show, and then behold,
+'Twould all be o'er with e'er returning up.'
+So did the master say; and he himself
+Turned me, and to my own hands trusted not,
+But that with his too he should cover me.
+O you that have a sane intelligence,
+Look ye unto the doctrine which herein
+Conceals itself 'neath the strange verses' veil. 
+If this means that the security against evil is to veil the eyes from
+it, Virgil's warning would be against a beautiful seducer, similar to
+the warning given by Mephistopheles to Faust against the fatal charms
+of Lilith. Since, however, even in the time of Homer, the Gorgon was
+a popular symbol of terrors, the possibility of a survival in Dante's
+mind of any more primitive association with Medusa is questionable. The
+Pauline doctrine, that the glory of a woman is her hair, no doubt had
+important antecedents: such glory might easily be degraded, and every
+hair turn to a fatal 'binder,' like the one golden thread of Lilith
+round the heart of her victim; or it might ensnare its owner. In
+Treves Cathedral there is a curious old picture of a woman carried
+to hell by her beautiful hair; one devil draws her by it, another is
+seated on her back and drives her by locks of it as a bridle.
+In the later developments of the myth of Lilith she was, among
+the Arabs, transformed to a Ghoul, but in rabbinical legend she
+appears to have been influenced by the story of Lamia, whose name is
+substituted for Lilith in the Vulgate. Like Lilith, Lamia was robbed
+of her children, and was driven by despair to avenge herself on all
+children. [44] The name of Lamia was long used to frighten Italian
+children, as that of Lilith was by Hebrew nurses.
+It is possible that the part assigned to Lilith in the temptation
+of Eve may have been suggested by ancient Egyptian sculptures,
+which represent the Tree of Life in Amenti (Paradise) guarded by the
+Serpent-goddess Nu. One of these in the British Museum represents
+the Osirian on his journey to heaven, and his soul in form of a
+human-headed bird, drinking the water of Life as poured out to them
+from a jar by the goddess who coils around the sacred sycamore, her
+woman's bust and face appearing amid the branches much like Lilith
+in our old pictures.
+The Singhalese also have a kind of Lilith or Lamia whom they call
+Bodrima, though she is not so much dreaded for the sake of children as
+for her vindictive feelings towards men. She is the ghost of a woman
+who died in childbirth and in great agony. She may be heard wailing
+in the night, it is said, and if she meets any man will choke him
+to death. When her wailing is heard men are careful to stay within
+doors, but the women go forth with brooms in their hands and abuse
+Bodrima with epithets. She fears women, especially when they carry
+brooms. But the women have also some compassion for this poor ghost,
+and often leave a lamp and some betel leaves where she may get some
+warmth and comfort from them. If Bodrima be fired at, there may be
+found, perhaps, a dead lizard near the spot in the morning.
+As protomartyr of female independence, Lilith suffered a fate not
+unlike that of her sisters and successors in our own time who have
+appealed from the legendary decision made in Eden: she became the
+prototype of the 'strong-minded' and 'cold-hearted' woman, and
+personification of the fatal fascination of the passionless. Her
+special relation to children was gradually expanded, and she was
+regarded as the perilous seducer of young men, each of her victims
+perishing of unrequited passion. She was ever young, and always dressed
+with great beauty. It would seem that the curse upon her for forsaking
+Adam--that her children should die in infancy--was escaped in the
+case of the children she had by Samaël. She was almost as prolific as
+Echidna. Through all the latter rabbinical lore it is repeated, 'Samaël
+is the fiery serpent, Lilith the crooked serpent,' and from their
+union came Leviathan, Asmodeus, and indeed most of the famous devils.
+There is an ancient Persian legend of the first man and woman, Meschia
+and Meschiane, that they for a long time lived happily together:
+they hunted together, and discovered fire, and made an axe, and with
+it built them a hut. But no sooner had they thus set up housekeeping
+than they fought terribly, and, after wounding each other, parted. It
+is not said which remained ruler of the hut, but we learn that after
+fifty years of divorce they were reunited.
+These legends show the question of equality of the sexes to have
+been a very serious one in early times. The story of Meschia and
+Meschiane fairly represents primitive man living by the hunt; that
+of Eden shows man entering on the work of agriculture. In neither
+of these occupations would there be any reason why woman should be
+so unequal as to set in motion the forces which have diminished her
+physical stature and degraded her position. Women can still hunt and
+fish, and they are quite man's equal in tilling the soil. 
+In all sex-mythology there are intimations that women were taken
+captive. The proclamation of female subordination is made not only in
+the legend of Eve's creation out of the man's rib, but in the emphasis
+with which her name is declared to have been given her because she
+was the Mother of all living. In the variously significant legends
+of the Amazons they are said to have burned away their breasts that
+they might use the bow: in the history of contemporary Amazons--such
+as the female Areoi of Polynesia--the legend is interpreted in the
+systematic slaughter of their children. In the hunt, Meschia might be
+aided by Meschiane in many ways; in dressing the garden Adam might find
+Lilith or Eve a 'help meet' for the work; but in the brutal régime of
+war the child disables woman, and the affections of maternity render
+her man's inferior in the work of butchery. Herakles wins great glory
+by slaying Hyppolite; but the legends of her later reappearances--as
+Libussa at Prague, &c.,--follow the less mythological story of the
+Amazons given by Herodotus (IV. 112), who represents the Scythians
+as gradually disarming them by sending out their youths to meet them
+with dalliance instead of with weapons. The youths went off with
+their captured captors, and from their union sprang the Sauromatæ,
+among whom the men and women dressed alike, and fought and hunted
+together. But of the real outcome of that truce and union Tennyson
+can tell us more than Herodotus: in his Princess we see the woman
+whom maternity and war have combined to produce, her independence
+betrayed by the tenderness of her nature. The surrender, once secured,
+was made permanent for ages by the sentiments and sympathies born of
+the child's appeal for compassion.
+In primitive ages the child must in many cases have been a burthen
+even to man in the struggle for existence; the population question
+could hardly have failed to press its importance upon men, as it does
+even upon certain animals; and it would be an especial interest to a
+man not to have his hut overrun with offspring not his own,--turning
+his fair labour into drudgery for their support, and so cursing the
+earth for him. Thus, while Polyandry was giving rise to the obvious
+complications under which it must ultimately disappear, it would be
+natural that devils of lust should be invented to restrain the maternal
+instinct. But as time went on the daughters of Eve would have taken
+the story of her fall and hardships too much to heart. The pangs and
+perils of childbirth were ever-present monitors whose warnings might
+be followed too closely. The early Jewish laws bear distinct traces
+of the necessity which had arrived for insisting on the command to
+increase and multiply. Under these changed circumstances it would
+be natural that the story of a recusant and passionless Eve should
+arise and suffer the penalties undergone by Lilith,--the necessity
+of bearing, as captive, a vast progeny against her will only to lose
+them again, and to long for human children she did not bring forth
+and could not cherish. The too passionate and the passionless woman
+are successively warned in the origin and outcome of the myth. 
+It is a suggestive fact that the descendants of Adam should trace their
+fall not to the independent Lilith, who asserted her equality at cost
+of becoming the Devil's bride, but to the apparently submissive Eve
+who stayed inside the garden. The serpent found out the guarded and
+restrained woman as well as the free and defiant, and with much more
+formidable results. For craft is the only weapon of the weak against
+the strong. The submissiveness of the captive woman must have been
+for a long time outward only. When Adam found himself among thorns
+and briars he might have questioned whether much had been gained
+by calling Eve his rib, when after all she really was a woman, and
+prepared to take her intellectual rights from the Serpent if denied
+her in legitimate ways. The question is, indeed, hardly out of date
+yet when the genius of woman is compelled to act with subtlety and
+reduced to exert its influence too often by intrigue.
+It is remarkable that we find something like a similar development to
+the two wives of Adam in Hindu mythology also. Káli and Dúrga have the
+same origin: the former is represented dancing on the prostrate form
+of her 'lord and master,' and she becomes the demoness of violence,
+the mother of the diabolical 'Calas' of Singhalese demonolatry. Dúrga
+sacrificed herself for her husband's honour, and is now adored. The
+counterpart of Dúrga-worship is the Zenana system. In countries where
+the Zenana system has not survived, but some freedom has been gained
+for woman, it is probable that Káli will presently not be thought of
+as necessarily trampling on man, and Lilith not be regarded as the
+Devil's wife because she will not submit to be the slave of man. When
+man can make him a home and garden which shall not be a prison, and in
+which knowledge is unforbidden fruit, Lilith will not have to seek her
+liberty by revolution against his society, nor Eve hers by intrigue;
+unfitness for co-operation with the ferocities of nature will leave
+her a help meet for the rearing of children, and for the recovery
+and culture of every garden, whether within or without the man who
+now asserts over woman a lordship unnatural and unjust.
+WAR IN HEAVEN.
+The 'Other'--Tiamat, Bohu, 'the Deep'--Ra and Apophis--Hathors--
+Bel's combat--Revolt in Heaven--Lilith--Myth of the Devil at the
+creation of Light.
+In none of the ancient scriptures do we get back to any theory or
+explanation of the origin of evil or of the enemies of the gods. In
+a Persian text at Persepolis, of Darius I., Ahriman is called with
+simplicity 'the Other' (Aniya), and 'the Hater' (Duvaisañt, Zend
+thaisat), and that is about as much as we are really told about the
+devils of any race. Their existence is taken for granted. The legends
+of rebellion in heaven and of angels cast down and transformed to
+devils may supply an easy explanation to our modern theologians, but
+when we trace them to their origin we discover that to the ancients
+they had no such significance. The angels were cast down to Pits
+prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and before it, and
+when they fell it was into the hands of already existing enemies eager
+to torment them. Nevertheless these accounts of rebellious spirits
+in heaven are of great importance and merit our careful consideration.
+It is remarkable that the Bible opens with an intimation of the
+existence of this 'Other.' Its second verse speaks of a certain
+'darkness upon the face of the deep.' The word used here is Bohu,
+which is identified as the Assyrian Bahu, the Queen of Hades. In the
+inscription of Shalmaneser the word is used for 'abyss of chaos.' Bahu is otherwise Gula, a form of Ishtar or Allat, 'Lady of the House
+of Death,' and an epithet of the same female demon is Nin-cigal,
+'Lady of the Mighty Earth.' The story of the Descent of Ishtar into
+Hades, the realm of Nin-cigal, has already been told (p. 77); in
+that version Ishtar is the same as Astarte, the Assyrian Venus. But
+like the moon with which she was associated she waned and declined,
+and the beautiful legend of her descent (like Persephone) into Hades
+seems to have found a variant in the myth of Bel and the Dragon. There
+she is a sea-monster and is called Tiamat (Thalatth of Berosus),--that
+is, 'the Deep,' over which rests the darkness described in Genesis
+i. 2. The process by which the moon would share the evil repute of
+Tiamat is obvious. In the Babylonian belief the dry land rested upon
+the abyss of watery chaos from which it was drawn. This underworld
+ocean was shut in by gates. They were opened when the moon was created
+to rule the night--therefore Prince of Darkness. The formation by Anu
+of this Moon-god (Uru) from Tiamat, might even have been suggested
+by the rising of the tides under his sway. The Babylonians represent
+the Moon as having been created before the Sun, and he emerged from
+'a boiling' in the abyss. 'At the beginning of the month, at the rising
+of the night, his horns are breaking through to shine on heaven.' In the one Babylonian design, a seal in the British Museum, [49] which
+seems referable to the legend of the Fall of Man, the male figure
+has horns. It may have been that this male Moon (Uru) was supposed
+to have been corrupted by some female emanation of Tiamat, and to
+have fallen from a 'ruler of the night' to an ally of the night. This
+female corrupter, who would correspond to Eve, might in this way have
+become mistress of the Moon, and ultimately identified with it.
+Although the cause of the original conflict between the Abyss
+beneath and the Heaven above is left by ancient inscriptions and
+scriptures to imagination, it is not a very strained hypothesis that
+ancient Chaos regarded the upper gods as aggressors on her domain
+in the work of creation. 'When above,' runs the Babylonian legend,
+'were not raised the heavens, and below on the earth a plant had not
+grown ... the chaos (or water) Tiamat was the producing mother of the
+whole of them.' 'The gods had not sprung up, any one of them.' Indeed in the legend of the conflict between Bel and the Dragon,
+on the Babylonian cylinders, it appears that the god Sar addressed
+her as wife, and said, 'The tribute to thy maternity shall be forced
+upon them by thy weapons.' [51] The Sun and Moon would naturally be
+drawn into any contest between Overworld (with Light) and Underworld
+(with Darkness).
+Though Tiamat is called a Dragon, she was pictured by the Babylonians
+only as a monstrous Griffin. In the Assyrian account of the fight
+it will be seen that she is called a 'Serpent.' The link between
+the two--Griffin and Serpent--will be found, I suspect, in Typhonic
+influence on the fable. In a hymn to Amen-Ra (the Sun), copied about
+fourteenth century b.c. from an earlier composition, as its translator,
+Mr. Goodwin, supposes, we have the following:--
+The gods rejoice in his goodness who exalts those who are lowly:
+Lord of the boat and barge,
+They conduct thee through the firmament in peace.
+Thy servants rejoice:
+Beholding the overthrow of the wicked:
+His limbs pierced with the sword:
+Fire consumes him:
+His soul and body are annihilated.
+Naka (the serpent) saves his feet:
+The gods rejoice:
+The servants of the Sun are in peace.
+The allusion in the second line indicates that this hymn relates to
+the navigation of Ra through Hades, and the destruction of Apophis.
+We may read next the Accadian tablet (p. 256) which speaks of the
+seven Hathors as neither male nor female, and as born in 'the Deep.'
+Another Accadian tablet, translated by Mr. Sayce, speaks of these
+as the 'baleful seven destroyers;' as 'born in the mountain of the
+sunset;' as being Incubi. It is significantly said:--'Among the
+stars of heaven their watch they kept not, in watching was their
+office.' Here is a primæval note of treachery. 
+We next come to a further phase, represented in a Cuneiform tablet,
+which must be quoted at length:--
+Days of storm, Powers of Evil,
+Rebellious spirits, who were born in the lower part of heaven,
+They were workers of calamity.
+(The lines giving the names and descriptions of the spirits are
+here broken.)
+The third was like a leopard,
+The fourth was like a snake ...
+The fifth was like a dog ...
+The sixth was an enemy to heaven and its king.
+The seventh was a destructive tempest.
+These seven are the messengers of Anu [53] their king.
+From place to place by turns they pass.
+They are the dark storms in heaven, which into fire unite
+themselves.
+They are the destructive tempests, which on a fine day sudden
+darkness cause.
+With storms and meteors they rush.
+Their rage ignites the thunderbolts of Im.     From the right hand of the Thunderer they dart forth.
+On the horizon of heaven like lightning they ...
+Against high heaven, the dwelling-place of Anu the king, they
+plotted evil, and had none to withstand them.
+When Bel heard this news, he communed secretly with his own heart.
+Then he took counsel with Hea the great Inventor (or Sage) of the
+gods.
+And they stationed the Moon, the Sun, and Ishtar to keep guard over
+the approach to heaven.
+Unto Anu, ruler of heaven, they told it.
+And those three gods, his children,
+To watch night and day unceasingly he commanded them.
+When those seven evil spirits rushed upon the base of heaven,
+And close in front of the Moon with fiery weapons advanced,
+Then the noble Sun and Im the warrior side by side stood firm.
+But Ishtar, with Anu the king, entered the exalted dwelling, and
+hid themselves in the summit of heaven.
+Column II.
+Those evil spirits, the messengers of Anu their king ...
+They have plotted evil ...
+From mid-heaven like meteors they have rushed upon the earth.
+Bel, who the noble Moon in eclipse
+Saw from heaven,
+Called aloud to Paku his messenger:
+O my messenger Paku, carry my words to the Deep.     Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed!
+To Hea in the Deep repeat this!
+Paku understood the words of his Lord.
+Unto Hea in the Deep swiftly he went.
+To the Lord, the great Inventor, the god Nukimmut,
+Paku repeated the words of his Lord.
+When Hea in the Deep heard these words,
+He bit his lips, and tears bedewed his face.
+Then he sent for his son Marduk to help him.
+Go to my son Marduk,
+Tell my son that the Moon in heaven is terribly eclipsed!
+That eclipse has been seen in heaven!
+They are seven, those evil spirits, and death they fear not!
+They are seven, those evil spirits, who rush like a hurricane,
+And fall like firebrands on the earth!
+In front of the bright Moon with fiery weapons (they draw nigh);
+But the noble Sun and Im the warrior (are withstanding them).
+Nukimmut is a name of Hea which occurs frequently: he was the good
+genius of the earth, and his son Marduk was his incarnation--a Herakles
+or Saviour. It will be noted that as yet Ishtar is in heaven. The
+next Tablet, which shows the development of the myth, introduces us
+to the great female dragon Tiamat herself, and her destroyer Bel.
+... And with it his right hand he armed.
+His naming sword he raised in his hand.
+He brandished his lightnings before him.
+A curved scymitar he carried on his body.
+And he made a sword to destroy the Dragon,
+Which turned four ways; so that none could avoid its rapid blows.
+It turned to the south, to the north, to the east, and to the west.
+Near to his sabre he placed the bow of his father Anu.
+He made a whirling thunderbolt, and a bolt with double flames,
+impossible to extinguish.
+And a quadruple bolt, and a septuple bolt, and a ... bolt of
+crooked fire.
+He took the thunderbolts which he had made, and there were seven
+of them,
+To be shot at the Dragon, and he put them into his quiver behind
+him.
+Then he raised his great sword, whose name was 'Lord of the Storm.'
+He mounted his chariot, whose name was 'Destroyer of the Impious.'
+He took his place, and lifted the four reins
+In his hand.
+[Bel now offers to the Dragon to decide their quarrel by single combat,
+which the Dragon accepts. This agrees with the representations of
+the combat on Babylonian cylinders in Mr. Smith's 'Chaldean Genesis,'
+p. 62, etc.]
+(Why seekest thou thus) to irritate me with blasphemies?
+Let thy army withdraw: let thy chiefs stand aside:
+Then I and thou (alone) we will do battle.
+When the Dragon heard this.
+Stand back! she said, and repeated her command.
+Then the tempter rose watchfully on high.
+Turning and twisting, she shifted her standing point,
+She watched his lightnings, she provided for retreat.
+The warrior angels sheathed their swords.
+Then the Dragon attacked the just Prince of the gods.
+Strongly they joined in the trial of battle,
+The King drew his sword, and dealt rapid blows,
+Then he took his whirling thunderbolt, and looked well behind
+and before him:
+And when the Dragon opened her mouth to swallow him,
+He flung the bolt into her, before she could shut her lips.
+The blazing lightning poured into her inside.
+He pulled out her heart; her mouth he rent open;
+He drew his (falchion), and cut open her belly.
+He cut into her inside and extracted her heart;
+He took vengeance on her, and destroyed her life.
+When he knew she was dead he boasted over her.
+After that the Dragon their leader was slain,
+Her troops took to flight: her army was scattered abroad,
+And the angels her allies, who had come to help her,
+Retreated, grew quiet, and went away.
+They fled from thence, fearing for their own lives,
+And saved themselves, flying to places beyond pursuit.
+He followed them, their weapons he broke up.
+Broken they lay, and in great heaps they were captured.
+A crowd of followers, full of astonishment,
+Its remains lifted up, and on their shoulders hoisted.
+And the eleven tribes pouring in after the battle
+In great multitudes, coming to see,
+Gazed at the monstrous serpent....
+In the fragment just quoted we have the 'flaming sword which turned
+every way' (Gen. iii. 24). The seven distinct forms of evil are but
+faintly remembered in the seven thunderbolts taken by Bel: they are
+now all virtually gathered into the one form he combats, and are
+thus on their way to form the seven-headed dragon of the Apocalypse,
+where Michael replaces Bel. [56] 'The angels, her allies who had come
+to help her,' are surely that 'third part of the stars of heaven'
+which the apocalyptic dragon's tail drew to the earth in its fall
+(Rev. xii. 4). Bel's dragon is also called a 'Tempter.'
+At length we reach the brief but clear account of the 'Revolt in
+Heaven' found in a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum, and
+translated by Mr. Fox Talbot: [57]--
+The Divine Being spoke three times, the commencement of a psalm.
+The god of holy songs, Lord of religion and worship
+seated a thousand singers and musicians: and established a choral
+band who to his hymn were to respond in multitudes....
+With a loud cry of contempt they broke up his holy song
+spoiling, confusing, confounding his hymn of praise.
+The god of the bright crown with a wish to summon his
+adherents sounded a trumpet blast which would wake the dead,
+which to those rebel angels prohibited return
+he stopped their service, and sent them to the gods who were his
+enemies.
+In their room he created mankind.
+The first who received life, dwelt along with him.
+May he give them strength never to neglect his word,
+following the serpent's voice, whom his hands had made.
+And may the god of divine speech expel from his five thousand
+that wicked thousand
+who in the midst of his heavenly song had shouted evil blasphemies!
+It will be observed that there were already hostile gods to whom
+these riotous angels were sent. It is clear that in both the Egyptian
+and Assyrian cosmogonies the upper gods had in their employ many
+ferocious monsters. Thus in the Book of Hades, Horus addresses a
+terrible serpent: 'My Kheti, great fire, of which this flame in
+my eye is the emission, and of which my children guard the folds,
+open thy mouth, draw wide thy jaws, launch thy flame against the
+enemies of my father, burn their bodies, consume their souls!' Many such instances could be quoted. In this same book we find a great
+serpent, Saa-Set, 'Guardian of the Earth.' Each of the twelve pylons
+of Hades is surmounted by its serpent-guards--except one. What has
+become of that one? In the last inscription but one, quoted in full,
+it will be observed (third line from the last) that eleven (angel)
+tribes came in after Bel's battle to inspect the slain dragon. The
+twelfth had revolted. These, we may suppose, had listened to 'the
+serpent's voice' mentioned in the last fragment quoted.
+We have thus distributed through these fragments all the elements
+which, from Egyptian and Assyrian sources gathered around the legend
+of the Serpent in Eden. The Tree of Knowledge and that of Life are
+not included, and I have given elsewhere my reasons for believing
+these to be importations from the ancient Aryan legend of the war
+between the Devas and Asuras for the immortalising Amrita.
+In the last fragment quoted we have also a notable statement, that
+mankind were created to fill the places that had been occupied by the
+fallen angels. It is probable that this notion supplied the basis
+of a class of legends of which Lilith is type. She whose place Eve
+was created to fill was a serpent-woman, and the earliest mention
+of her is in the exorcism already quoted, found at Nineveh. In all
+probability she is but another form of Gula, the fallen Istar and
+Queen of Hades; in which case her conspiracy with the serpent Samaël
+would be the Darkness which was upon the face of Bahu, 'the Deep,'
+in the second verse of the Bible.
+The Bible opens with the scene of the gods conquering the Dragon of
+Darkness with Light. There is a rabbinical legend, that when Light
+issued from under the throne of God, the Prince of Darkness asked the
+Creator wherefore he had brought Light into existence? God answered
+that it was in order that he might be driven back to his abode of
+darkness. The evil one asked that he might see that; and entering
+the stream of Light, he saw across time and the world, and beheld the
+face of the Messiah. Then he fell upon his face and cried, 'This is
+he who shall lay low in ruin me and all the inhabitants of hell!'
+What the Prince of Darkness saw was the vision of a race: beginning
+with the words (Gen. i. 3, 4), 'God said, Let there be Light; and
+there was Light; and God saw the Light that it was good; and God
+divided between the Light and the Darkness;' ending with Rev. xx. 1,
+2, 'And I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the
+bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on
+the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound
+him a thousand years.'
+WAR ON EARTH.
+The Abode of Devils--Ketef--Disorder--Talmudic legends--The
+restless Spirit--The Fall of Lucifer--Asteria, Hecate, Lilith--The
+Dragon's triumph--A Gipsy legend--Cædmon's Poem of the Rebellious
+Angels--Milton's version--The Puritans and Prince Rupert--Bel as
+ally of the Dragon--A 'Mystery' in Marionettes--European Hells.
+'Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them! Woe to the earth
+and the sea! for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath,
+because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.' This passage from
+the Book of Revelations is the refrain of many and much earlier
+scriptures. The Assyrian accounts of the war in heaven, given in
+the preceding chapter, by no means generally support the story that
+the archdragon was slain by Bel. Even the one that does describe the
+chief dragon's death leaves her comrades alive, and the balance of
+testimony is largely in favour of the theory which prevailed, that the
+rebellious angels were merely cast out of heaven, and went to swell
+the ranks of the dark and fearful abode which from the beginning had
+been peopled by the enemies of the gods. The nature of this abode is
+described in various passages of the Bible, and in many traditions.
+'Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of
+the land.' So said Jeremiah (i. 14), in pursuance of nearly universal
+traditions as to the region of space in which demons and devils
+had their abode. 'Hell is naked before him,' says Job (xxvi. 6),
+'and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the north over
+the empty place.' According to the Hebrew mythology this habitation
+of demons was a realm of perpetual cold and midnight, which Jehovah,
+in creating the world, purposely left chaotic; so it was prepared
+for the Devil and his angels at the foundation of the world.
+Although this northern hell was a region of disorder, so far as the
+people of Jehovah and the divine domain were concerned, they had
+among themselves a strong military and aristocratic government. It
+was disorder perfectly systematised. The anarchical atmosphere of
+the region is reflected in the abnormal structures ascribed to the
+many devils with whose traits Jewish and Arabic folklore is familiar,
+and which are too numerous to be described here. Such a devil, for
+instance, is Bedargon, 'hand-high,' with fifty heads and fifty-six
+hearts, who cannot strike any one or be struck, instant death ensuing
+to either party in such an attack. A more dangerous devil is Ketef,
+identified as the 'terror from the chambers' alluded to by Jeremiah
+(xxxii. 25), 'Bitter Pestilence.' His name is said to be from kataf,
+'cut and split,' because he divides the course of the day; and those
+who are interested to compare Hebrew and Hindu myths may find it
+interesting to note the coincidences between Ketef and Ketu, the
+cut-off tail of Ráhu, and source of pestilence. [59] Ketef reigns
+neither in the dark or day, but between the two; his power over the
+year is limited to the time between June 17 and July 9, during which
+it was considered dangerous to flog children or let them go out after
+four P.M. Ketef is calf-headed, and consists of hide, hair, and eyes;
+he rolls like a cask; he has a terrible horn, but his chief terror
+lies in an evil eye fixed in his heart which none can see without
+instant death. The arch-fiend who reigns over the infernal host has
+many Court Fools--probably meteors and comets--who lead men astray.
+All these devils have their regulations in their own domain, but, as
+we have said, their laws mean disorder in that part of the universe
+which belongs to the family of Jehovah. In flying about the world
+they are limited to places which are still chaotic or waste. They
+haunt such congenial spots as rocks and ruins, and frequent desert,
+wilderness, dark mountains, and the ruins of human habitations. They
+can take possession of a wandering star.
+There is a pretty Talmudic legend of a devil having once gone to sleep,
+when some one, not seeing him of course, set down a cask of wine on
+his ears. In leaping up the devil broke the cask, and being tried for
+it, was condemned to repay the damage at a certain period. The period
+having elapsed before the money was brought, the devil was asked the
+cause of the delay. He replied that it was very difficult for devils
+to obtain money, because men were careful to keep it locked or tied
+up; and 'we have no power,' he said, 'to take from anything bound
+or sealed up, nor can we take anything that is measured or counted;
+we are permitted to take only what is free or common.'
+According to one legend the devils were specially angered, because
+Jehovah, when he created man, gave him dominion over things in the
+sea (Gen. i. 28), that being a realm of unrest and tempest which they
+claimed as belonging to themselves. They were denied control of the
+life that is in the sea, though permitted a large degree of power
+over its waters. Over the winds their rule was supreme, and it was
+only by reducing certain demons to slavery that Solomon was able to
+ride in a wind-chariot.
+Out of these several realms of order and disorder in nature were
+evolved the angels and the devils which were supposed to beset man. The
+first man is said to have been like an angel. From the instant of
+his creation there attended him two spirits, whom the rabbins found
+shadowed out in the sentence, 'Jehovah-Elohim formed man of the dust
+of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
+and man became a living soul' (Gen. ii. 7). This 'breath of life'
+was a holy spirit, and stood on Adam's right; the 'living soul' was a
+restless spirit on his left, which continually moved up and down. When
+Adam had sinned, this restless spirit became a diabolical spirit,
+and it has ever acted as mediator between man and the realm of anarchy.
+It has been mentioned that in the Assyrian legends of the Revolt in
+Heaven we find no adequate intimation of the motive by which the rebels
+were actuated. It is said they interrupted the heavenly song, that they
+brought on an eclipse, that they afflicted human beings with disease;
+but why they did all this is not stated. The motive of the serpent
+in tempting Eve is not stated in Genesis. The theory which Cædmon
+and Milton have made so familiar, that the dragons aspired to rival
+Jehovah, and usurp the throne of Heaven, must, however, have been
+already popular in the time of Isaiah. In his rhapsody concerning
+the fall of Babylon, he takes his rhetoric from the story of Bel
+and the Dragon, and turns a legend, as familiar to every Babylonian
+as that of St. George and the Dragon now is to Englishmen, into an
+illustration of their own doom. The invective is directed against
+the King of Babylon, consequently the sex of the devil is changed;
+but the most remarkable change is in the ascription to Lucifer of a
+clear purpose to rival the Most High, and seize the throne of heaven.
+'Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming,
+it stirreth up the (spirits of) the dead, even all the chief ones
+(great goats) of the earth: it hath raised up from their thrones all
+the kings of the nations (demon-begotten aliens). All these shall
+say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like
+unto us? Thy splendour is brought down to the underworld, and the
+noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms
+cover thee. How art thou fallen, O Lucifer (Daystar), son of the
+morning! how art thou cut down to the ground which didst weaken the
+nations! For thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into (the
+upper) heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars (archangels)
+of God: I will sit (reign) also upon the mount of the congregation
+(the assembly of the enemies of God) in the sides of the north. I will
+ascend above the heights of the clouds (the thunder-throne of Jehovah);
+I will be like the Most High. Yet shalt thou be brought down to hell,
+to the sides of the pit.' 
+In this passage we mark the arena of the combat shifted from heaven
+to earth. It is not the throne of heaven but that of the world at
+which the fiends now aim. Nay, there is confession in every line of
+the prophecy that the enemy of Jehovah has usurped his throne. Hell
+has prevailed, and Lucifer is the Prince of this World. The celestial
+success has not been maintained on earth. This would be the obvious
+fact to a humiliated, oppressed, heavily-taxed people, who believed
+themselves the one family on earth sprung from Jehovah, and their
+masters the offspring of demons. This situation gave to the vague
+traditions of a single combat between Bel and the Dragon, about an
+eclipse or a riot, the significance which it retained ever afterward of
+a mighty conflict on earth between the realms of Light and Darkness,
+between which the Elohim had set a boundary-line (Gen. i. 4) in
+the beginning.
+A similar situation returned when the Jews were under the sway of
+Rome, and then all that had ever been said of Babylon was repeated
+against Rome under the name of Edom. It recurred in the case of those
+Jews who acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah: in the pomp and glory
+of the Cæsars they beheld the triumph of the Powers of Darkness,
+and the burthen of Isaiah against Lucifer was raised again in that
+of the Apocalypse against the seven-headed Dragon. It is notable how
+these writers left out of sight the myth of Eden so far as it did
+not belong to their race. Isaiah does not say anything even of the
+serpent. The Apocalypse says nothing of the two wonderful trees, and
+the serpent appears only as a Dragon from whom the woman is escaping,
+by whom she is not at all tempted. The shape of the Devil, and the
+Combat with him, have always been determined by dangers and evils
+that are actual, not such as are archæological.
+A gipsy near Edinburgh gave me his version of the combat between God
+and Satan as follows. 'When God created the universe and all things
+in it, Satan tried to create a rival universe. He managed to match
+everything pretty well except man. There he failed; and God to punish
+his pride cast him down to the earth and bound him with a chain. But
+this chain was so long that Satan was able to move over the whole
+face of the earth!' There had got into this wanderer's head some bit
+of the Babylonian story, and it was mingled with Gnostic traditions
+about Ildabaoth; but there was also a quaint suggestion in Satan's
+long chain of the migration of this mythical combat not only round
+the world, but through the ages.
+The early followers of Christ came before the glories of Paganism
+with the legend that the lowly should inherit the earth. And though
+they speedily surrendered to the rulers of the world in Rome, and made
+themselves into a christian aristocracy, when they came into Northern
+Europe the christians were again brought to confront with an humble
+system the religion of thrones and warriors. St. Gatien celebrating
+mass in a cavern beside the Loire, meant as much weakness in presence
+of Paganism as the Huguenots felt twelve centuries later hiding in
+the like caverns from St. Gatien's priestly successors.
+The burthen of Isaiah is heard again, and with realistic intensity,
+in the seventh century, and in the north, with our patriarchial
+poet Cædmon.
+The All-powerful had
+Angel-tribes,
+Through might of hand,
+The holy Lord,
+Ten established,
+In whom he trusted well
+That they his service
+Would follow,
+Work his will;
+Therefore gave he them wit,
+And shaped them with his hands,
+The holy Lord.
+He had placed them so happily,
+One he had made so powerful,
+So mighty in his mind's thought,
+He let him sway over so much,
+Highest after himself in heaven's kingdom.
+He had made him so fair,
+So beauteous was his form in heaven,
+That came to him from the Lord of hosts,
+He was like to the light stars.
+It was his to work the praise of the Lord,
+It was his to hold dear his joys in heaven,
+And to thank his Lord
+For the reward that he had bestowed on him in that light;
+Then had he let him long possess it;
+But he turned it for himself to a worse thing,
+Began to raise war upon him,
+Against the highest Ruler of heaven,
+Who sitteth in the holy seat.
+Dear was he to our Lord,
+But it might not be hidden from him
+That his angel began
+To be presumptuous,
+Raised himself against his Master,
+Sought speech of hate,
+Words of pride towards him,
+Would not serve God,
+Said that his body was
+Light and beauteous,
+Fair and bright of hue:
+He might not find in his mind
+That he would God
+In subjection,
+His Lord, serve:
+Seemed to himself
+That he a power and force
+Had greater
+Than the holy God
+Could have
+Of adherents.
+Many words spake
+The angel of presumption:
+Thought, through his own power,
+How he for himself a stronger
+Seat might make,
+Higher in heaven:
+Said that him his mind impelled,
+That he west and north
+Would begin to work,
+Would prepare structures:
+Said it to him seemed doubtful
+That he to God would
+Be a vassal.
+'Why shall I toil?' said he;
+'To me it is no whit needful.
+To have a superior;
+I can with my hands as many
+Wonders work;
+I have great power
+To form
+A diviner throne,
+A higher in heaven.
+Why shall I for his favour serve,
+Bend to him in such vassalage?
+I may be a god as he
+Stand by me strong associates,
+Who will not fail me in the strife,
+Heroes stern of mood,
+They have chosen me for chief,
+Renowned warriors!
+With such may one devise counsel,
+With such capture his adherents;
+They are my zealous friends,
+Faithful in their thoughts;
+I may be their chieftain,
+Sway in this realm:
+Thus to me it seemeth not right
+That I in aught
+Need cringe
+To God for any good;
+I will no longer be his vassal.'
+When the All-powerful it
+All had heard,
+That his angel devised
+Great presumption
+To raise up against his Master,
+And spake proud words
+Foolishly against his Lord,
+Then must he expiate the deed,
+Share the work of war,
+And for his punishment must have
+Of all deadly ills the greatest.
+So doth every man
+Who against his Lord
+Deviseth to war,
+With crime against the great Ruler.
+Then was the Mighty angry;
+The highest Ruler of heaven
+Hurled him from the lofty seat;
+Hate had he gained at his Lord,
+His favour he had lost,
+Incensed with him was the Good in his mind,
+Therefore must he seek the gulf
+Of hard hell-torment,
+For that he had warred with heaven's Ruler,
+He rejected him then from his favour,
+And cast him into hell,
+Into the deep parts,
+Where he became a devil:
+The fiend with all his comrades
+Fell then from heaven above,
+Through as long as three nights and days,
+The angels from heaven into hell;
+And them all the Lord transformed to devils,
+Because they his deed and word
+Would not revere;
+Therefore them in a worse light,
+Under the earth beneath,
+Almighty God
+Had placed triumphless
+In the swart hell;
+There they have at even,
+Immeasurably long,
+Each of all the fiends,
+A renewal of fire;
+Then cometh ere dawn
+The eastern wind,
+Frost bitter-cold,
+Ever fire or dart;
+Some hard torment
+They must have,
+It was wrought for them in punishment,
+Their world was changed:
+For their sinful course
+He filled hell
+With the apostates.
+Whether this spirited description was written by Cædmon, and whether
+it is of his century, are questions unimportant to the present
+inquiry. The poem represents a mediæval notion which long prevailed,
+and which characterised the Mysteries, that Satan and his comrades
+were humiliated from the highest angelic rank to a hell already
+prepared and peopled with devils, and were there, and by those devils,
+severely punished. One of the illuminations of the Cædmon manuscript,
+preserved in the Bodleian Library, shows Satan undergoing his torment
+(Fig. 3). He is bound over something like a gridiron, and four devils
+are torturing him, the largest using a scourge with six prongs. His
+face manifests great suffering. His form is mainly human, but his
+bushy tail and animal feet indicate that he has been transformed to
+a devil similar to those who chastise him.
+On Cædmon's foundation Milton built his gorgeous edifice. His
+Satan is an ambitious and very English lord, in whom are reflected
+the whole aristocracy of England in their hatred and contempt of
+the holy Puritan Commonwealth, the Church of Christ as he deemed
+it. The ages had brought round a similar situation to that which
+confronted the Jews at Babylon, the early Christians of Rome, and
+their missionaries among the proud pagan princes of the north. The
+Church had long allied itself with the earlier Lucifers of the north,
+and now represented the proud empire of a satanic aristocracy, and
+the persecuted Nonconformists represented the authority of the King
+of kings. In the English palace, and in the throne of Canterbury,
+Milton saw his Beelzebub and his Satan.
+Th' infernal serpent; he it was, whose guile,
+Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
+The mother of mankind, what time his pride
+Had cast him out from heav'n, with all his host
+Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring
+To set himself in glory above his peers
+He trusted to have equall'd the Most High,
+If he opposed; and with ambitious aim
+Against the throne and monarchy of God
+Raised impious war in heav'n, and battle proud,
+With vain attempt. Him the almighty Power
+Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
+With hideous ruin and combustion, down
+To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
+In adamantine chains and penal fire,
+Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms. 
+This adaptation of the imagery of Isaiah concerning Lucifer has in
+it all the thunder hurled by Cromwell against Charles. Even a Puritan
+poet might not altogether repress admiration for the dash and daring
+of a Prince Rupert, to which indeed even his prosaic co-religionists
+paid the compliment of ascribing to it a diabolical source. [62] Not
+amid conflicts that raged in ancient Syria broke forth such lines as--
+Better to reign in hell, than serve in heav'n.
+With rallied arms to try what may be yet
+Regain'd in heav'n, or what more lost in hell.
+The Bel whom Milton saw was Cromwell, and the Dragon that serpent
+of English oppression which the Dictator is trampling on in a
+well-known engraving of his time. In the history of the Reformation
+the old legend did manifold duty again, as in the picture (Fig. 13)
+by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach.
+It would seem that in the course of time Bel and the Dragon became
+sufficiently close allies for their worshippers to feed and defend
+them both with equal devotion, and for Daniel to explode them both in
+carrying on the fight of his deity against the gods of Babylon. This
+story of Bel is apocryphal as to the canon, but highly significant as
+to the history we are now considering. Although the Jews maintained
+their struggle against 'principalities and powers' long after it had
+been a forlorn hope, and never surrendered, nor made alliance with the
+Dragon, the same cannot be said of those who appropriated their title
+of 'the chosen of God,' counterfeited their covenant, and travestied
+their traditions. The alliance of Christianity and the Dragon has
+not been nominal, but fearfully real. In fulfilling their mission of
+'inheriting the earth,' the 'meek' called around them and pressed into
+their service agents and weapons more diabolical than any with which
+the Oriental imagination had peopled the abode of devils in the north.
+At a Fair in Tours (August 1878) I saw two exhibitions which were
+impressive enough in the light they cast through history. One was
+a shrunken and sufficiently grotesque production by puppets of the
+Mediæval 'Mystery' of Hell. Nearly every old scheme and vision of
+the underworld was represented in the scene. The three Judges sat
+to hear each case. A devil rang a bell whenever any culprit appeared
+at the gate. The accused was ushered in by a winged devil--Satan, the
+Accuser--who, by the show-woman's lips, stated the charges against each
+with an eager desire to make him or her out as wicked as possible. A
+devil with pitchfork received the sentenced, and shoved them down into
+a furnace. There was an array of brilliant dragons around, but they
+appeared to have nothing to do beyond enjoying the spectacle. But this
+exhibition which was styled 'Twenty minutes in Hell,' was poor and
+faint beside the neighbouring exhibition of the real Hell, in which
+Europe had been tortured for fifteen centuries. Some industrious
+Germans had got together in one large room several hundreds of the
+instruments of torture by which the nations of the West were persuaded
+to embrace Christianity. Every limb, sinew, feature, bone, and nerve of
+the human frame had suggested to christian inventiveness some ingenious
+device by which it might be tortured. Wheels on which to break bones,
+chairs of anguish, thumbscrews, the iron Virgin whose embrace pierced
+through every vital part; the hunger-mask which renewed for Christ's
+sake the exact torment of Tantalus; even the machine which bore the
+very name of the enemy that was cast down--the Dragon's Head! By such
+instrumentalities came those quasi-miraculous 'Triumphs of the Cross,'
+of which so much has been said and sung! The most salient phenomenon
+of christian history is the steady triumph of the Dragon. Misleader
+and Deceiver to the last, he is quite willing to sprinkle his fork
+and rack with holy water, to cross himself, to label his caldrons
+'divine justice,' to write CHRIST upon his forehead; by so doing he
+was able to spring his infernal engine on the best nations, and cow
+the strongest hearts, till from their pallid lips were wrung the
+'confessions of faith,' or the last cry of martyred truth. So was
+he able to assault the pure heavens once more, to quench the stars
+of human faith and hope, and generate a race of polite, learned,
+and civilised hypocrites. But the ancient sunbeams are after him:
+the mandate has again gone forth, 'Let there be light,' and the Light
+that now breaks forth is not of that kind which respects the limit
+of Darkness.
+STRIFE.
+Hebrew god of War--Samaël--The father's blessing and curse--Esau
+--Edom--Jacob and the Phantom--The planet Mars--Tradesman and
+Huntsman--'The Devil's Dream.'
+Who is this that cometh from Edom,
+In dyed garments from Bozrah?
+This that is glorious in his apparel,
+Travelling in the greatness of his strength?
+I who promise deliverance, mighty to save.
+Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel,
+And thy garments like him that treadeth the wine-vat?
+I have trodden the wine-press alone;
+And of the peoples there was none with me:
+And I will tread them in mine anger,
+And trample them in my fury;
+And their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
+And I will stain all my raiment.
+For the day of vengeance is in my heart,
+And the year of mine avenged is come.
+And I looked, and there was none to help;
+And I wondered that there was none to uphold;
+Therefore mine own arm gained me the victory,
+And mine own fury, it upheld me.
+And I will tread down the peoples in mine anger,
+And make them drunk in my wrath,
+And will bring down their strength to the earth. 
+This is the picture of the god of War. Upon it the comment in Emek
+Hammelech is: 'The colour of the godless Samaël and of all his princes
+and lords has the aspect of red fire; and all their emanations are
+red. Samaël is red, also his horse, his sword, his raiment, and the
+ground beneath him, are red. In the future the Holy God shall wear
+his raiment.' [64] Samaël is leader of the Opposition. He is the
+Soul of the fiery planet Mars. He is the Creator and inspirer of
+all Serpents. Azazel, demon of the Desert, is his First Lord. He was
+the terrestrial Chief around whom the fallen angels gathered, and his
+great power was acknowledged. All these characters the ancient Rabbins
+found blended in his name. Simmé (dazzling), Sóme (blinding), Semól
+(the left side), and Samhammaveth (deadly poison), were combined in
+the terrible name of Samaël. He ruled over the sinister Left. When
+Moses, in war with the Amalekites, raised his ten fingers, it was a
+special invocation to the Ten Sephiroth, Divine Emanations, because
+he knew the power which the Amalekites got from Samaël might turn his
+own left hand against Israel. [65] The scapegoat was a sacrifice to
+him through Azazel.
+Samaël is the mythologic expression and embodiment of the history of
+Esau, afterward Edom. Jacob and Esau represented the sheep and the
+goat, divided in the past and to be sundered for ever. As Jacob by
+covering his flesh with goat-skins obtained his father's blessing due
+to Esau, the Israelites wandering through the wilderness (near Edom's
+forbidden domain) seemed to have faith that the offering of a goat
+would convince his Viceroy Azazel that they were orthodox Edomites. The
+redness of Samaël begins with the red pottage from which Esau was
+called Edom. The English version does not give the emphasis with which
+Esau is said to have called for the pottage--"the red! the red!" The
+characteristics ascribed to Esau in the legend are merely a saga built
+on the local names with which he was associated. 'Edom' means red,
+and 'Seir' means hairy. It probably meant the 'Shaggy Mountains.' 
+It is interesting to observe the parting of the human and the
+theological myths in this story. Jacob is the third person of a
+patriarchal trinity,--Abraham the Heavenly Father, Isaac the Laugher
+(the Sun), and Jacob the Impostor or Supplanter. As the moon supplants
+the sun, takes hold of his heel, shines with his light, so does Jacob
+supplant his elder brother; and all the deadliness ascribed to the
+Moon, and other Third Persons of Trinities, was inherited by Jacob
+until his name was changed by euphemism. As the impartial sun shines
+for good and evil, the smile of Isaac, the Laugher, promised great
+blessings to both of his sons. The human myth therefore represents
+both of them gaining great power and wealth, and after a long feud
+they are reconciled. This feature of the legend we shall consider
+hereafter. Jehovah has another interest to be secured. He had
+declared that one should serve the other; that they should be
+cursed who cursed Jacob; and he said, 'Jacob have I loved, Esau
+have I hated.' Jahvistic theology had here something more important
+than two brothers to harmonise; namely a patriarch's blessing and
+a god's curse. It was contrary to all orthodoxy that a man whom
+Jehovah hated should possess the blessings of life; it was equally
+unorthodox that a father's blessing should not carry with it every
+advantage promised. It had to be recorded that Esau became powerful,
+lived by his sword, and had great possessions.
+It had also to be recorded that 'Edom revolted from under the hand of
+Judah and made a king unto themselves,' and that such independence
+continued 'unto this day' (2 Kings viii. 20, 22). There was thus no
+room for the exhibition of Jacob's superiority,--that is of Israel's
+priority over Edom,--in this world; nor yet any room to carry out
+Isaac's curse on all who cursed Jacob, and the saying: 'Jacob have
+I loved, Esau have I hated, and laid his mountains and his heritage
+waste for the dragons of the wilderness' (Mal. i.).
+Answers to such problems as these evolve themselves slowly
+but inevitably. The agonised cry of the poor girl in Browning's
+poem--'There may be heaven, there must be hell'--marks the direction in
+which necessity led human speculation many ages before her. A future
+had to be invented for the working out of the curse on Esau, who on
+earth had to fulfil his father's blessing by enjoying power, wealth,
+and independence of his brother. In that future his greatness while
+living was repaid by his relegation to the desert and the rock with
+the he-goat for his support. Esau was believed to have been changed
+into a terrible hairy devil. [67] But still there followed him in his
+phantasmal transformation a ghostly environment of his former power
+and greatness; the boldest and holiest could not afford to despise
+or set aside that 'share' which had been allotted him in the legend,
+and could not be wholly set aside in the invisible world.
+Jacob's share began with a shrewd bargain with his imprudent
+brother. Jacob by his cunning in the breeding of the streaked animals
+(Gen. xxx.), by which he outwitted Laban, and other manoeuvres, was
+really the cause of bringing on the race called after him that repute
+for extortion, affixed to them in such figures as Shylock, which they
+have found it so hard to live down. In becoming the great barterers
+of the East, their obstacle was the plunderer sallying forth from
+the mountain fastnesses or careering over the desert. These were the
+traditional descendants of Esau, who gradually included the Ishmaelites
+as well as the Edomites, afterwards merged in the Idumeans. But as
+the tribal distinctions became lost, the ancient hostility survived
+in the abstract form of this satan of Strife--Samaël. He came to
+mean the spirit that stirs up antagonism between those who should be
+brethren. He finally became, and among the more superstitious Jews
+still is, instigator of the cruel persecutions which have so long
+pursued their race, and the prejudices against them which survive
+even in countries to whose wealth, learning, and arts they have
+largely contributed. In Jewish countries Edom has long been a name
+for the power of Rome and Romanism, somewhat in the same way as the
+same are called 'Babylon' by some christians. Jacob, when passing
+into the wilderness of Edom, wrestled with the invisible power of
+Esau, or Samaël, and had not been able to prevail except with a lame
+thigh,--a part which, in every animal, Israel thereafter held sacred
+to the Opposing Power and abstained from eating. A rabbinical legend
+represents Jacob as having been bitten by a serpent while he was
+lingering about the boundary of Edom, and before his gift of goats
+and other cattle had been offered to his brother. The fiery serpents
+which afflicted Israel were universally attributed to Samaël, and
+the raising of the Brazen Serpent for the homage of the people was an
+instance of the uniform deference to Esau's power in his own domain
+which was long inculcated.
+As I write, fiery Mars, near enough for the astronomer to detect
+its moons, is a wondrous phenomenon in the sky. Beneath it fearful
+famine is desolating three vast countries, war is raging between
+two powerful nations, and civil strife is smiting another ere it has
+fairly recovered from the wounds of a foreign struggle. The dismal
+conditions seem to have so little root in political necessity that
+one might almost be pardoned even now for dreaming that some subtle
+influence has come among men from the red planet that has approached
+the earth. How easy then must it have been in a similar conjunction of
+earthly and celestial phenomena to have imagined Samaël, the planetary
+Spectre, to be at work with his fatal fires! Whatever may have been
+the occasion, the red light of Mars at an early period fixed upon that
+planet the odium of all the burning, blighting, desert-producing powers
+of which it was thought necessary to relieve the adorable Sun. It
+was believed that all 'born under' that planet were quarrelsome. And
+it was part of the popular Jewish belief in the ultimate triumph of
+good over evil that under Mars the Messias was to be born.
+We may regard Esau-Samaël then as the Devil of Strife. His traditional
+son Cain was like himself a 'murderer from the beginning;' [68] but in
+that early period the conflict was between the nomad and the huntsman
+on one side, on the other the agriculturist and the cattle-breeder,
+who was never regarded as a noble figure among the Semitic tribes. In
+the course of time some Semitic tribes became agriculturists, and among
+them, in defiance of his archæological character, Samaël was saddled
+with the evils that beset them. As an ox he brought rinderpest. But
+his visible appearance was still more generally that of the raven,
+the wild ass, the hog which brought scurvy; while in shape of a dog
+he was so generally believed to bring deadly disease, that it would
+seem as if 'hydrophobia' was specially attributed to him.
+In process of time benignant Peace dwelt more and more with the
+agriculturists, but still among the Israelites the tradesman was
+the 'coming man,' and to him peace was essential. The huntsman, of
+the Esau clan, figures in many legends, of which the following is
+translated from the Arabic by Lane:--There was a huntsman who from a
+mountain cave brought some honey in his water-skin, which he offered
+to an oilman; when the oilman opened the skin a drop of honey fell
+which a bird ate; the oilman's cat sprang on the bird and killed it;
+the huntsman's hound killed the cat; the oilman killed the dog; the
+huntsman killed the oilman; and as the two men belonged to different
+villages, their inhabitants rose against each other in battle,
+'and there died of them a great multitude, the number of whom none
+knoweth but God, whose name be exalted!' 
+Esau's character as a wild huntsman is referred to in another
+chapter. It is as the genius of strife and nomadic war that he more
+directly stands in contrast with his 'supplanter.'
+From the wild elemental demons of storm and tempest of the most
+primitive age to this Devil of Strife, the human mind has associated
+evil with unrest. 'The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot
+rest.' Such is the burthen of the Japanese Oni throned in the heart
+of the hurricane, of the wild huntsman issuing forth at the first
+note of war, of Edom hating the victories of peace, living by the
+sword. The prophecy that the Prince of Peace should be born under
+the planet Mars is a strange and mystical suggestion. In a powerful
+poem by Thomas Aird, 'The Devil's Dream,' the last fearful doom of
+Satan's vision is imprisonment beneath a lake for ever still,--the
+Spirit of Unrest condemned for ever to the realm of absolute stillness!
+There all is solemn idleness: no music here, no jars,
+Where Silence guards the coast, e'er thrill her everlasting bars.
+No sun here shines on wanton isles; but o'er the burning sheet
+A rim of restless halo shakes, which marks the internal heat;
+As, in the days of beauteous earth, we see with dazzled sight
+The red and setting sun o'erflow with rings of welling light.
+Oh! here in dread abeyance lurks of uncreated things
+The last Lake of God's Wrath, where He His first great Enemy brings.
+Deep in the bosom of the gulf the Fiend was made to stay,
+Till, as it seemed, ten thousand years had o'er him rolled away;
+In dreams he had extended life to bear the fiery space;
+But all was passive, dull, and stern within his dwelling-place.
+Oh! for a blast of tenfold ire to rouse the giant surge,
+Him from that flat fixed lethargy impetuously to urge!
+Let him but rise, but ride upon the tempest-crested wave
+Of fire enridged tumultuously, each angry thing he'd brave!
+The strokes of Wrath, thick let them fall! a speed so glorious dread
+Would bear him through, the clinging pains would strip from off
+his head.
+The vision of this Last Stern Lake, oh! how it plagued his soul,
+Type of that dull eternity that on him soon must roll,
+When plans and issues all must cease that earlier care beguiled,
+And never era more shall stand a landmark on the wild:
+Nor failure nor success is there, nor busy hope nor fame,
+But passive fixed endurance, all eternal and the same.
+BARBARIC ARISTOCRACY.
+Jacob, the 'Impostor'--The Barterer--Esau, the 'Warrior'--Barbarian
+Dukes--Trade and War--Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau--Their
+Ghosts--Legend of Iblis--Pagan Warriors of Europe--Russian
+Hierarchy of Hell.
+In the preceding chapter it was noted that there were two myths
+wrapped up in the story of Jacob and Esau,--the one theological,
+the other human. The former was there treated, the latter may be
+considered here. Rabbinical theology has made the Jewish race adopt
+as their founder that tricky patriarch whom Shylock adopted as his
+model; but any censure on them for that comes with little grace
+from christians who believe that they are still enjoying a covenant
+which Jacob's extortions and treacheries were the divinely-adopted
+means of confirming. It is high time that the Jewish people should
+repudiate Jacob's proceedings, and if they do not give him his first
+name ('Impostor') back again, at least withdraw from him the name
+Israel. But it is still more important for mankind to study the phases
+of their civilisation, and not attribute to any particular race the
+spirit of a legend which represents an epoch of social development
+throughout the world.
+When Rebekah asked Jehovah why her unborn babes struggled in her
+womb, he answered, 'Two nations are in thy womb. One people shall
+be stronger than the other people; the elder shall be subject to
+the younger.' What peoples these were is described in the blessings
+of Jacob on the two representatives when they had grown up to be,
+the one red and hairy, a huntsman; the other a quiet man, dwelling
+in tents and builder of cattle-booths.
+Jacob--cunning, extortionate, fraudulent in spirit even when
+technically fair--is not a pleasing figure in the eyes of the
+nineteenth century. But he does not belong to the nineteenth
+century. His contest was with Esau. The very names of them belong
+to mythology; they are not individual men; they are conflicting
+tendencies and interests of a primitive period. They must be thought
+of as Israel and Edom historically; morally, as the Barter principle
+and the Bandit principle.
+High things begin low. Astronomy began as Astrology; and when Trade
+began there must have been even more trickery about it than there
+is now. Conceive of a world made up of nomadic tribes engaged in
+perpetual warfare. It is a commerce of killing. If a tribe desires
+the richer soil or larger possessions of another, the method is to
+exterminate that other. But at last there rises a tribe either too
+weak or too peaceful to exterminate, and it proposes to barter. It
+challenges its neighbours to a contest of wits. They try to get the
+advantage of each other in bargains; they haggle and cheat; and it
+is not heroic at all, but it is the beginning of commerce and peace.
+But the Dukes of Edom as they are called will not enter into this
+compact. They have not been used to it; they are always outwitted
+at a bargain; just like those other red men in the West of America,
+whose lands are bought with beads, and their territorial birthright
+taken for a mess of pottage. They prefer to live by the hunt and by
+the sword. Then between these two peoples is an eternal feud, with
+an occasional truce, or, in biblical phrase, 'reconciliation.'
+Surrounded by a commercial civilisation, with its prosaic virtues and
+its petty vices, we cannot help admiring much about the Duke of Edom,
+non-producer though he be. Brave, impulsive, quick to forgive as to
+resent; generous, as people can afford to be when they may give what
+they never earned; his gallant qualities cast a certain meanness
+over his grasping brother, the Israelite. It is a healthy sign in
+youth to admire such qualities. The boy who delights in Robin Hood;
+the youth who feels a stir of enthusiasm when he reads Schiller's
+Robbers; the ennuyés of the clubs and the roughs, with unfulfilled
+capacities for adventure in them, who admire 'the gallant Turk,' are
+all lingering in the nomadic age. They do not think of things but
+of persons. They are impressed by the barbaric dash. The splendour
+of warriors hides trampled and decimated peasantries; their courage
+can gild atrocities. Beside such captivating qualities and thrilling
+scenes how poor and commonplace appear thrifty rusticity, and the
+cautious, selfish, money-making tradesmen!
+But fine and heroic as the Duke of Edom may appear in the distance,
+it is best to keep him at a distance. When Robin Hood reappeared on
+Blackheath lately, his warmest admirers were satisfied to hear he was
+securely lodged in gaol. The Jews had just the same sensations about
+the Dukes of Edom. They saw that tribe near to, and lived in daily
+dread of them. They were hirsute barbarians, dwelling amid mountain
+fastnesses, and lording it over a vast territory. The weak tribe of
+the plains had no sooner got together some herds and a little money,
+than those dashing Edomites fell upon them and carried away their
+savings and substance in a day. This made the bartering tribe all the
+more dependent on their cunning. They had to match their wits against,
+the world; and they have had to do the same to this day, when it is
+a chief element of their survival that their thrift is of importance
+to the business and finance of Europe. But in the myth it is shown
+that Trade, timorous as it is in presence of the sword, may have a
+magnanimity of its own. The Supplanter of Edom is haunted by the wrong
+he has done his elder brother, and driven him to greater animosity. He
+resolves to seek him, offer him gifts, and crave reconciliation. It is
+easy to put an unfavourable construction upon his action, but it is not
+necessary. The Supplanter, with droves of cattle, a large portion of
+his possessions, passes out towards perilous Edom, unarmed, undefended,
+except by his amicable intentions towards the powerful chieftain
+he had wronged. At the border of the hostile kingdom he learns that
+the chieftain is coming to meet him with four hundred men. He is now
+seized, with a mighty spirit of Fear. He sends on the herdsmen with
+the herds, and remains alone. During the watches of the night there
+closes upon him this phantom of Fear, with its presage of Death. The
+tricky tradesman has met his Conscience, and it is girt about with
+Terror. But he feels that his nobler self is with it, and that he
+will win. Finely has Charles Wesley told the story in his hymn:--
+Come, O thou traveller unknown,
+Whom still I hold but cannot see!
+My company before is gone
+And I am left alone with thee:
+With thee all night I mean to stay
+And wrestle till the break of day.
+'Confident in self-despair,' the Supplanter conquers his Fear; with
+the dawn he travels onward alone to meet the man he had outraged
+and his armed men, and to him says, 'I have appeared before thee as
+though I had appeared before God, that thou mightest be favourable
+to me.' The proud Duke is disarmed. The brothers embrace and weep
+together. The chieftain declines the presents, and is only induced
+to accept them as proof of his forgiveness. The Tradesman learns for
+all time that his mere cleverness may bring a demon to his side in
+the night, and that he never made so good a bargain as when he has
+restored ill-gotten gains. The aristocrat and warrior returns to his
+mountain, aware now that magnanimity and courage are not impossible
+to quiet men living by merchandise. The hunting-ground must make way
+now for the cattle-breeder. The sword must yield before the balances.
+Whatever may have been the tribes which in primitive times had
+these encounters, and taught each other this lesson, they were long
+since reconciled. But the ghosts of Israel and Edom, of Barter and
+Plunder, fought on through long tribal histories. Israel represented
+by the archangel Michael, and Edom by dragon Samaël, waged their
+war. One characteristic of the opposing power has been already
+considered. Samaël embodied Edom as the genius of Strife. He was the
+especial Accuser of Israel, their Antichrist, so to say, as Michael
+was their Advocate. But the name 'Edom' itself was retained as a kind
+of personification of the barbaric military and lordly Devil. The
+highwayman in epaulettes, the heroic spoiler, with his hairy hand
+which Israel itself had imitated many a time in its gloves, were
+summed up as 'Edom.'
+This personification is the more important since it has characterised
+the more serious idea of Satan which prevails in the world. He is
+mainly a moral conception, and means the pride and pomp of the world,
+its natural wildness and ferocities, and the glory of them. The
+Mussulman fable relates that when Allah created man, and placed him
+in a garden, he called all the angels to worship this crowning work
+of his hands. Iblis alone refused to worship Adam. The very idea of
+a garden is hateful to the spirit of Nomadism. [70] Man the gardener
+receives no reverence from the proud leader of the Seraphim. God
+said unto him (Iblis), What hindered thee from worshipping Adam,
+since I commanded thee? He answered, I am more excellent than he:
+thou hast created me of (ethereal) fire, and hast created him of clay
+(black mud). God said, Get thee down therefore from paradise, for it
+is not fit that thou behave thyself proudly therein. 
+The earnestness and self-devotion of the northern pagans in their
+resistance to Christianity impressed the finest minds in the Church
+profoundly. Some of the Fathers even quoted the enthusiasm of those
+whom they regarded as devotees of the Devil, to shame the apathy of
+christians. The Church could show no martyr braver than Rand, down
+whose throat St. Olaf made a viper creep, which gnawed through his
+side; and Rand was an example of thousands. This gave many of the early
+christians of the north a very serious view of the realm of Satan,
+and of Satan himself as a great potentate. It was increased by their
+discovery that the pagan kings--Satan's subjects--had moral codes and
+law-courts, and energetically maintained justice. In this way there
+grew up a more dignified idea of Hell. The grotesque imps receded
+before the array of majestic devils, like Satan and Beelzebub; and
+these were invested with a certain grandeur and barbaric pride. They
+were regarded as rival monarchs who had refused to submit themselves to
+Jehovah, but they were deemed worthy of heroic treatment. The traces of
+this sentiment found in the ancient frescoes of Russia are of especial
+importance. Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the Hierarchy of Hell
+as they appear in some of these superb pictures. Satan is generally
+depicted with similar dignity to the king of heaven, from whom he is
+divided by a wall's depth, sometimes even resembling him in all but
+complexion and hair (which is fire on Satan). There are frequent
+instances, as in the accompanying figure (4), where, in careful
+correspondence with the attitude of Christ on the Father's knees,
+Satan supports the betrayer of Christ. Beside the king of Hell,
+seated in its Mouth, are personages of distinction, some probably
+representing those poets and sages of Greece and Rome, the prospect
+of whose damnation filled some of the first christian Fathers with
+such delight.
+In Spain, when a Bishop is about to baptize one of the European
+Dukes of the Devil, he asks at the font what has become of his
+ancestors, naming them--all heathen. 'They are all in hell!' replies
+the Bishop. 'Then there will I follow them,' returns the Chief, and
+thereafter by no persuasion can he be induced to fare otherwise than
+to Hell. Gradually the Church made up its mind to ally itself with
+this obstinate barbaric pride and ambition. It was willing to give
+up anything whatever for a kingdom of this world, and to worship any
+number of Princes of Darkness, if they would give unto the Bishops
+such kingdoms, and the glory of them. They induced Esau to be baptized
+by promise of their aid in his oppressions, and free indulgences to
+all his passions; and then, by his help, they were able to lay before
+weaker Esaus the christian alternatives--Be baptized or burnt!
+Not to have known how to conquer in bloodless victories the barbaric
+Esaus of the world by a virtue more pure, a heroism more patient,
+than theirs, and with that 'sweet reasonableness of Christ,'
+which is the latest epitaph on his tomb among the rich; not to have
+recognised the true nobility of the Dukes, and purified their pride
+to self-reverence, their passion to moral courage, their daring and
+freedom to a self-reliance at once gentle and manly; this was no doubt
+the necessary failure of a dogmatic and irrational system. But it
+is this which has made the christian Israel more of an impostor than
+its prototype, in every country to which it came steadily developing
+to a hypocritical imitator of the Esau whose birthright it stole
+by baptism. It speedily lost his magnanimity, but never his sword,
+which however it contrived to make at once meaner and more cruel
+by twisting it into thumbscrews and the like. For many centuries
+its voice has been, in a thin phonographic way, the voice of Jesus,
+but the hands are the hands of Esau with Samaël's claw added.
+JOB AND THE DIVIDER.
+Hebrew Polytheism--Problem of Evil--Job's disbelief in a
+future life--The Divider's realm--Salted Sacrifices--Theory
+of Orthodoxy--Job's reasoning--His humour--Impartiality of
+Fortune between the evil and good--Agnosticism of Job--Elihu's
+eclecticism--Jehovah of the Whirlwind--Heresies of Job--Rabbinical
+legend of Job--Universality of the legend.
+Israel is a flourishing vine,
+Which bringeth forth fruit to itself;
+According to the increase of his fruit
+He hath multiplied his altars;
+According to the goodness of his land
+He hath made goodly images.
+Their heart is divided: now shall they be found guilty;
+He will break down their altars, he will spoil their images.
+These words of the prophet Hosea (x. 1, 2) foreshadow the devil which
+the devout Jahvist saw growing steadily to enormous strength through
+all the history of Israel. The germ of this enemy may be found in our
+chapter on Fate; one of its earliest developments is indicated in the
+account already given of the partition between Jacob and Esau, and the
+superstition to which that led of a ghostly Antagonist, to whom a share
+had been irreversibly pledged. From the principle thus adopted, there
+grew a host of demons whom it was believed necessary to propitiate by
+offering them their share. A divided universe had for its counterpart
+a divided loyalty in the heart of the people. The growth of a belief
+in the supremacy of one God was far from being a real monotheism; as
+a matter of fact no primitive race has been monotheistic. In 2 Kings
+xvii. it is stated as a belief of the Jews that some Assyrians who
+had been imported into their territory (Samaria) were slain by lions
+because they knew not 'the manner of the God of the land.' Spinoza
+noticed the indications given in this and other narratives that
+the Jews believed that gods whose worship was intolerable within
+their own boundaries were yet adapted to other regions (Tractatus,
+ii.). With this state of mind it is not wonderful that when the Jews
+found themselves in those alien regions they apprehended that the
+gods of those countries might also employ lions on such as knew not
+their manner, but adhered to the worship of Jehovah too exclusively.
+Among the Jews grew up a more spiritual class of minds, whose feeling
+towards the mongrel worship around them was that of abhorrence; but
+these had a very difficult cause to maintain. The popular superstitions
+were firmly rooted in the fact that terrible evils afflicted mankind,
+and in the further fact that these did not spare the most pious. Nay,
+it had for a long time been a growing belief that the bounties and
+afflictions of nature, instead of following the direction promised by
+the patriarchs,--rewarding the pious, punishing the wicked,--were
+distributed in a reverse way. Dives and Lazarus seemed to have
+their respective lots before any future paradise was devised for
+their equalisation--as indeed is natural, since Dives attends to
+his business, while Lazarus is investing his powers in Abraham's
+bosom. Out of this experience there came at last the demand for a
+life beyond the grave, without whose redress the pious began to deem
+themselves of all men the most miserable. But before this heavenly
+future became a matter of common belief, there were theories which
+prepared, the way for it. It was held by the devout that the evils
+which afflicted the righteous were Jehovah's tests of their loyalty
+to him, and that in the end such trials would be repaid. And when
+observation, following the theory, showed that they were not so
+repaid, it was said the righteousness had been unreal, the devotee
+was punished for hidden wickedness. When continued observation had
+proved that this theory too was false, and that piety was not paid in
+external bounties, either to the good man or his family, the solution
+of a future settlement was arrived at.
+This simple process may be traced in various races, and in its
+several phases.
+The most impressive presentation of the experiences under which the
+primitive secular theory of rewards and punishments perished, and
+that of an adjustment beyond the grave arose, is found in the Book
+of Job. The solution here reached--a future reward in this life--is
+an impossible one for anything more than an exceptional case. But
+the Book of Job displays how beautiful such an instance would be,
+showing afflictions to be temporary and destined to be followed by
+compensations largely outweighing them. It was a tremendous statement
+of the question--If a man die, shall he live again? Jehovah answered,
+'Yes' out of the whirlwind, and raised Job out of the dust. But
+for the millions who never rose from the dust that voice was heard
+announcing their resurrection from a trial that pressed them even
+into the grave. It is remarkable that Job's expression of faith that
+his Vindicator would appear on earth, should have become the one text
+of the Old Testament which has been adapted by christians to express
+faith in immortality. Job strongly disowns that faith.
+There is hope for a tree,
+If it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
+And that its tender branches will not fail;
+Though its root may have grown old in the earth,
+And though its trunk be dead upon the ground,
+At the scent of water it will bud,
+And put forth boughs, like a young plant.
+But man dieth and is gone for ever!
+Yet I know that my Vindicator liveth,
+And will stand up at length on the earth;
+And though with my skin this body be wasted away,
+Yet in my flesh shall I see God.
+Yea, I shall see him my friend;
+My eyes shall behold him no longer an adversary;
+For this my soul panteth within me. 
+The scenery and details of this drama are such as must have made
+an impression upon the mind of the ancient Jews beyond what is now
+possible for any existing people. In the first place, the locality
+was the land of Uz, which Jeremiah (Lam. iv. 21) points out as part
+of Edom, the territory traditionally ruled over by the great invisible
+Accuser of Israel, who had succeeded to the portion of Esau, adversary
+of their founder, Jacob. Job was within the perilous bounds. And
+yet here, where scape-goats were offered to deprecate Samaël, and
+where in ordinary sacrifices some item entered for the devil's share,
+Job refused to pay any honour to the Power of the Place. He offered
+burnt-offerings alone for himself and his sons, these being exclusively
+given to Jehovah. [73] Even after his children and his possessions were
+destroyed by this great adversary, Job offered his sacrifice without
+even omitting the salt, which was the Oriental seal of an inviolable
+compact between two, and which so especially recalled and consecrated
+the covenant with Jehovah. [74] Among his twenty thousand animals,
+Azazel's animal, the goat, is not even named. Job's distinction was
+an absolute and unprecedented singleness of loyalty to Jehovah.
+This loyalty of a disciple even in the enemy's country is
+made the subject of a sort of boast by Jehovah when the Accuser
+enters. Postponing for the moment consideration of the character and
+office of this Satan, we may observe here that the trial which he
+challenges is merely a test of the sincerity of Job's allegiance
+to Jehovah. The Accuser claims that it is all given for value
+received. These possessions are taken away.
+This is but the framework around the philosophical poem in which all
+theories of the world are personified in grand council.
+First of all Job (the Troubled) asks--Why? Orthodoxy answers. (Eliphaz
+was the son of Esau (Samaël), and his name here means that he was
+the Accuser in disguise. He, 'God's strength,' stands for the Law. It
+affirms that God's ways are just, and consequently afflictions imply
+previous sin.) Eliphaz repeats the question put by the Accuser in
+heaven--'Was not thy fear of God thy hope?' And he brings Job to the
+test of prayer, in which he has so long trusted. Eliphaz rests on
+revelation; he has had a vision; and if his revelation be not true,
+he challenges Job to disprove it by calling on God to answer him, or
+else securing the advocacy of some one of the heavenly host. Eliphaz
+says trouble does not spring out of the dust.
+Job's reply is to man and God--Point out the error! Grant my troubles
+are divine arrows, what have I done to thee, O watcher of men! Am I
+a sea-monster--and we imagine Job looking at his wasted limbs--that
+the Almighty must take precautions and send spies against me?
+Then follows Bildad the Shuhite,--that is the 'contentious,' one
+of the descendants of Keturah (Abraham's concubine), traditionally
+supposed to be inimical to the legitimate Abrahamic line, and at a
+later period identified as the Turks. Bildad, with invective rather
+than argument, charges that Job's children had been slain for their
+sins, and otherwise makes a personal application of Eliphaz's theology.
+Job declares that since God is so perfect, no man by such standard
+could be proved just; that if he could prove himself just, the
+argument would be settled by the stronger party in his own favour;
+and therefore, liberated from all temptation to justify himself, he
+affirms that the innocent and the guilty are dealt with much in the
+same way. If it is a trial of strength between God and himself, he
+yields. If it is a matter of reasoning, let the terrors be withdrawn,
+and he will then be able to answer calmly. For the present, even if
+he were righteous, he dare not lift up his head to so assert, while
+the rod is upon him.
+Zophar 'the impudent' speaks. Here too, probably, is a disguise:
+he is (says the LXX.) King of the Minæans, that is the Nomades, and
+his designation 'the Naamathite,' of unknown significance, bears a
+suspicious resemblance to Naamah, a mythologic wife of Samaël and
+mother of several devils. Zophar is cynical. He laughs at Job for
+even suggesting the notion of an argument between himself and God,
+whose wisdom and ways are unsearchable. He (God) sees man's iniquity
+even when it looks as if he did not. He is deeper than hell. What
+can a man do but pray and acknowledge his sinfulness?
+But Job, even in his extremity, is healthy-hearted enough to laugh
+too. He tells his three 'comforters' that no doubt Wisdom will die
+with them. Nevertheless, he has heard similar remarks before, and he
+is not prepared to renounce his conscience and common-sense on such
+grounds. And now, indeed, Job rises to a higher strain. He has made
+up his mind that after what has come upon him, he cares not if more
+be added, and challenges the universe to name his offence. So long as
+his transgression is 'sealed up in a bag,' he has a right to consider
+it an invention. 
+Temanite Orthodoxy is shocked at all this. Eliphaz declares that
+Job's assertion that innocent and guilty suffer alike makes the fear
+of God a vain thing, and discourages prayer. 'With us are the aged
+and hoary-headed.' (Job is a neologist.) Eliphaz paints human nature
+in Calvinistic colours.
+Behold, (God) putteth no trust in his ministering spirits,
+And the heavens are not pure in his sight;
+Much less abominable and polluted man,
+Who drinketh iniquity as water!
+The wise have related, and they got it from the fathers to whom
+the land was given, and among whom no stranger was allowed to bring
+his strange doctrines, that affliction is the sign and punishment
+of wickedness.
+Job merely says he has heard enough of this, and finds no wise man
+among them. He acknowledges that such reproaches add to his sorrows. He
+would rather contend with God than with them, if he could. But he
+sees a slight indication of divine favour in the remarkable unwisdom
+of his revilers, and their failure to prove their point.
+Bildad draws a picture of what he considers would be the proper
+environment of a wicked man, and it closely resembles the situation
+of Job.
+But Job reminds him that he, Bildad, is not God. It is God that has
+brought him so low, but God has been satisfied with his flesh. He
+has not yet uttered any complaint as to his conduct; and so he,
+Job, believes that his vindicator will yet appear to confront his
+accusers--the men who are so glib when his afflictor is silent. 
+Zophar harps on the old string. Pretty much as some preachers
+go on endlessly with their pictures of the terrors which haunted
+the deathbeds of Voltaire and Paine, all the more because none are
+present to relate the facts. Zophar recounts how men who seemed good,
+but were not, were overtaken by asps and vipers and fires from heaven.
+But Job, on the other hand, has a curious catalogue of examples in
+which the notoriously wicked have lived in wealth and gaiety. And
+if it be said God pays such off in their children, Job denies the
+justice of that. It is the offender, and not his child, who ought
+to feel it. The prosperous and the bitter in soul alike lie down in
+the dust at last, the good and the evil; and Job is quite content to
+admit that he does not understand it. One thing he does understand:
+'Your explanations are false.'
+But Eliphaz insists on Job having a dogma. If the orthodox dogma is
+not true, put something in its place! Why are you afflicted? What is,
+your theory? Is it because God was afraid of your greatness? It must be
+as we say, and you have been defrauding and injuring people in secret.
+Job, having repeated his ardent desire to meet God face to face as
+to his innocence, says he can only conclude that what befalls him and
+others is what is 'appointed' for them. His terror indeed arises from
+that: the good and the evil seem to be distributed without reference
+to human conduct. How darkness conspires with the assassin! If God
+were only a man, things might be different; but as it is, 'what he
+desireth that he doeth,' and 'who can turn him?'
+Bildad falls back on his dogma of depravity. Man is a 'worm,' a
+'reptile.' Job finds that for a worm Bildad is very familiar with the
+divine secrets. If man is morally so weak he should be lowly in mind
+also. God by his spirit hath garnished the heavens; his hand formed
+the 'crooked serpent'--
+Lo! these are but the borders of his works;
+How faint the whisper we have heard of him!
+But the thunder of his power who can understand?
+Job takes up the position of the agnostic, and the three 'Comforters'
+are silenced. The argument has ended where it had to end. Job then
+proceeds with sublime eloquence. A man may lose all outward things, but
+no man or god can make him utter a lie, or take from him his integrity,
+or his consciousness of it. Friends may reproach him, but he can see
+that his own heart does not. That one superiority to the wicked he
+can preserve. In reviewing his arguments Job is careful to say that
+he does not maintain that good and evil men are on an equality. For
+one thing, when the wicked man is in trouble he cannot find resource
+in his innocence. 'Can he delight himself in the Almighty?' When such
+die, their widows do not bewail them. Men do not befriend oppressors
+when they come to want. Men hiss them. And with guilt in their heart
+they feel their sorrows to be the arrows of God, sent in anger. In
+all the realms of nature, therefore, amid its powers, splendours,
+and precious things, man cannot find the wisdom which raises him
+above misfortune, but only in his inward loyalty to the highest,
+and freedom from moral evil.
+Then enters a fifth character, Elihu, whose plan is to mediate
+between the old dogma and the new agnostic philosophy. He is Orthodoxy
+rationalised. Elihu's name is suggestive of his ambiguity; it seems to
+mean one whose 'God is He' and he comes from the tribe of Buz, whose
+Hebrew meaning might almost be represented in that English word which,
+with an added z, would best convey the windiness of his remarks. Buz
+was the son of Milkah, the Moon, and his descendant so came fairly
+by his theologic 'moonshine' of the kind which Carlyle has so well
+described in his account of Coleridgean casuistry. Elihu means to be
+fair to both sides! Elihu sees some truth in both sides! Eclectic
+Elihu! Job is perfectly right in thinking he had not done anything
+to merit his sufferings, but he did not know what snares were
+around him, and how he might have done something wicked but for his
+affliction. Moreover, God ruins people now and then just to show how
+he can lift them up again. Job ought to have taken this for granted,
+and then to have expressed it in the old abject phraseology, saying,
+'I have received chastisement; I will offend no more! What I see not,
+teach thou me!' (A truly Elihuic or 'contemptible' answer to Job's
+sensible words, 'Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?' Why
+administer the rod which enlightens as to the anger but not its cause,
+or as to the way of amend?) In fact the casuistic Elihu casts no light
+whatever on the situation. He simply overwhelms him with metaphors and
+generalities about the divine justice and mercy, meant to hide this
+new and dangerous solution which Job had discovered--namely, that
+the old dogmatic theories of evil were proved false by experience,
+and that a good man amid sorrow should admit his ignorance, but never
+allow terror to wring from him the voice of guilt, nor the attempt
+to propitiate divine wrath.
+When Jehovah appears on the scene, answering Job out of the whirlwind,
+the tone is one of wrath, but the whole utterance is merely an
+amplification of what Job had said--what we see and suffer are but
+fringes of a Whole we cannot understand. The magnificence and wonder
+of the universe celebrated in that voice of the whirlwind had to be
+given the lame and impotent conclusion of Job 'abhorring himself,'
+and 'repenting in dust and ashes.' The conventional Cerberus must
+have his sop. But none the less does the great heart of this poem
+reveal the soul that was not shaken or divided in prosperity or
+adversity. The burnt-offering of his prosperous days, symbol of a
+worship which refused to include the supposed powers of mischief,
+was enjoined on Job's Comforters. They must bend to him as nearer God
+than they. And in his high philosophy Job found what is symbolised in
+the three daughters born to him: Jemima (the Dove, the voice of the
+returning Spring); Kezia (Cassia, the sweet incense); Kerenhappuch
+(the horn of beautiful colour, or decoration).
+From the Jewish point of view this triumph of Job represented a
+tremendous heresy. The idea that afflictions could befall a man without
+any reference to his conduct, and consequently not to be influenced
+by the normal rites and sacrifices, is one fatal to a priesthood. If
+evil may be referred in one case to what is going on far away among
+gods in obscurities of the universe, and to some purpose beyond the
+ken of all sages, it may so be referred in all cases, and though
+burnt-offerings may be resorted to formally, they must cease when
+their powerlessness is proved. Hence the Rabbins have taken the
+side of Job's Comforters. They invented a legend that Job had been
+a great magician in Egypt, and was one of those whose sorceries so
+long prevented the escape of Israel. He was converted afterwards,
+but it is hinted that his early wickedness required the retribution
+he suffered. His name was to them the troubler troubled.
+Heretical also was the theory that man could get along without any
+Angelolatry or Demon-worship. Job in his singleness of service,
+fearing God alone, defying the Seraphim and Cherubim from Samaël
+down to do their worst, was a perilous figure. The priests got no
+part of any burnt-offering. The sin-offering was of almost sumptuary
+importance. Hence the rabbinical theory, already noticed, that it
+was through neglect of these expiations to the God of Sin that the
+morally spotless Job came under the power of his plagues.
+But for precisely the same reasons the story of Job became
+representative to the more spiritual class of minds of a genuine as
+contrasted with a nominal monotheism, and the piety of the pure, the
+undivided heart. Its meaning is so human that it is not necessary to
+discuss the question of its connection with the story of Harischandra,
+or whether its accent was caught from or by the legends of Zoroaster
+and of Buddha, who passed unscathed through the ordeals of Ahriman
+and Mara. It was repeated in the encounters of the infant Christ with
+Herod, and of the adult Christ with Satan. It was repeated in the
+unswerving loyalty of the patient Griselda to her husband. It is indeed
+the heroic theme of many races and ages, and it everywhere points to
+a period when the virtues of endurance and patience rose up to match
+the agonies which fear and weakness had tried to propitiate,--when
+man first learned to suffer and be strong.
+SATAN.
+Public Prosecutors--Satan as Accuser--English Devil-worshipper
+--Conversion by Terror--Satan in the Old Testament--The trial
+of Joshua--Sender of Plagues--Satan and Serpent--Portrait of
+Satan--Scapegoat of Christendom--Catholic 'Sight of Hell'--
+The ally of Priesthoods.
+There is nothing about the Satan of the Book of Job to indicate him
+as a diabolical character. He appears as a respectable and powerful
+personage among the sons of God who present themselves before Jehovah,
+and his office is that of a public prosecutor. He goes to and fro
+in the earth attending to his duties. He has received certificates
+of character from A. Schultens, Herder, Eichorn, Dathe, Ilgen, who
+proposed a new word for Satan in the prologue of Job, which would
+make him a faithful but too suspicious servant of God.
+Such indeed he was deemed originally; but it is easy to see how the
+degradation of such a figure must have begun. There is often a clamour
+in England for the creation of Public Prosecutors; yet no doubt there
+is good ground for the hesitation which its judicial heads feel in
+advising such a step. The experience of countries in which Prosecuting
+Attorneys exist is not such as to prove the institution one of unmixed
+advantage. It is not in human nature for an official person not to make
+the most of the duty intrusted to him, and the tendency is to raise
+the interest he specially represents above that of justice itself. A
+defeated prosecutor feels a certain stigma upon his reputation as much
+as a defeated advocate, and it is doubtful whether it be safe that
+the fame of any man should be in the least identified with personal
+success where justice is trying to strike a true balance. The recent
+performances of certain attorneys in England and America retained by
+Societies for the Suppression of Vice strikingly illustrate the dangers
+here alluded to. The necessity that such salaried social detectives
+should perpetually parade before the community as purifiers of society
+induces them to get up unreal cases where real ones cannot be easily
+discovered. Thus they become Accusers, and from this it is an easy
+step to become Slanderers; nor is it a very difficult one which may
+make them instigators of the vices they profess to suppress.
+The first representations of Satan show him holding in his hand
+the scales; but the latter show him trying slyly with hand or
+foot to press down that side of the balance in which the evil
+deeds of a soul are being weighed against the good. We need not
+try to track archæologically this declension of a Prosecutor, by
+increasing ardour in his office, through the stages of Accuser,
+Adversary, Executioner, and at last Rival of the legitimate Rule,
+and tempter of its subjects. The process is simple and familiar. I
+have before me a little twopenny book, [77] which is said to have
+a vast circulation, where one may trace the whole mental evolution
+of Satan. The ancient Devil-worshipper who has reappeared with such
+power in England tells us that he was the reputed son of a farmer,
+who had to support a wife and eleven children on from 7s. to 9s. per
+week, and who sent him for a short time to school. 'My schoolmistress
+reproved me for something wrong, telling me that God Almighty took
+notice of children's sins. This stuck to my conscience a great while;
+and who this God Almighty could be I could not conjecture; and how he
+could know my sins without asking my mother I could not conceive. At
+that time there was a person named Godfrey, an exciseman, in the town,
+a man of a stern and hard-favoured countenance, whom I took notice of
+for having a stick covered with figures, and an ink-bottle hanging at
+the button-hole of his coat. I imagined that man to be employed by
+God Almighty to take notice and keep an account of children's sins;
+and once I got into the market-house and watched him very narrowly,
+and found that he was always in a hurry, by his walking so fast; and I
+thought he had need to hurry, as he must have a deal to do to find out
+all the sins of children!' This terror caused the little Huntington to
+say his prayers. 'Punishment for sin I found was to be inflicted after
+death, therefore I hated the churchyard, and would travel any distance
+round rather than drag my guilty conscience over that enchanted spot.'
+The child is father to the man. When Huntington, S.S., grew up, it
+was to record for the thousands who listened to him as a prophet his
+many encounters with the devil. The Satan he believes in is an exact
+counterpart of the stern, hard-favoured exciseman whom he had regarded
+as God's employé. On one occasion he writes, 'Satan began to tempt me
+violently that there was no God, but I reasoned against the belief of
+that from my own experience of his dreadful wrath, saying, How can I
+credit this suggestion, when (God's) wrath is already revealed in my
+heart, and every curse in his book levelled at my head.' (That seems
+his only evidence of God's existence--his wrath!) 'The Devil answered
+that the Bible was false, and only wrote by cunning men to puzzle and
+deceive people. 'There is no God,' said the adversary, 'nor is the
+Bible true.' ... I asked, 'Who, then, made the world?' He replied,
+'I did, and I made men too.' Satan, perceiving my rationality almost
+gone, followed me up with another temptation; that as there was no
+God I must come back to his work again, else when he had brought me
+to hell he would punish me more than all the rest. I cried out, 'Oh,
+what will become of me! what will become of me!' He answered that
+there was no escape but by praying to him; and that he would show me
+some lenity when he took me to hell. I went and sat in my tool-house
+halting between two opinions; whether I should petition Satan, or
+whether I should keep praying to God, until I could ascertain the
+consequences. While I was thinking of bending my knees to such a
+cursed being as Satan, an uncommon fear of God sprung up in my heart
+to keep me from it.'
+In other words, Mr. Huntington wavered between the petitions 'Good
+Lord! Good Devil!' The question whether it were more moral, more
+holy, to worship the one than the other did not occur to him. He
+only considers which is the strongest--which could do him the most
+mischief--which, therefore, to fear the most; and when Satan has almost
+convinced him in his own favour, he changes round to God. Why? Not
+because of any superior goodness on God's part. He says, 'An uncommon
+fear of God sprung up in my heart.' The greater terror won the day;
+that is to say, of two demons he yielded to the stronger. Such an
+experience, though that of one living in our own time, represents a
+phase in the development of the relation between God and Satan which
+would have appeared primitive to an Assyrian two thousand years
+ago. The ethical antagonism of the two was then much more clearly
+felt. But this bit of contemporary superstition may bring before us
+the period when Satan, from having been a Nemesis or Retributive Agent
+of the divine law, had become a mere personal rival of his superior.
+Satan, among the Jews, was at first a generic term for an adversary
+lying in wait. It is probably the furtive suggestion at the root of
+this Hebrew word which aided in its selection as the name for the
+invisible adverse powers when they were especially distinguished. But
+originally no special personage, much less any antagonist of Jehovah,
+was signified by the word. Thus we read: 'And God's anger was kindled
+because he (Balaam) went; and the angel of the Lord stood in the way
+for a Satan against him.... And the ass saw the angel of the Lord
+standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand.' [78] The eyes of
+Balaam are presently opened, and the angel says, 'I went out to be a
+Satan to thee because the way is perverse before me.' The Philistines
+fear to take David with them to battle lest he should prove a Satan to
+them, that is, an underhand enemy or traitor. [79] David called those
+who wished to put Shimei to death Satans; [80] but in this case the
+epithet would have been more applicable to himself for affecting to
+protect the honest man for whose murder he treacherously provided. 
+That it was popularly used for adversary as distinct from evil appears
+in Solomon's words, 'There is neither Satan nor evil occurrent.' Yet it is in connection with Solomon that we may note the entrance
+of some of the materials for the mythology which afterwards invested
+the name of Satan. It is said that, in anger at his idolatries,
+'the Lord stirred up a Satan unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite:
+he was of the king's seed in Edom.' [83] Hadad, 'the Sharp,' bore
+a name next to that of Esau himself for the redness of his wrath,
+and, as we have seen in a former chapter, Edom was to the Jews the
+land of 'bogeys.' 'Another Satan,' whom the Lord 'stirred up,' was
+the Devastator, Prince Rezon, founder of the kingdom of Damascus,
+of whom it is said, 'he was a Satan to Israel all the days of
+Solomon.' [84] The human characteristics of supposed 'Scourges of
+God' easily pass away. The name that becomes traditionally associated
+with calamities whose agents were 'stirred up' by the Almighty is not
+allowed the glory of its desolations. The word 'Satan,' twice used in
+this chapter concerning Solomon's fall, probably gained here a long
+step towards distinct personification as an eminent national enemy,
+though there is no intimation of a power daring to oppose the will of
+Jehovah. Nor, indeed, is there any such intimation anywhere in the
+'canonical' books of the Old Testament. The writer of Psalm cix.,
+imprecating for his adversaries, says: 'Set thou a wicked man over
+him; and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall be judged,
+let him be condemned; and let his prayer become sin.' In this there is
+an indication of a special Satan, but he is supposed to be an agent
+of Jehovah. In the catalogue of the curses invoked of the Lord,
+we find the evils which were afterwards supposed to proceed only
+from Satan. The only instance in the Old Testament in which there
+is even a faint suggestion of hostility towards Satan on the part of
+Jehovah is in Zechariah. Here we find the following remarkable words:
+'And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of
+Jehovah, and the Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And
+Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; even Jehovah,
+that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked
+out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and
+stood before the angel. And he answered and spake to those that stood
+before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And to
+him he said, Lo, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee,
+and I will clothe thee with goodly raiment.' 
+Here we have a very fair study and sketch of that judicial trial of
+the soul for which mainly the dogma of a resurrection after death
+was invented. The doctrine of future rewards and punishments is not
+one which a priesthood would invent or care for, so long as they
+possessed unrestricted power to administer such in this life. It is
+when an alien power steps in to supersede the priesthood--the Gallio
+too indifferent whether ceremonial laws are carried out to permit the
+full application of terrestrial cruelties--that the priest requires a
+tribunal beyond the grave to execute his sentence. In this picture
+of Zechariah we have this invisible Celestial Court. The Angel
+of Judgment is in his seat. The Angel of Accusation is present to
+prosecute. A poor filthy wretch appears for trial. What advocate can
+he command? Where is Michael, the special advocate of Israel? He does
+not recognise one of his clients in this poor Joshua in his rags. But
+lo! suddenly Jehovah himself appears; reproves his own commissioned
+Accuser; declares Joshua a brand plucked from the burning (Tophet);
+orders a change of raiment, and, condoning his offences, takes him
+into his own service. But in all this there is nothing to show general
+antagonism between Jehovah and Satan, but the reverse.
+When we look into the Book of Job we find a Satan sufficiently
+different from any and all of those mentioned under that name in other
+parts of the Old Testament to justify the belief that he has been
+mainly adapted from the traditions of other regions. The plagues and
+afflictions which in Psalm cix. are invoked from Jehovah, even while
+Satan is mentioned as near, are in the Book of Job ascribed to Satan
+himself. Jehovah only permits Satan to inflict them with a proviso
+against total destruction. Satan is here named as a personality in
+a way not known elsewhere in the Old Testament, unless it be in 1
+Chron. xxi. 1, where Satan (the article being in this single case
+absent) is said to have 'stood up against Israel, and provoked David
+to number Israel.' But in this case the uniformity of the passage with
+the others (excepting those in Job) is preserved by the same incident
+being recorded in 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, 'The anger of Jehovah was kindled
+against Israel, and he (Jehovah) moved David against them to say,
+Go number Israel and Judah.'
+It is clear that, in the Old Testament, it is in the Book of Job
+alone that we find Satan as the powerful prince of an empire which
+is distinct from that of Jehovah,--an empire of tempest, plague, and
+fire,--though he presents himself before Jehovah, and awaits permission
+to exert his power on a loyal subject of Jehovah. The formality of
+a trial, so dear to the Semitic heart, is omitted in this case. And
+these circumstances confirm the many other facts which prove this
+drama to be largely of non-Semitic origin. It is tolerably clear that
+the drama of Harischandra in India and that of Job were both developed
+from the Sanskrit legends mentioned in our chapter on Viswámitra; and
+it is certain that Aryan and Semitic elements are both represented in
+the figure of Satan as he has passed into the theology of Christendom.
+Nor indeed has Satan since his importation into Jewish literature
+in this new aspect, much as the Rabbins have made of him, ever
+been assigned the same character among that people that has been
+assigned him in Christendom. He has never replaced Samaël as their
+Archfiend. Rabbins have, indeed, in later times associated him
+with the Serpent which seduced Eve in Eden; but the absence of any
+important reference to that story in the New Testament is significant
+of the slight place it had in the Jewish mind long after the belief
+in Satan had become popular. In fact, that essentially Aryan myth
+little accorded with the ideas of strife and immorality which the
+Jews had gradually associated with Samaël. In the narrative, as
+it stands in Genesis, it is by no means the Serpent that makes the
+worst appearance. It is Jehovah, whose word--that death shall follow
+on the day the apple is eaten--is falsified by the result; and while
+the Serpent is seen telling the truth, and guiding man to knowledge,
+Jehovah is represented as animated by jealousy or even fear of man's
+attainments. All of which is natural enough in an extremely primitive
+myth of a combat between rival gods, but by no means possesses the
+moral accent of the time and conditions amid which Jahvism certainly
+originated. It is in the same unmoral plane as the contest of the
+Devas and Asuras for the Amrita, in Hindu mythology, a contest of
+physical force and wits.
+The real development of Satan among the Jews was from an accusing
+to an opposing spirit, then to an agent of punishment--a hated
+executioner. The fact that the figure here given (Fig. 5) was
+identified by one so familiar with Semitic demonology as Calmet as a
+representation of him, is extremely interesting. It was found among
+representations of Cherubim, and on the back of one somewhat like
+it is a formula of invocation against demons. The countenance is of
+that severe beauty which the Greeks ascribed to Nemesis. Nemesis has
+at her feet the wheel and rudder, symbols of her power to overtake
+the evil-doer by land or sea; the feet of this figure are winged
+for pursuit. He has four hands. In one he bears the lamp which, like
+Lucifer, brings light on the deed of darkness. As to others, he answers
+Baruch's description (Ep. 13, 14) of the Babylonian god, 'He hath a
+sceptre in his hand like a man, like a judge of the kingdom--he hath
+in his hand a sword and an axe.' He bears nicely-graduated implements
+of punishment, from the lash that scourges to the axe that slays; and
+his retributive powers are supplemented by the scorpion tail. At his
+knees are signets; whomsoever he seals are sealed. He has the terrible
+eyes which were believed able to read on every forehead a catalogue
+of sins invisible to mortals, a power that made women careful of
+their veils, and gave meaning to the formula 'Get thee behind me!' 
+Now this figure, which Calmet believed to be Satan, bears on its
+reverse, 'The Everlasting Sun.' He is a god made up of Egyptian and
+Magian forms, the head-plumes belonging to the one, the multiplied
+wings to the other. Matter (Hist. Crit. de Gnost.) reproduces it,
+and says that 'it differs so much from all else of the kind as to
+prove it the work of an impostor.' But Professor C. W. King has a
+(probably fifth century) gem in his collection evidently a rude copy
+of this (reproduced in his 'Gnostics,' Pl. xi. 3), on the back of
+which is 'Light of Lights;' and, in a note which I have from him,
+he says that it sufficiently proves Matter wrong, and that this form
+was primitive. In one gem of Professor King's (Pl. v. 1) the lamp
+is also carried, and means the 'Light of Lights.' The inscription
+beneath, within a coiled serpent, is in corrupt cuneiform characters,
+long preserved by the Magi, though without understanding them. There
+is little doubt, therefore, that the instinct of Calmet was right,
+and that we have here an early form of the detective and retributive
+Magian deity ultimately degraded to an accusing spirit, or Satan.
+Although the Jews did not identify Satan with their Scapegoat, yet
+he has been veritably the Scapegoat among devils for two thousand
+years. All the nightmares and phantasms that ever haunted the human
+imagination have been packed upon him unto this day, when it is
+almost as common to hear his name in India and China as in Europe and
+America. In thus passing round the world, he has caught the varying
+features of many fossilised demons: he has been horned, hoofed,
+reptilian, quadrupedal, anthropoid, anthropomorphic, beautiful, ugly,
+male, female; the whites painted him black, and the blacks, with
+more reason, painted him white. Thus has Satan been made a miracle
+of incongruities. Yet through all these protean shapes there has
+persisted the original characteristic mentioned. He is prosecutor
+and executioner under the divine government, though his office has
+been debased by that mental confusion which, in the East, abhors the
+burner of corpses, and, in the West, regards the public hangman with
+contempt; the abhorrence, in the case of Satan, being intensified
+by the supposition of an overfondness for his work, carried to the
+extent of instigating the offences which will bring him victims.
+In a well-known English Roman Catholic book [87] of recent times, there
+is this account of St. Francis' visit to hell in company with the Angel
+Gabriel:--'St. Francis saw that, on the other side of (a certain) soul,
+there was another devil to mock at and reproach it. He said, Remember
+where you are, and where you will be for ever; how short the sin was,
+how long the punishment. It is your own fault; when you committed that
+mortal sin you knew how you would be punished. What a good bargain you
+made to take the pains of eternity in exchange for the sin of a day,
+an hour, a moment. You cry now for your sin, but your crying comes
+too late. You liked bad company; you will find bad company enough
+here. Your father was a drunkard, look at him there drinking red-hot
+fire. You were too idle to go to mass on Sundays; be as idle as you
+like now, for there is no mass to go to. You disobeyed your father,
+but you dare not disobey him who is your father in hell.'
+This devil speaks as one carrying out the divine decrees. He
+preaches. He utters from his chasuble of flame the sermons of Father
+Furniss. And, no doubt, wherever belief in Satan is theological, this
+is pretty much the form which he assumes before the mind (or what such
+believers would call their mind, albeit really the mind of some Syrian
+dead these two thousand years). But the Satan popularly personalised
+was man's effort to imagine an enthusiasm of inhumanity. He is the
+necessary appendage to a personalised Omnipotence, whose thoughts are
+not as man's thoughts, but claim to coerce these. His degradation
+reflects the heartlessness and the ingenuity of torture which must
+always represent personal government with its catalogue of fictitious
+crimes. Offences against mere Majesty, against iniquities framed in
+law, must be doubly punished, the thing to be secured being doubly
+weak. Under any theocratic government law and punishment would become
+the types of diabolism. Satan thus has a twofold significance. He
+reports what powerful priesthoods found to be the obstacles to their
+authority; and he reports the character of the priestly despotisms
+which aimed to obstruct human development.
+RELIGIOUS DESPOTISM.
+Pharaoh and Herod--Zoroaster's mother--Ahriman's emissaries--Kansa
+and Krishna--Emissaries of Kansa--Astyages and Cyrus--Zohák--Bel
+and the Christian.
+The Jews had already, when Christ appeared, formed the theory that
+the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and his resistance to the departure
+of Israel from Egypt, were due to diabolical sorcery. The belief
+afterwards matured; that Edom (Esau or Samaël) was the instigator
+of Roman aggression was steadily forming. The mental conditions
+were therefore favourable to the growth of a belief in the Jewish
+followers of Christ that the hostility to the religious movement
+of their time was another effort on the part of Samaël to crush
+the kingdom of God. Herod was not, indeed, called Satan or Samaël,
+nor was Pharaoh; but the splendour and grandeur of this Idumean
+(the realm of Esau), notwithstanding his oppressions and crimes,
+had made him a fair representative to the people of the supernatural
+power they dreaded. Under these circumstances it was a powerful appeal
+to the sympathies of the Jewish people to invent in connection with
+Herod a myth exactly similar to that associated with Pharaoh,--namely,
+a conspiracy with sorcerers, and consequent massacre of all new-born
+children.
+The myths which tell of divine babes supernaturally saved from royal
+hostility are veritable myths, even where they occur so late in
+time that historic names and places are given; for, of course, it is
+impossible that by any natural means either Pharaoh or Herod should be
+aware of the peculiar nature of any particular infant born in their
+dominions. Such traditions, when thus presented in historical guise,
+can only be explained by reference to corresponding fables written out
+in simpler mythic form; while it is especially necessary to remember
+that such corresponding narratives may be of independent ethnical
+origin, and that the later in time may be more primitive spiritually.
+In the Legend of Zoroaster [88] his mother Dogdo, previous to his
+birth, has a dream in which she sees a black cloud, which, like
+the wing of some vast bird, hides the sun, and brings on frightful
+darkness. This cloud rains down on her house terrible beasts with
+sharp teeth,--tigers, lions, wolves, rhinoceroses, serpents. One
+monster especially attacks her with great fury, and her unborn babe
+speaks in reassuring terms. A great light rises and the beasts fall. A
+beautiful youth appears, hurls a book at the Devas (Devils), and they
+fly, with exception of three,--a wolf, a lion, and a tiger. These,
+however, the youth drives away with a luminous horn. He then replaces
+the holy infant in the womb, and says to the mother: 'Fear nothing! The
+King of Heaven protects this infant. The earth waits for him. He is
+the prophet whom Ormuzd sends to his people: his law will fill the
+world with joy: he will make the lion and the lamb drink in the same
+place. Fear not these ferocious beasts; why should he whom Ormuzd
+preserves fear the enmity of the whole world?' With these words
+the youth vanished, and Dogdo awoke. Repairing to an interpreter,
+she was told that the Horn meant the grandeur of Ormuzd; the Book
+was the Avesta; the three Beasts betokened three powerful enemies.
+Zoroaster was born laughing. This prodigy being noised abroad, the
+Magicians became alarmed, and sought to slay the child. One of them
+raised a sword to strike him, but his arm fell to the ground. The
+Magicians bore the child to the desert, kindled a fire and threw him
+into it, but his mother afterwards found him sleeping tranquilly and
+unharmed in the flames. Next he was thrown in front of a drove of
+cows and bulls, but the fiercest of the bulls stood carefully over
+the child and protected him. The Magicians killed all the young of
+a pack of wolves, and then cast the infant Zoroaster to them that
+they might vent their rage upon him, but the mouths of the wolves
+were shut. They abandoned the child on a lonely mountain, but two
+ewes came and suckled him.
+Zoroaster's father respected the ministers of the Devas (Magi),
+but his child rebuked him. Zoroaster walked on the water (crossing
+a great river where was no bridge) on his way to Mount Iran where he
+was to receive the Law. It was then he had the vision of the battle
+between the two serpent armies,--the white and black adders, the
+former, from the South, conquering the latter, which had come from
+the North to destroy him.
+The Legend of the Infant Krishna is as follows:--The tyrant Kansa,
+having given his sister Devaki in marriage to Vasudéva, as he was
+returning from the wedding heard a voice declare, 'The eighth son of
+Devaki is destined to be thy destroyer.' Alarmed at this, Kansa cast
+his sister and her husband into a prison with seven iron doors, and
+whenever a son was born he caused it to be instantly destroyed. When
+Devaki became pregnant the eighth time, Brahma and Siva, with attending
+Devas, appeared and sang: 'O favoured among women! in thy delivery all
+nature shall have cause to exult! How ardently we long to behold that
+face for the sake of which we have coursed round three worlds!' When
+Krishna was born a chorus of celestial spirits saluted him; the room
+was illumined with supernatural light. While Devaki was weeping at the
+fatal decree of Kansa that her son should be destroyed, a voice was
+heard by Vasudéva saying: 'Son of Yadu, carry this child to Gokul,
+on the other side of the river Jumna, to Nauda, whose wife has just
+given birth to a daughter. Leave him and bring the girl hither.' At
+this the seven doors swung open, deep sleep fell on the guards,
+and Vasudéva went forth with the holy infant in his arms. The river
+Jumna was swollen, but the waters, having kissed the feet of Krishna,
+retired on either side, opening a pathway. The great serpent of
+Vishnu held its hood over this new incarnation of its Lord. Beside
+sleeping Nauda and his wife the daughter was replaced by the son,
+who was named Krishna, the Dark.
+When all this had happened a voice came to Kansa saying: 'The boy
+destined to destroy thee is born, and is now living.' Whereupon Kansa
+ordered all the male children in his kingdom to be destroyed. This
+being ineffectual, the whereabouts of Krishna were discovered; but the
+messenger who was sent to destroy the child beheld its image in the
+water and adored it. The Rakshasas worked in the interest of Kansa. One
+approached the divine child in shape of a monstrous bull whose head
+he wrung off; and he so burned in the stomach of a crocodile which
+had swallowed him that the monster cast him from his mouth unharmed.
+Finally, as a youth, Krishna, after living some time as a herdsman,
+attacked the tyrant Kansa, tore the crown from his head, and dragged
+him by his hair a long way; with the curious result that Kansa became
+liberated from the three worlds, such virtue had long thinking about
+the incarnate one, even in enmity!
+The divine beings represented in these legends find their complement
+in the fabulous history of Cyrus; and the hostile powers which
+sought their destruction are represented in demonology by the Persian
+tyrant-devil Zohák. The name of Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus,
+has been satisfactorily traced to Ashdahák, and Ajis Daháka, the
+'biting snake.' The word thus connects him with Vedic Ahi and with
+Iranian Zohák, the tyrant out of whose shoulders a magician evoked
+two serpents which adhered to him and became at once his familiars and
+the arms of his cruelty. As Astyages, the last king of Media, he had
+a dream that the offspring of his daughter Mandane would reign over
+Asia. He gave her in marriage to Cambyses, and when she bore a child
+(Cyrus), committed it to his minister Harpagus to be slain. Harpagus,
+however, moved with pity, gave it to a herdsman of Astyages, who
+substituted for it a still-born child, and having so satisfied the
+tyrant of its death, reared Cyrus as his own son.
+The luminous Horn of the Zoroastrian legend and the diabolism
+of Zohák are both recalled in the Book of Daniel (viii.) in the
+terrific struggle of the ram and the he-goat. The he-goat, ancient
+symbol of hairy Esau, long idealised into the Invisible Foe of
+Israel, had become associated also with Babylon and with Nimrod
+its founder, the Semitic Zohák. But Bel, conqueror of the Dragon,
+was the founder of Babylon, and to Jewish eyes the Dragon was his
+familiar; to the Jews he represented the tyranny and idolatry of
+Nimrod, the two serpents of Zohák. When Cyrus supplanted Astyages,
+this was the idol he found the Babylonians worshipping until Daniel
+destroyed it. And so, it would appear, came about the fact that to
+the Jews the power of Christendom came to be represented as the Reign
+of Bel. One can hardly wonder at that. If ever there were cruelty
+and oppression passing beyond the limit of mere human capacities, it
+has been recorded in the tragical history of Jewish sufferings. The
+disbeliever in præternatural powers of evil can no less than others
+recognise in this 'Bel and the Christian,' which the Jews substituted
+for 'Bel and the Dragon,' the real archfiend--Superstition, turning
+human hearts to stone when to stony gods they sacrifice their own
+humanity and the welfare of mankind.
+THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD.
+Temptations--Birth of Buddha--Mara--Temptation of power--Asceticism
+and Luxury--Mara's menaces--Appearance of the Buddha's
+Vindicator--Ahriman tempts Zoroaster--Satan and Christ--Criticism
+of Strauss--Jewish traditions--Hunger--Variants.
+The Devil, having shown Jesus all the kingdoms of this world, said,
+'All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is
+delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it,' The theory
+thus announced is as a vast formation underlying many religions. As
+every religion begins as an ideal, it must find itself in antagonism
+to the world at large; and since the social and political world
+are themselves, so long as they last, the outcome of nature, it is
+inevitable that in primitive times the earth should be regarded as a
+Satanic realm, and the divine world pictured elsewhere. A legitimate
+result of this conclusion is asceticism, and belief in the wickedness
+of earthly enjoyments. To men of great intellectual powers, generally
+accompanied as they are with keen susceptibilities of enjoyment and
+strong sympathies, the renunciation of this world must be as a living
+burial. To men who, amid the corruptions of the world, feel within them
+the power to strike in with effect, or who, seeing 'with how little
+wisdom the world is governed,' are stirred by the sense of power, the
+struggle against the temptation to lead in the kingdoms of this world
+is necessarily severe. Thus simple is the sense of those temptations
+which make the almost invariable ordeal of the traditional founders
+of religions. As in earlier times the god won his spurs, so to say,
+by conquering some monstrous beast, the saint or saviour must have
+overcome some potent many-headed world, with gems for scales and
+double-tongue, coiling round the earth, and thence, like Lilith's
+golden hair, round the heart of all surrendered to its seductions.
+It is remarkable to note the contrast between the visible and
+invisible worlds which surrounded the spiritual pilgrimage of Sakya
+Muni to Buddhahood or enlightenment. At his birth there is no trace
+of political hostility: the cruel Kansa, Herod, Magicians seeking to
+destroy, are replaced by the affectionate force of a king trying to
+retain his son. The universal traditions reach their happy height in
+the ecstatic gospels of the Siamese. [89] The universe was illumined;
+all jewels shown with unwonted lustre; the air was full of music;
+all pain ceased; the blind saw, the deaf heard; the birds paused
+in their flight; all trees and plants burst into bloom, and lotus
+flowers appeared in every place. Not under the dominion of Mara was this beautiful world. But by turning from all its youth, health,
+and life, to think only of its decrepitude, illness, and death, the
+Prince Sakya Muni surrounded himself with another world in which Mara
+had his share of power. I condense here the accounts of his encounters
+with the Prince, who was on his way to be a hermit.
+When the Prince passed out at the palace gates, the king Mara,
+knowing that the youth was passing beyond his evil power, determined
+to prevent him. Descending from his abode and floating in the air,
+Mara cried, 'Lord, thou art capable of such vast endurance, go not
+forth to adopt a religious life, but return to thy kingdom, and in
+seven days thou shalt become an emperor of the world, ruling over
+the four great continents.' 'Take heed, O Mara!' replied the Prince;
+'I also know that in seven days I might gain universal empire, but
+I have no desire for such possessions. I know that the pursuit of
+religion is better than the empire of the world. See how the world
+is moved, and quakes with praise of this my entry on a religious
+life! I shall attain the glorious omniscience, and shall teach the
+wheel of the law, that all teachable beings may free themselves from
+transmigratory existence. You, thinking only of the lusts of the flesh,
+would force me to leave all beings to wander without guide into your
+power. Avaunt! get thee away far from me!'
+Mara withdrew, but only to watch for another opportunity. It came when
+the Prince had reduced himself to emaciation and agony by the severest
+austerities. Then Mara presented himself, and pretending compassion,
+said, 'Beware, O grand Being! Your state is pitiable to look on; you
+are attenuated beyond measure, and your skin, that was of the colour of
+gold, is dark and discoloured. You are practising this mortification
+in vain. I can see that you will not live through it. You, who are a
+Grand Being, had better give up this course, for be assured you will
+derive much more advantage from sacrifices of fire and flowers.' Him
+the Grand Being indignantly answered, 'Hearken, thou vile and wicked
+Mara! Thy words suit not the time. Think not to deceive me, for I
+heed thee not. Thou mayest mislead those who have no understanding,
+but I, who have virtue, endurance, and intelligence, who know what
+is good and what is evil, cannot be so misled. Thou, O Mara! hast
+eight generals. Thy first is delight in the five lusts of the flesh,
+which are the pleasures of appearance, sound, scent, flavour, and
+touch. Thy second general is wrath, who takes the form of vexation,
+indignation, and desire to injure. Thy third is concupiscence. Thy
+fourth is desire. Thy fifth is impudence. Thy sixth is arrogance. Thy
+seventh is doubt. And thine eighth is ingratitude. These are thy
+generals, who cannot be escaped by those whose hearts are set on
+honour and wealth. But I know that he who can contend with these thy
+generals shall escape beyond all sorrow, and enjoy the most glorious
+happiness. Therefore I have not ceased to practise mortification,
+knowing that even were I to die whilst thus engaged, it would be a
+most excellent thing.'
+It is added that Mara 'fled in confusion,' but the next incident
+seems to show that his suggestion was not unheeded; for 'after he
+had departed,' the Grand Being had his vision of the three-stringed
+guitar--one string drawn too tightly, the second too loosely, the third
+moderately--which last, somewhat in defiance of orchestral ideas,
+alone gave sweet music, and taught him that moderation was better
+than excess or laxity. By eating enough he gained that pristine
+strength and beauty which offended the five Brahmans so that they
+left him. The third and final effort of Mara immediately preceded
+the Prince's attainment of the order of Buddha under the Bo-tree. He
+now sent his three daughters, Raka (Love), Aradi (Anger), Tanha
+(Desire). Beautifully bedecked they approached him, and Raka said,
+'Lord, fearest thou not death?' But he drove her away. The two others
+also he drove away as they had no charm of sufficient power to entice
+him. Then Mara assembled his generals, and said, 'Listen, ye Maras,
+that know not sorrow! Now shall I make war on the Prince, that man
+without equal. I dare not attack him in face, but I will circumvent
+him by approaching on the north side. Assume then all manner of shapes,
+and use your mightiest powers, that he may flee in terror.'
+Having taken on fearful shapes, raising awful sounds, headed by
+Mara himself, who had assumed immense size, and mounted his elephant
+Girimaga, a thousand miles in height, they advanced; but they dare not
+enter beneath the shade of the holy Bo-tree. They frightened away,
+however, the Lord's guardian angels, and he was left alone. Then
+seeing the army approaching from the north, he reflected, 'Long have I
+devoted myself to a life of mortification, and now I am alone, without
+a friend to aid me in this contest. Yet may I escape the Maras,
+for the virtue of my transcendent merits will be my army.' 'Help
+me,' he cried, 'ye thirty Barami! ye powers of accumulated merit,
+ye powers of Almsgiving, Morality, Relinquishment, Wisdom, Fortitude,
+Patience, Truth, Determination, Charity, and Equanimity, help me in
+my fight with Mara!' The Lord was seated on his jewelled throne (the
+same that had been formed of the grass on which he sat), and Mara
+with his army exhausted every resource of terror--monstrous beasts,
+rain of missiles and burning ashes, gales that blew down mountain
+peaks--to inspire him with fear; but all in vain! Nay, the burning
+ashes were changed to flowers as they fell.
+'Come down from thy throne,' shouted the evil-formed one; 'come down,
+or I will cut thine heart into atoms!' The Lord replied, 'This jewelled
+throne was created by the power of my merits, for I am he who will
+teach all men the remedy for death, who will redeem all beings,
+and set them free from the sorrows of circling existence.'
+Mara then claimed that the throne belonged to himself, and had been
+created by his own merits; and on this armed himself with the Chakkra,
+the irresistible weapon of Indra, and Wheel of the Law. Yet Buddha
+answered, 'By the thirty virtues of transcendent merits, and the five
+alms, I have obtained the throne. Thou, in saying that this throne
+was created by thy merits, tellest an untruth, for indeed there is
+no throne for a sinful, horrible being such as thou art.'
+Then furious Mara hurled the Chakkra, which clove mountains in its
+course, but could not pass a canopy of flowers which rose over the
+Lord's head.
+And now the great Being asked Mara for the witnesses of his acts of
+merit by virtue of which he claimed the throne. In response, Mara's
+generals all bore him witness. Then Mara challenged him, 'Tell me now,
+where is the man that can bear witness for thee?' The Lord reflected,
+'Truly here is no man to bear me witness, but I will call on the earth
+itself, though it has neither spirit nor understanding, and it shall
+be my witness.' Stretching forth his hand, he thus invoked the earth:
+'O holy Earth! I who have attained the thirty powers of virtue,
+and performed the five great alms, each time that I have performed a
+great act have not failed to pour water on thee. Now that I have no
+other witness, I call upon thee to give thy testimony!'
+The angel of the earth appeared in shape of a lovely woman, and
+answered, 'O Being more excellent than angels or men! it is true
+that, when you performed your great works, you ever poured water on
+my hair.' And with these words she wrung her long hair, and from it
+issued a stream, a torrent, a flood, in which Mara and his hosts were
+overturned, their insignia destroyed, and King Mara put to flight,
+amid the loud rejoicings of angels.
+Then the evil one and his generals were conquered not only in power but
+in heart; and Mara, raising his thousand arms, paid reverence, saying,
+'Homage to the Lord, who has subdued his body even as a charioteer
+breaks his horses to his use! The Lord will become the omniscient
+Buddha, the Teacher of angels, and Brahmas, and Yakkhas (demons),
+and men. He will confound all Maras, and rescue men from the whirl
+of transmigration!'
+The menacing powers depicted as assailing Sakya Muni appear only
+around the infancy of Zoroaster. The interview of the latter with
+Ahriman hardly amounts to a severe trial, but still the accent of
+the chief temptation both of Buddha and Christ is in it, namely,
+the promise of worldly empire. It was on one of those midnight
+journeys through Heaven and Hell that Zoroaster saw Ahriman, and
+delivered from his power 'one who had done both good and evil.' When Ahriman met Zoroaster's gaze, he cried, 'Quit thou the pure law;
+cast it to the ground; thou wilt then be in the world all that thou
+canst desire. Be not anxious about thy end. At least, do not destroy
+my subjects, O pure Zoroaster, son of Poroscharp, who art born of
+her thou hast borne!' Zoroaster answered, 'Wicked Majesty! it is for
+thee and thy worshippers that Hell is prepared, but by the mercy of
+God I shall bury your work with shame and ignominy.'
+In the account of Matthew, Satan begins his temptation of Jesus in
+the same way and amid similar circumstances to those we find in the
+Siamese legends of Buddha. It occurs in a wilderness, and the appeal
+is to hunger. The temptation of Buddha, in which Mara promises the
+empire of the world, is also repeated in the case of Satan and Jesus
+(Fig. 6). The menaces, however, in this case, are relegated to the
+infancy, and the lustful temptation is absent altogether. Mark has an
+allusion to his being in the wilderness forty days 'with the beasts,'
+which may mean that Satan 'drove' him into a region of danger to
+inspire fear. In Luke we have the remarkable claim of Satan that
+the authority over the world has been delivered to himself, and he
+gives it to whom he will; which Jesus does not deny, as Buddha did
+the similar claim of Mara. As in the case of Buddha, the temptation
+of Jesus ends his fasting; angels bring him food (diêkonoun aytô
+probably means that), and thenceforth he eats and drinks, to the
+scandal of the ascetics.
+The essential addition in the case of Jesus is the notable temptation
+to try and perform a crucial act. Satan quotes an accredited messianic
+prophecy, and invites Jesus to test his claim to be the predicted
+deliverer by casting himself from the pinnacle of the Temple,
+and testing the promise that angels should protect the true Son
+of God. Strauss, [92] as it appears to me, has not considered the
+importance of this in connection with the general situation. 'Assent,'
+he says, 'cannot be withheld from the canon that, to be credible,
+the narrative must ascribe nothing to the devil inconsistent with his
+established cunning. Now, the first temptation, appealing to hunger,
+we grant, is not ill-conceived; if this were ineffectual, the devil,
+as an artful tactician, should have had a yet more alluring temptation
+at hand; but instead of this, we find him, in Matthew, proposing to
+Jesus the neck-breaking feat of casting himself down from the pinnacle
+of the Temple--a far less inviting miracle than the metamorphosis of
+the stones. This proposition finding no acceptance, there follows,
+as a crowning effort, a suggestion which, whatever might be the bribe,
+every true Israelite would instantly reject with abhorrence--to fall
+down and worship the devil.'
+Not so! The scapegoat was a perpetual act of worship to the Devil. In
+this story of the temptation of Christ there enter some characteristic
+elements of the temptation of Job. [93] Uz in the one case and the
+wilderness in the other mean morally the same, the region ruled over
+by Azazel. In both cases the trial is under divine direction. And
+the trial is in both cases to secure a division of worship between
+the good and evil powers, which was so universal in the East that
+it was the test of exceptional piety if one did not swerve from
+an unmixed sacrifice. Jesus is apparently abandoned by the God in
+whom he trusted; he is 'driven' into a wilderness, and there kept
+with the beasts and without food. The Devil alone comes to him;
+exhibits his own miraculous power by bearing him through the air to
+his own Mount Seir, and showing him the whole world in a moment of
+time; and now says to him, as it were, 'Try your God! See if he will
+even turn stones into bread to save his own son, to whom I offer the
+kingdoms of the world!' Then bearing him into the 'holy hill' of his
+own God--the pinnacle of the Temple--says, 'Try now a leap, and see
+if he saves from being dashed to pieces, even in his own precincts,
+his so trustful devotee, whom I have borne aloft so safely! Which,
+then, has the greater power to protect, enrich, advance you,--he who
+has left you out here to starve, so that you dare not trust yourself to
+him, or I? Fall down then and worship me as your God, and all the world
+is yours! It is the world you are to reign over: rule it in my name!
+When St. Anthony is tempted by the Devil in the form of a lean monk,
+it was easy to see that the hermit was troubled with a vision of his
+own emaciation. When the Devil appears to Luther under guise of a holy
+monk, it is an obvious explanation that he was impressed by a memory
+of the holy brothers who still remained in the Church, and who, while
+they implored his return, pointed out the strength and influence he had
+lost by secession. Equally simple are the moral elements in the story
+of Christ's temptation. While a member of John's ascetic community,
+for which 'though he was rich he became poor,' hunger, and such
+anxiety about a living as victimises many a young thinker now, must
+have assailed him. Later on his Devil meets him on the Temple, quotes
+scripture, and warns him that his visionary God will not raise him so
+high in the Church as the Prince of this World can. [94] And finally,
+when dreams of a larger union, including Jews and Gentiles, visited
+him, the power that might be gained by connivance with universal
+idolatry would be reflected in the offer of the kingdoms of the world
+in payment for the purity of his aims and singleness of his worship.
+That these trials of self-truthfulness and fidelity, occurring
+at various phases of life, would be recognised, is certain. A
+youth of high position, as Christ probably was, [95] or even one
+with that great power over the people which all concede, was, in a
+worldly sense, 'throwing away his prospects;' and this voice, real
+in its time, would naturally be conventionalised. It would put on
+the stock costume of devils and angels; and among Jewish christians
+it would naturally be associated with the forty-days' fast of Moses
+(Exod. xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9), and that of Elias (1 Kings xix. 8),
+and the forty-years' trial of Israel in the wilderness. Among Greek
+christians some traces of the legend of Herakles in his seclusion as
+herdsman, or at the cross-roads between Vice and Virtue, might enter;
+and it is not impossible that some touches might be added from the
+Oriental myth which invested Buddha.
+However this may be, we may with certainty repair to the common
+source of all such myths in the higher nature of man, and recognise
+the power of a pure genius to overcome those temptations to a success
+unworthy of itself. We may interpret all such legends with a clearness
+proportioned to the sacrifices we have made for truth and ideal right;
+and the endless perplexities of commentators and theologians about
+the impossible outward details of the New Testament story are simple
+confessions that the great spirit so tried is now made to label with
+his name his own Tempter--namely, a Church grown powerful and wealthy,
+which, as the Prince of this World, bribes the conscience and tempts
+away the talent necessary to the progress of mankind.
+TRIAL OF THE GREAT.
+A 'Morality' at Tours--The 'St. Anthony' of Spagnoletto--Bunyan's
+Pilgrim--Milton on Christ's Temptation--An Edinburgh saint and
+Unitarian fiend--A haunted Jewess--Conversion by fever--Limit of
+courage--Woman and sorcery--Luther and the Devil--The ink-spot at
+Wartburg--Carlyle's interpretation--The cowled devil--Carlyle's
+trial--In Rue St. Thomas d'Enfer--The Everlasting No--Devil of
+Vauvert--The latter-day conflict--New conditions--The Victory of
+Man--The Scholar and the World.
+A representation of the Temptation of St. Anthony (marionettes), which
+I witnessed at Tours (1878), had several points of significance. It
+was the mediæval 'Morality' as diminished by centuries, and
+conventionalised among those whom the centuries mould in ways and
+for ends they know not. Amid a scenery of grotesque devils, rudely
+copied from Callot, St. Anthony appeared, and was tempted in a way
+that recalled the old pictures. There was the same fair Temptress, in
+this case the wife of Satan, who warns her lord that his ugly devils
+will be of no avail against Anthony, and that the whole affair should
+be confided to her. She being repelled, the rest of the performance
+consisted in the devils continually ringing the bell of the hermitage,
+and finally setting fire to it. This conflagration was the supreme
+torment of Anthony--and, sooth to say, it was a fairly comfortable
+abode--who utters piteous prayers and is presently comforted by an
+angel bringing him wreaths of evergreen.
+The prayers of the saint and the response of the angel were meant to
+be seriously taken; but their pathos was generally met with pardonable
+laughter by the crowd in the booth. Yet there was a pathos about it
+all, if only this, that the only temptations thought of for a saint
+were a sound and quiet house and a mistress. The bell-noise alone
+remained from the great picture of Spagnoletto at Siena, where the
+unsheltered old man raises his deprecating hand against the disturber,
+but not his eyes from the book he reads. In Spagnoletto's picture
+there are five large books, pen, ink, and hour-glass; but there is
+neither hermitage to be burnt nor female charms to be resisted.
+But Spagnoletto, even in his time, was beholding the vision of
+exceptional men in the past, whose hunger and thirst was for knowledge,
+truth, and culture, and who sought these in solitude. Such men have
+so long left the Church familiar to the French peasantry that any
+representation of their temptations and trials would be out of place
+among the marionettes. The bells which now disturb them are those
+that sound from steeples.
+Another picture loomed up before my eyes over the puppet performance at
+Tours, that which for Bunyan frescoed the walls of Bedford Gaol. There,
+too, the old demons, giants, and devils took on grave and vast forms,
+and reflected the trials of the Great Hearts who withstood the Popes
+and Pagans, the armed political Apollyons and the Giant Despairs,
+who could make prisons the hermitages of men born to be saviours of
+the people.
+Such were the temptations that Milton knew; from his own heart
+came the pigments with which he painted the trial of Christ in the
+wilderness. 'Set women in his eye,' said Belial:--
+Women, when nothing else, beguiled the heart
+Of wisest Solomon, and made him build,
+And made him bow to the gods of his wives.
+To whom quick answer Satan thus returned.
+Belial, in much uneven scale thou weigh'st
+All others by thyself....
+But he whom we attempt is wiser far
+Than Solomon, of more exalted mind,
+Made and set wholly on the accomplishment
+Of greatest things....
+Therefore with manlier objects we must try
+His constancy, with such as have more show
+Of worth, of honour, glory, and popular praise;
+Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wrecked. 
+The progressive ideas which Milton attributed to Satan have not
+failed. That Celestial City which Bunyan found it so hard to reach
+has now become a metropolis of wealth and fashion, and the trials
+which once beset pilgrims toiling towards it are now transferred
+to those who would pass beyond it to another city, seen from afar,
+with temples of Reason and palaces of Justice.
+The old phantasms have shrunk to puppets. The trials by personal
+devils are relegated to the regions of insanity and disease. It is
+everywhere a dance of puppets though on a cerebral stage. A lady well
+known in Edinburgh related to me a terrible experience she had with
+the devil. She had invited some of her relations to visit her for some
+days; but these relatives were Unitarians, and, after they had gone,
+having entered the room which they had occupied, she was seized by
+the devil, thrown on the floor, and her back so strained that she had
+to keep her bed for some time. This was to her 'the Unitarian fiend'
+of which the Wesleyan Hymn-Book sang so long; but even the Wesleyans
+have now discarded the famous couplet, and there must be few who would
+not recognise that the old lady at Edinburgh merely had a tottering
+body representing a failing mind.
+I have just read a book in which a lady in America relates her trial
+by the devil. This lady, in her girlhood, was of a christian family,
+but she married a rabbi and was baptized into Judaism. After some years
+of happy life a terrible compunction seized her; she imagined herself
+lost for ever; she became ill. A christian (Baptist) minister and
+his wife were the evil stars in her case, and with what terrors they
+surrounded the poor Jewess may be gathered from the following extract.
+'She then left me--that dear friend left me alone to my God, and to
+him I carried a lacerated and bleeding heart, and laid it at the foot
+of the cross, as an atonement for the multiplied sins I had committed,
+whether of ignorance or wilfulness; and how shall I proceed to portray
+the heart-felt agonies of that night preceding my deliverance from
+the shafts of Satan? Oh! this weight, this load of sin, this burden
+so intolerable that it crushed me to the earth; for this was a
+dark hour with me--the darkest; and I lay calm, to all appearance,
+but with cold perspiration drenching me, nor could I close my eyes;
+and these words again smote my ear, No redemption, no redemption; and
+the tempter came, inviting me, with all his blandishment and power,
+to follow him to his court of pleasure. My eyes were open; I certainly
+saw him, dressed in the most phantastic shape. This was no illusion;
+for he soon assumed the appearance of one of the gay throng I had
+mingled with in former days, and beckoned me to follow. I was awake,
+and seemed to lie on the brink of a chasm, and spirits were dancing
+around me, and I made some slight outcry, and those dear girls watching
+with me came to me, and looked at me. They said I looked at them but
+could not speak, and they moistened my lips, and said I was nearly
+gone; then I whispered, and they came and looked at me again, but
+would not disturb me. It was well they did not; for the power of God
+was over me, and angels were around me, and whispering spirits near,
+and I whispered in sweet communion with them, as they surrounded me,
+and, pointing to the throne of grace, said, 'Behold!' and I felt that
+the glory of God was about to manifest itself; for a shout, as if a
+choir of angels had tuned their golden harps, burst forth in, 'Glory
+to God on high,' and died away in softest strains of melody. I lifted
+up my eyes to heaven, and there, so near as to be almost within my
+reach, the brightest vision of our Lord and Saviour stood before me,
+enveloped with a light, ethereal mist, so bright and yet transparent
+that his divine figure could be seen distinctly, and my eyes were
+riveted upon him; for this bright vision seemed to touch my bed,
+standing at the foot, so near, and he stretched forth his left hand
+toward me, whilst with the right one he pointed to the throne of grace,
+and a voice came, saying, 'Blessed are they who can see God; arise,
+take up thy cross and follow me; for though thy sins be as scarlet
+they shall be white as wool.' And with my eyes fixed on that bright
+vision, I saw from the hand stretched toward me great drops of blood,
+as if from each finger; for his blessed hand was spread open, as if
+in prayer, and those drops fell distinctly, as if upon the earth;
+and a misty light encircled me, and a voice again said, 'Take up thy
+cross and follow me; for though thy sins be as scarlet they shall be
+white as wool.' And angels were all around me, and I saw the throne
+of heaven. And, oh! the sweet calm that stole over my senses. It
+must have been a foretaste of heavenly bliss. How long I lay after
+this beautiful vision I know not; but when I opened my eyes it was
+early dawn, and I felt so happy and well. My young friends pressed
+around my bedside, to know how I felt, and I said, 'I am well and so
+happy.' They then said I was whispering with some one in my dreams
+all night. I told them angels were with me; that I was not asleep,
+and I had sweet communion with them, and would soon be well.' 
+That is what the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness comes to when
+dislocated from its time and place, and, with its gathered ages of
+fable, is imported at last to be an engine of torture sprung on the
+nerves of a devout woman. This Jewess was divorced from her husband
+by her Christianity; her child died a victim to precocious piety;
+but what were home and affection in ruins compared with salvation
+from that frightful devil seen in her holy delirium?
+History shows that it has always required unusual courage for a human
+being to confront an enemy believed to be præternatural. This Jewess
+would probably have been able to face a tiger for the sake of her
+husband, but not that fantastic devil. Not long ago an English actor
+was criticised because, in playing Hamlet, he cowered with fear on
+seeing the ghost, all his sinews and joints seeming to give way;
+but to me he appeared then the perfect type of what mankind have
+always been when believing themselves in the presence of præternatural
+powers. The limit of courage in human nature was passed when the foe
+was one which no earthly power or weapon could reach.
+In old times, nearly all the sorcerers and witches were women; and
+it may have been, in some part, because woman had more real courage
+than man unarmed. Sorcery and witchcraft were but the so-called
+pagan rites in their last degradation, and women were the last to
+abandon the declining religion, just as they are the last to leave
+the superstition which has followed it. Their sentiment and affection
+were intertwined with it, and the threats of eternal torture by devils
+which frightened men from the old faith to the new were less powerful
+to shake the faith of women. When pagan priests became christians,
+priestesses remained, to become sorceresses. The new faith had
+gradually to win the love of the sex too used to martyrdom on earth
+to fear it much in hell. And now, again, when knowledge clears away
+the old terrors, and many men are growing indifferent to all religion,
+because no longer frightened by it, we may expect the churches to be
+increasingly kept up by women alone, simply because they went into them
+more by attraction of saintly ideals than fear of diabolical menaces.
+Thomas Carlyle has selected Luther's boldness in the presence of what
+he believed the Devil to illustrate his valour. 'His defiance of the
+'Devils' in Worms,' says Carlyle, 'was not a mere boast, as the like
+might be if spoken now. It was a faith of Luther's that there were
+Devils, spiritual denizens of the Pit, continually besetting men. Many
+times, in his writings, this turns up; and a most small sneer has
+been grounded on it by some. In the room of the Wartburg, where he sat
+translating the Bible, they still show you a black spot on the wall;
+the strange memorial of one of these conflicts. Luther sat translating
+one of the Psalms; he was worn down with long labour, with sickness,
+abstinence from food; there rose before him some hideous indefinable
+Image, which he took for the Evil One, to forbid his work; Luther
+started up with fiend-defiance; flung his inkstand at the spectre,
+and it disappeared! The spot still remains there; a curious monument
+of several things. Any apothecary's apprentice can now tell us what we
+are to think of this apparition, in a scientific sense; but the man's
+heart that dare rise defiant, face to face, against Hell itself, can
+give no higher proof of fearlessness. The thing he will quail before
+exists not on this earth nor under it--fearless enough! 'The Devil
+is aware,' writes he on one occasion, 'that this does not proceed
+out of fear in me. I have seen and defied innumerable Devils. Duke
+George,'--of Leipzig, a great enemy of his,--'Duke George is not equal
+to one Devil,' far short of a Devil! 'If I had business at Leipzig,
+I would ride into Leipzig, though it rained Duke Georges for nine
+days running.' What a reservoir of Dukes to ride into!' 
+Although Luther's courage certainly appears in this, it is plain that
+his Devil was much humanised as compared with the fearful phantoms
+of an earlier time. Nobody would ever have tried an inkstand on the
+Gorgons, Furies, Lucifers of ancient belief. In Luther's Bible the
+Devil is pictured as a monk--a lean monk, such as he himself was only
+too likely to become if he continued his rebellion against the Church
+(Fig. 17). It was against a Devil liable to resistance by physical
+force that he hurled his inkstand, and against whom he also hurled
+the contents of his inkstand in those words which Richter said were
+half-battles.
+Luther's Devil, in fact, represents one of the last phases in
+the reduction of the Evil Power from a personified phantom with
+which no man could cope, to that impersonal but all the more real
+moral obstruction with which every man can cope--if only with
+an inkstand. The horned monster with cowl, beads, and cross, is a
+mere transparency, through which every brave heart may recognise the
+practical power of wrong around him, the established error, disguised
+as religion, which is able to tempt and threaten him.
+The temptations with menace described--those which, coming upon
+the weak nerves of women, vanquished their reason and heart; that
+which, in a healthy man, raised valour and power--may be taken as
+side-lights for a corresponding experience in the life of a great
+man now living--Carlyle himself. It was at a period of youth when,
+amid the lonely hills of Scotland, he wandered out of harmony with the
+world in which he lived. Consecrated by pious parents to the ministry,
+he had inwardly renounced every dogma of the Church. With genius and
+culture for high work, the world demanded of him low work. Friendless,
+alone, poor, he sat eating his heart, probably with little else to
+eat. Every Scotch parson he met unconsciously propounded to that youth
+the question whether he could convert his heretical stone into bread,
+or precipitate himself from the pinnacle of the Scotch Kirk without
+bruises? Then it was he roamed in his mystical wilderness, until he
+found himself in the gayest capital of the world, which, however,
+on him had little to bestow but a further sense of loneliness.
+'Now, when I look back, it was a strange isolation I then lived
+in. The men and women around me, even speaking with me, were but
+Figures; I had practically forgotten that they were alive, that they
+were not merely automatic. In the midst of their crowded streets and
+assemblages, I walked solitary; and (except as it was my own heart,
+not another's, that I kept devouring) savage also, as is the tiger in
+his jungle. Some comfort it would have been, could I, like a Faust,
+have fancied myself tempted and tormented of a Devil; for a Hell,
+as I imagine, without Life, though only diabolic Life, were more
+frightful: but in our age of Downpulling and Disbelief, the very Devil
+has been pulled down--you cannot so much as believe in a Devil. To
+me the Universe was all void of Life, of Purpose, of Volition, even
+of Hostility: it was one huge, dead, immeasurable, Steam-engine,
+rolling on, in its dead indifference, to grind me limb from limb. Oh,
+the vast gloomy, solitary Golgotha, and Mill of Death! Why was the
+Living banished thither, companionless, conscious? Why, if there is
+no Devil; nay, unless the Devil is your God?' ...
+'From suicide a certain aftershine of Christianity withheld me.' ...
+'So had it lasted, as in bitter, protracted Death-agony, through
+long years. The heart within me, unvisited by any heavenly dewdrop,
+was smouldering in sulphurous, slow-consuming fire. Almost since
+earliest memory I had shed no tear; or once only when I, murmuring
+half-audibly, recited Faust's Deathsong, that wild Selig der den er
+im Siegesglanze findet (Happy whom he finds in Battle's splendour),
+and thought that of this last Friend even I was not forsaken, that
+Destiny itself could not doom me not to die. Having no hope, neither
+had I any definite fear, were it of Man or of Devil; nay, I often
+felt as if it might be solacing could the Arch-Devil himself, though
+in Tartarean terrors, rise to me that I might tell him a little of my
+mind. And yet, strangely enough, I lived in a continual, indefinite,
+pining fear; tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I knew not what;
+it seemed as if all things in the Heavens above and the Earth beneath
+would hurt me; as if the Heavens and the Earth were but boundless jaws
+of a devouring monster, wherein I, palpitating, waited to be devoured.
+'Full of such humour, and perhaps the miserablest man in the whole
+French Capital or Suburbs, was I, one sultry Dogday, after much
+perambulation, toiling along the dirty little Rue Sainte Thomas
+de l'Enfer, among civic rubbish enough, in a close atmosphere, and
+over pavements hot as Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace; whereby doubtless my
+spirits were little cheered; when all at once there rose a Thought
+in me, and I asked myself, 'What art thou afraid of? Wherefore, like
+a coward, dost thou for ever pip and whimper, and go cowering and
+trembling? Despicable biped! what is the sum-total of the worst that
+lies before thee? Death? Well, Death; and say the pangs of Tophet too,
+and all that the Devil or Man may, will, or can do against thee! Hast
+thou not a heart; canst thou not suffer whatsoever it be; and, as a
+Child of Freedom, though outcast, trample Tophet itself under thy feet,
+while it consumes thee! Let it come, then; I will meet it and defy
+it!' And as I so thought, there rushed like a stream of fire over my
+whole soul; and I shook base Fear away from me for ever. I was strong,
+of unknown strength; a spirit, almost a god. Ever from that time the
+temper of my misery was changed: not Fear or whining Sorrow was it,
+but Indignation and grim fire-eyed Defiance.
+'Thus had the Everlasting No pealed authoritatively through all the
+recesses of my Being, of my Me; and then was it that my whole Me
+stood up, in native God-created majesty and with emphasis recorded
+its Protest. Such a Protest, the most important transaction in Life,
+may that same Indignation and Defiance, in a psychological point of
+view, be fitly called. The Everlasting No had said, 'Behold thou
+art fatherless, outcast, and the Universe is mine (the Devil's);'
+to which my whole Me now made answer, 'I am not thine, but Free,
+and for ever hate thee!'
+'It is from this hour that I incline to date my spiritual New Birth,
+or Baphometic fire-baptism; perhaps I directly thereupon began to be
+a Man.' 
+Perhaps he who so uttered his Apage Satana did not recognise amid
+what haunted Edom he wrestled with his Phantom. Saint Louis, having
+invited the Carthusian monks to Paris, assigned them a habitation in
+the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, near the ancient chateau of Vauvert,
+a manor built by Robert (le Diable), but for a long time then
+uninhabited, because infested by demons, which had, perhaps, been
+false coiners. Fearful howls had been heard there, and spectres seen,
+dragging chains; and, in particular, it was frequented by a fearful
+green monster, serpent and man in one, with a long white beard,
+wielding a huge club, with which he threatened all who passed that
+way. This demon, in common belief, passed along the road to and
+from the chateau in a fiery chariot, and twisted the neck of every
+human being met on his way. He was called the Devil of Vauvert. The
+Carthusians were not frightened by these stories, but asked Louis to
+give them the Manor, which he did, with all its dependencies. After
+that nothing more was heard of the Diable Vauvert or his imps. It
+was but fair to the Demons who had assisted the friars in obtaining a
+valuable property so cheaply that the street should thenceforth bear
+the name of Rue d'Enfer, as it does. But the formidable genii of the
+place haunted it still, and, in the course of time, the Carthusians
+proved that they could use with effect all the terrors which the
+Devils had left behind them. They represented a great money-coining
+Christendom with which free-thinking Michaels had to contend, even
+to the day when, as we have just read, one of the bravest of these
+there encountered his Vauvert devil and laid him low for ever.
+I well remember that wretched street of St. Thomas leading into Hell
+Street, as if the Parisian authorities, remembering that Thomas
+was a doubter, meant to remind the wayfarer that whoso doubteth
+is damned. Near by is the convent of St. Michael, who makes no war
+on the neighbouring Rue Dragon. All names--mere idle names! Among
+the thousands that crowd along them, how many pause to note the
+quaintness of the names on the street-lamps, remaining there from
+fossil fears and phantom battles long turned to fairy lore. Yet amid
+them, on that sultry day, in one heart, was fought and won a battle
+which summed up all their sense and value. Every Hell was conquered
+then and there when Fear was conquered. There, when the lower Self
+was cast down beneath the poised spear of a Free Mind, St. Michael at
+last chained his dragon. There Luther's inkstand was not only hurled,
+but hit its mark; there, 'Get thee behind me,' was said, and obeyed;
+there Buddha brought the archfiend Mara to kneel at his feet.
+And it was by sole might of a Man. Therefore may this be emphasised
+as the temptation and triumph which have for us to-day the meaning
+of all others.
+A young man of intellectual power, seeing beyond all the conventional
+errors around him, without means, feeling that ordinary work, however
+honourable, would for him mean failure of his life--because failure
+to contribute his larger truth to mankind--he finds the terrible
+cost of his aim to be hunger, want, a life passed amid suspicion
+and alienation, without sympathy, lonely, unloved--and, alas! with a
+probability that all these losses may involve loss of just what they
+are incurred for, the power to make good his truth. After giving up
+love and joy, he may, after all, be unable to give living service
+to his truth, but only a broken body and shed blood. Similar trials
+in outer form have been encountered again and again; not only in
+the great temptations and triumphs of sacred tradition, but perhaps
+even more genuinely in the unknown lives of many pious people all
+over the world, have hunger, want, suffering, been conquered by
+faith. But rarely amid doubts. Rarely in the way of Saint Thomas,
+in no fear of hell or devil, nor in any hope of reward in heaven, or
+on earth; rarely indeed without any feeling of a God taking notice,
+or belief in angels waiting near, have men or women triumphed utterly
+over self. All history proves what man can sacrifice on earth for an
+eternal weight of glory above. We know how cheerfully men and women
+can sing at the stake, when they feel the fire consuming them to be
+a chariot bearing them to heaven. We understand the valour of Luther
+marching against his devils with his hymn, 'Ein feste Burg ist unser
+Gott.' But it is important to know what man's high heart is capable of
+without any of these encouragements or aids, what man's moral force
+when he feels himself alone. For this must become an increasingly
+momentous consideration.
+Already the educated youth of our time have followed the wanderer
+of threescore years ago into that St. Thomas d'Enfer Street, which
+may be morally translated as the point where man doubts every hell
+he does not feel, and every creed he cannot prove. The old fears
+and hopes are fading faster from the minds around us than from
+their professions. There must be very few sane people now who are
+restrained by fear of hell, or promises of future reward. What then
+controls human passion and selfishness? For many, custom; for others,
+hereditary good nature and good sense; for some, a sense of honour;
+for multitudes, the fear of law and penalties. It is very difficult
+indeed, amid these complex motives, to know how far simple human
+nature, acting at its best, is capable of heroic endurance for truth,
+and of pure passion for the right. This cannot be seen in those
+who intellectually reject the creed of the majority, but conform to
+its standards and pursue its worldly advantages. It must be seen,
+if at all, in those who are radically severed from the conventional
+aims of the world,--who seek not its wealth, nor its honours, decline
+its proudest titles, defy its authority, share not its prospects for
+time or eternity. It must be proved by those, the grandeur of whose
+aims can change the splendours of Paris to a wilderness. These may
+show what man, as man, is capable of, what may be his new birth,
+and the religion of his simple manhood. What they think, say, and
+do is not prescribed either by human or supernatural command; in
+them you do not see what society thinks, or sects believe, or what
+the populace applaud. You see the individual man building his moral
+edifice, as genuinely as birds their nests, by law of his own moral
+constitution. It is a great thing to know what those edifices are,
+for so at last every man will have to build if he build at all. And if
+noble lives cannot be so lived, we may be sure the career of the human
+race will be downhill henceforth. For any unbiassed mind may judge
+whether the tendency of thought and power lies toward or away from
+the old hopes and fears on which the regime of the past was founded.
+A great and wise Teacher of our time, who shared with Carlyle his
+lonely pilgrimage, has admonished his generation of the temptations
+brought by talent,--selfish use of it for ambitious ends on the
+one hand, or withdrawal into fruitless solitude on the other; and I
+cannot forbear closing this chapter with his admonition to his young
+countrymen forty years ago. 
+'Public and private avarice makes the air we breathe thick and fat. The
+scholar is decent, indolent, complacent. See already the tragic
+consequence. The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects,
+eats upon itself. There is no work for any but the decorous and the
+complacent. Young men of the fairest promise, who begin life upon our
+shores, inflated by the mountain winds, shined upon by all the stars of
+God, find the earth below not in unison with these,--but are hindered
+from action by the disgust which the principles on which business is
+managed inspire and turn drudges, or die of disgust,--some of them
+suicides. What is the remedy? They did not yet see, and thousands of
+young men as hopeful, now crowding to the barriers for the career,
+do not yet see, that if the single man plant himself indomitably on
+his instincts, and there abide, the huge world will come round to
+him. Patience--patience;--with the shades of all the good and great
+for company; and for solace, the perspective of your own infinite
+life; and for work, the study and the communication of principles,
+the making those instincts prevalent, the conversion of the world. Is
+it not the chief disgrace in the world--not to be an unit; not to
+be reckoned one character; not to yield that peculiar fruit which
+each man was created to bear,--but to be reckoned in the gross, in
+the hundred, in the thousand of the party, the section, to which we
+belong; and our opinion predicted geographically, as the north or the
+south? Not so, brothers and friends,--please God, ours shall not be
+so. We will walk on our own feet; we will work with our own hands;
+we will speak our own minds.'
+THE MAN OF SIN.
+Hindu myth--Gnostic theories--Ophite scheme of
+redemption--Rabbinical traditions of primitive man--Pauline
+Pessimism--Law of death--Satan's ownership of man--Redemption of
+the elect--Contemporary statements--Baptism--Exorcism--The 'new
+man's' food--Eucharist--Herbert Spencer's explanation--Primitive
+ideas--Legends of Adam and Seth--Adamites--A Mormon 'Mystery'
+of initiation.
+In a Hindu myth, Dhrubo, an infant devotee, passed much time in a
+jungle, surrounded by ferocious beasts, in devotional exercises of
+such extraordinary merit that Vishnu erected a new heaven for him
+as the reward of his piety. Vishnu even left his own happy abode
+to superintend the construction of this special heaven. In Hebrew
+mythology the favourite son, the chosen people, is called out of
+Egypt to dwell in a new home, a promised land, not in heaven but on
+earth. The idea common to the two is that of a contrast between a
+natural and a celestial environment,--a jungle and beasts, bondage
+and distress; a new heaven, a land flowing with milk and honey,--and
+the correspondence with these of the elect child, Dhrubo or Israel.
+The tendency of Christ's mind appears to have been rather in the Aryan
+direction; he pointed his friends to a kingdom not of this world,
+and to his Father's many mansions in heaven. But the Hebrew faith in a
+messianic reign in this world was too strong for his dream; a new earth
+was appended to the new heaven, and became gradually paramount, but
+this new earth was represented only by the small society of believers
+who made the body of Christ, the members in which his blood flowed.
+That great cauldron of confused superstitions and mysticisms which the
+Roman Empire became after the overthrow of Jerusalem, formed a thick
+scum which has passed under the vague name of Gnosticism. The primitive
+notions of all races were contained in it, however, and they gathered
+in the second and third centuries a certain consistency in the system
+of the Ophites. In the beginning existed Bythos (the Depth); his first
+emanation and consort is Ennoia (Thought); their first daughter is
+Pneuma (Spirit), their second Sophia (Wisdom). Sophia's emanations are
+two--one perfect, Christos; the other imperfect, Sophia-Achamoth,--who
+respectively guide all that proceed from God and all that proceed
+from Matter. Sophia, unable to act directly upon anything so gross
+as Matter or unordered as Chaos, employs her imperfect daughter
+Sophia-Achamoth for that purpose. But she, finding delight in imparting
+life to inert Matter, became ambitious of creating in the abyss a
+world for herself. To this end she produced the Demiurgus Ildabaoth
+(otherwise Jehovah) to be creator of the material world. After this
+Sophia-Achamoth shook off Matter, in which she had become entangled;
+but Ildabaoth ('son of Darkness') proceeded to produce emanations
+corresponding to those of Bythos in the upper universe. Among his
+creations was Man, but his man was a soulless monster crawling on the
+ground. Sophia-Achamoth managed to transfer to Man the small ray of
+divine light which Ildabaoth had inherited from her. The 'primitive
+Man' became thus a divine being. Ildabaoth, now entirely evil, was
+enraged at having produced a being who had become superior to himself,
+and his envy took shape in a serpent-formed Satan, Ophiomorphos. He
+is the concentration of all that is most base in Matter, conjoined
+with a spiritual intelligence. Their anti-Judaism led the Ophites to
+identify Ildabaoth as Jehovah, and this serpent-son of his as Michael;
+they also called him Samaël. Ildabaoth then also created the animal,
+vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, with all their evils. Resolving
+to confine man within his own lower domain, he forbade him to eat
+of the Tree of Knowledge. To defeat his scheme, which had all been
+evolved out of her own temporary fall, Sophia-Achamoth sent her own
+genius, also in form of a serpent, Ophis, to induce Man to transgress
+the tyrant's command. Eve supposing Ophis the same as Ophiomorphos,
+regarded the prohibition against the fruit as withdrawn and readily
+ate of it. Man thus became capable of understanding heavenly
+mysteries, and Ildabaoth made haste to imprison him in the dungeon
+of Matter. He also punished Ophis by making him eat dust, and this
+heavenly serpent, contaminated by Matter, changed from Man's friend
+to his foe. Sophia-Achamoth has always striven against these two
+Serpents, who bind man to the body by corrupt desires; she supplied
+mankind with divine light, through which they became sensible of
+their nakedness--the misery of their condition. Ildabaoth's seductive
+agents gained control over all the offspring of Adam except Seth, type
+of the Spiritual Man. Sophia-Achamoth moved Bythos to send down her
+perfect brother Christos to aid the Spiritual Race of Seth. Christos
+descended through the seven planetary regions, assuming successively
+forms related to each, and entered into the man Jesus at the moment
+of his baptism. Ildabaoth, discovering him, stirred up the Jews to
+put him to death; but Christos and Sophia, abandoning the material
+body of Jesus on the cross, gave him one made of ether. Hence his
+mother and disciples could not recognise him. He ascended to the
+Middle Space, where he sits by the right hand of Ildabaoth, though
+unperceived by the latter, and, putting forth efforts for purification
+of mankind corresponding to those put forth by Ildabaoth for evil,
+he is collecting all the Spiritual elements of the world into the
+kingdom which is to overthrow that of the Enemy. 
+Notwithstanding the animosity shown by the Ophites towards the
+Jews, most of the elements in their system are plagiarised from the
+Jews. According to ancient rabbinical traditions, Adam and Eve, by
+eating the fruit of the lowest region, fell through the six regions
+to the seventh and lowest; they were there brought under control of
+the previously fallen Samaël, who defiled them with his spittle. Their
+nakedness consisted in their having lost a natural protection of which
+only our finger-nails are left; others say they lost a covering of
+hair. [102] The Jews also from of old contended that Seth was the
+son of Adam, in whom returned the divine nature with which man was
+originally endowed. We have, indeed, only to identify Ildabaoth with
+Elohim instead of Jehovah to perceive that the Ophites were following
+Jewish precedents in attributing the natural world to a fiend. The link
+between, the two conceptions may be discovered in the writings of Paul.
+Paul's pessimistic conception of this world and of human nature was
+radical, and it mainly formed the mould in which dogmatic Christianity
+subsequently took shape. His general theology is a travesty of the
+creation of the world and of man. All that work of Elohim was, by
+implication, natural, that is to say, diabolical. The earth as then
+created belonged to the Prince of this world, who was the author of
+sin, and its consequence, death. In Adam all die. The natural man is
+enmity against God; he is of the earth earthy; his father is the devil;
+he cannot know spiritual things. All mankind are born spiritually
+dead. Christ is a new and diviner Demiurgos, engaged in the work of
+producing a new creation and a new man. For his purpose the old law,
+circumcision or uncircumcision, are of no avail or importance, but a
+new creature. His death is the symbol of man's death to the natural
+world, his resurrection of man's rising into a new world which mere
+flesh and blood cannot inherit. As God breathed into Adam's nostrils
+the breath of life, the Spirit breathes upon the elect of Christ a
+new mind and new heart.
+The 'new creature' must inhale an entirely new physical
+atmosphere. When Paul speaks of 'the Prince of the Power of the Air,'
+it must not be supposed that he is only metaphorical. On this, however,
+we must dwell for a little.
+'The air,' writes Burton in his 'Anatomy of Melancholy,' 'The air
+is not so full of flies in summer as it is at all times of invisible
+devils. They counterfeit suns and moons, and sit on ships' masts. They
+cause whirlwinds of a sudden, and tempestuous storms, which though our
+meteorologists generally refer to natural causes, yet I am of Bodine's
+mind, they are more often caused by those aerial devils in their
+several quarters. Cardan gives much information concerning them. His
+father had one of them, an aerial devil, bound to him for eight and
+twenty years; as Agrippa's dog had a devil tied to his collar. Some
+think that Paracelsus had one confined in his sword pommel. Others
+wear them in rings;' and so the old man runs on, speculating about
+the mysterious cobwebs collected in the ceiling of his brain.
+The atmosphere mentally breathed by Burton and his authorities was
+indeed charged with invisible phantasms; and every one of them was in
+its origin a genuine intellectual effort to interpret the phenomena
+of nature. It is not wonderful that the ancients should have ascribed
+to a diabolical source the subtle deaths that struck at them from
+the air. A single breath of the invisible poison of the air might
+lay low the strongest. Even after man had come to understand his
+visible foes, the deadly animal or plant, he could only cower and
+pray before the lurking power of miasma and infection, the power of
+the air. The Tyndalls of a primitive time studied dust and disease,
+and called the winged seeds of decay and death 'aerial devils,' and
+prepared the way for Mephistopheles (devil of smells), as he in turn
+for the bacterial demon of modern science.
+There were not wanting theologic explanations why these malignant
+beings should find their dwelling-place in the air. They had been
+driven out of heaven. The etherial realm above the air was reserved
+for the good. Of the demons the Hindus say, 'Their feet touch not the
+ground.' 'What man of virtue is there,' said Titus to his soldiers,
+'who does not know that those souls which are severed from their
+fleshy bodies in battles by the sword are received by the æther--that
+purest of elements--and joined to that company which are placed among
+the stars; that they become gods, dæmons, and propitious heroes,
+and show themselves as such to their posterity afterwards?' Malignant spirits were believed to hold a more undisputed sway over
+the atmosphere than over the earth, although our planet was mainly
+in their power, and the subjects of the higher empire always a small
+colony. [104] Moreover, there was a natural tendency of demons, which
+originally represented earthly evils, when these were conquered by
+human intelligence, to pass into the realm least accessible to science
+or to control by man. The uncharted winds became their refuge.
+This belief was general among the Christian Fathers, [105] lasted a
+very long time even among the educated, and is still the teaching
+of the Roman Catholic Church, as any one may see by reading the
+authorised work of Mgr. Gaume on 'Holy Water' (p. 305). So long as
+it was admitted among thinking people that the mind was as competent
+to build facts upon theory as theories on fact, a great deal might
+be plausibly said for this atmospheric diabolarchy. In the days
+when witchcraft was first called in question, Glanvil argued 'that
+since this little Spot is so thickly peopled in every Atome of it,
+'tis weakness to think that all the vast spaces Above and hollows
+under Ground are desert and uninhabited,' and he anticipated that,
+as microscopic science might reveal further populations in places
+seemingly vacant, it would necessitate the belief that the regions of
+the upper air are inhabited. [106] Other learned men concluded that
+the spirits that lodge there are such as are clogged with earthly
+elements; the baser sort; dwelling in cold air, they would like to
+inhabit the more sheltered earth. In repayment for broth, and various
+dietetic horrors proffered them by witches, they enable them to pass
+freely through their realm--the air.
+Out of such intellectual atmosphere came Paul's sentence (Eph. ii. 2)
+about 'the Prince of the Power of the Air.' It was a spiritualisation
+of the existing aerial demonology. When Paul and his companions carried
+their religious agitation into the centres of learning and wealth,
+and brought the teachings of a Jew to confront the temples of Greece
+and Rome, they found themselves unrelated to that great world. It had
+another habit of mind and feeling, and the idea grew in him that it
+was the spirits of the Satanic world counteracting the spirit sent on
+earth from the divine world. This animated its fashions, philosophy,
+science, and literature. He warns the Church at Ephesus that they
+will need the whole armour of God, because they are wrestling not with
+mere flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the world's darkness,
+the evil spirits in high places--that is, in the Air.
+As heirs of this new nature and new world, with its new atmosphere,
+purchased and endowed by Christ, the Pauline theory further
+presupposes, that the natural man, having died, is buried with
+Christ in baptism, rises with him, and is then sealed to him by the
+Holy Ghost. For a little time such must still bear about them their
+fleshy bodies, but soon Christ shall come, and these vile bodies
+shall be changed into his likeness; meanwhile they must keep their
+bodies in subjection, even as Paul did, by beating it black and blue
+(hypôpiazô), and await their deliverance from the body of the dead
+world they have left, but which so far is permitted to adhere to
+them. This conception had to work itself out in myths and dogmas of
+which Paul knew nothing. 'If any man come after me and hate not his
+father and mother, and his own (natural) life also, he cannot be my
+disciple.' The new race with which the new creation was in travail
+was logically discovered to need a new Mother as well as a new
+Father. Every natural mother was subjected to a stain that it might
+be affirmed that only one mother was immaculate--she whose conception
+was supernatural, not of the flesh. Marriage became an indulgence to
+sin (whose purchase-money survives still in the marriage-fee). The
+monastery and the nunnery represented this new ascetic kingdom;
+that perilous word 'worldliness' was transmitted to be the source of
+insanity and hypocrisy.
+Happily, the common sense and sentiment of mankind have so steadily
+and successfully won back the outlawed interests of life and the
+world, that it requires some research into ecclesiastical archæology
+to comprehend the original significance of the symbols in which
+it survives. The ancient rabbins limited the number of souls which
+hang on Adam to 600,000, but the Christian theologians extended the
+figures to include the human race. Probably even some orthodox people
+may be scandalised at the idea of the fathers (Irenæus, for example),
+that, at the Fall, the human race became Satan's rightful property,
+did they see it in the picture copied by Buslaef, from an ancient
+Russian Bible, in possession of Count Uvarof. Adam gives Satan
+a written contract for himself and his descendants (Fig. 7). And
+yet, according to a recent statement, the Rev. Mr. Simeon recently
+preached a sermon in the Church of St. Augustine, Kilburn, London,
+'to prove that the ruler of the world is the devil. He stated that the
+Creator of the world had given the control of the world to one of his
+chief angels, Lucifer, who, however, had gone to grief, and done his
+utmost to ruin the world. Since then the Creator and Lucifer had been
+continually striving to checkmate each other. As Lucifer is still the
+Prince of this world, it would seem that it is not he who has been
+beaten yet.' [107] A popular preacher in America, Rev. Dr. Talmage,
+states the case as follows:--
+'I turn to the same old book, and I find out that the Son of Mary,
+who was the Son of God, the darling of heaven, the champion of the
+ages, by some called Lord, by some called Jesus, by others called
+Christ, but this morning by us called by the three blessed titles,
+Lord Jesus Christ, by one magnificent stroke made it possible for
+us all to be saved. He not only told us that there was a hell, but
+he went into it. He walked down the fiery steeps. He stepped off the
+bottom rung of the long ladder of despair. He descended into hell. He
+put his bare foot on the hottest coal of the fiercest furnace.
+'He explored the darkest den of eternal midnight, and then He came
+forth lacerated and scarified, and bleeding and mauled by the hands
+of infernal excruciation, to cry out to all the ages, 'I have paid
+the price for all those who would make me their substitute. By my
+piled-up groans, by my omnipotent agony, I demand the rescue of all
+those who will give up sin and trust in me,' Mercy! mercy! mercy! But
+how am I to get it? Cheap. It will not cost you as much as a loaf of
+bread. Only a penny? No, no. Escape from hell, and all the harps,
+and mansions, and thrones, and sunlit fields of heaven besides in
+the bargain, 'without money, and without price.''
+These preachers are only stating with creditable candour the
+original significance of the sacraments and ceremonies which were
+the physiognomy of that theory of 'a new creature.' Following various
+ancient traditions, that life was produced out of water, that water
+escaped the primal curse on nature, that devils hate and fear it
+because of this and the saltness of so much of it, many religions
+have used water for purification and exorcism. [108] Baptism is
+based on the notion that every child is offspring of the Devil,
+and possessed of his demon; the Fathers agreed that all unbaptized
+babes, even the still-born, are lost; and up to the year 1550 every
+infant was subjected at baptism to the exorcism, 'I command thee,
+unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the
+Holy Ghost, that thou come out, and depart from, these infants whom
+our Lord Jesus Christ has vouchsafed to call to his holy baptism,
+to be made members of his body and of his holy congregation,' &c.
+A clergyman informed me that he knew of a case in which a man,
+receiving back his child after christening, kissed it, and said,
+'I never kissed it before, because I knew it was not a child of God;
+but now that it is, I love it dearly.' But why not? Some even now teach
+that a white angel follows the baptized, a black demon the unbaptized.
+The belief was wide-spread that unbaptized children were turned into
+elves at death. In Iceland it is still told as a bit of folk-lore,
+that when God visited Eve, she kept a large number of her children
+out of sight, 'because they had not been washed,' and these children
+were turned into elves, and became the progenitors of that uncanny
+race. The Greek Church made so much of baptism, that there has been
+developed an Eastern sect which claims John the Baptist as its founder,
+making little of Christ, who baptized none; and to this day in Russia
+the peasant regards it as almost essential to a right reception of
+the benedictions of Sunday to have been under water on the previous
+day--soap being sagaciously added. The Roman Catholic Church, following
+the provision of the Council of Carthage, still sets a high value on
+baptismal exorcism; and Calvin refers to a theological debate at the
+Sorbonne in Paris, whether it would not be justifiable for a priest to
+throw a child into a well rather than have it die unbaptized. Luther
+preserved the Catholic form of exorcism; and, in some districts of
+Germany, Protestants have still such faith in it, that, when either
+a child or a domestic animal is suspected of being possessed, they
+will send for the Romish priest to perform the rite of exorcism.
+Mr. Herbert Spencer has described the class of superstitions out of
+which the sacrament of the Eucharist has grown. 'In some cases,' he
+says, 'parts of the dead are swallowed by the living, who seek thus
+to inspire themselves with the good qualities of the dead; and we saw
+(§ 133) that the dead are supposed to be honoured by this act. The
+implied notion was supposed to be associated with the further notion
+that the nature of another being, inhering in all the fragments of
+his body, inheres too in the unconsumed part of anything consumed
+with his body; so that an operation wrought on the remnants of his
+food becomes an operation wrought on the food swallowed, and therefore
+on the swallower. Yet another implication is, that between those who
+swallow different parts of the same food some community of nature is
+established. Hence such beliefs as that ascribed by Bastian to some
+negroes, who think that, 'on eating and drinking consecrated food,
+they eat and drink the god himself'--such god being an ancestor, who
+has taken his share. Various ceremonies among savages are prompted
+by this conception; as, for instance, the choosing a totem. Among
+the Mosquito Indians, 'the manner of obtaining this guardian was
+to proceed to some secluded spot and offer up a sacrifice: with
+the beast or bird which thereupon appeared, in dream or in reality,
+a compact for life was made, by drawing blood from various parts of
+the body.' This blood, supposed to be taken by the chosen animal,
+connected the two, and the animal's life became so bound up with their
+own that the death of one involved that of the other.' [109] And now
+mark that, in these same regions, this idea reappears as a religious
+observance. Sahagun and Herrera describe a ceremony of the Aztecs
+called 'eating the god.' Mendieta, describing this ceremony, says,
+'They had also a sort of eucharist.... They made a sort of small idols
+of seeds, ... and ate them as the body or memory of their gods.' As
+the seeds were cemented partly by the blood of sacrificed boys;
+as their gods were cannibal gods; as Huitzilopochtli, whose worship
+included this rite, was the god to whom human sacrifices were most
+extensive; it is clear that the aim was to establish community with
+gods by taking blood in common.' 
+When, a little time ago, a New Zealand chief showed his high
+appreciation of a learned German by eating his eyes to improve his
+own intellectual vision, the case seemed to some to call for more
+and better protected missionaries; but the chief might find in the
+sacramental communion of the missionaries the real principle of his
+faith. The celebration of the 'Lord's Supper' when a Bishop is ordained
+has only to be 'scratched,' as the proverb says, to reveal beneath
+it the Indians choosing their episcopal totem. As Israel observed
+the Passover--eating together of the lamb whose blood sprinkled on
+their door-posts had marked those to be preserved from the Destroying
+Angel in Egypt--they who believed that Jesus was Messias tasted the
+body and blood of their Head, as indicating the elect out of a world
+otherwise given over to the Destroyer spiritually, and finally to be
+delivered up to him bodily. 'He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my
+blood dwelleth in me and I in him.' These were to tread on serpents,
+or handle them unharmed, as it is said Paul did. They were not really
+to die, but to fall asleep, that they might be changed as a seed to
+its flower, through literal resurrection from the earth.
+We should probably look in vain after any satisfactory vestiges of
+the migration of the superstition concerning the mystical potency
+of food. It is found fully developed in the ancient Hindu myth
+of the struggle between the gods and demons for the Amrita, the
+immortalising nectar, one stolen sip of which gave the monster Ráhu
+the imperishable nature which no other of his order possesses. It
+is found in corresponding myths concerning the gods of Asgard and of
+Olympus. The fall of man in the Iranian legend was through a certain
+milk given by Ahriman to the first pair, Meschia and Meschiane. In
+Buddhist mythology, it was eating rice that corrupted the nature
+of man. It was the process of incarnation in the Gilghit legend
+(i. 398). The whole story of Persephone turns upon her having
+eaten the seed of a pomegranate in Hades, by which she was bound to
+that sphere. There is a myth very similar to that of Persephone in
+Japan. There is a legend in the Scottish Highlands that a woman was
+conveyed into the secret recesses of the 'men of peace'--the Daoine
+Shi', euphemistic name of uncanny beings, who carry away mortals to
+their subterranean apartments, where beautiful damsels tempt them to
+eat of magnificent banquets. This woman on her arrival was recognised
+by a former acquaintance, who, still retaining some portion of human
+benevolence, warned her that, if she tasted anything whatsoever for a
+certain space of time, she would be doomed to remain in that underworld
+for ever. The woman having taken this counsel, was ultimately restored
+to the society of mortals. It was added that, when the period named by
+her unfortunate friend had elapsed, a disenchantment of this woman's
+eyes took place, and the viands which had before seemed so tempting
+she now discovered to consist only of the refuse of the earth. 
+The difficulty of tracing the ethnical origin of such legends as
+these is much greater than that of tracing their common natural
+origin. The effect of certain kinds of food upon the human system is
+very marked, even apart from the notorious effects of the drinks made
+from the vegetative world. The effects of mandrake, opium, tobacco,
+various semi-poisonous fungi, the simplicity with which differences of
+race might be explained by their vegetarian or carnivorous customs,
+would be enough to suggest theories of the potency of food over the
+body and soul of man such as even now have their value in scientific
+speculation.
+The Jewish opinion that Seth was the offspring of the divine part of
+Adam was the germ of a remarkable christian myth. Adam, when dying,
+desired Seth to procure the oil of mercy (for his extreme unction)
+from the angels guarding Paradise. Michael informs Seth that it
+can only be obtained after the lapse of the ages intervening the
+Fall and the Atonement. Seth received, however, a small branch of
+the Tree of Knowledge, and was told that when it should bear fruit,
+Adam would recover. Returning, Seth found Adam dead, and planted the
+branch in his grave. It grew to a tree which Solomon had hewn down
+for building the temple; but the workmen could not adapt it, threw it
+aside, and it was used as a bridge over a lake. The Queen of Sheba,
+about to cross this lake, beheld a vision of Christ on the cross,
+and informed Solomon that when a certain person had been suspended
+on that tree the fall of the Jewish nation would be near. Solomon in
+alarm buried the wood deep in the earth, and the spot was covered by
+the pool of Bethesda. Shortly before the crucifixion the tree floated
+on that water, and ultimately, as the cross, bore its fruit. 
+In our old Russian picture (Fig. 8) Seth is shown offering a branch
+of the Tree of Knowledge to his father Adam. That it should spring up
+to be the Tree of Life is simply in obedience to Magian and Gnostic
+theories, which generally turn on some scheme by which the Good turns
+against the Evil Mind the point of his own weapon. These were the
+influences which gave to christian doctrines on the subject their
+perilous precision. The universal tradition was that Adam was the
+first person liberated by Christ from hell; and this corresponded
+with an equally wide belief that all who were saved by the death
+of Christ and his descent into hell were at once raised into the
+moral condition of Adam and Eve before the Fall,--to eat the food
+and breathe the holy air of Paradise.
+An honest mirror was held up before this theology by the christian
+Adamites. Their movement (second and third centuries) was a most
+legitimate outcome of the Pauline and Johannine gospel. The author of
+this so-called 'heresy,' Prodicus, really anticipated the Methodist
+doctrine of 'sanctification,' and he was only consistent in admonishing
+his followers that clothing was, in the Bible, the original badge
+of carnal guilt and shame, and was no longer necessary for those
+whom Christ had redeemed from the Fall and raised to the original
+innocence of Adam and Eve. These believers, in the appropriate
+climate of Northern Africa, had no difficulty in carrying out their
+doctrine practically, and having named their churches 'Paradises,'
+assembled in them quite naked. There is still a superstition in
+the East that a snake will never attack one who is naked. The same
+Adamite doctrine--a prelapsarian perfection symbolised by nudity--was
+taught by John Picard in Bohemia, and a flourishing sect of 'Adamites'
+arose there in the fifteenth century. The Slavonian Adamites of the
+last century--and they are known to carry on their services still in
+secret--not only dispense with clothing, but also with sacraments and
+ceremonies, which are for the imperfect, not for the perfected. Again
+and again has this logical result of the popular theology appeared,
+and with increasingly gross circumstances, as the refined and
+intelligent abandon except in name the corresponding dogmas. It is
+an impressive fact that Paul's central doctrine of 'a new creature'
+is now adopted with most realistic orthodoxy by the Mormons of Utah,
+whose initiation consists of a dramatic performance on each candidate
+of moulding the body out of clay, breathing in the nostrils, the
+'deep sleep' presentation of an Eve to each Adam, the temptation,
+fall, and redemption. The 'saints' thus made, unfortunately, seem
+to have equally realistic ideas that the Gentiles are adherents of
+the Prince of this world, and their sacramental bands have shown some
+striking imitations of those events of history which, when not labelled
+'Christian,' are pronounced barbarous. Now that the old dogmatic system
+is being left more and more to the ignorant and vulgar to make over
+into their own image and likeness, it may be hoped that elsewhere also
+the error that libels and outrages nature will run to seed; for error,
+like the aloe, has its period when it shoots up a high stem and--dies.
+THE HOLY GHOST.
+A Hanover relic--Mr. Atkinson on the Dove--The Dove in the Old
+Testament--Ecclesiastical symbol--Judicial symbol--A vision of
+St. Dunstan's--The witness of chastity--Dove and Serpent--The
+unpardonable sin--Inexpiable sin among the Jews--Destructive
+power of Jehovah--Potency of the breath--Third persons of
+Trinities--Pentecost--Christian superstitions--Mr. Moody on the
+sin against the Holy Ghost--Mysterious fear--Idols of the cave.
+There is in the old town of Hanover, in Germany, a schoolhouse
+in which, above the teacher's chair, there was anciently the
+representation of a dove perched upon an iron branch or rod; and
+beneath the inscription--'This shall lead you into all truth.' In the
+course of time the dove fell down and was removed to the museum; but
+there is still left before the children the rod, with the admonition
+that it will lead them into all truth. This is about as much as for
+a long time was left in the average christian mind of the symbolical
+Dove, the Holy Ghost. Half of its primitive sense departed, and there
+remained only an emblem of mysterious terror. More spiritual minds
+have introduced into the modern world a conception of the Holy Ghost
+as a life-giving influence or a spirit of love, but the ancient view
+which regarded it as the Iron Rod of judgment and execution still
+survives in the notion of the 'sin against the Holy Ghost.'
+Mr. Henry G. Atkinson writes as follows: [113]--'My old friend
+Barry Cornwall, the fine poet, once said to me, 'My dear Atkinson,
+can you tell me the meaning of the Holy Ghost; what can it possibly
+mean?' 'Well,' I said, 'I suppose it means a pigeon. We have never
+heard of it in any other form but that of the dove descending from
+heaven to the Virgin Mary. Then we have the pretty fable of the dove
+returning to the ark with the olive-branch, so that the Christian
+religion may be called the Religion of the Pigeon. In the Greek Church
+the pigeon is held sacred. St. Petersburgh is swarming with pigeons,
+but they are never killed or disturbed. I knew a lady whose life
+was made wretched in the belief that she had sinned the unpardonable
+sin against the Holy Ghost, and neither priest nor physician could
+persuade her out of the delusion, though in all other respects she
+was quite sensible. She regarded herself as such a wretch that she
+could not bear to see herself in the glass, and the looking-glasses
+had all to be removed, and when she went to an hotel, her husband had
+to go first and have the looking-glasses of the apartments covered
+over. But what is the Holy Ghost--what is its office? Sitting with
+Miss Martineau at her house at Ambleside one day, a German lady, who
+spoke broken English, came in. She was a neighbour, and had a large
+house and grounds, and kept fowls. 'Oh!' she said, quite excited,
+'the beast has taken off another chicken (meaning the hawk). I saw
+it myself. The wretch! it came down just like the Holy Ghost, and
+snatched off the chicken.' How Miss Martineau did laugh; but I don't
+know that this story throws much light upon the subject, since it
+does but bring us back to the pigeon.'
+It would require a volume to explain fully all the problems suggested
+in this brief note, but the more important facts may be condensed.
+It is difficult to show how far the natural characteristics and habits
+of the dove are reflected in its wide-spread symbolism. Its plaintive
+note and fondness for solitudes are indicated in the Psalmist's
+aspiration, 'Oh that I had the wings of a dove, then would I fly
+away and be at rest; lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in
+the wilderness.' [114] It is not a difficult transition from this
+association with the wilderness to investment with a relationship with
+the demon of the wilderness--Azazel. So we find it in certain passages
+in Jeremiah, where the word has been suppressed in the ordinary
+English version. 'The land is desolate because of the fierceness
+of the dove.' 'Let us go again to our own people to avoid the sword
+of the dove.' 'They shall flee away every one for fear of the sword
+of the dove.' [115] In India its lustres--blue and fiery--may have
+connected it with azure-necked Siva.
+The far-seeing and wonderful character of the pigeon as a carrier
+was well known to the ancients. On Egyptian bas-reliefs priests are
+shown sending them with messages. They appear in the branches of the
+oaks of Dodona, and in old Russian frescoes they sometimes perch on
+the Tree of Knowledge in paradise. It is said that, in order to avail
+himself of this universal symbolism, Mohammed trained a dove to perch
+on his shoulder. As the raven was said to whisper secrets to Odin,
+so the dove was often pictured at the ear of God. In Nôtre Dame de
+Chartres, its beak is at the ear of Pope Gregory the Great.
+It passed--and did not have far to go--to be the familiar of kings. It
+brought the chrism from heaven at the baptism of Clovis. White
+doves came to bear the soul of Louis of Thuringia to heaven. The
+dove surmounted the sceptre of Charlemagne. At the consecration of
+the kings of France, after the ceremony of unction, white doves were
+let loose in the church. At the consecration of a monarch in England,
+a duke bears before the sovereign the sceptre with the dove.
+By association with both ecclesiastical and political sovereignty,
+it came to represent very nearly the old fatal serpent power which
+had lurked in all its transformations. When the Holy Ghost was
+represented as a crowned man, the dove was pictured on his wrist like
+that falcon with which the German lady, mentioned by Mr. Atkinson,
+identified it. But in this connection its symbolism is more especially
+referable to a passage in Isaiah: [116] 'There shall come forth a rod
+out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots;
+and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom
+and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of the
+knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.' The sanctity of the number
+seven led to the partition of the last clause into three spirits,
+making up the seven, which were: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel,
+Strength, Knowledge, Piety, Fear. In some of the representations
+of these where each of the seven Doves is labelled with its name,
+'Fear' is at the top of their arch, a Psalm having said, 'The fear
+of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' When the knightly Order
+of the Holy Ghost was created in 1352, it was aristocratic, and,
+when reorganised by Henry III. of France in 1579, it was restricted
+to magisterial and political personages. With them was the spirit of
+Fear certainly; and the Order shows plainly what had long been the
+ideas connected with the Holy Ghost.
+M. Didron finds this confirmed in the legends of every country, and
+especially refers to a story of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury,
+in the tenth century. Three men, convicted of coining false money, had
+been condemned to death. Immediately before the celebration of mass
+on the day of Pentecost, the festival of the Holy Ghost, St. Dunstan
+inquired whether justice had been done upon the three criminals:
+he was informed in reply that the execution had been delayed on
+account of the solemn feast of Pentecost then in celebration. 'It
+shall not be thus,' cried the indignant archbishop, and gave orders
+for the immediate execution of the guilty men. Several of those who
+were present remonstrated against the cruelty of that order; it was
+nevertheless obeyed.
+After the execution of the criminals, Dunstan washed his face, and
+turned with a joyful countenance towards his oratory. 'I now hope,'
+said he, 'that God will be pleased to accept the sacrifice I am about
+to offer;' and in fact, during the celebration of mass, at the moment
+when the Saint raised his hands to implore that God the Father would
+be pleased to give peace to his Church, to guide, guard, and keep
+it in unity throughout the world, 'a dove, as white as snow, was
+seen to descend from heaven, and during the entire service remained
+with wings extended, floating silently in air above the head of the
+archbishop.' 
+The passionate sexual nature of the dove made it emblem of Aphrodite,
+and it became spiritualised in its consecration to the Madonna. From
+its relation to the falsely-accused Mary, there grew around the Dove
+a special class of legends which show it attesting female innocence
+or avenging it. The white dove said to have issued from the mouth
+of Joan of Arc is one of many instances. There is still, I believe,
+preserved in the Lyttleton family the picture painted by Dowager
+Lady Lyttleton in 1780, in commemoration of the warning of death
+given to Lord Lyttleton by the mother of two girls he had seduced,
+the vision being attended by a fluttering dove. The original account
+of his vision or dream, attributed to Lord Lyttleton, mentions only
+'a bird.' When next told, it is that he 'heard a noise resembling the
+fluttering of a dove,' and on looking to the window saw 'an unhappy
+female whom he had seduced.' But the exigencies of orthodoxy are too
+strong for original narratives. As the 'bird' attested an announcement
+that on the third day (that too was gradually added) he would die,
+it must have been a dove; and as the dove attends only the innocent,
+it must have been the poor girl's mother that appeared. It was easy
+to have the woman die at the precise hour of appearance. [118] When in
+Chicago in 1875, I read in one of the morning papers a very particular
+account of how a white dove flew into the chamber window of a young
+unmarried woman in a neighbouring village, she having brought forth
+a child, and solemnly declaring that she had never lost her virginity.
+In this history of the symbolism of the Dove the theological
+development of the Holy Ghost has been outlined. We have seen
+in the previous chapter that the Holy Spirit is in opposition to
+the Natural Air,--repository of evils. The Dove symbolised this
+aspect of it in hovering over the world emerging from its diluvial
+baptism, and also over the typical new Adam (Jesus) coming from his
+baptism. But in this it corresponds with the serpent-symbol of life
+in Egyptian mythology brooding over the primal mundane egg (as in
+Fig. 23, vol. i.). Nathaniel Hawthorne found a mystical meaning in
+the beautiful group at Rome representing a girl pressing a dove to
+her bosom while she is attacked by a serpent. But in their theological
+aspects the Dove and the Serpent blend; they are at once related and
+separated in Christ's words, 'Be ye wise as serpents and harmless
+as doves;' but in the office of the Holy Ghost as representing a
+divine Intelligence, and its consequent evolution as executor of
+divine judgments, it fulfils in Christendom much the same part as
+the Serpent in the more primitive mythologies.
+'Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven unto men,' said a legendary
+Christ; [119] 'but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be
+forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man,
+it will be forgiven him, but whosoever shall speak against the Holy
+Ghost, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world nor in that
+to come.' In Mark [120] it is said, 'All things shall be forgiven
+unto the sons of men, the sins and the blasphemies wherewith they
+shall blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy
+Ghost has never forgiveness, but will be guilty of everlasting sin;
+(because they said, He has an unclean spirit).' When Christ uttered
+these tremendous words, no disciple seems to have been startled,
+or to have inquired into the nature of that sin, so much worse than
+any offence against himself or the Father, which has since employed
+so much theological speculation.
+In fact, they needed no explanation: it was an old story;
+the unpardonable sin was a familiar feature of ancient Jewish
+law. Therein the sin excluded from expiation was any presumptuous
+language or action against Jehovah. It is easy to see why this was
+so. Real offences, crimes against man or society, were certain of
+punishment, through the common interest and need. But the honour
+and interests of Jehovah, not being obvious or founded in nature,
+required special and severe statutes. The less a thing is protected
+by its intrinsic and practical importance, the more it must, if at
+all, be artificially protected. This is illustrated in the story
+of Eli and his two sons. These youths were guilty of the grossest
+immoralities, but not a word was said against them, they being sons
+of the High Priest, except a mild remonstrance from Eli himself. But
+when on an occasion these youths tasted the part of the sacrificial
+meat offered to Jehovah, the divine wrath was kindled. Eli, much more
+terrified at this ceremonial than the moral offence, said to his sons,
+'If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a
+man sin against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him?' In protecting
+his interests, Jehovah's destroying angel does not allude to any
+other offence of Eli's sons except that against himself. But when the
+priestly guardians of the divine interests came with their people under
+the control of successive Gallios,--aliens who cared not for their
+ceremonial law, and declined to permit the infliction of its penalties,
+as England now forbids suttee in India,--the priests could only pass
+sentences; execution of them had to be adjourned to a future world.
+The doctrine of a future state of rewards and punishments is not one
+which a priesthood would naturally prefer or invent. So long as a
+priesthood possesses the power of life and death over the human body,
+they would not, by suggesting future awards, risk the possibility
+of a heresy arising to maintain Deorum injuria diis cura. But where
+an alien jurisdiction has relegated to local deities the defence of
+their own majesty, there must grow up the theory that such offences
+as cannot be expiated on earth are unpardonable, and must, because
+of the legal impunity with which they can be committed, be all the
+more terribly avenged somewhere else.
+Under alien influences, also, the supreme and absolute government of
+Jehovah had been divided, as is elsewhere described. He who originally
+claimed the empire of both light and darkness, good and evil, when
+his rivalry against other gods was on a question of power, had to be
+relieved of responsibility for earthly evils when the moral sense
+demanded dualism. Thus there grew up a separate personification of
+the destructive power of Jehovah, which had been supposed to lodge
+in his breath. The last breath of man obviously ends life; there is
+nothing more simple in its natural germ than the association of the
+first breath and the last with the Creative Spirit. [121] This potency
+of the breath or spirit is found in many ancient regions. It is the
+natural teaching of the destructive simoom, [122] or even of the annual
+autumnal breath which strikes the foliage with death. Persia especially
+abounded with superstitions of this character. By a sorcerer's breath
+the two serpents were evoked from the breast of Zohák. Nizami has woven
+the popular notion into his story of the two physicians who tried to
+destroy each other; one of whom survived his rival's poisonous draught,
+and killed that rival by making him smell a flower on which he had
+breathed. [123] Such notions as these influenced powerfully the later
+development of the idea of Jehovah, concerning whom it was said of old,
+'With the breath of his mouth shall he slay the wicked;' 'the breath
+of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle (Tophet).'
+Meanwhile in all the Trinitarian races which were to give form to
+christian Mythology, destructiveness had generally (not invariably)
+become the traditional rôle of the Third Person. [124] In Egypt there
+were Osiris the Creator, Horus the Preserver, Typhon the Destroyer;
+in Babylonia, Anu the Upper Air, Sin (Uri) the Moon, Samis the Sun. In
+Assyria the Sun regains his place, and deadly influences were ascribed
+to the Moon. In India, Brahma the Father, Vishnu the Saviour, Siva the
+Destroyer; in Persia, Zeruâne-Akrane Infinite Time, Ormuzd the Good,
+Ahriman the Evil; in Greece Zeus, Poseidôn, and Hadês, or Heaven,
+Ocean, and Hell, were the first-born of Time. The Trinitarian form had
+gradually crept in among the Jews, though their Jahvistic theology only
+admitted its application to inferior deities--Cain, Abel, Seth; Moses,
+Aaron, Hur; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. As time went on, these succeeded
+the ideas of Jehovah, Messias, and Wisdom. But already the serpent
+was the wisest of all the beasts of the field in Jewish mythology;
+and the personified Wisdom was fully prepared to be identified with
+Athene, the Greek Wisdom, who sprang armed from the head of Zeus
+(the Air), and whose familiar was a serpent.
+On the other hand, however, the divine Breath had also its benign
+significance. Siva ('the auspicious') inherited the character of Rudra
+('roaring storm'), but it was rather supported later on by his wife
+Káli. Athena though armed was the goddess of agriculture. The breath
+of Elohim had given man life. 'I now draw in and now let forth,'
+says Krishna; [125] 'I am generation and dissolution; I am death
+and immortality.' 'Thou wilt fancy it the dawning zephyr of an early
+spring,' says Sàdi; 'but it is the breath of Isa, or Jesus; for in
+that fresh breath and verdure the dead earth is reviving.' 'The voice of the turtle is heard in the land,' sings Solomon.
+When the Third Person of the Christian Trinity was constituted,
+it inherited the fatality of all the previous Third Persons--the
+Destroyers--while it veiled them in mystery. When the Holy Ghost
+inspired the disciples the account is significant. [127] 'Suddenly
+there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,
+... and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
+and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy
+Ghost.' This was on the Day of Pentecost, the harvest festival, when
+the first-fruits were offered to the quickening Spirit or Breath of
+nature; but the destructive feature is there also--the tongues are
+cloven like those of serpents. The beneficent power was manifest at
+the gate called Beautiful when the lame man was made to walk by Peter's
+power; but its fatal power was with the same apostle, and when he said,
+'Why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?' instantly
+Ananias fell down and gave up the ghost. [128] The spirit was carried,
+it is said, in the breath of the apostles. Its awfulness had various
+illustrations. Mary offered up two doves in token of her conception by
+the Holy Ghost. Jesus is described as scourging from the temple those
+that sold doves, and the allegory is repeated in Peter's denunciation
+of Simon Magus, who offered money for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
+In one of his sermons Mr. Moody said, 'Nearly every day we have
+somebody coming into the inquiry-room very much discouraged and
+disheartened and cast down, because they think they have committed
+a sin against the Holy Ghost, and that there is no hope for
+them.' Mr. Moody said he believed the sin was nearly impossible, but
+he adds this remarkable statement, 'I don't remember of ever hearing
+a man swear by the Holy Ghost except once, and then I looked upon
+him expecting him to fall dead, and my blood ran cold when I heard
+him.' But it is almost as rare to hear prayers addressed to the Holy
+Ghost; and both phenomena--for praying and swearing are radically
+related--are no doubt survivals of the ancient notions which I
+have described. The forces of nature out of which the symbol grew,
+the life that springs from death and grows by decay, is essentially
+repeated again by those who adhere to the letter that kills, and
+also by those who ascend with the spirit that makes alive. It is
+probable that no more terrible form of the belief in a Devil survives
+than this Holy Ghost Dogma, which, lurking in vagueness and mystery,
+like the serpent of which it was born, passes by the self-righteous
+to cast its shadows over the most sensitive and lowly minds, chiefly
+those of pure women prone to exaggerate their least blemishes.
+In right reason the fatal Holy Ghost stands as the type of that Fear
+by which priesthoods have been able to preserve their institutions
+after the deities around whom they grew had become unpresentable,
+and which could best be fostered beneath the veil of mystery. They
+who love darkness rather than light because their deeds cannot bear
+the light, veil their gods not to abolish them but to preserve
+them. Calvinism is veiled, and Athanasianism, and Romanism; they
+are all veiled idols, whose power lives by being hid in a mass of
+philology and casuistry. So long as Christianity can persuade the
+Pope and Dr. Martineau, Dean Stanley and Mr. Moody, Quakers, Shakers,
+Jumpers, all to describe themselves alike as 'Christians,' its real
+nature will be veiled, its institutions will cumber the ground, and
+draw away the strength and intellect due to humanity; the indefinable
+'infidel' will be a devil. This process has been going on for a long
+time. The serpent-god, accursed by the human mind which grew superior
+to it, has crept into its Ark; but its fang and venom linger with that
+Bishop breathing on a priest, the priest breathing on a sick child,
+and bears down side by side with science that atmosphere of mystery
+in which creep all the old reptiles that throttle common sense and
+send their virus through all the social frame.
+In demonology the Holy Ghost is not a Devil, but in it are reflected
+the diabolisation of Culture and Progress and Art. It was these
+'Devils' which compelled the gods to veil themselves through successive
+ages, and to spiritualise their idols and dogmas to save their
+institutions. The deities concealed have proved far more potent over
+the popular imagination than when visible. The indefinable terrible
+menace of the Holy Ghost was a consummate reply to that equally
+indefinable spirit of loathing and contempt which rises among the
+cultured and refined towards things that have become unreal, their
+formalities and their cant. It is this ever-recurring necessity that
+enables clergymen to denounce belief in Hell and a Devil in churches
+which assuredly would never have been built but for the superstition
+so denounced. The ancient beliefs and the present denunciation of them
+are on the same thread,--the determination of a Church to survive and
+hold its power at any and every cost. The jesuitical power to veil
+the dogma is the most successful method of confronting the Spirit
+of an Age, which in the eye of reason is the only holy spirit, but
+which to ecclesiastical power struggling with enlightenment is the
+only formidable Satan.
+ANTICHRIST.
+The Kali Age--Satan sifting Simon--Satan as Angel of
+Light--Epithets of Antichrist--The Cæsars--Nero--Sacraments
+imitated by Pagans--Satanic signs and wonders--Jerome
+on Antichrist--Armillus--Al Dajjail--Luther on
+Mohammed--'Mawmet'--Satan 'God's ape'--Mediæval notions--Witches
+Sabbath--An Infernal Trinity--Serpent of Sins--Antichrist
+Popes--Luther as Antichrist--Modern notions of Antichrist.
+In the 'Padma Purana' it is recorded that when King Vena embraced
+heretical doctrine and abjured the temples and sacrifices, the people
+following him, seven powerful Rishis, high priests, visited him
+and entreated him to return to their faith. They said, 'These acts,
+O king, which thou art performing, are not of our holy traditions,
+nor fit for our religion, but are such as shall be performed by
+mankind at the entrance of Kali, the last and sinful age, when thy
+new faith shall be received by all, and the service of the gods be
+utterly relinquished.' King Vena, being thus in advance of his time,
+was burned on the sacred grass, while a mantra was performed for him.
+This theory of Kali is curious as indicating a final triumph of the
+enemies of the gods. In the Scandinavian theory of 'Ragnarok,' the
+Twilight of the gods, there also seems to have been included no hope
+of the future victory of the existing gods. In the Parsí faith we
+first meet with the belief in a general catastrophe followed by the
+supremacy and universal sway of good. This faith characterised the
+later Hebrew prophecies, and is the spirit of Paul's brave saying,
+'When all things shall be subjected unto him, then also shall the
+Son himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that
+God may be all in all.'
+When, however, theology and metaphysics advanced and modelled this
+fiery lava of prophetic and apostolic ages into dogmatic shapes,
+evil was accorded an equal duration with good. The conflict between
+Christ and his foes was not to end with the conversion or destruction
+of his foes, but his final coming as monarch of the world was to
+witness the chaining up of the Archfiend in the Pit.
+Christ's own idea of Satan, assuming certain reported expressions to
+have been really uttered by him, must have been that which regarded
+him as a Tempter to evil, whose object was to test the reality of
+faith. 'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked you for himself, that he
+might sift you as the wheat; but I made supplication for thee, that
+thy faith fail not; and when once thou hast returned, confirm thy
+brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee,
+both into prison and into death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter,
+a cock will not crow this day till thou wilt thrice deny that thou
+knowest me.' [130] Such a sentiment could not convey to Jewish ears
+a degraded notion of Satan, except as being a nocturnal spirit who
+must cease his work at cock-crow. It is an adaptation of what Jehovah
+himself was said to do, in the prophecy of Amos. 'I will not utterly
+destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.... I will sift the house
+of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve,
+yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.' 
+Paul, too, appears to have had some such conception of Satan, since he
+speaks of an evil-doer as delivered up to Satan 'for the destruction
+of the flesh that the spirit may be saved.' [132] There is, however,
+in another passage an indication of the distinctness with which Paul
+and his friends had conceived a fresh adaptation of Satan as obstacle
+of their work. 'For such,' he says, 'are false apostles, deceitful
+workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no
+marvel: for Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. It is
+no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves
+as ministers of righteousness; whose end will be according to their
+works.' [133] It may be noted here that Paul does not think of Satan
+himself as transforming himself to a minister of righteousness, but of
+Satan's ministers as doing so. It is one of a number of phrases in the
+New Testament which reveal the working of a new movement towards an
+expression of its own. Real and far-reaching religious revolutions in
+history are distinguished from mere sectarian modifications, which they
+sum up in nothing more than in their new phraseology. When Jehovah,
+Messias, and Satan are gradually supplanted by Father, Christ, and
+Antichrist (or Man of Sin, False Christ, Withholder (katechon), False
+Prophet, Son of Perdition, Mystery of Iniquity, Lawless One), it is
+plain that new elements are present, and new emergencies. These varied
+phrases just quoted could not, indeed, crystallise for a long time into
+any single name for the new Obstacle to the new life, for during the
+same time the new life itself was too living, too various, to harden
+in any definite shape or be marked with any special name. The only New
+Testament writer who uses the word Antichrist is the so-called Apostle
+John; and it is interesting to remark that it is by him connected
+with a dogmatic statement of the nature of Christ and definition of
+heresy. 'Every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
+is of God; and every spirit that confesses not Jesus is not of God:
+and this is the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that
+it comes; and now it is in the world already.' [134] This language,
+characteristic of the middle and close of the second century, is in strong contrast with Paul's utterance in the first century,
+describing the Man of Sin (or of lawlessness, the son of perdition),
+as one 'who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,
+or that is worshipped; so that he sat in the temple of God, showing
+himself that he is God.' [136] Christ has not yet begun to supplant
+God; to Paul he is the Son of God confronting the Son of Destruction,
+the divine man opposed by the man of sin. When the nature of Christ
+becomes the basis of a dogma, the man of sin is at once defined as
+the opponent of that dogma.
+As this dogma struggled on to its consummation and victory, it
+necessarily took the form of a triumph over the Cæsars, who were
+proclaiming themselves gods, and demanding worship as such. The writer
+of the second Epistle bearing Peter's name saw those christians who
+yielded to such authority typified in Balaam, the erring prophet who
+was opposed by the angel; [137] the writer of the Gospel of John saw
+the traitor Judas as the 'son of perdition,' [138] representing Jesus
+as praying that the rest of his disciples might be kept 'out of the
+evil one;' and many similar expressions disclose the fact that, towards
+the close of the second century, and throughout the third, the chief
+obstacle of those who were just beginning to be called 'Christians'
+was the temptation offered by Rome to the christians themselves to
+betray their sect. It was still a danger to name the very imperial
+gods who successively set themselves up to be worshipped at Rome,
+but the pointing of the phrases is unmistakable long before the last
+of the pagan emperors held the stirrup for the first christian Pontiff
+to mount his horse.
+Nero had answered to the portrait of 'the son of perdition sitting
+in the temple of God' perfectly. He aspired to the title 'King
+of the Jews.' He solemnly assumed the name of Jupiter. He had his
+temples and his priests, and shared divine honours with his mistress
+Poppæa. Yet, when Nero and his glory had perished under those phials
+of wrath described in the Apocalypse, a more exact image of the
+insidious 'False Christ' appeared in Vespasian. His alleged miracles
+('lying wonders'), and the reported prediction of his greatness
+by a prophet on Mount Carmel, his oppression of the Jews, who had
+to contribute the annual double drachma to support the temples and
+gods which Vespasian had restored, altogether made this decorous and
+popular emperor a more formidable enemy than the 'Beast' Nero whom
+he succeeded. The virtues and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius still
+increased the danger. Political conditions favoured all those who
+were inclined to compromise, and to mingle the popular pagan and the
+Jewish festivals, symbols, and ceremonies. In apocalyptic metaphor,
+Vespasian and Aurelius are the two horns of the Lamb who spake like
+the Dragon, i.e., Nero (Rev. xiii. 11).
+The beginnings of that mongrel of superstitions which at last gained
+the name of Christianity were in the liberation, by decay of parts
+and particles, of all those systems which Julius Cæsar had caged
+together for mutual destruction. 'With new thrones rise new altars,'
+says Byron's Sardanapalus; but it is still more true that, with new
+thrones all altars crumble a little. At an early period the differences
+between the believers in Christ and those they called idolaters
+were mainly in name; and, with the increase of Gentile converts,
+the adoption of the symbolism and practices of the old religions was
+so universal that the quarrel was about originality. 'The Devil,'
+says Tertullian, 'whose business it is to pervert the truth, mimics
+the exact circumstances of the Divine Sacraments in the mysteries of
+idols. He himself baptizes some, that is to say, his believers and
+followers: he promises forgiveness of sins from the sacred fount,
+and thus initiates them into the religion of Mithras; he thus marks
+on the forehead his own soldiers: he then celebrates the oblation of
+bread; he brings in the symbol of resurrection, and wins the crown
+with the sword.' 
+What masses of fantastic nonsense it was possible to cram into
+one brain was shown in the time of Nero, the brain being that of
+Simon the Magician. Simon was, after all, a representative man;
+he reappears in christian Gnosticism, and Peter, who denounced him,
+reappears also in the phrenzy of Montanism. Take the followers of
+this Sorcerer worshipping his image in the likeness of Jupiter,
+the Moon, and Minerva; and Montanus with his wild women Priscilla
+and Maximilla going about claiming to be inspired by the Holy Ghost
+to re-establish Syrian orthodoxy and asceticism; and we have fair
+specimens of the parties that glared at each other, and apostrophised
+each other as children of Belial. They competed with each other by
+pretended miracles. They both claimed the name of Christ, and all the
+approved symbols and sacraments. The triumph of one party turned the
+other into Antichrist.
+Thus in process of time, as one hydra-head fell only to be followed
+by another, there was defined a Spirit common to and working through
+them all--a new devil, whose special office was hostility to Christ,
+and whose operations were through those who claimed to be christians
+as well as through open enemies.
+As usual, when the phrases, born of real struggles, had lost their
+meaning, they were handed up to the theologians to be made into
+perpetual dogmas. Out of an immeasurable mass of theories and
+speculations, we may regard the following passage from Jerome as
+showing what had become the prevailing belief at the beginning of
+the fifth century. 'Let us say that which all ecclesiastical writers
+have handed down, viz., that at the end of the world, when the Roman
+Empire is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings, who will divide
+the Roman world among them; and there will arise an eleventh little
+king who will subdue three of the ten kings, that is, the king of
+Egypt, of Africa, and of Ethiopia; and on these having been slain,
+the seven other kings will submit.' 'And behold,' he says, 'in the
+ram were the eyes of a man'--this is that we may not suppose him to
+be a devil or a dæmon, as some have thought, but a man in whom Satan
+will dwell utterly and bodily--'and a mouth speaking great things;'
+for he is the 'man of sin, the son of perdition, who sitteth in the
+temple of God making himself as God.' 
+The 'Little Horn' of Daniel has proved a cornucopia of Antichrists. Not
+only the christians but the Jews and the mussulmans have definite
+beliefs on the subject. The rabbinical name for Antichrist is Armillus,
+a word found in the Targum (Isa. xi. 4): 'By the word of his mouth
+the wicked Armillus shall die.' There will be twelve signs of the
+Messiah's coming--appearance of three apostate kings, terrible heat of
+the sun, dew of blood, healing dew, the sun darkened for thirty days,
+universal power of Rome with affliction for Jews, and the appearance
+of the first Messias (Joseph's tribe), Nehemiah. The next and seventh
+sign will be the appearance of Armillus, born of a marble statue in a
+church at Rome. The Romans will accept him as their god, and the whole
+world be subject to him. Nehemiah alone will refuse to worship him,
+and for this will be slain, and the Jews suffer terrible things. The
+eighth sign will be the appearance of the angel Michael with three
+blasts of his trumpet--which shall call forth Elias, the forerunner,
+and the true Messias (Ben David), and bring on the war with Armillus
+who shall perish, and all christians with him. The ten tribes shall
+be gathered into Paradise. Messias shall wed the fairest daughter of
+their race, and when he dies his sons shall succeed him, and reign
+in unbroken line over a beatified Israel.
+The mussulman modification of the notion of Antichrist is very
+remarkable. They call him Al Dajjail, that is, the impostor. They say
+that Mohammed told his follower Tamisri Al-Dari, that at the end of
+the world Antichrist would enter Jerusalem seated on an ass; but that
+Jesus will then make his second coming to encounter him. The Beast of
+the Apocalypse will aid Antichrist, but Jesus will be joined by Imam
+Mahadi, who has never died; together they will subdue Antichrist,
+and thereafter the mussulmans and christians will for ever be united
+in one religion. The Jews, however, will regard Antichrist as their
+expected Messias. Antichrist will be blind of one eye, and deaf of
+one ear. 'Unbeliever' will be written on his forehead. In that day
+the sun will rise in the west. 
+The christians poorly requited this amicable theory of the mussulmans
+by very extensively identifying Mohammed as Antichrist, at one
+period. From that period came the English word mawmet (idol),
+and mummery (idolatry), both of which, probably, are derived from
+the name of the Arabian Prophet. Daniel's 'Little Horn' betokens,
+according to Martin Luther, Mohammed. 'But what are the Little Horn's
+Eyes? The Little Horn's Eyes,' says he, 'mean Mohammed's Alkoran,
+or Law, wherewith he ruleth. In the which Law there is nought but
+sheer human reason (eitel menschliche Vernunft).' ... 'For his Law,'
+he reiterates, 'teaches nothing but that which human understanding and
+reason may well like.' ... Wherefore 'Christ will come upon him with
+fire and brimstone.' When he wrote this--in his 'army sermon' against
+the Turks--in 1529, he had never seen a Koran. 'Brother Richard's'
+(Predigerordens) Confutatio Alcoran, dated 1300, formed the exclusive
+basis of his argument. But in Lent of 1540, he relates, a Latin
+translation, though a very unsatisfactory one, fell into his hands,
+and once more he returned to Brother Richard, and did his Refutation
+into German, supplementing his version with brief but racy notes. This
+Brother Richard had, according to his own account, gone in quest of
+knowledge to 'Babylon, that beautiful city of the Saracens,' and at
+Babylon he had learnt Arabic and been inured in the evil ways of the
+Saracens. When he had safely returned to his native land he set about
+combating the same. And this is his exordium:--'At the time of the
+Emperor Heraclius there arose a man, yea, a Devil, and a first-born
+child of Satan, ... who wallowed in ... and he was dealing in the Black
+Art, and his name it was Machumet.' ... This work Luther made known to
+his countrymen by translating and commenting, prefacing, and rounding
+it off by an epilogue. True, his notes amount to little more but an
+occasional 'Oh fie, for shame, you horrid Devil, you damned Mahomet,'
+or 'O Satan, Satan, you shall pay for that,' or, 'That's it, Devils,
+Saracens, Turks, it's all the same,' or, 'Here the Devil smells a rat,'
+or briefly, 'O Pfui Dich, Teufel!' except when he modestly, with a
+query, suggests whether those Assassins, who, according to his text,
+are regularly educated to go out into the world in order to kill and
+slay all Worldly Powers, may not, perchance, be the Gypsies or the
+'Tattern' (Tartars); or when he breaks down with a 'Hic nescio quid
+dicat translator.' His epilogue, however, is devoted to a special
+disquisition as to whether Mohammed or the Pope be worse. And in the
+twenty-second chapter of this disquisition he has arrived at the
+final conclusion that, after all, the Pope is worse, and that he,
+and not Mohammed, is the real 'Endechrist.' 'Wohlen,' he winds up,
+'God grant us his grace, and punish both the Pope and Mohammed,
+together with their devils. I have done my part as a true prophet
+and teacher. Those who won't listen may leave it alone.' In similar
+strains speaks the learned and gentle Melancthon. In an introductory
+epistle to a reprint of that same Latin Koran which displeased Luther
+so much, he finds fault with Mohammed, or rather, to use his own
+words, he thinks that 'Mohammed is inspired by Satan,' because he
+'does not explain what sin is,' and further, since he 'showeth not the
+reason of human misery.' He agrees with Luther about the Little Horn:
+though in another treatise he is rather inclined to see in Mohammed
+both Gog and Magog. And 'Mohammed's sect,' he says, 'is altogether
+made up (conflata) of blasphemy, robbery, and shameful lusts.' Nor
+does it matter in the least what the Koran is all about. 'Even if
+there were anything less scurrilous in the book, it need not concern
+us any more than the portents of the Egyptians, who invoked snakes
+and cats.... Were it not that partly this Mohammedan pest, and partly
+the Pope's idolatry, have long been leading us straight to wreck and
+ruin--may God have mercy upon some of us!' 
+'Mawmet' was used by Wicliffe for idol in his translation of the
+New Testament, Acts vii. 41, 'And they made a calf in those days and
+offered a sacrifice to the Mawmet' (idol). The word, though otherwise
+derived by some, is probably a corruption of Mohammed. In the 'Mappa
+Mundi' of the thirteenth century we find the representation of the
+golden calf in the promontory of Sinai, with the superscription 'Mahum'
+for Mohammed, whose name under various corruptions, such as Mahound,
+Mawmet, &c., became a general byword in the mediæval languages for an
+idol. In a missionary hymn of Wesley's Mohammed is apostrophised as--
+That Arab thief, as Satan bold,
+Who quite destroyed Thy Asian fold;
+and the Almighty is adjured to--
+The Unitarian fiend expel,
+And chase his doctrine back to Hell.
+In these days, when the very mention of the Devil raises a smile,
+we can hardly realise the solemnity with which his work was once
+viewed. When Goethe represents Mephistopheles as undertaking to
+teach Faust's class in theology and dwells on his orthodoxy, it
+is the refrain of the faith of many generations. The Devil was not
+'God's Ape,' as Tertullian called him, in any comical way; not only
+was his ceremonial believed to be modelled on that of God, but his
+inspiration of his followers was believed to be quite as potent and
+earnest. Tertullian was constrained to write in this strain--'Blush,
+my Roman fellow-soldiers, even if ye are not to be judged by Christ,
+but by any soldier of Mithras, who when he is undergoing initiation
+in the cave, the very camp of the Powers of Darkness, when the wreath
+is offered him (a sword being placed between as if in semblance of
+martyrdom), and then about to be set on his head, he is warned to
+put forth his hand and push the wreath away, transferring it to,
+perchance, his shoulder, saying at the same time, My only crown is
+Mithras. And thenceforth he never wears a wreath; and this is a mark
+he has for a test, whenever tried as to his initiation, for he is
+immediately proved to be a soldier of Mithras if he throws down the
+wreath offered him, saying his crown is in his god. Let us therefore
+acknowledge the craft of the Devil, who mimics certain things of
+those that be divine, in order that he may confound and judge us by
+the faith of his own followers.'
+This was written before the exaltation of Christianity under
+Constantine. When the age of the martyrdom of the so-called pagans
+came on, these formulæ became real, and the christians were still
+more confounded by finding that the worshippers of the Devil,
+as they thought them, could yield up their lives in many parts of
+Europe as bravely for their faith as any christian had ever done. The
+'Prince of this world' became thus an unmeaning phrase except for
+the heretics. Christ had become the Prince of this world; and he was
+opposed by religious devotees as earnest as any who had suffered under
+Nero. The relation of the Opposition to the Devil was yet more closely
+defined when it claimed the christian name for its schism or heresy,
+and when it carried its loyalty to the Adversary of the Church to the
+extent of suffering martyrdom. 'Tell me, holy father,' said Evervinus
+to St. Bernard, concerning the Albigenses, 'how is this? They entered
+to the stake and bore the torment of the fire not only with patience,
+but with joy and gladness. I wish your explanation, how these members
+of the Devil could persist in their heresy with a courage and constancy
+scarcely to be found in the most religious of the faith of Christ?'
+Under these circumstances the personification of Antichrist had
+a natural but still wonderful development. He was to be born of a
+virgin, in Babylon, to be educated at Bethsaida and Chorazin, and to
+make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, proclaiming himself the Son of
+God. In the interview at Messina (1202) between Richard I. and the
+Abbot Joachim of Floris, the king said, 'I thought that Antichrist
+would be born at Antioch or in Babylon, and of the tribe of Dan,
+and would reign in the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, and would
+walk in that land in which Christ walked, and would reign in it for
+three years and a half, and would dispute against Elijah and Enoch,
+and would kill them, and would afterwards die; and that after his
+death God would give sixty days of repentance, in which those might
+repent which should have erred from the way of truth, and have been
+seduced by the preaching of Antichrist and his false prophets.'
+This belief was reflected in Western Europe in the belief that the
+congregation of Witches assembled on their Sabbath (an institution
+then included among paganisms) to celebrate grand mass to the Devil,
+and that all the primitive temples were raised in honour of Satan. In
+the Russian Church the correspondence between the good and evil powers,
+following their primitive faith in the conflict between Byelbog and
+Tchernibog (white god and black god), went to the curious extent of
+picturing in hell a sort of infernal Trinity. The Father throned in
+Heaven with the Son between his knees and the Dove beside or beneath
+him, was replied to by a majestic Satan in hell, holding his Son
+(Judas) on his knees, and the Serpent acting as counteragent of
+the Dove. This singular arrangement may still be seen in many of
+the pictures which cover the walls of the oldest Russian churches
+(Fig. 9). The infernal god is not without a solemn majesty answering
+to that of his great antagonist above. The Serpent of Sins proceeds
+from the diabolical Father and Son, passing from beneath their throne
+through one of the two mouths of Hell, and then winds upward, hungrily
+opening its jaws near the terrible Balances where souls are weighed
+(Fig. 10). Along its hideous length are seated at regular intervals
+nine winged devils, representing probably antagonists of the nine
+Sephiroth or Æons of the Gnostic theology. Each is armed with a hook
+whereby the souls weighed and found wanting may be dragged. The
+sins which these devils represent are labelled, generally on
+rings around the serpent, and increase in heinousness towards the
+head. It is a curious fact that the Sin nearest the head is marked
+'Unmercifulness.' Strange and unconscious sarcasm on an Omnipotent
+Deity under whose sway exists this elaboration of a scheme of sins
+and tortures precisely corresponding to the scheme of virtues and joys!
+Truly said the Epistle of John, there be many Antichrists. If this
+was true before the word Christianity had been formed, or the system
+it names, what was the case afterwards? For centuries we find vast
+systems denouncing each other as Antichrist. And ultimately, as a
+subtle hardly-conscious heresy spread abroad, the great excommunicator
+of antichrists itself, Rome, acquired that title, which it has
+never shaken off since. The See of Rome did not first receive that
+appellation from Protestants, but from its own chiefs. Gregory himself
+(A.C. 590) started the idea by declaring that any man who held even
+the shadow of such power as the Popes arrogated to themselves after
+his time would be the forerunner of Antichrist. Arnulphus, Bishop
+of Orleans, in an invective against John XV. at Rheims (A.C. 991),
+intimated that a Pope destitute of charity was Antichrist. But the
+stigma was at length fixed (twelfth century) by Amalrich of Bena
+('Quia Papa esset Antichristus et Roma Babylon et ipse sedit in
+Monte Oliveti, i.e., in pinguedine potestatis'); and also by the
+Abbot Joachim (A.C. 1202). The theory of Richard I., as stated to
+Joachim concerning Antichrist, has already been quoted. It was in the
+presence of the Archbishops of Rouen and Auxerre, and the Bishop of
+Bayonne, and represented their opinion and the common belief of the
+time. But Joachim said the Second Apocalyptic Beast represented some
+great prelate who will be like Simon Magus, and, as it were, universal
+Pontiff, and that very Antichrist of whom St. Paul speaks. Hildebrand
+was the first Pope to whom this ugly label was affixed, but the
+career of Alexander VI. (Roderic Borgia) made it for ever irremovable
+for the Protestant mind. There is in the British Museum a volume of
+caricatures, dated 1545, in which occurs an ingenious representation
+of Alexander VI. The Pope is first seen in his ceremonial robes; but
+a leaf being raised, another figure is joined to the lower part of the
+former, and there appears the papal devil, the cross in his hand being
+changed to a pitchfork (Fig. 11). Attached to it is an explanation in
+German giving the legend of the Pope's death. He was poisoned (1503)
+by the cup he had prepared for another man. It was afterwards said
+that he had secured the papacy by aid of the Devil. Having asked
+how long he would reign, the Devil returned an equivocal answer;
+and though Alexander understood that it was to be fifteen years, it
+proved to be only eleven. When in 1520 Pope Leo X. issued his formal
+bull against Luther, the reformer termed it 'the execrable bull of
+Antichrist.' An Italian poem of the time having represented Luther
+as the offspring of Megæra, the Germans returned the invective in a
+form more likely to impress the popular mind; namely, in a caricature
+(Fig. 12), representing the said Fury as nursing the Pope. This
+caricature is also of date 1545, and with it were others showing
+Alecto and Tisiphone acting in other capacities for the papal babe.
+The Lutherans had made the discovery that the number of the Apocalyptic
+Beast, 666, put into Hebrew numeral letters, contained the words
+Aberin Kadescha Papa (our holy father the Pope). The downfall of this
+Antichrist was a favourite theme of pulpit eloquence, and also with
+artists. A very spirited pamphlet was printed (1521), and illustrated
+with designs by Luther's friend Lucas Cranach. It was entitled
+Passional Christi und Antichristi. The fall of the papal Antichrist
+(Fig. 13), has for its companion one of Christ washing the feet of
+his disciples.
+But the Catholics could also make discoveries; and among many other
+things they found that the word 'Luther' in Hebrew numerals also made
+the number of the Beast. It was remembered that one of the earliest
+predictions concerning Antichrist was that he would travesty the birth
+of Christ from a virgin by being born of a nun by a Bishop. Luther's
+marriage with the nun Catharine von Bora came sufficiently near the
+prediction to be welcomed by his enemies. The source of his inspiration
+as understood by Catholics is cleverly indicated in a caricature of
+the period (Fig. 14).
+The theory that the Papacy represents Antichrist has so long been the
+solemn belief of rebels against its authority, that it has become a
+vulgarised article of Protestant faith. On the other hand, Catholics
+appear to take a political and prospective view of Antichrist. Cardinal
+Manning, in his pastoral following the election of Leo XIII., said:
+'A tide of revolution has swept over all countries. Every people
+in Europe is inwardly divided against itself, and the old society
+of Christendom, with its laws, its sanctities, and its stability,
+is giving way before the popular will, which has no law, or rather
+which claims to be a law to itself. This is at least the forerunning
+sign of the Lawless One, who in his own time shall be revealed.'
+Throughout the endless exchange of epithets, it has been made clear
+that Antichrist is the reductio ad absurdum of the notion of a personal
+Devil. From the day when the word was first coined, it has assumed
+every variety of shape, has fitted with equal precision the most
+contrarious things and persons; and the need of such a novel form
+at one point or another in the progress of controversy is a satire
+on the inadequacy of Satan and his ancient ministers. Bygone Devils
+cannot represent new animosities. The ascent of every ecclesiastical
+or theological system is traceable in massacres and martyrdoms; each
+of these, whether on one side or the other, helps to develop a new
+devil. The story of Antichrist shows devils in the making. Meantime,
+to eyes that see how every system so built up must sacrifice a
+virtue at every stage of its ascent, it will be sufficiently clear
+that every powerful Church is Adversary of the religion it claims to
+represent. Buddhism is Antibuddha; Islam is Antimohammed; Christianity
+is Antichrist.
+THE PRIDE OF LIFE.
+The curse of Iblis--Samaël as Democrat--His vindication by
+Christ and Paul--Asmodäus--History of the name--Aschmedai of the
+Jews--Book of Tobit--Doré's 'Triumph of Christianity'--Aucassin
+and Nicolette--Asmodeus in the convent--The Asmodeus of Le
+Sage--Mephistopheles--Blake's 'Marriage of Heaven and Hell'--The
+Devil and the artists--Sádi's Vision of Satan--Arts of the
+Devil--Suspicion of beauty--Earthly and heavenly mansions--Deacon
+versus Devil.
+On the parapet of the external gallery of Nôtre Dame in Paris is the
+carved form, of human size, represented in our figure (15). There is
+in the face a remarkable expression of pride and satisfaction as he
+looks forth on the gay city and contemplates all the wickedness in it,
+but this satisfaction is curiously blended with a look of envy and
+lust. His elegant head-dress gives him the pomp becoming the Asmodeus
+presiding over the most brilliant capital in the world.
+His seat on the fine parapet is in contrast with the place assigned
+him in Eastern traditions--ruins and desert places,--but otherwise he
+fairly fulfilled, no doubt, early ideas in selecting his headquarters
+at Paris. A mussulman legend says that when, after the Fall of Man,
+Allah was mitigating the sentences he had pronounced, Iblis (who,
+as the Koran relates, pleaded and obtained the deferment of his
+consignment to Hell until the resurrection, and unlimited power over
+sinners who do not accept the word of Allah) asked--
+'Where shall I dwell in the meantime?
+'In ruins, tombs, and all other unclean places shunned by man.
+'What shall be my food?
+'All things slain in the name of idols.
+'How shall I quench my thirst?
+'With wine and intoxicating liquors.
+'What shall occupy my leisure hours?
+'Music, song, love-poetry, and dancing.
+'What is my watchword?
+'The curse of Allah until the day of judgment.
+'But how shall I contend with man, to whom thou hast granted two
+guardian angels, and who has received thy revelation?
+'Thy progeny shall be more numerous than his,--for for every man that
+is born, there shall come into the world seven evil spirits--but they
+shall be powerless against the faithful.'
+Iblis with wine, song, and dance--the 'pride of life'--is also said
+to have been aided in entering Paradise by the peacock, which he
+flattered. 
+This fable, though later than the era of Mohammed in form, is as
+ancient as the myth of Eden in substance. The germ of it is already
+in the belief that Jehovah separated from the rest of the earth a
+garden, and from the human world a family of his own, and from the
+week a day of his own. The reply of the elect to the proud Gentile
+aristocracy was an ascetic caste established by covenant with the
+King of kings. This attitude of the pious caste turned the barbaric
+aristocrats, in a sense, to democrats. Indeed Samaël, in whom the
+execrated Dukes of Edom were ideally represented, might be almost
+described as the Democratic Devil. According to an early Jewish
+legend, Jehovah, having resolved to separate 'men' (i.e., Jews)
+from 'swine' (i.e., idolaters, Gentiles), made circumcision the
+seal on them as children of Abraham. There having been, however,
+Jews who were necessarily never circumcised, their souls, it was
+arranged, should pass at death into the forms of certain sacred
+birds where they would be purified, and finally united to the elect
+in Paradise. Now, Samaël, or Adam Belial as he was sometimes called,
+is said to have appealed to the Creator that this arrangement should
+include all races of beings. 'Lord of the world!' he said, 'we also
+are of your creation. Thou art our father. As thou savest the souls
+of Israel by transforming them that they may be brought back again
+and made immortal, so also do unto us! Why shouldst thou regard the
+seed of Abraham before us?' Jehovah answered, 'Have you done the same
+that Abraham did, who recognised me from his childhood and went into
+Chaldean fire for love of me? You have seen that I rescued him from
+your hands, and from the fiery oven which had no power over him,
+and yet you have not loved and worshipped me. Henceforth speak no
+more of good or evil.' 
+The old rabbinical books which record this conversation do not report
+Samaël's answer; nor is it necessary: that answer was given by Jesus
+and Paul breaking down the partitions between Jew and Gentile. It was
+quite another thing, however, to include the world morally. Jesus,
+it would seem, aimed at this also; he came 'eating and drinking,'
+and the orthodox said Samaël was in him. Personally, he declined to
+substitute even the cosmopolitan rite of baptism for the discredited
+national rite of circumcision. But Paul was of another mind. His
+pharisaism was spiritualised and intensified in his new faith, to
+which the great world was all an Adversary.
+It was a tremendous concession, this giving up of the gay and beautiful
+world, with its mirth and amusements, its fine arts and romance--to
+the Devil. Unswerving Nemesis has followed that wild theorem in many
+forms, of which the most significant is Asmodeus.
+Asmodäus, or Aêshma-daêva of the Zend texts, the modern Persian Khasm,
+is etymologically what Carlyle might call 'the god Wish;' aêsha
+meaning 'wish,' from the Sanskrit root ish, 'to desire.' An almost
+standing epithet of Aêshma is Khrvîdra, meaning apparently 'having a
+hurtful weapon or lance.' He is occasionally mentioned immediately
+after Anrô-mainyus (Ahriman); sometimes is expressly named as one
+of his most prominent supporters. In the remarkable combat between
+Ahuro-mazda (Ormuzd) and Anrô-mainyus, described in Zam. Y. 46, the
+good deity summons to his aid Vohumano, Ashavahista, and Fire; while
+the Evil One is aided by Akômano, Aêshma, and Aji-Daháka. [145] Here,
+therefore, Aêshma appears as opposed to Ashavahista, 'supreme purity'
+of the Lord of Fire. Aêshma is the spirit of the lower or impure Fire,
+Lust and Wrath. A Sanskrit text styles him Kossa-deva, 'the god of
+Wrath.' In Yaçna 27, 35, Sraosha, Aêshma's opponent, is invoked to
+shield the faithful 'in both worlds from Death the Violent, from Aêshma
+the Violent, from the hosts of Violence that raise aloft the terrible
+banner--from the assaults of Aêshma that he makes along with Vídátu
+('Divider, Destroyer'), the demon-created.' He is thus the leading
+representative of dissolution, the fatal power of Ahriman. Ormuzd
+is said to have created Sraosha to be the destroyer of 'Aêshma of
+the fatal lance.' Sraosha ('the Hearer') is the moral vanquisher of
+Aêshma, in distinction from Haoma, who is his chief opponent in the
+physical domain.
+Such, following Windischmann, [146] is the origin of the devil
+whom the apocryphal book of Tobit has made familiar in Europe as
+Asmodeus. Aschmedai, as the Jews called him, appears in this story as
+precisely that spirit described in the Avesta--the devil of Violence
+and Lust, whose passion for Sara leads him to slay her seven husbands
+on their wedding-night. The devils of Lust are considered elsewhere,
+and Asmodeus among them; there is another aspect of him which here
+concerns us. He is a fastidious devil. He will not have the object of
+his passion liable to the embrace of any other. He cannot endure bad
+smells, and that raised by the smoke of the fish-entrails burnt by
+Tobit drives him 'into the utmost parts of Egypt, where the angel
+bound him.' It is, however, of more importance to read the story
+by the light of the general reputation of Aschmedai among the Jews
+and Arabians. It was notably that of the devil represented in the
+Moslem tradition at the beginning of this chapter. He is the Eastern
+Don Giovanni and Lothario; he plies Noah and Solomon with wine,
+and seduces their wives, and always aims high with his dashing
+intrigues. He would have cried Amen to Luther's lines--
+Who loves not wine, woman, and song,
+He lives a fool his whole life long.
+Besides being an aristocrat, he is a scholar, the most learned Master
+of Arts, educated in the great College of Hell, founded by Asa and
+Asael, as elsewhere related. He was fond of gaming; and so fashionable
+that Calmet believed his very name signifies fine dress.
+Now, the moral reflections in the Book of Tobit, and its casual
+intimations concerning the position of the persons concerned, show
+that they were Jewish captives of the humblest working class, whose
+religion is of a type now found chiefly among the more ignorant
+sectarians. Tobit's moral instructions to his son, 'In pride is
+destruction and much trouble, and in lewdness is decay and much want,'
+'Drink not wine to make thee drunken,' and his careful instructions
+about finding wealth in the fear of God, are precisely such as would
+shape a devil in the image of Asmodeus. Tobit's moral truisms are
+made falsities by his puritanism: 'Prayer is good with fasting and
+alms and righteousness;' 'but give nothing to the wicked;' 'If thou
+serve God he will repay thee.'
+'Cakes and ale' do not cease to exist because Tobits are virtuous;
+but unfortunately they may be raised from their subordinate to an
+insubordinate place by the transfer of religious restraints to the
+hands of Ignorance and Cant. Asmodeus, defined against Persian and
+Jewish asceticism and hypocrisy, had his attractions for men of the
+world. Through him the devil became perilously associated with wit,
+gallantry, and the one creed of youth which is not at all consumptive--
+Grey is all Theory,
+Green Life's golden-fruited tree!
+Especially did Asmodeus represent the subordination of so-called
+'religious' and tribal distinctions to secular considerations. As
+Samaël had petitioned for an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant to
+all the world and failed to secure it from Jehovah, Asmodeus proposed
+to disregard the distinction. There is much in the Book of Tobit which
+looks as if it were written especially with the intention of persuading
+Jewish youth, tempted by Babylonians to marriage, that their lovers
+might prove to be succubi or incubi. Tobit implores his son to marry
+in his own tribe, and not take a 'strange woman.' Asmodeus was as
+cosmopolitan as the god of Love himself, and many of his uglier early
+characteristics were hidden out of sight by such later developments.
+Gustave Doré has painted in his vivid way the 'Triumph of
+Christianity.' In it we see the angelic hosts with drawn swords
+overthrowing the forms adored of paganism--hurling them headlong
+into an abyss. So far as the battle and victory go, this is just
+the conception which an early christian would have had of what took
+place through the advent of Christ. It filled their souls with joy to
+behold by Faith's vision those draped angels casting down undraped
+goddesses; they would delight to imagine how the fall might break
+the bones of those beautiful limbs. For they never thought of these
+gods and goddesses as statues, but as real seductive devils; and when
+these christians had brought over the arts, they often pictured the
+black souls coming out of these fair idols as they fell.
+Doré may have tried to make the angels as beautiful as the goddesses,
+but he has not succeeded. In this he has interpreted the heart behind
+every deformity which was ever added to a pagan deity. The horror
+of the monks was transparent homage. Why did they starve and scourge
+their bodies, and roll them in thorns? Because not even by defacing
+the beautiful images were they able to expel from their inward worship
+the lovely ideals they represented.
+It is not difficult now to perceive that the old monks were consigning
+the pagan ideals to imaginary and themselves to actual hells, in full
+hope of thereby gaining permanent possession of the same beauty abjured
+on earth. The loveliness of the world was transient. They grew morbid
+about death; beneath the rosiest form they saw the skeleton. The
+heavenly angels they longed for were Venuses and Apollos, with no
+skeletons visible beneath their immortalised flesh. They never made
+sacrifices for a disembodied heaven. The force of self-crucifixion
+lay in the creed--'I believe in the resurrection of the body, and
+the life everlasting.'
+The world could not generally be turned into a black procession at its
+own funeral. In proportion to the conquests of Christianity must be its
+progressive surrender to the unconquerable--to human nature. Aphrodite
+and Eros, over whose deep graves nunneries and monasteries had been
+built, were the first to revive, and the story, as Mr. Pater has told
+it, is like some romantic version of Ishtar's Descent into Hades and
+her resurrection. [147] While as yet the earth seemed frostbound,
+long before the Renaissance, the song of the turtle was heard in the
+ballad of Aucassin and Nicolette. The christian knight will marry the
+beautiful Saracen, and to all priestly warnings that he will surely
+go to hell, replies, 'What could I do in Paradise? I care only to go
+where I can be with Nicolette. Who go to Paradise? Old priests, holy
+cripples, dried-up monks, who pass their lives before altars. I much
+prefer Hell, where go the brave, the gay, and beautiful. There will
+be the players on harps, the classic poets and singers; and there I
+shall not be parted from Nicolette!'
+Along with pretty Saracen maidens, or memories of them, were brought
+back into Europe legends of Asmodeus. Aphrodite and Eros might disguise
+themselves in his less known and less anathematised name, so that
+he could manage to sing of his love for Sara, of Parsi for Jewess,
+under the names of christian Aucassin and saracen Nicolette. In the
+Eastern Church he reappeared also. There are beautiful old pictures
+which show the smart cavalier, feather-in-cap, on the youth's left,
+while on his right stands 'grey Theory' in the form of a long-bearded
+friar. Such pictures, no doubt, taught for many a different lesson
+from that intended--namely, that the beat of the heart is on the left.
+Where St. Benedict rolled himself in thorns for dreaming of his
+(deserted) 'Nicolette,' St. Francis planted roses; and the Latin Church
+had to recognise this evolution of seven centuries. They hid the thorns
+in the courts of convents, and sold the roses to the outside world as
+indulgences. But as Asmodeus had not respected the line between Jew
+and Gentile in Nineveh, so he passed over that between priest, nun,
+and worldling in the West. In the days of Witchcraft the Church was
+scandalised by the rumour that the nuns of the Franciscan Convent of
+Louviers had largely taken to sorcery, and were attending the terrible
+'Witches' Sabbaths.' The nun most prominent in this affair was one
+Madeleine Bavent. The priests announced that she had confessed that
+she was borne away to the orgies by the demon Asmodeus, and that
+he had induced her to profane the sacred host. It turned out that
+the nuns had engaged in intrigues with the priests who had charge
+of them--especially with Fathers David, Picard, and Boulé--but
+Asmodeus was credited with the crime, and the nuns were punished
+for it. Madeleine was condemned to life-long penance, and Picard
+anticipated the fire by a suicide, in which he was said to have been
+assisted by the devil.
+Following the rabbinical tradition which represented him as continually
+passing from the high infernal College of Asa and Asael to the
+earth to apply his arts of sorcery, Asmodeus gained a respectable
+position in European literature through the romance of Le Sage ('Le
+Diable Boiteux'), and his fame so gained did much to bring about
+in France that friendly feeling for the Devil which has long been a
+characteristic of French literature. A very large number of books,
+periodicals, and journals in France have gained popularity through
+the Devil's name. Asmodeus was, in fact, the Arch-bohemian. As such,
+he largely influenced the conception of Mephistopheles as rendered by
+Goethe--himself the Prince of Bohemians. The old horror of Asmodeus
+for bad smells is insulted in the name Mephistopheles, and this devil
+is many rolled into one; yet in many respects his kinship to Asmodeus
+is revealed. All the dried starveling Anthonys and Benedicts are,
+in a cultured way, present in the theologian and scholar Faust;
+all the sweet ladies that haunted their seclusion became realistic
+in Gretchen. She is the Nemesis of suppressed passions.
+One province of nature after another has been recovered from
+Asceticism. In this case Ishtar has had to regain her apparel and
+ornaments at successive portals that are centuries, and they are not
+all recovered yet. But we have gone far enough, even in puritanised
+England, to produce a 'madman' far-seeing enough to behold The
+Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The case of Asmodeus is stated well,
+albeit radically, by William Blake, in that proverb which was told
+him by the devils, whom he alone of midnight travellers was shrewd
+enough to consult: 'The pride of the peacock is the glory of God;
+the lust of the goat is the bounty of God; the wrath of the lion is
+the wisdom of God.' When that statement is improved, as it well may
+be, it will be when those who represent religion shall have learned
+that human like other nature is commanded by obedience.
+In this connection may be mentioned a class of legends indicating
+the Devil's sensitiveness with regard to his personal appearance. The
+anxiety of the priests and hermits to have him represented as hideous
+was said to have been warmly resented by Satan, one of the most
+striking being the legend of many versions concerning a Sacristan,
+who was also an artist, who ornamented an abbey with a devil so ugly
+that none could behold it without terror. It was believed he had by
+inspiration secured an exact portrait of the archfiend. The Devil
+appeared to the Sacristan, reproached him with having made him so
+ugly, and threatened to punish him grievously if he did not make him
+better looking. Although this menace was thrice repeated, the Sacristan
+refused to comply. The Devil then tempted him into an intrigue with a
+lady of the neighbourhood, and they eloped after robbing the abbey of
+its treasure. But they were caught, and the Sacristan imprisoned. The
+Devil then appears and offers to get him out of his trouble if he will
+only destroy the ugly likeness, and make another and handsomer. The
+Sacristan consented, and suddenly found himself in bed as if nothing
+had happened, while the Devil in his image lay in chains. The Devil
+when discovered vanished; the Sacristan got off on the theory that
+crimes and all had been satanic juggles. But the Sacristan took care
+to substitute a handsome devil for the ugly one. In another version
+the Sacristan remained faithful to his original portraiture of the
+Devil despite all menaces of the latter, who resolved to take a dire
+revenge. While the artist was completing his ornamentation of the abbey
+with an image of the Virgin, made as beautiful as the fiend near it was
+ugly, the Devil broke the ladder on which he was working, and a fatal
+fall was only prevented by the hand of the Madonna he had just made,
+which was outstretched to sustain him. The accompanying picture of this
+scene (Fig. 16) is from 'Queen Mary's Psalter' in the British Museum.
+Vasari relates that when Spinello of Arezzo, in his famous fresco of
+the fall of the rebellious angels, had painted the hideous devil with
+seven faces about his body, the fiend appeared to him in the same form,
+and asked the artist where he had seen him in so frightful an aspect,
+and why he had treated him so ignominiously. When Spinello awoke in
+horror, he fell into a state of gloom, and soon after died.
+The Persian poet Sádi has a remarkable passage conceived in the spirit
+of these legends, but more kindly.
+I saw the demon in a dream,
+But how unlike he seemed to be
+To all of horrible we dream,
+And all of fearful that we see.
+His shape was like a cypress bough,
+His eyes like those that Houris wear,
+His face as beautiful as though
+The rays of Paradise were there.
+I near him came, and spoke--'Art thou,'
+I said, 'indeed the Evil One?
+No angel has so bright a brow,
+Such yet no eye has looked upon.
+Why should mankind make thee a jest,
+When thou canst show a face like this?
+Fair as the moon in splendour drest,
+An eye of joy, a smile of bliss!
+The painter draws thee vile to sight,
+Our baths thy frightful form display;
+They told me thou wert black as night,
+Behold, thou art as fair as day!'
+The lovely vision's ire awoke,
+His voice was loud and proud his mien:
+'Believe not, friend!' 'twas thus he spoke,
+'That thou my likeness yet hast seen:
+The pencil that my portrait made
+Was guided by an envious foe;
+In Paradise I man betrayed,
+And he, from hatred, paints me so.'
+Boehme relates that when Satan was asked the cause of God's enmity
+to him and his consequent downfall, he replied, 'I wished to be an
+artist.' There is in this quaint sentence a very true intimation of the
+allurements which, in ancient times, the arts of the Gentile possessed
+for the Jews and christian judaisers. Indeed, a similar feeling towards
+the sensuous attractions of the Catholic and Ritualistic Churches is
+not uncommon among the prosaic and puritanical sects whose younger
+members are often thus charmed away from them. Dr. Donne preached a
+sermon before Oliver Cromwell at Whitehall, in which he affirmed that
+the Muses were damned spirits of devils; and the discussion on the
+Drama which occurred at Sheffield Church Congress (1878), following
+Dr. Bickerstith's opening discourse on 'the Devil and his wiles,'
+shows that the Low Church wing cherishes much the same opinion as that
+of Dr. Donne. The dread of the theatre among some sects amounts to
+terror. The writer remembers the horror that spread through a large
+Wesleyan circle, with which he was connected, when a distinguished
+minister of that body, just returned from Europe, casually remarked
+that 'the theatre at Rome seemed to be poorly supported.' The fearful
+confession spread through the denomination, and it was understood that
+the observant traveller had 'made shipwreck of faith.' The Methodist
+instinct told true: the preacher became an accomplished Gentile.
+Music made its way but slowly in the Church, and the suspicion of it
+still lingers among many sects. The Quakers took up the burthen of
+Epiphanius who wrote against the flute-players, 'After the pattern
+of the serpent's form has the flute been invented for the deceiving
+of mankind. Observe the figure that the player makes in blowing his
+flute. Does he not bend himself up and down to the right hand and
+to the left, like unto the serpent? These forms hath the Devil used
+to manifest his blasphemy against things heavenly, to destroy things
+upon earth, to encompass the world, capturing right and left such as
+lend an ear to his seductions.' The unregenerate birds that carol
+all day, be it Sabbath or Fast, have taught the composer that his
+best inspiration is from the Prince of the Air. Tartini wrote over a
+hundred sonatas and as many concertos, but he rightly valued above
+them all his 'Sonata del Diavolo.' Concerning this he wrote to the
+astronomer Lalande:--'One night, in the year 1713, I dreamed that I
+had made a compact with his Satanic Majesty, by which he was received
+into my service. Everything succeeded to the utmost of my desires, and
+my every wish was anticipated by my new domestic. I thought that, in
+taking up my violin to practise, I jocosely asked him if he could play
+on this instrument. He answered that he believed he was able to pick
+out a tune; when, to my astonishment, he began a sonata, so strange,
+and yet so beautiful, and executed in so masterly a manner, that in the
+whole course of my life I had never heard anything so exquisite. So
+great was my amazement that I could scarcely breathe. Awakened
+by the violence of my feelings, I instantly seized my violin, in
+the hope of being able to catch some part of the ravishing melody
+which I had just heard, but all in vain. The piece which I composed
+according to my scattered recollections is, it is true, the best I
+ever produced. I have entitled it, 'Sonata del Diavolo;' but it is so
+far inferior to that which had made so forcible an impression on me,
+that I should have dashed my violin into a thousand pieces, and given
+up music for ever in despair, had it been possible to deprive myself
+of the enjoyments which I receive from it.'
+The fire and originality of Tartini's great work is a fine
+example of that power which Timoleon called Automatia, and Goethe
+the Dämonische,--'that which cannot be explained by reason or
+understanding; it is not in my nature, but I am subject to it.' 'It
+seems to play at will with all the elements of our being.'
+The Puritans brought upon England and America that relapse into the
+ancient asceticism which was shown in the burning of great pictures
+by Cromwell's Parliament. It is shown still in the jealousy with
+which the puritanised mind in both countries views all that aims at
+the simple decoration of life, and whose ministry is to the sense of
+beauty. On that day of the week when England and New England hebraise,
+as Matthew Arnold says, it is observable that the sabbatarian fury is
+especially directed against everything which proposes to give simple
+pleasure or satisfy the popular craving for beauty. Sabbatarianism
+sees a great deal of hard work going on, but is not much troubled so
+long as it is ugly and dismal work. It utters no cry at the thousands
+of hands employed on Sunday railways, but is beside itself if one of
+the trains takes excursionists to the seaside, and is frantic at the
+thought of a comparatively few persons being employed on that day in
+Museums and Art Galleries. It is a survival of the old feeling that
+the Devil lurks about all beauty and pleasure.
+A money-making age has measurably dispersed the superstitions which
+once connected the Devil with all great fortunes. For a long time,
+and in many regions of the world, the Jews suffered grievously by
+being supposed to get their wealth by the Devil's help. Their wealth
+(largely the result of their not exchanging it for worldly enjoyments)
+so often proved their misfortune, that it was easy to illustrate by
+their case the monkish theory that devil's gifts turn to ashes. Princes
+were indefatigable in relieving the Jews of such ashes, however. The
+Lords of Triar, who possessed the mines of Glucksbrunn, were believed
+to have been guided to them by a gold stag which often appeared to
+them--of course the Devil. It is related that when St. Wolfram went
+to convert the Frislanders, their king, Radbot, was prevented from
+submitting to baptism by a diabolical deception. The Devil appeared
+to him as an angel clothed in a garment woven of gold, on his head
+a jewelled diadem, and said, 'Bravest of men! what has led thee to
+depart from the Prince of thy gods? Do it not; be steadfast to thy
+religion and thou shalt dwell in a house of gold which I will give
+into thy possession to all eternity. Go to Wolfram to-morrow, ask
+him about those bright dwellings he promises thee. If he cannot show
+them, let both parties choose an ambassador; I will be their leader
+and will show them the gold house I promise thee.' St. Wolfram being
+unable to show Radbot the bright dwellings of Paradise, one of his
+deacons was sent along with a representative of the king, and the
+Devil (disguised as a traveller) took them to the house of gold,
+which was of incredible size and splendour. The Deacon exclaimed,
+'If this house be made by God it will stand for ever; if by the
+Devil, it must vanish speedily.' Whereupon he crossed himself; the
+house vanished, and the Deacon found himself with the Frislander in
+a swamp. It took them three days to extricate themselves and return
+to King Radbot, whom they found dead.
+The ascetic principle which branded the arts, interests, pursuits,
+and pleasures of the world as belonging to the domain of Satan,
+involved the fatal extreme of including among the outlawed realms all
+secular learning. The scholar and man of science were also declared
+to be inspired by the 'pride of life.' But this part of our subject
+requires a separate chapter.
+THE CURSE ON KNOWLEDGE.
+A Bishop on intellect--The Bible on learning--The Serpent and
+Seth--A Hebrew Renaissance--Spells--Shelley at Oxford--
+Book-burning--Japanese ink-devil--Book of Cyprianus--Devil's
+Bible--Red letters--Dread of Science--Roger Bacon--Luther's
+Devil--Lutherans and Science.
+In Lucas van Leyden's picture of Satan tempting Christ (Fig. 6),
+the fiend is represented in the garb of a University man of the
+time. From his head falls a streamer which coils on the ground to a
+serpent. From that serpent to the sceptical scholar demanding a miracle
+the evolution is fully traceable. The Serpent, of old the 'seer,'
+was in its Semitic adaptation a tempter to forbidden knowledge. This
+was the earliest priestly outcry against 'godless education.'
+During the Shakespere tercentenary festival at Stratford-on-Avon,
+the Bishop of St. Andrews declared that there is not a word in the
+Bible warranting homage to Intellect, and such a boast beside the
+grave of the most intellectual of Englishmen is in itself a survival
+illustrating the tremendous curse hurled by jealous Jehovah on man's
+first effort to obtain knowledge. That same Serpent of knowledge
+has passed very far, and his curse has many times been repeated. In
+the Accadian poem of the fatal Seven, as we have seen, it is said,
+'In watching was their office;' and the Assyrian version says,
+'Unto heaven that which was not seen they raised.' On the Babylonian
+cylinders is inscribed the curse of the god of Intelligence (Hea)
+upon man--'Wisdom and knowledge hostilely may they injure him.' The same Serpent twined round the staff of Æsculapius and whispered
+those secrets which made the gods jealous, so that Jove killed the
+learned Physician with a flash of lightning. Its teeth were sown when
+Cadmus imported the alphabet into Greece; and when these alphabetical
+dragon's-teeth had turned to type, the ancient curse was renewed in
+legends which connected Fust with the Devil.
+The Hebrews are least among races responsible for the legend which
+has drifted into Genesis. Nor was the Bishop's boast about their Bible
+correct. The homage paid to Solomon was hardly on account of his moral
+character. 'He spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon,
+even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of
+beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.' While the curse on man for eating the fruit of knowledge is never
+quoted in the Hebrew scriptures, there are many indications of their
+devotion to knowledge; and their prophets even heard Jehovah saying,
+'My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge.' It is not
+wonderful, therefore, that we find among the Jews the gradual growth
+of a legend concerning Seth, which may be regarded as a reply to the
+curse on the Serpent.
+The apotheosis of Seth in rabbinical and mussulman mythology represents
+a sort of Semitic Renaissance. As we have seen in a former chapter,
+the Egyptians and Greeks identified Set with Typhon, but at the same
+time that demon was associated with science. He is astronomically
+located in Capricorn, the sphere of the hierophants in the Egyptian
+Mysteries, and the mansion of the guardians of science. Thus he would
+correspond with the Serpent, who, as adapted by the Hebrews in the
+myth of Eden, whispers to Eve of divine knowledge. But, as detached
+from Typho, Seth, while leaving behind the malignancy, carried away
+the reputation for learning usually ascribed to devils. Thus, while we
+have had to record so many instances of degraded deities, we may note
+in Seth a converted devil. In the mussulman and rabbinical traditions
+Seth is a voluminous author; he receives a library from heaven; he is
+the originator of astronomy and of many arts; and, as an instructor in
+cultivation, he restores many an acre which as Set he had blighted. In
+the apocryphal Genesis he is represented as having been caught up to
+heaven and shown the future destiny of mankind. Anastasius of Sinai
+says that when God created Adam after his own image, he breathed
+into him grace and illumination, and a ray of the Holy Spirit. But
+when he had sinned this glory left him. Then he became the father of
+Cain and Abel. But afterwards it is said Adam 'begat a son in his own
+likeness, after his image, and called his name 'Seth,' which is not
+said of Cain and Abel; and this means that Seth was begotten in the
+likeness of unfallen man in paradise--Seth meaning 'Resurrection.' And
+all those then living, when they saw how the face of Seth shone with
+divine light, and heard him speak with divine wisdom, said, He is God;
+therefore his sons were commonly called the sons of God. 
+That this 'Resurrection' of departed glory and wisdom was really,
+as I have said, a Renaissance--a restoration of learning from the
+curse put upon it in the story of the Serpent--is indicated by
+its evolution in the Gnostic myth wherein Seth was made to avenge
+Satan. He took under his special care the Tree of the Knowledge of
+Good and Evil, and planted it in his father's grave (Fig. 8). Rabbins
+carried their homage to Seth even to the extent of vindicating Saturn,
+the most notorious of planets, and say that Abraham and the Prophets
+were inspired by it. [151] The Dog (Jackal) was, in Egyptian symbols,
+emblem of the Scribe; Sirius was the Dog-star domiciled with Saturn;
+Seth was by them identified with Sirius, as the god of occult
+and infernal knowledge. He was near relative of the serpent Sesha,
+familiar of Æsculapius, and so easily connected with the subtlest of
+the beasts in Eden which had crept in from the Iranian mythology.
+This reaction was instituted by scholars, who, in their necessarily
+timid way of fable, may be said to have recovered the Tree of
+Knowledge under guise of homage to Seth. It flourished, as we have seen
+(chap. xi.), to the extent of finally raising the Serpent to be a god,
+and lowering Jehovah who cursed him to a jealous devil!
+But the terror with which Jehovah is said to have been inspired when
+he said, 'The man has become as one of us, to know good and evil,'
+never failed to reappear among priesthoods when anything threatened
+to remove the means of learning from under their control. The causes
+of this are too many to be fully considered here; but the main cause
+unquestionably was the tendency of learning to release men from
+the sway of the priest. The primitive man of science would speedily
+discover how many things existed of which his priest was ignorant, and
+thus the germ of Scepticism would be planted. The man who possessed
+the Sacred Books, in whole or in part, might become master of the
+'spells' supposed to be contained in its words and sentences, and
+might use them against the priests; or, at any rate, he might feel
+independent of the ordinary apparatus of salvation.
+The anxiety of priests to keep fast hold of the keys of learning,
+so that no secular son of Adam should become 'as one of them,'
+coupled with the wonderful powers they professed ability to exercise,
+powerfully stimulated the curiosity of intellectual men, and led
+them to seek after this forbidden fruit in subtle ways, which
+easily illustrated the story of the Serpent. The poet Shelley,
+who was suspected at Oxford because of his fondness for chemistry,
+recognised his mythological ancestry, and used to speak of 'my
+cousin, the Serpent.' The joke was born of circumstances sufficiently
+scandalous in the last generation to make the Oxonian of to-day blush;
+but the like histories of earlier ages are so tragical that, when fully
+known by the common people, they will change certain familiar badges
+into brands of shame. While the cant goes on about the Church being
+the protector of learning through the dark ages, the fact is that,
+from the burning of valuable books at Ephesus by christian fanatics
+(Acts xix. 19) to the present day, the Church has destroyed tenfold
+more important works than it ever produced, and almost suffocated the
+intellectual life of a thousand years. Amid the unbroken persecution
+of the Jews by christian cruelty, which lasted from the early eleventh
+century for five hundred years, untold numbers of manuscripts were
+destroyed, which might have now been giving the world full and clear
+knowledge concerning ages, for whose records archæological scholars
+are painfully exploring the crumbled ruins of the East. Synagogues
+were believed to be temples of Satan; they were plundered and razed
+to the ground, and their precious archives strewed the streets of
+many cities. On the 17th of June 1244 twenty-four cartloads of these
+ancient MSS. were burned in Paris alone. "And all this by our holy
+'protector of learning' through the Middle Ages!
+The Japanese have pictures of a famous magician who conjured up a
+demon--vast, vague, and terrible--out of his inkstand. They call
+it latterly 'emblem of a licentious press,' but, no doubt, it was
+originally used to terrify the country generally concerning the
+press. That Devil has also haunted the ecclesiastical imagination
+in Europe. Nearly every book written without priestly command was
+associated with the Devil, and there are several old books in Europe,
+laboriously and honestly written, which to this day are invested with
+popular superstitions reporting the denunciations with which they
+were visited. For some centuries it has been believed in Denmark and
+neighbouring countries that a strange and formidable book exists,
+by means of which you can raise or lay the Devil. It is vulgarly
+known as the Book of Cyprianus. The owner of it can neither sell,
+bury, or burn it, and if he cannot get rid of it before his death,
+he becomes the prey of the fiend. The only way of getting rid of it is
+to find somebody who will accept it as a present, well knowing what it
+is. Cyprianus is said to have been a clever and virtuous young student,
+but he studied the black art in Norway, and came under the power of the
+Devil, who compelled him to use his unholy learning to evil ends. This
+grieved him sorely, and he wrote a book, in which he shows first,
+how evil shall be done, and then how to counteract it. The book is
+probably one which really exists or existed, and professed to teach
+the art of sorcery, and likewise the charms against it. It consists
+of three parts, severally called Cyprianus, Dr. Faust, and Jacob
+Ramel. The two latter are written in cypher. It teaches everything
+appertaining to 'signing,' conjuring, second sight, and all the
+charms alluded to in Deuteronomy xviii. 10-12. The person possessing
+Cyprianus' book is said never to be in need of money, and none can
+harm him. The only way of getting rid of it is to put it away in a
+secret place in a church along with a clerk's fee of four shillings.
+In Stockholm I saw the so-called Devil's Bible, the biggest book in
+the world, in the Royal Library. It is literally as they describe it,
+'gigas librorum': no single man can lift it from the floor. It was part
+of the booty carried off by the Swedes after the surrender of Prague,
+A.D. 1648. It contains three hundred parchment leaves, each one made of
+an ass's hide, the cover being of oak planks, 1 1/2 inches thick. It
+contains the Old and New Testaments; Josephi Flavii Antiquitates
+Judaicæ; Isidori Episcopi L. XX. de diversis materiis; Confessio
+peccatorum; and some other works. The last-named production is written
+on black and dark brown ground with red and yellow letters. Here and
+there sentences are marked 'hæc sunt suspecta,' 'superstitiosa,'
+'prohibita.' One MS., which is headed, 'Experimentum de furto et
+febribus', is a treatise in Monkish Latin on the exorcism of ghosts
+and evil spirits, charms against thieves and sickness, and various
+prescriptions in 'White Magic.' The age of the book is considerably
+over three hundred years. The autograph of a German emperor is in it:
+'Ferdinandus Imperator Romanorum, A.D. 1577.' The volume is known
+in Sweden as Fan's Bibel (Devil's Bible). The legend says, that
+a monk, suspected of black arts, who had been condemned to death,
+begged for life, and his judge mockingly told him that he would be
+pardoned only if he should produce next morning all the books here
+found and in this vast size. The monk invoked the Devil's assistance,
+and the ponderous volume was written in a single night. This Devil
+must have been one who prided himself more on his literary powers
+than his personal appearance; for the face and form said to be his
+portrait, frontispiece of the volume, represent a most hideous ape,
+green and hairy, with horrible curled tusks. It is, no doubt, the ape
+Anerhahn of the Wagner legends; Burns's 'towzie tyke, black, grim,
+and large.' 
+I noticed particularly in this old work the recurrence of deep red
+letters and sentences similar to the ink which Fust used at the close
+of his earliest printed volumes to give his name, with the place and
+date of printing. Now Red is sacred in one direction as symbolising
+the blood of Christ, but it is also the colour of Judas, who betrayed
+that blood. Hence, while red letters might denote sacred days and
+sentences in priestly calendars, they might be supposed mimicry
+of such sanctities by 'God's Ape' if occurring in secular works or
+books of magic. It is said that these red letters were especially
+noted in Paris as indications of the diabolical origin of the works
+so easily produced by Fust; and, though it is uncertain whether he
+suffered imprisonment, the red lines with his name appear to have
+been regarded as his signature in blood.
+For a long time every successive discovery of science, every invention
+of material benefit to man, was believed by priest-ridden peoples
+to have been secured by compact with the devil. The fate of the
+artist Prometheus, fettered by jealous Jove, was repeated in each
+who aspired to bring light to man, and some men of genius--such as
+Cornelius Agrippa, and Paracelsus--appear to have been frightened away
+from legitimate scientific research by the first connection of their
+names with sorcery. They had before them the example of the greatest
+scientific man of the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon, and knew how easily,
+in the priestly whisper, the chemist's crucible grew to a wizard's
+cauldron. The time may come when Oxford University will have learned
+enough to build a true memorial of the grandest man who ever wrote
+and taught within its walls. It would show Roger Bacon--rectifier
+of the Julian Calendar, analyst of lenses, inventor of spectacles
+and achromatic lenses, probable constructor of the first telescope,
+demonstrator of the chemical action of air in combustion, inventor of
+the mode of purifying saltpetre and crystallising it into gunpowder,
+anticipator of the philosophical method with which his namesake is
+credited--looking on a pile of his books for whose researches he had
+paid two thousand French livres, to say nothing of a life's labour,
+only to see them condemned by his University, their circulation
+prohibited; and his sad gaze might be from the prison to which the
+Council of Franciscans at Paris sentenced him whom Oxford gladly
+delivered into their hands. He was condemned, says their historian
+Wadding, 'propter novitates quasdam suspectas.' The suspected novelties
+were crucibles, retorts, and lenses that made the stars look larger. So
+was it with the Oxford six hundred years ago. Undeniably some progress
+had been made even in the last generation, for Shelley was only
+forbidden to study chemistry, and expelled for his metaphysics. But
+now that it is claimed that Oxford is no longer partaker with them
+that stoned investigators and thinkers from Bacon to Shelley, it would
+be in order to build for its own great martyr of science a memorial,
+that superstition may look on one whom it has pierced.
+Referring to Luther's inkstand thrown at the Devil, Dr. Zerffii,
+in his lecture on the Devil, says, 'He (the devil) hates nothing
+so much as writing or printer's ink.' But the truth of this remark
+depends upon which of two devils be considered. It would hardly
+apply to the Serpent who recommended the fruit of knowledge, or to
+the University man in Lucas van Leyden's picture (Fig. 6). But if
+we suppose the Devil of Luther's Bible (Fig. 17) to be the one at
+which the inkstand was thrown, the criticism is correct. The two
+pictures mentioned may be instructively compared. Luther's Devil
+is the reply of the University to the Church. These are the two
+devils--the priest and the scholar--who glared at each other in the
+early sixteenth century. 'The Devil smelled the roast,' says Luther,
+'that if the languages revived, his kingdom would get a hole which
+he could not easily stop again.' And it must be admitted that some
+of the monkish execrations of the time, indeed of many times since,
+have an undertone of Jahvistic jealousy. 'These Knowers will become
+as one of us.' It must also be admitted that the clerical instinct
+told true: the University man held in him that sceptical devil who
+is always the destroyer of the priest's paradise. These two devils
+which struggled with each other through the sixteenth century still
+wage their war in the arena of Protestantism. Many a Lutheran now
+living may remember to have smiled when Hofmann's experiments in
+discovering carbonic acid gas gained him repute for raising again
+Mephosto; but perhaps they did not recognise Luther's devil when,
+at the annual assembly of Lutheran Pastors in Berlin (Sept. 1877), he
+reappeared as the Rev. Professor Grau, and said, 'Not a few listen to
+those striving to combine Christ with Belial, to reconcile redeeming
+truth with modern science and culture.' But though they who take the
+name of Luther in vain may thus join hands with the Devil, at whom
+the Reformer threw his inkstand, the combat will still go on, and the
+University Belial do the brave work of Bel till beneath his feet lies
+the dragon of Darkness whether disguised as Pope or Protestant.
+If the Church wishes to know precisely how far the roughness pardonable
+in the past survives unpardonably in itself, let its clergy peruse
+carefully the following translation by Mr. Leland of a poem by Heine;
+and realise that the Devil portrayed in it is, by grace of its own
+prelates, at present the most admired personage in every Court and
+fashionable drawing-room in Christendom.
+I called the Devil, and he came:
+In blank amaze his form I scan.
+He is not ugly, is not lame,
+But a refined, accomplished man,--
+One in the very prime of life,
+At home in every cabinet strife,
+Who, as diplomatist, can tell
+Church and State news extremely well.
+He is somewhat pale--and no wonder either,
+Since he studies Sanskrit and Hegel together.
+His favourite poet is still Fonqué.
+Of criticism he makes no mention,
+Since all such matters unworthy attention
+He leaves to his grandmother, Hecaté.
+He praised my legal efforts, and said
+That he also when younger some law had read,
+Remarking that friendship like mine would be
+An acquisition, and bowed to me,--
+Then asked if we had not met before,
+At the Spanish Minister's soiree?
+And, as I scanned his face once more,
+I found I had known him for many a day.
+WITCHCRAFT.
+Minor gods--Saint and Satyr--Tutelaries--Spells--Early Christianity
+and the poor--Its doctrine as to pagan deities--Mediæval
+Devils--Devils on the stage--An Abbot's revelations--The fairer
+deities--Oriental dreams and spirits--Calls for Nemesis--Lilith
+and her children--Neoplatonicism--Astrology and Alchemy--Devil's
+College--Shem-hammphorásch--Apollonius of Tyana--Faustus--Black Art
+Schools--Compacts with the Devil--Blood-covenant--Spirit-seances in
+old times--The Fairfax delusion--Origin of its devil--Witch, goat,
+and cat--Confessions of Witches--Witchcraft in New England--Witch
+trials--Salem demonology--Testing witches--Witch trials in
+Sweden--Witch Sabbath--Mythological elements--Carriers--Scotch
+Witches--The cauldron--Vervain--Rue--Invocation of Hecaté--Factors
+of Witch persecution--Three centuries of massacre--Würzburg
+horrors--Last victims--Modern Spiritualism.
+St. Cyprian saw the devil in a flower. [153] That little vision may
+report more than many more famous ones the consistency with which
+the first christians had developed the doctrine that nature is the
+incarnation of the Evil Spirit. It reports to us the sense of many
+sounds and sights which were heard and seen by ears and eyes trained
+for such and no other, all showing that the genii of nature and
+beauty were vanishing from the earth. Over the Ægean sea were heard
+lamentations and the voice, 'Great Pan is dead!' Augustus consults
+the oracle of Apollo and receives reply--
+Me puer Hebræus, Divos Deus ipse gubernans,
+Cedere sede jubet, tristremque redire sub orcum;
+Aris ergo dehinc tacitis abscedito nostris.
+But while the rage of these Fathers towards all the great gods and
+goddesses, who in their grand temples represented 'the pride of life,'
+was remorseless, they were comparatively indifferent to the belief or
+disbelief of the lower classes in their small tutelary divinities. They
+appear almost to have encouraged belief in these, perhaps appreciating
+the advantages of the popular custom of giving generous offerings
+to such personal and domestic patrons. At a very early period there
+seems to have arisen an idea of converting these more plebeian spirits
+into guardian angels with christian names. Thus Jerome relates in
+his Life of the first Hermit Paul, that when St. Anthony was on his
+way to visit that holy man, he encountered a Centaur who pointed
+out the way; and next a human-like dwarf with horns, hooked fingers,
+and feet like those of a goat. St. Anthony believing this to be an
+apparition of the Devil, made the sign of the Cross; but the little
+man, nowise troubled by this, respectfully approached the monk,
+and having been asked who he was, answered: 'I am a mortal, and one
+of those inhabitants of the Desert whom the Gentiles in their error
+worship under the names of Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi: I am delegated
+by my people to ask of thee to pray for us to our common God, who we
+know has descended for the salvation of the world, and whose praises
+resound in all the earth.' At this glorification of Christ St. Anthony
+was transported with joy, and turning towards Alexandria he cried,
+'Woe to thee, adulterous city, which adorest animals as gods!'
+Perhaps the evolution of these desert demons into good christians would
+have gone on more rapidly and completely if the primitive theologians
+had known as much of their history as comparative mythology has
+disclosed to the modern world. St. Anthony was, however, fairly on
+the track of them when he turned towards Alexandria. Egypt appears
+to have been the especial centre from which were distributed through
+the world the fetish guardians of provinces, towns, households and
+individuals. Their Serapes reappear in the Teraphim of Laban, and many
+of the forms they used reappear in the Penates, Lares, and genii of
+Latin countries. All these in their several countries were originally
+related to its ancient religion or mythology, but before the christian
+era they were very much the same in Egypt, Greece, and Italy. They were
+shaped in many different, but usually natural forms, such as serpents,
+dogs, boys, and old men, though often some intimation was given of
+their demonic character. They were so multiplied that even plants
+and animals had their guardians. The anthropomorphic genii called the
+Patrii, who were supposed to preside over provinces, were generally
+represented bearing weapons with which they defended the regions of
+which they were patrons. These were the Averrunci or Apotropæi.
+There are many interesting branches of this subject which cannot be
+entered into here, and others have already been considered in the
+foregoing parts of this work. It is sufficient for my present purpose
+to remark, that, in the course of time, all the households of the world
+had traditional guardians; these were generally represented in some
+shape on amulets and talismans, on which were commonly inscribed the
+verbal charms by which the patron could be summoned. In the process
+of further time the amulets--especially such as were reproduced
+by tribes migrating from the vicinity of good engravers--might
+be marked only with the verbal charms; these again were, in the
+end, frequently represented only by some word or name. This was the
+'spell.' Imagination fails in the effort to conceive how many strata of
+extinct deities had bequeathed to the ancient Egyptians those mystical
+names whose exact utterance they believed would constrain each god so
+named to appear and bind him to serve the invoker's purpose whether
+good or evil. [154] This idea continued among the Jews and shaped
+the commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God
+in vain.'
+It was in these diminutive forms that great systems survived among
+the common people. Amid natural convulsions ancient formations of
+faith were broken into fragments; in the ebb and flow of time these
+fragments were smoothed, as it were, into these talismanic pebbles. Yet
+each of these conveyed all the virtue which had been derived from the
+great and costly ceremonial system from which it originally crumbled;
+the virtue of soothing the mind and calming the nerves of sufferers
+with the feeling that, though they might have been assailed by
+hostile powers, they had friendly powers too who were active in their
+behalf--Vindicators, to recall Job's phrase--who at last would stand
+by them to the end. In the further ebb and flow of generations the
+mass of such charms are further pulverised into sand or into mud; but
+not all of them: amid the mud will be found many surviving specimens,
+and such mud of accumulated superstitions is always susceptible of
+being remoulded after such lingering models, should occasion demand.
+Erasmus, in his 'Adages,' suggests that it was from these genii of
+'the Gentiles' that the christians derived their notion of each person
+being attended by two angels, a good and a bad. Probably he was but
+half right. The peoples to whom he refers did not generally believe
+that each man was attended by a bad spirit, a personal enemy. That was
+an honour reserved for individuals particularly formidable to the evil
+powers,--Adam, Jacob, Hercules, or Zoroaster. The one preternatural
+power attending each ordinary individual defended him from the general
+forces of evil. But it was Christianity which, in the gradual effort
+to substitute patron-saints and guardian-angels of its own for the
+pagan genii, turned the latter from friends to enemies, and their
+protecting into assailing weapons.
+All the hereditary household gods of what is now called Christendom
+were diabolised. But in order that the masses might turn from them
+and invoke christian guardians, the Penates, Lares, and genii had to
+be belittled on the one hand, and the superior power of the saints
+and angels demonstrated. When Christianity had gained the throne of
+political power, it was easy to show that the 'imps,' as the old
+guardians were now called, could no longer protect their invokers
+from christian punishment, or confer equal favours.
+Christianity conquered Europe by the sword, but at first that sword
+was not wielded against the humble masses. It was wielded against
+their proud oppressors. To the common people it brought glad tidings
+of a new order, in which, under the banner of a crucified working-man
+and his (alleged) peasant mother, all caste should disappear but that
+of piety and charity. Christ eating with publicans and sinners and
+healing the wayside cripples reappeared in St. Martin dividing his
+embroidered cloak with a beggar--type of a new aristocracy. They
+who worshipped the Crucified Peasant in the rock-cave of Tours
+which St. Martin had consecrated, or in little St. Martin's Church
+at Canterbury where Bertha was baptized, could not see the splendid
+cathedrals now visible from them, built of their bones and cemented
+with their blood. King Ethelbert surrendered the temple of his idol
+to the consecration of Augustine, and his baptized subjects had no
+difficulty in seeing the point of the ejected devil's talons on the
+wall which he assailed when the first mass was therein celebrated.
+Glad tidings to the poor were these that the persecuted first
+missionaries brought to Gaul, Britain, and Germany. But they did not
+last. The christians and the pagan princes, like Herod and Pilate,
+joined hands to crucify the European peasant, and he was reduced to
+a worse serfdom than he had suffered before. Every humble home in
+Europe was trampled in the mire in the name of Christ. The poor man's
+wife and child, and all he possessed were victims of the workman of
+Jerusalem turned destroyer of his brethren. Michelet has well traced
+Witchcraft to the Despair of the Middle Ages. [155] The decay of
+the old religions, which Christianity had made too rapid for it to
+be complete, had left, as we have seen, all the trains laid for that
+terrible explosion; and now its own hand of cruelty brought the torch
+to ignite them. Let us, at risk of some iteration, consider some of
+these combustible elements.
+In the first place the Church had recognised the existence of the
+pagan gods and goddesses, not wishing to imbreed in the popular mind a
+sceptical habit, and also having use for them to excite terror. Having
+for this latter purpose carved and painted them as ugly and bestial,
+it became further of importance that they should be represented as
+stupid and comparatively impotent. Baptism could exorcise them,
+and a crucifix put thousands of them to flight. This tuition was
+not difficult. The peasantries of Europe had readily been induced
+to associate the newly announced (christian) Devil with their most
+mischievous demons. But we have already considered the forces under
+which these demons had entered on their decline before they were
+associated with Satan. Many conquered obstructions had rendered the
+Demons which represented them ridiculous. Hence the 'Dummeteufel' of
+so many German fables and of the mediæval miracle-plays. 'No greater
+proof,' says Dr. Dasent, 'can be given of the small hold which the
+christian Devil has taken of the Norse mind, than the heathen aspect
+under which he constantly appears, and the ludicrous way in which
+he is always outwitted.' [156] 'The Germans,' says Max Müller,
+'indoctrinated with the idea of a real devil, the Semitic Satan
+or Diabolus, treated him in the most good-humoured manner.' A fair idea of the insignificance he and his angels reached may be
+gained from the accompanying picture (Fig. 18), with which a mediæval
+Missal now in possession of Sir Joseph Hooker is illuminated. It could
+not be expected that the masses would fear beings whom their priests
+thus held up to ridicule. It is not difficult to imagine the process
+of evolution by which the horns of such insignificant devils turned
+to the asinine ears of such devils as this stall carving at Corbeil,
+near Paris (Fig. 19), which represented the popular view of the mastery
+obtained by witches over devils. It must be remembered also that this
+power over devils was in accordance with the traditions concerning
+Solomon, and the subserviency of Oriental demons generally to the
+lamps or charms to which they were bound.
+What the popular christian devil had become in all the Northern
+nations is sufficiently shown in the figure he presented in most
+of the old miracle-plays and 'Moralities.' 'The Devill in his
+fethers all ragged and rent,' [158] had horns, wide mouth, long
+(sometimes up-turned) nose, red beard, cloven foot, and tail. He
+was attended by a buffoon called Vice. 'And,' says Harsenet, 'it
+was a pretty part in the old Church playes when the nimble Vice
+would skip up nimbly like a Jackanapes into the Devil's necke, and
+ride the Devil a course, and belabour him with a wooden dagger,
+till he made him roar, whereat the people would laugh to see the
+Devil so Vice-haunted.' [159] The two must have nearly resembled the
+clown and his unhappy victim Pantaloon in our pantomimes, as to their
+antics. It would seem that sometimes holy personages were caricatured
+in the make-up of the stage-devil. Thus in 'Gammer Gurton's Needle'
+we have this conversation:--
+GAMMER. But, Hodge, had he no horns to push?
+HODGE. As long as your two armes. Saw ye never fryer Rushe
+Painted on cloth, with a side long cowe's tayle
+And crooked cloven feet, and many a hooked nayle?
+For all the world (if I should judge) should reckon him his brother;
+Loke, even what face fryer Rushe had, the devil had such another.
+In the scene of Christ's delivering souls from purgatory, the Devil
+is represented as blowing lustily a horn to alarm his comrades,
+and crying, 'Out, out, aronzt!' to the invader. He fights with a
+three-pronged fork. He and his victims are painted black, [160] in
+contrast with the souls of the saved, which are white. The hair was
+considered very important. [161] When he went to battle, even his
+fiery nature was sometimes represented in a way that must have been
+more ludicrous than impressive. 
+The insignificance to which the priests had reduced the devil in the
+plays, where they were usually the actors, reflected their own petty
+routine of life. They could conceive of nothing more terrible than
+their own mean mishaps and local obstructions. One great office of the
+Devil was to tempt some friar to sleep when he should be at prayer,
+[163] make another drink too much, or a third cast warm glances at
+a village beauty. The Revelations of the Abbot Richalmus, written
+seven hundred years ago, shows the Devil already far gone in his
+process of diminution. The Devil here concentrates the energies
+which once made the earth tremble on causing nausea to the Abbot,
+and making the choir cough while he is preaching. 'When I sit down to
+holy studies,' he says, 'the devils make me heavy with sleep. Then I
+stretch my hands beyond my cuffs to give them a chill. Forthwith the
+spirits prick me under my clothes like so many fleas, which causes me
+to put my hands on them; and so they get warm again, and my reading
+grows careless.' 'Come, just look at my lip; for twenty years has an
+imp clung to it just to make it hang down.' It is ludicrous to find
+that ancient characteristic of the gods of Death already adverted
+to--their hatred of salt, the agent of preservation--descended from
+being the sign of Job's constancy to Jehovah into a mere item of the
+Abbot's appetite. 'When I am at dinner, and the devil has taken away my
+appetite, as soon as I have tasted a little salt it comes back to me;
+and if, shortly afterwards, I lose it again, I take some more salt,
+and am once more an hungered.' 
+One dangerous element was the contempt into which, by many causes,
+the infernal powers had been brought. But a more dangerous one lay in
+another direction. Though the current phrases of the New Testament
+and of the Fathers of the Church, declaring this world, its wealth,
+loves, and pleasures, to be all the kingdom of Satan, had become cant
+in the mouths of priests ruling over Europe, it had never been cant
+to the humble peasantries. Although they had degraded many devils
+imported by the priests, it had been in connection with the declining
+terrors of their native demonologies. But above these degraded and
+hated gnomes and elves, whose paternity had been transferred from
+Soetere to Satan, there was an array of beautiful deities--gentle
+gods and goddesses traditionally revered and loved as protectors of
+the home and the family--which had never really lost their hold on the
+common people. They might have shrunk before the aggressive victories
+of the Saints into little Fairies, but their continued love for the
+poor and the oppressed was the romance of every household. What did
+these good fairies do? They sometimes loaded the lowly with wealth,
+if summoned in just the right way; they sang secrets to them from
+trees as little birds, they smoothed the course of love, clothed
+ash-maidens in fine clothes, transported people through the air,
+enabled them to render themselves invulnerable, or invisible, to get
+out of prisons, to vanquish 'the powers that be,' whether 'ordained of
+God' or not. Now all these were benefits which, by christian theory,
+could only be conferred by that Prince of this World who ministered to
+'the pride of life.'
+Into homes which the priest and his noble had stripped of happiness
+and hope,--whose loving brides were for baptized Bluebeards, whose
+hard earnings were taken as the price of salvation from devils whose
+awfulness was departing,--there came from afar rumours of great wealth
+and splendour conferred upon their worshippers by Eastern gods and
+goddesses. The priests said all those were devils who would torture
+their devotees eternally after death; yet it could not be denied
+that the Moors had the secret of lustres and ornamentation, that
+the heathen East was gorgeous, that all Christendom was dreaming of
+the wealth of Ormus and of Ind. Granted that Satan had come westward
+and northward, joined the scurvy crew of Loki, and become of little
+importance; but what of Baal or Beelzebub, of Asmodeus, of the genii
+who built Solomon's temple, of rich Pluto, of august Ahriman? Along
+with stories of Oriental magnificence there spread through Christendom
+names of many deities and demons; many of them beautiful names, too,
+euphemism having generally managed to bestow melodious epithets alike
+on deities feared and loved. In Faust's 'Miraculous Art and Book of
+Marvels, or the Black Raven' (1469), the infernal heirarchy are thus
+named:--King, Lucifer; Viceroy, Belial; Gubernatores, Satan, Beelzebub,
+Astaroth, Pluto; Chief Princes, Aziel, Mephistopheles, Marbuel, Ariel,
+Aniguel, Anisel, Barfael. Seductive meanings, too, corresponding to
+these names, had filtered in some way from the high places they once
+occupied into the minds of the people. Lucifer was a fallen star that
+might rise again; Belial and Beelzebub were princes of the fire that
+rendered possible the arts of man, and the Belfires never went out in
+the cold North; Astarte meant beauty, and Pluto wealth; Aziel (Asael)
+was President of the great College of occult arts, from whom Solomon
+learned the secrets by which he made the jinni his slaves; Marbuel
+was the artist and mechanic, sometimes believed to aid artisans who
+produced work beyond ordinary human skill; Ariel was the fine spirit
+of the air whose intelligence corresponded to that of the Holy Ghost
+on the other side; Aniguel is the serpent of Paradise, generally
+written Anisel; Anizazel is probably a fanciful relative of Azazel,
+'the strong god;' and Barfael, who in a later Faust book is Barbuel,
+is an orientalised form of the 'demon of the long beard' who holds
+the secret of the philosopher's stone.
+In a later chapter the growth of favourable views of the devil is
+considered. Some of the legends therein related may be instructively
+read in connection with the development of Witchcraft. Many rumours
+were spread abroad of kindly assistance brought by demons to persons in
+distress. But even more than by hopes so awakened was the witch aided
+by the burning desire of the people for vengeance. They wanted Zamiel
+(Samaël) to help them to mould the bullet that would not miss its
+mark. The Devil and all his angels had long been recognised by their
+catechists as being utilised by the Deity to execute his vengeance
+on the guilty; and to serfs in their agony that devil who would not
+spare prince or priest was more desired than even the bestower of
+favours to their starving minds and bodies.
+Under the long ages of war in Europe, absorbing the energies of men,
+women had become the preservers of letters. The era of witchcraft in
+Europe found that sex alone able to read and write, arts disesteemed
+in men, among the peasantry at least. To them men turned when it had
+become a priestly lesson that a few words were more potent than the
+weapons of princes. Besides this, women were the chief sorcerers,
+because they were the chief sufferers. In Alsace (1615), out of
+seventy-five who perished as witches, sixty-two were women. The
+famous Malleus Maleficorum, which did more evil than any work ever
+published, derives femina from fide minus. Although in the Faust
+legend Mephistopheles objects to marriage, many stories represent
+diabolical weddings. Particular details were told of the marriage of
+Satan with the daughter of a Sorceress at Egnischen (1585), on which
+occasion the three towers of the castle there were said to have been
+illuminated, and a splendid banquet spread, the favourite dish being
+a ragout of bats. There was exquisite music, and a 'beautiful man'
+blessed the nuptials. How many poor peasant girls must have had such
+dreams as they looked up from their drudgery to the brilliant chateaux?
+In the illuminated manuscript known as 'Queen Mary's Psalter' (1553)
+there is a picture of the Fall of Man (Fig. 20) which possesses
+far-reaching significance. It is a modification of that idea,
+which gained such wide currency in the Middle Ages, that it was
+the serpent-woman Lilith who had tempted Adam to eat the forbidden
+fruit. In this picture, while the beautiful face and ample hair
+of Lilith are given, instead of the usual female bust she has the
+body of a cat. This nocturnal animal, already sacred to Freyja, the
+Teutonic Venus, whose chariot it drew, gained a new mythological
+career in the North by the large number of Southern and Oriental
+stones which related it to the lunar and amorous demonesses. When
+the gods fled before the Titans, Diana, as Ovid relates, changed
+herself to a cat, and as infernal Hecate that animal was still
+beside her. If my reader will turn to vol. i. p. 130, some of the
+vast number of myths which prepared the cat to take its place as
+familiar of the witch may be found. Whether the artist had Lilith in
+his mind or not, the illumination in 'Queen Mary's Psalter' represents
+a remarkable association of myths. For Lilith was forerunner of the
+mediæval mothers weeping for their children; her voice of perpetual
+lamentation at the cruel fate allotted her by the combined tyranny
+of God and man was heard on every sighing wind; and she was the
+richly dressed bride of the Prince of Devils, ever seeking to tempt
+youth. Such stories floated through the mind of the Middle Ages,
+and this infernal Madonna is here seen in association with the cat,
+beneath whose soft sparkling fur the goddess of Love and Beauty was
+supposed to be still lurking near the fireside of many a miserable
+home. Some fragrance of the mystical East was with this feline beauty,
+and nothing can be more striking than the contrast which the ordinary
+devils beside her present. Their unseductive ugliness and meanness is
+placed out of sight of the pair tempted to seek the fruit of forbidden
+knowledge. They inspire the man and woman in their evidently eager
+grasping after the fruit, which here means the consultation of fair
+fortune-tellers and witches to obtain that occult knowledge for which
+speculative men are seeking in secret studies and laboratories.
+Those who have paid attention to the subject of Witchcraft need not
+be reminded that its complexity and vastness would require a larger
+volume than the present to deal with it satisfactorily. The present
+study must be limited to a presentation of some of the facts which
+induce the writer to believe that, beneath the phenomena, lay a
+profound alienation from Christianity, and an effort to recall the
+banished gods which it had superseded.
+The first christian church was mainly Jewish, and this is also to say
+that it inherited the vast Angelolatry and the system of spells which
+that tribe had brought from Babylon. To all this was now superadded
+the accumulation of Assyrian and Egyptian lore which was re-edited
+in the form of Neoplatonicism. This mongrel mass, constituted of
+notions crumbled from many systems, acquired a certain consistency
+in Gnosticism. The ancient Egyptians had colleges set apart for
+astrological study, and for cultivation of the art of healing by
+charms. Every month, decade, day of the year had its special guardian
+in the heavens. The popular festivals were astronomic. To the priests
+in the colleges were reserved study of the sacred books in which
+the astrological secrets were contained, and whose authorship was
+attributed to the god Thoth, inventor of writing, the Greek Hermes,
+and, later, Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus. The zodiac is a memorial of
+the influence which the stars were supposed to exert upon the human
+body. Alchemy (the word is Egyptian, Kémi meaning 'black earth')
+was also studied in connection with solar, lunar, and stellar
+influences. The Alchemists dreamed of discovering the philosopher's
+stone, which would change base metals to gold; and Diocletian, in
+burning the Alchemists' books, believed that, in so doing, he would
+deprive the Egyptians of their source of wealth. 
+Imported into Greece, these notions and their cult had a twofold
+development. Among the Platonists they turned to a naturalistic
+and allegorical Demonology; among the uncultivated they formed a
+Diabolarchy, which gathered around the terrible lunar phantasm--Hecate.
+The astrological College of Egypt gave to the Jews their strange
+idea of the high school maintained among the devils, already
+referred to in connection with Asmodeus, who was one of its leading
+professors. The rabbinical legend was, that two eminent angels, Asa
+and Asael, remonstrated with the Creator on having formed man only
+to give trouble. The Creator said they would have done the same as
+man under similar circumstances; whereupon Asa and Asael proposed
+that the experiment should be tried. They went to earth, and the
+Creator's prediction was fulfilled: they were the first 'sons of God'
+who fell in love with the daughters of men (Gen. vi. 2). They were
+then embodied. In heaven they had been angels of especial knowledge in
+divine arts, and they now used their spells to reascend. But their sin
+rendered the spells powerless for that, so they repaired to the Dark
+Mountains, and there established a great College of Sorcery. Among the
+many distinguished graduates of this College were Job, Jethro, and
+Bileam. It was believed that these three instructed the soothsayers
+who attempted to rival the miracles of Moses before Pharaoh. Job
+and Jethro were subsequently converted, but Bileam continued his
+hostility to Israel, and remains a teacher in the College. Through
+knowledge of the supreme spell--the Shem-hammphorásch, or real name
+of God--Solomon was able to chain Professor Asmodeus, and wrest from
+him the secret of the worm Schámir, by whose aid the Temple was built.
+Traditions of the learning of the Egyptians, and of the marvels
+learned by Solomon from Asa and Asael by which he compelled demons to
+serve him, and the impressive story of the Witch of Endor, powerfully
+influenced the inquisitive minds of Europe. The fierce denunciations of
+all studies of these arts of sorcery by the early Church would alone
+reveal how prevalent they were. The wonderful story of Apollonius of
+Tyana, [166] as told by Philostratus, was really a kind of gospel to
+the more worldly-minded scholars. Some rabbins, following the outcry
+against Jesus, 'He casteth out devils by Beelzebub,' circulated at an
+early date the story that Jesus had derived his power to work miracles
+from the spell Shem-hammphorásch, which he found on one of the stones
+of the Temple where Solomon had left it. Though Eusebius cast doubt
+upon them, the christians generally do not appear to have denied the
+miracles of Apollonius, which precisely copy those of Jesus from the
+miraculous birth to the ascension, but even to have quoted them as
+an evidence of the possibility of miracles. Celsus having attributed
+the miracles of Jesus to sorcery, and said that magic influenced
+only the ignorant and immoral, Origen replies that, in order to
+convince himself of the contrary, he has only to read the memoirs
+of Apollonius by Mæragenes, who speaks of him as a philosopher and
+magician, who repeatedly exercised his powers on philosophers. Arnobius
+and the fathers of the fourth century generally believed in the
+Apollonian thaumaturgy and attributed it to magic. Aldus Manutius
+published the book of Philostratus in the fifteenth century, and the
+degree to which the fascinating and marvellous stories concerning
+Apollonius fired the European imagination just awaking under the
+breath of the Renaissance, may be estimated by the fury with which
+the 'magician' was anathematised by Pico della Mirandola, Jean Bodin,
+and Baronius. The book and the controversy attracted much attention,
+and while the priests still continued to charge Apollonius with being a
+'magician,' they appear to have perceived that it would have been more
+to the point, so far as their real peril was concerned, to have proved
+him an impostor. Failing that, Dr. Faustus and his fellow-professors
+in the 'black art' were left masters of the situation. The people
+had to digest the facts admitted, that a Pagan had learned, by
+initiations into the astrological schools of Egypt and India, the
+means of healing the sick, raising the dead, flying through the air,
+throwing off chains, opening locks, rendering himself invisible,
+and discerning the future.
+There was a call for some kind of Apollonius, and Faustus arose. Side
+by side flourished Luther and Faustus. To Roman Catholic eyes they
+were twin sons of the Devil; [167] that they were characteristic
+products of one moral age and force appears to me certain, even as
+to-day the negations of Science and the revival of 'Spiritualism'
+have a common root in radical disbelief of the hereditary dogmas
+and forms of so-called religion. It is, however, not surprising that
+Protestantism felt as much horror of its bastard brother as Science
+has of the ghostly seances. Through the early sixteenth century we
+can trace this strange Dr. Faustus ('auspicious,' he had chosen that
+name) going about Germany, not omitting Erfurth, and talking in taverns
+about his magic arts and powers. More is said of him in the following
+chapter; it is sufficient to observe here, and it is the conclusion
+of Professor Morley, who has sifted the history with his usual care,
+that about him, as a centre of crystallisation, tales ascribed in
+the first place to other conjurers arranged themselves, until he
+became the popular ideal of one who sought to sound the depths of
+this world's knowledge and enjoyments without help from the Church or
+its God. The priests did not doubt that this could be done, nor did
+the Protestants; they generally agreed that it could be accomplished
+at cost of the soul. As angels of the good God must answer to the
+formulas of invocation to those who had made a sacramental compact
+with their Chief, so was it possible to share a sacrament of Satan,
+and by certain invocations summon his infernal angels to obtain the
+pleasures of this world of which he is Prince. A thousand years'
+experience of the Church had left the poor ready to sign the compact
+if they could secure some little earthly joy. As for Heaven, if it
+were anything like what its ministers had provided for the poor on
+earth, Hell might be preferable after all.
+Dr. Wuttke, while writing his recent work on German superstitions, was
+surprised to learn that there still exist in France and in Wurtemberg
+schools for teaching the Black Art. A priest in the last-named country
+wrote him that a boy had confessed to having passed the lower grade of
+such a school, but, scared by the horrid ceremonies, had pronounced
+some holy words which destroyed the effect of the wicked practices,
+and struck the assembled Devil-worshippers with consternation. The
+boy said he had barely escaped with his life. I have myself passed an
+evening at a school in London 'for the development of Spirit-mediums,'
+and possibly Dr. Wuttke's correspondent would describe these also
+as Devil-worshippers. No doubt all such circles might be traced
+archæologically to that Sorcerers' College said by the rabbins to
+have been kept by Asa and Asael. But what moral force preserved
+them? They do but represent a turning of methods made familiar by
+the Church to coax benefits from other supernatural powers in the
+hope that they would be less dilatory than the Trinity in bestowing
+their gifts. What is the difference between St. Wolfram's God and King
+Radbot's Devil? The one offers a golden mansion on earth warranted to
+last through eternity, the other a like mansion in the skies receivable
+after death. The Saint agrees that if Radbot's Devil can build him such
+a house the king would be quite right to worship the architect. The
+question of the comparative moral merits of the two invisible Powers
+is not mentioned. This legend, related in a preceding chapter,
+is characteristic of the motives to which the priesthood appealed
+through the Middle Ages. It is no wonder that the people began to
+appeal to the gods of their traditional Radbots, nor that they should
+have used the ceremonial and sacramental formulas around them.
+But to these were added other formulas borrowed from different
+sources. The 'Compact with the Devil' had in it various elements. It
+appears to have been a custom of the Odinistic religion for men to sign
+acts of self-dedication to trusted deities, somewhat corresponding
+to the votive tablets of Southern religion. It was a legend of
+Odin that when dying he marked his arm with the point of a spear,
+and this may have been imitated. In the 'Mysteries' of pagan and
+christian systems blood played an important part--the human blood of
+earlier times being symbolised by that of animals, and ultimately,
+among christians, in wine of the Eucharist. The primitive history of
+this blood-covenant is given in another chapter. Some astrological
+formulas, and many of the deities invoked, spread through Europe with
+the Jews. The actual, and quite as often fabulous, wealth of that
+antichristian race was ascribed to Antichrist, and while christian
+princes thought of such gold as legitimate spoil, the honest peasants
+sought from their astrologers the transmitted 'key of Solomon,' in
+virtue of which the demons served him. The famous 'Compact' therefore
+was largely of christian-judaic origin, and only meant conveyance of
+the soul in consideration of precisely the same treasures as those
+promised by the Church to all whose names were written in the Lamb's
+Book,--the only difference being in the period when redemption of
+the respective issues of priest and astrologer should fall due. One
+was payable during this life, the other after death.
+The ceremonial performances of Witchcraft have also always existed
+in some form. What we are familiar with of late as Spirit-seances
+are by no means new. More than a hundred years ago, Mr. Wesley and
+various clergymen were sitting at a table in Cock Lane, asking the
+spirit 'Fanny' to rap twice if she were 'in a state of progressive
+happiness.' Nay, a hundred years before that (1661), Sir Thomas
+Chamberlain and others, sitting in a haunted house at Tedworth, Wilts,
+asked 'Satan, if the Drummer set thee to work, give three knocks,
+and no more, which it did very distinctly, and stopped.' [168] We
+also learn that, in another town and case (1654), 'a naked arm and
+hand appeared and beat the floor.' It would not be difficult to go
+further back and find that the dark circle of our Spiritualists with
+much of its apparatus has existed continuously through the Middle
+Ages. The dark seance which Goethe has represented in Faust, Part
+II., at which the spirits of Helen and Paris are evoked, is a very
+accurate picture of the 'materialisations' now exhibited by mediums,
+more than forty years after its publication. These outer resemblances
+are physiognomical. The seance of to-day has lost the darker features
+of its mediæval prototype, because the Present has not a real and
+temporal, but only a speculative and sentimental despair, and this is
+the kind that possesses chiefly the well-to-do and idle classes. It is
+not difficult to meet the eye of our everyday human nature amid those
+frenzied periods when whole districts seemed afflicted with epidemic
+madness, and look deep in that eye to the fathomless heart of humanity.
+In an old parish register of Fewston, Yorkshire, are the following
+entries:--'1621. Anne, daughter of Edward Fairfax, baptized the 12th
+June.' '1621. Edward Fairfax, Esq., a child named Anne, buried the
+9th October.' Then in the History of Knaresborough we read of this
+child, 'She was held to have died through witchcraft.' In what dreams
+did that child, supposed to have been snatched away by diabolic
+malice, return as a pure spirit uplifted in light, yet shadowed by
+the anxiety and pain of the bereaved family! A medium is at hand,
+one through whose mind and heart all the stormy electricities
+of the time are playing. The most distinguished representative
+of the Fairfax family is off fighting for Parliament against the
+King. Edward Fairfax is a zealous Churchman. His eldest daughter,
+Helen, aged twenty-one, is a parishioner of the Rev. Mr. Smithson, yet
+she has come under the strong influence of a Nonconformist preacher,
+Mr. Cook. The scholarly clergyman and his worldly Church on one side,
+and the ignorant minister with his humble followers on the other,
+are unconscious personifications of Vice and Virtue, while between
+them poor Helen is no Heraklea.
+Nineteen days after the burial of her little sister Anne, as mentioned
+above, Helen is found 'in a deadly trance.' After a little she begins
+to speak, her words showing that she is, by imagination, 'in the church
+at Leeds, hearing a sermon by Mr. Cook.' On November 3, as she lies on
+her bed, Helen exclaims, 'A white cat hath been long upon me and drawn
+my breath, and hath left in my mouth and throat so filthy a smell that
+it doth poison me!' Next we have the following in the father's diary:
+'Item. Upon Wednesday, the 14th of November, she saw a black dog by her
+bedside, and, after a little sleep, she had an apparition of one like
+a young gentleman, very brave, his apparel all laid with gold lace,
+a hat with a golden band, and a ruff in fashion. He did salute her
+with the same compliment as she said Sir Fernandino Fairfax useth when
+he cometh to the house and saluteth her mother.... He said he was a
+Prince, and would make her Queen of England and of all the world if
+she would go with him. She refused, and said, 'In the name of God,
+what art thou?' He presently did forbid her to name God; to which
+she replied, 'Thou art no man if thou canst not abide the name of
+God; but if thou be a man, come near, let me feel of thee;' which he
+would not do, but said, 'It is no matter for feeling.' She proceeded,
+'If thou wert a man, thou wouldst not deny to be felt; but thou art
+the devil, and art but a shadow.'
+It is possible that Helen Fairfax had read in Shakspere's 'Lear,'
+printed twelve years before, that
+The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman;
+Modo he's called, and Mahu. 
+But the reader will remark how her vision anticipates that of Faust,
+the transformation of the poodle to finely-dressed Mephistopheles. On
+the next apparition a bit from Patmos is interpolated, the Devil
+appearing as a beast with many horns; but the folklore of Yorkshire
+prevails, and 'presently he was like a very little dog, and desired
+her to open her mouth and let him come into her body, and then he
+would rule all the world.' Lastly, he 'filled the room with fire.'
+In the account thus far we have the following items of ancient
+mythology:--1, the Cat; 2, the Dog; 3, the Pride of Life (Asmodeus),
+represented in the fine dress and manners of the fiend; 4, the
+Prince of this World, offering its throne; 5, the Egyptian belief
+in potency of the Name; 6, the Hunger-Demon, who dares not be felt,
+because his back is hollow, and, though himself a shadow, casts none;
+7, the disembodied devil of the rabbins, who seeks to enter a human
+form, in order to enjoy the higher powers of which man is capable;
+8, the fiend of fire.
+The period in which Helen Fairfax lived supplied forms for the
+'materialisation' of these notions flitting from the ancient cemeteries
+of theology. The gay and gallant Asmodeus had been transformed into a
+goat under the ascetic eye of Europe; his mistress is a naked witch;
+her familiar and slave is a cat. This is the conventionalised theologic
+theory, as we find it in many examples, one of which is here shown
+(Fig. 21), as copied from a stone panel at the entrance of Lyons
+Cathedral. This is what Helen's visions end in. She and her younger
+sister of seven years, and a young neighbour, a girl of twelve, who
+have become infected with Helen's hysterics, identify six poor women
+as witches, and Edward Fairfax would have secured their execution
+had it not been for the clergyman Smithson.
+Cats played a large part in this as in other witch-trials. They
+had long been regarded as an insurance of humble households. In
+many regions still may be found beliefs that a three-coloured cat
+protects against fire; a black cat cures epilepsy, protects gardens;
+and in Bohemia a cat is the favourite bridal gift to procure a happy
+wedded life. One who kills a cat has no luck for seven years. The
+Yorkshire women called witches remembered these proverbs to their
+cost. Among the cats regarded by the Fairfaxes as familiars of the
+accused, some names are notable. One is called 'Gibbe.' This is the
+Icelandic gabba, to 'delude,' and our gibber; it is the 'Gib' cat of
+Reinicke Fuchs, and of the 'Romaunt of the Rose.' In 'Gammer Gurton'
+we read, 'Hath no man gelded Gyb, her cat;' and in Henry IV. i. 2,
+'I am as melancholy as a gib cat.' Another of the cats is called
+Inges. That is, ignis, fire--Agni maintaining his reign of terror.
+Helen's devil hates the dissenter, and says, 'Cook is a lying villain,'
+because Cook exorcises him with a psalm. On the other hand, the
+devil praises the clergyman, but Helen breaks out with 'He is not
+worthy to be a vicar who will bear with witches.' Amid the religious
+controversies then exciting all households, mourning for his dead
+child, humiliated by the suspicions of his best neighbours that
+his daughter was guilty of deception, Edward Fairfax, Gentleman,
+a scholar and author, lent an ear to the vulgar superstitions of
+his neighbourhood. Could he have stood on the shoulders of Grimm,
+he would have left us a very different narrative than that preserved
+by the Philobiblion Society. 
+It is hardly possible to determine now the value of the alleged
+confessions of witches. They were extorted by torture or by promises
+of clemency (the latter rarely fulfilled); they were shaped by
+cross-examiners rather than by their victims; and their worth is still
+more impaired where, as is usual, they are not given in detail, but
+recorded in 'substance,' the phraseology in such case reflecting the
+priest's preconceived theory of witches and their orgies. It is to be
+feared, for instance, that 'devil' is often written instead of some
+name that might now be interesting. Nevertheless, there seems to be
+ground for believing that in many cases there were seances held to
+invoke supernatural powers.
+Among the vast number of trials and confessions, I have found none
+more significant than the following. In February 1691 a daughter
+and niece of Mr. Parris, minister in Salem (Massachusetts), girls of
+ten or eleven years, and several other girls, complained of various
+bodily torments, and as the physicians could find no cause for them,
+they were pronounced bewitched. The Rev. Mr. Parris had once been
+in business at the Barbadoes, and probably brought thence his two
+slaves, Spanish Indians, man and wife. When the children were declared
+bewitched, the Indian woman, Tituba, tried an experiment, probably with
+fetishes familiar in the Barbadoes, to find out the witch. Whereupon
+the children cried out against the Indian woman as appearing to them
+and tormenting them. Tituba said her mistress, in her own country,
+had taught her how to find out a witch, but denied being one herself;
+but afterwards (urged, as she subsequently declared, by her master)
+she confessed; and the marks of Spanish cruelty on her body were
+assumed to be the Devil's wounds. The Rev. Mr. Parris in a calmer time
+might have vindicated poor Tituba by taking for text of his sermon on
+the subject Christ's saying about a house divided against itself, and
+reminding the colony, which held public fast against Satan, that the
+devil was too clever to cover his Salem agent with wounds; but instead
+of that he preached on the words, 'Have I not chosen you twelve, and
+one of you is a devil.' During this sermon a woman left the church;
+she was sister of a woman who had also been accused by the children,
+and, being offended by something Mr. Parris said, went out of meeting;
+of course, also to prison. There were three other women involved with
+Tituba, in whose fetish experiments a well-informed writer thinks the
+Salem delusion began. [171] The examination before the Deputy-Governor
+(Danforth) began at Salem, April 11, 1692, and there are several
+notable points in it. Tituba's husband, the Indian John, cunningly
+escaped by pretending to be one of the afflicted. He charged Goody
+Proctor, and said, 'She brought the book to me.' No one asked what
+book! Abigail Williams, also one of the accusers of Goody, was asked,
+'Does she bring the book to you? A. Yes. Q. What would she have you do
+with it? A. To write in it, and I shall be well.' Not a descriptive
+word is demanded or given concerning this book. The examiners are
+evidently well acquainted with it. In the alleged confessions preserved
+in official reports, but not in the words of the accused, the nature
+of the book is made clear. Thus Mary Osgood 'confesses that about
+eleven years ago, when she was in a melancholy state and condition,
+she used to walk abroad in her orchard, and, upon a certain time she
+saw the appearance of a cat at the end of the house, which yet she
+thought was a real cat. However, at that time it diverted her from
+praying to God, and instead thereof she prayed to the Devil; about
+which time she made a covenant with the Devil, who, as a black man,
+came to her, and presented her a book, upon which she laid her finger,
+and that left a red spot. And that upon her signing that book, the
+devil told her that he was her god.' This is not unlikely to be a
+paraphrase of some sermon on the infernal Book of Satan corresponding
+to the Book of Life, the theory being too conventional for the court
+to inquire about the mysterious volume. Equally well known was the
+Antichrist theory which had long represented that avatar of Satan
+as having organised a church. Thus we read:--'Abigail Williams,
+did you see a company at Mr. Parris's house eat and drink? A. Yes,
+sir; that was their sacrament. Q. What was it? A. They said it was
+our blood.' 'Mary Walcot, have you seen a white man? A. Yes, sir,
+a great many times. Q. What sort of man was he? A. A fine grave man,
+and when he came he made all the witches to tremble.' When it is
+remembered that Mary Osgood had described the Devil as 'a black man'
+(all were thinking of the Indians), this Antiblackman suggests Christ
+resisting Antichrist. Again, although nothing seems to have been said
+in the court previously about baptism, one of the examiners asks 'Goody
+Laccy how many years ago since they were baptized? A. Three or four
+years ago I suppose. Q.  Who baptized them? A. The old serpent. Q. How
+did he do it? A. He dipped their heads in the water, saying they
+were his, and that he had power over them; ... there were six (who)
+baptized. Q. Name them. A. I think they were of the higher powers.'
+There are interspersed through the proceedings suggestions of mercy on
+condition of confession, which, joined to these theoretical questions,
+render it plain that the retractations which the so-called witches
+made were true, and that in New England, at least, there was little
+if any basis for the delusion beyond the experiment of the two Spanish
+Indians. The terrible massacre of witches which occurred there was the
+result of the decision of English judges and divines that witchcraft
+is recognised in the Bible, and there assigned the death-penalty.
+It will be observed here that ancient mythology to Salem is chiefly
+that of the Bible, modified by local conditions. White man and black
+man represent Christ and Antichrist, and we have the same symbols on
+both sides,--eucharists, baptisms, and names written in books. The
+survivals from European folklore met with in the New England trials
+are--the cat, the horse (rarely), and the dog. In one case a dog
+suffered from the repute of being a witch, insomuch that some who
+met him fell into fits; he was put to death. Riding through the air
+continues, but the American witches ride upon a stick or pole. The
+old-fashioned broom, the cloud-symbol of the Wild Huntsman, is
+rarely mentioned. One thing, however, survives from England, at
+least; the same sharp controversy that is reflected in the Fairfax
+case. Cotton Mather tried one of the possessed with the Bible, the
+'Assembly's Catechism,' his grandfather's 'Milk for Babes,' his
+father's 'Remarkable Providence,' and a book to prove there were
+witches. 'And when any of those were offered for her to read in,
+she would be struck dead and fall into convulsions.' But when he
+tried her with Popish and Quaker books, the English Prayer-Book,
+and a book to prove there were no witches, the devil permitted her
+to read these as long as she pleased. One is at a loss which most to
+admire, the astuteness of the accused witch in bearing testimony to
+the Puritan religion, or the phenomenon of its eminent representative
+seeking a witness to it in the Father of lies.
+If now we travel towards the East we find the survivals growing
+clearer, as in the West they become faint.
+In 1669 the people of the villages of Mohra and Elfdale in Sweden,
+believing that they were troubled by witches, were visited by a royal
+commission, the result of whose investigations was the execution of
+twenty-three adults and fifteen children; running of the gauntlet by
+thirty-six between the ages of nine and sixteen years; the lashing
+on the hand of twenty children for three Sundays at the church-door,
+and similar lashing of the aforesaid thirty-six once a week for a
+year. Portions of the confessions of the witches are given below
+from the Public Register as translated by Anthony Horneck, D.D.,
+and printed in London, anno 1700. I add a few words in brackets to
+point out survivals.
+'We of the province of Elfdale do confess that we used to go to a
+gravel-pit which lay hard by a cross-way (Hecate), and there we put
+on a vest (Wolf-girdle) over our heads, and then danced round, and
+after this ran to the cross-way, and called the Devil thrice, first
+with a still voice, the second time somewhat louder, and the third
+time very loud, with these words--Antecessor, come and carry us to
+Blockula. Whereupon immediately he used to appear, but in different
+habits; but for the most part we saw him in a grey coat and red and
+blue stockings: he had a red beard (Barbarossa), a high-crowned hat
+(Turn-cap), with linen of divers colours wrapt about it, and long
+garters upon his stockings.
+'Then he asked us whether we would serve him with soul and body. If we
+were content to do so, he set us upon a beast which he had there ready,
+and carried us over churches and high walls; and after all we came
+to a green meadow where Blockula lies. We must procure some scrapings
+of altars, and filings of church clocks; and then he gives us a horn
+with a salve in it, wherewith we do anoint ourselves (chrism); and a
+saddle with a hammer (Thor's), and a wooden nail, thereby to fix the
+saddle (Walkyr's); whereupon we call upon the Devil and away we go.'
+'For their journey, they said they made use of all sorts of
+instruments, of beasts, of men, of spits, and posts, according as they
+had opportunity: if they do ride upon goats (Azazel) and have many
+children with them, that all may have room, they stick a spit into
+the backside of the Goat, and then are anointed with the aforesaid
+ointment. What the manner of their journey is, God only knows. Thus
+much was made out, that if the children did at any time name the
+names (Egyptian spells) of those that had carried them away, they
+were again carried by force either to Blockula, or to the cross-way,
+and there miserably beaten, insomuch that some of them died of it.'
+'A little girl of Elfdale confessed that, naming the name of Jesus
+as she was carried away, she fell suddenly upon the ground, and got
+a great hole in her side, which the Devil presently healed up again,
+and away he carried her; and to this day the girl confessed she had
+exceeding great pain in her side.'
+'They unanimously confessed that Blockula is situated in a delicate
+large meadow, whereof you can see no end. The place or house they
+met at had before it a gate painted with divers colours; through
+this gate they went into a little meadow distinct from the other,
+where the beasts went that they used to ride on; but the men whom
+they made use of in their journey stood in the house by the gate in a
+slumbering posture, sleeping against the wall (castle of Waldemar). In
+a huge large room of this house, they said, there stood a very long
+table, at which the witches did sit down; and that hard by this
+room was another chamber where there were very lovely and delicate
+beds. The first thing they must do at Blockula was, that they must
+deny all, and devote themselves body and soul to the Devil, and
+promise to serve him faithfully, and confirm all this with an oath
+(initiation). Hereupon they cut their fingers (Odinism), and with
+their blood write their name in his book (Revelations). They added
+that he caused them to be baptized, too, by such priests as he had
+there (Antichrist's Sacraments).'
+'And he, the Devil, bids them believe that the day of judgment will
+come speedily, and therefore sets them on work to build a great house
+of stone (Babel), promising that in that house he will preserve them
+from God's fury, and cause them to enjoy the greatest delights and
+pleasures (Moslem). But while they work exceeding hard at it, there
+falls a great part of the wall down again.'
+'They said, they had seen sometimes a very great Devil like a Dragon,
+with fire round about him, and bound with an iron chain (Apocalyptic),
+and the Devil that converses with them tells them that if they confess
+anything he will let that great Devil loose upon them, whereby all
+Sweedeland shall come into great danger.
+'They added that the Devil had a church there, such another as in
+the town of Mohra. When the Commissioners were coming he told the
+Witches they should not fear them; for he would certainly kill them
+all. And they confessed that some of them had attempted to murther
+the Commissioners, but had not been able to effect it.
+'Some of the children talked much of a white Angel (Frigga as christian
+tutelary), which used to forbid them what the Devil had bid them do,
+and told them that those doings should not last long. What had been
+done had been permitted because of the wickedness of the people.
+'Those of Elfdale confessed that the Devil used to play upon an
+harp before them (Tannhauser), and afterwards to go with them that
+he liked best into a chamber, when he committed venerous acts with
+them (Asmodeus); and this indeed all confessed, that he had carnal
+knowledge of them, and that the Devil had sons and daughters by them,
+which he did marry together, and they ... brought forth toads and
+serpents (Echidna).
+'After this they sat down to table, and those that the Devil esteemed
+most were placed nearest to him; but the children must stand at the
+door, where he himself gives them meat and drink (Sacrament). After
+meals they went to dancing, and in the meanwhile swore and cursed
+most dreadfully, and afterwards went to fighting one with another
+(Valhalla).
+'They also confessed that the Devil gives them a beast about the
+bigness and shape of a young cat (Hecate), which they call a carrier;
+and that he gives them a bird as big as a raven (Odin's messenger),
+but white; [172] and these two creatures they can send anywhere, and
+wherever they come they take away all sorts of victuals they can get,
+butter, cheese, milk, bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they
+find, and carry it to the witch. What the bird brings they may keep
+for themselves, but what the carrier brings they must reserve for the
+Devil, and that is brought to Blockula, where he doth give them of it
+so much as he thinks fit. They added likewise that these carriers fill
+themselves so full sometimes, that they are forced to spue ('Odin's
+booty') by the way, which spuing is found in several gardens, where
+colworts grow, and not far from the houses of these witches. It is
+of a yellow colour like gold, and is called butter of witches.
+'The Lords Commissioners were indeed very earnest, and took great pains
+to persuade them to show some of their tricks, but to no purpose;
+for they did all unanimously confess that since they had confessed
+all, they found that all their witchcraft was gone, and that the
+Devil at this time appeared to them very terrible, with claws on
+his hands and feet, and with horns on his head, a long tail behind,
+and showed to them a pit burning, with a hand put out; but the Devil
+did thrust the person down again with an iron fork; and suggested to
+the witches that if they continued in their confession, he would deal
+with them in the same manner.'
+The ministers of both Elfdale and Mohra were the chief inciters of
+this investigation, and both testified that they had suffered many
+tortures in the night from the witches. One was taken by the throat
+and so violently used that 'for some weeks he was not able to speak
+or perform divine service.'
+We have in this narrative the official and clerical statement, and can
+never know to what the victims really confessed. Blockula seems to be
+a Swedish edition of Blocksberg, of old considered a great resort of
+witches. But we may especially note the epithet by which the witches
+are said to have first appealed to the Devil--Antecessor. Dr. Horneck
+has not given us the Swedish term of which this is a translation,
+but we may feel assured that it was not a phrase coined by the class
+among whom reputed witches were found. In all probability it was a
+learned phrase of the time for some supposed power which preceded
+and was conquered by Christianity; and if we knew its significance it
+might supply a clue to the reality with which the Commissioners were
+dealing. There would seem to be strong probabilities that in Sweden
+also, as elsewhere, there had been a revival of faith in the old
+religion whose barbaric rites had still survived in a few holes and
+corners where they were practised by night. The Antecessor was still
+present to hold out promises where the Successor had broken all that
+his sponsors had made when the populace accepted his baptism. This
+probability is further suggested by the fact that some of these
+uncanny events happened at Elfdale, a name which hints at a region of
+especial sanctity under the old religion, and also by the statement
+that the Devil had a church there, a sort of travesty of the village
+church. About the same time we find John Fiene confessing in Scotland
+that the Devil appeared to him in 'white raiment,' and it is also
+testified that John heard 'the Devil preach in a kirk in the pulpit
+in the night by candlelight, the candle burning blue.' 
+The names used by the Scotch witches are often suggestive of
+pagan survivals. Thus in the trial at the Paisley Assizes, 1678,
+concerning the alleged bewitching of Sir George Maxwell, Margaret
+Jackson testified to giving up her soul by renouncing her baptism to
+a devil named Locas (Loki?); another raised a tempest to impede the
+king's voyage to Denmark by casting into the sea a cat, and crying
+Hola (Hela?); and Agnes Sampson called the Devil to her in the shape
+of a dog by saying, 'Elva (Elf?), come and speak to me!'
+It is necessary to pass by many of the indications contained in the
+witch-trials that there had been an effort to recur to the pleasures
+and powers traditionally associated with the pagan era of Europe, and
+confirmed by the very denunciations of contemporary paganism with its
+pomp and luxury by the priesthood. The promises held out by the 'Devil'
+to Elfdale peasants and puritanised Helen Fairfax are unmistakable. But
+it is necessary to remark also that the ceremonies by which, as was
+clearly proved in various cases, the fortune-tellers or 'witches'
+endeavoured to imitate the spells of Dr. Faustus were archæological.
+Around the cauldron, which was used in imitation of the Alchemists,
+a rude Zodiac was marked, some alchemic signs being added; and
+in the cauldron were placed ingredients concerning many of which
+the accounts are confused. It is, however, certain that the chief
+ingredients were plants which, precisely as in ancient Egypt, had
+been gathered at certain phases of the moon, or seasons of the year,
+or from some spot where the sun was supposed not to have shone on
+it. It was clearly proved also that the plants chiefly used by the
+sorceresses were rue and vervain. Vervain was sacred to the god of war
+in Greece and Rome, and made the badge of ambassadors sent to make
+treaties of peace. In Germany it was sacred to Thor, and he would
+not strike with his lightning a house protected by it. The Druids
+called it 'holy herb;' they gathered it when the dog-star rose, from
+unsunned spots, and compensated the earth for the deprivation with
+a sacrifice of honey. Its reputation was sufficient in Ben Jonson's
+day for him to write--
+Bring your garlands, and with reverence place
+The vervain on the altar.
+The charm which vervain had for the mediæval peasant was that it
+was believed, if it had first touched a Bel-fire, to snap iron; and,
+if boiled with rue, made a liquid which, being poured on a gunflint,
+made the shot as sure to take effect as any Freischütz could desire.
+Rue was supposed to have a potent effect on the eye, and to bestow
+second sight. So sacred was it once in England that missionaries
+sprinkled holy water from brushes made up of it, whence it was called
+'herb of grace.' Milton represents Michael as purging Adam's eyes
+with it. In the Tyrol it is believed to confer fine vision and used
+with agrimony (flowers of Argos, the many-eyed); in Posen it is said
+also to heal serpent-bites. By this route it came into the cauldron
+of the wizard and witch. In Drayton's incantation it is said--
+Then sprinkles she the juice of rue,
+With nine drops of the midnight dew
+From lunary distilling.
+This association of lunary, or moon-wort, once supposed to cure lunacy,
+with rue is in harmony with the mythology of both. An old oracle,
+said to have been revealed by Hecate herself, ran thus:--'From a
+root of wild rue fashion and polish a statue; adorn it with household
+lizards; grind myrrh, gum, and frankincense with the same reptiles,
+and let the mixture stand in the air during the waning of a moon;
+then address your vows in the following terms' (the formula is not
+preserved). 'As many forms as I have, so many lizards let there be;
+do these things exactly; you will build me an abode with branches of
+laurel, and having addressed fervent prayers to the image, you will
+see me in your sleep.' 
+Rue was thus consecrated as the very substance of Hecate, the mother
+of all European witches. M. Maury supposes that it was because it was
+a narcotic and caused hallucinations. Hallucinations were, no doubt,
+the basis of belief in second sight. But whatever may be the cause,
+rue was the plant of witchcraft; and Bishop Taylor speaks of its being
+used by exorcists to try the devil, and thence deriving its appellation
+'herb of grace.' More probably it was used to sprinkle holy water
+because of a traditional sanctity. All narcotics were supposed to be
+children of the night; and if, in addition, they were able to cause
+hallucinations, they were supposed to be under more especial care of
+the moon.
+After reading a large number of reports concerning the ordeals and
+trials of witches, and also many of their alleged confessions, I have
+arrived at the conclusion that there were certainly gatherings held
+in secret places; that some of the ordinary ceremonies and prayers of
+the Church were used, with names of traditional deities and Oriental
+demons substituted for those of the Trinity and saints; that with
+these were mingled some observances which had been preserved from
+the ancient world by Gnostics, Astrologists, and Alchemists. That at
+these gatherings there was sometimes direct devil-worship is probable,
+but oftener the invocations were in other names, and it is for the
+most part due to the legal reporters that the 'Devil' is so often
+named. As to the 'confessions,' many, no doubt, admitted they had
+gone to witches' Sabbaths who had been there only in feverish dreams,
+as must have been the case of many young children and morbid pietists
+who were executed; others confessed in hope of escape from charges
+they could not answer; and others were weary of their lives.
+The writer of this well remembers, in a small Virginian village
+(Falmouth), more than thirty years ago, the terrible persecutions to
+which an old white woman named Nancy Calamese was subjected because
+of her reputation as a witch. Rumours of lizards vomited by her poor
+neighbours caused her to be dreaded by the ignorant; the negroes
+were in terror of her; she hardly dared pass through the streets
+for fear of being hooted by boys. One morning she waded into the
+Rappahannock river and drowned herself, and many of her neighbours
+regarded the suicide as her confession. Probably it was a similar
+sort of confession to many that we read in the reports of witch trials.
+The retribution that followed was more ferocious than could have
+visited mere attempts by the poor and ignorant to call up spirits
+to their aid. Every now and then the prosecutions disclose the
+well-known animus of heresy, persecution, and also the fury of
+magistrates suspicious of conspiracies. In England, New England,
+and France, particularly, an incipient rationalism was revealed
+in the party called 'Saducees,' who tried to cast discredit on
+the belief in witchcraft. This was recognised by Sir Mathew Hale
+in England and Cotton Mather in New England, consequently by the
+chief authorities of church and state in both countries, as an
+attack on biblical infallibility, since it was said in the Bible,
+'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' The leading wizards and
+witches were probably also persons who had been known in connection
+with the popular discontent and revolutionary feeling displayed in
+so many of the vindictive conjurations which were brought to light.
+The horrors which attended the crushing out of this last revival
+of paganism are such as recall the Bartholomew massacre and the
+recent slaughter of Communists in Paris, so vividly that one can
+hardly repress the suspicion that the same sort of mingled panic and
+fanaticism were represented in them all. Dr. Réville has summed up the
+fearful history of three hundred years as follows:--'In the single
+year 1485, and in the district of Worms alone, eighty-five witches
+were delivered to the flames. At Geneva, at Basle, at Hamburg,
+at Ratisbon, at Vienna, and in a multitude of other towns, there
+were executions of the same kind. At Hamburg, among other victims,
+a physician was burnt alive, because he saved the life of a woman
+who had been given up by the midwife. In Italy, during the year
+1523, there were burnt in the diocese of Como alone more than two
+hundred witches. This was after the new bull hurled at witchcraft
+by Pope Adrian VI. In Spain it was still worse; there, in 1527,
+two little girls, of from nine to eleven years of age, denounced a
+host of witches, whom they pretended to detect by a mark in their
+left eye. In England and Scotland political influence was brought to
+bear upon sorcery; Mary Stuart was animated by a lively zeal against
+witches. In France the Parliament of Paris happily removed business
+of this kind from the ecclesiastical tribunals; and under Louis XI.,
+Charles VIII., and Louis XII. there were but few condemnations for
+the practice of magic; but from the time of Francis I., and especially
+from Henry II., the scourge reappeared. Jean Bodin, a man of sterling
+worth in other respects, but stark mad upon the question of witchcraft,
+communicated his mania to all classes of the nation. His contemporary
+and disciple, Boguet, showed how that France swarmed with witches and
+wizards. 'They increase and multiply on the land,' said he, 'even as do
+the caterpillars in our gardens. Would that they were all got together
+in a heap, so that a single fire might burn them all at once.' Savoy,
+Flanders, the Jura Mountains, Lorraine, Béarn, Provence, and in almost
+all parts of France, the frightful hecatombs were seen ablaze. In the
+seventeenth century the witch-fever somewhat abated, though it burst
+out here and there, centralising itself chiefly in the convents of
+hysterical nuns. The terrible histories of the priests Gaufridy and
+Urban Grandier are well known. In Germany, and particularly in its
+southern parts, witch-burning was still more frequent. In one small
+principality at least 242 persons were burnt between 1646 and 1651;
+and, horribile dictu, in the official records of these executions,
+we find that among those who suffered were children from one to six
+years of age! In 1657 the witch-judge, Nicholas Remy, boasted of having
+burnt 900 persons in fifteen years. It would even seem that it is to
+the proceedings against sorcery that Germany owes the introduction
+of torture as an ordinary mode of getting at the truth. Mr. Roskoff
+reproduces a catalogue of the executions of witches and wizards in
+the episcopal town of Würzburg, in Bavaria, up to the year 1629. In
+1659 the number of those put to death for witchcraft amounted, in
+this diocese, to 900. In the neighbouring bishopric of Bamberg at
+least 600 were burnt. He enumerates thirty-one executions in all,
+not counting some regarded by the compilers of the catalogue as not
+important enough to mention. The number of victims at each execution
+varies from two to seven. Many are distinguished by such surnames
+as 'The Big Hunchback, The Sweetheart, The Bridge-keeper, The Old
+Pork-woman,' &c. Among them appear people of all sorts and conditions,
+actors, workmen, jugglers, town and village maidens, rich burghers,
+nobles, students, magistrates even, and a fair number of priests. Many
+are simply entered as 'a foreigner.' Here and there is added to the
+name of the condemned person his age and a short notice. Among the
+victims, for instance, of the twentieth execution figures 'Little
+Barbara, the prettiest girl in Würzburg;' 'a student who could speak
+all manner of languages, who was an excellent musician, vocaliter et
+instrumentaliter;' 'the master of the hospice, a very learned man.' We
+find, too, in this, gloomy account the cruel record of children burnt
+for witchcraft; here a little girl of about nine or ten years of age,
+with her baby sister, younger than herself (their mother was burnt a
+little while afterwards); here boys of ten or eleven; again, a young
+girl of fifteen; two children from the poorhouse; the little boy of
+a councillor. The pen falls from one's hand in recapitulating such
+monstrosities. Cannot those who would endow Catholicity with the
+dogma of papal infallibility hearken, before giving their vote,
+to the cries that rise before God, and which history re-echoes,
+of those poor innocent ones whom pontifical bulls threw into
+flames? The seventeenth century saw the rapid diminution of trials
+and tortures. In one of his good moments, Louis XIV. mitigated greatly
+the severity of this special legislation. For this he had to undergo
+the remonstrances of the Parliament of Rouen, which believed society
+would be ruined if those who dealt in sorcery were merely condemned to
+perpetual confinement. The truth is, that belief in witchcraft was so
+wide-spread, that from time to time even throughout the seventeenth
+century there were isolated executions. One of the latest and most
+notorious was that of Renata Saenger, superior of the convent of
+Unterzell, near Würzburg (1748). At Landshut, in Bavaria, in 1756,
+a young girl of thirteen years was convicted of impure intercourse
+with the Devil, and put to death. Seville in 1781, and Glaris in 1783,
+saw the last two known victims to this fatal superstition.' 
+The Reformation swept away in Northern countries, for the upper
+classes, as many Christian saints and angels as priestcraft had
+previously turned to enemies for the lower. The poor and ignorant
+simply tried to evoke the same ideal spirit-guardians under the
+pagan forms legendarily associated with a golden age. Witchcraft
+was a pathetic appeal against a cruel present to a fair, however
+visionary, past. But Protestantism has brought on famine of another
+kind--famine of the heart. The saints of the Church have followed those
+of paganism; and although one result of the process has been a vast
+increase in enterprise, science, and wealth, man cannot live by these
+alone. Modern spiritualism, which so many treat with a superciliousness
+little creditable to a scientific age, is a cry of starved sentiment
+and affections left hopeless under faded heavens, as full of pathetic
+meaning as that which was wrung from serfs enticed into temples only
+to find them dens of thieves. Desolate hearts take up the burthen
+of desolate homes, and appeal to invisible powers for guidance;
+and for attestation of hopes which science has blighted, ere poetry,
+art, and philanthropy have changed these ashes into beauty. Because
+these so-called spirits, evoked by mediums out of morbid nerves,
+are really longed-for ideals, the darker features of witchcraft are
+not called about them. That fearful movement was a wronged Medea
+whose sorrows had made Hecate--to remember the dreadful phrase of
+Euripides--'the chosen assistant dwelling in the inmost recesses of
+her house.' Modern spiritualism is Rachel weeping for her children,
+not to be comforted if they are not. But the madness of the one is
+to be understood by the plaintive appeal of the other.
+FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES.
+Mephisto and Mephitis--The Raven Book--Papal sorcery--Magic
+seals--Mephistopheles as dog--George Sabellicus alias Faustus--The
+Faust myth--Marlowe's Faust--Good and evil angels--El Magico
+Prodigioso--Cyprian and Justina--Klinger's Faust--Satan's
+sermon--Goethe's Mephistopheles--His German characters--Moral
+scepticism--Devil's gifts--Helena--Redemption through Art--Defeat
+of Mephistopheles.
+The name Mephistopheles has in it, I think, the priest's shudder at
+the fumes of the laboratory. Duntzer [176] finds that the original
+form of the word was 'Mephostophiles,' and conjectures that it was a
+bungling effort to put together three Greek words, to mean 'not loving
+the light.' In this he has the support of Bayard Taylor, who also
+thinks that it was so understood by Goethe. The transformation of it
+was probably amid the dreaded gases with which the primitive chemist
+surrounded himself. He who began by 'not loving the light' became the
+familiar of men seeking light, and lover of their mephitic gases. The
+ancient Romans had a mysterious divinity called Mephitis, whose grove
+and temple were in the Esquiliæ, near a place it was thought fatal
+to enter. She is thought to have been invoked against the mephitic
+exhalations of the earth in the grove of Albunea. Sulphur springs also
+were of old regarded as ebullitions from hell, and both Schwarz and
+Roger Bacon particularly dealt in that kind of smell. Considering how
+largely Asmodeus, as 'fine gentleman,' entered into the composition
+of Mephistopheles, and how he flew from Nineveh to Egypt (Tobit)
+to avoid a bad smell, it seems the irony of mythology that he should
+turn up in Europe as a mephitic spirit.
+Mephistopheles is the embodiment of all that has been said in preceding
+chapters of the ascetic's horror of nature and the pride of life,
+and of the mediæval priest's curse on all learning he could not
+monopolise. The Faust myth is merely his shadow cast on the earth,
+the tracery of his terrible power as the Church would have the
+people dread it. The early Raven Book at Dresden has the title:--'
+† † † D. J. Fausti † † † Dreifacher Höllen-Zwung und Magische
+(Geister-Commando) nebst den schwarzen Raaben. Romæ ad Arcanum
+Pontificatus unter Papst Alexander VI. gedruckt. Anno (Christi)
+MDI.' In proof of which claim there is a Preface purporting to be
+a proclamation signed by the said Pope and Cardinal Piccolomini
+concerning the secrets which the celebrated Dr. Faust had scattered
+throughout Germany, commanding ut ad Arcanum Pontificatus mandentur et
+sicut pupilla oculi in archivio Nostro serventur et custodiantur, atque
+extra Valvas Vaticanas non imprimantur neque inde transportentur. Si
+vero quiscunque temere contra agere ausus fuerit, Divinam maledictionem
+latæ sententiæ ipso facto servatis Nobis Solis reservandis se
+incursurum sciat. Ita mandamus et constituemus Virtute Apostolicæ
+Ecclesiæ Jesu Christi sub poena Excommunicationis ut supra. Anno
+secundo Vicariatus Nostri. Romæ Verbi incarnati Anno M.D.I.
+This is an impudent forgery, but it is an invention which, more than
+anything actually issued from Rome, indicates the popular understanding
+that the contention of the Church was not against the validity of
+magic arts, but against their exercise by persons not authorised
+by itself. It was, indeed, a tradition not combated by the priests,
+that various ecclesiastics had possessed such powers, even Popes, as
+John XXII., Gregory VII., and Clement V. The first Sylvester was said
+to have a dragon at his command; John XXII. denounced his physicians
+and courtiers for necromancy; and the whispers connecting the Vatican
+with sorcery lasted long enough to attribute to the late Pius IX. a
+power of the evil eye. Such awful potencies the Church wished to be
+ascribed to itself alone. Faust is a legend invented to impress on
+the popular mind the fate of all who sought knowledge in unauthorised
+ways and for non-ecclesiastical ends.
+In the Raven Book just mentioned, there are provisions for calling up
+spirits which, in their blending of christian with pagan formulas,
+oddly resemble the solemn proceedings sometimes affected by our
+spiritual mediums. The magician (Magister) had best be alone, but if
+others are present, their number must be odd; he should deliberate
+beforehand what business he wishes to transact with the spirits; he
+must observe God's commandment; trust the Almighty's help; continue
+his conjuration, though the spirits do not appear quickly, with
+unwavering faith; mark a circle on parchment with a dove's blood;
+within this circle write in Latin the names of the four quarters
+of heaven; write around it the Hebrew letters of God's name, and
+beneath it write Sadan; and standing in this circle he must repeat
+the ninety-first Psalm. In addition there are seals in red and black,
+various Hebrew, Greek, and Latin words, chiefly such as contain the
+letters Q, W, X, Y, Z,--e.g., Yschyros, Theos, Zebaoth, Adonay. The
+specimen (Fig. 22), which I copied from the book in Dresden, is there
+called 'Sigillum Telschunhab.' The 'Black Raven' is pictured in the
+book, and explained as the form in which the angel Raphael taught
+Tobias to summon spirits. It is said also that the Magician must in
+certain cases write with blood of a fish (Tobit again) or bat on
+'maiden-parchment,'--this being explained as the skin of a goat,
+but unpleasantly suggestive of a different origin.
+In this book, poorly printed, and apparently on a private press,
+Mephistopheles is mentioned as one of the chief Princes of Hell. He
+is described as a youth, adept in all arts and services, who brings
+spirit-servants or familiars, and brings treasures from earth and
+sea with speed. In the Frankfort Faust Book (1587), Mephistopheles
+says, 'I am a spirit, and a flying spirit, potently ruling under
+the heavens.' In the oldest legends he appears as a dog, that, as we
+have seen, being the normal form of tutelary divinities, the symbol
+of the Scribe in Egypt, guard of Hades, and psychopomp of various
+mythologies. A dog appears following the family of Tobias. Manlius
+reports Melancthon as saying, 'He (Faust) had a dog with him, which
+was the Devil.' Johann Gast ('Sermones Conviviales') says he was
+present at a dinner at Basle given by Faust, and adds: 'He had also
+a dog and a horse with him, both of which, I believe, were devils,
+for they were able to do everything. Some persons told me that the
+dog frequently took the shape of a servant, and brought him food.' In
+the old legends this dog is named Praestigiar. 
+As for the man Faust, he seems to have been personally the very
+figure which the Church required, and had the friar, in whose guise
+Mephistopheles appears, been his actual familiar, he could hardly
+have done more to bring learning into disgrace. Born at the latter
+part of the fifteenth century at Knittlingen, Wurtemberg, of poor
+parents, the bequest of an uncle enabled him to study medicine at
+Cracow University, and it seems plain that he devoted his learning and
+abilities to the work of deluding the public. That he made money by his
+'mediumship,' one can only infer from the activity with which he went
+about Germany and advertised his 'powers.' It was at a time when high
+prices were paid for charms, philtres, mandrake mannikins; and the
+witchcraft excitement was not yet advanced enough to render dealing
+in such things perilous. It seems that the Catholic clergy made haste
+to use this impostor to point their moral against learning, and to
+identify him as first-fruit of the Reformation; while the Reformers,
+with equal zeal, hurled him back upon the papists as outcome of their
+idolatries. Melancthon calls him 'an abominable beast, a sewer of
+many devils.' The first mention of him is by Trithemius in a letter
+of August 20, 1507, who speaks of him as 'a pretender to magic'
+('Magister Georgius Sabellicus, Faustus Junior'), whom he met at
+Gelnhaussen; and in another letter of the same year as at Kreuznach,
+Conrad Mudt, friend of Luther and Melancthon, mentions (Oct. 3, 1513)
+the visit to Erfurth of Georgius Faustus Hemitheus Hedebeyensis, 'a
+braggart and a fool who affects magic,' whom he had 'heard talking in
+a tavern,' and who had 'raised theologians against him.' In Vogel's
+Annals of Leipzig (1714), kept in Auerbach's Cellar, is recorded
+under date 1525 Dr. Johann Faust's visit to the Cellar. He appears
+therefore to have already had aliases. The first clear account of him
+is in the 'Index Sanitatis' of Dr. Philip Begardi (1539), who says:
+'Since several years he has gone through all regions, provinces, and
+kingdoms, made his name known to everybody, and is highly renowned
+for his great skill, not alone in medicine, but also in chiromancy,
+necromancy, physiognomy, visions in crystal, and the like other
+arts. And also not only renowned, but written down and known as
+an experienced master. Himself admitted, nor denied that it was
+so, and that his name was Faustus, and called himself philosophum
+philosophorum. But how many have complained to me that they were
+deceived by him--verily a great number! But what matter?--hin ist hin.'
+These latter words may mean that Faust had just died. He must have
+died about that time, and with little notice. The rapidity with which
+a mythology began to grow around him is worthy of more attention than
+the subject has received. In 1543 the protestant theologian Johann
+Gast has ('Sermones Convivialium') stories of his diabolical dog and
+horse, and of the Devil's taking him off, when his body turns itself
+five times face downward. In 1587 Philip Camerarius speaks of him as
+'a well-known magician who lived in the time of our fathers.' April
+18, 1587, two students of the University of Tübingen were imprisoned
+for writing a Comedy of Dr. Faustus: though it was not permitted to
+make light of the story, it was thought a very proper one to utilise
+for pious purposes, and in the autumn of the same year (1587) the
+original form of the legend was published by Spiess in Frankfort. It
+describes Faust as summoning the Devil at night, in a forest near
+Wittenberg. The evil spirit visits him on three occasions in his
+study, where on the third he gives his name as 'Mephostophiles,'
+and the compact to serve him for twenty-four years for his soul is
+signed. When Faust pierces his hand, the blood flows into the form
+of the words O homo fuge! Mephistopheles first serves him as a monk,
+and brings him fine garments, wine, and food. Many of the luxuries are
+brought from the mansions of prelates, which shows the protestant bias
+of the book; which is also shown in the objection the Devil makes to
+Faust's marrying, because marriage is pleasing to God. Mephistopheles
+changes himself to a winged horse, on which Faust is borne through
+many countries, arriving at last at Rome. Faust passes three days,
+invisible, in the Vatican, which supplies the author with another
+opportunity to display papal luxury, as well as the impotence of
+the Pope and his cardinals to exorcise the evil powers which take
+their food and goblets when they are about to feast. On his further
+aerial voyages Faust gets a glimpse of the garden of Eden; lives in
+state in the Sultan's palace in the form of Mohammed; and at length
+becomes a favourite in the Court of Charles V. at Innsbruck. Here he
+evokes Alexander the Great and his wife. In roaming about Germany,
+Faust diverts himself by swallowing a load of hay and horses, cutting
+off heads and replacing them, making flowers bloom at Christmas,
+drawing wine from a table, and calling Helen of Troy to appear to
+some students. Helen becomes his mistress; by her he has a son,
+Justus Faustus; but these disappear simultaneously with the dreadful
+end of Dr. Faustus, who after a midnight storm is found only in the
+fragments with which his room is strewn.
+Several of these legends are modifications of those current before
+Faust's time. The book had such an immense success that new volumes
+and versions on the same subject appeared not only in Germany but
+in other parts of Europe,--a rhymed version in England, 1588; a
+translation from the German in France, 1589; a Dutch translation,
+1592; Christopher Marlowe's drama in 1604.
+In Marlowe's 'Tragical History of Doctor Faustus,' the mass of
+legends of occult arts that had crystallised around a man thoroughly
+representative of them was treated with the dignity due to a subject
+amid whose moral and historic grandeur Faust is no longer the petty
+personality he really was. He is precisely the character which the
+Church had been creating for a thousand years, only suddenly changed
+from other-worldly to worldly desires and aims. What he seeks is what
+all the energy of civilisation seeks.
+EVIL ANGEL. Go forward, Faustus, in that famous art
+Wherein all Nature's treasure is contained:
+Be thou on earth as Jove is in the sky,
+Lord and commander of these elements.
+FAUST. How am I glutted with conceit of this!
+Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,
+Resolve me of all ambiguities,
+Perform what desperate enterprise I will?
+I'll have them fly to India for gold,
+Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,
+And search all corners of the new-found world
+For pleasant fruits and princely delicates;
+I'll have them read me strange philosophy,
+And tell the secrets of all foreign kings;
+I'll have them wall all Germany with brass,
+And make swift Rhine circle fair Wertenberg;
+I'll have them fill the public schools with silk,
+Wherewith the students shall be bravely clad.
+For this he is willing to pay his soul, which Theology has so long
+declared to be the price of mastering the world.
+This word damnation terrifies not him,
+For he confounds hell in Elysium:
+His ghost be with the old philosophers!
+The 'Good Angel' warns him:
+O Faustus, lay that damned book aside,
+And gaze not on it, lest it tempt thy soul,
+And heap God's heavy wrath upon thy head!
+Read, read the Scriptures:--that is blasphemy.
+So, dying away amid the thunders of the Reformation, were heard the
+echoes of the early christian voices which exulted in the eternal
+tortures of the Greek poets and philosophers: the anathemas on Roger
+Bacon, Socinus, Galileo; the outcries with which every great invention
+has been met. We need only retouch the above extracts here and there
+to make Faust's aspirations those of a saint. Let the gold be sought
+in New Jerusalem, the pearl in its gates, the fruits in paradise,
+the philosophy that of Athanasius, and no amount of selfish hunger
+and thirst for them would grieve any 'Good Angel' he had ever heard of.
+The 'Good Angel' has not yet gained his wings who will tell him that
+all he seeks is included in the task of humanity, but warn him that
+the method by which he would gain it is just that by which he has
+been instructed to seek gold and jasper of the New Jerusalem,--not
+by fulfilling the conditions of them, but as the object of some
+favouritism. Every human being who ever sought to obtain benefit
+by prayers or praises that might win the good graces of a supposed
+bestower of benefits, instead of by working for them, is but the Faust
+of his side--be it supernal or infernal. Hocus-pocus and invocation,
+blood-compacts and sacraments,--they are all the same in origin;
+they are all mean attempts to obtain advantages beyond other people
+without serving up to them or deserving them. To Beelzebub Faust will
+'build an altar and a church;' but he had probably never entered a
+church or knelt before an altar with any less selfishness.
+A strong Nemesis follows Self to see that its bounds are not overpassed
+without retribution. Its satisfactions must be weighed in the balance
+with its renunciations. And the inflexible law applies to intellect and
+self-culture as much as to any other power of man. Mephistopheles is
+'the kernel of the brute;' he is the intellect with mere canine hunger
+for knowledge because of the power it brings. Or, falling on another
+part of human nature, it is pride making itself abject for ostentation;
+or it is passion selling love for lust. Re-enter Mephistopheles with
+Devils, who give crowns and rich apparel to Faustus, dance, and then
+depart. To the man who has received his intellectual and moral liberty
+only to so spend it, Lucifer may well say, in Marlowe's words--
+Christ cannot save thy soul, for he is just:
+There's none but I have interest in the same.
+Perhaps he might even better have suggested to Faust that his soul
+was not of sufficient significance to warrant much anxiety.
+Something was gained when it was brought before the people in popular
+dramas of Faust how little the Devil cared for the cross which had so
+long been regarded as the all-sufficient weapon against him. Faust and Mephistopheles flourish in the Vatican despite all the
+crosses raised to exorcise them. The confession of the cross which
+once meant martyrdom of the confessor had now come to mean martyrdom
+of the denier. Protestantism put its faith in Theology, Creeds, and
+Orthodoxy. But Calderon de la Barca blended the legend of Faust with
+the legendary temptation of St. Cyprian, and in 'El Magico Prodigioso'
+we have, in impressive contrast, the powerlessness of the evil powers
+over the heart of a pure woman, and its easy entrance into a mind fully
+furnished with the soundest sentiments of theology. St. Cyprian had
+been a worshipper of pagan deities [179] before his conversion, and
+even after this he had once saved himself while other christians were
+suffering martyrdom. It is possible that out of this may have grown the
+legend of his having called his earlier deities--theoretically changed
+to devils--to his aid; a trace of the legend being that magical 'Book
+of Cyprianus' mentioned in another chapter. In his tract 'De Gratia
+Dei' Cyprian says concerning his spiritual condition before conversion,
+'I lay in darkness, and floating on the world's boisterous sea,
+with no resting-place for my feet, ignorant of my proper life, and
+estranged from truth and light.' Here is a metaphorical 'vasty deep'
+from which the centuries could hardly fail to conjure up spirits,
+one of them being the devil of Calderon's drama, who from a wrecked
+ship walks Christ-like over the boisterous sea to find Cyprian on
+the sea-shore. The drama opens with a scene which recalls the most
+perilous of St. Anthony's temptations. According to Athanasius, the
+Devil having utterly failed to conquer Anthony's virtue by charming
+images, came to him in his proper black and ugly shape, and, candidly
+confessing that he was the Devil, said he had been vanquished by
+the saint's extraordinary sanctity. Anthony prevailed against the
+spirit of pride thus awakened; but Calderon's Cyprian, though he
+does not similarly recognise the Devil, becomes complacent at the
+dialectical victory which the tempter concedes him. Cyprian having
+argued the existence and supremacy of God, the Devil says, 'How can
+I impugn so clear a consequence?' 'Do you regret my victory?' 'Who
+but regrets a check in rivalry of wit?' He leaves, and Cyprian says,
+'I never met a more learned person.' The Devil is equally satisfied,
+knowing, no doubt, that gods worked out by the wits alone remain in
+their abode of abstraction and do not interfere with the world of
+sense. Calderon is artful enough to throw the trial of Cyprian back
+into his pagan period, but the mirror is no less true in reflecting
+for those who had eyes to see in it the weakness of theology.
+'Enter the Devil as a fine gentleman,' is the first sign of the
+temptation in Calderon's drama--it is Asmodeus [180] again, and the
+'pride of life' he first brings is the conceit of a clever theological
+victory. So sufficient is the doorway so made for all other pride
+to enter, that next time the devil needs no disguise, but has only
+to offer him a painless victory over nature and the world, including
+Justina, the object of his passion.
+Wouldst thou that I work
+A charm over this waste and savage wood,
+This Babylon of crags and aged trees,
+Filling its coverts with a horror
+Thrilling and strange?...
+I offer thee the fruit
+Of years of toil in recompense; whate'er
+Thy wildest dream presented to thy thought
+As object of desire, shall be thine. 
+Justina knows less about the philosophical god of Cyprian, and more
+of the might of a chaste heart. To the Devil she says--
+Thought is not in my power, but action is:
+I will not move my foot to follow thee.
+The Devil is compelled to say at last--
+Woman, thou hast subdued me,
+Only by not owning thyself subdued.
+He is only able to bring a counterfeit of Justina to her lover.
+Like Goethe's Mephistopheles, Cyprian's devil is unable to perform
+his exact engagements, and consequently does not win in the game. He
+enables Cyprian to move mountains and conquer beasts, until he boasts
+that he can excel his infernal teacher, but the Devil cannot bring
+Justina. She has told Cyprian that she will love him in death. Cyprian
+and she together abjure their paganism at Antioch, and meet in a
+cell just before their martyrdom. Over their bodies lying dead on
+the scaffold the Devil appears as a winged serpent, and says he is
+compelled to announce that they have both ascended to heaven. He
+descends into the earth.
+What the story of Faust and Mephistopheles had become in the popular
+mind of Germany, when Goethe was raising it to be an immortal type of
+the conditions under which genius and art can alone fulfil their task,
+is well shown in the sensational tragedy written by his contemporary,
+the playwright Klinger. The following extract from Klinger's 'Faust'
+is not without a certain impressiveness.
+'Night covered the earth with its raven wing. Faust stood before
+the awful spectacle of the body of his son suspended upon the
+gallows. Madness parched his brain, and he exclaimed in the wild
+tones of dispair:
+'Satan, let me but bury this unfortunate being, and then you may take
+this life of mine, and I will descend into your infernal abode, where
+I shall no more behold men in the flesh. I have learned to know them,
+and I am disgusted with them, with their destiny, with the world,
+and with life. My good action has drawn down unutterable woe upon my
+head; I hope that my evil ones may have been productive of good. Thus
+should it be in the mad confusion of earth. Take me hence; I wish
+to become an inhabitant of thy dreary abode; I am tired of light,
+compared with which the darkness in the infernal regions must be the
+brightness of mid-day.'
+But Satan replied: 'Hold! not so fast--Faust; once I told thee that
+thou alone shouldst be the arbiter of thy life, that thou alone
+shouldst have power to break the hour-glass of thy existence; thou
+hast done so, and the hour of my vengeance has come, the hour for
+which I have sighed so long. Here now do I tear from thee thy mighty
+wizard-wand, and chain thee within the narrow bounds which I draw
+around thee. Here shalt thou stand and listen to me, and tremble;
+I will draw forth the terrors of the dark past, and kill thee with
+slow despair.
+'Thus will I exult over thee, and rejoice in my victory. Fool! thou
+hast said that thou hast learned to know man! Where? How and when? Hast
+thou ever considered his nature? Hast thou ever examined it, and
+separated from it its foreign elements? Hast thou distinguished
+between that which is offspring of the pure impulses of his heart,
+and that which flows from an imagination corrupted by art? Hast thou
+compared the wants and the vices of his nature with those which he
+owes to society and prevailing corruption? Hast thou observed him in
+his natural state, where each of his undisguised expressions mirrors
+forth his inmost soul? No--thou hast looked upon the mask that society
+wears, and hast mistaken it for the true lineaments of man; thou hast
+only become acquainted with men who have consecrated their condition,
+wealth, power, and talents to the service of corruption; who have
+sacrificed their pure nature to your Idol--Illusion. Thou didst at
+one time presume to show me the moral worth of man! and how didst
+thou set about it! By leading me upon the broad highways of vice,
+by bringing me to the courts of the mighty wholesale butchers of men,
+to that of the coward tyrant of France, of the Usurper in England! Why
+did we pass by the mansions of the good and the just? Was it for me,
+Satan, to whom thou hast chosen to become a mentor, to point them out
+to thee? No; thou wert led to the places thou didst haunt by the fame
+of princes, by thy pride, by thy longing after dissipation. And what
+hast thou seen there? The soul-seared tyrants of mankind, with their
+satellites, wicked women and mercenary priests, who make religion a
+tool by which to gain the object of their base passions.
+'Hast thou ever deigned to cast a glance at the oppressed, who, sighing
+under his burden, consoles himself with the hope of an hereafter? Hast
+thou ever sought for the dwelling of the virtuous friend of humanity,
+for that of the noble sage, for that of the active and upright father
+of a family?
+'But how would that have been possible? How couldst thou, the most
+corrupt of thy race, have discovered the pure one, since thou hadst
+not even the capacity to suspect his existence?
+'Proudly didst thou pass by the cottages of the pure and humble,
+who live unacquainted with even the names of your artificial vices,
+who earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, and who rejoice at
+their last hour that they are permitted to exchange the mortal for the
+immortal. It is true, hadst thou entered their abode, thou mightst
+not have found thy foolish ideal of an heroic, extravagant virtue,
+which is only the fanciful creation of your vices and your pride;
+but thou wouldst have seen the man of a retiring modesty and noble
+resignation, who in his obscurity excels in virtue and true grandeur
+of soul your boasted heroes of field and cabinet. Thou sayest that
+thou knowest man! Dost thou know thyself? Nay, deeper yet will I
+enter into the secret places of thy heart, and fan with fierce blast
+the flames which thou hast kindled there for thee.
+'Had I a thousand human tongues, and as many years to speak to thee,
+they would be all insufficient to develop the consequences of thy
+deeds and thy recklessness. The germ of wretchedness which thou
+hast sown will continue its growth through centuries yet to come;
+and future generations will curse thee as the author of their misery.
+'Behold, then, daring and reckless man, the importance of actions
+that appear circumscribed to your mole vision! Who of you can say,
+Time will obliterate the trace of my existence! Thou who knowest not
+what beginning, what middle, and end are, hast dared to seize with
+a bold hand the chain of fate, and hast attempted to gnaw its links,
+notwithstanding that they were forged for eternity!
+'But now will I withdraw the veil from before thy eyes, and then--cast
+the spectre despair into thy soul.'
+'Faust pressed his hands upon his face; the worm that never dieth
+gnawed already on his heart.'
+The essence and sum of every devil are in the Mephistopheles of
+Goethe. He is culture.
+Culture, which smooth the whole world licks,
+Also unto the Devil sticks.
+He represents the intelligence which has learned the difference
+between ideas and words, knows that two and two make four, and also how
+convenient may be the dexterity that can neatly write them out five.
+Of Metaphysics learn the use and beauty!
+See that you most profoundly gain
+What does not suit the human brain!
+A splendid word to serve, you'll find
+For what goes in--or won't go in--your mind.
+On words let your attention centre!
+Then through the safest gate you'll enter
+The temple halls of certainty. 
+He knows, too, that the existing moment alone is of any advantage;
+that theory is grey and life ever green; that he only gathers real
+fruit who confides in himself. He is thus the perfectly evolved
+intellect of man, fully in possession of all its implements, these
+polished till they shine in all grace, subtlety, adequacy. Nature
+shows no symbol of such power more complete than the gemmed serpent
+with its exquisite adaptations,--freed from cumbersome prosaic feet,
+equal to the winged by its flexible spine, every tooth artistic.
+From an ancient prison was this Ariel liberated by his Prospero,
+whose wand was the Reformation, a spirit finely touched to fine
+issues. But his wings cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. The ancient
+heaven has faded before the clearer eye, but the starry ideals have
+come nearer. The old hells have burnt out, but the animalism of man
+couches all the more freely on his path, having broken every chain of
+fear. Man still walks between the good and evil, on the hair-drawn
+bridge of his moral nature. His faculties seem adapted with equal
+precision to either side of his life, upper or under,--to Wisdom
+or Cunning, Self-respect or Self-conceit, Prudence or Selfishness,
+Lust or Love.
+Such is the seeming situation, but is it the reality? Goethe's 'Faust'
+is the one clear answer which this question has received.
+In one sense Mephistopheles may be called a German devil. The
+Christian soul of Germany was from the first a changeling. The ancient
+Nature-worship of that race might have had its normal development in
+the sciences, and alone with this intellectual evolution there must
+have been formed a related religion able to preserve social order
+through the honour of man. But the native soul of Germany was cut
+out by the sword and replaced with a mongrel Hebrew-Latin soul. The
+metaphorical terrors of tropical countries,--the deadly worms, the
+burning and suffocating blasts and stenches, with which the mind of
+those dwelling near them could familiarise itself when met with in
+their scriptures, acquired exaggerated horrors when left to be pictured
+by the terrorised imagination of races ignorant of their origin. It
+is a long distance from Potsdam and Hyde Park to Zahara. Christianity
+therefore blighted nature in the north by apparitions more fearful
+than the southern world ever knew, and long after the pious there
+could sing and dance, puritanical glooms hung over the Christians
+of higher latitudes. When the progress of German culture began the
+work of dissipating these idle terrors, the severity of the reaction
+was proportioned to the intensity of the delusions. The long-famished
+faculties rushed almost madly into their beautiful world, but without
+the old reverence which had once knelt before its phenomena. That may
+remain with a few, but the cynicism of the noisiest will be reflected
+even upon the faces of the best. Goethe first had his attention drawn
+to Spinoza by a portrait of him on a tract, in which his really noble
+countenance was represented with a diabolical aspect. The orthodox had
+made it, but they could only have done so by the careers of Faust,
+Paracelsus, and their tribe. These too helped to conventionalise
+Voltaire into a Mephistopheles. 
+Goethe was probably the first European man to carry out this scepticism
+to its full results. He was the first who recognised that the moral
+edifice based upon monastic theories must follow them; and he had in
+his own life already questioned the right of the so-called morality to
+its supreme if not tyrannous authority over man. Hereditary conscience,
+passing through this fierce crucible, lay levigable before Goethe, to
+be swept away into dust-hole or moulded into the image of reason. There
+remained around the animal nature of a free man only a thread which
+seemed as fine as that which held the monster Fenris. It was made
+only of the sentiment of love and that of honour. But as Fenris
+found the soft invisible thread stronger than chains, Faust proved
+the tremendous sanctions that surround the finer instincts of man.
+Emancipated from grey theory, Faust rushes hungrily at the golden
+fruit of life. The starved passions will have their satisfaction,
+at whatever cost to poor Gretchen. The fruit turns to ashes on
+his lips. The pleasure is not that of the thinking man, but of the
+accomplished poodle he has taken for his guide. To no moment in that
+intrigue can the suffrage of his whole nature say, 'Stay, thou art
+fair!' That is the pact--it is the distinctive keynote of Goethe's
+'Faust.'
+Canst thou by falsehood or by flattery
+Make me one moment with myself at peace,
+Cheat me into tranquillity?--come then
+And welcome life's last day.
+Make me to the passing moment plead.
+Fly not, O stay, thou art so fair!
+Then will I gladly perish.
+The pomp and power of the court, luxury and wealth, equally fail
+to make the scholar at peace with himself. They are symbolised in
+the paper money by which Mephistopheles replenished the imperial
+exchequer. The only allusion to the printing-press, whose inventor
+Fust had been somewhat associated with Faust, is to show its power
+turned to the work of distributing irredeemable promises.
+At length one demand made by Faust makes Mephistopheles tremble. As a
+mere court amusement he would have him raise Helen of Troy. Reluctant
+that Faust should look upon the type of man's harmonious development,
+yet bound to obey, Mephistopheles sends him to the Mothers,--the
+healthy primal instincts and ideals of man which expressed themselves
+in the fair forms of art. Corrupted by superstition of their own
+worshippers, cursed by christianity, they 'have a Hades of their own,'
+as Mephistopheles says, and he is unwilling to interfere with them. The
+image appears, and the sense of Beauty is awakened in Faust. But he
+is still a christian as to his method: his idea is that heaven must
+be taken by storm, by chance, wish, prayer, any means except patient
+fulfilment of the conditions by which it may be reached. Helen is
+flower of the history and culture of Greece; and so lightly Faust
+would pluck and wear it!
+Helen having vanished as he tried to clasp her, Faust has learned
+his second lesson. When he next meets Helen it is not to seek
+intellectual beauty as, in Gretchen's case, he had sought the sensuous
+and sensual. He has fallen under a charm higher than that of either
+Church or Mephistopheles; the divorce of ages between flesh and spirit,
+the master-crime of superstition, from which all devils sprang, was
+over for him from the moment that he sees the soul embodied and body
+ensouled in the art-ideal of Greece.
+The redemption of Faust through Art is the gospel of the nineteenth
+century. This is her vesture which Helen leaves him when she vanishes,
+and which bears him as a cloud to the land he is to make beautiful. The
+purest Art--Greek Art--is an expression of Humanity: it can as little
+be turned to satisfy a self-culture unhumanised as to consist with a
+superstition which insults nature. When Faust can meet with Helen,
+and part without any more clutching, he is not hurled back to his
+Gothic study and mocking devil any more: he is borne away until he
+reaches the land where his thought and work are needed. Blindness
+falls on him--or what Theology deems such: for it is metaphorical--it
+means that he has descended from clouds to the world, and the actual
+earth has eclipsed a possible immortality.
+The sphere of Earth is known enough to me;
+The view beyond is barred immortality:
+A fool who there his blinking eyes directeth,
+And o'er his clouds of peers a place expecteth!
+Firm let him stand and look around him well!
+This World means something to the capable;
+Why needs he through Eternity to wend?
+The eye for a fictitious world lost, leaves the vision for reality
+clearer. In every hard chaotic object Faust can now detect a slumbering
+beauty. The swamps and pools of the unrestrained sea, the oppressed
+people, the barrenness and the flood, they are all paths to Helen--a
+nobler Helen than Greece knew. When he has changed one scene of
+Chaos into Order, and sees a free people tilling the happy earth,
+then, indeed, he has realised the travail of his manhood, and
+is satisfied. To a moment which Mephistopheles never brought him,
+he cries 'Stay, thou art fair!'
+Mephistopheles now, as becomes a creation of the Theology of obtaining
+what is not earned, calls up infernal troops to seize Faust's soul,
+but the angels pelt them with roses. The roses sting them worse than
+flames. The roses which Faust has evoked from briars are his defence:
+they are symbols of man completing his nature by a self-culture
+which finds its satisfaction in making some outward desert rejoice
+and blossom like the rose.
+THE WILD HUNTSMAN.
+The Wild Hunt--Euphemisms--Schimmelreiter--Odinwald--Pied
+Piper--Lyeshy--Waldemar's Hunt--Palne Hunter--King Abel's Hunt
+--Lords of Glorup--Le Grand Veneur--Robert le Diable--Arthur--
+Hugo--Herne--Tregeagle--Der Freischütz--Elijah's chariot--Mahan
+Bali--Déhak--Nimrod--Nimrod's defiance of Jehovah--His Tower--
+Robber Knights--The Devil in Leipzig--Olaf hunting pagans--
+Hunting-horns--Raven--Boar--Hounds--Horse--Dapplegrimm--Sleipnir
+--Horseflesh--The mare Chetiya--Stags--St. Hubert--The White Lady
+--Myths of Mother Rose--Wodan hunting St. Walpurga--Friar Eckhardt.
+The most important remnant of the Odin myth is the universal legend of
+the Wild Huntsman. The following variants are given by Wuttke. In Central and South Germany the Wild Hunt is commonly called
+Wütenden Heere, i.e., Wodan's army or chase--called in the Middle
+Ages, Wuotanges Heer. The hunter, generally supposed to be abroad
+during the twelve nights after Christmas, is variously called Wand,
+Waul, Wodejäger, Helljäger, Nightjäger, Hackelberg, Hackelberend
+(man in armour), Fro Gode, Banditterich, Jenner. The most common
+belief is that he is the spectre of a wicked lord or king who
+sacrilegiously enjoyed the chase on Sundays and other holy days,
+and who is condemned to expiate his sin by hunting till the day of
+doom. He wears a broad-brimmed hat; is followed by dogs and other
+animals, fiery, and often three-legged; and in his spectral train
+are the souls of unbaptized children, huntsmen who have trodden down
+grain, witches, and others--these being mounted on horses, goats,
+and cocks, and sometimes headless, or with their entrails dragging
+behind them. They rush with a fearful noise through the air, which
+resounds with the cracking of whips, neighing of horses, barking of
+dogs, and cries of ghostly huntsmen. The unlucky wight encountered
+is caught up into the air, where his neck is wrung, or he is dropped
+from a great height. In some regions, it is said, such must hunt until
+relieved, but are not slain. The huntsman is a Nemesis on poachers or
+trespassers in woods and forests. Sometimes the spectres have combats
+with each other over battlefields. Their track is marked with bits
+of horseflesh, human corpses, legs with shoes on. In some regions,
+it is said, the huntsmen carry battle-axes, and cut down all who
+come in their way. When the hunt is passing all dogs on earth become
+still and quiet. In most regions there is some haunted gorge, hill,
+or castle in which the train disappears.
+In Thuringia, it is said that, when the fearful noises of the spectral
+hunt come very near, they change to ravishing music. In the same
+euphemistic spirit some of the prognostications it brings are not evil:
+generally, indeed, the apparition portends war, pestilence, and famine,
+but frequently it announces a fruitful year. If, in passing a house,
+one of the train dips his finger in the yeast, the staff of life will
+never be wanting in that house. Whoever sees the chase will live long,
+say the Bohemians; but he must not hail it, lest flesh and bones rain
+upon him.
+In most regions, however, there is thought to be great danger in
+proximity to the hunt. The perils are guarded against by prostration on
+the earth face downward, praying meanwhile; by standing on a white
+cloth (Bertha's linen), or wrapping the same around the head; by
+putting the head between the spokes of a wheel; by placing palm leaves
+on a table. The hunt may be observed securely from the cross-roads,
+which it shuns, or by standing on a stump marked with three crosses--as
+is often done by woodcutters in South Germany.
+Wodan also appears in the Schimmelreiter--headless rider on a white
+horse, in Swabia called Bachreiter or Junker Jäkele. This apparition
+sometimes drives a carriage drawn by four white (or black) horses,
+usually headless. He is the terrible forest spectre Hoimann, a giant
+in broad-brimmed hat, with moss and lichen for beard; he rides a
+headless white horse through the air, and his wailing cry, 'Hoi,
+hoi!' means that his reign is ended. He is the bugbear of children.
+In the Odinwald are the Riesenäule and Riesenaltar, with mystic marks
+declaring them relics of a temple of Odin. Near Erbach is Castle
+Rodenstein, the very fortress of the Wild Jäger, to which he passes
+with his horrid train from the ruins of Schnellert. The village of
+Reichelsheim has on file the affidavits of the people who heard him
+just before the battles of Leipzig and Waterloo. Their theory is
+that if the Jäger returns swiftly to Schnellert all will go well for
+Germany; but if he tarry at Rodenstein 'tis an omen of evil. He was
+reported near Frankfort in 1832; but it is notable that no mention
+of him was made during the late Franco-German war.
+A somewhat later and rationalised variant relates that the wild
+huntsman was Hackelberg, the Lord of Rodenstein, whose tomb--really
+a Druidical stone--is shown at the castle, and said to be guarded
+by hell-hounds. Hackelberg is of old his Brunswick name. It was the
+Hackelberg Hill that opened to receive the children, which the Pied
+Piper of Hamelin charmed away with his flute from that old town,
+because the corporation would not pay him what they had promised
+for ridding them of rats. It is easy to trace this Pied Piper,
+who has become so familiar through Mr. Robert Browning's charming
+poem, to the Odin of more blessed memory, who says in the Havamal,
+'I know a song by which I soften and enchant my enemies, and render
+their weapons of no effect.'
+This latter aspect of Odin, his command over vermin, connects him
+with the Slavonic Lyeshy, or forest-demon of the Russias. The ancient
+thunder-god of Russia, Perun, who rides in his storm-chariot through
+the sky, has in the more christianised districts dropped his mantle
+on Ilya (Elias); while in the greater number of Slavonic districts he
+has held his original physical characters so remarkably that it has
+been necessary to include him among demons. In Slavonian Folklore the
+familiar myth of the wild huntsman is distributed--Vladimir the Great
+fulfils one part of it by still holding high revel in the halls of
+Kief, but he is no huntsman; Perun courses noisily through the air, but
+he is rather benevolent than otherwise; the diabolical characteristics
+of the superstition have fallen to the evil huntsmen (Lyeshies),
+who keep the wild creatures as their flocks, the same as shepherds
+their herds, and whom every huntsman must propitiate. The Lyeshy is
+gigantic, wears a sheepskin, has one eye without eyebrow or eyelash,
+horns, feet of a goat, is covered with green hair, and his finger-nails
+are claws. He is special protector of the bears and wolves.
+In Denmark the same myth appears as King Volmer's Hunt. Waldemar was
+so passionately fond of the chase that he said if the Lord would only
+let him hunt for ever near Gurre (his castle in the north of Seeland),
+he would not envy him his paradise. For this blasphemous wish he is
+condemned to hunt between Burre and Gurre for ever. His cavalcade is
+much like that already described. Volmer rides a snow-white charger,
+preceded by a pack of coal-black hounds, and he carries his head
+under his left arm. On St. John the women open gates for him. It
+is believed that he is allowed brief repose at one and another of
+his old seats, and it is said spectral servants are sometimes seen
+preparing the ruined castle at Vordingborg for him, or at Waldemar's
+Tower. A sceptical peasant resolved to pass the night in this tower. At
+midnight the King entered, and, thanking him for looking after his
+tower, gave him a gold piece which burned through his hand and fell
+to the ground as a coal. On the other hand, Waldemar sometimes makes
+peasants hold his dogs, and afterwards throws them coals which turn
+out to be gold pieces.
+The Palnatoke or Palne Hunter appears mostly in the island of
+Fuen. Every New Year's night he supplies himself with three horse-shoes
+from some smithy, and the smith takes care that he may find them
+ready for use on his anvil, as he always leaves three gold pieces in
+their stead. If the shoes are not ready for him, he carries the anvil
+off. In one instance he left an anvil on the top of a church tower,
+and it caused the smith great trouble to get it down again.
+King Abel was interred after his death in St. Peter's Church in
+Sleswig, but the fratricide could find no peace in his grave. His
+ghost walked about in the night and disturbed the monks in their
+devotions. The body was finally removed from the church, and
+sunk in a foul bog near Gottorp. To keep him down effectively, a
+pointed stake was drove through his body. The spot is still called
+Königsgrabe. Notwithstanding this, he appears seated on a coal-black
+charger, followed by a pack of black hounds with eyes and tongues of
+fire. The gates are heard slamming and opening, and the shrieks and
+yells are such that they appal the stoutest hearts.
+At the ancient capital of Fuen, Odense, said to have been built
+by Odin, the myth has been reduced to a spectral Christmas-night
+equipage, which issues from St. Canute's Church and passes to the
+ancient manor-house of Glorup. It is a splendid carriage, drawn by
+six black horses with fiery tongues, and in it are seated the Lords
+of Glorup, famous for their cruelty to peasants, and now not able to
+rest in the church where they were interred. It is of evil omen to
+witness the spectacle: a man who watched for it was struck blind.
+In France Le Grand Veneur bears various names; he is King Arthur,
+Saint Hubert, Hugo. His alleged appearances within historic times
+have been so strongly attested that various attempts have been made
+to give them rational explanations. Thus Charles VI. of France,
+when going to war in Bretagne, is said to have been met by such a
+spectre in the Forest of Mans, and became insane; he believed himself
+to have been the victim of sorcery, as did many of his subjects. It
+has been said that the King was met by a disguised emissary of the
+Duc de Bretagne. More particular accounts are given of the apparition
+of the Wild Huntsman to Henry IV. when he was hunting with the Comte
+de Soissons in the Forest of Fontainebleau, an event commemorated by
+'La Croix du Grand Veneur.' According to Matthieu, [185] both the King
+and the Count heard the cries of the hunt, and when the Count went to
+discover their origin, the terrible dark figure stood forth and cried,
+'You wish to see me, then behold!' This incident has been explained
+variously, as a project of assassination, or as the jest of two fellows
+who, in 1596, were amusing Paris by their skill in imitating all
+the sounds of a hunt. But such phantoms had too long hunted through
+the imagination of the French peasantry for any explanation to be
+required. Robert le Diable, wandering in Normandy till judgment-day,
+and King Arthur, at an early date domesticated in France as a spectral
+huntsman (the figure most popularly identified at the time with the
+phantom seen by Henry IV.), are sufficient explanations. The ruins of
+Arthur's Castle near Huelgoat, Finistère, were long believed to hide
+enormous treasures, guarded by demons, who appear sometimes as fiery
+lights (ignes fatuui), owls, buzzards, and ravens--one of the latter
+being the form in which Arthur comes from his happy Vale of Avallon,
+when he would vary its repose with a hunt. 
+A sufficiently curious interchange of such superstitions is represented
+in the following extract from Surtees:--'Sir Anthon Bek, busshop of
+Dureme in the tyme of King Eduarde, the son of King Henry, was the
+maist prowd and masterfull busshop in all England, and it was com'only
+said that he was the prowdest lord of Christienty. It chaunced that
+emong other lewd persons, this sir Anthon entertained at his court
+one Hugh de Pountchardon, that for his evill deeds and manifold
+robberies had been driven out of the Inglische courte, and had come
+from the southe to seek a little bread, and to live by staylinge. And
+to this Hughe, whom also he imployed to good purpose in the warr of
+Scotland, the busshop gave the land of Thikley, since of him called
+Thikley-Puntchardon, and also made him his chiefe huntsman. And after,
+this blake Hughe died afore the busshop; and efter that the busshop
+chasid the wild hart in Galtres forest, and sodainly ther met with
+him Hugh de Pontchardon, that was afore deid, on a wythe horse; and
+the said Hughe loked earnestly on the busshop, and the busshop said
+unto him, 'Hughe, what makethe thee here?' and he spake never word,
+but lifte up his cloke, and then he showed sir Anton his ribbes set
+with bones, and nothing more; and none other of the varlets saw him
+but the busshop only; and ye said Hughe went his way, and sir Anton
+toke corage, and cheered the dogges; and shortly efter he was made
+Patriarque of Hierusalem, and he same nothing no moe; and this Hugh
+is him that the silly people in Galtres doe call le Gros Veneur,
+and he was seen twice efter that by simple folk, afore yat the forest
+was felled in the tyme of Henry, father of King Henry yat now ys.'
+Upon this uncanny fellow fell the spectral mantle of Hugo
+Capet; elsewhere as is probable, worn by nocturnal protestant
+assemblies--Huguenots.
+The legend of the Wild Huntsman tinges many old English stories. Herne,
+the Hunter, may be identified with him, and the demons, with ghostly
+and headless wish-hounds, who still hunt evil-doers over Dartmoor on
+stormy nights, are his relations. The withered look of horses grazing
+on Penzance Common was once explained by their being ridden by demons,
+and the fire-breathing horse has found its way by many weird routes
+to the service of the Exciseman in the 'Ingoldsby Legends,' or that
+of Earl Garrett, who rides round the Curragh of Kildare on a steed
+whose inch-thick silver shoes must wear as thin as a cat's ear,
+ere he fights the English and reigns over Ireland. The Teutonic myth
+appears very plainly in the story of Tregeagle. This man, traced to
+an old Cornish family, is said to have been one of the wickedest men
+that ever lived; but though he had disposed of his soul to the Devil,
+the evil one was baulked by the potency of St. Petroc. This, however,
+was on condition of Tregeagle's labouring at the impossible task of
+clearing the sand from Porthcurnow Cove, at which work he may still
+be heard groaning when wind and wave are high. Whenever he tries
+to snatch a moment's rest, the demon is at liberty to pursue him,
+and they may be heard on stormy nights in hot pursuit of the poor
+creature, whose bull-like roar passed into the Cornish proverb,
+'to roar like Tregeagle.'
+On a pleasant Sunday evening in July 1868, I witnessed 'Der Freischütz'
+in the newly-opened opera-house at Leipzig. Never elsewhere have I seen
+such completeness and splendour in the weird effects of the infernal
+scene in the Wolf's Glen. The 'White Lady' started forth at every step
+of Rodolph's descent to the glen, warning him back. Zamiel, instead
+of the fiery garb he once wore as Samaël, was arrayed in raiment
+black as night; and when the magic bullet was moulded, the stage
+swarmed with huge reptiles, fiery serpents crawled on the ground,
+a dragon-drawn chariot, with wheels of fire, driven by a skeleton,
+passed through the air; and the wild huntsman's chase, composed of
+animals real to the eye and uttering their distinguishable cries,
+hurried past. The animals represented were the horse, hound, boar,
+stag, chamois, raven, bat, owl, and they rushed amid the wild blast
+of horns.
+I could but marvel at the yet more strange and weird history of the
+human imagination through which had flitted, from the varied regions
+of a primitive world, the shapes combined in this apotheosis of
+diablerie. Probably if Elijah in his fire-chariot, preached about
+in the neighbouring church that morning, and this wild huntsman
+careering in the opera, had looked closely at each other and at their
+own history, they might have found a common ancestor in the mythical
+Mahan Bali of India, the king whose austerities raised in power till
+he excited the jealousy of the gods, until Vishnu crushed him with his
+heel into the infernal regions, where he still exercises sovereignty,
+and is permitted to issue forth for an annual career (at the Onam
+festival), as described in Southey's 'Curse of Kehama.' And they
+might probably both claim mythological relationship with Yami, lord of
+death, who, as Jami, began in Persia the career of all warriors that
+never died, but sometimes sleep till a magic horn shall awaken them,
+sometimes dwell, like Jami himself and King Arthur, in happy isles,
+and in other cases issue forth at certain periods for the chase or
+for war--like Odin and Waldemar--with an infernal train.
+But how did these mighty princes and warriors become demon huntsmen?
+In the Persian 'Desatir' it is related that the animals contested
+the superiority of man, the two orders of beings being represented by
+their respective sages, and the last animal to speak opposed the claim
+of his opponent that man attained elevation to the nature of angels,
+with the remark, 'In his putting to death of animals and similar acts
+man resembleth the beasts of prey, and not angels.'
+The prophet of the world then said, 'We deem it sinful to kill
+harmless, but right to slay ravenous, animals. Were all ravenous
+animals to enter into a compact not to kill harmless animals, we
+would abstain from slaying them, and hold them dear as ourselves.'
+Upon this the wolf made a treaty with the ram, and the lion became
+friend of the stag. No tyranny was left in the world, till man (Dehak)
+broke the treaty and began to kill animals. In consequence of this,
+none observed the treaty except the harmless animals. 
+This fable, from the Aryan side, may be regarded as showing the
+reason of the evil repute which gathered around the name of Dehak
+or Zohak. The eating of animal food was among our Aryan ancestors
+probably the provisional commissariat of a people migrating from
+their original habitat. The animals slain for food had all their
+original consecration, and even the ferocious were largely invested
+with awe. The woodcutters of Bengal invoke Kalrayu--an archer
+tiger-mounted--to protect them against the wild beasts he (a form of
+Siva) is supposed to exterminate; but while the exterminator of the
+most dangerous animals may, albeit without warrant in the Shastr,
+be respected in India, the huntsman is generally of evil repute. The
+gentle Krishna was said to have been slain by an arrow from the bow
+of Ungudu, a huntsman, who left the body to rot under a tree where
+it fell, the bones being the sacred relics for which the image of
+Jugernath at Orissa was constructed. 
+It is not known at what period the notion of transmigration arose,
+but that must have made him appear cannibalistic who first hunted
+and devoured animals. Such was the Persian Zohak (or Dehak). His
+Babylonian form, Nimrod, represented also the character of Esau,
+as huntsman; that is, the primitive enemy of the farmer, and of the
+commerce in grains; the preserver of wildness, and consequently of
+all those primitive aboriginal idolatries which linger in the heaths
+(whence heathen) and country villages (whence pagans) long after
+they have passed away from the centres of civilisation. Hunting is
+essentially barbarous. The willingness of some huntsmen even now,
+when this serious occupation of an early period has become a sport,
+to sacrifice not only animal life to their pleasure, but also the
+interests of labour and agriculture, renders it very easy for us to
+understand the transformation of Nimrod into a demon. In the Hebrew
+and Arabian legends concerning Nimrod, that 'mighty hunter' is shown
+as related to the wild elements and their worshipper. When Abraham,
+having broken the images of his father, was brought by Terah before
+Nimrod, the King said, 'Let us worship the fire!'
+'Rather the water that quenches the fire,' said Abraham.
+'Well, the water.'
+'Rather the cloud that carries the water.'
+'Well, the cloud.'
+'Rather the wind that scatters the cloud.'
+'Well, the wind.'
+'Rather man, for he withstands the wind.'
+'Thou art a babbler,' said Nimrod. 'I worship the fire and will cast
+thee into it.'
+When Abraham was cast into the fiery furnace by Nimrod, and on the
+seventh day after was found sitting amid the roses of a garden,
+the mighty hunter--hater of gardens--resolved on a daring hunt for
+Abraham's God himself. He built a tower five thousand cubits high, but
+finding heaven still far away, he attached a car to two half-starved
+eagles, and by holding meat above them they flew upward, until Nimrod
+heard a voice saying, 'Godless man, whither goest thou?' The audacious
+man shot an arrow in the direction of the voice; the arrow returned
+to him stained with blood, and Nimrod believed that he had wounded
+Abraham's God.
+He who hunted the universe was destroyed by one of the weakest of
+animated beings--a fly. In the aspiring fly which attacked Nimrod's
+lip, and then nose, and finally devoured his brain, the Moslem and
+Hebrew doctors saw the fittest end of one whose adventurous spirit
+had not stopped to attack animals, man, Abraham, and Allah himself.
+But though, in one sense, destroyed, Nimrod, say various myths, may
+be heard tumbling and groaning about the base of his tower of Babel,
+where the confusion of tongues took place; and it might be added,
+that they have, like the groan, a meaning irrespective of race or
+language. Dehak and Nimrod have had their brothers in every race, which
+has ever reached anything that may be called civilisation. It was the
+barbaric Baron and the Robber Knight of the Middle Ages, living by
+the hunt, who, before conversion, made for the Faithful Eckhardts of
+the Church the chief impediment; they might then strike down the monk,
+whose apparition has always been the legendary warning of the Demon's
+approach. When the Eckhardts had baptized these knights, they had
+already been transformed to the Devils which people the forests of
+Germany, France, and England with their terrible spectres. The wild
+fables of the East, telling of fell Demons coursing through the air,
+whispered to the people at one ear, and the equally wild deeds of the
+Robber Knights at the other. The Church had given the people one name
+for all such phantasms--Devil--and it was a name representative of
+the feelings of both priest and peasant, so long as the Robber Knights
+were their common enemy. Jesus had to be a good deal modified before he
+could become the model of this Teutonic Esau. It is after the tradition
+of his old relation to huntsmen that the Devil has been so especially
+connected in folklore with soldiers. In the 'Annals of Leipzig,' kept
+in Auerbach's Cellar, famous for the flight of Mephisto and Faust
+from its window on a wine-cask, I found two other instances in which
+the Devil was reported as having appeared in that town. In one case
+(1604), the fiend had tempted one Jeremy of Strasburg, a marksman,
+to commit suicide, but that not succeeding, had desired him to go with
+him to the neighbouring castle and enjoy some fruit. The marksman was
+saved by help of a Dean. In 1633, during a period of excessive cold
+and snow, the Devil induced a soldier to blaspheme. The marksman and
+the soldier were, indeed, the usual victims of the Wild Huntsmen's
+temptations; and it was for such that the unfailing magic bullets
+were moulded in return for their impawned souls.
+How King Olaf--whose name lingers among us in 'Tooley Street,' so
+famous for its Three Tailors! [189]--spread the Gospel through the
+North after his baptism in England is well known. Whatever other hunt
+may have been phantasmal, it was not Olaf's hunt of the heathen. To
+put a pan of live coals under the belly of one, to force an adder
+down the throat of another, to offer all men the alternatives of being
+baptized or burnt, were the arguments which this apostle applied with
+such energy that at last--but not until many brave martyrdoms--the
+chief people were convinced. Olaf encountered Odin as if he had been a
+living foe, and what is more, believed in the genuine existence of his
+former God. Once, as Olaf and his friends believed, Odin appeared to
+this devastator of his altars as a one-eyed man in broad-brimmed hat,
+delighting the King in his hours of relaxation with that enchanting
+conversation for which he was so famous. But he (Odin) tried secretly
+to induce the cook to prepare for his royal master some fine meat
+which he had poisoned. But Olaf said, 'Odin shall not deceive us,'
+and ordered the tempting viand to be thrown away. Odin was god of
+the barbarian Junkers, and the people rejoiced that he was driven
+into holes and corners; his rites remained mainly among huntsmen,
+and had to be kept very secret. In the Gulathings Lagen of Norway
+it is ordered: 'Let the king and bishop, with all possible care,
+search after those who exercise pagan rites, who use magic arts, who
+adore the genii of particular places, of tombs, or rivers, and who,
+after the manner of devils in travelling, are transported from place
+to place through the air.'
+Under such very actual curses as these, the once sacred animals of
+Odin, and all the associations of the hunt, were diabolised. Even
+the hunting-horn was regarded as having something præternatural
+about it. The howling blast when Odin consulteth Mimir's head was heard again in the Pied Piper's flute, and passed southward
+to blend its note with the horn of Roland at Roncesvalles,--which
+brought help from distances beyond the reach of any honest horn,
+and even with the pipe of Pan.
+That the Edda described Odin as mounted on a mysterious horse,
+as cherishing two wolves for pets, having a roasted boar for the
+daily pièce de résistance of his table, and with a raven on either
+shoulder, whispering to him the secret affairs of the earth, was
+enough to settle the reputation of those animals in the creed of
+christian priests. The Raven was, indeed, from of old endowed with
+the holy awfulness of the christian dove, in the Norse Mythology. To
+this day no Swede will kill a raven. The superstition concerning it
+was strong enough to transmit even to Voltaire an involuntary shudder
+at its croak. Odin was believed to have given the Raven the colour of
+the night that it might the better spy out the deeds of darkness. Its
+'natural theology' is, no doubt, given correctly by Robert Browning's
+Caliban, who, when his speculations are interrupted by a thunderstorm,
+supposes his soliloquy has been conveyed by the raven he sees flying
+to his god Setebos. In many parts of Germany ravens are believed to
+hold souls of the damned. If a raven's heart be secured it procures
+an unerring shot.
+From an early date the Boar became an ensign of the prowess of the
+gods, by which its head passed to be the device of so many barbaric
+clans and ancient families in the Northern world. In Vedic Mythology
+we find Indra taking the shape of a Wild Boar, also killing a demon
+Boar, and giving Tritas the strength by which a similar monster is
+slain. [191] According to another fable, while Brahma and Vishnu are
+quarrelling as to which is the first-born, Siva interferes and cries,
+'I am the first-born; nevertheless I will recognise as my superior
+him who is able to see the summit of my head or the sole of my
+feet.' Vishnu, transforming himself to a Boar, pierced the ground,
+penetrated to the infernal regions, and then saw the feet of Siva,
+who on his return saluted him as first-born of the gods. De Gubernatis
+regards this fable as making the Boar emblem of the hidden Moon. He is hunted by the Sun. He guards the treasure of the demons which
+Indra gains by slaying him. In Sicilian story, Zafarana, by throwing
+three hog's bristles on embers, renews her husband's youth. In
+Esthonian legend, a prince, by eating pork, acquires the faculty
+of understanding the language of birds,--which may mean leading on
+the spring with its songs of birds. But whether these particular
+interpretations be true or not, there is no doubt that the Boar,
+at an early period, became emblematic of the wild forces of nature,
+and from being hunted by King Odin on earth passed to be his favourite
+food in Valhalla, and a prominent figure in his spectral hunt.
+Enough has already been said of the Dog in several chapters of this
+work to render it but natural that this animal should take his place
+in any diabolical train. It was not as a 'hell-hound,' or descendant
+of the guardians of Orcus, that he entered the spectral procession of
+Odin, but as man's first animal assistant in the work of obtaining a
+living from nature. It is the faithful friend of man who is demoralised
+in Waldemar's Lystig, the spectre-hound of Peel Castle, the Manthe
+Doog of the Isle of Man, the sky-dogs (Cwn wybir or aunwy) of Wales,
+and Roscommon dog of Ireland.
+Of the Goat, the Dog, and some other diabolised animals, enough
+has been said in previous pages. The nocturnal animals would be
+as naturally caught up into the Wild Huntsman's train as belated
+peasants. But it is necessary to dwell a little on the relations of
+the Horse to this Wild Hunt. It was the Horse that made the primitive
+king among men.
+'The Horse,' says Dasent, 'was a sacred animal among the Teutonic
+tribes from the first moment of their appearance in history; and
+Tacitus has related how, in the shade of those woods and groves which
+served them for temples, white horses were fed at the public cost,
+whose backs no mortal crossed, whose neighings and snortings were
+carefully watched as auguries and omens, and who were thought to be
+conscious of divine mysteries. In Persia, too, the classical reader
+will remember how the neighing of a horse decided the choice for the
+crown. Here in England, at any rate, we have only to think of Hengist
+and Horsa, the twin heroes of the Anglo-Saxon migration--as the legend
+ran--heroes whose name meant horse, and of the Vale of the White Horse,
+in Berks, where the sacred form still gleams along the down, to be
+reminded of the sacredness of the horse to our forefathers. The Eddas
+are filled with the names of famous horses, and the Sagas contain many
+stories of good steeds, in whom their owners trusted and believed as
+sacred to this or that particular god. Such a horse is Dapplegrimm
+in the Norse tales, who saves his master out of all his perils, and
+brings him to all fortune, and is another example of that mysterious
+connection with the higher powers which animals in all ages have been
+supposed to possess.'
+It was believed that no warrior could approach Valhalla except on
+horseback, and the steed was generally buried with his master. The
+Scandinavian knight was accustomed to swear 'by the shoulder of a
+horse and the edge of a sword.' Odin (the god) was believed to have
+always near him the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, whose sire was the
+wonderful Svaldilfari, who by night drew the enormous stones for the
+fortress defending Valhalla from the frost-giants. On Sleipnir the
+deity rode to the realm of Hela, when he evoked the spirit of the
+deceased prophetess, Vala, with Runic incantations, to learn Baldur's
+fate. This is the theme of the Veytamsvida, paraphrased by Gray in
+his ode beginning--
+Up rose the king of men with speed,
+And saddled straight his coal-black steed
+The steed, however, was not black, but grey. Sleipnir was the foal of
+a magically-created mare. The demon-mare (Mara) holds a prominent place
+in Scandinavian superstition, besetting sleepers. In the Ynglinga Saga,
+Vanland awakes from sleep, crying, 'Mara is treading on me!' His men
+hasten to help him, but when they take hold of his head Mara treads
+on his legs, and when they hold his legs she tramples on his head;
+and so, says Thiodolf--
+Trampled to death, to Skyta's shore
+The corpse his faithful followers bore;
+And there they burnt, with heavy hearts,
+The good chief, killed by witchcraft's arts.
+All this is, of course, the origin of the common superstition of
+the nightmare. The horse-shoe used against witches is from the same
+region. We may learn here also the reason why hippophagy has been so
+long unknown among us. Odin's boar has left his head on our Christmas
+tables, but Olaf managed to rob us of the horse-flesh once eaten in
+honour of that god. In the eleventh century he proclaimed the eating
+of horse-flesh a test of paganism, as baptism was of Christianity,
+and punished it with death, except in Iceland, where it was permitted
+by an express stipulation on their embracing Christianity. To these
+facts it may be added that originally the horse's head was lifted,
+as the horse-shoe is now, for a charm against witches. When Wittekind
+fought twenty years against Charlemagne, the ensign borne by his
+Saxon followers was a horse's head raised on a pole. A white horse
+on a yellow ground is to-day the Hanoverian banner, its origin being
+undoubtedly Odinistic.
+The christian edict against the eating of horse-flesh had probably
+a stronger motive than sentimental opposition to paganism. A Roman
+emperor had held the stirrup for a christian pontiff to mount,
+and something of the same kind occurred in the North. The Horse,
+which had been a fire-breathing devil under Odin, became a steed of
+the Sun under the baptized noble and the bishop. Henceforth we read
+of coal-black and snow-white horses, as these are mounted in the
+interest of the old religion or the new.
+It is very curious to observe how far and wide has gone religious
+competition for possession of that living tower of strength--the
+Horse. In ancient Ceylon we find the Buddhist immigrants winning over
+the steed on which the aborigines were fortified. It was a white horse,
+of course, that became their symbol of triumph. The old record says--
+'A certain yakkhini (demoness) named Chetiya, having the form and
+countenance of a mare, dwelt near the marsh of Tumbariungona. A
+certain person in the prince's (Pandukabhayo) retinue having seen this
+beautiful (creature), white with red legs, announced the circumstance
+to the prince. The prince set out with a rope to secure her. She
+seeing him approach from behind, losing her presence of mind from
+fear, under the influence of his imposing appearance, fled without
+(being able to exert the power she possessed of) rendering herself
+invisible. He gave chase to the fugitive. She, persevering in her
+flight, made the circuit of the marsh seven times. She made three
+more circuits of the marsh, and then plunged into the river at the
+Kachchhaka ferry. He did the same, and (in the river) seized her
+by the tail, and (at the same time grasped) the leaf of a palmira
+tree which the stream was carrying down. By his supernatural good
+fortune this (leaf) became an enormous sword. Exclaiming, 'I put
+thee to death!' he flourished the sword over her. 'Lord!' replied
+she to him, 'subduing this kingdom for thee, I will confer it on
+thee: spare me my life.' Seizing her by the throat, and with the
+point of the sword boring her nostril, he secured her with his rope:
+she (instantly) became tractable. Conducting her to the Dhumarakkho
+mountain, he obtained a great accession of warlike power by making her
+his battle-steed.' [193] The wonderful victories won by the prince,
+aided by this magical mare, are related, and the tale ends with his
+setting up 'within the royal palace itself the mare-faced yakkhini,'
+and providing for her annually 'demon offerings.'
+Equally ambiguous with the Horse in this zoologic diablerie
+is the Stag. In the Heraklean legends we find that hero's son,
+Telephon, nursed by a hind in the woods; and on the other hand,
+his third 'labour' was the capture of Artemis' gold-antlered stag,
+which brought on him her wrath (it being 'her majesty's favourite
+stag'). We have again the story of Actæon pursuing the stag too far
+and suffering the fate he had prepared for it; and a reminiscence
+of it in the 'Pentamerone,' when the demon Huoreo allures Canneloro
+into the wood by taking the form of a beautiful hind. These complex
+legends are reflected in Northern folklore also. Count Otto I. of
+Altmark, while out hunting, slept under an oak and dreamed that he
+was furiously attacked by a stag, which disappeared when he called
+on the name of God. The Count built a monastery, which still stands,
+with the oak's stump built into its altar. On the other hand, beside
+the altar of a neighbouring church hang two large horns of a stag
+said to have brought a lost child home on its back. Thus in the old
+town of Steindal meet these contrary characters of the mystical stag,
+of which it is not difficult to see that the evil one results from its
+misfortune in being at once the huntsman's victim and scapegoat. 
+In the legend of St. Hubert we have the sign of Christ--risen
+from his tomb among the rich Christians to share for a little the
+crucifixion of their first missionaries in the North--to the huntsmen
+of Europe. Hubert pursues the stag till it turns to face him, and
+behold, between its antlers, the cross! It is a fable conceived in the
+spirit of him who said to fishermen, 'Come with me and I will make you
+fishers of men.' The effect was much the same in both cases. Hubert
+kneels before the stag, and becomes a saint, as the fishermen left
+their nets and became apostles. But, as the proverb says, when the
+saint's day is over, farewell the saint. The fishermen's successors
+caught men with iron hooks in their jaws; the successors of Hubert
+hunted men and women so lustily that they never paused long enough
+to see whether there might not be a cross on their forehead also.
+It was something, however, that the cross which Constantine could
+only see in the sky could be seen by any eye on the forehead of a
+harmless animal; and this not only because it marked the rising in
+christian hearts of pity for the animals, but because what was done to
+the flying stag was done to the peasant who could not fly, and more
+terribly. The vision of Hubert came straight from the pagan heart of
+Western and Northern Europe. In the Bible, from Genesis to Apocalypse,
+no word is found clearly inculcating any duty to the animals. So
+little, indeed, could the christians interpret the beautiful tales
+of folklore concerning kindly beasts, out of which came the legend
+of Hubert, that Hubert was made patron of huntsmen; and while, by
+a popular development, Wodan was degraded to a devil, the baptized
+sportsman rescued his chief occupation by ascribing its most dashing
+legends to St. Martin and their inspiration to the Archangel Michael.
+It is now necessary to consider the light which the German heart cast
+across the dark shadows of Wodan. This is to be discovered in the myth
+of the White Lady. We have already seen, in the confessions of the
+witches of Elfdale, in Sweden, that when they were gathering before
+their formidable Devil, a certain White Spirit warned them back. The
+children said she tried to keep them from entering the Devil's Church
+at Blockula. This may not be worth much as a 'confession,' but it
+sufficiently reports the theories prevailing in the popular mind of
+Elfdale at that time. It is not doubtful now that this White Lady and
+that Devil she opposed were, in pre-christian time, Wodan and his wife
+Frigga. The humble people who had gladly given up the terrible huntsman
+and warrior to be degraded into a Devil, and with him the barbaric
+Nimrods who worshipped him, did not agree to a similar surrender
+of their dear household goddess, known to them as Frigga, Holda,
+Bertha, Mother Rose,--under all her epithets the Madonna of the North,
+interceding between them and the hard king of Valhalla, ages before
+they ever heard of a jealous Jehovah and a tender interceding Mary.
+Dr. Wuttke has collected many variants of the myths of Frigga, some
+of which bear witness to the efforts of the Church to degrade her
+also into a fiend. She is seen washing white clothes at fountains,
+milking cows, spinning flax with a distaff, or combing her flaxen
+hair. She was believed to be the divine ancestress of the human
+race; many of the oldest families claimed descent from her, and
+believed that this Ahnenfrau announced to them good fortune, or,
+by her wailing, any misfortune coming to their families. She brought
+evil only to those who spoke evil of her. If any one shoots at her
+the ball enters his own heart. She appears to poor wandering folk,
+especially children, and guides them to spots where they find heaps
+of gold covered with the flower called 'Forget-me-not'--because her
+gentle voice is heard requesting, as the only compensation, that the
+flowers shall be replaced when the gold is removed. The primroses are
+sacred to her, and often are the keys (thence called 'key-blossoms')
+which unlock her treasures. The smallest tribute she repays,--even a
+pebble consecrated to her. Every child ascending the Burgeiser Alp
+places a stone on a certain heap of such, with the words, 'Here I
+offer to the wild maidens.' These are Bertha's kindly fairies. (When
+Frederika Bremer was with a picnic on the Hudson heights, which
+Washington Irving had peopled with the Spirits he had brought from
+the Rhine, she preferred to pour out her champagne as a libation to
+the 'good spirits' of Germany and America.) The beautiful White Lady
+wears a golden chain, and glittering keys at her belt; she appears at
+mid-day or in strong moonlight. In regions where priestly influence
+is strong she is said to be half-black, half-white, and to appear
+sometimes as a serpent. She often helps the weary farmer to stack
+his corn, and sorely-tasked Cinderellas in their toil.
+In pre-christian time this amiable goddess--called oftenest Bertha
+(shining) and Mother Rose--was related to Wodan as the spring
+and summer to the storms of winter, in which the Wild Huntsman's
+procession no doubt originated. The Northman's experience of seed-time
+and harvest was expressed in the myth of this sweet Rose hidden
+through the winter's blight to rise again in summer. This myth has
+many familiar variants, such as Aschenputtel and Sleeping Beauty;
+but it was more particularly connected with the later legends of
+the White Lady, as victim of the Wild Huntsman, by the stories of
+transformed princesses delivered by youths. Rescue of the enchanted
+princess is usually effected by three kisses, but she is compelled
+to appear before the deliverer in some hideous aspect--as toad or
+serpent; so that he is repelled or loses courage. This is the rose
+hid under the ugliness of winter.
+When the storm-god Wodan was banished from nature altogether and
+identified with the imported, and naturally inconceivable, Satan, he
+was no more regarded as Frigga's rough lord, but as her remorseless
+foe. She was popularly revered as St. Walpurga, the original May
+Queen, and it was believed that happy and industrious children
+might sometimes see her on May-day with long flowing flaxen hair,
+fine shoes, distaff in hand, and a golden crown on her head. But for
+the nine nights after May-day she was relentlessly pursued by the
+Wild Huntsman and his mounted train. There is a picture by G. Watts
+of the hunted lady of Bocaccio's tale, now in the Cosmopolitan Club
+of London, which vividly reproduces the weird impressiveness of this
+myth. The White Lady tries to hide from her pursuer in standing corn,
+or gets herself bound up in a sheaf. The Wild Huntsman's wrath extends
+to all her retinue,--moss maidens of the wood, or Holtzweibeln. The
+same belief characterises Waldemar's hunt. It is a common legend in
+Denmark that King Volmer rode up to some peasants, busy at harvest
+on Sobjerg Hill, and, in reply to his question whether they had
+seen any game, one of the men said--'Something rustled just now in
+yonder standing corn.' The King rushed off, and presently a shot was
+heard. The King reappeared with a mermaid lying across his horse, and
+said as he passed, 'I have chased her a hundred years, and have her at
+last.' He then rode into the hill. In this way Frigga and her little
+people, hunted with the wild creatures, awakened sympathy for them.
+The holy friar. Eckhardt (who may be taken as a myth and type of the
+Church ad hoc) gained his legendary fame by being supposed to go in
+advance of the Wild Huntsman and warn villagers of his approach; but
+as time went on and a compromise was effected between the hunting
+Barons and the Church, on the basis that the sports and cruelties
+should be paid for with indulgence-fees, Eckhardt had to turn his
+attention rather to the White Lady. She was declared a Wild Huntress,
+but the epithet slipped to other shoulders. The priests identified
+her ultimately with Freija, or Frau Venus; and Eckhardt was the holy
+hermit who warned young men against her sorceries in Venusberg and
+elsewhere. But Eckhardt never prevailed against the popular love
+of Mother Rose as he had against her pursuer; he only increased
+the attractions of 'Frau Venus' beyond her deserts. In the end it
+was as much as the Church could do to secure for Mary the mantle
+of her elder sister's sanctity. Even then the earlier faith was not
+eradicated. After the altars of Mary had fallen, Frigga had vitality
+enough to hold her own as the White Witch who broke the Dark One's
+spells. It was chiefly this helpful Mother-goddess to whom the wretched
+were appealing when they were burnt for witchcraft.
+At Urselberg, Wurtemberg, there is a deep hole called the
+'Nightmaidens' Retreat,' in which are piled the innumerable stones that
+have been cast therein by persons desiring good luck on journeys. These
+stones correspond to the bones of the 11,000 Virgins in St. Ursula's
+Church at Cologne. The White Lady was sainted under her name of Ursel
+(the glowing one), otherwise Horsel. Horselberg, near Eisenach, became
+her haunt as Venus, the temptress of Tannhaüsers; Urselberg became her
+retreat as the good fairy mother; but the attractions of herself and
+her moss-maidens, which the Church wished to borrow, were taken on a
+long voyage to Rome, and there transmuted to St. Ursula and her 11,000
+Virgins. These Saints of Cologne encountered their ancient mythical
+pursuers--the Wild Huntsman's train--in those barbarian Huns who are
+said to have slaughtered them all because they would not break their
+vows of chastity. The legend is but a variant of Wodan's hunt after
+the White Lady and her maidens. When it is remembered that before
+her transformation by Christianity Ursula was the Huntsman's own
+wife, Frigga, a quaint incident appears in the last meeting between
+the two. After Wodan had been transformed to the Devil, he is said
+to have made out the architectural plan for Cologne Cathedral, and
+offered it to the architect in return for a bond for his soul; but,
+having weakly allowed him to get possession of the document before
+the bond was signed, the architect drew from under his gown a bone of
+St. Ursula, from which the Devil fled in great terror. It was bone
+of his bone; but after so many mythological vicissitudes Wodan and
+his Horsel could hardly be expected to recognise each other at this
+chance meeting in Cologne.
+LE BON DIABLE.
+The Devil repainted--Satan a divine agent--St. Orain's
+heresy--Primitive universalism--Father Sinistrari--Salvation of
+demons--Mediæval sects--Aquinas--His prayer for Satan--Popular
+antipathies--The Devil's gratitude--Devil defending
+innocence--Devil against idle lords--The wicked ale-wife--Pious
+offenders punished--Anachronistic Devils--Devils turn to
+poems--Devil's good advice--Devil sticks to his word--His love
+of justice--Charlemagne and the Serpent--Merlin--His prison of
+Air--Mephistopheles in Heaven.
+The phrase which heads this chapter is a favourite one in France. It
+may have had a euphemistic origin, for the giants dreaded by primitive
+Europeans were too formidable to be lightly spoken of. But within
+most of the period concerning which we have definite knowledge such
+phrases would more generally have expressed the half-contemptuous pity
+with which these huge beings with weak intellects were regarded. The
+Devil imported with Christianity was made over, as we have seen,
+into the image of the Dummeteufel, or stupid good-natured giant, and
+he is represented in many legends which show him giving his gifts and
+services for payments of which he is constantly cheated. Le Bon Diable
+in France is somewhat of this character, and is often taken as the
+sign of tradesmen who wish to represent themselves as lavishing their
+goods recklessly for inadequate compensation. But the large accession
+of demons and devils from the East through Jewish and Moslem channels,
+of a character far from stupid, gave a new sense to that phrase and
+corresponding ones. There is no doubt that a very distinct reaction
+in favour of the Devil arose in Europe, and one expressive of very
+interesting facts and forces. The pleasant names given him by the
+masses would alone indicate this,--Monsieur De Scelestat, Lord Voland,
+Blümlin (floweret), Federspiel (gay-plumed), Maitre Bernard, Maitre
+Parsin (Parisian).
+The Devil is not so black as he's painted. This proverb concerning the
+long-outlawed Evil One has a respectable antiquity, and the feeling
+underlying it has by no means been limited to the vulgar. Even the
+devout George Herbert wrote--
+We paint the Devil black, yet he
+Hath some good in him all agree.
+Robert Burns naively appeals to Old Nick's better nature--
+But fare ye weel, auld Nickie-ben!
+O wad ye tak a thought an' men'!
+Ye aiblins might--I dinna ken--
+Still ha'e a stake;
+I'm wae to think upon yon den,
+E'en for your sake!
+It is hard to destroy the natural sentiments of the human
+heart. However much they may be overlaid by the transient exigencies
+of a creed, their indestructible nature is pretty certain to reveal
+itself. The most orthodox supporters of divine cruelty in their
+own theology will cry out against it in another. The saint who is
+quite satisfied that the everlasting torture of Satan or Judas is
+justice, will look upon the doom of Prometheus as a sign of heathen
+heartlessness; and the burning of one widow for a few moments on
+her husband's pyre will stimulate merciful missionary ardour among
+millions of christians whose creed passes the same poor victim to
+endless torture, and half the human race with her.
+It is doubtful whether the general theological conception of the
+functions of Satan is consistent with the belief that he is in a state
+of suffering. As an agent of divine punishment he is a part of the
+divine government; and it is even probable that had it not been for
+the necessity of keeping up his office, theology itself would have
+found some means of releasing him and his subordinates from hell,
+and ultimately of restoring them to heaven and virtue. 
+It is a legend of the island Iona that when St. Columba attempted to
+build a church there, the Devil--i.e., the same Druid magicians who
+tried to prevent his landing there by tempests--threw down the stones
+as often as they were piled up. An oracle declared that the church
+could arise only after some holy man had been buried alive at the spot,
+and the saint's friend Orain offered himself for the purpose. After
+Orain had been buried, and the wall was rising securely, St. Columba
+was seized with a strong desire to look upon the face of his poor
+friend once more. The wall was pulled down, the body dug up; but
+instead of Orain being found dead, he sat up and told the assembled
+christians around him that he had been to the other world, and
+discovered that they were in error about various things,--especially
+about Hell, which really did not exist at all. Outraged by this heresy
+the christians immediately covered up Orain again in good earnest.
+The resurrection of this primitive universalist of the seventh century,
+and his burial again, may be regarded as typifying a dream of the
+ultimate restoration of the universe to the divine sway which has
+often given signs of life through christian history, though many times
+buried. The germ of it is even in Paul's hope that at last 'God may be
+all in all' (1 Cor. xv. 28). In Luke x. 17, also, it was related that
+the seventy whom Jesus had sent out among the idol-worshipping Gentiles
+'returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject
+unto us through thy name.' These ideas are recalled in various legends,
+such as that elsewhere related of the Satyr who came to St. Anthony to
+ask his prayers for the salvation of his demonic tribe. On the strength
+of Anthony's courteous treatment of that Satyr, the famous Consulteur
+of the Inquisition, Father Sinistrari (seventeenth century), rested
+much of his argument that demons were included in the atonement wrought
+by Christ and might attain final beatitude. The Father affirmed that
+this was implied in Christ's words, 'Other sheep I have which are not
+of this flock: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;
+and there shall be one fold and one shepherd' [196] (John x. 16). That
+these words were generally supposed to refer to the inclusion of the
+Gentile world was not accepted by Sinistrari as impairing his argument,
+but the contrary. He maintained with great ingenuity that the salvation
+of the Gentiles logically includes the salvation of their inspiring
+demons, and that there would not be one fold if these aerial beings,
+whose existence all authorities attested, were excluded. He even
+intimates, though more timidly, that their father, Satan himself,
+as a participator in the sin of Adam and sharer of his curse, may
+be included in the general provision of the deity for the entire and
+absolute removal of the curse throughout nature.
+Sinistrari's book was placed on the 'Index Expurgatorius' at Rome in
+1709, 'donec corrigatur,' eight years after the author's death; it was
+republished, 'correctus,' 1753. But the fact that such sentiments had
+occupied many devout minds in the Church, and that they had reached
+the dignity of a consistent and scholarly statement in theology, was
+proved. The opinion grew out of deeper roots than New Testament phrases
+or the Anthony fables. The Church had been for ages engaged in the vast
+task of converting the Gentile world; in the course of that task it had
+succeeded only by successive surrenders of the impossible principles
+with which it had started. The Prince of this World had been baptized
+afresh with every European throne ascended by the Church. Asmodeus
+had triumphed in the sacramental inclusion of marriage; St. Francis
+d'Assisi, preaching to the animals, represented innumerable pious
+myths which had been impossible under the old belief in a universal
+curse resting upon nature. The evolution of this tendency may be
+traced through the entire history of the Church in such sects as the
+Paulicians, Cathari, Bogomiles, and others, who, though they again
+and again formulated anew the principle of an eternal Dualism, as
+often revealed some further stage in the progressive advance of the
+christianised mind towards a normal relation with nature. Thus the
+Cathari maintained that only those beings who were created by the
+evil principle would remain unrecovered; those who were created by
+God, but seduced by the Adversary, would be saved after sufficient
+expiation. The fallen angels, they believed, were passing through
+earthly, in some cases animal, bodies to the true Church and to
+heaven. Such views as these were not those of the learned, but of the
+dissenting sects, and they prepared ignorant minds in many countries
+for that revival of confidence in their banished deities which made
+the cult of Witchcraft.
+St. Thomas Aquinas, the 'Angelical Doctor,' in his famous work
+'Summa Theologiæ,' maintains that in the Resurrection the bodies of
+the redeemed will rise with all their senses and organs, including
+those of sex, active and refined. The authentic affirmation of that
+doctrine in the thirteenth century was of a significance far beyond
+the comprehension of the Church. Aquinas confused the lines between
+flesh and spirit, especially by admitting sex into heaven. The Devil
+could not be far behind. The true interpretation of his doctrine is to
+be found in the legend that Aquinas passed a night in prayer for the
+salvation and restoration of the Devil. This legend is the subject
+of a modern poem so fraught with the spirit of the mediæval heart,
+pining in its dogmatic prison, that I cannot forbear quoting it here:--
+All day Aquinas sat alone;
+Compressed he sat and spoke no word,
+As still as any man of stone,
+In streets where never voice is heard;
+With massive front and air antique
+He sat, did neither move or speak,
+For thought like his seemed words too weak.
+The shadows brown about him lay;
+From sunrise till the sun went out,
+Had sat alone that man of grey,
+That marble man, hard crampt by doubt;
+Some kingly problem had he found,
+Some new belief not wholly sound,
+Some hope that overleapt all bound.
+All day Aquinas sat alone,
+No answer to his question came,
+And now he rose with hollow groan,
+And eyes that seemed half love, half flame.
+On the bare floor he flung him down,
+Pale marble face, half smile, half frown,
+Brown shadow else, mid shadows brown.
+'O God,' he said, 'it cannot be,
+Thy Morning-star, with endless moan,
+Should lift his fading orbs to thee,
+And thou be happy on thy throne.
+It were not kind, nay, Father, nay,
+It were not just, O God, I say,
+Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray!
+'How can thy kingdom ever come,
+While the fair angels howl below?
+All holy voices would be dumb,
+All loving eyes would fill with woe,
+To think the lordliest Peer of Heaven,
+The starry leader of the Seven,
+Would never, never, be forgiven.
+'Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray!
+O Word that made thine angel speak!
+Lord! let thy pitying tears have way;
+Dear God! not man alone is weak.
+What is created still must fall,
+And fairest still we frailest call;
+Will not Christ's blood avail for all?
+'Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray!
+O Father! think upon thy child;
+Turn from thy own bright world away,
+And look upon that dungeon wild.
+O God! O Jesus! see how dark
+That den of woe! O Saviour! mark
+How angels weep, how groan! Hark, hark!
+'He will not, will not do it more,
+Restore him to his throne again;
+Oh, open wide that dismal door
+Which presses on the souls in pain.
+So men and angels all will say,
+'Our God is good.' Oh, day by day,
+Pray for thy Lost One, Jesus, pray!'
+All night Aquinas knelt alone,
+Alone with black and dreadful Night,
+Until before his pleading moan
+The darkness ebbed away in light.
+Then rose the saint, and 'God,' said he,
+'If darkness change to light with thee,
+The Devil may yet an angel be.' 
+While this might be the feeling of devout philosophers whose minds
+were beginning to form a conception of a Cosmos in which the idea
+of a perpetual empire of Evil could find no place, the humble and
+oppressed masses, as we have seen in the chapter on Witchcraft,
+were familiarising their minds with the powers and glories of a
+Satan in antagonism to the deities and saints of the Church. It was
+not a penitent devil supplicating for pardon whom they desired, but
+the veritable Prince of the World, to whom as well as to themselves
+their Christian oppressors were odious. They invested the Powers which
+the priests pronounced infernal with those humanly just and genial
+qualities that had been discarded by ecclesiastical ambition. The
+legends which must be interpreted in this sense are very numerous,
+and a few of the most characteristic must suffice us here. The habit of
+attributing every mishap to the Devil was rebuked in many legends. One
+of these related that when a party were driving over a rough road
+the waggon broke down and one of the company exclaimed, 'This is a
+bit of the Devil's work!' A gentleman present said, 'It is a bit of
+corporation work. I don't believe in saddling the Devil with all the
+bad roads and bad axles.' Some time after, when this second speaker was
+riding over the same road alone, an old gentleman in black met him,
+and having thanked him for his defence of the Devil, presented him
+with a casket of splendid jewels. Very numerous are legends of the
+Devil's apparition to assist poor architects and mechanics unable
+to complete their contracts, even carving beautiful church pillars
+and the like for them, and this sometimes without receiving any
+recompense. The Devil's apparition in defence of accused innocence is
+a well-known feature of European folklore. On one occasion a soldier,
+having stopped at a certain inn, confided to the innkeeper some money
+he had for safe-keeping, and when he was about to leave the innkeeper
+denied having received the deposit. The soldier battered down the door,
+and the neighbours of the innkeeper, a prominent man in the town,
+put him in prison, where he lay in prospect of suffering death for an
+attempted burglary. The poor soldier, being a stranger without means,
+was unable to obtain counsel to defend him. When the parties appeared
+before the magistrate, a smart young lawyer, with blue hat and white
+feathers, unknown in the town, volunteered to defend the soldier,
+and related the whole story with such effect that the innkeeper in his
+excitement cried, 'Devil take me if I have the money!' Instantly the
+smart lawyer spread his wings, and, seizing the innkeeper, disappeared
+with him through the roof of the court-room. The innkeeper's wife,
+struck with horror, restored the money. In an Altmark version of
+this story the Devil visits the prisoner during the previous night
+and asks for his soul as fee, but the soldier refuses, saying he had
+rather die. Despite this the Devil intervened. It was an old-time
+custom in Denmark for courts to sit with an open window, in order
+that the Devil might more easily fly away with the perjurer.
+Always a democrat, the Devil is said in many stories to have interfered
+in favour of the peasant or serf against the noble. On one occasion he
+relieved a certain district of all its arrogant and idle noblemen by
+gathering them up in a sack and flying away with them; but unhappily,
+as he was passing over the town of Friesack, his sack came in collision
+with the church steeple, and through the hole so torn a large number
+of noble lords fell into the town--which thence derived its name--and
+there they remained to be patrons of the steeple and burthens on
+the people.
+The Devil was universally regarded as a Nemesis on all publicans and
+ale-wives who adulterated the beer they dealt out to the people, or
+gave short measures. At Reetz, in Altmark, the legend of an ale-wife
+with whom he flew away is connected with a stone on which they are said
+to have rested, and the villagers see thereon prints of the Devil's
+hoof and the woman's feet. This was a favourite theme of old English
+legends. The accompanying Figure (23), one of the misereres in Ludlow
+parish church, Shropshire, represents the end of a wicked ale-wife. A
+devil on one side reads the long list of her shortcomings, and on the
+other side hell-mouth is receiving other sinners. A devil with bagpipe
+welcomes her arrival. She carries with her only her fraudulent measure
+and the fashionable head-dress paid for out of its wicked gains.
+In a marionette performance which I witnessed at Tours, the accusations
+brought against the tradesmen who cheated the people were such as to
+make one wish that the services of some equally strict devil could
+be secured by the authorities of all cities, to detect adulterators
+and dealers in false weights and measures. The same retributive
+agency, in the popular interest, was ascribed to the Devil in his
+attitude towards misers. There being no law which could reach men
+whose hoarded wealth brought no good to themselves or others, such
+were deemed proper cases for the interposition of the Devil. There
+is a significant contrast between the legends favoured by the Church
+and those of popular origin. The former, made prominent in frescoes,
+often show how, at the weighing of souls, the sinner is saved by a
+saint or angel, or by some instance of service to the Church being
+placed in the scale against the otherwise heavier record of evil
+deeds. A characteristic legend is that which is the subject of the
+frescoes in the portico of St. Lorenzo Church at Rome (thirteenth
+century). St. Lawrence sees four devils passing his hermitage, and
+learns from them that they are going for the soul of Henry II. In
+the next scene, when the wicked Count is weighed, the scroll of his
+evil deeds far outweighs that of his good actions, until the Saint
+casts into the scale a chalice which the prince had once given to his
+church. For that one act Henry's soul ascends to paradise amid the
+mortification of the Devils. Though Charles Martel saved Europe from
+Saracen sway, he once utilised episcopal revenues for relief of the
+state; consequently a synod declares him damned, a saint sees him in
+hell, a sulphurous dragon issues from his grave. On the other hand,
+the popular idea of the fate of distinguished sinners may be found
+hid under misereres, where kings sometimes appear in Hell, and in
+the early picture-books which contained a half-christianised folklore.
+It has been observed that the early nature-deities, reflecting the
+evil and good of nature, in part through the progress of human
+thought and ideality, and through new ethnical rivalries, were
+degraded into demons. They then represented the pains, obstructions,
+and fears in nature. We have seen that as these apparent external
+evils were vanquished or better understood, the demons passed
+to the inward nature, and represented a new series of pains,
+obstructions, and fears. But these, too, were in part vanquished, or
+better understood. Still more, they so changed their forms that the
+ancient demons-turned-devils were no longer sufficiently expressive
+to represent them. Thus we find that the Jews, mohammedans, and
+christians did not find their several special antagonists impressively
+represented by either Satan, Iblis, or Beelzebub. Each, therefore,
+personified its foe in accordance with later experiences--an Opponent
+called Armillus, Aldajjail, Antichrist (all meaning the same thing),
+in whom all other devils were merged.
+As to their spirit; but as to their forms they shrank in size and
+importance, and did duty in small ways. We have seen how great dragons
+were engaged in frightening boys who fished on Sundays, or oppressive
+squires; how Satan presided over wine-casks, or was adapted to the
+punishment of profanity; how hosts of once tremendous fiends turned
+into the grotesque little forms which Callot, truly copying the popular
+notions around him, painted as motley imps disturbing monks at their
+prayers. Such diminutions of the devils correspond to a parallel
+process among the gods and goddesses, by which they were changed to
+'little people' or fairies. In both cases the transformation is an
+expression of popular disbelief in their reality.
+But revivals took place. The fact of evil is permanent; and whenever
+the old chains of fear, after long rusting, finally break, there
+follows an insurrection against the social and moral order which
+alarms the learned and the pious. These see again the instigations
+of evil powers, and it takes form in the imagination of a Dante,
+a Luther, a Milton. But when these new portraits of the Devil are
+painted, it is with so much contemporary colouring that they do not
+answer to the traditional devils preserved in folklore. Dante's Worm
+does not resemble the serpent of fable, nor does Milton's Satan
+answer to the feathered clown of Miracle Plays. Thus, behind the
+actual evils which beset any time, there stands an array of grand
+diabolical names, detached from present perils, on which the popular
+fancy may work without really involving any theory of Absolute Evil
+at all. Were starry Lucifer to be restored to his heavenly sphere,
+he would be one great brand plucked from the burning, but the burning
+might still go on. Theology itself had filled the world with other
+devils by diabolising all the gods and goddesses of rival religions,
+and the compassionate heart was thus left free to select such forms or
+fair names as preserved some remnant of ancient majesty around them,
+or some ray from their once divine halo, and pray or hope for their
+pardon and salvation. Fallen foes, no longer able to harm, can hardly
+fail to awaken pity and clemency.
+With the picture of Dives and Lazarus presented elsewhere
+(vol. i. p. 281) may be instructively compared the accompanying
+scene of a rich man's death-bed (Fig. 24), taken from 'Ars Moriendi,'
+one of the early block-books. This picture is very remarkable from
+the suggestion it contains of an opposition between a devil on the
+dying man's right and the hideous dragon on his left. While the
+dragon holds up a scroll, bidding him think of his treasure (Yntende
+thesauro), the Devil suggests provision for his friends (Provideas
+amicis). This devil seems to be a representative of the rich man's
+relatives who stand near, and appears to be supported by his ugly
+superior, who points towards hell as the penalty of not making such
+provision as is suggested. There would appear to be in this picture
+a vague distinction between the mere bestial fiend who tempts, and
+the ugly but good-natured devil who punishes, and whom rich sinners
+cannot escape by bequests to churches.
+One of the most notable signs of the appearance of 'the good Devil'
+was the universal belief that he invariably stuck to his word. In
+all European folklore there is no instance of his having broken a
+promise. In this respect his reputation stands far higher than that
+of the christians, seeing that it was a boast of the saints that,
+following the example of their godhead, who outwitted Satan in the
+bargain for man's redemption, they were continually cheating the
+Devil by technical quibbles. There is a significant saying found
+among Prussian and Danish peasants, that you may obtain a thing by
+calling on Jesus, but if you would be sure of it you must call on
+the Devil! The two parties were judged by their representatives.
+One of the earliest legendary compacts with the Devil was that made
+by St. Theophilus in the sixth century; when he became alarmed and
+penitent, the Virgin Mary managed to trick Satan out of the fatal
+bond. The 'Golden Legend' of Jacobus de Voragine tells why Satan was
+under the necessity of demanding in every case a bond signed with
+blood. 'The christians,' said Satan, 'are cheats; they make all sorts
+of promises so long as they want me, and then leave me in the lurch,
+and reconcile themselves with Christ so soon as, by my help, they
+have got what they want.'
+Even apart from the consideration of possessing the soul, the
+ancient office of Satan as legal prosecutor of souls transmitted,
+to the latest forms into which he was modified, this character for
+justice. Many mediæval stories report his gratitude whenever he is
+treated with justice, though some of these are disguised by connection
+with other demonic forms. Such is the case with the following romance
+concerning Charlemagne.
+When Charlemagne dwelt at Zurich, in the house commonly called 'Zum
+Loch,' he had a column erected to which a bell was attached by a
+rope. Any one that demanded justice could ring this bell when the
+king was at his meals. It happened one day that the bell sounded,
+but when the servants went to look no one was there. It continued
+ringing, so the Emperor commanded them to go again and find out the
+cause. They now remarked that an enormous serpent approached the rope
+and pulled it. Terrified, they brought the news to the Emperor, who
+immediately rose in order to administer justice to beast as well as
+man. After the reptile had respectfully inclined before the emperor,
+it led him to the banks of the river and showed him, sitting upon
+its nest and eggs, an enormous toad. Charlemagne having examined
+the case decided thus:--The toad was condemned to be burnt and
+justice shown to the serpent. The verdict was no sooner given than
+it was accomplished. A few days after the snake returned to court,
+bowed low to the King, crept upon the table, took the cover from a
+gold goblet standing there, dropped into it a precious stone, bowed
+again and crept away. On the spot where the serpent's nest had been,
+Charlemagne built a church called 'Wasserkelch.' The stone he gave
+to his much-loved spouse. This stone possessed the power of making
+the owner especially loved by the Emperor, so that when absent from
+his queen he mourned and longed for her. She, well aware that if
+it came into other hands the Emperor would soon forget her, put it
+under her tongue in the hour of death. The queen was buried with
+the stone, but Charlemagne could not separate himself from the body,
+so had it exhumed, and for eighteen years carried it about with him
+wherever he went. In the meantime, a courtier who had heard of the
+secret virtue of the stone, searched the corpse, and at last found
+the stone hidden under the tongue, and took it away and concealed it
+on his own person. Immediately the Emperor's love for his wife turned
+to the courtier, whom he now scarcely permitted out of his sight. At
+Cologne the courtier in a fit of anger threw the stone into a hot
+spring, and since then no one has succeeded in finding it. The love
+the Emperor had for the knight ceased, but he felt himself wonderfully
+attracted to the place where the stone lay hidden. On this spot he
+founded Aix-la-Chapelle, his subsequent favourite place of residence.
+It is not wonderful that the tradition should arise at Aix, founded
+by the human hero of this romance, that the plan of its cathedral
+was supplied by the Devil; but it is characteristic there should be
+associated with this legend an example of how he who as a serpent
+was awarded justice by Charlemagne was cheated by the priests of
+Aix. The Devil gave the design on condition that he was to have the
+first who entered the completed cathedral, and a wolf was goaded into
+the structure in fulfilment of the contract!
+In the ancient myth and romaunt of 'Merlin' may be found the mediæval
+witness to the diabolised religion of Britain. The emasculated
+saints of the South-east could not satisfy the vigorous race in the
+North-west, and when its gods were outlawed as devils they brought
+the chief of them back, as it were, had him duly baptized and set
+about his old work in the form of Merlin! Here, side by side with the
+ascetic Jesus, brought by Gatien and Augustin, was a Northern Christ,
+son of an Arch-incubus, born of a Virgin, baptized in the shrunken
+Jordan of a font, performing miracles, summoning dragons to his aid,
+overcoming Death and Hell in his way, brought before his Pilate but
+confounding him, throning and dethroning kings, and leading forth, on
+the Day of Pentecost, an army whose knights are inspired by Guenever's
+kisses in place of flaming tongues. How Merlin 'went about doing good,'
+after the Northman's ideal of such work; how he saved the life of his
+unwedded mother by proving that her child (himself) was begotten by
+a devil without her knowledge; how, as a child, he exposed at once
+the pretension of the magistrate to high birth and the laxity of his
+lady and his parson; how he humiliated the priestly astrologers of
+Vortigern, and prophesied the destruction of that usurper just as
+it came to pass; how he served Uther during his seven years' reign,
+and by enabling him to assume the shape of the Duke of Cornwall
+and so enjoy the embraces of the Duchess Igerna, secured the birth
+of Arthur and hope of the Sangréal; [198] how he defended Arthur's
+legitimacy of birth and assisted him in causing illegitimate births;
+and how at last he was bound by his own spells, wielded by Vivien,
+in a prison of air where he now remains;--this was the great mediæval
+gospel of a baptized christian Antichrist which superseded the imported
+kingdom not of this world.
+Merlin was the Good Devil, but baptism was a fatal Vivien-spell to
+him. He still dwells in all the air which is breathed by Anglo-Saxon
+men,--an ever-expanding prison! Whether the Briton is transplanted in
+America, India, or Africa, he still carries with him the Sermon on the
+Mount as inspired by his baptized Prince of the Air, and his gospel
+of the day is, 'If thine enemy hunger, starve him; if he thirst, give
+him fire; if he hate you, heap melted lead on his head!' Such remains
+the soul of the greatest race, under the fatal spell of a creed that
+its barbarism needs only baptism to be made holiness and virtue.
+In the reign of George II., when Lord Bute and a Princess of easy
+virtue were preying on England, and fanatical preachers were
+directing their donkeys to heaven beside the conflagration of
+John Bull's house, the eye of Hogarth at least (as is shown in our
+Figure 25, from his 'Raree Show') was able to see what the baptized
+Merlin had become in his realm of Air. The other worldly-Devil is
+serpent-legged Hypocrisy. The Nineteenth Century has replaced Merlin
+by Mephistopheles, the Devil who, despite a cloven foot, steps firmly
+on earth, and means the power that wit and culture can bring against
+the baptized giant Force. Him the gods fear not, even look upon with
+satisfaction. In the 'Prologue in Heaven,' of Goethe's 'Faust,' the
+Lord is even more gracious to Mephistopheles than the Jehovah of Job
+was to Satan. 'The like of thee have never moved my hate,' he says--
+Man's active nature, flagging, seeks too soon the level;
+Unqualified repose he learns to crave;
+Whence, willingly, the comrade him I gave,
+Who works, excites, and must create, as Devil.
+This is but a more modern expression of the rabbinical fable,
+already noted, that when the first man was formed there were beside
+him two Spirits,--one on the right that remained quiescent, another
+on the left who ever moved restlessly up and down. When the first
+sin was committed, he of the left was changed to a devil. But he
+still meant the progressive, inquiring nature of man. 'The Spirit I,
+that evermore denies,' says the Mephistopheles of Goethe. How shall
+man learn truth if he know not the Spirit that denies? How shall
+he advance if he know not the Spirit of discontent? This restless
+spirit gains through his ignorance a cloven hoof,--a divided movement,
+sometimes right, sometimes wrong. From his selfishness it acquires
+a double tongue. But both hoof and serpent-tongue are beneath the
+evolutional power of experience; they shall be humanised to the foot
+that marches firmly on earth, and the tongue that speaks truth; and,
+the baptismal spell broken, Merlin shall descend, bringing to man's
+aid all his sharp-eyed dragons transformed to beautiful Arts.
+ANIMALISM.
+Celsus on Satan--Ferocities of inward nature--The Devil
+of Lust--Celibacy--Blue Beards--Shudendozi--A lady in
+distress--Bahirawa--The Black Prince--Madana Yaksenyo--Fair
+fascinators--Devil of Jealousy--Eve's jealousy--Noah's wife--How
+Satan entered the Ark--Shipwrights' Dirge--The Second Fall--The
+Drunken curse--Solomon's Fall--Cellar Devils--Gluttony--The
+Vatican haunted--Avarice--Animalised Devils--Man-shaped Animals.
+'The christians,' said Celsus, 'dream of some antagonist to God--a
+devil, whom they call Satanas, who thwarted God when he wished to
+benefit mankind. The Son of God suffered death from Satanas, but
+they tell us we are to defy him, and to bear the worst he can do;
+Satanas will come again and work miracles, and pretend to be God,
+but we are not to believe him. The Greeks tell of a war among the
+gods; army against army, one led by Saturn, and one by Ophincus; of
+challenges and battles; the vanquished falling into the ocean, the
+victors reigning in heaven. In the Mysteries we have the rebellion
+of the Titans, and the fables of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris. The
+story of the Devil plotting against man is stranger than either of
+these. The Son of God is injured by the Devil, and charges us to
+fight against him at our peril. Why not punish the Devil instead of
+threatening poor wretches whom he deceives?' 
+The christians comprehended as little as their critic that story
+they brought, stranger than all the legends of besieged deities, of a
+Devil plotting against man. Yet a little historic perspective makes
+the situation simple: the gods had taken refuge in man, therefore
+the attack was transferred to man.
+Priestly legends might describe the gods as victorious over the
+Titans, the wild forces of nature, but the people, to their sorrow,
+knew better; the priests, in dealing with the people, showed that
+they also knew the victory to be on the other side. A careful writer
+remarks:--'When these (Greek) divinities are in any case appealed to
+with unusual seriousness, their nature-character reappears.... When
+Poseidon hesitates to defer to the positive commands of Zeus
+(Il. xix. 259), Iris reminds him that there are the Erinnyes to
+be reckoned with (Il. xv. 204), and he gives in at once. [200] The
+Erinnyes represent the steady supremacy of the laws and forces of
+nature over all personifications of them. Under uniform experience
+man had come to recognise his own moral autocracy in his world. He
+looked for incarnations, and it was a hope born of an atheistic view
+of external nature. This was the case not only with the evolution of
+Greek religion, but in that of every religion.
+When man's hope was thus turned to rest upon man, he found that
+all the Titans had followed him. Ophincus (Ophion) had passed
+through Ophiomorphus to be a Man of Sin; and this not in one, but
+by corresponding forms in every line of religious development. The
+ferocities of outward nature appeared with all their force in man, and
+renewed their power with the fine armoury of his intelligence. He must
+here contend with tempests of passion, stony selfishness, and the whole
+animal creation nestling in heart and brain, prowling still, though on
+two feet. The theory of evolution is hardly a century old as science,
+but it is an ancient doctrine of Religion. The fables of Pilpay and
+Æsop represent an early recognition of 'survivals.' Recurrence to
+original types was recognised as a mystical phenomenon in legends of
+the bandit turned wolf, and other transformations. One of the oldest
+doctrines of Eschatology is represented in the accompanying picture
+(Fig. 26), from Thebes, of two dog-headed apes ferrying over to Hades
+a gluttonous soul that has been weighed before Osiris, and assigned
+his appropriate form.
+The devils of Lust are so innumerable that several volumes would be
+required to enumerate the legends and superstitions connected with
+them. But, fortunately for my reader and myself, these, more than
+any other class of phantoms, are very slight modifications of the
+same form. The innumerable phallic deities, the incubi and succubæ,
+are monotonous as the waves of the ocean, which might fairly typify
+the vast, restless, and stormy expanse of sexual nature to which
+they belong.
+In 'The Golden Legend' there is a pleasant tale of a gentleman
+who, having fallen into poverty, went into solitude, and was there
+approached by a chevalier in black, mounted on a fine horse. This
+knight having inquired the reason of the other's sadness, promised
+him that, if he would return home, he would find at a certain place
+vast sums of gold; but this was on condition that he should bring his
+beautiful wife to that solitary spot in exactly a year's time. The
+gentleman, having lived in greater splendour than ever during the
+year, asked his wife to ride out with him on the appointed day. She
+was very pious, and having prayed to the Virgin, accompanied her
+husband to the spot. There the gentleman in black met them, but only
+to tremble. 'Perfidious man!' he cried, 'is it thus you repay my
+benefits? I asked you to bring your wife, and you have brought me
+the Mother of God, who will send me back to hell!' The Devil having
+vanished, the gentleman fell on his knees before the Virgin. He
+returned home to find his wife sleeping quietly.
+Were we to follow this finely-mounted gentleman in black, we should be
+carried by no uncertain steps back to those sons of God who took unto
+themselves wives of the daughters of men, as told in Genesis; and if
+we followed the Virgin, we should, by less certain but yet probable
+steps, discover her prototype in Eve before her fall, virginal as
+she was meant to remain so far as man was concerned. In the chapters
+relating to the Eden myth and its personages, I have fully given my
+reasons for believing that the story of Eve, the natural childlessness
+of Sarah, and the immaculate conception by Mary, denote, as sea-rocks
+sometimes mark the former outline of a coast, a primitive theory
+of celibacy in connection with that of a divine or Holy Family. It
+need only be added here that this impossible ideal in its practical
+development was effectual in restraining the sexual passions of
+mankind. Although the reckless proclamation of the wild nature-gods
+(Elohim), 'Be fruitful and multiply,' has been accepted by christian
+bibliolators as the command of Jehovah, and philanthropists are even
+punished for suggesting means of withstanding the effects of nuptial
+licentiousness, yet they are farther from even the letter of the Bible
+than those protestant celibates, the American Shakers, who discard
+the sexual relation altogether. The theory of the Shakers that the
+functions of sex 'belong to a state of nature, and are inconsistent
+with a state of grace,' as one of their members in Ohio stated it to
+me, coincides closely with the rabbinical theory that Adam and Eve,
+by their sin, fell to the lowest of seven earthly spheres, and thus
+came within the influence of the incubi and succubæ, by their union
+with whom the world was filled with the demonic races, or Gentiles.
+It is probable that the fencing-off of Eden, the founding of the
+Abrahamic household and family, and the command against adultery, were
+defined against that system of rape--or marriage by capture--which
+prevailed among the 'sons of Elohim,' who saw the 'daughters of men
+that they were fair,' and followed the law of their eyes. The older
+rabbins were careful to preserve the distinction between the Bene
+Elohim and the Ischim, and it ultimately amounted to that between
+Jews and Gentiles.
+The suspicion of a devil lurking behind female beauty thus begins. The
+devils love beauty, and the beauties love admiration. These are perils
+in the constitution of the family. But there are other legends which
+report the frequency with which woman was an unwilling victim of the
+lustful Anakim or other powerful lords. Throughout the world are
+found legends of beautiful virgins sacrificed to powerful demons
+or deities. These are sometimes so realistic as to suggest the
+possibility that the fair captives of savage chieftains may indeed
+have been sometimes victims of their Ogre's voracity as well as his
+lust. At any rate, cruelty and lust are nearly related. The Blue
+Beard myth opens out horrible possibilities.
+One of the best-known legends in Japan is that concerning the
+fiend Shudendozi, who derives his name from the two characteristics
+of possessing the face of a child and being a heavy drinker. The
+child-face is so emphasised in the stories that one may suspect either
+that his fair victims were enticed to his stronghold by his air of
+innocence, or else that there is some hint as to maternal longings
+in the fable.
+At the beginning of the eleventh century, when Ichijo II. was Emperor,
+lived the hero Yorimitsa. In those days the people of Kiyoto were
+troubled by an evil spirit which abode near the Rasho Gate. One night,
+when merry with his companions, Ichijo said, 'Who dare go and defy
+the demon of the Rasho Gate, and set up a token that he has been
+there?' 'That dare I,' answered Tsuma, who, having donned his mail,
+rode out in the bleak night to the Rasho Gate. Having written his
+name on the gate, returning, his horse shivers with fear, and a
+huge hand coming out of the gate seized the knight's helmet. He
+struggled in vain. He then cuts off the demon's arm, and the demon
+flies howling. Tsuma takes the demon's arm home, and locks it in a
+box. One night the demon, having the shape of Tsuma's aunt, came and
+said, 'I pray you show me the arm of the fiend.' 'I will show it to
+no man, and yet to thee will I show it,' replied he. When the box
+is opened a black cloud enshrouds the aunt, and the demon disappears
+with the arm. Thereafter he is more troublesome than ever. The demon
+carried off the fairest virgins of Kiyoto, ravished and ate them,
+no beauty being left in the city. The Emperor commands Yorimitsa to
+destroy him. The hero, with four trusty knights and a great captain,
+went to the hidden places of the mountains. They fell in with an
+old man, who invited them into his dwelling, and gave them wine to
+drink; and when they were going he presented them with wine. This
+old man was a mountain-god. As they proceeded they met a beautiful
+lady washing blood from garments in a valley, weeping bitterly. In
+reply to their inquiries she said the demon had carried her off
+and kept her to wash his clothes, meaning when weary of her to
+eat her. 'I pray your lordships to help me!' The six heroes bid
+her lead them to the ogre's cave. One hundred devils mounted guard
+before it. The woman first went in and told him they had come. The
+ogre called them in, meaning to eat them. Then they saw Shudendozi,
+a monster with the face of a little child. They offered him wine,
+which flew to his head: he becomes merry and sleeps, and his head is
+cut off. The head leaps up and tries to bite Yorimitsa, but he had
+on two helmets. When all the devils are slain, he brings the head
+of Shudendozi to the Emperor. In a similar story of the same country
+the lustful ogre by no means possesses Shudendozi's winning visage,
+as may be seen by the popular representation of him (Fig. 27), with
+a knight's hand grasping his throat.
+A Singhalese demon of like class is Bahirawa, who takes his name
+from the hill of the same name, towering over Kandy, in which he
+is supposed to reside. The legend runs that the astrologers told
+a king whose queen was afflicted by successive miscarriages, that
+she would never be delivered of a healthy child unless a virgin was
+sacrificed annually on the top of this hill. This being done, several
+children were borne to him. When his queen was advanced in years the
+king discontinued this observance, and consequently many diseases
+fell upon the royal family and the city, after which the annual
+sacrifice was resumed, and continued until 1815, when the English
+occupied Kandy. The method of the sacrifice was to bind a young girl
+to a stake on the top of the hill with jungle-creepers. Beside her,
+on an altar, were placed boiled rice and flowers; incantations were
+uttered, and the girl left, to be generally found dead of fright in the
+morning. An old woman, who in early years had undergone this ordeal,
+survived, and her safety no doubt co-operated with English authority
+to diminish the popular fear of Bahirawa, but still few natives would
+be found courageous enough to ascend the hill at night.
+One of the lustful demons of Ceylon is Calu Cumara, that is, the Black
+Prince. He is supposed to have seven different apparitions,--prince
+of fire, of flowers, of groves, of graves, of eye-ointments, of
+the smooth body, and of sexuality. The Saga says he was a Buddhist
+priest, who by exceeding asceticism and accumulated merits had gained
+the power to fly, but passion for a beautiful woman caused him to
+fall. By disappointment in the love for which he had parted with so
+much his heart was broken, and he became a demon. In this condition
+he is for ever tortured by the passion of lustful desire, the only
+satisfaction of which he can obtain being to afflict young and fair
+women with illness. He is a very dainty demon, and can be soothed if
+great care is taken in the offerings made to him, which consist of
+rice of finest quality, plantains, sugar-cane, oranges, cocoa-nuts,
+and cakes. He is of dark-blue complexion and his raiment black.
+In Singhalese demonolatry there are seven female demons of lust,
+popularly called the Madana Yaksenyo. These sisters are--Cama (lust);
+Cini (fire); Mohanee (ignorance); Rutti (pleasure); Cala (maturity);
+Mal (flowers); Puspa (perfumes). They are the abettors of seduction,
+and are invoked in the preparation of philtres. 
+'It were well,' said Jason to Medea, 'that the female race should
+not exist; then would there not have been any evil among men.' The same sentiment is in Milton--
+Oh why did God,
+Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven
+With spirits masculine, create at last
+This novelty on earth, this fair defect
+Of nature, and not fill the world at once
+With men, as angels, without feminine? 
+Many traditions preceded this ungallant creed, some of which have
+been referred to in our chapters on Lilith and Eve. Corresponding
+to these are the stories related by Herodotus of the overthrow of
+the kingdom of the Heraclidæ and freedom of the Greeks, through
+the revenge of the Queen, 'the most beautiful of women,' upon her
+husband Candaules for having contrived that Gyges should see her
+naked. Candaules having been slain by Gyges at the instigation of the
+Queen, and married her, the Fates decreed that their crime should be
+punished on their fifth descendant. The overthrow was by Cyrus, and
+it was associated with another woman, Mandane, daughter of the tyrant
+Astyages, mother of Cyrus, who is thus, as the Madonna, to bruise
+the head of the serpent who had crept into the Greek Paradise. The Greeks of Pontus also ascribed the origin of the Scythian race,
+the scourge of all nations, to a serpent-woman, who, having stolen
+away the mares which Herakles had captured from Gergon, refused to
+restore them except on condition of having children by him. From the
+union of Herakles with this 'half virgin, half viper,' sprang three
+sons, of whom the youngest was Scythes.
+Not only are feminine seductiveness and liability to seduction
+represented in the legends of female demons and devils, but quite as
+much the jealousy of that sex. If the former were weaknesses which
+might overthrow kingdoms, the latter was a species of animalism which
+could devastate the home and society. Although jealousy is sometimes
+regarded as venial, if not indeed a sign of true love, it is an outcome
+of the animal nature. The Japanese have shown a true observation of
+nature in portraying their female Oni (devil) of jealousy (Fig. 28)
+with sharp erect horns and bristling hair. The raising 'of the
+ornamental plumes by many birds during their courtship,' mentioned
+by Mr. Darwin, is the more pleasing aspect of that emotion which,
+blending with fear and rage, puffs out the lizard's throat, ruffles
+the cock's neck, and raises the hair of the insane. 
+An ancient legend mingles jealousy with the myth of Eden at every
+step. Rabbi Jarchi says that the serpent was jealous of Adam's
+connubial felicity, and a passage in Josephus shows that this was an
+ancient opinion. The jealousy of Adam's second wife felt by his first
+(Lilith) was by many said to be the cause of her conspiracy with
+the serpent. The most beautiful mediæval picture of her that I have
+seen was in an illuminated Bible in Strasburg, in which, with all
+her wealth of golden hair and her beauty, Lilith holds her mouth,
+with a small rosy apple in it, towards Adam. Eve seems to snatch
+it. Then there is an old story that when Eve had eaten the apple
+she saw the angel of death, and urged Adam to eat the fruit also,
+in order that he might not become a widower.
+It is remarkable that there should have sprung up a legend that Satan
+made his second attack upon the race formed by Jehovah, and his plan
+for perpetuating it on earth by means of a flirtation with Noah's
+wife, and also by awakening her jealousy. The older legend concerning
+Noah's wife is that mentioned by Tabari, which merely states that she
+ridiculed the predictions of a deluge by her husband. So much might
+have been suggested by the silence of the Bible concerning her. The
+Moslem tradition that the Devil managed to get into the ark is also
+ancient. He caught hold of the ass's tail just as it was about to
+enter. The ass came on slowly, and Noah, becoming impatient, exclaimed,
+'You cursed one, come in quick!' When Noah, seeing the Devil in the
+ark, asked by what right he was there, the other said, 'By your order;
+you said, "Accursed one, come in;" I am the accursed one!' This story,
+which seems contrived to show that one may not be such an ass as he
+looks, was superseded by the legend which represents Satan as having
+been brought into the ark concealed under Noria's (or Noraita's) dress.
+The most remarkable legend of this kind is that found in the Eastern
+Church, and which is shown in various mediæval designs in Russia. Satan
+is shown, in an early sixteenth century picture belonging to Count
+Uvarof (Fig. 29), offering Noah's wife a bunch of khmel (hops) with
+which to brew kvas and make Noah drunk; for the story was that Noah
+did not tell his wife that a deluge was coming, knowing that she
+could not keep a secret. In the old version of the legend given by
+Buslaef, 'after apocryphal tradition used by heretics,' Satan always
+addresses Noah's wife as Eve, which indicates a theory. It was meant
+to be considered as a second edition of the attack on the divine
+plan begun in Eden, and revived in the temptation of Sara. Satan not
+only taught this new Eve how to make kvas but also vodka (brandy);
+and when he had awakened her jealousy about Noah's frequent absence,
+he bade her substitute the brandy for the beer when her husband,
+as usual, asked for the latter. When Noah was thus in his cups she
+asked him where he went, and why he kept late hours. He revealed his
+secret to his Eve, who disclosed it to Satan. The tempter appears
+to have seduced her from Noah, and persuaded her to be dilatory when
+entering the ark. When all the animals had gone in, and all the rest
+of her family, Eve said, 'I have forgotten my pots and pans,' and went
+to fetch them; next she said, 'I have forgotten my spoons and forks,'
+and returned for them. All of this had been arranged by Satan in order
+to make Noah curse; and he had just slipped under Eve's skirt when he
+had the satisfaction of hearing the intended Adam of a baptized world
+cry to his wife, 'Accursed one, come in!' Since Jehovah himself could
+not prevent the carrying out of a patriarch's curse, Satan was thus
+enabled to enter the ark, save himself from being drowned, and bring
+mischief into the human world once more.
+This is substantially the same legend as that of the mediæval Morality
+called 'Noah's Ark, or the Shipwright's Ancient Play or Dirge.' The
+Devil says to Noah's wife:--
+Yes, hold thee still le dame,
+And I shall tell thee how;
+I swear thee by my crooked snout,
+All that thy husband goes about
+Is little to thy profit.
+Yet shall I tell thee how
+Thou shalt meet all his will;
+Do as I shall bid thee now,
+Thou shalt meet every deal.
+Have here a drink full good
+That is made of a mightful main,
+Be he hath drunken a drink of this,
+No longer shall he learn:
+Believe, believe, my own dear dame,
+I may no longer bide;
+To ship when thou shalt sayre,
+I shall be by thy side.
+There are some intimations in the Slavonic version which look as if
+it might have belonged to some Paulician or other half-gnostic theory
+that the temptation of Noraita (Eve II.), and her alienation from
+her husband, were meant to prevent the repopulation of the Earth. 
+The next attempt of the Devil, as agent of the Elohistic creation,
+to ruin the race of man, introduces us to another form of animalism
+which has had a large expression in Devil-lore. It is related in
+rabbinical mythology that when, as is recorded in Gen. ix. 20, Noah
+was planting a vineyard, the Devil (Asmodeus) came and proposed to
+join him in the work. This having been agreed to, this evil partner
+brought in succession a sheep, a lion, and a hog, and sacrificed
+them on the spot. The result was that the wine when drunk first gave
+the drinker the quality of a sheep, then that of a lion, and finally
+that of a hog. [207] It was by this means that Noah was reduced to
+swinish inebriation. There followed the curses on those around him,
+which, however drunken, were those of a father, and reproduced on
+the cleansed world all the dooms which had been pronounced in Eden.
+If the date of this legend could be made early enough, it would appear
+to be a sort of revenge for this temptation of Noah to drunkenness
+that Talmudic fable shows Asmodeus brought under bondage to Solomon,
+and forced to work on the Temple, by means of wine. Asmodeus had
+dug for himself a well, and planted beside it a tree, so making for
+himself a pleasant spot for repose during his goings to and fro on
+earth. But Solomon's messenger Benaja managed to cover this with a
+tank which he filled with wine. Asmodeus, on his return, repeated
+to himself the proverb, 'Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging,
+and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise' (Prov. xx. 1); yet,
+being very thirsty, he drank, fell asleep, and when he awoke found
+himself loaded with chains.
+However, after working for a time for Solomon, he discovered that
+king's weaknesses and played upon them. Solomon was so puffed up with
+a sense of his power that he accepted a challenge from his slave
+(Asmodeus) to show his superiority without the assistance of his
+magic ring, and without keeping his competitor in bonds. No sooner
+was Asmodeus free, and in possession of the ring, than he transported
+Solomon four hundred miles away, where he remained for a long time
+among the seductive beauties of the Courts of Naamah, Rahab, and
+other she-devils. Meanwhile the Devil, assuming the form of Solomon,
+sat on his throne, and became the darling of his Queen and concubines.
+The Devil of Wine and strong drink generally has a wide representation
+in folklore. We find him in the bibulous Serpent of Japan, who first
+loses his eight heads metaphorically, and then literally from the first
+of Swords-men. The performances of Mephistopheles in Auerbach's Cellar
+are commemorated in its old frescoes, and its motto: 'Live, drink,
+carouse, remembering Faust and his punishment: it came slowly, but was
+in ample measure.' Thuringian legends relate that the Devil tries to
+stop the building of churches by casting down the stones, but this may
+be stopped by the builders promising to erect a winehouse in the same
+neighbourhood. An old English legend relates that a great man's cellar
+was haunted by devils who drank up his wine. On one occasion a barrel
+was marked with holy water, and the devil was found stuck fast on it.
+Gluttony, both in eating and drinking, has had its many
+personifications. The characteristics of the Hunger demons are
+travestied in such devils as these, only the diabolical, as
+distinguished from the demonic element, appears in features of
+luxuriousness. The contrast between the starveling saints of the
+early Church and the well-fed friars of later times was a frequent
+subject of caricature, as in the accompanying example (Fig. 30) from
+the British Museum, fourteenth century (MS. Arundel), where a lean
+devil is satisfying himself through a fattened friar. One of the most
+significant features of the old legend of Faust is the persistence of
+the animal character in which Mephistopheles appears. He is an ugly
+dog--a fit emblem of the scholar's relapse into the canine temper which
+flies at the world as at a bone he means to gnaw. Faust does not like
+this genuine form, and bids the Devil change it. Mephistopheles then
+takes the form of a Franciscan friar; but 'the kernel of the brute'
+is in him still, and he at once loads Faust's table with luxuries and
+wines from the cellars of the Archbishop of Salzburg and other rich
+priests. The prelates are fond of their bone too. When Mephistopheles
+and Faust find their way into the Vatican, it is to witness carousals
+of the Pope and his Cardinals. They snatch from them their luxuries and
+wine-goblets as they are about to enjoy them. Against these invisible
+invaders the holy men bring their crucifixes and other powers of
+exorcism; and it is all snarling and growling--canine priest against
+puppy astrologer. Nor was it very different in the history of the
+long contention between the two for the big bone of Christendom.
+The lust of Gold had its devils, and they were not different from
+other types of animalism. This was especially the case with such
+as represented money, extorted from the people to supply wealth to
+dissolute princes and prelates. The giants of Antwerp represent the
+power of the pagan monarchs who exacted tribute; but these were
+replaced by such guardians of tribute-money as the Satyr of our
+picture (Fig. 31), which Edward the Confessor saw seated on a barrel
+of Danegeld,
+Vit un déable saer desus
+Le tresor, noir et hidus.
+There are many good fables in European folklore with regard to the
+miser's gold, and 'devil's money' generally, which exhibit a fine
+instinct. A man carries home a package of such gold, and on opening it
+there drop out, instead of money, paws and nails of cats, frogs, and
+bears--the latter being an almost personal allusion to the Exchange. A
+French miser's money-safe being opened, two frogs only were found. The
+Devil could not get any other soul than the gold, and the cold-blooded
+reptiles were left as a sign of the life that had been lived.
+In the legends of the swarms of devils which beset St. Anthony we
+find them represented as genuine animals. Our Anglo-Saxon fathers,
+however, were quite unable to appreciate the severity of the conflict
+which man had to wage with the animal world in Southern countries and
+in earlier times. Nor had their reverence for nature and its forms
+been crushed out by the pessimist theory of the earth maintained by
+Christianity. Gradually the representation of the animal tempters was
+modified, and instead of real animal forms there were reported the
+bearded bestialities which surrounded St. Guthlac and St. Godric. The
+accompanying picture (Fig. 32) is a group from Breughel (1565),
+representing the devils called around St. James by a magician. These
+grotesque forms will repay study. If we should make a sketch of the
+same kind, only surrounding the saint with the real animal shapes
+most nearly resembling these nondescripts, it would cease to be a
+diabolical scene.
+For beastliness is not a character of beasts; it is the arrest of
+man. It is not the picturesque donkey in the meadow that is ridiculous,
+but the donkey on two feet; not the bear of zoological gardens that
+is offensive morally, but the rough, who cannot always be caged; it
+is the two-legged calf, the snake pretending to be a man, the ape in
+evening dress, who ever made the problem of evil at all formidable. It
+was insoluble until men had discovered as Science that law of Evolution
+which the ancient world knew as Ethics.
+A Hindu fable relates that the animals, in their migration, came to
+an abyss they could not cross, and that the gods made man as a bridge
+across it. Science and Reason confirm these ancient instincts of our
+race. Man is that bridge stretching between the animal and the ideal
+habitat by which, if the development be normal, all the passions pass
+upward into educated powers. Any pause or impediment on that bridge
+brings all the animals together to rend and tear the man who cannot
+convey them across the abyss. A very slight arrest may reveal to a
+man that he is a vehicle of intensified animalism. The lust of the
+goat, the pride of the peacock, the wrath of the lion, beautiful in
+their appropriate forms, become, in the guise of a man uncontrolled
+by reason, the vices which used to be called possession, and really
+are insanities.
+THOUGHTS AND INTERPRETATIONS.
+I lately heard the story of a pious negro woman whose faith in hell
+was sorely tried by a sceptic who asked her how brimstone enough could
+be found to burn all the wicked people in the world. After taking
+some days for reflection, the old woman, when next challenged by the
+sceptic, replied, that she had concluded that 'every man took his
+own brimstone.' This humble saint was unconscious that her instinct
+had reached the finest thought of Milton, whose Satan says 'Myself am
+hell.' Marlowe's Mephistopheles also says, 'Where we are is hell.' And,
+far back as the year 633, the holy man Fursey, who believed himself to
+have been guided by an angel near the region of the damned, related
+a vision much like the view of the African woman. There were four
+fires--Falsehood, Covetousness, Discord, Injustice--which joined to
+form one great flame. When this drew near, Fursey, in fear, said,
+'Lord, behold the fire draws near me.' The angel answered, 'That
+which you did not kindle shall not burn you.'
+Such association of any principle of justice, even in form so crude,
+has become rare enough in Christendom to excite applause when it
+appears, though the applause has about it that infusion of the
+grotesque which one perceives when gallery-gods cheer the actor who
+heroically declares that a man ought not to strike a woman. When we
+go back to the atmosphere of Paganism we find that retribution had
+among them a real meaning. Nothing can be in more remarkable contrast
+than the disorderly characterless hell of Christendom, into which the
+murderer and the man who confuses the Persons of the Godhead alike
+burn everlastingly in most inappropriate fires, and the Hades of Egypt,
+Greece, and Rome, where every punishment bears relation to the offence,
+and is limited in duration to the degree of the offence.
+'The Egyptians,' says Herodotus (ii. 123), 'were the first who asserted
+that the soul of man is immortal, and that when the body perishes it
+enters into some other animal, constantly springing into existence; and
+when it has passed through the different kinds of terrestrial, marine,
+and aerial beings, it again enters into the body of a man that is born,
+and that this revolution is made in three thousand years.' Probably
+Plato imported from Egypt his fancy of the return of one dead to
+relate the scenes of heaven and hell, Er the Armenian (Republic,
+x. 614) suggesting an evolution of Rhampsinitus (Herod. ii. 122),
+who descended to Hades alive, played dice with Ceres, and brought
+back gold. The vision of Er represents a terrible hell, indeed, but
+those punished were chiefly murderers and tyrants. They are punished
+tenfold for every wrong they had committed. But when this punishment
+is ended, each soul must return to the earth in such animal form
+as he or she might select. The animals, too, had their choice. Er
+saw that the choice was generally determined by the previous earthly
+life,--many becoming animals because of some spite derived from their
+experience. 'And not only did men pass into animals, but I must also
+mention that there were animals tame and wild who changed into one
+another, and into corresponding human natures, the good into the
+gentle, the evil into the savage, in all sorts of combinations.' Sly
+Plato! Such is his estimate of what men's selections of their paradises
+are worth!
+Orpheus chose to be a swan, hating to be born of woman, because women
+murdered him; Ajax became a lion and Agamemnon an eagle, because
+they had suffered injustice from men; Atalanta would be an athlete,
+and the jester Thersites a monkey; and Odysseus went about to find
+the life of a private gentleman with nothing to do. If Plutarch's
+friend Thespesius had pondered well this irony of Plato, he would
+hardly have brought back from his visit to Hades the modification
+that demons were provided to assign the animal forms in which souls
+should be born again on earth. They could hardly have done for the
+wicked anything worse than Plato shows them doing for themselves. But
+the meaning of Plutarch is the same. Thespesius sees demons preparing
+the body of a viper for Nero to be born into, since it was said the
+young of that reptile destroy their mother at birth.
+Among the Persians the idea of future rewards and punishments exceeds
+the exactness of the Koran--'Whoso hath done an atom of justice shall
+behold it, and whoso hath done an atom of injustice shall behold
+it.' The Persian Sufis will even subdivide the soul rather than that
+any good act should go down with the larger gross of wickedness. Sádi
+tells of a vision where a man was seen in hell, all except one foot,
+which was twined with flowers. With all his wickedness the man had
+with that foot shoved a bundle of hay within reach of a weary ox.
+But while Persian poets--Sufis, ennobling the old name
+Sophist--preserved thus a good deal of the universalism of Parsaism,
+a Mohammedanism hard as the Scythians who brought it turned the heart
+of the people in that country to stone. In the Dresden Library there
+is an illuminated Persian MS., thought to be seven hundred years
+old, which has in it what may be regarded as a portrait of Ahriman
+and Iblis combined. He is red, has a heavy beard and moustache, and
+there is a long dragon's crest and mane on his head. He wears a green
+and blue skirt about his loins. His tongue rolls thirstily between
+his cruel teeth. He superintends a number of fish-like devils which
+float in a lake of fire, and swallow the damned. Above this scene
+are the glorified souls, including the Shah sitting cross-legged
+on his rug, who look down on the tortures beneath with evident
+satisfaction. Apparently this is the only amusement which relieves
+the ennui of their heaven.
+If anything could make a rational man believe in a fiend-principle
+in the universe it would be the suggestion of such pictures,
+that men have existed who could conceive of happiness enjoyed in
+view of such tortures as these. This and some similar pictures in
+the East--for instance, that in the Temple of Horrors at Wuchang,
+China--are absolutely rayless so far as any touch of humanity is
+concerned. Are the Shah and his happy fellow-inspectors of tortures
+really fiends? In the light of our present intelligence they may seem
+so. Certainly no person of refined feeling could now expect to attain
+any heaven while others were in hell. But it would be possible, if
+persons could believe that many of those around them are not men and
+women at all, but fiends in human shape. These ferocious Hells are
+referable to a period when all who incurred the sentences of princes
+or priests were seen as mere masks of devils; they were only ascribed
+human flesh that they may suffer. The dogma of Hell was doomed from
+the moment that the damned were supposed to be really human.
+Were those who killed the martyrs of heresy, for instance, to return
+to the world and look upon those whom they pierced, they could never
+recognise them. Were they to see the statues of Bruno, Huss, Cranmer,
+Servetus, the names and forms would not recall to them the persons
+they slew. They would be shocked if told that they had burned great
+men, and would surely answer, 'Men? We burned no men. The Devil came
+among us calling himself Huss, and we made short work with him; he
+reappeared under several aliases--Bruno, Servetus, Spinoza, Voltaire:
+sometimes we burned him, at other times managed to make him miserable,
+thank God! But we were not hurting real men, we were saving them.'
+Around such ideas grew our yet uncivilised Codes of Law. In England,
+anno 1878, men are refused as jury-men if they will not say, 'So help
+me God!' on the ground that an atheist cannot have a conscience. Only
+let him really be without conscience, and call himself a christian when
+he is not, and courts receive the selfish liar with respect. The old
+clause of the death-sentence--'instigated thereto by the Devil'--has
+been dropped in the case of murderers, however; and that is some
+gain. Torture by fire of the worst murderer for one day would not
+be permitted in Christendom. Belief in hell-fire outlasts it for a
+little among the ignorant. But what shall be said of the educated
+who profess to believe it?
+The Venerable Bede relates that, in the year 696, a Northumbrian
+gentleman, who had died in the beginning of the night, came to life
+and health in the morning, and gave an account of what he had seen
+overnight. He had witnessed the conventional tortures of the damned,
+but adds--'Being thus on all sides enclosed with enemies and darkness,
+and looking about on every side for assistance, there appeared to me,
+on the way that I came, as it were, the brightness of a star shining
+amidst the darkness, which increased by degrees,'--but we need not
+go on to the anti-climax of this vision.
+This star rising above all such visions belongs to the vault of the
+human Love, and it is visible through all the Ages of Darkness. It
+cannot be quenched, and its fiery rays have burnt up mountains of
+iniquity.
+'In the year 1322,' writes Flögel, after the 'Chronicon Sampetrinum
+Erfurtense,' 'there was a play shown at Eisenach, which had a
+tragical enough effect. Markgraf Friedrich of Misnia, Landgraf also
+of Thuringia, having brought his tedious warfare to a conclusion,
+and the country beginning now to revive under peace, his subjects
+were busy repaying themselves for the past distresses by all manner
+of diversions; to which end, apparently by the Sovereign's order,
+a dramatic representation of the Ten Virgins was schemed, and at
+Eisenach, in his presence, duly executed. This happened fifteen days
+after Easter, by indulgence of the Preaching Friars. In the 'Chronicon
+Sampetrinum' stands recorded that the play was enacted in the Bear
+Garden (in horto ferarum) by the Clergy and their Scholars. But now,
+when it came to pass that the Wise Virgins would give the foolish no
+oil, and these latter were shut out from the Bridegroom, they began
+to weep bitterly, and called on the Saints to intercede for them;
+who however, even with Mary at their head, could effect nothing from
+God; but the Foolish Virgins were all sentenced to damnation. Which
+things the Landgraf seeing and hearing, he fell into a doubt,
+and was very angry; and said 'What then is the Christian Faith,
+if God will not take pity on us for intercession of Mary and all
+the Saints?' In this anger he continued five days; and the learned
+men could hardly enlighten him to understand the Gospel. Thereupon
+he was struck with apoplexy, and became speechless and powerless;
+in which sad state he continued, bedrid, two years and seven months,
+and so died, being then fifty-five.'
+In telling the story Carlyle remarks that these 'Ten Virgins at
+Eisenach are more fatal to warlike men than Æschylus' Furies at
+Athens were to weak women.' Even so, until great-hearted men rose up
+at Eisenach and elsewhere to begin the work destined to prove fatal
+alike to heartless Virgins and Furies. That star of a warrior's
+Compassion, hovering over the foolish Friars and their midnight
+Gospel, beams far. The story reminds me of an incident related of
+a mining district in California, where a rude theatre was erected,
+and a company gave, as their first performance, Othello. When the
+scene of Desdemona's suffocation approached, a stalwart miner leaped
+on the stage, and pulling out his six-shooter, said to the Moor,
+'You damned nigger! if you touch that woman I'll blow the top of your
+head off!' A dozen roughs, clambering over the footlights, cried,
+'Right Joe! we'll stand by you!' The manager met the emergency by
+crying, 'Don't shoot, boys! This play was wrote by Bill Shakespear;
+he's an old Californian, and it's all in fun!' Had this Moor proceeded
+to roast Desdemona in fire with any verisimilitude, it is doubtful
+if the manager could have saved him by an argument reminding the
+miners that such was the divine way with sinners in the region to
+which most of them were going. The top of that theologic hell's head
+is not very safe in these days when human nature is unchained with
+all its six-shooters, each liable to be touched off by fire from that
+Star revolving in the sphere of Compassion.
+Day after day I gazed upon Michael Angelo's 'Last Judgment' in the
+Sistine Chapel. The artist was in his sixtieth year when Pope Clement
+VII. invited him to cover a wall sixty feet high and nearly as wide
+with a picture of the Day of Wrath. In seven years he had finished
+it. Clement was dead. Pope Paul IV. looked at it, and liked it not:
+all he could see was a vast number of naked figures; so he said it
+was not fit for the Sistine Chapel, and must be destroyed. One of
+Michael Angelo's pupils saved it by draping some of the figures. Time
+went on, and another Pope came who insisted on more drapery,--so the
+work was disfigured again. However, popular ridicule saved this from
+going very far, and so there remains the tremendous scene. But Popes
+and Cardinals always disliked it. The first impression I received
+from it was that of a complete representation of all the physical
+powers belonging to organised life; though the forms are human, every
+animal power is there, leaping, crouching, crawling,--every sinew,
+joint, muscle, portrayed in completest tension and action. Then the
+eye wanders from face to face, and every passion that ever crawled or
+prowled in jungle or swamp is pictured. The most unpleasant expressions
+seemed to me those of the martyrs. They came up from their graves,
+each bringing the instrument by which he had suffered, and offering
+it in witness against the poor wretches who came to be judged; and
+there was a look of self-righteous satisfaction on their faces as
+they witnessed the persecution of their persecutors. As for Christ,
+he was like a fury, with hand uplifted against the doomed, his hair
+wildly floating. The tortured people below are not in contrast with
+the blessed above; they who are in heaven look rather more stupid
+than the others, and rather pleased with the anguish they witness,
+but not more saintly. But gradually the eye, having wandered over
+the vast canvas, from the tortured Cardinal at the bottom up to the
+furious Judge,--alights on a face which, once seen, is never to be
+forgotten. Beautiful she is, that Mary beside the Judge, and more
+beautiful for the pain that is on her face. She has drawn her drapery
+to veil from her sight the anguish below; she has turned her face
+from the Judge,--does not see her son in him; she looks not upon the
+blessed,--for she, the gentle mother, is not in heaven; she cannot have
+joy in sight of misery. In that one face of pure womanly sympathy--that
+beauty transfigured in its compassionateness--the artist put his soul,
+his religion. Mary's face quenches all the painted flames. They are at
+once made impossible. The same universe could not produce both a hell
+and that horror of it. The furious Jesus is changed to a phantasm;
+he could never be born of such a mother. If the Popes had only wished
+to hide the nakedness of their own dogmas they ought to have blotted
+out Mary's face; for as it now stands the rest of the forms are but
+shapes to show how all the wild forms and passions of human animalism
+gather as a frame round that which is their consummate flower,--the
+spirit of love enshrined in its perfect human expression.
+So was it that Michael Angelo could not serve two masters. Popes might
+employ him, but he could not do the work they liked. 'The passive
+master lent his hand to the vast soul that o'er him planned.' He
+could not help it. The lover of beauty could not paint the Day of
+Wrath without setting above it that face like a star which shines
+through its unreality, burns up its ugliness, and leaves the picture
+a magnificent interpretation of the forms of nature and hopes of the
+world,--a cardinal hypocrite at the bottom, an ideal woman at the top.
+Exhausted by the too-much glory of the visions of Paradise which he had
+seen, Dante came forth to the threshold opening on the world of human
+life, from which he had parted for a space, and there sank down. As
+he lay there angels caused lilies to grow beneath and around him,
+and myrtle to rise and intertwine for a bower over him, and their
+happy voices, wafted in low-toned hymns, brought soft sleep to his
+overwrought senses. Long had he slumbered before the light of familiar
+day stole once more into those deep eyes. The angels had departed. The
+poet awoke to find himself alone, and with a sigh he said to himself,
+'It is, then, all but a dream.' As he arose he saw before him a man
+of noble mien and shining countenance, habited in an Eastern robe,
+who returned his gaze with an interest equal to his own. Quickly the
+eyes of Dante searched the ground beside the stranger to see if he
+were shadowless: convinced thus that he was true flesh and blood,
+the Florentine thus addressed him:--
+'Pilgrim, for such thou seemest, may we meet in simple human
+brotherhood? If, as thy garb suggests, thou comest from afar, perchance
+the friendly greeting, even of one who in his native city is still
+himself a pilgrim, may not be unwelcome.
+'Heart to heart be our kiss, my brother; yet must I journey without
+delay to those who watch and wait for wondrous tidings that I bear.
+'Friend! I hear some meaning deeper than thy words. If 'twere but as
+satisfying natural curiosity, answer not; but if thou bearest a burden
+of tidings glad for all human-kind, speak! Who art thou? whence comest,
+and with what message freighted?
+'Arda Viráf is the name I bear; from Persia have I come; but by what
+strange paths have reached this spot know I not, save that through
+splendours of worlds invisible to mortal sense I have journeyed,
+nor encountered human form till I found thee slumbering on this spot.
+'Trebly then art thou my brother! I too have but now, as to my confused
+sense it seems, emerged from that vast journey. Thou clearest from
+me gathering doubts that those visions were illusive. Yet, as even
+things we really see are often overlaid by images that lurk in the
+eye, I pray thee tell me something thou hast seen, so that perchance
+we may part with mutual confirmation of our vision.
+'That gladly will I do. When the Avesta had been destroyed, and the
+sages of Iran disagreed as to the true religion, they agreed that
+one should be chosen by lot to drink the sacred draught of Vishtasp,
+that he might pass to the invisible world and bring intelligence
+therefrom. On me the lot fell. Beside the fire that has never gone
+out, surrounded by holy women who chanted our hymns, I drank the three
+cups--Well Thought, Well Said, Well Done. Then as I slept there rose
+before me a high stairway of three steps; on the first was written,
+Well Thought; on the second, Well Said; on the third, Well Done. By
+the first step I reached the realm where good thoughts are honoured:
+there were the thinkers whose starlike radiance ever increased. They
+offered no prayers, they chanted no liturgies. Above all was the
+sphere of the liberal. The next step brought me to the circle of
+great and truthful speakers: these walked in lofty splendour. The
+third step brought me to the heaven of good actions. I saw the souls
+of agriculturists surrounded by spirits of water and earth, trees and
+cattle. The artisans were seated on embellished thrones. Sublime were
+the seats of teachers, interceders, peace-makers; and the religious
+walked in light and joy with which none are satiated.
+'Sawest thou the fairest of earth-born ladies--Beatrice?
+'I saw indeed a lady most fair. In a pleasant grove lay the form
+of a man who had but then parted from earth. When he had awakened,
+he walked through the grove and there met him this most beautiful
+maiden. To her he said, 'Who art thou, so fair beyond all whom I
+have seen in the land of the living?' To him she replied, 'O youth,
+I am thy actions.' Can this be thy lady Beatrice?
+'But sawest thou no hell? no dire punishments?
+'Alas! sad scenes I witnessed, sufferers whose hell was that their
+darkness was amid the abodes of splendour. Amid all that glow one newly
+risen from earth walked shivering with cold, and there walked ever
+by his side a hideous hag. On her he turned and said, 'Who art thou,
+that ever movest beside me, thou that art monstrous beyond all that
+I have seen on earth?' To him she replied, 'Man, I am thy actions.'
+'But who were those glorious ones thou sawest in Paradise?
+'Some of their names I did indeed learn--Zoroaster, Socrates, Plato,
+Buddha, Confucius, Christ.
+'What do I hear! knowest thou that none of these save that last
+holy one--whom methinks thou namest too lightly among men--were
+baptized? Those have these eyes sorrowfully beheld in pain through
+the mysterious justice of God.
+'Thinkest thou, then, thy own compassion deeper than the mercy of
+Ormuzd? But, ah! now indeed I do remember. As I conversed with the
+sages I had named, they related to me this strange event. By guidance
+of one of their number, Virgil by name, there had come among them
+from the earth a most powerful magician. He bore the name of Dante. By
+mighty spells this being had cast them all into a sad circle which he
+called Limbo, over whose gate he wrote, though with eyes full of tears,
+'All hope abandon, ye who enter here!' Thus were they in great sorrow
+and dismay. But, presently, as this strange Dante was about to pass
+on, so they related, he looked upon the face of one among them so pure
+and noble that though he had styled him 'pagan,' he could not bear to
+abandon him there. This was Cato of Utica. Him this Dante led to the
+door, and gave him liberty on condition that he would be warder of his
+unbaptized brethren, and by no means let any of them escape. No sooner,
+however, was this done than this magician beheld others who moved
+his reverence,--among them Trajan and Ripheus,--and overcome by an
+impulse of love, he opened a window in the side of Limbo, bidding them
+emerge into light. He then waved his christian wand to close up this
+aperture, and passed away, supposing that he had done so; but the limit
+of that magician's power had been reached, the window was but veiled,
+and after he had gone all these unbaptized ones passed out by that
+way, and reascended to the glory they had enjoyed before this Dante
+had brought his alien sorceries to bear upon them for a brief space.
+'Can this be true? Is it indeed so that all the sages and poets of
+the world are now in equal rank whether or not they have been sealed
+as members of Christ?
+'Brother, thy brow is overcast. What! can one so pure and high of
+nature as thou desire that the gentle Christ, whom I saw embracing
+the sages and prophets of other ages, should turn upon them with
+hatred and bind them in gloom and pain like this Dante?'
+Thereupon, with a flood of tears, Dante fell at the feet of Arda Viráf,
+and kissed the hem of his skirt. 'Purer is thy vision, O pilgrim,
+than mine,' he said. 'I fear that I have but borne with me to the
+invisible world the small prejudices of my little Church, which hath
+taught me to limit the Love which I now see to be boundless. Thou who
+hast learned from thy Zoroaster that the meaning of God is the end of
+all evil, a universe climbing to its flower in joy, deign to take the
+hand of thy servant and make him worthy to be thy friend,--with thee
+henceforth to abandon the poor formulas which ignorance substitutes
+for virtue, and ascend to the beautiful summits thou has visited by
+the stairway of good thoughts, good words, good deeds.'
+In 1745 Swedenborg was a student of Natural Philosophy in London. In
+the April of that year his 'revelations' began amid the smoke
+and toil of the great metropolis. 'I was hungry and ate with great
+appetite. Towards the end of the meal I remarked a kind of mist spread
+before my eyes, and I saw the floor of my room covered with hideous
+reptiles, such as serpents, toads, and the like. I was astonished,
+having all my wits about me, being perfectly conscious. The darkness
+attained its height and then passed away. I now saw a Man sitting
+in the corner of the chamber. As I had thought myself alone, I was
+greatly frightened when he said to me, 'Eat not as much.'
+In Swedenborg's Diary the incident is related more particularly. 'In
+the middle of the day, at dinner, an Angel spoke to me, and told me
+not to eat too much at table. Whilst he was with me, there plainly
+appeared to me a kind of vapour steaming from the pores of my body. It
+was a most visible watery vapour, and fell downwards to the ground
+upon the carpet, where it collected and turned into divers vermin,
+which were gathered together under the table, and in a moment went
+off with a pop or noise. A fiery light appeared within them, and a
+sound was heard, pronouncing that all the vermin that could possibly
+be generated by unseemly appetite were thus cast out of my body,
+and burnt up, and that I was now cleansed from them. Hence we may
+know what luxury and the like have for their bosom contents.'
+Continuing the first account Swedenborg said, 'The following
+night the same Man appeared to me again. I was this time not at
+all alarmed. The Man said, 'I am God, the Lord, the Creator, and
+Redeemer of the world. I have chosen thee to unfold to men the
+spiritual sense of the Holy Scripture. I will myself dictate to
+thee what thou shalt write.' The same night the world of spirits,
+hell and heaven, were convincingly opened to me, where I found many
+persons of my acquaintance of all conditions. From that day forth I
+gave up all worldly learning, and laboured only in spiritual things,
+according to what the Lord commanded me to write.'
+He 'gave up all worldly learning,' shut his intellectual eyes,
+and sank under all the nightmares which his first vision saw burnt
+up as vermin. After his fiftieth year, says Emerson, he falls into
+jealousy of his intellect, makes war on it, and the violence is
+instantly avenged. But the portrait of the blinded mystic as drawn
+by the clear seer is too impressive an illustration to be omitted here.
+'A vampyre sits in the seat of the prophet and turns with gloomy
+appetite to the images of pain. Indeed, a bird does not more readily
+weave its nest or a mole bore in the ground than this seer of the
+souls substructs a new hell and pit, each more abominable than the
+last, round every new crew of offenders. He was let down through a
+column that seemed of brass, but it was formed of angelic spirits,
+that he might descend safely amongst the unhappy, and witness
+the vastation of souls; and heard there, for a long continuance,
+their lamentations; he saw their tormentors, who increase and strain
+pangs to infinity; he saw the hell of the jugglers, the hell of the
+assassins, the hell of the lascivious; the hell of robbers, who kill
+and boil men; the infernal tun of the deceitful; the excrementitious
+hells; the hell of the revengful, whose faces resembled a round,
+broad cake, and their arms rotate like a wheel.... The universe, in
+his poem, suffers under a magnetic sleep, and only reflects the mind
+of the magnetiser.... Swedenborg and Behmon both failed by attaching
+themselves to the christian symbol, instead of to the moral sentiment,
+which carries innumerable christianities, humanities, divinities, in
+its bosom.... Another dogma, growing out of this pernicious theologic
+limitation, is this Inferno. Swedenborg has devils. Evil, according
+to old philosophers, is good in the making. That pure malignity can
+exist, is the extreme proposition of unbelief.... To what a painful
+perversion had Gothic theology arrived, that Swedenborg admitted no
+conversion for evil spirits! But the divine effort is never relaxed;
+the carrion in the sun will convert itself to grass and flowers;
+and man, though in brothels, or jails, or on gibbets, is on his way
+to all that is good and true.'
+But even the Hell of Swedenborg is not free from the soft potency
+of our star. It is almost painful, indeed, to see its spiritual
+ray mingling with the fiery fever-shapes which Swedenborg meets
+on his way through the column of brass,--made, had he known it,
+not of angels but of savage scriptures. 'I gave up all worldly
+learning'--he says: but it did not give him up all at once. 'They
+(the damned) suffer ineffable torments; but it was permitted to
+relieve or console them with a certain degree of hope, so that they
+should not entirely despair. For they said they believed the torment
+would be eternal. They were relieved or consoled by saying that God
+Messiah is merciful, and that in His Word we read that 'the prisoners
+will be sent forth from the pit' (Zech. ix. 2). Swedenborg reports
+that God Messiah appeared to these spirits, and even embraced and
+kissed one who had been raised from 'the greatest torment.' He says,
+'Punishment for the sake of punishment is the punishment of a devil,'
+and affirms that all punishment is 'to take away evils or to induce a
+faculty of doing good.' These utterances are in his Diary, and were
+written before he had got to the bottom of his Calvinistic column;
+but even in the 'Arcana Celestia' there is a gleam:--'Such is the
+equilibrium of all things in another life that evil punishes itself,
+and unless it were removed by punishments the evil spirits must
+necessarily be kept in some hell to eternity.'
+Reductio ad absurdum! And yet Swedenborgians insist upon the dogma of
+everlasting punishments; to sustain which they appeal from Swedenborg
+half-sober to Swedenborg mentally drunk.
+In the Library at Dresden there is a series of old pictures said to be
+Mexican, and which I was told had been purchased from a Jew in Vienna,
+containing devils mainly of serpent characters blended with those of
+humanity. One was a fantastic serpent with human head, sharp snoutish
+nose, many eyes, slight wings, and tongue lolling out. Another had a
+human head and reptilian tail. A third is human except for the double
+tongue darting out. A fourth has issuing from the back of his head a
+serpent whose large dragon head is swallowing a human embryo. Whatever
+tribe it was that originated these pictures must have had very strong
+impressions of the survival of the serpent in some men.
+I was reminded of the picture of the serpent swallowing the human
+embryo while looking at the wall-pictures in Russian churches
+representing the conventional serpent with devils nestling at intervals
+along its body, as represented in our Figure (10). Professor Buslaef
+gave me the right archæology of this, no doubt, but the devils
+themselves, as I gazed, seemed to intimate another theory with their
+fair forms. They might have been winged angels but for their hair
+of flame and cruel hooks. They seemed to say, 'We were the ancient
+embryo-gods of the human imagination, but the serpent swallowed us. He
+swallowed us successively as one after another we availed ourselves
+of his cunning in our priesthoods; as we brought his cruel coils to
+crush those who dared to outgrow our cult; as we imitated his fang in
+the deadliness with which we bit the heel of every advancing thinker;
+as, when worsted in our struggle against reason, we took to the double
+tongue, praising with one fork the virtues which we poisoned with the
+other. Now we are degraded with him for ever, bound to him by these
+rings, labelled with the sins we have committed.'
+It was by a true experience that the ancients so generally took
+nocturnal animals to be types of diabolism. Corresponding to them
+are the sleepless activities of morally unawakened men. The animal is
+a sleeping man. Its passions and instincts are acted out in what to
+rational man would be dreams. In dreams, especially when influenced
+by disease, a man may mentally relapse very far, and pass through
+kennels and styes, which are such even when somewhat decorated by
+shreds of the familiar human environment. The nocturnal form of
+intellect is cunning; the obscuration of religion is superstition;
+the dark shadow that falls on love turns it to lust. These wolves
+and bats, on which no ideal has dawned, do not prowl or flit through
+man in their natural forms: in the half-awake consciousness, whose
+starlight attends man amid his darkness, their misty outlines swell,
+and in the feverish unenlightened conscience they become phantasms of
+his animalism--werewolves, vampyres. The awakening of reason in any
+animal is through all the phases of cerebral and social evolution. A
+wise man said to his son who was afraid to enter the dark, 'Go on,
+child; you will never see anything worse than yourself.'
+The hare-lip, which we sometimes see in the human face, is there
+an arrested development. Every lip is at some embryonic period a
+hare-lip. The development of man's visible part has gone on much longer
+than his intellectual and moral evolution, and abnormalities in it are
+rare in comparison with the number of survivals from the animal world
+in his temper, his faith, and his manners. Criminals are men living out
+their arrested moral developments. They who regard them as instigated
+by a devil are those whose arrest is mental. The eye of reason will
+deal with both all the more effectively, because with as little wrath
+as a surgeon feels towards the hare-lip he endeavours to humanise.
+It is an impressive fact that the great and reverent mind of Spinoza,
+in pondering the problem of Evil and the theology which ascribed
+it to a Devil, was unconsciously led to anticipate by more than a
+century the first (modern) scientific suggestions of the principle
+of Evolution. In his early treatise, 'De Deo et Homine,' occurs this
+short but momentous chapter--
+'De Diabolis. If the Devil be an Entity contrary in all respects to
+God, having nothing of God in his nature, there can be nothing in
+common with God.
+'Is he assumed to be a thinking Entity, as some will have it, who never
+wills and never does any good, and who sets himself in opposition to
+God on all occasions, he would assuredly be a very wretched being,
+and, could prayers do anything for him, his amendment were much to
+be implored.
+'But let us ask whether so miserable an object could exist even for an
+instant; and, the question put, we see at once that it could not; for
+from the perfection of a thing proceeds its power of continuance: the
+more of the Essential and Divine a thing possesses, the more enduring
+it is. But how could the Devil, having no trace of perfection in him,
+exist at all? Add to this, that the stability or duration of a thinking
+thing depends entirely on its love of and union with God, and that
+the opposite of this state in every particular being presumed in the
+Devil, it is obviously impossible that there can be any such being.
+'And then there is indeed no necessity to presume the existence of a
+Devil; for the causes of hate, envy, anger, and all such passions are
+readily enough to be discovered; and there is no occasion for resort
+to fiction to account for the evils they engender.'
+In the course of his correspondence with the most learned men of
+his time, Spinoza was severely questioned concerning his views upon
+human wickedness, the disobedience of Adam, and so forth. He said--to
+abridge his answers--If there be any essential or positive evil in men,
+God is the author and continuer of that evil. But what is called evil
+in them is their degree of imperfection as compared with those more
+perfect. Adam, in the abstract, is a man eating an apple. That is
+not in itself an evil action. Acts condemned in man are often admired
+in animals,--as the jealousy of doves,--and regarded as evidence of
+their perfection. Although man must restrain the forces of nature and
+direct them to his purposes, it is a superstition to suppose that God
+is angry against such forces. It is an error in man to identify his
+little inconveniences as obstacles to God. Let him withdraw himself
+from the consideration and nothing is found evil. Whatever exists,
+exists by reason of its perfection for its own ends,--which may or
+may not be those of men.
+Spinoza's aphorism, 'From the perfection of a thing proceeds its power
+of continuance,' is the earliest modern statement of the doctrine now
+called 'survival of the fittest.' The notion of a Devil involves the
+solecism of a being surviving through its unfitness for survival.
+Spinoza was Copernicus of the moral Cosmos. The great German who
+discovered to men that their little planet was not the one centre and
+single care of nature, led the human mind out of a closet and gave
+it a universe. But dogma still clung to the closet; where indeed
+each sect still remains, holding its little interest to be the aim
+of the solar system, and all outside it to be part of a countless
+host, marshalled by a Prince of Evil, whose eternal war is waged
+against that formidable pulpiteer whose sermon is sending dismay
+through pandemonium. But for rational men all that is ended, and its
+decline began when Spinoza warned men against looking at the moral
+universe from the pin-hole of their egotism. That closet-creation,
+whose laws were seen now acting now suspended to suit the affairs of
+men, disappeared, and man was led to adore the All.
+It is a small thing that man can bruise the serpent's head, if its
+fang still carries its venom so deep in his reason as to blacken
+all nature with a sense of triumphant malevolence. To the eye of
+judicial man, instructed to decide every case without bribe of his
+own interest as a rival animal, the serpent's fang is one of the most
+perfect adaptations of means to ends in nature. Were a corresponding
+perfection in every human mind, the world would fulfil the mystical
+dream of the East, which gave one name to the serpents that bit them
+in the wilderness and seraphim singing round the eternal throne.
+'Cursed be the Hebrew who shall either eat pork, or permit his son to
+be instructed in the learning of the Greeks.' So says the Talmud, with
+a voice transmitted from the 'kingdom of priests' (Exod. xix. 6). From
+the altar of 'unhewn stone' came the curse upon Art, and upon the
+race that represented culture raising its tool upon the rudeness
+of nature. That curse of the Talmud recoiled fearfully. The Jewish
+priesthood had their son in Peter with his vision of clean and unclean
+animals, and the command, 'Slay and eat!' Uninstructed is this heir
+of priestly Judaism 'in the learning of the Greeks,' consequently
+his way of converting Gentiles--the herd of swine, the goyim--is to
+convert them into christian protoplasm. 'Slay and eat,' became the
+cry of the elect, and their first victim was the paternal Jew who
+taught them that pork and Greek learning belonged to the same category.
+But there was another Jewish nation not composed of priests. While
+the priestly kingdom is typified in Jonah announcing the destruction
+of Nineveh, who, because the great city still goes on, reproaches
+Jehovah, the nation of the poets has now its Jehovah II. who sees the
+humiliation of the tribal priesthood as a withered gourd compared
+with the arts, wealth, and human interests of a Gentile city. 'The
+Lord repented.' The first Gospel to the Gentiles is in that gentle
+thought for the uncircumcised Ninevites. But it was reached too
+late. When it gained expression in Christ welcoming Greeks, and seeing
+in stones possible 'children of Abraham;' in Paul acknowledging debt
+to barbarians and taking his texts from Greek altars or poets; the
+evolution of the ideal element in Hebrew religion had gained much. But
+historic combinations raised the judaisers to a throne, and all the
+narrowness of their priesthood was re-enacted as Christianity.
+The column of brass in whose hollow centre the fine brain of Swedenborg
+was imprisoned is a fit similitude of the christian formula. The
+whole moral attitude of Christianity towards nature is represented in
+his first vision. The beginning of his spiritual career is announced
+by the evaporation of his animal nature in the form of vermin. The
+christian hell is present, and these animal parts are burnt up. Among
+those burnt-up powers of Swedenborg, one of the serpents must have been
+his intellect. 'From that day forth I gave up all worldly learning.'
+Here we have the ideal christian caught up to his paradise even while
+his outward shape is visible. But what if we were all to become like
+that? Suppose all the animal powers and desires were to evaporate out
+of mankind and to be burnt up! Were that to occur to-day the effect
+on the morrow would be but faintly told in that which would be caused
+by sudden evaporations of steam from all the engines of the world. We
+may imagine a band of philanthropists, sorely disturbed by the number
+of accidents incidental to steam-locomotion, who should conspire
+to go at daybreak to all the engine-houses and stations in England,
+and, just as the engines were about to start for their work, should
+quench their fires, let off their steam, and break their works. That
+would be but a brief paralysis of the work of one country; but what
+would be the result if the animal nature of man and its desires,
+the works and trades that minister to the 'pomps and vanities,'
+all worldly aims and joys, should be burnt up in fires of fanaticism!
+Yet to that fatal aim Christianity gave itself,--so contrary to that
+great heart in which was mirrored the beautiful world, its lilies
+and little children, and where love shed its beams on the just
+and the unjust! The organising principle of Christianity was that
+which crucified Jesus and took his tomb for corner-stone of a system
+modelled after what he hated. Its central purpose was to effect a
+divorce between the moral and the animal nature of man. One is called
+flesh and the other spirit; one was the child of God, the other the
+child of the Devil. It rent asunder that which was really one; its
+whole history, so long as it was in earnest, was the fanatical effort
+to keep asunder by violence those two halves ever seeking harmony;
+its history since its falsity was exposed has been the hypocrisy of
+professing in word what is impossible in deed.
+Beside the christian vision of Swedenborg, in which the judaic
+priest's curse on swinish Greek learning found apotheosis, let us set
+the vision of a Jewish seer in whom the humanity that spared Nineveh
+found expression. The seer is Philo,--name rightly belonging to that
+pure mind in which the starry ideals of his Semitic race embraced
+the sensuous beauty which alone could give them life. Philo (Præm. et
+Poenis, sec. 15-20) describes as the first joy of the redeemed earth
+the termination of the war between man and animal. That war will end,
+he says, 'when the wild beasts in the soul have been tamed. Then
+the most ferocious animals will submit to man; scorpions will lose
+their stings, and serpents their poison. And, in consequence of the
+suppression of that older war between man and beast, the war between
+man and man shall also end.'
+Here we emerge from Swedenborg's brass column, we pass beyond Peter's
+sword called 'Slay-and-eat,' we leave behind the Talmud's curse on
+swine and learning: we rise to the clear vision of Hebrew prophecy
+which beheld lion and lamb lying down together, a child leading the
+wild forces subdued by culture.
+'Why not God kill Debbil?' asked Man Friday. It is a question which
+not even Psychology has answered, why no Theology has yet suggested
+the death of the Devil in the past, or prophesied more than chains
+for him in the future. No doubt the need of a 'hangman's whip to
+haud the wretch in order' may partly account for it; but with this
+may have combined a cause of which it is pleasanter to think--Devils
+being animal passions in excess, even the ascetic recoils from their
+destruction, with an instinct like that which restrains rats from
+gnawing holes through the ship's bottom.
+In Goethe's 'Faust' we read, Doch das Antike find' ich zu lebendig. It
+is a criticism on the nudity of the Greek forms that appear in the
+classical Walpurgis Night. But the authority is not good: it is
+Mephistopheles who is disgusted with sight of the human form, and he
+says they ought in modern fashion to be plastered over. His sentiments
+have prevailed at the Vatican, where the antique statues and the great
+pictures of Michael Angelo bear witness to the prurient prudery of the
+papal mind. 'Devils are our sins in perspective,' says George Herbert.
+Herodotus (ii. 47) says, 'The Egyptians consider the pig to be an
+impure beast, and therefore if a man, in passing by a pig, should touch
+him only with his garments, he forthwith goes to the river and plunges
+in; and, in the next place, swineherds, although native Egyptians, are
+the only men who are not allowed to enter any of their temples.' The
+Egyptians, he says, do not sacrifice the goat; 'and, indeed, their
+painters and sculptors represent Pan with the face and legs of a
+goat, as the Grecians do; not that they imagine this to be his real
+form, for they think him like other gods; but why they represent
+him in this way I had rather not mention.' We need not feel the same
+prudery. The Egyptians rightly regarded the symbol of sexual desire,
+on whose healthy exercise the perpetuation of life depended, as a very
+different kind of animalism from that symbolised in the pig's love of
+refuse and garbage. Their association of the goat with Pan--the lusty
+vigour of nature--was the natural preface to the arts of Greece in
+which the wild forces were taught their first lesson--Temperance. Pan
+becomes musical. The vigour and vitality of human nature find in the
+full but not excessive proportions of Apollo, Aphrodite, Artemis,
+and others of the bright array, the harmony which Pan with his pipe
+preludes. The Greek statue is soul embodied and body ensouled.
+Two men had I the happiness to know in my youth, into whose faces I
+looked up and saw the throne of Genius illumined by Purity. One of
+them, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote, 'If beauty, softness, and faith in
+female forms have their own influence, vices even, in a slight degree,
+are thought to improve the expression.' The other, Arthur Hugh Clough,
+wrote, 'What we all love is good touched up with evil.' Here are two
+brave flowers, of which one grew out of the thorny stem of Puritanism,
+the other from the monastic root of Oxford. The 'vices' which could
+improve the expression, even for the pure eyes of Emerson, are those
+which represent the struggle of human nature to exist in truth,
+albeit in misdirection and reaction, amid pious hypocrisies. The
+Oxonian scholar had seen enough of the conventionalised characterless
+'good' to long for some sign of life and freedom, even though it must
+come as a touch of 'evil.' To the artist, nature is never seen in
+petrifaction; it is really as well as literally a becoming. The evil
+he sees is 'good in the making:' what others call vices are voices
+in the wilderness preparing the way of the highest.
+'God and the Devil make the whole of Religion,' said Nicoli--speaking,
+perhaps, better than he knew. The culture of the world has shown
+that the sometime opposed realms of human interest, so personified,
+are equally essential. It is through this experience that the Devil
+has gained such ample vindication from the poets--as in Rapisardi's
+'Lucifero,' a veritable 'bringer of Light,' and Cranch's 'Satan.' From
+the latter work ('Satan: A Libretto.' Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1874),
+which should be more widely known, I quote some lines. Satan says--
+I symbolise the wild and deep
+And unregenerated wastes of life,
+Dark with transmitted tendencies of race
+And blind mischance; all crude mistakes of will
+And tendency unbalanced by due weight
+Of favouring circumstance; all passion blown
+By wandering winds; all surplusage of force
+Piled up for use, but slipping from its base
+Of law and order.
+This is the very realm in which the poet and the artist find their
+pure-veined quarries, whence arise the forms transfigured in their
+vision.
+To evoke Helena, Faust, as we have seen, must repair to the
+Mothers. But who may these be? They shine from Goethe's page in such
+opalescent tints one cannot transfix their sense. They seemed to me
+just now the primal conditions, by fulfilling which anything might be
+attained, without which, nothing. But now (yet perhaps the difference
+is not great) I see the Mothers to be the ancient healthy instincts
+and ideals of our race. These took shape in forms of art, whose
+evolution had been man's harmony with himself. Christianity, borrowing
+thunder of one god, hammer of another, shattered them--shattered our
+Mothers! And now learned travellers go about in many lands saying,
+'Saw ye my beloved?' Amid cities ruined and buried we are trying to
+recover them, fitting limb to limb--so carefully! as if half-conscious
+that we are piecing together again the fragments of our own humanity.
+'The Devil: Does he Exist, and what does he Do?' Such is the title of
+a recent work by Father Delaporte, Professor of Dogma in the Faculty
+of Bordeaux. He gives specific directions for exorcism of devils by
+means of holy water, the sign of the cross, and other charms. 'These
+measures,' says one of his American critics, 'may answer very well
+against the French Devil; but our American Beelzebub is a potentate
+that goeth not forth on any such hints.' Father Delaporte would
+hardly contend that the use of cross and holy water for a thousand
+years has been effectual in dislodging the European Beelzebub.
+On the whole, I am inclined to prefer the method of the Africans of
+the Guinea Coast. They believe in a particularly hideous devil, but
+say that the only defence they require against him is a mirror. If any
+one will keep a mirror beside him, the Devil must see himself in it,
+and he at once rushes away in terror of his own ugliness.
+No monster ever conjured up by imagination is more hideous than a
+rational being transformed to a beast. Just that is every human being
+who has brought his nobler powers down to be slaves of his animal
+nature. No eye could look upon that fearful sight unmoved. All man
+needs is a true mirror in which his own animalism may see itself. We
+cannot borrow for this purpose the arts of Greece, nor the fairy
+ideals of Germany, nor the emasculated saints of Christendom. These
+were but fragments of the man who has been created by combination of
+their powers, and their several ideals are broken bits that cannot
+reflect the whole being of man in its proportions or disproportions.
+The higher nature of man, polished by culture of all his faculties,
+can alone be the faithful mirror before his lower. The clearness of
+this mirror in the individual heart depends mainly on the civilisation
+and knowledge surrounding it. The discovered law turns once plausible
+theories to falsehoods; a noble literature transmutes once popular
+books to trash. When Art interprets the realities of nature, when
+it shows how much beauty and purity our human nature is capable of,
+it holds a mirror before all deformities. At a theatre in the city of
+London, I witnessed the performance of an actor who, in the course
+of his part, struck a child. He was complimented by a hurricane of
+hisses from the crowded gallery. Had those 'gods' up there never
+struck children? Possibly. Yet here each had a mirror before him and
+recoiled from his worst self. A clergyman relates that, while looking
+at pictures in the Bethnal Green Museum, he overheard a poor woman,
+who had been gazing on a Madonna, say, 'If I had such a child as
+that I believe I could be a good woman.' Who can say what even that
+one glance at her life in the ideal reflector may be worth to that
+wanderer amid the miseries and temptations of London!
+It is not easy for those who have seen what is high and holy to give
+their hearts to what is base and unholy. It is as natural for human
+nature to love virtue as to love any other beauty. External beauty
+is visible to all, and all desire it: the interior beauty is not
+visible to superficial glances, but the admiration shown even for its
+counterfeits shows how natural it is to admire virtue. But in order
+that the charm of this moral beauty may be felt by human nature it
+must be related to that nature--real. It must not be some childish
+ideal which answers to no need of the man of to-day; not something
+imported from a time and place where it had meaning and force to
+others where it has none.
+When dogmas surviving from the primitive world are brought to behold
+themselves in the mirror held up by Science, they cry out, 'That is not
+my face! You are caricaturing my beliefs!' This recoil of Superstition
+from its own ugliness is the victory of Religion. What priests bewail
+as disbelief is faith fleeing from its deformities. Ignorant devotion
+proves its need of Science by its terrors of the same, which are like
+those of the horse at first sight of its best friend, bearer of its
+burthens--the locomotive.
+Religion, like every other high feature of human nature, has its animal
+counterpart. The animalised religion is superstition. It has various
+expressions,--the abjectness of one form, the ferocity of another,
+the cunning of a third. It is unconscious of anything higher than
+animalism. Its god is a very great animal preying on other animals,
+which are laid on his altars; or pleased when smaller animals give
+up their part of the earthly feast by starving their passions and
+senses. Under the growth of civilisation and intelligence that pious
+asceticism is revealed in its true form,--intensified animalism. The
+asceticism of one age becomes the self-indulgence of another. The
+two-footed animal having discovered that his god does not eat the
+meat left for him, eats it himself. Learning that he gets as much
+from his god by a wafer and a prayer, he offers these and retains
+the gifts, treasures, and pleasures so commuted,--these, however,
+being withdrawn from the direction of the higher nature by the fact
+of being obtained through the conditions of the lower, and dependent
+on their persistence. In process of time the forms and formulas of
+religion, detached from all reality--such as no conceivable monarch
+could desire--not only become senseless, but depend upon their
+senselessness for continuance. They refuse to come at all within the
+domain of reason or common-sense, and trust to mental torpor of the
+masses, force of habit in the aggregate, self-interest in the wealthy
+and powerful, bribes for thinkers and scholars.
+Animalism disguised as a religion must render the human religion,
+able to raise passions into divine attributes of a perfect manhood,
+impossible so long as it continues. That a human religion can ever
+come by any process of evolution from a superstition which can only
+exist by ministry to the baser motives is a delusion. The only hope of
+society is that its independent minds may gain culture, and so surround
+this unextinct monster with mirrors that it may perish through shame
+at its manifold deformities. These are symbolised in the many-headed
+phantasm which is the subject of this work. Demon, Dragon, and Devil
+have long paralysed the finest powers of man, peopling nature with
+horrors, the heart with fears, and causing the religious sentiment
+itself to make actual in history the worst excesses it professed to
+combat in its imaginary adversaries. My largest hope is that from
+the dragon-guarded well where Truth is too much concealed she may
+emerge far enough to bring her mirror before these phantoms of fear,
+and with far-darting beams send them back to their caves in Chaos
+and ancient Night.
+The battlements of the cloisters of Magdalen College, Oxford, are
+crowned with an array of figures representing virtues and vices,
+with carved allegories of teaching and learning. Under the Governor's
+window are the pelican feeding its young from its breast, and the lion,
+denoting the tenderness and the strength of a Master of youth. There
+follow the professions--the lawyer embracing his client, the physician
+with his bottle, the divine as Moses with his tables of the Law. Next
+are the slayers of Goliath and other mythical enemies. We come to more
+real, albeit monstrous, enemies; to Gluttony in ecclesiastical dress,
+with tongue lolling out; and low-browed Luxury without any vesture,
+with a wide-mouthed animal-eared face on its belly, the same tongue
+lolling out--as in our figures of Typhon and Kali. Drunkenness has
+three animal heads--one of a degraded humanity, another a sheep, the
+third a goose. Cruelty is a werewolf; a frog-faced Lamia represents
+its mixture with Lust; and other vices are represented by other
+monsters, chiefly dragons with griffin forms, until the last is
+reached--the Devil, who is just opposite the Governor's symbols across
+the quadrangle.
+So was represented, some centuries ago, the conflict of Ormuzd
+and Ahriman, for the young soldiers who enlisted at Oxford for that
+struggle. A certain amount of fancy has entered into the execution of
+the figures; but, if this be carefully detached, the history which
+I have attempted to tell in these volumes may be generally traced
+in the Magdalen statues. Each represents some phase in the advance
+of the world, when, under new emergencies, earlier symbols were
+modified, recombined, and presently replaced by new shapes. It was
+found inadequate to keep the scholar throwing stones at the mummy of
+Goliath when by his side was living Gluttony in religious garb. The
+scriptural symbols are gradually mixed with those of Greek and German
+mythology, and by such contact with nature are able to generate forms,
+whose lolling tongues, wide mouths, and other expressions, represent
+with some realism the physiognomies of brutality let loose through
+admission to human shape and power.
+It may be that, when they were set up, the young Oxonian passed
+shuddering these terrible forms, dreaded these werewolves and
+succubæ, and dreamed of going forth to impale dragons. But now the
+sculptures excite only laughter or curiosity, when they are not
+passed by without notice. Yet the old conflict between Light and
+Darkness has not ceased. The ancient forms of it pass away; they
+become grotesque. Such was necessarily the case where the excessive
+mythological and fanciful elements introduced at one period fall upon
+another period when they hide the meaning. Their obscurity, even for
+antiquarians, marks how far away from those cold battlefields the
+struggle they symbolised has passed. But it ceases not. Some scholars
+who listen to the sweet vespers of Magdalen may think the conflict
+over; if so, even poor brother Moody may enter the true kingdom before
+them; for, when preaching in Baltimore last September, he said, 'Men
+are possessed of devils just as much now as they ever were. The devil
+of rum is as great as any that ever lived. Why cannot this one and
+all others be cast out? Because there is sin in the christian camp.'
+The picture which closes this volume has been made for me by the artist
+Hennessey, to record an incident which occurred at the door of Nôtre
+Dame in Paris last summer. I had been examining an ugly devil there
+treading down human forms into hell; but a dear friend looked higher,
+and saw a bird brooding over its young on a nest supported by that
+same horrible head.
+So, above the symbols of wrath in nature, Love still interweaves
+heavenly tints with the mystery of life; beside the horns of pain
+prepares melodies.
+Even so, also, over the animalism which deforms man, rises the animal
+perfection which shames that; here ascending above the reign of
+violence by a feather's force, and securing to that little creature
+a tenderness that could best express the heart of a Christ, when it
+would gather humanity under his wings.
+This same little scene at the cathedral door came before me again
+as I saw the Oxonian youth, with their morning-faces, passing so
+heedlessly those ancient sculptures at Magdalen. Over every happy
+heart the same old love was brooding, in each nestling faculties
+were trying to gain their wings. To what will they aspire, those
+students moving so light-hearted amid the dead dragons and satans
+of an extinct world? Do they think there are no more dragons to be
+slain? Know they that saying, 'He descended into hell;' and that,
+from Orpheus and Herakles to Mohammed and Swedenborg, this is the
+burthen felt by those who would be saviours of men?
+It is not only loving birds that build their nests and rear their young
+over the horns of forgotten fears, but, alas! the Harpies too! These,
+which Dante saw nestling in still plants--once men who had wronged
+themselves--rear successors above the aspirations that have ended in
+'nothing but leaves.' The sculptures of Magdalen are incomplete. There
+is a vacant side to the quadrangle, which, it is to be feared, awaits
+the truer teaching that would fill it up with the real dragons which
+no youth could heedlessly pass. Who can carve there the wrongs that
+await their powers of redress? Who can set before them, with all
+its baseness, the true emblem of pious fraud? When will they see in
+any stone mirror the real shape of a double-tongued Culture--one fork
+intoning litanies, another whispering contempt of them? The werewolves
+of scholarly selfishness, the Lamias of christian casuistry, the subtle
+intelligence that is fed by sages and heroes, but turns them to dust,
+nay, to venom, because it dares not be human, still crawls--these
+are yet to be revealed in all their horrors. Then will the old cry,
+Sursum Corda, sound over the ancient symbols whereon scholars waste
+their strength, by which they are conquered; and wings of courage shall
+bear them with their arrows of light to rescue from Superstition the
+holy places of Humanity.
+NOTES TO VOLUME I
+[1] Pausan. v. 14, 2.
+[2] Solin. Polyhistor, i.
+[3] Pliny, xxix. 6, 34, init.
+[4] Ezekiel xiv. 9.
+[5] As in the Bembine Tablet in the Bodleian Library.
+[6] See Sale's Koran, p. 281.
+[7] Pindar, Fragm., 270.
+[8] Tylor's 'Early Hist. of Mankind,' p. 358; 'Prim. Cult.,'
+vol. ii. p. 230.
+[9] The Gascons of Labourd call the devil 'Seigneur Voland,' and some
+revere him as a patron.
+[10] 'Myth. of the Aryan Nations,' vol. ii. p. 327.
+[11] 'Christian Iconography,' Bohn, p. 158.
+[12] 'Videbant faciem egredientis Moysis esse
+cornutam.'--Vulg. Exod. xxxiv. 35.
+[13] 'Myths and Marvels of Astronomy.' By R. A. Proctor. Chatto &
+Windus, 1878.
+[14] 'Scenes and Legends,' &c., p. 73.
+[15] 'Any Orientalist will appreciate the wonderful hotchpot of Hindu
+and Arabic language and religion in the following details, noted down
+among rude tribes of the Malay Peninsula. We hear of Jin Bumi, the
+earth-god (Arabic jin = demon, Sanskrit bhümi = earth); incense is
+burnt to Jewajewa (Sanskrit dewa = god), who intercedes with Pirman,
+the supreme invisible deity above the sky (Brahma?); the Moslem
+Allah Táala, with his wife Nabi Mahamad (Prophet Mohammed), appear in
+the Hinduised characters of creator and destroyer of all things; and
+while the spirits worshipped in stones are called by the Hindu term of
+'dewa' or deity, Moslem conversion has so far influenced the mind of
+the stone-worshipper that he will give to his sacred boulder the name
+of Prophet Mohammed.'--Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' vol. ii. p. 230.
+[16] Yaçna, 32.
+[17] 'The Devil,' &c., from the French of the Rev. A. Réville, p. 5.
+[18] Tylor's 'Primitive Culture,' vol. ii. p. 299.
+[19] 'The Gnostics,' &c., by C. W. King, M.A., p. 153.
+[20] Those who wish to examine this matter further will do well to
+refer to Badger, 'Nestorians and their Rituals,' in which the whole
+of the 'Eulogy' is translated; and to Layard, 'Ninevah and Babylon,'
+in which there is a translation of the same by Hormuzd Rassam, the
+King of Abyssinia's late prisoner.
+[21] The significance of the gargoyles on the churches built on the
+foundations of pagan temples may be especially observed at York, where
+the forms of various animals well known to Indo-Germanic mythology
+appear. They are probably copies of earlier designs, surviving from
+the days when the plan of Gregory for the conversion of temples
+prevailed. 'The temples of the idols in that nation,' wrote the Pope,
+A.C. 601, 'ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are in
+them be destroyed; let holy water be made and sprinkled in the said
+temples, let altars be erected and relics placed. For if those temples
+are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship
+of devils to the service of the true God.'--Bede, Eccl. Hist. ch. 30.
+[22] 'The Land of Charity,' by Rev. Samuel Mateer, p. 214.
+[23] London 'Times' Calcutta correspondence.
+[24] The Persian poet Sádi uses the phrase, 'The whale swallowed
+Jonah,' as a familiar expression for sunset; which is in curious
+coincidence with a Mimac (Nova Scotian) myth that the holy hero
+Glooscap was carried to the happy Sunset Land in a whale. The story
+of Jonah has indeed had interesting variants, one of them being
+that legend of Oannes, the fish-god, emerging from the Red Sea to
+teach Babylonians the arts (a saga of Dagon); but the phrase in the
+Book of Jonah--'the belly of Hell'--had a prosaic significance for
+the christian mind, and, in connection with speculations concerning
+Behemoth and Leviathan, gave us the mediæval Mouth of Hell.
+[25] Tablet K 162 in the British Museum. See 'Records of the Past,'
+i. 141.
+[26] London 'Times,' July 11, 1877.
+[27] 'Songs of the Russian People,' p. 409.
+[28] 'Primitive Culture.'
+[29] Cæsarius D'Heisterbach, Miracul. iii.
+[30] Lev. iii. 15.
+[31] Du Perron, 'Vie de Zoroastre.'
+[32] The principle similia similibus curantur is a very ancient one;
+but though it may have originated in a euphemistic or propitiatory
+aim, the homoeopathist may claim that it could hardly have lived
+unless it had been found to have some practical advantages.
+[33] Sonnerat's 'Travels,' ii. 38.
+[34] Deutsch, 'Literary Remains,' p. 178.
+[35] Isa. lvii. 5; Ezek. xvi. 20; Jer. xix. 5.
+[36] The 'Jewish World.'
+[37] 'Observations on Popular Antiquities,' &c., by John Brand. With
+the additions of Sir Henry Ellis. An entirely new and revised
+edition. Chatto & Windus, 1877. See especially the chapter on 'Summer
+Solstice,' p. 165.
+[38] 'Pyra, a bonefire, wherein men's bodyes were burned.'--Cooper's
+Thesaurus. Probably from Fr. bon; Wedgewood gives Dan. baun, beacon.
+[39] See Chapter i. Compare Numbers xxxi. 23.
+[40] Numbers xix. 17.
+[41] Ibid. xix. 2, seq.
+[42] 'Folklore of China,' p. 121.
+[43] In Russia the pigeon, from being anciently consecrated to the
+thunder god, has become emblem of the Holy Ghost, or celestial fire,
+and as such the foe of earthly fire. Pigeons are trusted as insurers
+against fire, and the flight of one through a house is regarded as
+a kindly warning of conflagration.
+[44] Tablet K 162 in Brit. Mus. Tr. by H. F. Talbot in 'Records of
+the Past.'
+[45] The Western Mail, March 12, 1874, contains a remarkable letter by
+the Arch-Druid, in which he maintains that 'Jesus' is a derivation from
+Hea or Hu, Light, and the Christian system a corruption of Bardism.
+[46] 'L'Enfer,' p. 5.
+[47] Dennys' 'Folklore of China,' p. 98.
+[48] Procopius, 'De Bello Gothico,' iv. 20.
+[49] 'Memorials of the Rev. R. S. Hawkes'.
+[50] 'La Magie chez les Chaldéens,' iii.
+[51] Lönnrot, 'Abhandlung über die Magische Medicin der Finnen.'
+[52] 'Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland.' Nimmo, 1876.
+[53] 'Rig-Veda,' ii. 33. Tr. by Professor Evans of Michigan.
+[54] 'Rig-Veda,' i. 114.
+[55] 'Jour. Ceylon R. A. Soc.,' 1865-66.
+[56] Welcker, 'Griechische Götterlehre,' vol. i. p. 661.
+[57] Moffat, p. 257.
+[58] Livingstone, p. 124.
+[59] Pöppig, 'Reise in Chile,' vol. ii. p. 358.
+[60] Eyre, vol. ii. p. 362.
+[61] Tylor, 'Early Hist.,' p. 359.
+[62] So confirming the conjecture of Wachsmuth, in 'Das alte
+Griechenland im neuen,' p. 23. Elias might also easily be associated
+with the name Æolus.
+[63] 'Rig-Veda,' x. (Muir).
+[64] John iii. 8.
+[65] 'The Wheel of the Law,' by Henry Alabaster, Trübner & Co.
+[66] 'Rig-Veda,' v. 83 (Wilson).
+[67] 'Major's Tr.,' ii. 26.
+[68] Wierus' 'Pseudomonarchia Dæmon.'
+[69] 'Songs of the Russian People,' by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A.
+[70] Isa. xxii. 22. It is remarkable that (according to Callimachus)
+Ceres bore a key on her shoulder. She kept the granary of the earth.
+[71] Rev. i. 18.; Matt. xvi. 19.
+[72] 'Journal N. C. B. R. A. S.,' 1853.
+[73] 'Folklore of China,' p. 124. The drum held by the imp in Fig. 3
+shows his relation to the thunder-god. In Japan the thunder-god
+is represented as having five drums strung together. The wind-god
+has a large bag of compressed air between his shoulders; and he has
+steel claws, representing the keen and piercing wind. The Tartars in
+Siberia believe that a potent demon may be evoked by beating a drum;
+their sorcerers provide a tame bear, who starts upon the scene, and
+from whom they pretend to get answers to questions. In Nova Scotian
+superstition we find demons charmed by drums into quietude. In India
+the temple-drum preserved such solemn associations even for the new
+theistic sect, the Brahmo-Somaj, that it is said to be still beaten
+as accompaniment to the organ sent to their chief church by their
+English friends.
+[74] Although the Koran and other authorities, as already stated, have
+associated the Jinn with etherial fire, Arabic folklore is nearer the
+meaning of the word in assigning the name to all demons. The learned
+Arabic lexicographer of Beirut, P. Bustani, says 'The Jinn is the
+opposite of mankind, or it is whatever is veiled from the sense,
+whether angel or devil.'
+[75] 'Cuneiform Ins.,' iv. 15.
+[76] Ib. ii. 27.
+[77] Job xli.
+[78] 'Records of the Past,' i.
+[79] Lenormant, 'La Magie.'
+[80] 'Records of the Past,' iii. 129.
+[81] The god of the Euphrates.
+[82] The Assyrian has 'of the high places.'
+[83] 'Records of the Past,' iii. 129, 130.
+[84] 'Henry IV.,' Part 1st, Act 2. 'Heart of Mid-Lothian,' xxv. An
+interesting paper on this subject by Mr. Alexander Wilder appeared
+in The Evolution, New York, December 16, 1877.
+[85] De Plancy.
+[86] An individual by this means saw his wife among the witches, so
+detecting her unhallowed nature, which gave rise to a saying there
+that husbands must not be star-gazing on St. Gerard's Eve.
+[87] London 'Times,' July 8, 1875.
+[88] This Protean type of both demon and devil must accompany us so
+continually through this volume that but little need be said of it
+in this chapter.
+[89] Canticles ii. 15.
+[90] De Gubernatis, II. viii.
+[91] 'Our Life in Japan' (Jephson and Elmhirst, 9th Regiment),
+Chapman & Hall, 1869.
+[92] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877.
+[93] Rep. 488.
+[94] Literally, goat-song. More probably it has an astrological sense.
+[95] E.g., the demon Huorco in the 'Pentamerone.'
+[96] See De Gubernatis' 'Zoological Mythology,' which contains further
+curious details on this subject.
+[97] 'Myths and Myth-makers.' Boston: Osgood & Co.
+[98] 'Zoological Mythology,' p. 64.
+[99] Koran, xviii.
+[100]  Wagner. Behold him stop--upon his belly crawl.... The clever
+scholar of the students, he!
+[101] 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.' London: Chatto & Windus.
+[102] 'Spirit of the Beasts of France,' ch. i.
+[103] 'Rigv.' i. 105, 18, 42, 2; 'Vendidad,' xix. 108. Quoted by De
+Gubernatis ('Zoolog. Mythology,' ii. 142), to whose invaluable work
+I am largely indebted in this chapter.
+[104] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 7. Trübner & Co.
+[105] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 108 seq.
+[106] Afanasief, v. 28.
+[107] Ibid., v. 27.
+[108] ii. 6 (De Gubernatis, ii. 117).
+[109] Rather the devil of lust than of cruelty, according to Du Cange:
+"Occidunt ursum, occiditur diabolus, id est, temptator nostræ carnis."
+[110] De Plancy (Dict. Inf.), who also relates an amusing legend of
+the bear who came to a German choir, as seen by a sleepy chorister as
+he awoke; the naïve narrator of which adds, that this was the devil
+sent to hold the singers to their duty! The Lives of the Saints abound
+with legends of pious bears, such as that commemorated along with
+St. Sergius in Troitska Lavra, near Moscow; and that which St. Gallus
+was ungracious enough to banish from Switzerland after it had brought
+him firewood in proof of its conversion.
+[111] Max Müller, 'Science of Language,' i. 275.
+[112] The term is now used very vaguely. Mr. Talboys Wheeler,
+speaking of the 'Scythic Nagas' (Hist. of India, i. 147), says:
+'In process of time these Nagas became identified with serpents, and
+the result has been a strange confusion between serpents and human
+beings.' In the 'Padma Purana' we read of 'serpent-like men.' (See my
+'Sacred Anthology,' p. 263.)
+[113] 'Mahawanso' (Turnour), pp. 3, 6.
+[114] Ser. xxxiii.  Hardly consistent with De Civ. Dei, xvi. 8.
+[115] 'Chips,' ii.
+[116] 'Sancti custos Soractis Apollo.'--Æn. xi. 785.
+[117] 'Treatise of Spirits,' by John Beaumont, Gent., London, 1705.
+[118] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877.
+[119] Wuttke, 'Volksaberglaube,' 402. Pliny (iv. 16) says: 'Albion
+insula sic dicta ab albis rupibus quas mare alluit.' This etymon of
+Albion from the white cliffs is very questionable; but, since Alb and
+Elf are generally related, it might have suggested the notion about
+English demons. Heine identifies the 'White Island,' or Pluto's realm
+of Continental folklore, as England.
+[120] Richardson's 'Borderer's Fable-Book,' vi. 97.
+[121] Martin, Appendix to Report on 'Ossian,' p. 310.
+[122] 'Scenes and Legends,' p. 13.
+[123] Dr. James Browne's 'History of the Highlands,' p. 113.
+[124] 'North American Review,' January 1871.
+[125] Dennys, p. 81 et seq.
+[126] Ezekiel xxxix.
+[127] 'Rig-Veda,' iv. 175, 5 (Wilson).
+[128] Ibid., i. 133, 6.
+[129] 'Rig-Veda,' vi. 14.
+[130] 'The Nineteenth Century,' November 1877. Article: 'Sun-Spots
+and Famines,' by Norman Lockyer and W. W. Hunter.
+[131] 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell,' by Tobias
+Swinden, M.A., late Rector of Cuxton-in-Kent. 1727.
+[132] Carlyle, 'Past and Present,' i. 2.
+[133] 'Discoveries in Egypt,' &c. (Bentley.) 1852.
+[134] 'Legends of Old Testament Characters,' i. p. 83.
+[135] OEdip., 1. II. ii. See 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny,'
+p. 699.
+[136] Compare Kali, Fig. 18.
+[137] Soc. of Heb. Literature's Publications. 2d Series. 'Legends
+from the Midrash,' by Thomas Chenery (Trübner & Co.). The same legend
+is referred to in the story of the Astrologer in Washington Irving's
+'Alhambra.'
+[138] Faust, ii. Act 4 (Hayward's Translation).
+[139] 'Emerson's Poems. Monadnoc.'
+[140] 'Modern Painters,' Part V. 19.
+[141] Bel's mountain, 'House of the Beloved,' is called 'high place'
+in Assyrian, and would be included in these curses ('Records of the
+Past,' iii. 129).
+[142] Jer. xiii. 16.
+[143] 'Our Life in Japan.' By Jephson and Elmhirst.
+[144] Another derivation of Elf (Alf) is to connect it with Sanskrit
+Alpa = little; so that the Elves are the Little Folk. Professor Buslaef
+of Moscow suggests connection with the Greek Alphito, a spectre. See
+pp. 160n. and 223.
+[145] Brinton, p. 85.
+[146] Ibid., p. 166.
+[147] 'Tales and Legends of the Tyrol.' (Chapman and Hall, 1874.)
+[148] Od. xii. 73; 235, &c.
+[149] London Daily Telegraph Correspondence.
+[150] John Sterling.
+[151] 'Rig-Veda,' ii. 15, 5. Wilson. 1854.
+[152] 'Du monstre qui m'avait tant ennuyé, il n'était plus question;
+il était pour jamais réduit au silence. Il n'avait plus forme de
+géant. Déjà en partie couvert de verdure, de mousse et de clématites
+qui avaient grimpé sur la partie où j'avais cessé de passer, il n'était
+plus laid; bientôt on ne le verrait plus du tout. Je me sentais si
+heureux que je voulus lui pardonner, et, me tournant vers lui:--A
+present, lui dis-je, tu dormiras tous tes jours et tous tes nuits sans
+que je te dérange. Le mauvais esprit qui était en toi est vaincu, je
+lui defends de revenir. Je t'en ai délivré en te forçant à devenir
+utile à quelque chose; que la foudre t'épargne et que la neige te
+soit légère! Il me sembla passer, le long de l'escarpement, comme un
+grand soupir de résignation qui se perdit dans les hauteurs. Ce fut
+la dernière fois que je l'entendais, et je ne l'ai jamais revu autre
+qu'il n'est maintenant.'
+[153] Von Spix and Von Martin's 'Travels in Brazil,' p. 243.
+[154] 'Anatomy of Melancholy.' Fifteenth Edition, p. 124.
+[155] 'Les Dieux en Exile.' Heinrich Heine. Revue des Deux Mondes,
+April, 1853.
+[156] 'Book of Songs.' Translated by Charles E. Leland. New York:
+Henry Holt & Co. 1874.
+[157] Dennys.
+[158] Bleek, 'Hottentot Fables,' p. 58.
+[159] Baring-Gould, 'Curious Myths,' &c.
+[160] Ibid., ii. 299.
+[161] 'Shaski,' vi. 48.
+[162] Hugh Miller, 'Scenes and Legends,' p. 293.
+[163] 'The Mirror,' April 7, 1832.
+[164] 'The Origin of Civilisation,' &c. By Sir John Lubbock.
+[165] Hildebrand in Grimm's 'Wörterbuch.'
+[166] Wisdom of Solomon, xvii. What this impressive chapter says of
+the delusions of the guilty are equally true of those of ignorance.
+'They sleeping the same sleep that night ... were partly vexed with
+monstrous apparitions, and partly fainted, their heart failing them
+... whosoever there fell down was straitly kept, shut up in a prison
+without iron bars.... Whether it were a whistling wind, or a melodious
+noise of birds among the spreading branches, or a pleasing fall of
+water running violently, or a terrible sound of stones cast down,
+or a running that could not be seen of skipping beasts, or a roaring
+voice of most savage wild beasts, or a rebounding echo from the hollow
+mountains: these things made them to swoon for fear. The whole world
+shined with clear light ... over them only was spread a heavy night,
+an image of that darkness which should afterward receive them: but
+yet were they to themselves more grievous than that darkness.'
+[167] Bayard Taylor's 'Faust.' Walpurgis-night.
+[168] i. 228.
+[169] North American Review. March 1877.
+[170] In his very valuable work, 'Northmen in Cumberland and
+Westmoreland.' Longmans. 1856.
+[171] 'Journal of Philology,' vi. No. II. On the Word Glamour and
+the Legend of Glam, by Professor Cowell.
+[172] 2 Chron. xvi. 12; 2 Kings xx.; Mark v. 26; James v. 14; &c.,
+&c. The Catholic Church follows the prescription by St. James of prayer
+and holy anointing for the sick only after medical aid--of which
+Asa died when he preferred it to the Lord--has failed; i.e. extreme
+unction. Castelar remarks that the Conclave which elected Pius
+IX. sat in the Quirinal rather than the Vatican, 'because, while
+it hoped for the inspirations of the Holy Spirit in every place, it
+feared that in the palace par excellence divine inspirations would
+not sufficiently counteract the effluvias of the fever.' The legal
+prosecutions of the 'Peculiar People' for obeying the New Testament
+command in case of sickness supply a notable example of the equal
+hypocrisy of the protestant age. England has distributed the Bible
+as a divine revelation in 150 different languages; and in London it
+punishes a sect for obedience to one of its plainest directions.
+[173] London 'Times,' June 11, 1877.
+[174] 'Mankind: their Origin and Destiny' (Longmans, 1872), p. 91. See
+also Voltaire's Dictionary for an account of the sacred dances in
+the Catholic Churches of Spain.
+[175] Deut. xxviii. 60.
+[176] 1 Sam. v. 6.
+[177] 1 Sam. xvi. 14. In chap. xviii. 10, this evil spirit is said
+to have proceeded from Elohim, a difference indicating a further step
+in that evolution of Jehovah into a moral ruler which is fully traced
+in our chapter on 'Elohim and Jehovah.'
+[178] Boundesch, ii. pp. 158, 188. For an exhaustive treatment of the
+astrological theories and pictures of the planispheres, see 'Mankind:
+their Origin and Destiny' (Longmans, 1872).
+[179] 'Catastrophe Magnatum: or the Fall of Monarchie. A Caveat
+to Magistrates, deduced from the Eclipse of the Sunne, March
+29, 1652. With a probable Conjecture of the Determination of
+the Effects.' By Nich. Culpeper, Gent., Stud. in Astrol. and
+Phys. Dan. ii. 21, 22: He changeth the times and the seasons: he
+removeth Kings, and setteth up Kings: he giveth wisdome to the Wise,
+and knowledge to them that know understanding: he revealeth the deep
+and secret things, he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light
+dwelleth with him. London: Printed for T. Vere and Nath. Brooke,
+in the Old Baily, and at the Angel in Cornhil, 1652.'
+[180] See the Dictionary of Böhtlingk and Roth.
+[181] Heb. ii. 14.
+[182] 1 Cor. v. 5; xi. 30.
+[183] 2 Cor. xii. 7.
+[184] 'Records of the Past,' iii. p. 136. Tr. by Mr. Fox Talbot.
+[185] Ibid., iii. p. 143. The refrain recalls the lines of Edgar
+A. Poe:--
+They are neither man nor woman,
+They are neither brute nor human,
+They are ghouls!
+[186] The Pahlavi Text has been prepared by Destur Jamaspji Asa,
+and translated by Haug and West. Trübner, 1872.
+[187] Cf. fig. 9.
+[188] Larousse's 'Dict. Universel.'
+[189] 'Records,' &c., iii. p. 141. Marduk is the Chaldæan Hercules.
+[190] Micah vii. 19.
+[191] See the excellent article in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of
+the R.A.S., by Dundris De Silva Gooneratnee Modliar (1865-66). With
+regard to this sanctity of the number seven it may be remarked that
+it has spread through the world with Christianity,--seven churches,
+seven gifts of the Spirit, seven sins and virtues. It is easy therefore
+to mistake orthodox doctrines for survivals. In the London 'Times' of
+June 24, 1875, there was reported an inquest at Corsham, Wiltshire,
+on the body of Miriam Woodham, who died under the prescriptions of
+William Bigwood, herbalist. It was shown that he used pills made
+of seven herbs. This was only shown to be a 'pagan survival' when
+Bigwood stated that the herbs were 'governed by the sun.'
+[192] See p. 44.
+[193] 'Jour. Ceylon R. A. Soc.,' 1865-66.
+[194] This demoness is not to be connected with the Italian
+Mania, probably of Etruscan origin, with which nurses frightened
+children. This Mania, from an old word manus signifying 'good,' was,
+from the relation of her name to Manes, supposed to be mother of
+the Lares, whose revisitations of the earth were generally of ill
+omen. According to an oracle which said heads should be offered for
+the sake of heads, children were sacrificed to this household fiend
+up to the time of Junius Brutus, who substituted poppy-heads.
+[195] Phædrus, i. 549. Cf. Ger. selig and silly.
+[196] 'Lect. on Language,' i. 435.
+[197] Ralston's 'Songs of the Russian People,' p. 230.
+[198] 'Sagen der Altmark.' Von A. Kuhn. Berlin, 1843.
+[199] Wake's 'Evolution of Morality,' i. 107.
+[200] 'The Aborigines of Australia' (1865), p. 15.
+[201] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6.
+[202] Published by Mozley and Smith, 1878.
+[203] Max Müller.  'Lectures on Language,' ii. p. 562, et seq.
+[204] See the beautifully translated funereal hymn of the Veda in
+Professor Whitney's 'Oriental and Linguistic Studies,' p. 52, etc.
+[205] 'The Avesta.' 'Oriental and Linguistic Studies,' p. 196.
+[206] 'Records of the Past,' i. 143.
+[207] Sale's 'Koran' (ed. 1836). See pp. 4, 339, 475.
+[208] 'Discoveries,' &c., p. 223.
+[209] 'Modern Painters,' Part V. xix.
+[210] The history of this tree which I use for a parable is told in the
+Rev. Samuel Mateer's 'Land of Charity.' London: John Snow & Co. 1871.
+[211] 'Studies in the History of the Renaissance.' Macmillan &
+Co. 1873.
+[212] Concerning which Mr. Wright says: 'It is taken from an oxybaphon
+which was brought from the Continent to England, where it passed into
+the collection of Mr. William Hope.... The Hyperborean Apollo himself
+appears as a quack-doctor, on his temporary stage, covered by a sort
+of roof, and approached by wooden steps. On the stage lies Apollo's
+luggage, consisting of a bag, a bow, and his Scythian cap. Chiron
+(ChIRÔN) is represented as labouring under the effects of age and
+blindness, and supporting himself by the aid of a crooked staff,
+as he repairs to the Delphian quack-doctor for relief. The figure
+of the centaur is made to ascend by the aid of a companion, both
+being furnished with the masks and other attributes of the comic
+performers. Above are the mountains, and on them the nymphs of
+Parnassus (NYMPhAI), who, like all the other actors in the scene, are
+disguised with masks, and those of a very gross character.... Even a
+pun is employed to heighten the drollery of the scene, for instead
+of PYThIAS, the Pythian, placed over the head of the burlesque
+Apollo, it seems evident that the artist had written PEIThIAS, the
+consoler.'--'History of Caricature,' p. 18. But who is the leaf-crowned
+figure, without mask, on the right hand? Was it some early Offenbach,
+who found such representation of the gods welcome at Athens where
+the attempt to produce our modern Offenbach's Belle Helène recently
+caused a theatrical riot?
+[213] Wuttke. 'Volksaberglaube,' 18.
+[214] Schleicher, 'Litauische Märchen,' 141-145. Mr. Ralston's
+translation abridged.
+[215] Of this latter kind of hungry werewolf a specimen still
+occasionally revisits the glimpses of the moonshine which, for too
+many minds, still replaces daylight. So recently as January 17, 1878,
+one Kate Bedwell, a 'pedlar, was sentenced in the Marylebone Police
+Court, London, to three months' hard labour for obtaining various
+sums of money, amounting to 9s. 10d., by terrorism, from Eliza Rolf,
+a cook. The pedlar came to the plaintiff's place of work and asked
+her if she would like to have her fortune told. Eliza replied, 'No,
+I know it; it is hard work or starving.' The fortune-teller asked her
+next time if she would have her planet ruled; the other still said no;
+but her nerves yielded when the 'Drud' told her 'she lived under three
+stars, one good the others bad, and that she could disfigure her or
+turn her into something else.' 'Thank God, she did not!' exclaimed
+the poor woman in court. However, she seemed to have trusted rather
+in her money than in any other providence for her immunity from an
+unhappy transformation. But even into this rare depth of ignorance
+enough light had penetrated to enable Eliza to cope with her werewolf
+in the civilised way of haling her before a magistrate. When Fenris
+gets three months with hard labour, he no doubt realises that he has
+exceeded his mental habitat, and that the invisible cords have bound
+him at last.
+[216] Elf has, indeed, been referred by some to the Sanskrit
+alpa=little; but the balance of authority is in favour of the
+derivation given in a former chapter.
+[217] Mannhardt, 'Götter,' 287.
+[218] Freia-Holda, the Teutonic goddess of Love.  'Cornhill Magazine,'
+May, 1872.
+[219] 'Records of the Past,' vi. 124.
+[220] See Cooper's 'Serpent-Myths of Ancient Egypt,' figs. 109 and
+112. Serapis as a human-headed serpent is shown in the same essay
+(from Sharpe), fig. 119.
+[221] 'Representative Men,' American edition of 1850, p. 108.
+[222] 'L'Oiseau,' par Jules Michelet.
+[223] A deadly Southern snake, coloured like the soil on which
+it lurks, had become the current name for politicians who, while
+professing loyalty to the Union, aided those who sought to overthrow
+it.
+[224] See his learned and valuable treatise, 'The Serpent Myths of
+Ancient Egypt.' Hardwicke, 1873.
+[225] 'Time and Faith,' i. 204. Groombridge, 1857.
+[226] 'The Epic of the Worm,' by Victor Hugo. Translated by Bayard
+Taylor from 'La Légende des Siècles.'
+[227] Bruce relates of the Abyssinians that a serpent is commonly kept
+in their houses to consult for an augury of good or evil. Butter and
+honey are placed before it, of which if it partake, the omen is good;
+if the serpent refuse to eat, some misfortune is sure to happen. This
+custom seems to throw a light on the passage--'Butter and honey shall
+he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good'
+(Isa. vii. 15).--Time and Faith, i. 60.
+Compare the apocryphal tale of Bel and the Dragon. Bel was a healing
+god of the Babylonians, and the Dragon whom he slew may have been
+regarded in later times as his familiar
+[228] 'Principles of Greek Etymology,' ii. 63. English translation.
+[229] See pp. 8 and 20.
+[230] 'Rig-veda,' v. (Wilson).
+[231] In a paper on the 'Origin of Serpent-worship,' read before the
+Anthropological Institute in London, December 17, 1872.
+[232] 'Science of Language,' i. 230.
+[233] 'Lectures on Language,' i. 435.
+[234] Grimm's 'Mythology,' p. 650 ff. Simrock, p. 440.
+[235] Roth, in the 'Journal of the German Oriental Society,'
+vol. ii. p. 216 ff., has elucidated the whole myth.
+[236] I have in my possession a specimen of the horned frog of America,
+and it is sufficiently curious.
+[237] Gesta Rom., cap. 68. Grimm's Myth., 650 ff. Simrock, p. 400.
+[238] Others derive the name from the ancient Borbetomagus.
+[239] Traditions, p. 44.
+[240] Loathely.
+[241] Pope's 'Homer,' Book xv.
+[242] See p. 59.
+[243] See p. 154.
+[244] Æsch. Prom. 790, &c.
+[245] Vol. i. p. 38.
+[246] 'North American Review,' January 1871.
+[247] 'Records of the Past,' x. 79.
+[248] Page 285.
+[249] 'Alcestis in England.' Printed by the South Place Society,
+Finsbury, London. 1877.
+[250] Eating meat was the process of incarnation.
+[251] 'Results of a Tour in Dardistan, Kashmir,' &c., by Chevalier
+Dr. G. W. Leitner, Lahore, vol. i. part iii. Trübner & Co.
+[252] Page 91.
+[253] In the Etruscan Museum at Rome there is a fine representation
+of this. The old belief was that a dragon could only be attacked
+successfully inside.
+[254] 'The Jewish Messiah,' &c. By James Drummond, B.A. Longmans &
+Co. (1877). See in this valuable work chapter xxi.
+[255] Matt. viii. 30.
+[256] Luke xxiii. 3.
+[257] Acts i. 25.
+NOTES TO VOLUME II
+[1] 'Treatise of Spirits.' By John Beaumont, Gent. London, 1705.
+[2] Luke x. 19.
+[3] Rev. xii.
+[4] Rev. xii. cf. verses 4, 9 and 14.
+[5] Rev. xii. 12.
+[6] 'Zendavesta,' Yaçna xxx.; Max Müller, 'Science of Religion,'
+p. 238.
+[7] Yaçna xliii.
+[8] 'Die Christliche Lehre von der Sünde.' Von Julius Müller, Breslau,
+1844, i. 193.
+[9] 'Ormazd brought help to me; by the grace of Ormazd my troops
+entirely defeated the rebel army and took Sitratachmes, and brought him
+before me. Then I cut off his nose and his ears, and I scourged him. He
+was kept chained at my door. All the kingdom beheld him. Afterwards I
+crucified him at Arbela.' So says the tablet of Darius Hystaspes. But
+what could Darius have done 'by the grace of Ahriman'?
+[10] Cf. Rev. v. 6 and xii. 15.
+[11] 'Prayer and Work.' By Octavius B. Frothingham. New York, 1877.
+[12] 'Lucifero, Poema di Mario Rapisardi.' Milano, 1877.
+[13]  E quanto ebbe e mantiene a l'uom soltanto Il deve, a l'uom che
+d'oqui sue destino O prospero, o maligno, arbitro e solo.
+'Whatever he (God) had, he owed to man alone, to man who, for good
+or ill, is sole arbiter of his own fate.'--Rapisardi's Lucifero.
+[14] The following abridgment mainly follows that of James Freeman
+Clarke in his 'Ten Great Religions.'
+[15] White or Snowy Mountain. Cf. Alp, Elf, &c.
+[16] 'Elias shall first come and restore all things.'
+[17] That this satirical hymn was admitted into the Rig-Veda shows
+that these hymns were collected whilst they were still in the hands
+of the ancient Hindu families as common property, and were not yet
+the exclusive property of Bráhmans as a caste or association. Further
+evidence of the same kind is given by a hymn in which the expression
+occurs--'Do not be as lazy as a Bráhman.'--Mrs. Manning's Ancient and
+Mediæval India, i. 77. In the same work some particulars are given of
+the persons mentioned in this chapter. The Frog-satire is translated
+by Max Müller, A. S. L., p. 494.
+[18] 'Arichandra, the Martyr of Truth: A Tamil Drama translated into
+English by Mutu Coomâra Swâmy, Mudliar, Member of Her Majesty's
+Legislative Council of Ceylon,' &c. London: Smith, Elder, &
+Co. 1863. This drama, it must be constantly borne in mind, in nowise
+represents the Vedic legend, told in the Aitereya-Bráhmana, vii. 13-18;
+nor the puranic legend, told in the Merkandeya-Purána. I have altered
+the spelling of the names to the Sanskrit forms, but otherwise follow
+Sir M. C. S.'s translation.
+[19] Siva; the 'lord of the world,' and of wealth. Cf. Pluto, Dis,
+Dives.
+[20] Thes. Heb., p. 94.
+[21] Heb. Handw., p. 90.
+[22] Or Jahveh. I prefer to use the best known term in a case where
+the more exact spelling adds no significance.
+[23] This, the grandest of all the elohistic names, became the nearest
+Hebrew word for devils--shedim.
+[24] Even his jealous command against rivals, i.e., 'graven images,'
+had to be taken along with the story of Laban's images (Gen. xxxi.),
+when, though 'God came to Laban,' the idolatry was not rebuked.
+[25] It is not certain, indeed, whether this Brightness may not have
+been separately personified in the 'Eduth' (translated 'testimony'
+in the English version, Exod. xvi. 34), before which the pot of manna
+was laid. The word means 'brightness,' and Dr. Willis supposes it may
+be connected with Adod, the Phoenician Sun-god (Pentateuch, p. 186).
+[26] It is important not to confuse Satan with the Devil, so far as the
+Bible is concerned. Satan, as will be seen when we come to the special
+treatment of him required, is by no means invariably diabolical. In
+the Book of Job, for example, he appears in a character far removed
+from hostility to Jehovah or goodness.
+[27]   Name ist Schall und Rauch, Umnebelnd Himmelsgluth.--Goethe.
+[28] 'Targum to the Prophets,' Jonathan Ben Uzziel. See Deutsch's
+'Literary Remains,' p. 379.
+[29] See pp. 46 and 255. The episode is in Mahábhárata, I. 15.
+[30] Related to the Slav Kvas, with which, in Russian folklore,
+the Devil tried to circumvent Noah and his wife, as related in
+chap. xxvii. part iv.
+[31] In Sanskrit Adima means 'the first;' in Hebrew Adam (given
+almost always with the article) means 'the red,' and it is generally
+derived from adamah, mould or soil. But Professor Max Müller (Science
+of Religion, p. 320) says if the name Adima (used, by the way, in
+India for the first man, as Adam is in England) is the same as Adam,
+'we should be driven to admit that Adam was borrowed by the Jews from
+the Hindus.' But even that mild case of 'driving' is unnecessary,
+since the word, as Sale reminded the world, is used in the Persian
+legend. It is probable that the Hebrews imported this word not knowing
+its meaning, and as it resembled their word for mould, they added
+the gloss that the first man was made of the dust or mould of the
+ground. It is not contended that the Hebrews got their word directly
+from the Hindu or Persian myth. Mr. George Smith discovered that Admi
+or Adami was the name for the first men in Chaldean fragments. Sir
+Henry Rawlinson points out that the ancient Babylonians recognised two
+principle races,--the Adamu, or dark, and the Sarku, or light, race;
+probably a distinction, remembered in the phrase of Genesis, between
+the supposed sons of Adam and the sons of God. The dark race was the
+one that fell. Mr. Herbert Spencer (Principles of Sociology, Appendix)
+offers an ingenious suggestion that the prohibition of a certain sacred
+fruit may have been the provision of a light race against a dark one,
+as in Peru only the Yuca and his relatives were allowed to eat the
+stimulating cuca. If this be true in the present case, it would still
+only reflect an earlier tradition that the holy fruit was the rightful
+possession of the deities who had won in the struggle for it.
+Nor is there wanting a survival from Indian tradition in the story
+of Eve. Adam said, 'This now is bone of my bone, and flesh of my
+flesh.' In the Manu Code (ix. 22) it is written: 'The bone of woman is
+united with the bone of man, and her flesh with his flesh.' The Indian
+Adam fell in twain, becoming male and female (Yama and Yami). Ewald
+(Hist. of Israel, i. 1) has put this matter of the relation between
+Hebrew and Hindu traditions, as it appears to me, beyond doubt. See
+also Goldziher's Heb. Mythol., p. 326; and Professor King's Gnostics,
+pp. 9, 10, where the historic conditions under which the importation
+would naturally have occurred are succinctly set forth. Professor
+King suggests that Parsî and Pharisee may be the same word.
+[32] Gen. vi. 1, 2, 4.
+[33] vi.-xi. pp. 3-6. See Drummond's 'Jewish Messiah,' p. 21.
+[34] See vol. i. p. 255.
+[35] Phil. Trans. Ab. from 1700-1720, Part iv. p. 173.
+[36] Gen. xxi. 6, 7. The English version has destroyed the sense by
+supplying 'him' after 'borne.' Cf. also verses 1, 2. The rabbins
+were fully aware of the importance of the statement that it was
+Jehovah who 'opened the womb of Sara,' and supplemented it with
+various traditions. It was related that when Isaac was born, the
+kings of the earth refused to believe such a prodigy concerning even
+a beauty of ninety years; whereupon the breasts of all their wives
+were miraculously dried up, and they all had to bring their children
+to Sara to be suckled.
+[37] Fortieth Parascha, fol. 37, col. 1. The solar--or more correctly,
+so far as Sara is concerned, lunar--aspects of the legend of Abraham,
+Sara, and Isaac, however important, do not affect the human nature with
+which they are associated; nor is the special service to which they
+are pressed in Jewish theology altered by the theory (should it prove
+true) which derives these personages from Aryan mythology. There seems
+to be some reason for supposing that Sara is a semiticised form of
+Saranyú. The two stand in somewhat the same typical position. Saranyú,
+daughter of Tvashtar ('the fashioner'), was mother of the first human
+pair, Yama and Yami. Sara is the first mother of those born in a new
+(covenanted) creation. Each is for a time concealed from mortals;
+each leaves her husband an illegitimate representative. Saranyú gives
+her lord Savarná ('substitute'), who by him brings forth Manu,--that
+is 'Man,' but not the original perfect Man. Sara substitutes Hagar
+('the fleeting'), and Ishmael is born, but not within the covenant.
+[38] Gen. iii. 14. Zerov. Hummor, fol. 8, col. 3. Parascha
+Bereschith. It is said that, according to Prov. xxv. 21, if thy
+enemy hunger thou must feed him; and hence dust must be placed for
+the serpent when its power over man is weakened by circumcision.
+[39] Parascha Bereschith, fol. 12, col. 4. Eisenmenger, Entdeckes
+Judenthum, ii. 409.
+[40] Hist. Arabûm.
+[41] Entdeckes Judenthum.
+[42] This legend may have been in the mind of the writer of the Book
+of Revelations when (xii. 14) he describes the Woman who received
+wings that she might escape the Serpent. Lilith's wings bore her to
+the Serpent.
+[43] Inferno, ix. 56-64.
+[44] She was a Lybian Queen beloved by Zeus, whose children were
+victims of Hera's jealousy. She was daughter of Belus, and it is
+a notable coincidence, if no more, that in Gen. xxxvi. 'Bela' is
+mentioned as a king of Edom, the domain of Samaël, who married Lilith.
+[45] The martial and hunting customs of the German women, as well
+as their equality with men, may be traced in the vestiges of their
+decline. Hexe (witch) is from hag (forest): the priestesses who carried
+the Broom of Thor were called Hagdissen. Before the seventeenth
+century the Hexe was called Drud or Trud (red folk, related to
+the Lightning-god). But the famous female hunters and warriors of
+Wodan, the Valkyries, were so called also; and the preservation of
+the epithet (Trud) in the noble name Gertrude is a connecting link
+between the German Amazons and the political power so long maintained
+by women in the same country. Their office as priestesses probably
+marks a step downward from their outdoor equality. By this route,
+as priestesses of diabolised deities, they became witches; but many
+folk-legends made these witches still great riders, and the Devil was
+said to transform and ride them as dapplegrey mares. The chief charge
+against the witches, that of carnal commerce with devils, is also
+significant. Like Lilith, women became devils' brides whenever they
+were not content with sitting at home with the distaff and the child.
+[46] Mr. W. B. Scott has painted a beautiful picture of Eve gazing up
+with longing at a sweet babe in the tree, whose serpent coils beneath
+she does not see.
+[47] 'Records of the Past,' iii. p. 83. See also i. p. 135.
+[48] 'Chaldean Genesis,' by George Smith, p. 70.
+[49] Copied in 'Chald. Gen.,' p. 91. As to the connection of this
+design with the legend of Eden, see chap. vii. of this volume.
+[50] 'Chaldean Genesis,' pp. 62, 63.
+[51] Ib., 97.
+[52] 'Records of the Past,' ix. 141.
+[53] Anu was the ruler of the highest heaven. Meteors and lightnings
+are similarly considered in Hebrew poetry as the messengers of the
+Almighty. (Psalm civ. 4, 'Who maketh his ministers a flaming fire,'
+quoted in Heb. i. 7.)
+[54] Im, the god of the sky, sometimes called Rimmon (the
+Thunderer). He answers to the Jupiter Tonans of the Latins.
+[55] The abyss or ocean where the god Hea dwelt.
+[56] The late Mr. G. Smith says that the Chaldean dragon was
+seven-headed. 'Chaldean Genesis,' p. 100.
+[57] 'Records of the Past,' vii. 123.
+[58] 'Records of the Past,' x. 127.
+[59] See i. pp. 46 and 255. Concerning Ketef see Eisenmenger,
+ii. p. 435.
+[60] Isaiah xiv. It may appear as if in this personification of a
+fallen star we have entered a different mythological region from that
+represented by the Assyrian tablets; but it is not so. The demoniac
+forms of Ishtar, Astarte, are fallen stars also. She appears in Greece
+as Artemis Astrateia, whose worship Pausanias mentions as coming from
+the East. Her development is through Asteria (Greek form of Ishtar),
+in whose myth is hidden much valuable Babylonian lore. Asteria was said
+to have thrown herself into the sea, and been changed into the island
+called Asteria, from its having fallen like a star from heaven. Her
+suicide was to escape from the embraces of Zeus, and her escape from
+him in form of a quail, as well as her fate, may be instructively
+compared with the story of Lilith, who flew out of Eden on wings
+to escape from Adam, and made an effort to drown herself in the Red
+Sea. The diabolisation of Asteria (the fallen star) was through her
+daughter Hecate. Hecate was the female Titan who was the most potent
+ally of the gods. Her rule was supreme under Zeus, and all the gifts
+valued by mortals were believed to proceed from her; but she was
+severely judicial, and rigidly withheld all blessings from such as
+did not deserve them. Thus she was, as the searching eye of Zeus, a
+star-spy upon earth. Such spies, as we have repeatedly had occasion
+to mention in this work, are normally developed into devils. From
+professional detectives they become accusers and instigators. Ishtar
+of the Babylonians, Asteria of the Greeks, and the Day-star of the
+Hebrews are male and female forms of the same personification: Hecate
+with her torch (hekatos, 'far-shooting') and Lucifer ('light-bringer'
+on the deeds of darkness) are the same in their degradation.
+[61] 'Paradise Lost,' i. 40-50.
+[62] And foremost rides Prince Rupert, darling of fortune and of war,
+with his beautiful and thoughtful face of twenty-three, stern and
+bronzed already, yet beardless and dimpled, his dark and passionate
+eyes, his long love-locks drooping over costly embroidery, his graceful
+scarlet cloak, his white-plumed hat, and his tall and stately form. His
+high-born beauty is preserved to us for ever on the canvas of Vandyck,
+and as the Italians have named the artist 'Il Pittore Cavalieresco,'
+so will this subject of his skill remain for ever the ideal of Il
+Cavaliere Pittoresco. And as he now rides at the head of this brilliant
+array, his beautiful white dog bounds onward joyously beside him,
+that quadruped renowned in the pamphlets of the time, whose snowy
+skin has been stained by many a blood-drop in the desperate forays of
+his master, but who has thus far escaped so safely that the Puritans
+believe him a familiar spirit, and try to destroy him 'by poyson and
+extempore prayer, which yet hurt him no more than the plague plaster
+did Mr. Pym.' Failing in this, they pronounce the pretty creature to be
+'a divell, not a very downright divell, but some Lapland ladye, once by
+nature a handsome white ladye, now by art a handsome white dogge.'--A
+Charge with Prince Rupert. Col. Higginson's 'Atlantic Essays.'
+[63] Isa. lxiii. 1-6.
+[64] Fol. 84, col. 1.
+[65] Maarecheth haëlahuth, fol. 257, col. 1.
+[66] Gesenius, Heb. Lexic.
+[67] Hairiness was a pretty general characteristic of devils;
+hence, possibly, the epithet 'Old Harry,' i.e., hairy, applied to
+the Devil. In 'Old Deccan Days,' p. 50, a Rakshasa is described as
+hairy:--'Her hair hangs around her in a thick black tangle.' But the
+beard has rarely been accorded to devils.
+[68] Buslaef has a beautiful mediæval picture of a devil inciting
+Cain to hurl stones on his prostrate brother's form.
+[69] Forty-one Eastern Tales.
+[70] The contest between the agriculturist and the (nomadic) shepherd
+is expressed in the legend that Cain and Abel divided the world between
+them, the one taking possession of the movable and the other of the
+immovable property. Cain said to his brother, 'The earth on which thou
+standest is mine, then betake thyself to the air;' but Abel replied,
+'The garments which thou wearest are mine, take them off.'--Midrash.
+[71] Sale's Koran, vii. Al Araf. Iblis, the Mussulman name for the
+Devil, is probably a corruption of the word diabolus.
+[72] Noyes' Translation.
+[73] Eisenmenger, Entd. Jud. i. 836.
+[74] Job. i. 22, the literal rendering of which is, 'In all this Job
+sinned not, nor gave God unsalted.' This translation I first heard
+from Dr. A. P. Peabody, sometime President of Harvard University, from
+whom I have a note in which he says:--'The word which I have rendered
+gave is appropriate to a sacrifice. The word I have rendered unsalted
+means so literally; and is in Job vi. 6 rendered unsavory. It may,
+and sometimes does, denote folly, by a not unnatural metaphor; but in
+that sense the word gave--an offertory word--is out of place.' Waltonus
+(Bib. Polyg.) translates 'nec dedit insulsum Deo;' had he rendered
+tiphlah by insalsum it would have been exact. The horror with which
+demons and devils are supposed to regard salt is noticed, i. 288.
+[75] Gesenius so understands verse 17 of chap. xiv.
+[76] The much misunderstood and mistranslated passage, xix. 25-27
+(already quoted), is certainly referable to the wide-spread belief
+that as against each man there was an Accusing Spirit, so for each
+there was a Vindicating Spirit. These two stood respectively on the
+right and left of the balances in which the good and evil actions of
+each soul were weighed against each other, each trying to make his
+side as heavy as possible. But as the accusations against him are
+made by living men, and on earth, Job is not prepared to consider a
+celestial acquittal beyond the grave as adequate.
+[77] 'The Kingdom of Heaven Taken by Prayer.' By William Huntington,
+S.S. This title is explained to be 'Sinner Saved,' otherwise one
+might understand the letters to signify a Surviving Syrian.
+[78] Num. xxii. 22.
+[79] 1 Sam. xxix. 4.
+[80] 2 Sam. xix. 22.
+[81] 1 Kings ii. 9.
+[82] 1 Kings v. 4.
+[83] 1 Kings xi. 14.
+[84] 1 Kings xi. 25.
+[85] Zech. iii.
+[86] Cf. Rev. vii. 3.
+[87] 'The Sight of Hell,' prepared, as one of a 'Series of Books for
+Children and Young Persons,' by the Rev. Father Furniss, C.S.S.R.,
+by authority of his Superiors.
+[88] M. Anquetil Du Perron's 'Zendavesta et Vie de Zoroastre.'
+[89] As given in Mr. Alabaster's 'The Wheel of the Law' (Trübner &
+Co., 1871). In the Apocryphal Gospels, some of the signs of nature's
+joy attending the birth of Buddha are reported at the birth of Mary
+and that of Christ, as the pausing of birds in their flight, &c. Anna
+is said to have conceived Mary under a tree, as Maia under a tree
+brought forth Buddha.
+[90] 'Mara, or Man (Sanscrit Màra, death, god of love; by some authors
+translated 'illusion,' as if it came from the Sanscrit Màya), the
+angels of evil, desire, of love, death, &c. Though King Mara plays
+the part of our Satan the tempter, he and his host were formerly
+great givers of alms, which led to their being born in the highest
+of the Deva heavens, called Paranimit Wasawatti, there to live more
+than nine thousand million years, surrounded by all the luxuries of
+sensuality. From this heaven the filthy one, as the Siamese describe
+him, descends to the earth to tempt and excite to evil.'--Alabaster.
+[91] Some say Djemschid, others Guenschesp, a warrior sent to hell
+for beating the fire.
+[92] Leben Jesu, ii. 54. The close resemblance between the trial
+of Israel in the wilderness and this of Jesus is drawn in his own
+masterly way.
+[93] A passage of the Pesikta (iii. 35) represents a conversation
+between Jehovah and Satan with reference to Messias which bears a
+resemblance to the prologue of Job. Satan said: Lord, permit me to
+tempt Messias and his generation. 'To him the Lord said: You could
+have no power over him. Satan again said: Permit me because I have
+the power. God answered: If you persist longer in this, rather would
+I destroy thee from the world, than that one soul of the generation
+of Messias should be lost.' Though the rabbin might report the trial
+declined, the Christian would claim it to have been endured.
+[94] In his fresco of the Temptation at the Vatican, Michael Angelo
+has painted the Devil in the dress of a priest, standing with Jesus
+on the Temple.
+[95] 'Idols and Ideals.' London: Trübner & Co. New York: Henry Holt &
+Co. In the Essay on Christianity I have given my reasons for this
+belief.
+[96] 'Paradise Regained,' ii.
+[97] 'Henry Luria; or, the Little Jewish Convert: being contained in
+the Memoir of Mrs. S. T. Cohen, relict of the Rev. Dr. A. H. Cohen,
+late Rabbi of the Synagogue in Richmond, Va.' 1860.
+[98] 'Heroes and Hero-worship,' iv.
+[99] 'Sartor Resartus.' London: Chapman & Hall, 1869, p. 160.
+[100] 'The American Scholar.' An Oration delivered before the Phi
+Beta Kappa Society at Cambridge (Massachusetts), August 31, 1837. By
+Ralph Waldo Emerson.
+[101] The relations of this system to those of various countries are
+stated by Professor King in his work 'The Gnostics and their Remains.'
+[102] In the Architectural Museum, Westminster, there is an old
+picture which possibly represents the hairy Adam.
+[103] Josephus; 'Wars of the Jews,' vi. 1.
+[104] Those who wish to pursue the subject may consult Plutarch,
+Philo, Josephus, Diog. Laertius; also Eisenmenger, Wetstein, Elsner,
+Doughtæi, Lightfoot, Sup. Relig., &c.
+[105] See 'Supernatural Religion,' vol. i. ch. 4 and 5, for ample
+references concerning these superstitions among both Jews and
+Christians.
+[106] 'Saducismus,' p. 53.
+[107] 'Eastern Morning News,' quoted in the 'National Reformer,'
+December 17, 1877.
+[108] Much curious information is contained in the work already
+referred to, 'L'Eau Benite au Dix-neuvième Siècle.' Par Monsignor
+Gaume, Protonotaire Apostolique. Paris, 1866. It is there stated that
+water escaped the curse; that salt produces fecundity; that devils
+driven off temporarily by the cross are effectually dismissed by
+holy water; that St. Vincent, interrupted by a storm while preaching,
+dispersed it by throwing holy water at it; and he advises the use of
+holy water against the latest devices of the devil--spirit-rapping. It
+must not, however, be supposed that these notions are confined to
+Catholics. Every element in the disquisition of Monsignor Gaume is
+represented in the region where his church is most hated. Mr. James
+Napier, in his recent book on Folklore, shows us the Scotch hastening
+new-born babes to baptism lest they become 'changelings,' and the
+true meaning of the rite is illustrated in a reminiscence of his
+own childhood. He was supposed to be pining under an Evil Eye, and
+the old woman, or 'skilly,' called in, carefully locked the door,
+now unlocked by her patient, and proceeded as follows:-- 'A sixpence
+was borrowed from a neighbour, a good fire was kept burning in the
+grate, the door was locked, and I was placed upon a chair in front of
+the fire. The operator, an old woman, took a tablespoon and filled
+it with water. With the sixpence she then lifted as much salt as it
+would carry, and both were put into the water in the spoon. The water
+was then stirred with the forefinger till the salt was dissolved. Then
+the soles of my feet and the palms of my hands were bathed with this
+solution thrice, and after these bathings I was made to taste the
+solution three times. The operator then drew her wet forefinger
+across my brow--called scoring aboon the breath. The remaining
+contents of the spoon she then cast right over the fire, into the
+hinder part of the fire, saying as she did so, 'Guid preserve frae a'
+skaith.' These were the first words permitted to be spoken during the
+operation. I was then put in bed, and, in attestation of the charm,
+recovered. To my knowledge this operation has been performed within
+these forty years, and probably in many outlying country places it
+is still practised. The origin of this superstition is probably to be
+found in ancient fire-worship. The great blazing fire was evidently an
+important element in the transaction; nor was this a solitary instance
+in which regard was paid to the fire. I remember being taught that
+it was unlucky to spit into the fire, some evil being likely shortly
+after to befall those who did so. Crumbs left upon the table after
+a meal were carefully gathered and put into the fire. The cuttings
+from the nails and hair were also put into the fire. These freaks
+certainly look like survivals of fire-worship.' It may be well here
+to refer the reader to what has been said in vol. i. on Demons of
+Fire. The Devil's fear of salt and consequently of water confirmed
+the perhaps earlier apprehension of all fiery phantoms of that which
+naturally quenches flame.
+[109] We here get a clue to the origin of various strange ceremonies by
+which men bind themselves to one another. Michelet, in his 'Origines
+du Droit Français,' writes: 'Boire le sang l'un de l'autre, c'etait
+pour ainsi dire se faire même chair. Ce symbole si expressif se trouve
+chez un grand nombre de peuples;' and he gives instances from various
+ancient races. But, as we here see, this practice is not originally
+adopted as a symbol (no practices begin as symbols), but is prompted
+by the belief that a community of nature is thus established, and a
+community of power over one another.
+[110] 'Principles of Sociology,' i. ch. xix. Origen says, that a
+man eats and drinks with demons when he eats flesh and drinks wine
+offered to idols. (Contra Cels. viii. 31.)
+[111] Dr. James Browne's 'History of the Highlands,' ed. 1855, i. 108.
+[112] 'Aurea Legenda.' The story, as intertwined with that of the
+discovery of the true cross by the Empress Helena, was a fruitful
+theme for artists. It has been painted in various versions by Angiolo
+Gaddi in S. Croce at Florence, by Pietro della Francesca at Arezzo,
+and in S. Croce in Ger. at Rome are frescoes celebrating Helena in a
+chapel named from her, but into which persons of her sex are admitted
+only once a year.
+[113] To the 'Secular Chronicle,' February 11, 1877.
+[114] Psalm lv.
+[115] Jer. xxv. 38; xlvi. 16; l. 16.
+[116] Isaiah xi. 2, 3.
+[117] The more fatal aspect of the dove has tended to invest the
+pigeon, especially wild pigeons, which in Oldenburg, and many other
+regions, are supposed to bode calamity and death if they fly round
+a house.
+[118] Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's Memoirs.
+[119] Matt. xii. 31.
+[120] Mark iii. 28.
+[121] I have before me an account by a christian mother of the death
+of her child, whom she had dedicated to the Lord before his birth,
+in which she says, 'A full breath issued from his mouth like an
+etherial flame, a slight quiver of the lip, and all was over.'
+[122] 'Serpent poison.' It is substantially the same word as the
+demonic Samaël. The following is from Colonel Campbell's 'Travels,'
+ii. p. 130:--'It was still the hot season of the year, and we were
+to travel through that country over which the horrid wind I have
+before mentioned sweeps its consuming blasts; it is called by the
+Turks Samiel, is mentioned by the holy Job under the name of the East
+wind, and extends its ravages all the way from the extreme end of the
+Gulf of Cambaya up to Mosul; it carries along with it flakes of fire,
+like threads of silk; instantly strikes dead those that breathe it,
+and consumes them inwardly to ashes; the flesh soon becoming black
+as a coal, and dropping off the bones. Philosophers consider it as
+a kind of electric fire, proceeding from the sulphurous or nitrous
+exhalations which are kindled by the agitations of the winds. The only
+possible means of escape from its fatal effects is to fall flat on the
+ground, and thereby prevent the drawing it in; to do this, however,
+it is necessary first to see it, which is not always practicable.'
+[123] The 'Sacred Anthology,' p. 425. Nizami uses his fable to
+illustrate the effect of even an innocent flower on one whom conscience
+has made a coward.
+[124] Nothing is more natural than the Triad: the regions which may
+be most simply distinguished are the Upper, Middle, and Lower.
+[125] Bhàgavàt-Gita.
+[126] Gulistan.
+[127] Acts ii.
+[128] Compare Gen. vi. 3. Jehovah said, 'My breath shall not always
+abide in man.'
+[129] Among the many survivals in civilised countries of these notions
+may be noticed the belief that, in order to be free from a spell it is
+necessary to draw blood from the witch above the breath, i.e., mouth
+and nostrils; to 'score aboon the breath' is a Scottish phrase. This
+probably came by the 'pagan' route; but it meets its christian kith and
+kin in the following story which I find in a (MS.) Memorial sent to the
+House of Lords in 1869 by the Rev. Thomas Berney, Rector of Bracon Ash,
+Diocese of Norwich:--'I was sent for in haste to privately baptize
+a child thought to be dying, and belonging to parents who lived 'on
+the Common' at Hockering. It indeed appeared to be very ill, and its
+eyes were fixed, and remarkably clouded and dull. Having baptized,
+I felt moved with a longing desire to be enabled to heal the child;
+and I prayed very earnestly to the Lord God Almighty to give me faith
+and strength to enable me to do so. And I put my hands on its head
+and drew them down on to its arms; and then breathed on its head
+three times, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I held
+its arms and looked on it anxiously, its face became exceedingly
+red and dark, and as the child gradually assumed a natural colour,
+the eyes became clear again; and then it gently closed its eyes in
+sleep. And I told the mother not to touch it any more till it awoke;
+but to carry it up in the cradle as it was. The next morning I found
+the child perfectly well. She had not touched it, except at four in
+the morning to feed it, when it seemed dead asleep, and it did not
+awake till ten o'clock.' This was written by an English Rector, and
+dated from the Carlton Club! The italics are in the original MS. now
+before me. The importance that no earthly hand should profanely touch
+the body while the spirit was at work in it shows how completely
+systematised is that insanity which consists of making a human mind
+an arena for the survival of the unfittest.
+[130] Luke xxii. 31.
+[131] Amos ix. 8, 9.
+[132] 1 Cor. v. 5.
+[133] 2 Cor. xi. 13.
+[134] 1 John iv. 2, 3.
+[135] Polycarp, Ep. to Philippians, vii.
+[136] 2 Thess. ii.
+[137] 2 Peter ii. 15.
+[138] John xvii. 12.
+[139] 'But,' says Professor King (Gnostics, p. 52), 'a dispassionate
+examiner will discover that these two zealous Fathers somewhat beg
+the question in assuming that the Mithraic rites were invented as
+counterfeits of the Christian Sacraments; the former having really been
+in existence long before the promulgation of Christianity.' Whatever
+may have been the incidents in the life of Christ connected with
+such things, it is certainly true, as Professor King says, that these
+'were afterwards invested with the mystic and supernatural virtues,
+in a later age insisted upon as articles of faith, by succeeding
+and unscrupulous missionaries, eager to outbid the attractions of
+more ancient ceremonies of a cognate character.' In the porch of
+the Church Bocca della Verita at Rome, there is, or was, a fresco of
+Ceres shelling corn and Bacchus pressing grapes, from them falling
+the elements of the Eucharist to a table below. This was described
+to me by a friend, but when I went to see it in 1872, it had just
+been whitewashed over! I called the attention of Signor Rosa to
+this shameful proceeding, and he had then some hope that this very
+interesting relic might be recovered.
+[140] Op. iv. 511. Col. Agrip. 1616.
+[141] For full details of all these superstitions see Eisenmenger
+(Entd. Jud. li. Armillus); D'Herbelot (Bib. Orient. Daggiel);
+Buxtorf (Lexicon, Armillus); Calmet, Antichrist; and on the same
+word, Smith; also a valuable article in M'Clintock and Strong's
+Cyc. Bib. Lit. (American).
+[142] Deutsch, 'Lit. Remains.' Islam.
+[143] Weil's 'Biblical Legends.'
+[144] Eisenmenger, ii. 60.
+[145] See vol. i. pp. 58 and 358.
+[146] 'Zoroastrische Studien,' pp. 138-147. With which comp. Spiegel,
+Transl. of Avesta, III. xlvii.
+[147] 'Studies in the Hist. of the Renaissance.' Macmillan.
+[148] 'Chald. Genesis,' by George Smith, p. 84.
+[149] This text was engraved by Mrs. Rose Mary Crawshay on a tomb
+she had erected in honour of her humble neighbour, Mr. Norbury, who
+sought knowledge for its own sake. Few ancient scriptures could have
+supplied an inscription so appropriate.
+[150] Mr. Baring-Gould, quoting this (from Anastasius Sinaita, Hodêgos,
+ed. Gretser, Ingolst. 1606, p. 269), attributes this shining face of
+Seth to his previous character as a Sun-god. ('Old Test. Legends,'
+i. 84.)
+[151] King's 'Gnostics,' p. 53, n.
+[152] Tertullian's phrase, 'The Devil is God's Ape,' became popular at
+one time, and the Ape-devil had frequent representation in art--as,
+for instance, in Holbein's 'Crucifixion' (1477), now at Augsburg,
+where a Devil with head of an ape, bat-wings, and flaming red legs
+is carrying off the soul of the impenitent thief. The same subject
+is found in the same gallery in an Altdorfer, where the Devil's face
+is that of a gorilla.
+[153] S. Cyp. ap. Muratori, Script. it. i. 295, 545. The
+Magicians used to call their mirrors after the name of this
+flower-devil--Fiorone. M. Maury, 'La Magie,' 435 n.
+[154] This whole subject is treated, and with ample references,
+in M. Maury's 'Magie,' p. 41, seq.
+[155] 'La Sorcière.'
+[156] Dasent's 'Norse Tales,' Introd. ciii.
+[157] 'Chips,' ii.
+[158] 'Chester Plays,' 1600.
+[159] 'Declaration of Popish Impostures,' 1603.
+[160] So Shakespere, 'The Devil damn thee black.'
+[161] In an account, 1568, we find:--'pay'd for iij li of heare
+ijs vjd.'
+[162] The Directions for the 'Castle of Good Perseverance,' say:
+'& he þt schal pley belyal, loke þt he have guñe powdr breñng in
+pypysih's hands & i h's ers & i h's ars whãne he gothe to batayle.'
+[163] This notion was widespread. I have seen an ancient Russian
+picture in which the Devil is dancing before a priest who has become
+drowsy over his prayer-book. There was once a Moslem controversy
+as to whether it was fair for pilgrims to keep themselves awake for
+their prayers by chewing coffee-berries.
+[164] 'Liber Revelationum de Insidiis et Versutiis Dæmonum adversus
+Homines.' See Reville's Review of Roskoff, 'The Devil,' p. 38.
+[165] See M. Maury's 'Magie,' p. 48.
+[166] The history has been well related by a little work by Dr. Albert
+Réville: 'Apollonius of Tyana, the Pagan Christ.' Chatto & Windus.
+[167] Sinistrari names Luther as one of eleven persons whom he
+enumerates as having been begotten by Incubi, 'Enfin, comme l'ecrit
+Codens, cité par Maluenda, ce damné Hérésiarque, qui a nom Martin
+Luther.'--'Démonialité,' 30.
+[168] Glanvil's 'Saducismus.'
+[169] King Lear, iii. 4. Asmodeus and Mohammed are, no doubt, corrupted
+in these names, which are given as those of devils in Harsenet's
+'Declaration of Popish Impostures.'
+[170] 'A Discourse of Witchcraft. As it was acted in the Family of
+Mr. Edward Fairfax, of Fuystone, in the county of York, in the year
+1621. Sibi parat malum, qui alteri parat.'
+[171] W. F. Poole, Librarian of Chicago, to whom I am indebted for
+a copy of Governor Thomas Hutchinson's account of 'The Witchcraft
+Delusion of 1692,' with his valuable notes on the same.
+[172] The delicacy with which these animals are alluded to rather
+than directly named indicates that they had not lost their formidable
+character in Elfdale so far as to be spoken of rashly.
+[173] Glanvil, 'Saducismus Triumphatus,' p. 170.
+[174] Porphyry, ap. Euseb. v. 12. The formula not preserved by
+Eusebius is supposed by M. Maury ('Magie,' 56) to be that contained
+in the 'Philosophumena,' attributed to Origen:--'Come, infernal,
+terrestrial, and celestial Bombo! goddess of highways, of cross-roads,
+thou who bearest the light, who travellest the night, enemy of the
+day, friend and companion of darkness; thou rejoicing in the baying
+of dogs and in shed blood, who wanderest amid shadows and over tombs;
+thou who desirest blood and bearest terrors to mortals,--Gorgo, Mormo,
+moon of a thousand forms, aid with a propitious eye our sacrifices!'
+[175] 'The Devil,' &c., p. 51.
+[176] Scheible's 'Kloster,' 5, 116. Zauberbücher.
+[177] Bayard Taylor's 'Faust,' note 45. See also his Appendix I. for
+an excellent condensation of the Faust legend from the best German
+sources.
+[178] Tertull. ad Marcion, iii. 18. S. Ignatii Episc. et Martyr ad
+Phil. Ep. viii. 'The Prince of this world rejoices when any one denies
+the cross, for he knows the confession of the cross to be his ruin.'
+[179] See his 'Acta,' by Simeon Metaphrastus.
+[180] I have been much struck by the resemblance between the dumpy
+monkish dwarf, in the old wall-picture of Auerbach's Cellar, meant for
+Mephistopheles, and the portrait of Asmodeus in the early editions
+of 'Le Diable Boiteux.' But, as devils went in those days, they are
+good-looking enough.
+[181] Shelley's Translation.
+[182] Bayard Taylor's Translation. Scene iv.
+[183] See Lavater's Physiognomy, Plates xix. and xx., in which
+some artist has shown what variations can be made to order on an
+intellectual and benevolent face.
+[184] 'Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart.' Von Dr. Adolf
+Wuttke, Prof. der Theol. in Halle. Berlin: Verlag von Wiegand &
+Grieben. 1869.
+[185] 'Histoire de France et des Choses Mémorables,' &c.
+[186] The universal myth of Sleepers,--christianised in the myth
+of St. John, and of the Seven whose slumber is traceable as far
+as Tours,--had a direct pagan development in Jami, Barbarossa,
+Arthur, and their many variants. It is the legend of the Castle of
+Sewingshields in Northumberland, that King Arthur, his queen and
+court, remain there in a subterranean hall, entranced, until some one
+should first blow a bugle-horn near the entrance hall, and then with
+'the sword of the stone' cut a garter placed there beside it. But
+none had ever heard where the entrance to this enchanted hall was,
+till a farmer, fifty years since, was sitting knitting on the ruins
+of the castle, and his clew fell and ran downwards through briars
+into a deep subterranean passage. He cleared the portal of its weeds
+and rubbish, and entering a vaulted passage, followed the clew. The
+floor was infested with toads and lizards; and bats flitted fearfully
+around him. At length his sinking courage was strengthened by a dim,
+distant light, which, as he advanced, grew gradually brighter, till all
+at once he entered a vast and vaulted hall, in the centre of which a
+fire, without fuel, from a broad crevice in the floor, blazed with a
+high and lambent flame, that showed all the carved walls and fretted
+roof, and the monarch and his queen and court reposing around in a
+theatre of thrones and costly couches. On the floor, beyond the fire,
+lay the faithful and deep-toned pack of thirty couple of hounds; and
+on a table before it the spell-dissolving horn, sword, and garter. The
+shepherd firmly grasped the sword, and as he drew it from its rusty
+scabbard the eyes of the monarch and his courtiers began to open,
+and they rose till they sat upright. He cut the garter, and as
+the sword was slowly sheathed the spell assumed its ancient power,
+and they all gradually sank to rest; but not before the monarch had
+lifted up his eyes and hands and exclaimed--
+O woe betide that evil day
+On which this witless wight was born,
+Who drew the sword--the garter cut,
+But never blew the bugle horn.
+Terror brought on loss of memory, and the shepherd was unable to give
+any correct account of his adventure, or to find again the entrance
+to the enchanted hall.--Hodgson's 'Northumberland.'
+[187] This great discussion between the animals and sages is given in
+'The Sacred Anthology' (London: Trübner & Co. New York: Henry Holt &
+Co.). It is a very ancient story, and was probably written down at
+the beginning of the christian era.
+[188] It is a strange proof of the ignorance concerning Hindu religion
+that Jugernath, raised in a sense for reprobation of cruelty to
+man and beast, should have been made by a missionary myth a Western
+proverb for human sacrifices!
+[189] St. Olaf = Stooley = Tooley.
+[190]  High bloweth Heimdall His horn aloft; Odin consulteth Mimir's
+head; The old ash yet standing Yggdrasill To its summit is shaken,
+And loose breaks the giant.--Voluspa.
+[191] 'Rigveda,' x. 99.
+[192] 'Zoolog. Myth.,' ii. 8, 10, &c.
+[193] 'The Mahawanso.' Translated by the Hon. George Turnour, Ceylon,
+1836, p. 69.
+[194] It was an ancient custom to offer a stag on the high altar of
+Durham Abbey, the sacrifice being accompanied with winding of horns, on
+Holy Rood Day, which suggests a form of propitiating the Wild Huntsman
+in the hunting season. On the Cheviot Hills there is a chasm called
+Hen Hole, 'in which there is frequently seen a snow egg at Midsummer,
+and it is related that a party of hunters, while chasing a roe,
+were beguiled into it by fairies, and could never again find their
+way out.'--Richardson's 'Borderer's Table-Book,' vi 400. The Bridled
+Devil of Durham Cathedral may be an allusion to the Wild Huntsman.
+[195] In the pre-petrified era of Theology this hope appears
+to have visited the minds of some, Origen for instance. But by
+many centuries of utilisation the Devil became so essential to the
+throne of Christianity that theologians were more ready to spare God
+from their system than Satan. 'Even the clever Madame de Staël,'
+said Goethe, 'was greatly scandalised that I kept the Devil in
+such good-humour. In the presence of God the Father, she insisted
+upon it, he ought to be more grim and spiteful. What will she say
+if she sees him promoted a step higher,--nay, perhaps, meets him in
+heaven?' Though, in another conversation with Falk, Goethe intimates
+that he had written a passage 'where the Devil himself receives grace
+and mercy from God,' the artistic theory of his poem could permit
+no nearer approach to this than those closing lines (Faust, II.) in
+which Mephistopheles reproaches the 'case-hardened Devil' and himself
+for their mismanagement. To the isolated, the not yet humanised,
+intellect sensuality is evil when senseless, and its hell is folly.
+[196] 'Demonialite,' 60-62, &c. We may hope that this learned man,
+during his tenure of office under the Inquisition, had some mercy
+for the poor devils dragged before that tribunal.
+[197] 'Reverberations.' By W. M. W. Call, M.A., Cambridge. Second
+Edition. Trübner & Co., 1876.
+[198] The Holy Grail was believed to have been fashioned from the
+largest of all diamonds, lost from the crown of Satan as he fell
+from Heaven. Guarded by angels until used at the Last Supper, it was
+ultimately secured by Arthur's knight, Percival, and--such is the
+irony of mythology--indirectly by the aid of Satan's own son, Merlin!
+[199] See Mr. J. A. Froude's article in 'Fraser's Magazine,' Feb. 1878,
+'Origen and Celsus.'
+[200] Mr. W. W. Lloyd's 'Age of Pericles,' vol. ii. p. 202.
+[201] Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the R. A. S., 1865-6: Art. on
+'Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon,' by Dundris de Silva Gooneratne
+Modliar.
+[202] Euripides, 'Medea,' 574.
+[203] 'Paradise Lost,' x. 860.
+[204] Herodotus, 'Clio,' 7-14, 91.
+[205] 'Expression of the Emotions.' By Charles Darwin. London: Murray,
+1872. Chapter IV.
+[206] The giving of Eve's name to Noah's wife is not the
+only significant thing about this Russian tradition and its
+picture. Long-bearded devils are nowhere normal except in the
+representations by the Eastern Church of the monarch of Hell. By
+referring to p. 253 of this volume the reader will observe the
+influences which caused the infernal king to be represented as
+counterpart of the Deity. As this tradition about Noah's wife is
+suggestive of a Gnostic origin, it really looks as if the Devil in
+it were meant to act the part which the Gnostics ascribed to Jehovah
+himself (vol. ii. p. 207). The Devil is said in rabbinical legends to
+have seduced the wives of Noah's sons; this legend seems to show that
+his aim was to populate the post-diluvial world entirely with his own
+progeny, in this being an Ildabaoth, or degraded edition of Jehovah
+trying to establish his own family in the earth by the various means
+related in vol. i. chap. 8.
+[207] 'Nischamath Chajim,' fol. 139, col. 2.
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+Most of the papers included in this volume have already appeared in one
+or another of the following magazines: _The Atlantic Monthly_, _The
+Dial_, _The New Republic_, _The Seven Arts_, _The Yale Review_, _The
+Columbia University Quarterly_, and are reprinted here with the kind
+permission of the editors.
+Bitter-sweet, and a northwest wind
+To sing his requiem,
+Who was
+Our Age,
+And who becomes
+An imperishable symbol of our ongoing,
+For in himself
+He rose above his body and came among us
+Prophetic of the race,
+The great hater
+Of the dark human deformity
+Which is our dying world,
+The great lover
+Of the spirit of youth
+Which is our future’s seed....
+JAMES OPPENHEIM.
+Randolph Bourne was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, May 30, 1886.
+He died in New York, December 22, 1918. Between these two dates was
+packed one of the fullest, richest, and most significant lives of the
+younger generation. Its outward events can be summarized in a few
+words. Bourne went to the public schools in his native town, and then
+for some time earned his living as an assistant to a manufacturer of
+automatic piano music. In 1909 he entered Columbia, graduating in 1913
+as holder of the Gilder Fellowship, which enabled him to spend a year
+of study and investigation in Europe. In 1911 he had begun contributing
+to _The Atlantic Monthly_, and his first book, “Youth and Life,” a
+volume of essays, appeared in 1913. He was a member of the contributing
+staff of _The New Republic_ during its first three years; later he
+was a contributing editor of _The Seven Arts_ and _The Dial_. He had
+published, in addition to his first collection of essays and a large
+number of miscellaneous articles and book reviews, two other books,
+“Education and Living” and “The Gary Schools.” At the time of his death
+he was engaged on a novel and a study of the political future.
+It might be guessed from this that Bourne at thirty-two had not quite
+found himself. His interests were indeed almost universal: he had
+written on politics, economics, philosophy, education, literature. No
+other of our younger critics had cast so wide a net, and Bourne had
+hardly begun to draw the strings and count and sort his catch. He was
+a working journalist, a literary freelance with connections often of
+the most precarious kind, who contrived, by daily miracles of audacity
+and courage, to keep himself serenely afloat in a society where his
+convictions prevented him from following any of the ordinary avenues
+of preferment and recognition. It was a feat never to be sufficiently
+marvelled over; it would have been striking, in our twentieth century
+New York, even in the case of a man who was not physically handicapped
+as Bourne was. But such a life is inevitably scattering, and it was
+only after the war had literally driven him in upon himself that he set
+to work at the systematic harvesting of his thoughts and experiences.
+He had not quite found himself, perhaps, owing to the extraordinary
+range of interests for which he had to find a personal common
+denominator; yet no other young American critic, I think, had exhibited
+so clear a tendency, so coherent a body of desires. His personality
+was not only unique, it was also absolutely expressive. I have had the
+delightful experience of reading through at a sitting, so to say, the
+whole mass of his uncollected writings, articles, essays, book reviews,
+unprinted fragments, and a few letters, and I am astonished at the
+way in which, like a ball of camphor in a trunk, the pungent savor of
+the man spreads itself over every paragraph. Here was no anonymous
+reviewer, no mere brilliant satellite of the radical movement losing
+himself in his immediate reactions: one finds everywhere, interwoven in
+the fabric of his work, the silver thread of a personal philosophy, the
+singing line of an intense and beautiful desire.
+What was that desire? It was for a new fellowship in the youth of
+America as the principle of a great and revolutionary departure in our
+life, a league of youth, one might call it, consciously framed with
+the purpose of creating, out of the blind chaos of American society,
+a fine, free, articulate cultural order. That, as it seems to me, was
+the dominant theme of all his effort, the positive theme to which he
+always returned from his thrilling forays into the fields of education
+and politics, philosophy and sociology. One finds it at the beginning
+of his career in such essays as “Our Cultural Humility,” one finds it
+at the end in the “History of a Literary Radical.” One finds it in that
+pacifism which he pursued with such an obstinate and lonely courage and
+which was the logical outcome of the checking and thwarting of those
+currents of thought and feeling in which he had invested the whole
+passion of his life. _Place aux jeunes_ might have been his motto: he
+seemed indeed the flying wedge of the younger generation itself.
+I shall never forget my first meeting with him, that odd little
+apparition with his vibrant eyes, his quick, birdlike steps and the
+long black student’s cape he had brought back with him from Paris.
+It was in November, 1914, and we never imagined then that the war
+was going to be more than a slash, however deep, across the face of
+civilization, we never imagined it was going to plough on and on until
+it had uprooted and turned under the soil so many green shoots of
+hope and desire in the young world. Bourne had published that radiant
+book of essays on the Adventure of Life, the Two Generations, the
+Excitement of Friendship, with its happy and confident suggestion of
+the present as a sort of transparent veil hung up against the window of
+some dazzling future, he had had his wanderyear abroad, and had come
+home with that indescribable air of the scholar-gypsy, his sensibility
+fresh, clairvoyant, matutinal, a philosopher of the _gaya scienza_,
+his hammer poised over the rock of American philistinism, with never
+a doubt in his heart of the waters of youth imprisoned there. One
+divined him in a moment, the fine, mettlesome temper of his intellect,
+his curiosity, his acutely critical self-consciousness, his aesthetic
+flair, his delicate sense of personal relationships, his toughness
+of fiber, his masterly powers of assimilation, his grasp of reality,
+his burning convictions, his beautifully precise desires. Here was
+Emerson’s “American scholar” at last, but radiating an infinitely
+warmer, profaner, more companionable influence than Emerson had ever
+dreamed of, an influence that savored rather of Whitman and William
+James. He was the new America incarnate, with that stamp of a sort of
+permanent youthfulness on his queer, twisted, appealing face. You felt
+that in him the new America had suddenly found itself and was all astir
+with the excitement of its first maturity.
+His life had prepared him for the rôle, for the physical disability
+that had cut him off from the traditional currents and preoccupations
+of American life had given him a poignant insight into the predicament
+of all those others who, like him, could not adjust themselves to the
+industrial machine--the exploited, the sensitive, the despised, the
+aspiring, those, in short, to whom a new and very different America
+was no academic idea but a necessity so urgent that it had begun to be
+a reality. As detached as any young East Sider from the herd-unity of
+American life, the colonial tradition, the “genteel tradition,” yet
+passionately concerned with America, passionately caring for America,
+he had discovered himself at Columbia, where so many strains of the
+newer immigrant population meet one another in the full flood and
+ferment of modern ideas. Shut in as he had been with himself and his
+books, what dreams had passed through his mind of the possibilities of
+life, of the range of adventures that are open to the spirit, of some
+great collective effort of humanity! Would there never be room for
+these things in America, was it not precisely the task of the young to
+make room for them? Bourne’s grandfather and great-grandfather had been
+doughty preachers and reformers: he had inherited a certain religious
+momentum that thrust him now into the midst of the radical tide. Above
+all, he had found companions who helped him to clarify his ideas
+and grapple with his aims. Immigrants, many of them, of the second
+generation, candidates for the “melting-pot” that had simply failed
+to melt them, they trailed with them a dozen rich, diverse racial and
+cultural tendencies which America seemed unable either to assimilate or
+to suppress. Were they not, these newcomers of the eleventh hour, as
+clearly entitled as the first colonials had been to a place in the sun
+of the great experimental democracy upon which they were making such
+strange new demands? They wanted a freer emotional life, a more vivid
+intellectual life; oddly enough, it was they and not the hereditary
+Americans, the “people of action,” who spoke of an “American culture”
+and demanded it. Bourne had found his natural allies. Intensely
+Anglo-Saxon himself, it was America he cared for, not the triumph of
+the Anglo-Saxon tradition which had apparently lost itself in the
+pursuit of a mechanical efficiency. It was a “trans-national” America
+of which he caught glimpses now, a battleground of all the cultures, a
+super-culture, that might perhaps, by some happy chance, determine the
+future of civilization itself.
+It was with some such vision as this that he had gone abroad. If that
+super-culture was ever to come it could only be through some prodigious
+spiritual organization of the youth of America, some organization
+that would have to begin with small and highly self-conscious groups;
+these groups, moreover, would have to depend for a long time upon the
+experience of young Europe. The very ideas of spiritual leadership,
+the intellectual life, the social revolution were foreign to a modern
+America that had submitted to the common mould of business enterprise;
+even philosophers like Professor Dewey had had to assume a protective
+coloration, and when people spoke of art they had to justify it as
+an “asset.” For Bourne, therefore, the European tour was something
+more than a preparation for his own life: he was like a bird in the
+nesting season, gathering twigs and straw for a nest that was not to
+be his but young America’s, a nest for which old America would have
+to provide the bough! He was in search, in other words, of new ideas,
+new attitudes, new techniques, personal and social, for which he was
+going to demand recognition at home, and it is this that gives to his
+“Impressions of Europe 1913-1914”--his report to Columbia as holder
+of the Gilder Fellowship--an actuality that so perfectly survives the
+war. Where can one find anything better in the way of social insight
+than his pictures of radical France, of the ferment of the young
+Italian soul, of the London intellectuals--Sidney Webb, lecturing
+“with the patient air of a man expounding arithmetic to backward
+children,” Shaw, “clean, straight, clear, and fine as an upland wind
+and summer sun,” Chesterton, “gluttonous and thick, with something
+tricky and unsavory about him”; of the Scandinavian note,--“one got
+a sense in those countries of the most advanced civilization, yet
+without sophistication, a luminous modern intelligence that selected
+and controlled and did not allow itself to be overwhelmed by the chaos
+of twentieth century possibility”? We see things in that white light
+only when they have some deeply personal meaning for us, and Bourne’s
+instinct had led him straight to his mark. Two complex impressions
+he had gained that were to dominate all his later work. One was
+the sense of what a national culture is, of its immense value and
+significance as a source and fund of spiritual power even in a young
+world committed to a political and economic internationalism. The
+other was a keen realization of the almost apostolic rôle of the young
+student class in perpetuating, rejuvenating, vivifying and, if need be,
+creating this national consciousness. No young Hindu ever went back
+to India, no young Persian or Ukrainian or Balkan student ever went
+home from a European year with a more fervent sense of the chaos and
+spiritual stagnation and backwardness of his own people, of the happy
+responsibility laid upon himself and all those other young men and
+women who had been touched by the modern spirit.
+It was a tremendous moment. Never had we realized so keenly the
+spiritual inadequacy of American life: the great war of the cultures
+left us literally gasping in the vacuum of our own provincialism,
+colonialism, naïveté, and romantic self-complacency. We were in
+much the same position as that of the Scandinavian countries during
+the European wars of 1866-1870, if we are to accept George Brandes’
+description of it: “While the intellectual life languished, as a plant
+droops in a close, confined place, the people were self-satisfied. They
+rested on their laurels and fell into a doze. And while they dozed
+they had dreams. The cultivated, and especially the half-cultivated,
+public in Denmark and Norway dreamed that they were the salt of Europe.
+They dreamed that by their idealism they would regenerate the foreign
+nations. They dreamed that they were the free, mighty North, which
+would lead the cause of the peoples to victory--and they woke up
+unfree, impotent, ignorant.” It was through a great effort of social
+introspection that Scandinavia had roused itself from the stupor of
+this optimistic idealism, and at last a similar movement was on foot in
+America. _The New Republic_ had started with the war, _The Masses_ was
+still young, _The Seven Arts_ and the new _Dial_ were on the horizon.
+Bourne found himself instantly in touch with the purposes of all these
+papers, which spoke of a new class-consciousness, a sort of offensive
+and defensive alliance of the younger intelligentsia and the awakened
+elements of the labor groups. His audience was awaiting him, and no one
+could have been better prepared to take advantage of it.
+It was not merely the exigencies of journalism that turned his mind at
+first so largely to the problems of primary education. In Professor
+Dewey’s theories, in the Gary Schools, he saw, as he could see it
+nowhere else, the definite promise, the actual unfolding of the freer,
+more individualistic, and at the same time more communistic social life
+of which he dreamed. But even if he had not come to feel a certain
+inadequacy in Professor Dewey’s point of view, I doubt if this field
+of interest could have held him long. Children fascinated him; how
+well he understood them we can see from his delightful “Ernest: or
+Parent for a Day.” But Bourne’s heart was too insistently involved
+in the situation of his own contemporaries, in the stress of their
+immediate problems, to allow him to linger in these long hopes. This
+young intelligentsia in whose ultimate unity he had had such faith--did
+he not see it, moreover, as the war advanced, lapsing, falling apart
+again, reverting into the ancestral attitudes of the tribe? Granted the
+war, it was the business of these liberals to see that it was played,
+as he said, “with insistent care for democratic values at home, and
+unequivocal alliance with democratic elements abroad for a peace that
+should promise more than a mere union of benevolent imperialisms.”
+Instead, the “allure of the martial” passed only to be succeeded by
+the “allure of the technical,” and the “prudent, enlightened college
+man,” cut in the familiar pattern, took the place of the value-creator,
+the path-finder, the seeker of new horizons. Plainly, the younger
+generation had not begun to find its own soul, had hardly so much as
+registered its will for a new orientation of the American spirit.
+Had it not occurred before, this general reversion to type? The
+whole first phase of the social movement had spent itself in a sort
+of ineffectual beating of the air, and Bourne saw that only through
+a far more heroic effort of criticism than had yet been attempted
+could the young intelligentsia disentangle itself, prevail against
+the mass-fatalism of the middle class, and rouse the workers out of
+their blindness and apathy. Fifteen years ago a new breath had blown
+over the American scene; people felt that the era of big business had
+reached its climacteric, that a new nation was about to be born out
+of the social settlements, out of the soil that had been harrowed and
+swept by the muck-rakers, out of the spirit of service that animated
+a whole new race of novelists, and a vast army of young men and young
+women, who felt fluttering in their souls the call to some great
+impersonal adventure, went forth to the slums and the factories and
+the universities with a powerful but very vague desire to realize
+themselves and to “do something” for the world. But one would have
+said that movement had been born middle-aged, so earnest, so anxious,
+so conscientious, so troubled, so maternal and paternal were the faces
+of those young men and women who marched forth with so puzzled an
+intrepidity; there was none of the tang and fire of youth in it, none
+of the fierce glitter of the intellect; there was no joyous burning
+of boats; there were no transfigurations, no ecstasies. There was
+only a warm simmer of eager, evangelical sentiment that somehow never
+reached the boiling-point and cooled rapidly off again, and that host
+of tentative and wistful seekers found themselves as cruelly astray
+as the little visionaries of the Children’s Crusade. Was not the
+failure of that movement due almost wholly to its lack of critical
+equipment? In the first place, it was too naïve and too provincial,
+it was outside the main stream of modern activity and desire, it had
+none of the reserves of power that result from being in touch with
+contemporary developments in other countries. In the second place, it
+had no realistic sense of American life: it ignored the facts of the
+class struggle, it accepted enthusiastically illusions like that of
+the “melting-pot,” it wasted its energy in attacking “bad” business
+without realizing that the spirit of business enterprise is itself
+the great enemy, it failed to see the need of a consciously organized
+intellectual class or to appreciate the necessary conjunction in our
+day of the intellectuals and the proletariat. Worst of all, it had no
+personal psychology. Those crusaders of the “social consciousness”
+were far from being conscious of themselves; they had never broken the
+umbilical cord of their hereditary class, they had not discovered their
+own individual lines of growth, they had no knowledge of their own
+powers, no technique for using them effectively. Embarked in activities
+that instantly revealed themselves as futile and fallacious, they
+also found their loyalties in perpetual conflict with one another.
+Inevitably their zeal waned and their energy ebbed away, and the tides
+of uniformity and commercialism swept the American scene once more.
+No one had grasped all these elements of the social situation so firmly
+as Bourne. He saw that we needed, first, a psychological interpretation
+of these younger malcontents, secondly, a realistic study of our
+institutional life, and finally, a general opening of the American
+mind to the currents of contemporary desire and effort and experiment
+abroad. And along each of these lines he did the work of a pioneer.
+Who, for example, had ever thought of exploring the soul of the
+younger generation as Bourne explored it? He had planned a long
+series of literary portraits of its types and personalities: half
+a dozen of them exist (along with several of quite a different
+character!--the keenest satires we have), enough to show us how
+sensitively he responded to those detached, groping, wistful, yet
+resolutely independent spirits whom he saw weaving the iridescent
+fabric of the future. He who had so early divined the truth of Maurice
+Barrès’ saying, that we never conquer the intellectual suffrages of
+those who precede us in life, addressed himself exclusively to these
+young spirits: he went out to meet them, he probed their obscurities;
+one would have said that he was a sort of impresario gathering the
+personnel of some immense orchestra, seeking in each the principle
+of his own growth. He had studied his chosen minority with such
+instinctive care that everything he wrote came as a personal message to
+those, and those alone, who were capable of assimilating it; and that
+is why, as we look over his writings to-day, we find them a sort of
+corpus, a text full of secret ciphers, and packed with meaning between
+the lines, of all the most intimate questions and difficulties and
+turns of thought and feeling that make up the soul of young America.
+He revealed us to ourselves, he intensified and at the same time
+corroborated our desires; above all, he showed us what we had in common
+and what new increments of life might arise out of the friction of our
+differences. In these portraits he was already doing the work of the
+novelist he might well have become,--he left two or three chapters
+of a novel he had begun to write, in which “Karen” and “Sophronisba”
+and “The Professor” would probably have appeared, along with a whole
+battle-array of the older and younger generations; he was sketching
+out the rôle some novelist might play in the parturition of the new
+America. Everything for analysis, for self-discovery, for articulation,
+everything to put the younger generation in possession of itself!
+Everything to weave the tissue of a common understanding, to help the
+growth and freedom of the spirit! There was something prophetic in
+Bourne’s personality. In his presence one felt, in his writings one
+realizes, that the army of youth is already assembling for “the effort
+of reason and the adventure of beauty.”
+I shall say little of his work as a critic of institutions. It
+is enough to point out that if such realistic studies as his
+“Trans-National America” and his “Mirror of the Middle West” (a
+perfect example, by the way, of his theory of the book review as an
+independent enquiry with a central idea of its own), his papers on the
+settlements and on sociological fiction had appeared fifteen years
+ago, a vastly greater amount of effective energy might have survived
+the break-up of the first phase of the social movement. When he showed
+what mare’s-nests the settlements and the “melting-pot” theory and
+the “spirit of service” are, and what snares for democracy lie in
+Meredith Nicholson’s “folksiness,” he closed the gate on half the blind
+alleys in which youth had gone astray; and he who had so delighted
+in Veblen’s ruthless condensation of the mystical gases of American
+business implied in every line he wrote that there is a gulf fixed
+between the young intellectual and the unreformable “system.” The young
+intellectual, henceforth, was an unclassed outsider, with a scent
+all the more keenly sharpened for new trails because the old trails
+were denied him, and for Bourne those new trails led straight, and by
+the shortest possible route, to a society the very reverse of ours,
+a society such as A.E. has described in the phrase, “democratic in
+economics, aristocratic in thought,” to be attained through a coalition
+of the thinkers and the workers. The task of the thinkers, of the
+intelligentsia, in so far as they concerned themselves directly with
+economic problems, was, in Bourne’s eyes, chiefly to _think_. It was a
+new doctrine for American radicals; it precisely denoted their advance
+over the evangelicism of fifteen years ago. “The young radical to-day,”
+he wrote in one of his reviews, “is not asked to be a martyr, but he is
+asked to be a thinker, an intellectual leader.... The labor movement in
+this country needs a philosophy, a literature, a constructive socialist
+analysis and criticism of industrial relations. Labor will scarcely do
+this thinking for itself. Unless middle-class radicalism threshes out
+its categories and interpretations and undertakes this constructive
+thought it will not be done.... The only way by which middle-class
+radicalism can serve is by being fiercely and concentratedly
+intellectual.”
+Finally, through Bourne more than through any other of our younger
+writers one gained a sense of the stir of the great world, of the
+currents and cross-currents of the contemporary European spirit,
+behind and beneath the war, of the tendencies and experiences and
+common aims and bonds of the younger generation everywhere. He was an
+exception to what seems to be the general rule, that Americans who
+are able to pass outside their own national spirit at all are apt to
+fall headlong into the national spirit of some one other country:
+they become vehement partisans of Latin Europe, or of England, or of
+Germany and Scandinavia, or, more recently, of Russia. Bourne, with
+that singular union of detachment and affectionate penetration which
+he brought also to his personal relationships, had entered them all
+with an equal curiosity, an impartial delight. If he had absorbed the
+fine idealism of the English liberals, he understood also the more
+elemental, the more emotional, the more positive urge of revolutionary
+Russia. He was full of practical suggestions from the vast social and
+economic laboratory of modern Germany. He had caught something also
+from the intellectual excitement of young Italy; most of all, his
+imagination had been captivated, as we can see from such essays as
+“Mon Amie,” by the candor and the self-consciousness and the genius
+for social introspection of radical France. And all these influences
+were perpetually at play in his mind and in his writings. He was the
+conductor of innumerable diverse inspirations, a sort of clearing-house
+of the best living ideas of the time; through him the young writer and
+the young thinker came into instant contact with whatever in the modern
+world he most needed. And here again Bourne revealed his central aim.
+He reviewed by choice, and with a special passion, what he called the
+“epics of youthful talent that grows great with quest and desire.” It
+is easy to see, in his articles on such books as “Pelle the Conqueror”
+and Gorky’s Autobiography and “The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists,”
+that what lured him was the common struggle and aspiration of youth
+and poverty and the creative spirit everywhere, the sense of a new
+socialized world groping its way upward. It was this rich ground-note
+in all his work that made him, not the critic merely, but the leader.
+It is impossible to say, of course, what he would have become if
+his life had been spared. The war had immensely stimulated his
+“political-mindedness”: he was obsessed, during the last two years of
+his life, with a sense of the precariousness of free thought and free
+speech in this country; if they were cut off, he foresaw, the whole
+enterprise, both of the social revolution and of the new American
+culture, would perish of inanition; he felt himself at bay. Would he,
+with all the additional provocation of a hopelessly bungled peace
+settlement, have continued in the political field, as his unfinished
+study on “The State” might suggest? Or would that activity, while
+remaining vivid and consistent, have subsided into a second place
+behind his more purely cultural interests?
+Personally, I like to think that he would have followed this second
+course. He speaks in the “History of a Literary Radical” of “living
+down the new orthodoxies of propaganda” as he and his friends had lived
+down the old orthodoxies of the classics, and I believe that, freed
+from the obsessions of the war, his criticism would have concentrated
+more and more on the problem of evoking and shaping an American
+literature as the nucleus of that rich, vital and independent national
+life he had been seeking in so many ways to promote. Who that knew his
+talents could have wished it otherwise? Already, except for the poets,
+the intellectual energy of the younger generation has been drawn almost
+exclusively into political interests; and the new era, which has begun
+to draw so sharply the battle-line between radicals and reactionaries,
+is certain only to increase this tendency. If our literary criticism
+is always impelled sooner or later to become social criticism, it is
+certainly because the future of our literature and art depends upon the
+wholesale reconstruction of a social life all the elements of which are
+as if united in a sort of conspiracy against the growth and freedom of
+the spirit: we are in the position described by Ibsen in one of his
+letters: “I do not think it is of much use to plead the cause of art
+with arguments derived from its own nature, which with us is still so
+little understood, or rather so thoroughly misunderstood.... My opinion
+is that at the present time it is of no use to wield one’s weapons
+_for_ art; one must simply turn them _against_ what is hostile to
+art.” That is why Bourne, whose ultimate interest was always artistic,
+found himself a guerilla fighter along the whole battlefront of the
+social revolution. He was drawn into the political arena as a skilful
+specialist, called into war service, is drawn into the practice of a
+general surgery in which he may indeed accomplish much but at the price
+of the suspension of his own uniqueness. Others, at the expiration
+of what was for him a critical moment, the moment when all freedom
+seemed to be at stake, might have been trusted to do his political
+work for him; the whole radical tide was flowing behind him; his
+unique function, meanwhile, was not political but spiritual. It was
+the creation, the communication of what he called “the allure of fresh
+and true ideas, of free speculation, of artistic vigor, of cultural
+styles, of intelligence suffused by feeling and feeling given fiber and
+outline by intelligence.” Was it not to have been hoped, therefore,
+that he would have revived, exemplified among these new revolutionary
+conditions, and on behalf of them, the lapsed rôle of the man of
+letters?
+For if he held a hammer in one hand, he held in the other a
+divining-rod. He, if any one, in the days to come, would have
+conjured out of our dry soil the green shoots of a beautiful and a
+characteristic literature: he knew that soil so well, and why it was
+dry, and how it ought to be irrigated! We have had no chart of our
+cultural situation to compare with his “History of a Literary Radical,”
+and certainly no one has combined with an analytical gift like his,
+and an adoration for the instinct of workmanship, so burning an eye
+for every stir of life and color on the drab American landscape. I
+think of a sentence in one of his reviews: “The appearance of dramatic
+imagination in any form in this country is something to make us all
+drop our work and run to see.” That was the spirit which animated all
+his criticism: is it not the spirit that creates out of the void the
+thing it contemplates?
+To have known Randolph Bourne is indeed to have surprised some of the
+finest secrets of the American future. But those who lived with him in
+friendship will remember him for reasons that are far more personal,
+and at the same time far more universal, than that: they will remember
+him as the wondrous companion, the lyrical intellect, the transparent
+idealist, most of all perhaps as the ingenuous and lonely child. It is
+said that every writer possesses in his vocabulary one talismanic word
+which he repeats again and again, half unconsciously, like a sort of
+signature, and which reveals the essential secret of his personality.
+In Bourne’s case the word is “wistful”; and those who accused him
+of malice and bitterness, not realizing how instinctively we impute
+these qualities to the physically deformed who are so dauntless in
+spirit that they repel our pity, would do well to consider that secret
+signature, sown like some beautiful wild flower over the meadow of
+his writings, which no man can counterfeit, which is indeed the token
+of their inviolable sincerity. He was a wanderer, the child of some
+nation yet unborn, smitten with an inappeasable nostalgia for the
+Beloved Community on the far side of socialism, he carried with him the
+intoxicating air of that community, the mysterious aroma of all its
+works and ways. “High philosophic thought infused with sensuous love,”
+he wrote once, “is not this the one incorrigible dream that clutches
+us?” It was the dream he had brought back from the bright future in
+which he lived, the dream he summoned us to realize. And it issues now
+like a gallant command out of the space left vacant by his passing.
+For a man of culture, my friend Miro began his literary career in a
+singularly unpromising way. Potential statesmen in log-cabins might
+miraculously come in touch with all the great books of the world, but
+the days of Miro’s young school life were passed in innocence of Homer
+or Dante or Shakespeare, or any of the other traditional mind-formers
+of the race. What Miro had for his nourishment, outside the Bible,
+which was a magical book that you must not drop on the floor, or his
+school-readers, which were like lightning flashes of unintelligible
+scenes, was the literature that his playmates lent him--exploits of
+British soldiers in Spain and the Crimea, the death-defying adventures
+of young filibusters in Cuba and Nicaragua. Miro gave them a languid
+perusing, and did not criticize their literary style. Huckleberry Finn
+and Tom Sawyer somehow eluded him until he had finished college, and
+no fresher tale of adventure drifted into his complacent home until
+the era of “Richard Carvel” and “Janice Meredith” sharpened his wits
+and gave him a vague feeling that there was such a thing as literary
+art. The classics were stiffly enshrined behind glass doors that were
+very hard to open--at least Hawthorne and Irving and Thackeray were
+there, and Tennyson’s and Scott’s poems--but nobody ever discussed them
+or looked at them. Miro’s busy elders were taken up with the weekly
+_Outlook_ and _Independent_ and _Christian Work_, and felt they were
+doing much for Miro when they provided him and his sister with _St.
+Nicholas_ and _The Youth’s Companion_. It was only that Miro saw the
+black books looking at him accusingly from the case, and a rudimentary
+conscience, slipping easily over from Calvinism to culture, forced
+him solemnly to grapple with “The Scarlet Letter” or “Marmion.” All
+he remembers is that the writers of these books he browsed among used
+a great many words and made a great fuss over shadowy offenses and
+conflicts and passions that did not even stimulate his imagination with
+sufficient force to cause him to ask his elders what it was all about.
+Certainly the filibusters were easier.
+At school Miro was early impressed with the vast dignity of the
+literary works and names he was compelled to learn. Shakespeare and
+Goethe and Dante lifted their plaster heads frowningly above the
+teacher’s, as they perched on shelves about the room. Much was said
+of the greatness of literature. But the art of phonetics and the
+complications of grammar swamped Miro’s early school years. It was not
+until he reached the High School that literature began really to assume
+that sacredness which he had heretofore felt only for Holy Scripture.
+His initiation into culture was made almost a religious mystery by the
+conscientious and harassed teacher. As the Deadwood Boys and Henty
+and David Harum slipped away from Miro’s soul in the presence of
+Milton’s “Comus” and Burke “On Conciliation,” a cultural devoutness
+was engendered in him that never really died. At first it did not take
+Miro beyond the stage where your conscience is strong enough to make
+you uncomfortable, but not strong enough to make you do anything about
+it. Miro did not actually become an omnivorous reader of great books.
+But he was filled with a rich grief that the millions pursued cheap and
+vulgar fiction instead of the best that has been thought and said in
+the world. Miro indiscriminately bought cheap editions of the English
+classics and read them with a certain patient incomprehension.
+As for the dead classics, they came to Miro from the hands of his
+teachers with a prestige even vaster than the books of his native
+tongue. No doubt ever entered his head that four years of Latin and
+three years of Greek, an hour a day, were the important preparation he
+needed for his future as an American citizen. No doubt ever hurt him
+that the world into which he would pass would be a world where, as his
+teacher said, Latin and Greek were a solace to the aged, a quickener
+of taste, a refreshment after manual labor, and a clue to the general
+knowledge of all human things. Miro would as soon have doubted the
+rising of the sun as have doubted the wisdom of these serious, puckered
+women who had the precious manipulation of his cultural upbringing in
+their charge. Miro was a bright, if a rather vague, little boy, and a
+fusion of brightness and docility gave him high marks in the school
+where we went together.
+No one ever doubted that these marks expressed Miro’s assimilation
+of the books we pored over. But he told me later that he had never
+really known what he was studying. Cæsar, Virgil, Cicero, Xenophon,
+Homer, were veiled and misty experiences to him. His mind was a moving
+present, obliterating each day what it had read the day before, and
+piercing into a no more comprehended future. He could at no time have
+given any intelligible account of Æneas’s wanderings or what Cicero was
+really inveighing against. The Iliad was even more obscure. The only
+thing which impressed him deeply was an expurgated passage, which he
+looked up somewhere else and found to be about Mars and Venus caught
+in the golden bed. Cæsar seemed to be at war, and Xenophon wandering
+somewhere in Asia Minor, with about the same lengthiness and hardship
+as Miro suffered in reading him. The trouble, Miro thought afterwards,
+was that these books were to his mind flickering lights in a vast
+jungle of ignorance. He does not remember marvelling at the excessive
+dulness of the stories themselves. He plodded his faithful way, using
+them as his conscientious teachers did, as exercises in language. He
+looked on Virgil and Cicero as essentially problems in disentangling
+words which had unaccountably gotten into a bizarre order, and in
+recognizing certain rather amusing and ingenious combinations, known as
+“constructions.” Why these words took so irritating an order Miro never
+knew, but he always connected the problem with those algebraic puzzles
+he had elsewhere to unravel. Virgil’s words were further complicated
+by being arranged in lines which one had to “scan.” Miro was pleased
+with the rhythm, and there were stanzas that had a roll of their own.
+But the inexorable translating that had to go on tore all this fabric
+of poetry to pieces. His translations were impeccable, but, as he never
+wrote them down, he had never before his eyes the consecutive story.
+Translations Miro never saw. He knew that they were implements of
+deadly sin that boys used to cheat with. His horror of them was such
+as a saint might feel towards a parody of the Bible. Just before Miro
+left school, his sister in a younger class began to read a prose
+translation of the Odyssey, and Miro remembers the scorn with which he
+looked down on so sneaking an entrance into the temple of light. He
+knew that not everyone could study Latin and Greek, and he learned to
+be proud of his knowledge. When at last he had passed his examinations
+for college--his Latin composition and grammar, his syntax and his
+sight-reading, and his Greek composition and grammar, his Greek syntax
+and sight-reading, and his translation of Gallic battles and Anabatic
+frosts, and Dido’s farewell and Cicero’s objurgations--his zealous
+rage did not abate. He even insisted on reading the Bucolics, while he
+was away on his vacation, and a book or two in the Odyssey. His family
+was a little chilled by his studiousness, but he knew well that he was
+laying up cultural treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not
+corrupt, neither do thieves break in and steal.
+Arrived at college, Miro expanded his cultural interests on the
+approved lines. He read Horace and Plato, Lysias and Terence,
+impartially, with faithful conscience. Horace was the most exciting
+because of the parodies that were beginning to appear in the cleverer
+newspapers. Miro scarcely knew whether to be amused or shocked at “Odi
+Persicos” or “Integer Vitæ” done into current slang. The professors,
+mild-mannered men who knew their place and kept it, never mentioned
+these impudent adventures, but for Miro it was the first crack in
+his Ptolemaic system of reverences. There came a time when his mind
+began to feel replete, when this heavy pushing through the opaque
+medium of dead language began to fatigue him. He should have been able
+to read fluently, but there were always turning up new styles, new
+constructions, to plague him. Latin became to him like a constant diet
+of beefsteak, and Greek like a constant diet of fine wheaten bread.
+They lost their taste. These witty poets and ostentatious orators--what
+were they all about? What was their background? Where did they fit
+into Miro’s life? The professors knew some history, but what did that
+history mean? Miro found himself surfeited and dissatisfied. He began
+to look furtively at translations to get some better English than he
+was able to provide. The hair-splittings of Plato began to bore him
+when he saw them in crystal-clear English, and not muffled in the
+original Greek. His apostasy had begun.
+It was not much better in his study of English literature. Miro
+was given a huge anthology, a sort of press-clipping bureau of
+_belles-lettres_, from Chaucer to Arthur Symons. Under the direction
+of a professor who was laying out a career for himself as poet--or
+“modern singer,” as he expressed it--the class went briskly through
+the centuries sampling their genius and tasting the various literary
+flavors. The enterprise reminded Miro of those books of woollen samples
+which one looks through when one is to have a suit of clothes made.
+But in this case, the student did not even have the pleasure of seeing
+the suit of clothes. All that was expected of him, apparently, was
+that he should become familiar, from these microscopic pieces, with
+the different textures and patterns. The great writers passed before
+his mind like figures in a crowded street. There was no time for
+preferences. Indeed the professor strove diligently to give each writer
+his just due. How was one to appreciate the great thoughts and the
+great styles if one began to choose violently between them, or attempt
+any discrimination on grounds of their peculiar congeniality for
+one’s own soul? Criticism had to spurn such subjectivity, scholarship
+could not be wilful. The neatly arranged book of “readings,” with its
+medicinal doses of inspiration, became the symbol of Miro’s education.
+These early years of college did not deprive Miro of his cultural
+loyalty, but they deadened his appetite. Although almost inconceivably
+docile, he found himself being bored. He had come from school a
+serious boy, with more than a touch of priggishness in him, and a
+vague aspiration to be a “man of letters.” He found himself becoming
+a collector of literary odds-and-ends. If he did not formulate this
+feeling clearly, he at least knew. He found that the literary life was
+not as interesting as he had expected. He sought no adventures. When he
+wrote, it was graceful lyrics or polite criticisms of William Collins
+or Charles Lamb. These canonized saints of culture still held the field
+for Miro, however. There was nothing between them and that popular
+literature of the day that all good men bemoaned. Classic or popular,
+“highbrow” or “lowbrow,” this was the choice, and Miro unquestioningly
+took the orthodox heaven. In 1912 the most popular of Miro’s English
+professors had never heard of Galsworthy, and another was creating a
+flurry of scandal in the department by recommending Chesterton to his
+classes. It would scarcely have been in college that Miro would have
+learned of an escape from the closed dichotomy of culture. Bored with
+the “classic,” and frozen with horror at the “popular,” his career as
+a man of culture must have come to a dragging end if he had not been
+suddenly liberated by a chance lecture which he happened to hear while
+he was at home for the holidays.
+The literary radical who appeared before the Lyceum Club of Miro’s
+village was none other than Professor William Lyon Phelps, and it is
+to that evening of cultural audacity Miro thinks he owes all his later
+emancipation. The lecturer grappled with the “modern novel,” and tossed
+Hardy, Tolstoi, Turgenev, Meredith, even Trollope, into the minds of
+the charmed audience with such effect that the virgin shelves of the
+village library were ravished for days to come by the eager minds upon
+whom these great names dawned for the first time. “Jude the Obscure”
+and “Resurrection” were of course kept officially away from the vulgar,
+but Miro managed to find “Smoke” and “Virgin Soil” and “Anna Karenina”
+and “The Warden” and “A Pair of Blue Eyes” and “The Return of the
+Native.” Later at college he explored the forbidden realms. It was as
+if some devout and restless saint had suddenly been introduced to the
+Apocrypha. A new world was opened to Miro that was neither “classic”
+nor “popular,” and yet which came to one under the most unimpeachable
+auspices. There was, at first, it is true, an air of illicit adventure
+about the enterprise. The lecturer who made himself the missionary of
+such vigorous and piquant doctrine had the air of being a heretic, or
+at least a boy playing out of school. But Miro himself returned to
+college a cultural revolutionist. His orthodoxies crumbled. He did not
+try to reconcile the new with the old. He applied pick and dynamite to
+the whole structure of the canon. Irony, humor, tragedy, sensuality,
+suddenly appeared to him as literary qualities in forms that he could
+understand. They were like oxygen to his soul.
+If these qualities were in the books he had been reading, he had never
+felt them. The expurgated sample-books he had studied had passed too
+swiftly over the Elizabethans to give him a sense of their lustiness.
+Miro immersed himself voluptuously in the pessimism of Hardy. He fed on
+the poignant torture of Tolstoi. While he was reading “Resurrection,”
+his class in literature was making an “intensive” study of Tennyson.
+It was too much. Miro rose in revolt. He forswore literary courses
+forever, dead rituals in which anæmic priests mumbled their trite
+critical commentary. Miro did not know that to naughtier critics even
+Mr. Phelps might eventually seem a pale and timid Gideon, himself stuck
+in moral sloughs. He was grateful enough for that blast of trumpets
+which made his own scholastic walls fall down.
+The next stage in Miro’s cultural life was one of frank revolt. He
+became as violent as a heretic as he had been docile as a believer.
+Modern novels merely started the rift that widened into modern
+ideas. The professors were of little use. Indeed, when Miro joined a
+group of radicals who had started a new college paper, a relentless
+vendetta began with the teachers. Miro and his friends threw over
+everything that was mere literature. Social purpose must shine from
+any writing that was to rouse their enthusiasm. Literary flavor was
+to be permissible only where it made vivid high and revolutionary
+thought. Tolstoi became their god, Wells their high priest. Chesterton
+infuriated them. They wrote violent assaults upon him which began in
+imitation of his cool paradoxicality and ended in incoherent ravings.
+There were so many enemies to their new fervor that they scarcely knew
+where to begin. There were not only the old tables of stone to destroy,
+but there were new and threatening prophets of the eternal verities who
+had to be exposed. The nineteenth century which they had studied must
+be weeded of its nauseous moralists. The instructors consulted together
+how they might put down the revolt, and bring these sinners back to the
+faith of cultural scripture.
+It was of no avail. In a short time Miro had been converted from an
+aspiration for the career of a cultivated “man of letters” to a fiery
+zeal for artistic and literary propaganda in the service of radical
+ideas. One of the results of this conversion was the discovery that he
+really had no standards of critical taste. Miro had been reverential
+so long that he had felt no preferences. Everything that was classic
+had to be good to him. But now that he had thrown away the books that
+were stamped with the mark of the classic mint, and was dealing with
+the raw materials of letters, he had to become a critic and make
+selection. It was not enough that a book should be radical. Some of
+the books he read, though impeccably revolutionary as to ideas, were
+clearly poor as literature. His muffled taste began to assert itself.
+He found himself impressionable where before he had been only mildly
+acquisitive. The literature of revolt and free speculation fired him
+into a state of spiritual explosiveness. All that he read now stood out
+in brighter colors and in sharper outlines than before. As he reached a
+better balance, he began to feel the vigor of literary form, the value
+of sincerity and freshness of style. He began to look for them keenly
+in everything he read. It was long before Miro realized that enthusiasm
+not docility had made him critical. He became a little proud of his
+sensitive and discriminating reactions to the modern and the unsifted.
+This pursuit had to take place without any help from the college.
+After Miro graduated, it is true that it became the fashion to study
+literature as the record of ideas and not merely as a canon of sacred
+books to be analyzed, commented upon, and absorbed. But no dent was
+made upon the system in Miro’s time, and, the inventory of English
+criticism not going beyond Stevenson, no college course went beyond
+Stevenson. The Elizabethans had been exhumed and fumigated, but the
+most popular attention went to the gallery of Victorians, who combined
+moral soundness with literary beauty, and were therefore considered
+wholesome food for young men. The instructors all remained in the state
+of reverence which saw all things good that had been immemorially
+taught. Miro’s own teacher was a fragile, earnest young man, whose
+robuster parents had evidently seized upon his nature as a fortunate
+pledge of what the family might produce in the way of an intellectual
+flower that should surpass in culture and gentility the ambitions of
+his parents. His studiousness, hopeless for his father’s career as
+grocer, had therefore been capitalized into education.
+The product now shone forth as one of the most successful and
+promising younger instructors in the department. He knew his subject.
+Card-indexes filled his room, covering in detail the works, lives,
+and deaths of the illustrious persons whom he expounded, as well as
+everything that had been said about them in the way of appreciation or
+interpretation. An endless number of lectures and courses could be
+made from this bountiful store. He never tried to write himself, but he
+knew all about the different kinds of writing, and when he corrected
+the boys’ themes he knew infallibly what to tell them to avoid. Miro’s
+vagaries scandalized his teacher all the more because during his first
+year in college Miro had been generally noticed as one with the proper
+sobriety and scholarly patience to graduate into a similar priestly
+calling. Miro found scant sympathy in the young man. To the latter,
+literary studies were a science not an art, and they were to be treated
+with somewhat the same cold rigor of delimitation and analysis as
+any other science. Miro felt his teacher’s recoil at the idea that
+literature was significant only as the expression of personality or
+as interpretation of some social movement. Miro saw how uneasy he
+became when he was confronted with current literature. It was clear
+that Miro’s slowly growing critical sense had not a counterpart in the
+scholastic mind.
+When Miro and his friends abandoned literary studies, they followed
+after the teachers of history and philosophy, intellectual arenas of
+which the literary professors seemed scandalously ignorant. At this
+ignorance Miro boiled with contempt. Here were the profitable clues
+that would give meaning to dusty literary scholarship, but the scholars
+had not the wits to seize them. They lived along, playing what seemed
+to Miro a rather dreary game, when they were not gaping reverently at
+ideas and forms which they scarcely had the genuine personality to
+appreciate. Miro felt once and for all free of these mysteries and
+reverences. He was to know the world as it has been and as it is. He
+was to put literature into its proper place, making all “culture”
+serve its apprenticeship for him as interpretation of things larger
+than itself, of the course of individual lives and the great tides of
+society.
+Miro’s later cultural life is not without interest. When he had
+finished college and his architectural course, and was making headway
+in his profession, his philosophy of the intellectual life began to
+straighten itself out. Rapid as his surrender of orthodoxy had been,
+it had taken him some time to live down that early education. He found
+now that he would have to live down his heresies also, and get some
+coherent system of tastes that was his own and not the fruit of either
+docility or the zeal of propaganda.
+The old battles that were still going on helped Miro to realize his
+modern position. It was a queer, musty quarrel, but it was enlisting
+minds from all classes and of all intellectual fibers. The “classics”
+were dying hard, as Miro recognized whenever he read, in the magazines,
+attacks on the “new education.” He found that professors were still
+taken seriously who declared in passion that without the universal
+study of the Latin language in American schools all conceptions of
+taste, standards, criticism, the historic sense itself, would vanish
+from the earth. He found that even as late as 1917 professional men
+were gathering together in solemn conclave and buttressing the “value
+of the classics” with testimonials from “successful men” in a variety
+of vocations. Miro was amused at the fact that the mighty studies once
+pressed upon him so uncritically should now require, like the patent
+medicines, testimonials as to their virtue. Bank presidents, lawyers,
+and editors had taken the Latin language regularly for years, and had
+found its effects painless and invigorating. He could not escape the
+unconscious satire that such plump and prosperous Americans expressed
+when they thought it admirable to save their cherished intellectual
+traditions in any such fashion.
+Other conservatives Miro saw to be abandoning the line of opposition
+to science, only to fall back on the line of a defensive against
+“pseudo-science,” as they seemed to call whatever intellectual
+interests had not yet become indubitably reputable. It was a line which
+would hold them rather strongly for a time, Miro thought, because so
+many of the cultural revolutionists agreed with them in hating some of
+these arrogant and mechanical psychologies and sociologies that reduced
+life to figures or organisms. But Miro felt also how obstructive was
+their fight. If the “classics” had done little for him except to hold
+his mind in an uncomprehending prison, and fetter his spontaneous
+taste, they seemed to have done little more for even the thorough
+scholars. When professors had devoted scholarly lives to the “classics”
+only to exhibit in their own polemics none of the urbanity and
+intellectual command which were supposed by the believer somehow to
+rub off automatically on the faithful student, Miro had to conclude an
+absence of causal connection between the “classics” and the able modern
+mind. When, moreover, critical power or creative literary work became
+almost extinct among these defenders of the “old education,” Miro felt
+sure that a revolution was needed in the materials and attitudes of
+“culture.”
+The case of the defenders was all the weaker because their enemies were
+not wanton infidels, ignorant of the holy places they profaned. They
+were rather cultural “Modernists,” reforming the church from within.
+They had the classic background, these young vandals, but they had
+escaped from its flat and unoriented surface. Abreast of the newer
+objective, impersonal standards of thinking, they saw the weakness of
+these archaic minds which could only appeal to vested interests in
+culture and testimonials from successful men.
+The older critics had long since disavowed the intention of
+discriminating among current writers. These men, who had to have an
+Academy to protect them, lumped the younger writers of verse and prose
+together as “anarchic” and “naturalistic,” and had become, in these
+latter days, merely peevish and querulous, protesting in favor of
+standards that no longer represented our best values. Every one, in
+Miro’s time, bemoaned the lack of critics, but the older critics seemed
+to have lost all sense of hospitality and to have become tired and a
+little spitefully disconsolate, while the newer ones were too intent on
+their crusades against puritanism and philistinism to have time for a
+constructive pointing of the way.
+Miro had a very real sense of standing at the end of an era. He and his
+friends had lived down both their old orthodoxies of the classics and
+their new orthodoxies of propaganda. Gone were the priggishness and
+self-consciousness which had marked their teachers. The new culture
+would be more personal than the old, but it would not be held as a
+personal property. It would be democratic in the sense that it would
+represent each person’s honest spontaneous taste. The old attitude was
+only speciously democratic. The assumption was that if you pressed
+your material long enough and winningly enough upon your culturable
+public, they would acquire it. But the material was something handed
+down, not grown in the garden of their own appreciations. Under
+these conditions the critic and appreciator became a mere impersonal
+register of orthodox opinion. The cultivated person, in conforming his
+judgments to what was authoritatively taught him, was really a member
+of the herd--a cultivated herd, it is true, but still a herd. It was
+the mass that spoke through the critic and not his own discrimination.
+These authoritative judgments might, of course, have come--probably
+had come--to the herd through discerning critics, but in Miro’s time
+judgment in the schools had petrified. One believed not because one
+felt the original discernment, but because one was impressed by the
+weight and reputability of opinion. At least so it seemed to Miro.
+Now just as the artists had become tired of conventions and were
+breaking through into new and personal forms, so Miro saw the younger
+critics breaking through these cultural conventions. To the elders
+the result would seem mere anarchy. But Miro’s attitude did not want
+to destroy, it merely wanted to rearrange the materials. He wanted no
+more second-hand appreciations. No one’s cultural store was to include
+anything that one could not be enthusiastic about. One’s acquaintance
+with the best that had been said and thought should be encouraged--in
+Miro’s ideal school--to follow the lines of one’s temperament. Miro,
+having thrown out the old gods, found them slowly and properly coming
+back to him. Some would always repel him, others he hoped to understand
+eventually. But if it took wisdom to write the great books, did it not
+also take wisdom to understand them? Even the Latin writers he hoped
+to recover, with the aid of translations. But why bother with Greek
+when you could get Euripides in the marvellous verse of Gilbert Murray?
+Miro was willing to believe that no education was complete without at
+least an inoculation of the virus of the two orthodoxies that he was
+transcending.
+As Miro looked around the American scene, he wondered where the
+critics were to come from. He saw, on the one hand, Mr. Mencken and
+Mr. Dreiser and their friends, going heavily forth to battle with
+the Philistines, glorying in pachydermatous vulgarisms that hurt the
+polite and cultivated young men of the old school. And he saw these
+violent critics, in their rage against puritanism, becoming themselves
+moralists, with the same bigotry and tastelessness as their enemies.
+No, these would never do. On the other hand, he saw Mr. Stuart P.
+Sherman, in his youthful if somewhat belated ardor, revolting so
+conscientiously against the “naturalism” and crude expression of
+current efforts that, in his defense of _belles-lettres_, of the
+fine tradition of literary art, he himself became a moralist of the
+intensest brand, and as critic plumped for Arnold Bennett, because that
+clever man had a feeling for the proprieties of human conduct. No, Mr.
+Sherman would do even less adequately. His fine sympathies were as
+much out of the current as was the specious classicism of Professor
+Shorey. He would have to look for the critics among the young men who
+had an abounding sense of life, as well as a feeling for literary form.
+They would be men who had not been content to live on their cultural
+inheritance, but had gone out into the modern world and amassed a fresh
+fortune of their own. They would be men who were not squeamish, who did
+not feel the delicate differences between “animal” and “human” conduct,
+who were enthusiastic about Mark Twain and Gorki as well as Romain
+Rolland, and at the same time were thrilled by Copeau’s theater.
+Where was a better program for culture, for any kind of literary
+art? Culture as a living effort, a driving attempt both at sincere
+expression and at the comprehension of sincere expression wherever it
+was found! Appreciation to be as far removed from the “I know what
+I like!” as from the textbook impeccability of taste! If each mind
+sought its own along these lines, would not many find themselves
+agreed? Miro insisted on liking Amy Lowell’s attempt to outline
+the tendencies in American poetry in a form which made clear the
+struggles of contemporary men and women with the tradition and
+against “every affectation of the mind.” He began to see in the new
+class-consciousness of poets the ending of that old division which
+“culture” made between the chosen people and the gentiles. We were
+now to form little pools of workers and appreciators of similar
+temperaments and tastes. The little magazines that were starting up
+became voices for these new communities of sentiment. Miro thought that
+perhaps at first it was right to adopt a tentative superciliousness
+towards the rest of the world, so that both Mr. Mencken with his
+shudders at the vulgar Demos and Mr. Sherman with his obsession with
+the sanely and wholesomely American might be shut out from influence.
+Instead of fighting the Philistine in the name of freedom, or fighting
+the vulgar iconoclast in the name of wholesome human notions, it might
+be better to write for one’s own band of comprehenders, in order that
+one might have something genuine with which to appeal to both the mob
+of the “bourgeois” and the ferocious vandals who had been dividing
+the field among them. Far better a quarrel among these intensely
+self-conscious groups than the issues that had filled _The Atlantic_
+and _The Nation_ with their dreary obsolescence. Far better for the
+mind that aspired towards “culture” to be told not to conform or
+worship, but to search out its group, its own temperamental community
+of sentiment, and there deepen appreciations through sympathetic
+contact.
+It was no longer a question of being hospitable towards the work of
+other countries. Miro found the whole world open to him, in these
+days, through the enterprise of publishers. He and his friends felt
+more sympathetic with certain groups in France and Russia than they
+did with the variegated “prominent authors” of their own land. Winston
+Churchill as a novelist came to seem more of an alien than Artzybashev.
+The fact of culture being international had been followed by a sense of
+its being. The old cultural attitude had been hospitable enough, but it
+had imported its alien culture in the form of “comparative literature.”
+It was hospitable only in trying to mould its own taste to the orthodox
+canons abroad. The older American critic was mostly interested in
+getting the proper rank and reverence for what he borrowed. The new
+critic will take what suits his community of sentiment. He will want
+to link up not with the foreign canon, but with that group which is
+nearest in spirit with the effort he and his friends are making. The
+American has to work to interpret and portray the life he knows. He
+cannot be international in the sense that anything but the life in
+which he is saturated, with its questions and its colors, can be the
+material for his art. But he can be international--and must be--in the
+sense that he works with a certain hopeful vision of a “young world,”
+and with certain ideal values upon which the younger men, stained and
+revolted by war, in all countries are agreeing.
+Miro wonders sometimes whether the direction in which he is tending
+will not bring him around the circle again to a new classicism. The
+last stage in the history of the man of culture will be that “classic”
+which he did not understand and which his mind spent its youth in
+overthrowing. But it will be a classicism far different from that which
+was so unintelligently handed down to him in the American world. It
+will be something worked out and lived into. Looking into the future
+he will have to do what Van Wyck Brooks calls “inventing a usable
+past.” Finding little in the American tradition that is not tainted
+with sweetness and light and burdened with the terrible patronage of
+bourgeois society, the new classicist will yet rescue Thoreau and
+Whitman and Mark Twain and try to tap through them a certain eternal
+human tradition of abounding vitality and moral freedom, and so build
+out the future. If the classic means power with restraint, vitality
+with harmony, a fusion of intellect and feeling, and a keen sense of
+the artistic conscience, then the revolutionary world is coming out
+into the classic. When Miro sees behind the minds of _The Masses_ group
+a desire for form and for expressive beauty, and sees the radicals
+following Jacques Copeau and reading Chekhov, he smiles at the thought
+of the American critics, young and old, who do not know yet that they
+are dead.
+It was Matthew Arnold, read and reverenced by the generation
+immediately preceding our own, who set to our eyes a definition and a
+goal of culture which has become the common property of all our world.
+To know the best that had been thought and said, to appreciate the
+master-works which the previous civilizations had produced, to put our
+minds and appreciations in contact with the great of all ages,--here
+was a clear ideal which dissolved the mists in which the vaguenesses of
+culture had been lost. And it was an ideal that appealed with peculiar
+force to Americans. For it was a democratic ideal; every one who had
+the energy and perseverance could reasonably expect to acquire by
+taking thought that orientation of soul to which Arnold gave the magic
+name of culture. And it was a quantitative ideal; culture was a matter
+of acquisition--with appreciation and prayerfulness perhaps, but still
+a matter of adding little by little to one’s store until one should
+have a vision of that radiant limit, when one knew all the best that
+had been thought and said and pictured in the world.
+I do not know in just what way the British public responded to Arnold’s
+eloquence; if the prophetic wrath of Ruskin failed to stir them, it is
+not probable that they were moved by the persuasiveness of Arnold. But
+I do know that, coming at a time when America was producing rapidly an
+enormous number of people who were “comfortably off,” as the phrase
+goes, and who were sufficiently awake to feel their limitations, with
+the broader horizons of Europe just opening on the view, the new
+doctrine had the most decisive effect on our succeeding spiritual
+history. The “land-of-liberty” American of the era of Dickens still
+exists in the British weeklies and in observations of America by callow
+young journalists, but as a living species he has long been extinct.
+His place has been taken by a person whose pride is measured not by
+the greatness of the “land of the free,” but by his own orientation in
+Europe.
+Already in the nineties, our college professors and our artists were
+beginning to require the seal of a European training to justify
+their existence. We appropriated the German system of education.
+Our millionaires began the collecting of pictures and the endowment
+of museums with foreign works of art. We began the exportation of
+school-teachers for a summer tour of Europe. American art and music
+colonies sprang up in Paris and Berlin and Munich. The movement became
+a rush. That mystical premonition of Europe, which Henry James tells
+us he had from his earliest boyhood, became the common property of the
+talented young American, who felt a certain starvation in his own land,
+and longed for the fleshpots of European culture. But the bourgeoisie
+soon followed the artistic and the semi-artistic, and Europe became so
+much the fashion that it is now almost a test of respectability to have
+traveled at least once abroad.
+Underlying all this vivacious emigration, there was of course a real
+if vague thirst for “culture,” and, in strict accord with Arnold’s
+definition, the idea that somehow culture could be imbibed, that from
+the contact with the treasures of Europe there would be rubbed off
+on us a little of that grace which had made the art. So for those
+who could not travel abroad, our millionaires transported, in almost
+terrifying bulk and at staggering cost, samples of everything that the
+foreign galleries had to show. We were to acquire culture at any cost,
+and we had no doubt that we had discovered the royal road to it. We
+followed it, at any rate, with eye single to the goal. The naturally
+sensitive, who really found in the European literature and arts some
+sort of spiritual nourishment, set the pace, and the crowd followed at
+their heels.
+This cultural humility of ours astonished and still astonishes Europe.
+In England, where “culture” is taken very frivolously, the bated
+breath of the American, when he speaks of Shakespeare or Tennyson or
+Browning, is always cause for amusement. And the Frenchman is always a
+little puzzled at the crowds who attend lectures in Paris on “How to
+See Europe Intelligently,” or are taken in vast parties through the
+Louvre. The European objects a little to being so constantly regarded
+as the keeper of a huge museum. If you speak to him of culture, you
+find him frankly more interested in contemporaneous literature and art
+and music than in his worthies of the olden time, more interested
+in discriminating the good of to-day than in accepting the classics.
+If he is a cultivated person, he is much more interested usually in
+quarreling about a living dog than in reverencing a dead lion. If he
+is a French _lettré_, for instance, he will be producing a book on
+the psychology of some living writer, while the Anglo-Saxon will be
+writing another on Shakespeare. His whole attitude towards the things
+of culture, be it noted, is one of daily appreciation and intimacy, not
+that attitude of reverence with which we Americans approach alien art,
+and which penalizes cultural heresy among us.
+The European may be enthusiastic, polemic, radiant, concerning his
+culture; he is never humble. And he is, above all, never humble before
+the culture of another country. The Frenchman will hear nothing but
+French music, read nothing but French literature, and prefers his own
+art to that of any other nation. He can hardly understand our almost
+pathetic eagerness to learn of the culture of other nations, our
+humility of worship in the presence of art that in no sense represents
+the expression of any of our ideals and motivating forces.
+To a genuinely patriotic American this cultural humility of ours is
+somewhat humiliating. In response to this eager inexhaustible interest
+in Europe, where is Europe’s interest in us? Europe is to us the land
+of history, of mellow tradition, of the arts and graces of life, of the
+best that has been said and thought in the world. To Europe we are the
+land of crude racial chaos, of skyscrapers and bluff, of millionaires
+and “bosses.” A French philosopher visits us, and we are all eagerness
+to get from him an orientation in all that is moving in the world of
+thought across the seas. But does he ask about our philosophy, does
+he seek an orientation in the American thought of the day? Not at
+all. Our humility has kept us from forcing it upon his attention, and
+it scarcely exists for him. Our advertising genius, so powerful and
+universal where soap and biscuits are concerned, wilts and languishes
+before the task of trumpeting our intellectual and spiritual products
+before the world. Yet there can be little doubt which is the more
+intrinsically worth advertising. But our humility causes us to be taken
+at our own face value, and for all this patient fixity of gaze upon
+Europe, we get little reward except to be ignored, or to have our
+interest somewhat contemptuously dismissed as parasitic.
+And with justice! For our very goal and ideal of culture has made us
+parasites. Our method has been exactly wrong. For the truth is that the
+definition of culture, which we have accepted with such devastating
+enthusiasm, is a definition emanating from that very barbarism from
+which its author recoiled in such horror. If it were not that all our
+attitude showed that we had adopted a quite different standard, it
+would be the merest platitude to say that culture is not an acquired
+familiarity with things outside, but an inner and constantly operating
+taste, a fresh and responsive power of discrimination, and the
+insistent judging of everything that comes to our minds and senses. It
+is clear that such a sensitive taste cannot be acquired by torturing
+our appreciations into conformity with the judgments of others, no
+matter how “authoritative” those judgments may be. Such a method means
+a hypnotization of judgment, not a true development of soul.
+At the back of Arnold’s definition is, of course, the implication
+that if we have only learned to appreciate the “best,” we shall have
+been trained thus to discriminate generally, that our appreciation of
+Shakespeare will somehow spill over into admiration of the incomparable
+art of Mr. G. Lowes Dickinson. This is, of course, exactly to reverse
+the psychological process. A true appreciation of the remote and
+the magnificent is acquired only after the judgment has learned to
+discriminate with accuracy and taste between the good and bad, the
+sincere and the false, of the familiar and contemporaneous art and
+writing of every day. To set up an alien standard of the classics is
+merely to give our lazy taste a resting-point, and to prevent forever
+any genuine culture.
+This virus of the “best” rages throughout all our Anglo-Saxon campaign
+for culture. Is it not a notorious fact that our professors of English
+literature make no attempt to judge the work produced since the death
+of the last consecrated saint of the literary canon,--Robert Louis
+Stevenson? In strict accordance with Arnold’s doctrine, they are
+waiting for the judgment upon our contemporaries which they call the
+test of time, that is, an authoritative objective judgment, upon which
+they can unquestioningly rely. Surely it seems as if the principle of
+authority, having been ousted from religion and politics, had found
+a strong refuge in the sphere of culture. This tyranny of the “best”
+objectifies all our taste. It is a “best” that is always outside of
+our native reactions to the freshnesses and sincerities of life, a
+“best” to which our spontaneities must be disciplined. By fixing our
+eyes humbly on the ages that are past, and on foreign countries, we
+effectually protect ourselves from that inner taste which is the only
+sincere “culture.”
+Our cultural humility before the civilizations of Europe, then, is the
+chief obstacle which prevents us from producing any true indigenous
+culture of our own. I am far from saying, of course, that it is not
+necessary for our arts to be fertilized by the civilizations of other
+nations past and present. The culture of Europe has arisen only from
+such an extensive cross-fertilization in the past. But we have passed
+through that period of learning, and it is time for us now to set up
+our individual standards. We are already “heir of all the ages” through
+our English ancestry, and our last half-century of European idolatry
+has done for us all that can be expected. But, with our eyes fixed
+on Europe, we continue to strangle whatever native genius springs
+up. Is it not a tragedy that the American artist feels the imperative
+need of foreign approval before he can be assured of his attainment?
+Through our inability or unwillingness to judge him, through our
+cultural humility, through our insistence on the objective standard,
+we drive him to depend on a foreign clientèle, to live even in foreign
+countries, where taste is more confident of itself and does not require
+the label, to be assured of the worth of what it appreciates.
+The only remedy for this deplorable situation is the cultivation of
+a new American nationalism. We need that keen introspection into the
+beauties and vitalities and sincerities of our own life and ideals that
+characterizes the French. The French culture is animated by principles
+and tastes which are as old as art itself. There are “classics,”
+not in the English and Arnoldian sense of a consecrated canon,
+dissent from which is heresy, but in the sense that each successive
+generation, putting them to the test, finds them redolent of those
+qualities which are characteristically French, and so preserves them
+as a precious heritage. This cultural chauvinism is the most harmless
+of patriotisms; indeed it is absolutely necessary for a true life of
+civilization. And it can hardly be too intense, or too exaggerated.
+Such an international art exhibition as was held recently in New York,
+with the frankly avowed purpose of showing American artists how bad
+they were in comparison with the modern French, represents an appalling
+degradation of attitude which would be quite impossible in any other
+country. Such groveling humility can only have the effect of making us
+feeble imitators, instead of making us assert, with all the power at
+our command, the genius and individuality which we already possess in
+quantity, if we would only see it.
+In the contemporary talent that Europe is exhibiting, or even in the
+genius of the last half-century, one will go far to find greater poets
+than our Walt Whitman, philosophers than William James, essayists
+than Emerson and Thoreau, composers than MacDowell, sculptors than
+Saint-Gaudens. In any other country such names would be focuses to
+which interest and enthusiasms would converge, symbols of a national
+spirit about which judgments and tastes would revolve. For none of
+them could have been born in another country than our own. If some of
+them had their training abroad, it was still the indigenous America
+that their works expressed,--the American ideals and qualities, our
+pulsating democracy, the vigor and daring of our pioneer spirit, our
+sense of _camaraderie_, our dynamism, the big-heartedness of our
+scenery, our hospitality to all the world. In the music of MacDowell,
+the poetry of Whitman, the philosophy of James, I recognize a national
+spirit, “l’esprit américain,” as superbly clear and gripping as
+anything the culture of Europe has to offer us, and immensely more
+stimulating, because of the very body and soul of to-day’s interests
+and aspirations.
+To come to an intense self-consciousness of these qualities, to
+feel them in the work of these masters, and to search for them
+everywhere among the lesser artists and thinkers who are trying to
+express the soul of this hot chaos of America,--this will be the
+attainment of culture for us. Not to look on ravished while our
+marvelous millionaires fill our museums with “old masters,” armor, and
+porcelains, but to turn our eyes upon our own art for a time, shut
+ourselves in with our own genius, and cultivate with an intense and
+partial pride what we have already achieved against the obstacles of
+our cultural humility. Only thus shall we conserve the American spirit
+and saturate the next generation with those qualities which are our
+strength. Only thus can we take our rightful place among the cultures
+of the world, to which we are entitled if we would but recognize it. We
+shall never be able to perpetuate our ideals except in the form of art
+and literature; the world will never understand our spirit except in
+terms of art. When shall we learn that “culture,” like the kingdom of
+heaven, lies within us, in the heart of our national soul, and not in
+foreign galleries and books? When shall we learn to be proud? For only
+pride is creative.
+Karen interested more by what she always seemed about to say and be
+than by anything she was at the moment. I could never tell whether her
+inscrutability was deliberate or whether she did not know how to be
+articulate. When she was pleased she would gaze at you benignly but
+there was always a slight uneasiness in the air as if the serenity
+were only a resultant of tumultuous feelings that were struggling
+to appreciate the situation. She was always most animated when she
+was annoyed at you. At those times you could fairly feel the piquant
+shafts of evil-heartedness hitting your body as she contended against
+your egoism or any of the personal failings that hurt her sense of
+your fitness. These moments took you into the presence of the somber
+irascibility of that northern land from which she came, and you felt
+her foreignness brush you. Her smooth, fair, parted hair would become
+bristly and surly; that face, which looked in repose like some Madonna
+which a Swedish painter would love, took on a flush; green lights
+glanced from her eyes. She was as inscrutable in anger as she was in
+her friendliness. You never knew just what strange personal freak of
+your villainy had set it off, though you often found it ascribed to
+some boiling fury in your own placid soul. You were not aware of this
+fury, but her intuition for it made her more inscrutable than ever.
+I first met Karen at a state university in the West where she had come
+for some special work in literature, after a few years of earning her
+living at browbeaten stenography. She never went to her classes, and
+I had many long walks with her by the lake. In that somewhat thin
+intellectual atmosphere of the college, she devoted most of her time to
+the fine art of personal relations, and, as nobody who ever looked at
+her was not fascinated by her blonde inscrutability and curious soft
+intensity, she had no difficulty in soon enmeshing herself in several
+nebulous friendships. She told us that she hoped eventually to write
+novels, but there was never anything to show that her novels unfolded
+anywhere but in her mind as they interpreted the richly exciting
+detail of her daily personal contacts. If you asked her about her
+writings, you became immediately thankful that looks could not slay,
+and some witch-fearing ancestor crossed himself shudderingly in your
+soul. Intercourse with Karen was not very concrete. Our innumerable
+false starts at understanding, the violence and exact quality of my
+interest, the technique of getting just that smooth and silky rapport
+between us which she was always anticipating--this seemed to make
+up the fabric of her thoughts. At that time she was reading mostly
+George Moore and Henry James, and I think she hoped we would all prove
+adequate for a subtly interwoven society. This was a little difficult
+in a group that was proud of its modernities, of its dizzy walking
+over flimsy generalizations, of its gifts of exploding in shrapnels of
+epigram. Karen loathed ideas and often quoted George Moore on their
+hideousness. The mere suggestion of an idea was so likely to destroy
+the poise of her mood, that conversation became a strategy worth
+working for. Karen did not think, she felt--in slow, sensuous outlines.
+You could feel her feelings curiously putting out long streamers at
+you, and, if you were in the mood, a certain subterranean conversation
+was not impossible. But if you did not happen to guess her mood, then
+you quarreled.
+When I met Karen, she was twenty-five, and I guessed that she would
+always be twenty-five. She had personal ideals that she wished for
+herself, and if you asked what she was thinking about, it was quite
+likely to be the kind of noble woman she was to be, or feared she would
+not be, at forty. But she was too insistent upon creating her world
+in her own image to remain sensitive to the impressions that make
+for growth. As the story of her life came out, the bitter immigrant
+journey, the despised house-work, the struggle to get an education,
+the office drudgery, the lack of roots and a place, you came to
+appreciate this personal cult of Karen’s. She was so clearly finer
+and intenser than the people who had been in the world about her,
+that her starved soul had to find nourishment where it could. Even
+if she was insensible to ideas, her soft searching at least allured.
+It was perhaps her starved condition which made her friendships so
+subject to sudden disaster. Karen’s notes were always a little more
+brightly intimate than her personal resources were able to support.
+She seemed to start with a plan of the conversation in her head. If
+you bungled, and with her little retreats and evasions you were always
+bungling, you could feel her spirit stamp its feet in vexation. She
+would plan pleasant soliloquies, and you would find yourself in a
+fiercely cross-examinatory mood. She loathed your probing of her mood,
+and parried you in a helpless way which made you feel as if you were
+tearing tissue. You always seemed with Karen to be in a laboratory of
+personal relations where priceless things were being discovered, but
+you felt her more as an alchemist than a modern physicist of the soul,
+and her method rather that of trial and error than real experiment.
+I am quite sure that Karen’s system of personal relations was platonic.
+She never seemed to get beyond that laying of the broad foundation of
+the Jamesian tone that would have been necessary to make the thing an
+“affair.” She was often lovely and she was not unloved. She was much
+interested in men, but it was more as co-actors in a personal drama
+of her own devising than as lovers or even as men. The most she ever
+hoped for, I think, was to be the sacred fount, and to have her flow
+copious and manifold. You felt the immense qualifications a man would
+have to have in the subtleties of rapport to make him even a candidate
+for loving. For Karen, men seemed to exist only as they brought a touch
+of ceremonial into their personal relations. I think Karen never quite
+intended to surround herself with the impenetrable armor of vestal
+virginity, and yet she did not avoid it. However glowing and mysterious
+she might look as she lay before the fire in her room, so that to an
+impatient friend nothing might seem more important than to catch her
+up warmly in his arms, he would have been an audacious brigand who
+violated the atmosphere. Karen always so much gave the impression of
+playing for higher and nobler stakes that no brigand ever appeared.
+Whether she deluded herself as to what she wanted or whether she had
+a clearer insight than most women into the predatoriness of my sex,
+her relations with men were rarely smooth. Caddishness seemed to be
+breaking out repeatedly in the most unexpected places.
+Some of the most serious of my friends got dark inadequacies charged
+against them by Karen. I was a little in her confidence, but I could
+rarely gather more than that the men of to-day had no sensitiveness
+and were far too coarse for the fine and decent friendships which she
+spent so much of her time and artistic imagination on arranging for
+them with herself. I was constantly undergoing, at the hands of Karen,
+a course of discipline myself, for my ungovernable temper or my various
+repellant “tones” or my failure to catch just the quality of certain
+people we discussed. I understood dimly the lucklessness of her “cads.”
+They had perhaps not been urbanely plastic, they had perhaps been
+impatiently adoring. They had at least not offended in any of the usual
+ways. She would even forgive them sometimes with surprising suddenness.
+But she never so far forgot her principles as to let them dictate a
+mood. She never recognized any of the naïve collisions of men and women.
+Karen often seemed keenly to wonder at this unsatisfactoriness of men.
+She cultivated them, walking always in her magic circle, but they
+slipped and grew dimmer. She had her fling of feminism towards the end
+of her year. She left the university to become secretary for a state
+suffrage leader. Under the stress of public life she became fierce and
+serious. She abandoned the picturesque peasant costumes which she had
+affected, and made herself hideous in mannish skirts and waists. She
+felt the woes of women, and saw everywhere the devilish hand of the
+exploiting male. If she ever married, she would have a house separate
+from her husband. She would be no parasite, no man’s woman. She spoke
+of the “human sex,” and set up its norms for her acquaintanceships.
+When I saw Karen later, however, she was herself again. She had taken
+up again the tissue of personal relations. But in that reconstituted
+world all her friends seemed to be women. Her taste of battle had
+seemed to fortify and enlighten that ancient shrinking; her old
+annoyance that men should be abruptly different from what she would
+have them. She was intimate with feminists whose feminism had done
+little more for their emotional life than to make them acutely
+conscious of the cloven hoof of the male. Karen, in her brooding way,
+was able to give this philosophy a far more poetical glamor than any
+one I knew. Her woman friends adored her, even those who had not
+acquired that mystic sense of “loyalty to woman” and did not believe
+that no man was so worthy that he might not be betrayed with impunity.
+Karen, on her part, adored her friends, and the care that had been
+spent on unworthy men now went into toning up and making subtle the
+women around her. She did a great deal for them, and was constantly
+discovering godlike creatures in shop and street and bringing them in
+to be mystically mingled with her circle.
+Naturally it is Karen’s married friends who cause her greatest concern.
+Eternal vigilance is the price of their salvation from masculine
+tyranny. In the enemy’s country, under at least the nominal yoke, these
+married girls seem to Karen subjects for her prayer and aid. She has
+become exquisitely sensitive to any aggressive gestures on the part of
+these creatures with whom her dear friends have so inexplicably allied
+themselves, and she is constantly in little subtle intrigues to get the
+victim free or at least armisticed. She broods over her little circle,
+inscrutable, vigilant, a true vestal virgin on the sacred hearth of
+woman. Husbands are doubtless better for that silent enemy whom they
+see jealously adoring their wives.
+Karen still leaves trails of mystery and desire where she goes, but
+it is as a woman’s woman that I see her now, and, I am ashamed to
+say, ignore her. Men could not be crowded into her Jamesian world and
+she has solved the problem by obliterating them. She will not live by
+means of them. Since she does not know how to live with them she lives
+without them.
+I should scarcely have understood Sophronisba unless I had imagined
+her against the background of that impeccable New England town from
+which she says she escaped. It is a setting of elm-shaded streets, with
+houses that can fairly be called mansions, and broad lawns stretching
+away from the green and beautiful white church. In this large
+princeliness of aspect the naïve stranger, like myself, would imagine
+nothing but what was grave and sweet and frank. Yet behind those
+pillared porticos Sophronisba tells me sit little and petrified people.
+This spacious beauty exists for people who are mostly afraid; afraid
+of each other, afraid of candor, afraid of sex, afraid of radicals.
+Underneath the large-hearted exterior she says they are stifled within.
+Women go queer from repression, spinsters multiply on families’ hands,
+while the young men drift away to Boston. Dark tales are heard of
+sexual insanity, and Sophronisba seems to think that the chastest wife
+never conceives without a secret haunting in her heart of guilt. I
+think there are other things in Sophronisba’s town, but these are the
+things she has seen, and these are the things she has fled from.
+Sophronisba is perhaps forty, but she is probably much younger than
+she was at eleven. At that age the devilish conviction that she hated
+her mother strove incessantly with the heavenly conviction that it was
+her duty to love her. And there were unpleasing aunts and cousins who
+exhaustingly had to be loved when she wished only spitefully to slap
+them. Her conscience thus played her unhappy tricks through a submerged
+childhood, until college came as an emancipation from that deadly
+homesickness that is sickness not for your home but intolerance at it.
+No more blessed relief comes to the conscience-burdened than the
+chance to exchange their duties for their tastes, when what you should
+unselfishly do to others is transformed into what books and pictures
+you ought to like. Your conscience gets its daily exercise, but without
+the moral pain. I imagine Sophronisba was not unhappy at college,
+where she could give up her weary efforts to get her emotions correct
+towards everybody in the world and the Three Persons in the heaven
+above it, in favor of acquiring a sound and authorized cultural taste.
+She seems to have very dutifully taken her master’s degree in English
+literature, and for her industrious conscience is recorded somewhere
+an unreadable but scholarly thesis, the very name of which she has
+probably forgotten herself.
+For several years Sophronisba must have flowed along on that thin
+stream of the intellectual life which seems almost to have been
+invented for slender and thin-lipped New England maidens who
+desperately must make a living for themselves in order to keep out of
+the dull prison of their homes. There was for Sophronisba a little
+teaching, a little settlement work, a little writing, and a position
+with a publishing house. And always the firm clutch on New York and the
+dizzy living on a crust that might at any moment break and precipitate
+her on the intolerable ease of her dutifully loving family. It is
+the conventional opinion that this being a prisoner on parole can
+be terminated only by the safe custody of a man, or the thrilling
+freedom of complete personal success. Sophronisba’s career has been an
+indeterminate sentence of womanhood. She is at once a proof of how very
+hard the world still is on women, and how gaily they may play the game
+with the odds against them.
+I did not meet Sophronisba until she was in the mellow of her years,
+and I cannot disentangle all her journalistic attempts, her dives
+into this magazine and that, the electrifying discovery of her by
+a great editor, the great careers that were always beginning, the
+great articles that were called off at the last moment, the delayed
+checks, the checks that never came, the magazines that went down
+with all on board. But there were always articles that did come off,
+and Sophronisba zigzagged her literary way through fat years of
+weekly series and Sunday supplements and lean years of desk work and
+book-reviewing. There are some of Sophronisba’s articles that I should
+like to have written myself. She piles her facts with great neatness,
+and there is a little ironic punch sometimes which is not enough to
+disturb the simple people who read it, but flatters you as of the more
+subtly discerning. Further, she has a genuine talent for the timely.
+There has been strategy as well as art in her career. That feminine
+Yankeeness which speaks out of her quizzical features has not lived in
+vain. She tells with glee of editors captured in skilful sorties of
+wit, of connections laboriously pieced together. She confesses to plots
+to take the interesting and valuable in her net. There is continuous
+action along her battlefront. She makes the acceptance of an article
+an exciting event. As you drop in upon her for tea to follow her work
+from week to week, you seem to move in a maze of editorial conspiracy.
+Her zestfulness almost brings a thrill into the prosaic business of
+writing. Not beguilements, but candor and wit, are her ammunition. One
+would expect a person who looked like Sophronisba to be humorous. But
+her wit is good enough to be surprising, it is sharp but it leaves no
+sting. And it gets all the advantage of being carried along on a voice
+that retains the least suggestion of a racy Eastern twang. With the
+twang goes that lift and breathlessness that makes everything sound
+interesting. When you come upon Sophronisba in that charming dinner
+group that she frequents or as she trips out of the library, portfolio
+in hand, with a certain sedate primness which no amount of New York
+will ever strain out of her, you know that for a few moments the air is
+going to be bright.
+How Sophronisba got rid of the virus of her New England conscience
+and morbidities I do not know. She must have exorcised more demons
+than most of us are even acquainted with. Yet she never seems to have
+lost the zest that comes from standing on the brink and watching the
+Gadarene swine plunge heavily down into the sea. She has expelled the
+terrors of religion and the perils of thwarted sex, but their nearness
+still thrills. She would not be herself, neither would her wit be as
+good, if it were not much made of gay little blasphemies and bold
+feminist irreverences. There is the unconscious play to the stiff New
+England gallery that makes what she says of more than local relevance.
+In her serious talk there lingers the slight, interested bitter tang of
+the old Puritan poison. But current issues mean much to Sophronisba.
+These things which foolish people speak of with grave-faced strainings
+after objectivity, with uncouth scientific jargon and sudden lapses
+into pruriency, Sophronisba presents as a genuine revelation. Her
+personal curiosity, combined with intellectual clarity, enable her
+to get it all assimilated. Her allegiance went, of course, quickly
+to Freud, and once, in a sudden summer flight to Jung in Zurich, she
+sat many hours absorbing the theories from a grave, ample, formidably
+abstract, and--for Sophronisba--too unhumorous Fraülein assistant. What
+Sophronisba got she has made into a philosophy of life, translated
+into New England dialect, and made quite revealingly her own. Before
+journalism claimed her for more startling researches, she would often
+give it for you in racy and eager fashion, turning up great layers of
+her own life and of those she knew about her. Many demons were thus
+sent flying.
+Her exorcisms have been gained by a blazing candor and by a
+self-directed sense of humor which alone can support it. With the
+white light of this lantern she seems to have hunted down all the evil
+shadows in that background of hers. Her relentless exposure of her
+own motives, her eager publicity of soul and that fascinating life
+which is hers, her gossip without malice and her wise cynicism, make
+Sophronisba the greatest of reliefs from a world too full of decent
+reticences and self-respects. That heavy conscience has been trained
+down to an athletic trimness. I cannot find an interest or a realism or
+a self-interpretation at which she will cringe, though three centuries
+of Puritanism in her blood should tell her how unhallowed most of them
+are.
+Sophronisba, naturally, is feminist to the core. Particularly on the
+subject of the economic servitude of married women does she grow very
+tense, and if anywhere her sense of humor deserts her it is here. But
+she is so convincing that she can throw me into a state of profound
+depression, from which I am not cheered by reflecting how unconscious
+of their servitude most of these women are. Sophronisba herself is a
+symbol of triumphant spinsterhood rejoicing the heart, an unmarried
+woman who knows she would make a wretched wife and does not seem to
+mind. Her going home once a year to see her family has epic quality
+about it. She parts from her friends with a kind of resigned daring,
+and returns with the air of a Proserpine from the regions of Pluto.
+To have laid all these ghosts of gloom and queerness and fear which
+must have darkened her prim and neglected young life, is to have
+made herself a rarely interesting woman. I think the most delightful
+bohemians are those who have been New England Puritans first.
+She was French from the crown of her head to the soles of her feet, but
+she was of that France which few Americans, I think, know or imagine.
+She belonged to that France which Jean-Christophe found in his friend
+Olivier, a world of flashing ideas and enthusiasms, a golden youth of
+ideals.
+She had picked me out for an exchange of conversation, as the custom
+is, precisely because I had left my name at the Sorbonne as a person
+who wrote a little. I had put this bait out, as it were, deliberately,
+with the intention of hooking a mind that cared for a little more than
+mere chatter, but I had hardly expected to find it in the form of a
+young girl who, as she told me in her charmingly polished note, was
+nineteen and had just completed her studies.
+These studies formed a useful introduction when she received me in
+the little old-fashioned apartment in the Batignolles quarter on my
+first visit. She had made them ever since she was five years old in
+a wonderful old convent at Bourges; and in the town had lived her
+grandmother, a very old lady, whom she had gone lovingly to see, as
+often as she could be away from the watchful care of the nuns. In
+her she had found her real mother, for her parents had been far away
+in Brittany. When the old lady died, my friend had to face an empty
+world, and to become acquainted all over again with a mother whom
+she confessed she found “little sympathetic.” But she was a girl of
+_devoir_, and she would do nothing to wound her.
+She told me one afternoon as we took our first walk through the dusky
+richness of the Musée Cluny, that the shock of death had disclosed
+to her how fleeting life was, how much she thought of death, and
+how much she feared it. I used the lustiness of her grandmother’s
+eighty-four years to convince her as to how long she might have to
+postpone her dread, but her fragile youth seemed already to feel the
+beating wings about her. As she talked, her expression had all that
+wistful seriousness of the French face which has not been devitalized
+by the city, that sense of the nearness of unutterable things which
+runs, a golden thread, through their poetry. Though she had lived away
+from Brittany, in her graver moments there was much in her of the
+patient melancholy of the Breton. For her father’s people had been
+sea-folk,--not fishermen, but pilots and navigators on those misty and
+niggardly shores,--and the long defeat and ever-trustful suffering was
+in her blood. She would interpret to me the homely pictures at the
+Luxembourg which spoke of coast and peasant life; and her beautiful
+articulateness brought the very soul of France out of the canvases of
+Cottet and Breton and Carrière. She understood these people.
+But she was very various, and, if at first we plumbed together the
+profoundest depths of her, we soon got into shallower waters. The
+fluency of her thought outran any foreign medium, and made anything but
+her flying French impossible. Her meager English had been learned from
+some curious foreigner with an accent more German than French, and we
+abandoned it by mutual consent. Our conversation became an exchange of
+ideas and not of languages. Or rather her mind became the field where I
+explored at will.
+I think I began by assuming a Catholic devotion in her, and implied
+that her serious outlook on life might lead her into the church. She
+scoffed unmitigatedly at this. The nuns were not unkindly, she said,
+but they were hard and narrow and did not care for the theater and for
+books, which she adored.
+She believed in God. “Et le théâtre!” I said, which delighted her
+hugely. But these Christian virtues made unlovely characters and
+cut one off so painfully from the fascinating moving world of ideas
+outside. But surely after fourteen years of religious training and
+Christian care, did she not believe in the Church, its priesthood and
+its dogmas?
+She repudiated her faith with indescribable vivacity. A hardened
+Anglo-Saxon agnostic would have shown more diffidence in denying
+his belief in dogma or the Bible. As for the latter, she said, it
+might do for children of five years. And the cutting sweep of that
+“enfants de cinq ans” afforded me a revealing glimpse of that lucid
+intelligence with which the French mind cuts through layers and strata
+of equivocation and compromise.
+Most Frenchmen, if they lose their faith, go the swift and logical
+road to atheism. Her loss was no childish dream or frenzy; she still
+believed in God. But as for the Church and its priesthood,--she told
+me, with malicious irony, and with the intelligence that erases
+squeamishness, of a friend of hers who was the daughter of the priest
+in charge of one of the largest Parisian churches. Would she confess
+to a member of a priestly caste which thus broke faith? Confession was
+odious anyway. She had been kept busy in school inventing sins. She
+would go to church on Easter, but she would not take the Eucharist,
+though I noticed a charming lapse when she crossed herself with holy
+water as we entered Notre Dame one day.
+Where had she ever got such ideas, shut up in a convent?--Oh, they were
+all perfectly obvious, were they not? Where would one not get them?
+This amazing soul of modern France!--which pervades even the walls of
+convents with its spirit of free criticism and its terrible play of
+the intelligence; which will examine and ruthlessly cast aside, just
+as my vibrant, dark-haired, fragile friend was casting aside, without
+hypocrisy or scruple, whatever ideas do not seem to enhance the clear
+life to be lived.
+Accustomed to grope and flounder in the mazes of the intellect, I found
+her intelligence well-nigh terrifying. I would sit almost helplessly
+and listen to her sparkle of talk. Her freedom knocked into pieces all
+my little imagined world of French conventionalities and inhibitions.
+How could this pale, dignified mother, to whom I was presented as she
+passed hurriedly through the room one day, allow her to wander so
+freely about Paris parks and museums with a foreign young man? Her
+answer came superbly, with a flare of decision which showed me that
+at least in one spot the eternal conflict of the generations had been
+settled: “_Je me permets!_”--I allow myself. She gave me to understand
+that for a while her mother had been difficult, but that there was no
+longer any question of her “living her life”--_vivre sa vie_. And she
+really thought that her mother, in releasing her from the useless
+trammels, had become herself much more of an independent personality.
+As for my friend, she dared, she took risks, she played with the
+adventure of life. But she knew what was there.
+The motherly Anglo-Saxon frame of mind would come upon me, to see
+her in the light of a poor ignorant child, filled with fantastic
+ideals, all so pitifully untested by experience. How ignorant she was
+of life, and to what pitfalls her daring freedom must expose her in
+this unregenerate France! I tried and gave it up. As she talked,--her
+glowing eyes, in which ideas seemed to well up brimming with feeling
+and purpose, saying almost more than her words,--she seemed too
+palpably a symbol of luminous youth, a flaming militant of the younger
+generation, who by her courage would shrivel up the dangers that so
+beset the timorous. She was French, and that fact by itself meant
+that whole layers of equivocation had been cut through, whole sets of
+intricacies avoided.
+In order to get the full shock of her individuality, I took her one
+afternoon to a model little English tea-room on the rue de Rivoli,
+where normal Britishers were reading _Punch_ and the _Spectator_
+over their jam and cake. The little flurry of disapprobation and the
+hostile stare which our appearance elicited from the well-bred families
+and discreet young men at the tables, the flaring incongruity of her
+dark, lithe, inscrutable personality in this bland, vacuous British
+atmosphere, showed me as could nothing else how hard was the gem-like
+flame with which she burned.
+As we walked in the Luxembourg and along the quays, or sat on the
+iron chairs in the gardens of the Parc Monceau or the Trocadéro, our
+friendship became a sort of intellectual orgy. The difficulty of
+following the pace of her flying tongue and of hammering and beating
+my own thoughts into the unaccustomed French was fatiguing, but it was
+the fascinating weariness of exploration. My first idle remarks about
+God touched off a whole battery of modern ideas. None of the social
+currents of the day seemed to have passed her by, though she had been
+immured so long in her sleepy convent at Bourges. She had that same
+interest and curiosity about other classes and conditions of life
+which animates us here in America, and the same desire to do something
+effective against the misery of poverty.
+I had teased her a little about her academic, untried ideas, and
+in grave reproof she told me, one afternoon, as we stood--of all
+places!--on the porch of the Little Trianon at Versailles, a touching
+story of a family of the poorest of the Parisian poor, whom she and
+her mother visited and helped to get work. She did not think charity
+accomplished very much, and flamed at the word “Socialism,” although
+she had not yet had its program made very clear to her.
+But mostly she was feminist,--an ardent disciple in that singularly
+uncomplicated and happy march of the Frenchwomen, already so
+practically emancipated, toward a definite social recognition of that
+liberation. The normal Frenchwoman, in all but the richer classes,
+is an economic asset to her country. And economic independence was
+a cardinal dogma in my friend’s faith. She was already taking a
+secretarial course, in order to ensure her ability to make her living;
+and she looked forward quite eagerly to a career.
+Marriage was in considerable disfavor; it had still the taint of the
+Church upon it, while the civil marriage seemed, with the only recently
+surrendered necessary parental consent, to mark the subjection of the
+younger to the older generation. These barriers were now removed, but
+the evil savor of the institution lingered on. My friend, like all the
+French intellectuals, was all for the “union libre,” but it would have
+to be loyal unto death. It was all the more inspiring as an ideal,
+because it would be perhaps hard to obtain. Men, she was inclined to
+think, were usually _malhonnête_, but she might find some day a man of
+complete sympathy and complete loyalty. But she did not care. Life was
+life, freedom was freedom, and the glory of being a woman in the modern
+world was enough for her.
+The French situation was perhaps quite as bad as it was pictured.
+Friendship between a girl and a young man was almost impossible.
+It was that they usually wished to love her. She did not mind them
+on the streets. The students--oh, the students!--were frightfully
+annoying; but perhaps one gave a _gifle_ and passed rapidly on. Her
+parents, before she had become genuinely the captain of her soul, had
+tried to marry her off in the orthodox French way. She had had four
+proposals. Risking the clean candor of the French soul, I became
+curious and audacious. So she dramatized for me, without a trace of
+self-consciousness, a wonderful little scene of provincial manners.
+The stiff young Frenchman making his stilted offer, her self-possessed
+reluctance, her final refusal, were given in inimitable style. These
+incidents, which in the life of a little American _bourgeoise_ would
+have been crises or triumphs, and, at any rate, unutterably hoarded
+secrets, were given with a cold frankness which showed refreshingly to
+what insignificance marriage was relegated in her life. She wished, she
+said, to _vivre sa vie_--to live her life. If marriage fitted in with
+her living of her life, it might take her. It should never submerge
+or deflect her. Countless Frenchwomen, in defiance of the strident
+Anglo-Saxon belief, were able both to keep a household and to earn
+their own living; and why not she also? She would always be free; and
+her black eyes burned as they looked out so fearlessly into a world
+that was to be all hers, because she expected nothing from it.
+About this world, she had few illusions. To its worldlinesses and
+glitter she showed really a superb indifference. I brutally tried to
+trap her into a confession that she spurned it only because it might
+be closed to her through lack of money or prestige. Her eloquent eyes
+almost slew me with vivacious denial. She despised these “dolls” whose
+only business in life was to wear clothes. Her own sober black was
+not affectation, but only her way of showing that she was more than a
+_poupée_. She did not say it, but I quite appreciated, and I knew well
+that she knew, how charming a _poupée_ she might have made.
+Several of her friends were gay and worldly. She spoke of them with
+charming frankness, touching off, with a tone quite clean of malice,
+all their little worthlessnesses and futilities. Some of this world,
+indeed, shaded off into unimaginable _nuances_, but she was wholly
+aware of its significance. In the inimitable French way, she disdained
+to use its errors as a lever to elevate her own virtues.
+Her blazing candor lighted up for me every part of her world. We
+skirted abysses, but the language helped us wonderfully through. French
+has worn tracks in so many fields of experience where English blunders
+either boorishly or sentimentally. French is made for illumination and
+clear expression; it has kept its purity and crispness and can express,
+without shamefacedness or bungling, attitudes and interpretations which
+the Anglo-Saxon fatuously hides.
+My friend was dimly sensible of some such contrast. I think she had
+as much difficulty in making me out as I had in making her out.
+She was very curious as to how she compared with American girls.
+She had once met one but had found her, though not a doll, yet not
+_sympathique_ and little understandable. I had to tell my friend how
+untranslatable she was. The Anglo-Saxon, I had to tell her, was apt to
+be either a schoolchild or a middle-aged person. To the first, ideas
+were strange and disturbing. To the second, they were a nuisance and
+a bore. I almost assured her that in America she would be considered
+a quite horrible portent. Her brimming idealism would make everybody
+uncomfortable. The sensual delight which she took in thinking, the way
+her ideas were all warmly felt and her feelings luminously expressed,
+would adapt her badly to a world of school-children and tired business
+men. I tried to go over for her the girls of her age whom I had
+known. How charming they were to be sure, but, even when they had
+ideas, how strangely inarticulate they sometimes were, and, if they
+were articulate, how pedantic and priggish they seemed to the world
+about them! And what forests of reticences and exaggerated values
+there were, and curious illogicalities. How jealous they were of their
+personalities, and what a suspicious and individualistic guard they
+kept over their candor and sincerities! I was very gay and perhaps a
+little cruel.
+She listened eagerly, but I think she did not quite understand. If one
+were not frankly a doll, was not life a great swirl to be grappled with
+and clarified, and thought and felt about? And as for her personality,
+the more she gave the more she had. She would take the high risks of
+friendship.
+To cross the seas and come upon my own enthusiasms and ideals vibrating
+with so intense a glow seemed an amazing fortune. It was like coming
+upon the same design, tinted in novel and picturesque colors of a
+finer harmony. In this intellectual flirtation, carried on in _musée_
+and garden and on quay throughout that cloudless April, I began to
+suspect some gigantic flattery. Was her enthusiasm sincere, and her
+clean-cutting ideas, or had she by some subtle intuition anticipated
+me? Did she think, or was it to be expected of me, that I should fall
+in love with her? But perhaps there was a touch of the too foreign
+in her personality. And if I had fallen in love, I know it would not
+have been with herself. It would have been with the Frenchness of her,
+and perhaps was. It would have been with the eternal youth of France
+that she was. For she could never have been so very glowing if France
+had not been full of her. Her charm and appeal were far broader than
+herself. It took in all that rare spiritual climate where one absorbs
+ideas and ideals as the earth drinks in rain.
+She was of that young France with its luminous understanding, its
+personal verve, its light of expression, its way of feeling its ideas
+and thinking its emotions, its deathless loyalty which betrays only at
+the clutch of some deeper loyalty. She adored her country and all its
+mystic values and aspirations. When she heard I was going to Germany,
+she actually winced with pain. She could scarcely believe it. I fell
+back at once to the position of a vulgar traveler, visiting even the
+lands of the barbarians. They were her country’s enemies, and some day
+they would attack. France awaited the onslaught fatalistically. She
+did not want to be a man, but she wished that they would let women be
+soldiers. If the war came, however, she would enlist at once as a Red
+Cross nurse. She thrilled at the thought that perhaps there she could
+serve to the uttermost.
+And the war has come, hot upon her enthusiasms. She must have been long
+since in the field, either at the army stations, or moving about among
+the hospitals of Paris, her heart full of pride and pity for the France
+which she loved and felt so well, and of whose deathless spirit she
+was, for me, at least, so glowing a symbol.
+My friend Fergus has all the characteristics of genius except the
+divine fire. The guardian angel who presided at his birth and set in
+order all his delicate appreciations just forgot to start flowing the
+creative current. Fergus was born to suffer the pangs of artistic
+desire without the gushing energy that would have moulded artistic
+form. It was perhaps difficult enough to produce him as it was. There
+is much that is clearly impossible about him. His father is a bluff
+old Irish newspaper compositor, with the obstinately genial air of a
+man who cannot believe that life will not some day do something for
+him. His mother is a French-Canadian, jolly and stout, who plays old
+Irish and French melodies on the harp, and mothers the young Catholic
+girls of the crowded city neighborhood in which they live. She has the
+slightly surprised background of never realized prosperity. Fergus
+is an old child, and moves in the dark little flat, with its green
+plush furniture, its prints of the Great Commoner and Lake Killarney,
+its Bible texts of the Holy Name, with the detached condescension of
+an exiled prince. He is very dark and finely formed, of the type that
+would be taken for a Spaniard in France and an Italian in Spain, and
+his manners have the distinction of the born aristocrat.
+The influences of that close little Catholic society in which he was
+brought up he has shed as a duck sheds water. His mother wished him to
+be a Jesuit. The quickness of his mind, the refinement and hauteur of
+his manner, intoxicated her with the assurance of his priestly future.
+His father, however, inclined towards the insurance business. Fergus
+himself viewed his future with cold disinterestedness. When I first met
+him he had just emerged from a year of violin study at a music school.
+The violin had been an escape from the twin horrors that had menaced
+him. On his parents’ anxiety that he “make something of himself” he
+looked with some disdain. He did, however, feel to a certain extent
+their chagrin at finding so curious and aristocratic a person in
+their family, and he allowed himself, with a fine stoicism as of an
+exiled prince supporting himself until the revolution was crushed and
+he was reinstated in his possessions, to be buried in an insurance
+broker’s office. At this time he spent his evenings in the dim vaulted
+reading-room of a public library composing music, or in wandering in
+the park with his friends, discussing philosophy. His little music
+notebook and Gomperz’s “Greek Thinkers” were rarely out of his hand.
+Harmony and counterpoint had not appealed to him at the Conservatory,
+but now the themes that raced and rocketed through his head compelled
+him to composition. The bloodless scherzos and allegros which he
+produced and tried to play for me on his rickety piano had so archaic a
+flavor as to suggest that Fergus was inventing anew the art of music,
+somewhat as our childhood is supposed to pass through all the stages
+of the evolution of the race. As he did not seem to pass beyond a
+pre-Bachian stage, he began to feel at length, he told me, that there
+was something lacking in his style. But he was afraid that routine
+study would dull his inspiration. It was time that he needed, and not
+instruction. And time was slipping so quickly away. He was twenty-two,
+and he could not grasp or control it.
+When summer was near he came to me with an idea. His office work was
+insupportable. Even accepting that one dropped eight of the best hours
+of one’s every day into a black and bottomless pit in exchange for the
+privilege of remaining alive, such a life was almost worse than none. I
+had friends who were struggling with a large country farm. He wished to
+offer them his services as farmhand on half-time in exchange for simple
+board and lodging. Working in the morning, he would have all the rest
+of his pastoral day for writing music.
+Before I could communicate to him my friends’ reluctance to this
+proposal, he told me that his musical inspiration had entirely left
+him. He was now spending all his spare time in the Art Museum,
+discovering tastes and delights that he had not known were in him.
+Why had not some one told him of the joy of sitting and reading Plato
+in those glowing rooms? The Museum was more significant when I walked
+in it with Fergus. His gracious bearing almost seemed to please the
+pictures themselves. He walked as a princely connoisseur through his
+own historic galleries.
+When I saw Fergus next, however, a physical depression had fallen upon
+him. He had gone into a vegetarian diet and was enfeebling himself with
+Spartan fare. He was disturbed by loneliness, the erotic world gnawed
+persistently at him, and all the Muses seemed to have left him. But in
+his gloominess, in the fine discrimination with which he analyzed his
+helplessness, in the noble despair with which he faced an insoluble
+world, he was more aristocratic than ever. He was not like one who had
+never attained genius, fame, voluptuous passion, riches, he was rather
+as one who had been bereft of all these things.
+Returning last autumn from a year abroad, during which I had not heard
+a word of Fergus, I found he had turned himself into a professional
+violin-teacher. The insurance job had passed out, and for a few weeks
+he had supported himself by playing the organ in a small Catholic
+church. There was jugglery with his salary, however, and it annoyed him
+to be so intimate a figure in a ritual to which he could only refer in
+irony. Priests whose “will to power” background he analyzed to me with
+Nietzschean fidelity always repelled him.
+He was saved from falling back on the industrious parents who had so
+strangely borne him by an offer to play the harmonium in the orchestra
+of a fashionable restaurant. To this opportunity of making eighteen
+dollars a week he had evidently gone with a new and pleasurable sense
+of the power of wealth. It was easy, he said, but the heat and the
+lights, the food and the long evening hours fairly nauseated him, and
+he gave the work up.
+All this time, I gathered, his parents had been restive over a certain
+economic waste. They seemed to feel that his expensive musical
+education should be capitalized more firmly and more profitably. His
+mother had even deplored his lack of ambition. She had explored and
+had discovered that one made much money as a “vaudeville act.” He had
+obtained a trial at an Upper Bronx moving-picture vaudeville theater.
+Fergus told me that the nervous girl who had gone on the stage before
+him had been cut short in the middle of her “Fox-Trot Lullaby,” or
+whatever her song was, by hostile yells from the audience. Fergus
+himself went on in rather a depressed mood, and hardly did himself
+justice. He played the Bach air, and a short movement from Brahms. He
+did not, however, get that rapport with his audience which he felt the
+successful vaudeville artist should feel. They had not yelled at him,
+but they had refused to applaud, and the circuit manager had declined
+to engage him.
+After this experience it occurred to Fergus that he liked to teach,
+and that his training had made him a professional musician. His
+personality, he felt, was not unfavorable. By beginning modestly he
+saw no reason why he should not build up a clientèle and an honorable
+competence. When I saw him a week later at the Music Settlement, he
+told me that there was no longer any doubt that he had found his
+lifework. His fees are very small and his pupils are exacting. He has
+practised much besides. He told me the other day that teaching was
+uninspiring drudgery. He had decided to give it up, and compose songs.
+Whenever I see Fergus I have a slight quickening of the sense of life.
+His rich and rather somber personality makes all ordinary backgrounds
+tawdry. He knows so exactly what he is doing and what he is feeling. I
+do not think he reads very much, but he breathes in from the air around
+him certain large aesthetic and philosophical ideas. There are many
+philosophies and many artists, however, that he has never heard of, and
+this ignorance of the concrete gives one a fine pleasure of impressing
+him. One can pour into receptive ears judgments and enthusiasms that
+have long ago been taken for granted by one’s more sophisticated
+friends. His taste in art as in music is impeccable, and veers strongly
+to the classics--Rembrandt and the Greeks, as Bach and Beethoven.
+Fergus has been in love, but he does not talk much about it. A girl in
+his words is somewhat dark and inscrutable. She always has something
+haunting and finely-toned about her, whoever she may be. I always think
+of the clothed lady in the flowing silks, in Titian’s “Sacred and
+Profane Love.” Yet withal Fergus gives her a touch of the allurement of
+her nude companion. His reserve, I think, always keeps these persons
+very dusky and distant. His chastity is a result of his fineness
+of taste rather than of feeble desire or conscious control. That
+impersonal passion which descends on people like Fergus in a sultry
+cloud he tells me he contrives to work off into his violin. I sometimes
+wonder if a little more of it with a better violin would have made him
+an artist.
+But destiny has just clipped his wings so that he must live a life of
+noble leisure instead of artistic creation. His unconscious interest
+is the art of life. Against a background of Harlem flats and stodgy
+bourgeois prejudices he works out this life of _otium cum dignitate_,
+calm speculation and artistic appreciation that Nietzsche glorifies.
+On any code that would judge him by the seven dollars a week which is
+perhaps his average income he looks with cold disdain. He does not
+demand that the world give him a living. He did not ask to come into
+it, but being here he will take it with candor. Sometimes I think
+he is very patient with life. Probably he is not happy. This is not
+important. As his candor and his appreciations refresh me, I wonder
+if the next best thing to producing works of art is not to be, like
+Fergus, a work of art one’s self.
+The Professor is a young man, but he had so obviously the misfortune
+of growing up too early that he seems already like a mournful relic
+of irrevocable days. His ardent youth was spent in that halcyon time
+of the early nineteen-hundreds when all was innocence in the heart of
+young America. “When I was in college,” the Professor often says, “all
+this discussion of social questions was unknown to us. The growing
+seriousness of the American college student is an inspiring phenomenon
+in our contemporary life.”
+In those days the young men who felt an urge within them went in for
+literature. It was still the time when Presbyterian clergymen and
+courtly Confederate generals were contributing the inspiration of
+their ripe scholarship to the younger generation. It was the time
+when Brander Matthews still thrilled the world of criticism with his
+scintillating Gallic wit and his cosmopolitan wealth of friendships.
+The young men of that time are still a race apart. Through these
+literary masters they touched the intimate life of literature; they
+knew Kipling and Stevenson, Arthur Symons and the great Frenchmen, and
+felt themselves one with the charmed literary brotherhood throughout
+the world. It was still the time when, free from philosophic or
+sociologic taint, our American youth was privileged to breathe in from
+men like Henry van Dyke and Charles Eliot Norton the ideals of the
+scholar and the gentleman.
+The Professor’s sensitive talent soon asserted itself. With Wordsworth
+he had absorbed himself into the circumambient life of nature and
+made the great reconciliation between her and man. With Shelley he
+had dared unutterable things and beaten his wings against the stars.
+With Tennyson he had shuddered pensively on the brink of declining
+faith. With Carlyle he had felt the call of duty, and all the revulsion
+against a sordid and mechanical age. With Arnold he had sought the
+sweetness and light which should come to him from knowing all the best
+that had been said and thought in the world. The Professor had scarcely
+begun to write verse before he found himself victor in a prize poetry
+contest which had enlisted the talent of all the best poets of America.
+He often tells his students of the intoxication of that evening when
+he encircled the dim vaulted corridors of the college library, while
+his excited brain beat out the golden couplets of the now celebrated
+“Ganymede.” The success of this undergraduate stripling fell like
+a thunderbolt upon the literary world. Already consecrated to the
+scholar’s career, he found fallen upon him the miracle of the creative
+artist. But Shelley and Keats had had their greatness very early, too.
+And when, at the early age of twenty-three, the Professor published
+his masterly doctoral dissertation on “The Anonymous Lyrics of the
+Fourteenth Century,” he at once attained in the world of literary
+scholarship the distinction that “Ganymede” had given him in the world
+of poetry.
+His career has not frustrated those bright promises. His rare fusion
+of scholarship and genius won him the chair of English Literature in
+one of our most rapidly growing colleges, where he has incomparable
+opportunities for influencing the ideals of the young men under him.
+His courses are among the most popular in the college. Although
+his special scholarly research has been devoted to pre-Elizabethan
+literature, he is at home in all the ages. His lectures are models of
+carefully weighed criticism. “My purpose,” he says, “is to give my
+boys the spirit of the authors, and let them judge between them for
+themselves.” Consequently, however much Swinburne may revolt him, the
+Professor expounds the carnal and desperate message of that poet with
+the same care which he gives to his beloved Wordsworth. “When they have
+heard them all,” he told me once, “I can trust my boys to feel the
+insufficiency of any purely materialistic interpretation of life.”
+Impeccable as is his critical taste where the classics are concerned,
+he is reluctant about giving his opinion to those students who come
+for a clue through the current literary maze. Stevenson was early
+canonized, and the Professor speaks with charm and fulness upon him,
+but G. B. S. and Galsworthy must wait. “Time, perhaps,” says the
+Professor, “will put the seal of approval upon them. Meanwhile our
+judgment can be only tentative.” His fine objectivity is shown in those
+lists of the hundred best books of the year which he is sometimes
+asked to compile for the Sunday newspapers. Rarely does a new author,
+never does a young author, appear among them. Scholarly criticism, the
+Professor feels, can scarcely be too cautious.
+The Professor’s inspiring influence upon his students, however, is not
+confined to his courses. He has formed a little literary society in the
+college, which meets weekly to discuss with him the larger cultural
+issues of the time. Lately he has become interested in philosophy.
+“In my day,” he once told me, “we young literary men did not study
+philosophy.” But now, professor that he is, he goes to sit at the feet
+of the great metaphysicians of his college. He has been immensely
+stirred by the social and moral awakening of recent years. He willingly
+allows discussions of socialism in his little society, but is inclined
+to deprecate the fanaticism of college men who lose their sense of
+proportion on social questions. But in his open-mindedness to radical
+thought he is an inspiration to all who meet him. To be radical, he
+tells his boys, is a necessary part of experience. In professorial
+circles he is looked upon as a veritable revolutionist, for he
+encourages the discussion of vital questions even in the classroom.
+Questions such as evolution, capital punishment, free thought,
+protection and education of women, furnish the themes for composition.
+And from the essays of the masters--Macaulay, Huxley, John Stuart Mill
+and Matthew Arnold--come the great arguments as freshly and as vitally
+as of yore. Literature, says the Professor, is not merely language; it
+is ideas. We must above all, he says, teach our undergraduates to think.
+Although the Professor is thus responsive to the best radicalisms of
+the day, he does not let their shock break the sacred chalice of the
+past. He is deeply interested in the religious life of his college.
+A devout Episcopalian, he deplores the callousness of the present
+generation towards the immemorial beauty of ritual and dogma. The
+empty seats of the college chapel fill him with dismay. One of his
+most beautiful poems pictures his poignant sensations as he comes
+from a quiet hour within its dim, organ-haunted shadows out into the
+sunlight, where the careless athletes are running bare-leggedly past
+him, unmindful of the eternal things.
+I think I like the Professor best in his study at home, when he talks
+on art and life with one or two respectful students. On the wall is
+a framed autograph of Wordsworth, picked up in some London bookshop;
+and a framed letter of appreciation from Richard Watson Gilder. On the
+table stands a richly-bound volume of “Ganymede” with some of the very
+manuscripts, as he has shown us, bound in among the leaves. His deep
+and measured voice flows pleasantly on in anecdotes of the Authors’
+Club, or reminiscences of the golden past. As one listens, the glamor
+steals upon one. This is the literary life, grave, respected, serene.
+All else is hectic rush, modern ideas a futile babel. It is men like
+the Professor who keep the luster of scholarship bright, who hold true
+the life of the scholar and the gentleman as it was lived of old. In a
+world of change he keeps the faith pure.
+When Dr. Alexander Mackintosh Butcher was elected to the presidency
+of Pluribus University ten years ago, there was general agreement
+that in selecting a man who was not only a distinguished educator but
+an executive of marked business ability the trustees had done honor
+to themselves and their university as well as to the new president.
+For Dr. Butcher had that peculiar genius which would have made him as
+successful in Wall Street or in a governor’s chair as in the classroom.
+Every alumnus of Pluribus knows the story told of the young Alexander
+Mackintosh Butcher, standing at the age of twenty-two at the threshold
+of a career. Eager, energetic, with a brilliant scholastic record
+behind him, it was difficult to decide into what profession he should
+throw his powerful talents. To his beloved and aged president the young
+man went for counsel. “My boy,” said the good old man, “remember that
+no profession offers nobler opportunities for service to humanity
+than that of education.” And what should he teach? “Philosophy is the
+noblest study of man.” And a professor of philosophy the young Butcher
+speedily became.
+Those who were so fortunate as to study philosophy under him at
+Pluribus will never forget how uncompromisingly he preached absolute
+idealism, the Good, the True and the Beautiful, or how witheringly
+he excoriated the mushroom philosophies which were springing up to
+challenge the eternal verities. I have heard his old students remark
+the secret anguish which must have been his when later, as president
+of the university, he was compelled to entertain the famous Swiss
+philosopher, Monsfilius, whose alluring empiricism was taking the
+philosophic world by storm.
+Dr. Butcher’s philosophic acuteness is only equaled by his political
+rectitude. Indeed, it is as philosopher-politician that he holds the
+unique place he does in our American life, injecting into the petty
+issues of the political arena the immutable principles of Truth.
+Early conscious of his duty as a man and a citizen, he joined the
+historic party which had earned the eternal allegiance of the nation
+by rescuing it from slavery. By faithful service to the chiefs of his
+state organization, first under the powerful Flatt, and later under the
+well-known Harnes, himself college-bred and a political philosopher of
+no mean merit, the young Dr. Butcher worked his way up through ward
+captain to the position of district leader. The practical example
+of Dr. Butcher, the scholar and educator, leaving the peace of his
+academic shades to carry the banner in the service of his party ideals
+of Prosperity and Protection has been an inspiration to thousands
+of educated men in these days of civic cowardice. When, three years
+ago, his long and faithful services were rewarded by the honor of
+second place on the Presidential ticket which swept the great states
+of Mormonia and Green Mountain, there were none of his friends and
+admirers who felt that the distinction was undeserved.
+President Butcher is frequently called into the councils of the
+party whenever there are resolutions to be drawn up or statements of
+philosophic principle to be issued. He is in great demand also as
+chairman of state conventions, which his rare academic distinction
+lifts far above the usual level of such affairs. It was at one of
+these conventions that he made the memorable speech in which he
+drew the analogy between the immutability of Anglo-Saxon political
+institutions and the multiplication table. To the applause of the keen
+and hard-headed business men and lawyers who sat as delegates under
+him, he scored with matchless satire the idea of progress in politics,
+and demonstrated to their complete satisfaction that it was as absurd
+to tinker with the fundamentals of our political system as it would be
+to construct a new arithmetic. In such characteristic wisdom we have
+the intellectual caliber of the man.
+This brilliant and profound address came only as the fruit of a
+lifetime of thought on political philosophy. President Butcher’s
+treatise on “Why We Should Never Change Any Form of Government” has
+been worth more to thoughtful men than thousands of sermons on civic
+righteousness. No one who has ever heard President Butcher’s rotund
+voice discuss in a public address “those ideas and practices which have
+been tried and tested by a thousand years of experience” will ever
+allow his mind to dwell again on the progressive and disintegrating
+tendencies of the day, nor will he have the heart again to challenge on
+any subject the “decent respect for the common opinions of mankind.”
+President Butcher’s social philosophy is as sound as his political.
+The flexibility of his mind is shown in the fact that, although an
+immutabilist in politics, he is a staunch Darwinian in sociology.
+Himself triumphantly fit, he never wearies of expressing his robust
+contempt for the unfit who encumber the earth. His essay on “The
+Insurrection of the Maladjusted” is already a classic in American
+literature. The trenchant attack on modern social movements as the
+impudent revolt of the unfit against those who, by their personal
+merits and industry, have, like himself, achieved success, has been
+a grateful bulwark to thousands who might otherwise have been swept
+sentimentally from their moorings by those false guides who erect their
+own weakness and failure into a criticism of society.
+Dr. Butcher’s literary eminence has not only won him a chair in the
+American Academy of All the Arts, Sciences, and Philosophies, but has
+made him almost as well known abroad as at home. He has lectured
+before the learned societies of Lisbon on “The American at Home,” and
+he has a wide circle of acquaintances in every capital in Europe. Most
+of the foreign universities have awarded him honorary degrees. In spite
+of his stout Americanism, Dr. Butcher has one of the most cosmopolitan
+of minds. His essay on “The Cosmopolitan Intellect” has been translated
+into every civilized language. With his admired friend, Owen Griffith,
+he has collaborated in the latter’s endeavor to beat the swords of
+industrial exploitation into the ploughshares of universal peace. He
+has served in numerous capacities on Griffith’s many peace boards and
+foundations, and has advised him widely and well how to distribute his
+millions so as to prevent the recurrence of war in future centuries.
+Let it not be thought that, in recounting President Butcher’s public
+life and services, I am minimizing his distinction as a university
+administrator. As executive of one of the largest universities in
+America, he has raised the position of college president to a dignity
+surpassed by scarcely any office except President of the United States.
+The splendid $125,000 mansion which President Butcher had the trustees
+of Pluribus build for him on the heights overlooking the city, where
+he entertains distinguished foreign guests with all the pomp worthy
+of his high office, is the precise measure both of the majesty with
+which he has endowed the hitherto relatively humble position, and the
+appreciation of a grateful university. The relations between President
+Butcher and the trustees of Pluribus have always been of the most
+beautiful nature. The warm and profound intellectual sympathy which
+he feels for the methods and practices of the financial and corporate
+world, and the extensive personal affiliations he has formed with its
+leaders, have made it possible to leave in his hands a large measure of
+absolute authority. Huge endowments have made Pluribus under President
+Butcher’s rule one of the wealthiest of our higher institutions of
+learning. With a rare intuitive response to the spirit of the time, the
+President has labored to make it the biggest and most comprehensive of
+its kind. Already its schools are numbered by the dozens, its buildings
+by the scores, its instructors by the hundreds, its students by the
+thousands, its income by the millions, and its possessions by the tens
+of millions.
+None who have seen President Butcher in the commencement exercises
+of Pluribus can ever forget the impressiveness of the spectacle. His
+resemblance to Henry VIII is more marked now that he has donned the
+crimson gown and flat hat of the famous English university which gave
+him the degree of LL.D. Seated in a high-backed chair--the historic
+chair of the first colonial president of Pluribus--surrounded by tier
+upon tier of his retinue of the thousand professors of the university,
+President Alexander Mackintosh Butcher presents the degrees, and in his
+emphatic voice warns the five thousand graduates before him against
+everything new, everything untried, everything untested.
+Only one office could tempt President Butcher from his high estate. Yet
+even those enthusiastic alumni and those devoted professors who long
+to see him President of the United States have little hope of tempting
+him from his duties to his alma mater. Having set his hand to the
+plough, he must see Pluribus through her harvest season, and may God
+prosper the work! So, beloved of all, alumni and instructors alike, the
+idol of the undergraduates, a national oracle of Prosperity and Peace,
+President Butcher passes to a green old age, a truly Olympian figure of
+the time.
+I read with ever-increasing wonder the guarded defenses and discreet
+apologies for the older generation which keep filtering through
+the essays of the _Atlantic_. I can even seem to detect a growing
+decision of tone, a definite assurance of conviction, which seems to
+imply that a rally has been undertaken against the accusations which
+the younger generation, in its self-assurance, its irreverence for
+the old conventions and moralities, its passion for the novel and
+startling, seemed to be bringing against them. The first faint twinges
+of conscience felt by the older generation have given place to renewed
+homily. There is an evident anxiety to get itself put on record as
+perfectly satisfied with its world, and desirous that its sons and
+daughters should learn anew of those peculiar beauties in which it has
+lived. Swept off its feet by the call to social service and social
+reform, it is slowly regaining its foundation, and, slightly flushed,
+and with garments somewhat awry, it proclaims again its belief in the
+eternal verities of Protestant religion and conventional New England
+morality.
+It is always an encouraging sign when people are rendered
+self-conscious and are forced to examine the basis of their ideals. The
+demand that they explain them to skeptics always makes for clarity.
+When the older generation is put on the defensive, it must first
+discover what convictions it has, and then sharpen them to their finest
+point in order to present them convincingly. There are always too many
+unquestioned things in the world, and for a person or class to have to
+scurry about to find reasons for its prejudices is about as healthy
+an exercise as one could wish for either of them. To be sure, the
+reasons are rarely any more than _ex post facto_ excuses,--supports
+and justifications for the prejudices rather than the causes thereof.
+Reason itself is very seldom more than that. The important point is
+that one should feel the need of a reason. This always indicates that
+something has begun to slide, that the world is no longer so secure as
+it was, that obvious truths no longer are obvious, that the world has
+begun to bristle with question marks.
+One of the basic grievances of this older generation against the
+younger of to-day, with its social agitation, its religious heresy,
+its presumptive individuality, its economic restlessness, is that
+all this makes it uncomfortable. When you have found growing older
+to be a process of the reconciliation of the spirit to life, it is
+decidedly disconcerting to have some youngster come along and point
+out the irreconcilable things in the universe. Just as you have made
+a tacit agreement to call certain things non-existent, it is highly
+discommoding to have somebody shout with strident tones that they are
+very real and significant. When, after much struggling and compromise,
+you have got your world clamped down, it is discouraging to have a
+gale arise which threatens to blow over all your structure. Through so
+much of the current writing runs this quiet note of disapprobation.
+These agnostic professors who unsettle the faith of our youth, these
+“intellectuals who stick a finger in everybody’s pie in the name of
+social justice,” these sensation-mongers who unveil great masses of
+political and social corruption, these remorseless scientists who would
+reveal so many of our reticences--why can’t they let us alone? Can they
+not see that God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world?
+Now I know this older generation which doth protest so much. I have
+lived with it for the last fifteen years, ever since I began to wonder
+whether all was for the best in the best of all possible worlds. I
+was educated by it, grew up with it. I doubt if any generation ever
+had a more docile pupil than I. What they taught me, I find they
+still believe, or at least so many of them as have not gone over to
+the enemy, or been captured by the militant youth of to-day. Or, as
+seems rather likely, they no longer precisely believe, but they want
+their own arguments to convince themselves. It is probable that when
+we really believe a thing with all our hearts, we do not attempt to
+justify it. Justification comes only when we are beginning to doubt it.
+By this older generation I mean, of course, the mothers and fathers and
+uncles and aunts of the youth of both sexes between twenty and thirty
+who are beginning their professional or business life. And I refer
+of course to the comfortable or fairly comfortable American middle
+class. Now this older generation has had a religion, a metaphysics,
+an ethics, and a political and social philosophy, which have reigned
+practically undisputed until the appearance of the present generation.
+It has at least never felt called upon to justify itself. It has never
+been directly challenged, as it is to-day. In order to localize this
+generation still further, we must see it in its typical setting of
+the small town or city, clustered about the institutions of church
+and family. If we have any society which can be called “American,” it
+is this society. Its psychology is American psychology; its soul is
+America’s soul.
+This older generation, which I have known so well for fifteen years,
+has a religion which is on the whole as pleasant and easy as could
+be devised. Though its members are the descendants of the stern and
+rugged old Puritans, who wrestled with the devil and stripped their
+world of all that might seduce them from the awful service of God,
+they have succeeded in straining away by a long process all the
+repellent attitudes in the old philosophy of life. It is unfair to
+say that the older generation believe in dogmas and creeds. It would
+be more accurate to say that it does not disbelieve. It retains them
+as a sort of guaranty of the stability of the faith, but leaves them
+rather severely alone. It does not even make more than feeble efforts
+to reinterpret them in the light of modern knowledge. They are useless,
+but necessary.
+The foundation of this religion may be religious, but the
+superstructure is almost entirely ethical. Most sermons of to-day are
+little more than pious exhortations to good conduct. By good conduct
+is meant that sort of action which will least disturb the normal
+routine of modern middle-class life: common honesty in business life,
+faithfulness to duty, ambition in business and profession, filial
+obligation, the use of talents, and always and everywhere simple human
+kindness and love. The old Puritan ethics, which saw in the least issue
+of conduct a struggle between God and the devil, has become a mere code
+for facilitating the daily friction of conventional life.
+Now one would indeed be churlish to find fault with this devout belief
+in simple goodness, which characterizes the older generation. It is
+only when these humble virtues are raised up into an all-inclusive
+program for social reform and into a philosophy of life, that one
+begins to question, and to feel afar the deep hostility of the older
+generation to the new faith.
+Simple kindness, common honesty, filial obedience, it is evidently
+still felt, will solve all the difficulties of personal and social
+life. The most popular novels of the day are those in which the
+characters do the most good to each other. The enormous success with
+the older generation of _The Inside of the Cup_, _Queed_, and _V.
+V.’s Eyes_, is based primarily on the fact that these books represent
+a sublimated form of the good old American melodramatic moral sense.
+And now comes along Mr. Gerald Stanley Lee with his _Crowds_,--what a
+funny, individualized, personal-responsibility crowd he gives us, to
+be sure,--and his panacea for modern social ills by the old solution
+of applied personal virtue. Never a word about removing the barriers
+of caste and race and economic inequality, but only an urging to step
+over them. Never a trumpet-call to level the ramparts of privilege,
+or build up the heights of opportunity, but only an appeal to extend
+the charitable hand from the ramparts of heaven, or offer the kindly
+patronage to the less fortunate, or--most dazzling of all--throw
+away, in a frenzy of abandonment, life and fortune. Not to construct
+a business organization where dishonesty would be meaningless, but to
+be utopianly honest against the business world. In other words, the
+older generation believes in getting all the luxury of the virtue of
+goodness, while conserving all the advantages of being in a vicious
+society.
+If there is any one characteristic which distinguishes the older
+generation, it is this belief that social ills may be cured by personal
+virtue. Its highest moral ideals are sacrifice and service. But the
+older generation can never see how intensely selfish these ideals are,
+in the most complete sense of the word selfish. What they mean always
+is, “I sacrifice myself for you,” “I serve you,” not, “We coöperate
+in working ceaselessly toward an ideal where all may be free and none
+may be served or serve.” These ideals of sacrifice and service are
+utterly selfish, because they take account only of the satisfaction
+and moral consolidation of the doer. They enhance his moral value;
+but what of the person who is served or sacrificed for? What of the
+person who is done good to? If the feelings of sacrifice and service
+were in any sense altruistic, the moral enhancement of the receiver
+would be the object sought. But can it not be said that for every
+individual virtuous merit secured by an act of sacrifice or service
+on the part of the doer, there is a corresponding depression on the
+part of the receiver? Do we not universally recognize this by calling
+a person who is not conscious of this depression, a parasite, and the
+person who is no longer capable of depression, a pauper? It is exactly
+those free gifts, such as schools, libraries, and so forth, which are
+impersonal or social, that we can accept gratefully and gladly; and it
+is exactly because the ministrations of a Charity Organization Society
+are impersonal and businesslike that they can be received willingly and
+without moral depression by the poor.
+The ideal of duty is equally open to attack. The great complaint of
+the younger against the older generation has to do with the rigidity
+of the social relationships into which the younger find themselves
+born. The world seems to be full of what may be called canalized
+emotions. One is “supposed” to love one’s aunt or one’s grandfather
+in a certain definite way, at the risk of being “unnatural.” One gets
+almost a sense of the quantitative measurement of emotion. Perhaps the
+greatest tragedy of family life is the useless energy that is expended
+by the dutiful in keeping these artificial channels open, and the
+correct amount of current running. It is exactly this that produces
+most infallibly the rebellion of the younger generation. To hear that
+one ought to love this or that person; or to hear loyalty spoken of, as
+the older generation so often speaks of it, as if it consisted in an
+allegiance to something which one no longer believes in,--this is what
+soonest liberates those forces of madness and revolt which bewilder
+spiritual teachers and guides. It is those dry channels of duty and
+obligation through which no living waters of emotion flow that it is
+the ideal of the younger generation to break up. They will have no
+network of emotional canals which are not brimming, no duties which are
+not equally loves.
+But when they are loves, you have duty no longer meaning very much.
+Duty, like sacrifice and service, always implies a personal relation
+of individuals. You are always doing your duty to somebody or
+something. Always the taint of inequality comes in. You are morally
+superior to the person who has duty done to him. If that duty is not
+filled with good-will and desire, it is morally hateful, or at very
+best, a necessary evil,--one of those compromises with the world which
+must be made in order to get through it at all. But duty without
+good-will is a compromise with our present state of inequality, and
+to raise duty to the level of a virtue is to consecrate that state of
+inequality forevermore.
+It is the same thing with service. The older generation has attempted
+an insidious compromise with the new social democracy by combining the
+words “social” and “service.” Under cover of the ideal of service it
+tries to appropriate to itself the glory of social work, and succeeds
+in almost convincing itself and the world that its Christianity has
+always held the same ideal. The faithful are urged to extend their
+activities. The assumption is that, by doing good to more individuals,
+you are thereby becoming social. But to speak of “social democracy,”
+which of course means a freely coöperating, freely reciprocating
+society of equals, and “service,” together, is a contradiction of
+terms. For, when you serve people or do good to them, you thereby
+render yourself unequal with them. You insult the democratic ideal.
+If the service is compulsory, it is menial and you are inferior. If
+voluntary, you are superior. The difference, however, is only academic.
+The entire Christian scheme is a clever but unsuccessful attempt to
+cure the evils of inequality by transposing the values. The slave
+serves gladly instead of servilely. That is, he turns his master
+into a slave. That is why good Christian people can never get over
+the idea that Socialism means simply the triumph of one class over
+another. To-day the proletarian is down, the capitalist up. To-morrow
+the proletarian will be up and the capitalist down. To pull down the
+mighty from their seats and exalt them of low degree is the highest
+pitch to which Christian ethics ever attained. The failure of the older
+generation to recognize a higher ethic, the ethic of democracy, is the
+cause of all the trouble.
+The notorious Victorian era, which in its secret heart this older
+generation still admires so much, accentuated all the latent
+individualism of Christian ethics, and produced a code which, without
+the rebellion of the younger generation, would have spiritually
+guaranteed forever all moral caste divisions and inequalities of
+modern society. The Protestant Church, in which this exaggerated ethic
+was enshrined, is now paying heavily the price of this debauch of
+ethical power. Its rapidly declining numbers show that human nature
+has an invincible objection to being individually saved. The Catholic
+Church, which saves men as members of the Beloved Community, and not
+as individuals, flourishes. When one is saved by Catholicism, one
+becomes a democrat, and not a spiritual snob and aristocrat, as one
+does through Calvinism. The older generation can never understand that
+superb loyalty which is loyalty to a community,--a loyalty which,
+paradoxical as it may seem, nourishes the true social personality in
+proportion as the individual sense is lessened. The Protestant Church
+in its tenacious devotion to the personal ideal of a Divine Master--the
+highest and most popular Christian ideal of to-day--shows how very far
+it still is away from the ideals and ethics of a social democracy, a
+life lived in the Beloved Community.
+The sense of self-respect is the very keystone of the personality in
+whose defence all this individualistic philosophy has been carefully
+built up. The Christian virtues date from ages when there was a vastly
+greater number of morally depressed people than there is now. The
+tenacious survival of these virtues can be due only to the fact that
+they were valuable to the moral prestige of some class. Our older
+generation, with its emphasis on duty, sacrifice, and service, shows us
+very clearly what those interests were. I deliberately accuse the older
+generation of conserving and greatly strengthening these ideals, as a
+defensive measure. Morals are always the product of a situation; they
+reflect a certain organization of human relations which some class or
+group wishes to preserve. A moral code or set of ideals is always the
+invisible spiritual sign of a visible social grace. In an effort to
+retain the _status quo_ of that world of inequalities and conventions
+in which they most comfortably and prosperously live, the older
+generation has stamped, through all its agencies of family, church and
+school, upon the younger generation, just those seductive ideals which
+would preserve its position. These old virtues upon which, however, the
+younger generation is already making guerilla warfare are simply the
+moral support with which the older generation buttresses its social
+situation.
+The natural barriers and prejudices by which our elders are cut
+off from a freely flowing democracy are thus given a spiritual
+justification, and there is added for our elders the almost sensual
+luxury of leaping, by free grace, the barriers and giving themselves
+away. But the price has to be paid. Just as profits, in the socialist
+philosophy, are taken to be an abstraction from wages, through the
+economic power which one class has over another, so the virtues of the
+older generation may be said to be an abstraction from the virtue of
+other classes less favorably situated from a moral or personal point of
+view. Their swollen self-respect is at the expense of others.
+How well we know the type of man in the older generation who has been
+doing good all his life! How his personality has thriven on it! How he
+has ceaselessly been storing away moral fat in every cranny of his
+soul! His goodness has been meat to him. The need and depression of
+other people has been, all unconsciously to him, the air which he has
+breathed. Without their compensating misfortune or sin, his goodness
+would have wilted and died. If good people would earnestly set to
+work to make the world uniformly healthy, courageous, beautiful, and
+prosperous, the field of their vocation would be constantly limited,
+and finally destroyed. That they so stoutly resist all philosophies
+and movements which have these ends primarily in view is convincing
+evidence of the fierce and jealous egoism which animates their so
+plausibly altruistic spirit. One suspects that the older generation
+does not want its vocation destroyed. It takes an heroic type of
+goodness to undermine all the foundations on which our virtue rests.
+If then I object to the ethical philosophy of the older generation on
+the ground that it is too individualistic, and, under the pretense
+of altruism, too egoistic, I object to its general intellectuality
+as not individual enough. Intellectually the older generation seems
+to me to lead far too vegetative a life. It may be that this life
+has been lived on the heights, that these souls have passed through
+fires and glories, but there is generally too little objective
+evidence of this subjective fact. If the intuition which accompanies
+experience has verified all the data regarding God, the soul, the
+family, and so forth,--to quote one of the staunchest defenders of the
+generation,--this verification seems to have been obtained rather that
+the issues might be promptly disposed of and forgotten. Certainly the
+older generation is rarely interested in the profounder issues of life.
+It never speaks of death,--the suggestion makes it uncomfortable. It
+shies in panic at hints of sex-issues. It seems resolute to keep life
+on as objective a plane as possible. It is no longer curious about
+the motives and feelings of people. It seems singularly to lack the
+psychological sense. If it gossips, it recounts actions, effects; it
+rarely seeks to interpret. It tends more and more to treat human beings
+as moving masses of matter instead of as personalities filled with
+potent influence, or as absorbingly interesting social types, as I am
+sure the younger generation does.
+The older generation seems no longer to generalize, although it
+gives every evidence of having once prodigiously generalized, for
+its world is all hardened and definite. There are the good and the
+criminal, and the poor, the people who can be called nice, and the
+ordinary people. The world is already plotted out. Now I am sure
+that the generalizations of the truly philosophical mind are very
+fluid and ephemeral. They are no sooner made than the mind sees their
+insufficiency and has to break them up. A new cutting is made, only in
+turn to be shaken and rearranged. This keeps the philosopher thinking
+all the time, and it makes his world a very uncertain place. But he
+at least runs no risk of hardening, and he has his eyes open to most
+experience.
+I am often impressed with the fact that the older generation has grown
+weary of thinking. It has simply put up the bars in its intellectual
+shop-windows and gone off home to rest. It may well be that this is
+because it has felt so much sorrow that it does not want to talk about
+sorrow, or so much love that to interpret love tires it, or repulsed
+so many rude blows of destiny that it has no interest in speaking of
+destiny. Its flame may be low for the very reason that it has burned
+so intensely. But how many of the younger generation would eagerly
+long for such interpretations if the older would only reveal them!
+And how little plausible is that experience when it is occasionally
+interpreted! No, enthusiasm, passion for ideas, sensuality, religious
+fervor,--all the heated weapons with which the younger generation
+attacks the world, seem only to make the older generation uneasy. The
+spirit, in becoming reconciled to life, has lost life itself.
+As I see the older generation going through its daily round of
+business, church, and family life, I cannot help feeling that its
+influence is profoundly pernicious. It has signally failed to broaden
+its institutions for the larger horizon of the time. The church remains
+a private club of comfortable middle-class families, while outside
+there grows up without spiritual inspiration a heterogeneous mass of
+people without ties, roots, or principles. The town changes from a
+village to an industrial center, and church and school go through their
+time-honored and listless motions. The world widens, society expands,
+formidable crises appear, but the older generation does not broaden, or
+if it does, the broadening is in no adequate proportion to our needs.
+The older generation still uses the old ideas for the new problem.
+Whatever new wine it finds must be poured into the old bottles.
+Where are the leaders among the older generation in America who,
+with luminous faith and intelligence, are rallying around them the
+disintegrated numbers of idealistic youth, as Bergson and Barrès
+and Jaurès have done in France? A few years ago there seemed to be
+a promise of a forward movement toward Democracy, led by embattled
+veterans in a war against privilege. But how soon the older generation
+became wearied in the march! What is left now of that shining army and
+its leader? Must the younger generation eternally wait for the sign?
+The answer is, of course, that it will not wait. It must shoulder
+the gigantic task of putting into practice its ideals and
+revolutionary points of view as wholeheartedly and successfully as
+our great-grandfathers applied theirs and tightened the philosophy
+of life which imprisons the older generation. The shuddering fear
+that we in turn may become weary, complacent, evasive, should be the
+best preventive of that stagnation. We shall never have done looking
+for the miracle, that it shall be given us to lighten, cheer, and
+purify our “younger generation,” even as our older has depressed and
+disintegrated us.
+No Easterner, born forlornly within the sphere of New York, Boston, or
+Philadelphia, can pass very far beyond the Alleghanies without feeling
+that American civilization is here found in the full tide of believing
+in itself. The flat countryside looks more ordered, more farmlike; the
+Main Streets that flash by the car-windows somehow look more robust and
+communal. There may be no less litter and scrubbiness; the clustered
+houses of the towns may look even more flimsy, undistinguished,
+well-worn; but it is a litter of aspiring order, a chaos which the
+people are insensitive to because they are living in the light of a
+hopeful future. The East has pretty much abandoned itself to the tides
+of immigration and industrial change which have overwhelmed it: no one
+really believes that anything startling will be done to bring about a
+new heaven and a new earth. But the intelligence of the West seems to
+live in apocalyptic sociological--not socialistic, however--dreams.
+Architects and business men combine half-heartedly to “save New York”
+from the horrors of the Jewish clothing-trade invasion, but Chicago
+draws great maps and sketches of a city-planning that shall make it not
+only habitable but radiant and palatial.
+Hope has not vanished from the East, but it has long since ceased
+to be our daily diet. Europe has infected us perhaps with some of
+its world-weariness. The East produces more skeptics and spiritual
+malcontents than the West. For the Middle West seems to have
+accomplished most of the things, industrial and political, that the
+East has been trying to do, and it has done them better. The Middle
+West is the apotheosis of American civilization, and like all successes
+it is in no mood to be very critical of itself or very examinatory
+as to the anatomy and physiology of its social being. No Easterner
+with Meredith Nicholson’s human and literary experience would write
+so complacently and cheerfully about his part of the country as Mr.
+Nicholson writes about “The Valley of Democracy.” His self-confidence
+is the very voice of the Middle West, telling us what it thinks of
+itself. This, we say as we read, must be the inner candor which goes
+with the West that we see with our eyes. So we like Mr. Nicholson’s
+articles not so much for the information they give us as for the
+attitudes they let slip, the unconscious revelations of what the people
+he is talking for think important.
+It is not a book of justification, although he would rather anxiously
+have us take not too seriously the political vagaries like Bryanism and
+Progressivism. And he wishes us to miss none of the symphony orchestras
+and art institutes that evidently now begin to grow like grasshoppers
+on the prairies. He treats himself rather as an expositor, and he
+is explicitly informational, almost as if for a foreign country. He
+sometimes has an amusing air of having hastily read up and investigated
+Western wonders and significances that have been not only common
+material in the Eastern magazines, but matter of despairing admiration
+on the part of those of us who are general improvers of mankind. He
+is naïve about the greatness of Chicago, the vastness of agricultural
+production, the ravages of culture among the middle classes. He is
+almost the professional Westerner showing off his prize human stock.
+Mr. Nicholson does well to begin with the folksiness of the West. No
+one who has experienced that fine open friendliness of the prosperous
+Middle Westerner, that pleasant awareness of the alert and beneficent
+world we live in, can deny that the Middle West is quite justified in
+thinking of itself as the real heart of the nation. That belief in the
+ultimate good sense, breadth of vision, and devotion to the common
+good, of the “folks back home,” is in itself a guaranty of social
+stability and of a prosperity which implies that things will never be
+any different except as they slowly improve. Who can say that we have
+no Gemüthlichkeit in America, when he runs up against this warm social
+mixability which goes so far to compensate for the lack of intellectual
+_nuances_ and spontaneous artistic sensibilities?
+Of course the Middle West has to pay for its social responsiveness
+in a failure to create, at least in this day and generation, very
+vigorous and diverse spiritual types. An excessive amiability, a genius
+for adaptability will, in the end, put a premium on conformity. The
+Westerner sincerely believes that he is more averse to conventionality
+than the Easterner, but the latter does not find him so. The heretic
+seems to have a much harder time of it in the West. Classes and
+attitudes that have offended against the “folks’” codes may be actually
+outlawed. When there are acute differences of opinion, as in the war,
+society splits into bitter and irreconcilable camps, whereas in the
+East the undesirables have been allowed to shade off towards limbo
+in gradual degrees. When hatred and malice, too long starved by too
+much “niceness,” do break out from the natural man, they may produce
+those waves of persecution and vindictiveness which, coming from a so
+recently pacifist West, astonished an East that was no less densely
+saturated with aliens but was more conversant with the feeling that it
+takes all kinds of people to make a world. Folksiness evidently has its
+dark underlining in a tendency to be stampeded by herd-emotion. “Social
+conscience” may become the duty to follow what the mob demands, and
+democracy may come to mean that the individual feels himself somehow
+expressed--his private tastes and intelligence--in whatever the crowd
+chooses to do.
+I have followed Mr. Nicholson in his speaking of the Middle West as
+if he thought of the region as a unit. He does speak as if he did,
+but he does not really mean it. Much as he would like to believe in
+the substantial equality of the people in the Valley of Democracy, he
+cannot help letting us see that it is but one class that he has in
+mind--his own, the prosperous people of the towns. He protests against
+their being scornfully waved aside as bourgeoisie. “They constitute
+the most interesting and admirable of our social strata.” And he is
+quite right. Certainly this stratum is by far the most admirable of all
+the middle classes of the world. It is true that “nowhere else have
+comfort, opportunity, and aspiration produced the same combination.” He
+marvels at the numbers of homes in the cities that cannot imaginably
+be supported on less than five thousand a year. And it is these homes,
+and their slightly more impoverished neighbors, who are for him the
+“folks,” the incarnate Middle West. The proletarian does not exist for
+him. The working-classes are merely so much cement, filling in the
+bricks of the temple--or, better, folks in embryo, potential owners of
+bungalows on pleasant suburban streets. Mr. Nicholson’s enthusiasm is
+for the college-girl wife, who raises babies, attends women’s clubs,
+and is not afraid to dispense with the unattainable servant. It is
+for the good-natured and public-spirited business man, who goes into
+politics because politics in the Middle West has always been concerned
+with the prosperity of the business community. But about the economic
+foundation of this class Mr. Nicholson sounds as innocent as a babe.
+Take his attitude towards the farmer. You gather from these pages
+that in the Middle West the farmer is a somewhat unfortunate anomaly,
+a shadow on the bright scene. Farming is scarcely even a respectable
+profession: “the great-grandchildren of the Middle Western pioneers
+are not easily persuaded that farming is an honorable calling”! He
+hints darkly at a decay in fiber. Only one chapter out of six is given
+to the farmer, and that is largely occupied with the exertions of
+state agencies, universities, to lift him out of his ignorance and
+selfishness. The average farmer has few of the admirable qualities
+of the Valley of Democracy. He is not “folksy”; he is suspicious,
+conservative, somewhat embittered, little given to coöperation;
+he even needed prodding with his Liberty bonds. In Mr. Nicholson’s
+pages the farmer becomes a huge problem which lies on the brain and
+conscience of a Middle West that can only act towards him in its best
+moments like a sort of benevolent Charity Organization Society. “To
+the average urban citizen,” says Mr. Nicholson, “farming is something
+remote and uninteresting, carried on by men he never meets in regions
+that he only observes hastily from a speeding automobile or the window
+of a limited train.”
+It would take whole volumes to develop the implications of that
+sentence. Remember that that urban citizen is Mr. Nicholson’s Middle
+West, and that the farmer comprises the huge bulk of the population.
+Is this not interesting, the attitude of the prosperous minority of an
+urban minority--a small but significant class which has in its hands
+all the non-productive business and political power--towards the great
+productive mass of the people? Could class division be revealed in
+plainer terms? This Middle West of Mr. Nicholson’s class sees itself
+as not only innocent of exploitation, but full of all the personal and
+social virtues besides. But does the farmer see this class in this
+light? He does not. And Mr. Veblen has given us in one of his books an
+analysis of this society which may explain why: “The American country
+town and small city,” he says, “is a business community, that is to
+say it lives for and by business traffic, primarily of a merchandising
+sort.... Municipal politics is conducted as in some sort a public
+or overt extension of that private or covert organization of local
+interests that watches over the joint pecuniary benefit of the local
+businessmen. It is a means ... of safe-guarding the local business
+community against interlopers and against any evasive tactics on the
+part of the country population that serves as a host.... The country
+town is a product and exponent of the American land system. In its
+beginning it is located and ‘developed’ as an enterprise of speculation
+in land values; that is to say, it is a businesslike endeavor to get
+something for nothing by engrossing as much as may be of the increment
+of land values due to the increase of population and the settlement
+and cultivation of the adjacent agricultural area. It never (hitherto)
+loses this character of real-estate speculation. This affords a common
+bond and a common ground of pecuniary interest, which commonly
+masquerades under the name of public patriotism, public spirit, civic
+pride, and the like.”
+In other words, Town, in the traditional American scheme of things,
+is shown charging Country all the traffic will bear. It would be hard
+to find a member of Mr. Nicholson’s Middle West--that minority urban
+class--who was not owing his prosperity to some form of industrial
+or real-estate speculation, of brokerage business enterprise, or
+landlordism. This class likes to say sometimes that it is “carrying
+the farmer.” It would be more like the truth to say that the farmer is
+carrying this class. Country ultimately has to support Town; and Town,
+by holding control of the channels of credit and market, can make the
+farmer pay up to the hilt for the privilege of selling it his product.
+And does. When the farmers, getting a sense of the true workings of the
+society they live in, combine in a Non-Partisan League to control the
+organism of market and credit, they find they have a bitter class war
+on their hands. And the authentic voice of Mr. Nicholson here scolds
+them roundly for their restlessness and sedition. In this ferocious
+reaction of Town against Country’s socialistic efforts to give itself
+economic autonomy, we get the betrayal of the social malaise of the
+Middle West, a confession of the cleavage of latent class conflict in
+a society as exploitative, as steeply tilted, as tragically extreme
+in its poles of well-being, as any other modern society based on the
+economic absolutism of property.
+A large part of the hopefulness, the spiritual comfort of the Middle
+West, of its sturdy belief in itself, must be based on the inflexible
+reluctance of its intelligentsia to any such set of ideas. However
+thoroughly Marxian ideas may have saturated the thought of Europe
+and become the intellectual explosive of social change, the Middle
+West, as in this book, persists in its robust resistance to any such
+analysis or self-knowledge. It is not that Mr. Nicholson’s attitudes
+are not true. It is that they are so very much less than the whole
+truth. They need to be supplemented by analysis set in the terms in
+which the progressive minds of the rest of the world are thinking.
+The intelligent Middle West needs to sacrifice a certain amount of
+complacency in exchange for an understanding of the structure of
+its own society. It would then realize that to read “The Valley of
+Democracy” in conjunction with pages 315-323 of Veblen’s “Imperial
+Germany and the Industrial Revolution” is to experience one of the most
+piquant intellectual adventures granted to the current mind.
+ERNEST: OR, PARENT FOR A DAY
+I had been talking rather loosely about the bringing-up of children.
+They had been lately appearing to me in the guise of infinitely
+prevalent little beings who impressed themselves almost too vividly
+upon one’s consciousness. My summer vacation I had passed in a
+household where a vivacious little boy of two years and a solemn little
+boy of six months had turned their mother into a household slave. I had
+seen walks, conversations, luncheons, and all the amenities of summer
+civilized life, shot to pieces by the indomitable need of imperious
+little children to be taken care of. Little boys who came running at
+you smiling, stubbed their toes, and were instantly transformed into
+wailing inconsolables; babies who woke importunately at ten o’clock in
+the evening, and had to be brought down warm and blinking before the
+fire; human beings who were not self-regulating, but to whom every
+hard surface, every protuberance, was a menace to happiness, and in
+whom every want and sensation was an order and claim upon somebody
+else--these were new offerings to my smooth and independent existence.
+They interested and perturbed me.
+The older little boy, with his sunny luxuriance of hair and cheek,
+was always on the point of saying something novel and disconcerting.
+The baby, with his deep black eyes, seemed to be waiting silently and
+in soft anticipation for life. He would look at you so calmly and yet
+so eagerly, and give you a pleasant satisfaction that just your mere
+presence, your form, your movement, were etching new little lines on
+his cortex, sending new little shoots of feeling through his nerves.
+You were being part of his education just by letting his consciousness
+look at you. I liked particularly to hold my watch to his ear, and
+see the sudden grave concentration of his face, as he called all his
+mind to the judgment of this arresting phenomenon. I would love to
+accost him as he lay murmuring in his carriage, and to check his little
+breakings into tears by quick movements of my hands. He would watch me
+intently for a while until the fact of his little restless woe would
+come upon him again. I was challenged then to something more startling,
+and the woe would disappear in little short gasps. But I would find
+that he was subject to the law of diminishing returns. The moment would
+arrive when the woe submerged everything in a wail, and his mother
+would have to be called to nurse or coddle him in the magical motherly
+way.
+The baby I found perhaps more interesting than his little brother,
+for the baby’s moods had more style to them. The brother could be
+transformed from golden prattlingness to raging storm, with the most
+disconcerting quickness. He could want the most irrational things with
+an intensity that got itself expressed in hypnotic reiteration. Some
+smoldering will-to-power in one’s self told one that a child should
+never be given the thing that he most wanted; and yet in five minutes
+one would have given him one’s soul, to be rid of the brazen rod which
+he pounded through one. But I could not keep away from him. He and
+his baby brother absorbed me, and when I contemplated their mother’s
+life, I had many a solemn sense of the arduousness of being a parent.
+I thought of the long years ahead of them, and the incalculability of
+their manifestations. I shuddered and remained, gloating, I am afraid,
+a little over the opportunity of enjoyment without responsibility.
+All these things I was recounting the other evening after dinner to a
+group of friends who professionally look after the minds and bodies
+of the neglected. I was explaining my absorption, and the perils
+and merciless tyranny of the mother’s life, and my thankfulness at
+having been so much in, and yet so much not of, the child-world. I
+was not responsible, and the policeman mother could be called in at
+any time to soothe or to quell. I could always maintain the amused
+aloofness which is my usual attitude toward children. And I made the
+point that parenthood must become less arduous after the child is a
+self-regulating little organism, and can be trusted not to commit
+suicide inadvertently over every threshold, can feed himself, dress
+himself, and take himself reasonably around. I even suggested unwarily
+that after five or six the tyranny was much mitigated.
+There was strong dissent. Just at that age, I was told, the real
+responsibilities began. I was living in a fool’s paradise of
+bachelordom if I thought that at six children were grown-up. One of the
+women before the fire made it her business to get children adopted. I
+had a sense of foreboding before she spoke. She promptly confirmed my
+intuition by offering to endow me with an infant of six years, for a
+day or for as long as I would take him. The hearty agreement of the
+rest amazed and alarmed me. They seemed delighted at the thought of my
+becoming parent for a day. I should have Ernest. They all knew Ernest;
+and I should have him. They seemed to have no concern that he would not
+survive my brief parenthood. It rather warmed and flattered me to think
+that they trusted me.
+I had a sense of being caught in an inescapable net, prisoner of my own
+theories. If children of six were no longer tyrants, the possession
+of Ernest would not interfere with my work or my life. I had spoken
+confidently. I had a reputation among my friends of speaking eloquently
+about “the child.” And I always find it almost impossible to resist the
+offer of new experience. I hesitated and was lost. I even found myself
+naming the day for Ernest’s momentary adoption. And during all that
+week I found it increasingly impossible to forget him. The night before
+Ernest was to come I told myself that I could not believe that this
+perilous thing was about to happen to me. I made no preparations to
+receive Ernest in my tiny bachelor apartment. I felt that I was in the
+hands of fate.
+I was not really surprised when fate knocked at the door next morning
+in the person of my grinning friend, and swiftly left a well-bundled
+little boy with me. I have rarely seen a young woman look as
+maliciously happy as did his guide when she left, with the remark that
+she couldn’t possibly come for Ernest that evening, but would take him
+at nine o’clock on the morrow. My first quick resentment was stilled by
+the thought that perhaps an official day was a day plus a night. But
+Ernest loomed formidably at me. There would be problems of sleeping.
+Was I a victim? Well, that is what parents were! They should not find
+me weak.
+Ernest expressed no aversion to staying with me. He was cheerful, a
+little embarrassed, incurious. The removal of his hat disclosed a
+Dutch-cut of yellow hair, blue eyes, many little freckles, and an
+expression of slightly quizzical good-humor. I really had not had the
+least conception how big a boy of six was likely to be, and I found
+comfort in the evidence that he was big enough to be self-regulating,
+and yet deliciously small enough to be watched over. He could be played
+with, and without danger of breaking him.
+Ernest sat passively on a chair and surveyed the room. I had thought a
+little pedantically of exposing him to some Montessori apparatus. I had
+got nothing, however. The room suddenly became very inane; the piano
+a huge packing-box, the bookcases offensive, idiotic shelves. A silly
+room to live in! A room practically useless for these new and major
+purposes of life. I was ashamed of my surroundings, for I felt that
+Ernest was surveying me with contempt and reproach.
+It suddenly seemed as if little boys must like to look at pictures.
+Ernest had clambered up into a big chair, and was sitting flattened
+against its back, his legs sticking straight out in front of him, and
+a look of mild lassitude on his face. He took with some alacrity the
+illustrated newspaper supplement which I gave him, but my conscience
+tortured me a little as to whether his interest was the desperate
+one of demanding something for his mind to feed on, however arid it
+might be, or whether it was a genuine æsthetic response. He gave all
+the pictures exactly the same amount of time, rubbing his hand over
+each to make sure that it was flat, and he showed no desire to talk
+about anything he had seen. Since most of the pictures were of war,
+my pacifist spirit rebelled against dwelling on them. His celerity
+dismayed me. It became necessary to find more pictures. I had a sudden
+horror of an afternoon of picture-books, each devoured in increasingly
+accelerated fashion. How stupid seemed my rows of dully printed books!
+Not one of them could disgorge a picture, no matter how hard you shook
+it. Despair seized me when I found only a German handbook of Greek
+sculpture, and another of Michelangelo. In hopeful trepidation I began
+on them. I wondered how long they would last.
+It was clearly an unfamiliar field to Ernest. My attempts to test his
+classical knowledge were a failure. He recognized the Greeks as men
+and women, but not as gods, and there were moments when I was afraid
+he felt their nudity as indecent. He insisted on calling the Winged
+Victory an angel. There had evidently been religion in Ernest’s career.
+I told him that these were pictures of marble statues from Greece,
+of gods and things, and I hurriedly sketched such myths as I could
+remember in an attempt to overtake Ernest’s headlong rush of interest.
+But he did not seem to listen, and he ended by calling every flowing
+female form an angel. He laughed greatly at their missing arms and
+heads. I do not think I quite impressed him with the Greek spirit.
+On Michelangelo there was chance to test his Biblical background. He
+proved never to have heard of David, and took the story I told him
+with a little amused and incredulous chortle. Moses was new to him,
+and I could not make him feel the majesty of the horns and beard.
+When we came to the Sistine I felt the constraint of theology. Should
+I point out to him God and Adam and Eve, and so perhaps fix in his
+infant mind an ineradicable theological bias? Now I understand the
+temptation which every parent must suffer, to dose his child with easy
+mythology. Something urged me to say, Adam was the first man and Eve
+was the first woman, and get the vague glow of having imparted godly
+information. But I am glad that I had the strength sternly to refrain,
+hoping that Ernest was too intellectually robust to be trifled with. I
+confined myself to pointing out the sweep of clouds, the majesty of the
+prophets, the cracks in the plaster, the mighty forms of the sibyls.
+But with my last sibyl I was trapped. It smote my thought that there
+were no more pictures. And Ernest’s passivity had changed. We were
+sitting on the floor, and his limbs began to take on movement. He
+crawled about, and I thought began to look menacingly at movable
+objects on tables. My phobia of the combination of movable objects
+and children returned. Parenthood suddenly seemed the most difficult
+thing in the world. Ernest was not talking very much, and I doubted my
+ability to hold him very long entranced in conversation. Imagination
+came to my relief in the thought of a suburban errand. I remembered a
+wonderful day when I myself had been taken by my uncle to the next town
+on a journey--the long golden afternoon, the thundering expresses at
+the station, the amazing watch which he had unaccountably presented me
+with at the end of the day. Ernest should be taken to Brookfield.
+Our lunch had to be taken at the railroad station. Ernest climbed with
+much puffing up to the high stool by the lunch-counter, and sat there
+unsteadily and triumphantly while I tried to think what little boys ate
+for their lunch. My decision for scrambled eggs and a glass of milk was
+unwise. The excitement of feeding scrambled eggs to a slippery little
+boy on top of a high stool was full of incredible thrills. The business
+of preventing a deluge of milk whenever Ernest touched his glass forced
+me to an intellectual concentration which quite made me forget my own
+eating. Ernest himself seemed in a state of measureless satisfaction;
+but the dizzy way in which he brandished his fork, the hairbreadth
+escape of those morsels of food as they passed over the abyss of his
+lap, the new and strange impression of smearedness one got from his
+face, kept me in a state of absorption until I found we had but one
+minute to catch our train. With Ernest clutching a large buttered roll
+which he had decently refused to relinquish, we rushed through the
+gates.
+When the candy-man came through the train, Ernest asked me in the most
+detached tone in the world if I was going to buy any candy. And I asked
+him with a similar dryness what his preferences in candy were. He
+expressed a cool interest in lemon-drops. The marvelous way in which
+Ernest did not eat those lemon-drops gave me a new admiration for his
+self-control. He finished his buttered roll, gazed out of the window,
+casually ate two or three lemon-drops, and then carefully closed
+the box and put it in his pocket. I was almost jealous of Ernest’s
+character. I recalled my incorrigible nibblings. I predicted for Ernest
+a moral life.
+Our talk was mostly of the things that flashed past our eyes. I was
+interested in Ernest’s intellectual background. Out of the waste of
+sign-boards and salt-meadows there was occasionally disentangled a
+river with boats or a factory or a lumber-yard which Ernest could be
+called upon to identify. He was in great good humor, squirming on his
+seat, and he took delight in naming things and in telling me of other
+trips on the railroad he had taken. He did not ask where we were going.
+I told him, but it seemed not especially to concern him. He was living
+in life’s essential,--excitement,--and neither the future nor the past
+mattered. He held his own ticket a little incredulously, but without
+that sense of the importance of the business that I had looked for. I
+found it harder and harder not to treat him as an intellectual equal.
+In Brookfield I became conscious of a desire to show Ernest off. I
+was acquiring a proprietary interest in him. I was getting proud of
+his good temper, his intelligence, his self-restraint, his capacity
+for enjoying himself. I wanted to see my pride reflected in another
+mind. I would take him to my wise old friend, Beulah. I knew how
+pleasurably mystified she would be at my sudden possession of a chubby,
+yellow-haired little boy of six.
+Ernest had a delightful hour on Beulah’s parlor floor. He turned
+somersaults, he shouted, he played that I was an evil monster who was
+trying to catch him. He would crawl up warily towards me and put his
+hand on my sleepily outstretched palm. As I suddenly woke and seized
+him, he would dart away in shrieks of fear and glee. When I caught
+him, I would feel like a grim ogre indeed, for his face would cloud
+and little tears shoot into his eyes, and his lips would curl in
+mortal fear. And then I would let him go tugging and sprawling, and
+he would yell with joy, and steal back with ever-renewed cunning and
+watchfulness. When he had eaten Beulah’s cakes and drunk her cocoa, he
+lay back in a big chair, glowing with rosiness, and still laughing at
+the thought of his escape from my ogredom.
+Our minds played about him. I tried to tease Beulah into adopting him.
+We spoke of his birth in a reformatory, and the apparently indomitable
+way in which nature had erased this fact from his personality. We
+wondered about his unknown mother, and his still more unknown father,
+and what he would be and how either of us could help keeping him
+forever. She pleaded her Man, I my poverty. But we were not convincing,
+and I began to conceive a vague fear of Ernest’s adopting me, because I
+could not let him go.
+And then it was time for the train. Ernest was very self-possessed.
+His manners on leaving Beulah were those of an equal, parting from a
+very old and jolly friend. The walk to the station gave me a sudden
+realization how very badly the world was adapted to the needs of
+little boys. Its measurements, its times, its lengths and its breadths
+were grotesquely exaggerated. Ernest ploughed manfully along, but I
+could feel the tug at my hand. Time would have to double itself for
+him to reach the station in the allotted minutes. His legs were going
+in great strides like those of the giant in seven-league boots, and
+he was panting a little. I was cruel, and yet there was the train. I
+felt myself a symbol of parenthood, earth-adjusted, fixed on an adult
+goal, dragging little children panting through a world not their own.
+“I’m ti-yerd!” said Ernest in so plaintive a voice that my heart smote
+me. Nameless premonitions of what might ensue to Ernest from being
+ti-yerd came upon me. I felt a vague dread of having already made
+Ernest an invalid for life. But my adulthood must have triumphed, for
+the train was caught. Ernest’s spirits revived on the reappearance of
+the lemon-drops. And my heart leaped to hear him say that only his
+legs were ti-yerd, and that now they were no longer so. The world had
+diminished again to his size.
+Ernest ate his supper in great contentment at a little table by my
+fireplace. The unaccustomed task of cooking it gave me new and vivid
+thrills. And the intellectual concentration involved in heating soup
+and making toast was so great as to lose me the pleasure of watching
+Ernest draw. I had asked him in the morning if he liked to draw. He had
+answered in such scorn that I had hastily called in Michelangelo. Now
+I placed a pencil and many large sheets of paper negligently near him.
+When I brought him his supper, he had covered them all with futuristic
+men, houses, and horses. The floor was strewn with his work, and he
+was magnificently casting it from him as he attacked these æsthetic
+problems with fierce gusto. Only the sight of food quelled his artistic
+rage. After supper, however, he did not return to them. Instead, he
+became fascinated with the pillows of my couch, and piled them in a
+line, with a whistling and shouting as of railroad trains. I wrote a
+little, merely to show myself that this business of parenthood need
+not devastate one’s life. But I found myself wondering acutely, in the
+midst of an eloquent sentence, what time it was healthy for Ernest
+to go to bed. I seemed to remember seven--incredible to me, and yet
+perhaps meet for a child. It was already seven, but the vigor with
+which he rejected my proposal startled me. His amiability all day had
+been so irreproachable that I did not wish to strain it now. Yet I was
+conscious of an approaching parental crisis. Suppose he did not want to
+go to bed at all!
+When I next looked up, I found that he had compromised by falling
+asleep in a curious diagonal and perilous position across his
+pillows--the trainman asleep at the switch. In a position in which
+nobody could sleep, Ernest slept with the face of an angel. Complexity!
+Only a brute would wake him. Yet how did parents get their children to
+bed? And then I thought of the intricacies of his clothes. I touched
+him very gently; he jumped at me in a dazed way, with the quaintest,
+“Oh, I don’t know what made me go to sleep!” and was off into the big
+chair and helpless slumber.
+I repented of my brutality. I tried to read, but my parental conscience
+again smote me. Ernest looked forlorn and maladjusted, his head
+sinking down on his breast. I thought that Ernest would thank me now
+for reminding him of his bed. He showed astonishing force of will.
+I recoiled from the “I don’t want to go to bed!” which he hurled at
+me. I tried reason. I called his attention to his uncomfortableness.
+But he was unmoved, and insisted on going to sleep again after every
+question. I hardened my heart a little. I saw that stern measures would
+have to be adopted, Ernest’s little clothes taken off, Ernest inserted
+into his flannel nightgown, and tucked into bed. Yet I had no idea
+of the parental technique for such situations. Ernest had been quite
+irresponsive to my appeal that all good little boys went to bed at
+seven o’clock, and I could think of no further generalizations. Crisis
+after so happy a day! Was this parenthood?
+The variety of buttons and hooks on Ernest’s outer and inner garments
+bewildered me. Ernest’s dead sleepiness made the work difficult. But
+finally his little body emerged from the midst, leaving me with the
+feeling of one who has taken a watch apart and wonders dismayedly how
+he will ever get it together again. Ernest, however, was not inclined
+to permit the indignity of this disrobing without bitter protest. When
+I urged his coöperation in putting on his nightgown, he became voluble.
+The sunniness of his temper was clouded. His tone turned to harsh
+bitterness. Little angry tears rolled down his cheeks, and he betrayed
+his sense of extreme outrage with an “I don’t _want_ to put on my
+nightgown!” hurled at me with so much of moral pain that I was chilled.
+But it was too late. I could not unscramble Ernest. With a sinking
+heart I had gently to thrust his little arms and legs into the warm
+flannel, trundle him over the floor, bitter and sleepily protesting,
+roll him into his bed, and cover him up. As he curled and snuggled into
+the covers his tears dried as if by magic, the bitterness smoothed out
+of his face, and all his griefs were forgotten.
+In the next room I sat and read, a pleasant warmth of parental
+protection in my heart. And then Ernest began to cough. It was no light
+childish spasm, but a deep racking cough that froze my blood. There
+had been a little cold in him when he came. I had taken him out into
+the raw December air. I had overexerted him in my thoughtless haste.
+Visions of a delirious and pneumonic child floated before me. Or what
+was that dreadful thing called croup? I could not keep my thought on
+my book. That racking cough came again and again. Ernest must be awake
+and tossing feverishly. Yet when I looked in at him, he would be lying
+peaceful and rosy, and the cough that tore him did not disturb his
+slumbers. He must then be in a state of fatigue so extreme that even
+the cough could not wake him. I reproached myself for dragging him
+into the cold. How could I have led him on so long a journey, and let
+him play with a strenuousness such as his days never knew! I foresaw
+a lurid to-morrow: Ernest sick, myself helpless and ignorant, guilty
+of a negligence that might be fatal. And as I watched him, he began to
+show the most alarming tendency to fall out of bed. I did not dare to
+move him, and yet his head moved ever more perilously near the edge. I
+relied on a chair pushed close to the bed to save him. But I felt weary
+and worn. What an exacting life, the parent’s! Could it be that every
+evening provided such anxieties and problems and thrills? Could one let
+one’s life become so engrossed?
+And then I remembered how every evening, when we went to bed, we
+used to ask our mother if she was going to be home that evening, and
+with what thankful security we sank back, knowing that we should be
+protected through another night. Ernest had not seemed to care what
+became of me. Having had no home and no parents, he had grown up into
+a manly robustness. He did not ask what you were going to do with him.
+He was all for the moment. He took the cash and let the credit go. It
+was I who felt the panic and the insecurity. I envied Ernest. I saw
+that contrary to popular mythology, there were advantages in being an
+institutional orphan, provided you had been properly Binet-ed as of
+normal intelligence and the State got you a decent boarding-mother.
+How much bringing up Ernest had escaped! If his manners were not
+polished, at least they were not uncouth. He had been a little shy
+at first, nodding at questions with a smile, and throwing his head
+against the chair. But there was nothing repressed about him, nothing
+institutionalized, and certainly nothing artificial.
+His cough grew lighter, and as I looked at his yellow hair and the
+angelic flush of his round cheeks, I thought of the horrid little
+puppets that had been produced around me in conventional homes,
+under model fathers and kind and devout mothers. How their fears and
+inhibitions contrasted with Ernest’s directness! His bitter mood
+at going to bed had a certain fine quality about it. I recalled
+the _camaraderie_ we had established. The box of lemon-drops, only
+half-exhausted, stared at me from the pocket of his little sweater. I
+became proud of Ernest. I was enjoying again my vicarious parenthood.
+What did that obscure and tangled heredity of his, or his most
+problematical of futures, matter to him or to me? It was delightful
+to adopt him thus imaginatively. If he turned out badly, could you
+not ascribe it to his heredity, and if well, to your kindly nurture
+and constant wisdom? Nothing else could be very much thought about,
+perhaps, but for the moment Ernest seemed supremely worth thinking
+about. There would be his education. And suddenly it seemed that I did
+not know very much about educating a child. It would be too absorbing.
+There would be no time for the making of a living. Ernest loomed before
+my imagination in the guise of a pleasant peril.
+And then morning came. As soon as it was light Ernest could be
+heard talking and chuckling to himself, with no hint of delirium or
+pneumonia, or the bogies of the night. When I spoke he came running in
+in his bare feet, and crawled in with me. He told me that in spite of
+my valiant chair he had really fallen out of bed. He did not care, and
+proceeded to jump over me in a vigorous acrobatic way. He did not even
+cough, and I wondered if all the little sinister things of childhood
+passed so easily with the night. It was impossible to remember my fears
+as he tossed and shouted, the perfection of healthiness. Parenthood now
+seemed almost too easy to bother with.
+Ernest caught sight of my dollar watch on the chair, and I saw that he
+conceived a fatal and instantaneous passion. He listened to its tick,
+shook it, ogled it amorously. He made little suggestive remarks about
+liking it. I teased him with the fact that he could not tell time.
+Ernest snorted at first in good-natured contempt at the artificial
+rigidity of the process, but finally allowed himself to be persuaded
+that I was not fooling him. And my heart swelled with the generosity
+which I was about to practise in presenting him with this wonderful
+watch.
+But it suddenly became time to dress, for my parental day was to end
+at nine. And then I discovered that it was as hard to get Ernest into
+his clothes as it was to get him out of them. It was intolerable to
+him that he should leave his romp and the watch, and he shouted a No
+to my every suggestion. A new parental crisis crashed upon me. What a
+life of ingenuity and stratagem the parent had to lead! To spend half
+one’s evening persuading a sleepy and bitter little boy to take off his
+clothes, and half the morning in persuading a vivid and jubilant little
+boy to put them on again--this was a life that taxed one’s personal
+resources to the utmost. I reasoned with Ernest. I pointed out that
+his kind friend was coming very soon, and that he must be ready. But
+Ernest was obdurate. He would not even bathe. I pointed out the almost
+universal practice of the human race of clothing themselves during
+the early morning hours. Historic generalizations had no more effect
+on Ernest in the morning than they had had in the evening. And with
+a sudden stab I thought of the watch. That watch I knew would be an
+Aladdin’s lamp to make Ernest my obedient slave. I had only to bribe
+him with it, and he would bathe, dress, or do anything which I told him
+to do. Here was the easy art of corruption by which parents got moral
+clutches on their children! And I deliberately renounced it. I would
+not bribe Ernest. Yet the mischief was done. So intuitive was his mind
+that I felt guiltily that he already knew my readiness to give him the
+watch if he would only dress. In that case, I should miss my moral
+victory. I could not disappoint him, and I did not want to bribe him
+inadvertently.
+There was another consideration which dismayed me. Even if Ernest
+should prove amenable to reason or corruption, where was my ability to
+reconstruct him? Unbuttoning a sleepy and scarcely resisting little
+boy in the evening was quite different from constructively buttoning
+a jumping and hilarious one in the morning. And time was flowing
+dangerously on. Only a sudden theory of self-activity saved me. Could
+Ernest perhaps dress himself? I caught him in one of his tumbles and
+asked him. His mind was too full of excitement, to be working on
+prosaic themes. And then I shot my bolt. “I don’t believe you know how
+to dress yourself, do you?” To that challenge Ernest rose. “Hurry!” I
+said, “and see how quickly you can dress. See if you can dress before
+I can!” Ernest flew into the other room, and in an incredibly short
+time appeared quite constructed except as to an occasional rear-button,
+washed and shining, self-reliant, ready for the business of the day. I
+glowed with the success of my parental generalship. I felt a sense of
+power. But power gained in so adroit and harmless a way was safe. What
+a parent I would make! How grateful I was to Ernest to be leaving me at
+this height!
+I gave him the watch. Though he had longed, the fulfillment of his
+desire struck him with incredulity. The event awed him. But I showed
+him how to wind it, and seemed so indifferent to its fate that he
+was reassured as to my sincerity. He recovered his poise. He sang as
+he ate his breakfast. And when his guide and friend came, amused and
+curious, he went off with her as unreluctantly as he had come, proud
+and self-possessed, the master of himself. He strutted a little with
+his watch, and he politely admitted that he had had a good time.
+I do not know whether Ernest ever thought of me again. He had been an
+unconscious artist, for he had painted many new impressions on my soul.
+He had been sent to me to test my theories of parenthood, but he had
+driven away all thought of theory in the obsession of his demands. How
+could I let him go so cheerily out of my door? It wasn’t at all because
+I minded having my time absorbed, for I like people to absorb my time.
+Why did I not cling to him, buy him from his protector, with a “Dear
+boy, you shall never leave my pleasant rooms again”? Why did I not rush
+after him down the street, stung by a belated remorse? I was conscious
+enough that I was missing all the dramatic climax of the situation. I
+was not acting at all as one does with tempting little orphan boys.
+But that is the way life works. The heart fails, and the vast and
+incalculable sea of responsibility drowns one in doubt. I let him go
+with no more real hesitation than that with which he went.
+The later life of Ernest I feel will be one of sturdy self-reliance.
+That all the aspects of his many-sided character did not become
+apparent in the short time that I held him was clear from the report I
+heard of a Christmas party to which he was invited a few weeks later.
+Ernest, it seems, had broken loose with the fervor of a modern Europe
+after its forty years of peace. He had seized chocolate cake, slapped
+little girls, bitten the hand of the kind lady who fed him, and ended
+by lying down on the floor and yelling in a self-reliant rage. Was this
+the effect of a day with me? Or had I charmed and soothed him? I had a
+pleasant shudder of power, wondering at my influence over him.
+The next I heard of Ernest was his departure for the home of an
+adopting family in New Jersey, from which he was presently to be
+shipped back for offenses unknown. My respect for Ernest rose even
+higher. He would not fit in easily to any smug conventional family
+life. He would not rest adopted until he was satisfied. I began to
+wonder if, after all, we were not affinities. He had kept the peace
+with me, he had derived stimulation from my society. Should I not have
+called him back? Shall I not now? Shall I not want to see him with me
+again? I wonder.
+Graham Wallas, in his “Great Society,” wrote few more interesting
+sentences than that in which he remarked the paucity of genuine
+discussion around him, the lack of skill in meeting each others’ minds
+which Englishmen show when they talk together. Particularly in this
+country where mere talk is always contrasted unfavorably with action
+is discussion rare. The only way we can justify our substitution of
+talking for acting is to talk badly. And we like to talk badly. To put
+into talk the deliberate effort which action demands would seem an
+insufferable pedantry. Talk is one of the few unspecialized talents
+still left in a mechanical world. The plain man resents any invasion
+of this last preserve of freedom. He resents the demand that skill and
+effort be put to work in raising talk into real discussion where points
+are met and presuppositions are clarified and formulations made. So
+conversation is left to grow wild as a common flower along the wayside
+of our personal contacts.
+Yet this lack of art in discussion is not really due to lack of desire.
+An inner need drives talk into something more formal. Discussion is
+popular, and because it is popular it needs, in spite of the plain man,
+a certain deliberate technique. One often stumbles on groups which have
+met not because some problem has seized them all and will not let them
+go until it is satisfied, but because they have felt a general craving
+for talk. They find that their mental wheels will not rotate without
+some corn to grind. In the revelation of what each person thinks it
+important to discuss, one gets the attitude of his mind and the color
+of his governing philosophy. Such a group is a kind of kindergarten
+of discussion. Ostensibly equal and sympathetic in background and
+approach, they show in very little time the startling diversity of
+their actual equipment and mental framework. A score of people all
+doing apparently the same quality of work in the professional world,
+all enjoying a popular reputation, all backed by a college education,
+all reacting constantly to each other in the intersecting world of
+journalism, art, teaching, law, will often be found to show a lack
+of mental sympathy so profound that one wonders how such people can
+smilingly continue to seem to be living in the same world. They are
+using the same words, but they are not using the same meanings, and
+because they are not conscious that it is really meanings which they
+should be exchanging, the discussion is apt to lose itself feebly as
+in desert sands. What really emerges from most discussions, you find,
+is an astonishing array of philosophical skeletons-in-the-closet which
+stalk about the room unchallenged. Their owners are quite unconscious
+of this fatal escape. Yet it takes little wit to discover rigid
+platonists discoursing with pragmatists, minds whose first operation in
+thinking is always to fix a moral judgment contending with remorseless
+realists. Ideals are discussed when one man means by an ideal a
+measuring-stick for human conduct, another a social goal towards
+which he works. Concepts emerge which to half the company represent
+a mental vacuum, and to the other half imply a warm blow of virtue.
+World-philosophies which might be recognized are shabbily ignored. The
+feeble sparring of their distorted shadows is taken for discussion, and
+the company separates with a vague feeling of having occupied itself
+for an evening with something profitably mental.
+All the time, however, it is these fundamental philosophies which
+are the real antagonists, and not the concrete ideas which are the
+subjects of discussion. A good discussion passes rapidly into an
+examination of those presuppositions. It is more interested in charting
+out the minds of the other talkers than in winning small victories or
+getting agreements. Good discussion is a kind of detective uncovering
+the hidden categories and secret springs of emotion that underlie
+“opinions” on things. It seeks that common background and store of
+meanings in which alone diverse opinions can really meet and operate.
+We can no longer tolerate reasons which are only retrospective props
+for action that was really impulsive in its origin. No more should
+we tolerate in discussion that stubborn voicing of attitudes which
+seem axiomatic to the speaker only because he has never examined the
+structure of his own thought. It is popular nowadays to welcome the
+expression of every new attitude. But a discussion should be tolerant
+and hospitable only after the ground has been cleared. You must be
+very sure that what you have to deal with is a real attitude and not
+a counterfeit. Discussion remains mere talk if it remains content
+with the expression of an “opinion” and does not put the expressor
+to immediate cross-examination to discover in the name of what
+Weltanschauung the opinion came.
+Discussion should be one of the most important things in the world, for
+it is almost our only arena of thinking. It is here that all the jumble
+of ideas and impressions that we get from reading and watching are
+dramatically placed in conflict. Here only is there a genuine challenge
+to put them into some sort of order. Without discussion intellectual
+experience is only an exercise in a private gymnasium. It has never
+been put to the test, never had to give an account of itself. It is
+some such motive that impels people to discussion; though they are
+too often content with the jousting of pasteboard knights. But a good
+discussion is not only a conflict. It is fundamentally a coöperation.
+It progresses towards some common understanding. This does not mean
+that it must end in agreement. A discussion will have been adequate if
+it has done no more than set the problem in its significant terms, or
+even defined the purpose that makes such a setting significant. You
+turn up things in your mind that would have remained buried without the
+incision of some new idea. The effort to say exactly what you mean,
+sharpening your idea to the point that will drive home to others, is
+itself invigorating. A good discussion tones up your mind, concentrates
+its loose particles, gives form and direction. When all say exactly
+what they mean, then for the first time understanding--the goal of
+discussion--is possible.
+Discussion demands a mutual trustfulness, a mutual candor. But this
+very trustfulness makes discussion vulnerable. It is particularly open
+to the attack of the person who sees in the group a forum. The physical
+signs of such a misinterpretation are familiar. The eye becomes
+slightly dilated, the voice more orotund. The suggestion develops
+into an exposition, the exposition into an apologia or recrimination.
+Discussion is slain. Another enemy is the person who sidetracks a
+sentence and then proceeds in a leisurely way to unload its freight
+into his own wagon. But in a good discussion the traffic is kept
+constantly moving in both directions along a rather rigid line of
+track, and the freight arrives somewhere. Some people have a fatal gift
+of derailment. Wit is perhaps the most common means. Discussion has no
+greater enemies than those who can catch an idea and touch it off into
+a puff of smoke. Wit should salt a discussion but not explode it.
+Good discussion is so important that those who set about it may be
+rather pedantic and self-conscious in their enterprise. One may acutely
+realize himself as being, for the time, primarily a mind. He renounces
+the seeming of personal advantage in an argument. He sincerely and
+anxiously searches his intellectual stores in order to set down exactly
+what he thinks in just the proportions and colors that he thinks it. He
+studies what the others say, and tries to detect quickly the search for
+advantage or the loose use of terminology. He insists that words and
+phrases have meanings, and if they carry no meaning to him, he searches
+indefatigably until he has found the word that does carry over the full
+freight of significance intended.
+The rewards for such pedantry are found in a tone of clear thinking.
+A good discussion increases the dimensions of every one who takes
+part. Being rather self-consciously a mind in a group of minds means
+becoming more of a person. Ideas are stale things until they are
+personally dramatized. The only good writers of opinion are those who
+instinctively reproduce the atmosphere of discussion, whose sentences
+have the tone of discussion with themselves or with an imagined group.
+The impulse for discussion is an impulse towards the only environment
+where creative thinking can be done. All the more reason why an
+instinct for workmanship should come in to insure that thought does not
+lose itself in feeble sparring or detached monologue.
+THE PURITAN’S WILL TO POWER
+To the modern young person who tries to live well there is no type so
+devastating and harassing as the puritan. We cannot get away from him.
+In his sight we always live. We finish with justifying our new paganism
+against him, but we never quite lose consciousness of his presence.
+Even Theodore Dreiser, who has always revolted from the puritan clutch,
+finds it necessary now and then to tilt a lance against him. If there
+were no puritans we should have to invent them. And if the pagan Mr.
+Dreiser has to keep on through life fighting puritans, how much more
+intrigued must we be who are only reformed puritans, and feel old
+dangers stirring at every aggressive gesture of righteousness? For the
+puritan is the most stable and persistent of types. It is scarcely a
+question of a puritanical age and a pagan age. It is only a question of
+more puritans or less puritans. Even the most emancipated generation
+will find that it has only broken its puritanism up into compartments,
+and balances sexual freedom--or better, perhaps, a pious belief in
+sexual freedom--with a cult of efficiency and personal integrity which
+is far more coercive than the most sumptuary of laws. Young people who
+have given up all thought of “being good” anxiously celebrate a cult of
+“making good.” And a superstition like eugenics threatens to terrorize
+the new intelligentsia.
+Every new generation, in fact, contrives to find some new way of being
+puritanical. Every new generation finds some new way of sacrifice.
+Every new triumphant assertion of life is counter-balanced by some new
+denial. In Europe this most proud and lusty young generation goes to
+its million-headed slaughter, and in America the social consciousness
+arises to bewilder and deflect the _essor_ towards life. Just when
+convention seemed to be on the run, and youth seemed to be facing a
+sane and candid attitude towards sex, we find idealistic girls and men
+coming out of the colleges to tell us of our social responsibility to
+the race. This means not only that our daily living is to be dampened
+by the haunting thought of misery that we cannot personally prevent,
+but that our thirst towards love-experience is to be discouraged and
+turned aside into a concern for racial perfection. That is, we are
+subtly persuaded against merely growing widely and loving intensely. We
+become vague and mystified means toward nebulous and unreal ends. This
+new puritanism will not let us be ends in ourselves, or let personality
+be the chief value in life. It will almost let us sometimes. But it
+always pulls us up somewhere. There is always a devil of inhibition to
+interpose before our clean and naïve grasping of life. (You see, my
+puritanism takes the form of a suspicion that there may be a personal
+devil lurking in the universe.)
+This is why the puritan always needs to be thoroughly explained and
+exposed. We must keep him before our eyes, recognize him as the real
+enemy, no matter in what ideal disguise he lurks. We must learn how he
+works, and what peculiar satisfactions he gets from his activity. For
+he must get satisfaction or he would not be so prevalent. I accept the
+dogma that to explain anybody we have to do little more than discover
+just what contentment people are getting from what they do, or from
+what they are permitting to happen to them, or even from what they are
+flinging their will into trying to prevent happening to them. For, if
+life is anything positive, it is the sense of control. In the puritan,
+of course, we have the paradox how he can get satisfaction from
+ruggedly and sternly subjecting himself and renouncing the world, the
+flesh and the devil. There is a popular superstition that the puritan
+has an extra endowment of moral force, that he reverses the natural
+current of life, that he resists the drag of carnality down towards
+hell, that his energy is thrown contra-satisfaction, that this control
+is a real straddling of the nefarious way. But, of course, it is just
+this superstition that gives the puritan his terrific prestige. In the
+light of the will-to-power dogma this superstition fades. The puritan
+becomes just as much of a naturalistic phenomenon as the most carnal
+sinner. Instincts and impulses, in the puritan, are not miraculously
+cancelled, but have their full play. The primitive currents of life are
+not blocked and turned back on their sources, but turned into powerful
+and usually devastating channels. The puritan is just as much of a
+“natural” man as you or I.
+But we still have to explain how this lustful, headstrong creature
+called man, spilling with greed, could so unabatedly throughout the
+ages give up the primitive satisfaction of sex and food and drink and
+gregariousness and act the ascetic and the glumly censorious. How could
+an animal whose business was to feel powerful get power from being in
+subjection and deprivation? Well, the puritan gets his sense of power
+from a very cunningly organized satisfaction of two of his strongest
+impulses,--the self-conscious personal impulses of being regarded and
+being neglected. The puritan is no thwarted and depleted person. On the
+contrary, he is rather a complete person, getting almost the maximum of
+satisfaction out of these two apparently contradictory sentiments,--the
+self-regarding and self-abasing. The pure autocrat would feed himself
+wholly on the first, the pure slave would be only a human embodiment
+of the second. But the pure puritan manages to make the most powerful
+amalgam of both.
+What we may call the puritan process starts with the satisfaction of
+the impulse for self-abasement (an impulse as primitive as any, for
+in the long struggle for survival it was often just as necessary for
+life to cower as it was to fight). It is only the puritan’s prestige
+that has attached moral value to self-sacrifice, for there is nothing
+intrinsic in it that makes it any more praiseworthy than lust. But
+its pragmatic value is immense. When the puritan announces himself
+as the least worthy of men, he not only predisposes in his favor the
+naturally slavish people around him, but he neutralizes the aggressive
+and self-regarding who would otherwise be moved to suppress him. He
+renounces, he puts on meekness, he sternly regiments himself, he makes
+himself unhappy in ways that are just not quite severe enough to
+excite pity and yet run no risk of arousing any envy. If the puritan
+does all this unconsciously, the effect is yet the same as if he were
+deliberately plotting. To give his impulses of self-abasement full
+play, he must, of course, exercise a certain degree of control. This
+control, however, gives him little of that sense of power that makes
+for happiness. Puritan moralists have always tried to make us believe
+in this virtue of self-control. They forget to point out, however, that
+it does not become a virtue until it has become idealized. Control over
+self gives us little sense of control. It is the dreariest of all
+satisfactions of the will to power. Not until we become _proud_ of our
+self-control do we get satisfaction. The puritan only begins to reap
+his satisfaction when the self-regarding impulse comes into play.
+Having given his self-abasing impulse free rein, he is now in a
+position to exploit his self-regard. He has made himself right with
+the weak and slavish. He has fortified himself with their alliance.
+He now satisfies his self-regard by becoming proud of his humility
+and enjoining it on others. If it were self-control alone that made
+the puritan, he would not be as powerful as he is. Indeed he would
+be no more than the mild ascetic, who is all abnegation because his
+self-regarding mechanism is weak. But in the puritan both impulses are
+strong. It is control over others that yields him his satisfactions
+of power. He may stamp out his sex-desire, but his impulse to shatter
+ideas that he does not like will flourish wild and wanton. To the true
+puritan the beauty of unselfishness lies in his being able to enforce
+it on others. He loves virtue not so much for its own sake as for its
+being an instrument of his terrorism.
+The true puritan is at once the most unselfish and the most
+self-righteous of men. There is nothing he will not do for you, give
+up for you, suffer for you. But at the same time there is no cranny
+of your world that he will not illuminate with the virtue of this
+doing of his. His real satisfaction comes not from his action of
+benevolence but from the moral of the tale. He need not boast about his
+renunciation or his altruism. But in any true puritan atmosphere that
+pride will be prevalent. Indeed, it is the oxygen of that atmosphere.
+Wherever you come across that combination of selfless devotion with
+self-righteousness, you have the essence of the puritan. Should you
+come across the one without the other you would find not the puritan
+but the saint.
+The puritan then gets the satisfaction of his will to power through
+the turning of his self-abasement into purposes of self-regard.
+Renunciation is the raw material for his positive sense of power. The
+puritan gets his satisfaction exactly where the most carnal of natural
+men gets his, out of the stimulation of his pride. And in a world
+where renunciation has to happen to us whether we want it or not, the
+puritan is in the most impressive strategic position. In economy of
+energy he has it all over the head that is bloody but unbowed. For
+the puritan is so efficient morally that he can bow his head and yet
+exact control both out of the bowing and out of the prestige which his
+bowing gives him, as well as out of the bowing which he can enforce on
+others. The true puritan must become an evangelist. It is not enough
+to renounce the stimulus to satisfaction which is technically known as
+a “temptation.” The renouncing must be made into an ideal, the ideal
+must be codified, promulgated, and, in the last analysis, enforced.
+In the compelling of others to abstain, you have the final glut of
+puritanical power. For in getting other people to renounce a thing
+you thereby get renewed justification for your own renouncing. And
+so the puritan may go on inexhaustibly rolling up his satisfactions,
+one impulse reinforcing the other. The simultaneous play of these two
+apparently inconsistent personal impulses makes the puritan type one of
+the stablest in society. While the rest of us are longing for power the
+puritan is enjoying his. And because the puritan is so well integrated
+he almost always rules. The person whose satisfactions of control are
+more various and more refined is on the defensive against him.
+The puritan gets his sense of power not in the harmless way of the
+artist or the philosopher or the lover or the scientist, but in a
+crude assault on that most vulnerable part of other people’s souls,
+their moral sense. He is far more dangerous to those he converts than
+to those he intimidates. For he first scares them into abandoning the
+rich and sensuous and expressive impulses in life, and then teaches
+them to be proud of having done so. We all have the potentiality of
+the puritan within us. I remember suffering agonies at the age of ten
+because my aunt used to bring me candy that had been wickedly purchased
+on the Sabbath day. I forget whether I ate it or not, but that fact is
+irrelevant. What counted was the guilt with which the whole universe
+seemed to be stained. I need no other evidence of the irrational nature
+of morality than this fact that children can be such dogged little
+puritans, can be at the age of ten so sternly and intuitively righteous.
+The puritan is a case of arrested development. Most of us do grow
+beyond him and find subtler ways of satisfying our desire for
+power. And we do it because we never can quite take that step from
+self-abasement to self-regard. We never can quite become proud of our
+humility. Renunciation remains an actual going without, sacrifice a
+real thwarting. If we value an experience and deliberately surrender
+it, we are too naïve to pretend that there are compensations. There
+is a loss. We are left with a vacuum. There _is_ only depression and
+loss of control. Our self-regard is not quite elemental enough to get
+stimulation from wielding virtue over others. I never feel so degraded
+as when I have renounced. I had rather beat my head rhythmically and
+endlessly against an unyielding wall. For the pagan often breaks
+miraculously through the wall. But the puritan at his best can only
+strut outside.
+Most of us, therefore, after we have had our puritan fling, sown our
+puritan wild oats as it were, grow up into devout and progressing
+pagans, cultivating the warmth of the sun, the deliciousness of
+love-experience, the high moods of art. The puritans remain around us,
+a danger and a threat. But they have value to us in keeping us acutely
+self-conscious of our faith. They whet our ardor. Perhaps no one can be
+really a good appreciating pagan who has not once been a bad puritan.
+It is impossible not to think of Dostoevsky as a living author when
+his books come regularly, as they are coming, to the American public
+every few months. Our grandfathers sixty years ago are said to have
+lived their imaginative lives in anticipation of the next instalment
+of Dickens or Thackeray. I can feel somewhat of the same excitement in
+this Dostoevsky stream, though I cannot pretend that the great Russian
+will ever become a popular American classic. Yet in the progress from
+Dickens to Dostoevsky there is a symbol of the widening and deepening
+of the American imagination. We are adrift on a far wider sea than our
+forefathers. We are far more adventurous in personal relations, far
+more aware of the bewildering variousness of human nature. If you have
+once warmed to Dostoevsky, you can never go back to the older classic
+fiction on which we were brought up. The lack of _nuance_, the hideous
+normality of its people begin to depress you. When once you have a
+sense of the illusion of “character,” when once you have felt the
+sinister, irrational turn of human thoughts, and the subtle interplay
+of impression and desire, and the crude impingement of circumstance,
+you find yourself--unless you keep conscious watch--feeling a shade
+of contempt for the Scott and Balzac and Dickens and Thackeray
+and Trollope who were the authoritative showmen of life for our
+middle-class relatives. You relegate such fiction to the level of
+“movie” art, with its clean, pigeon-holed categories of the emotions,
+and its “registering” of a few simple moods.
+You will, of course, be wrong in any such contempt, because these
+novelists show a bewildering variety of types and a deep intuition
+of the major movements of the soul. Dickens teems with irrational
+creatures, with unconventional levels of life. But you can scarcely
+contradict me when I say that neither Dickens nor his readers ever
+forgot that these human patterns were queer. His appeal lies exactly
+in the joyful irrelevance with which we take all these lapses from the
+norm, in the pitiful tears which we can shed for human beings done
+so obviously as they should not be done by. In reading these familiar
+novelists we never lose our moral landmarks. No matter how great the
+deviations a character shows, we are always conscious--or could be
+conscious if we liked--of the exact amount of that deviation. The
+charm of that nineteenth-century fiction, as in the work of belated
+Victorians like Mr. Chesterton, lies in that duality between the
+sane and the insane, the virtuous and the villainous, the sober and
+the mischievous, the responsible and the irresponsible. There is no
+falsification in this. These novelists were writing for an epoch that
+really had stable “character,” standards, morals, that consistently saw
+the world in a duality of body and spirit. They were a reflection of a
+class that really had reticences, altruisms, and religious codes.
+Dostoevsky appeals to us to-day because we are trying to close up that
+dualism. And our appreciation of him and the other modern Russians is
+a mark of how far we have actually gone. It is still common to call
+this fiction unhealthy, morbid, unwholesome. All that is meant by this
+is that the sudden shock of a democratic, unified, intensely the mind
+that thinks in the old dual terms as to be almost revolting. What
+becomes more and more apparent to the readers of Dostoevsky, however,
+is his superb modern healthiness. He is healthy because he has no
+sense of any dividing line between the normal and the abnormal, or
+even between the sane and the insane. I call this healthy because it
+is so particularly salutary for our American imagination to be jolted
+out of its stiltedness and preconceived notions of human psychology.
+I admit that the shock is somewhat rough and rude. “The Idiot”, which
+I have read only once, remains in my mind as a stream of fairly
+incomprehensible people and unintelligible emotional changes. Yet I
+feel that when I read it again I shall understand it. For Dostoevsky
+has a strange, intimate power which breaks in your neat walls and shows
+you how much more subtle and inconsequent your flowing life is than
+even your introspection had thought. But for all his subtlety he is the
+reverse of anything morbidly introspective. In his work you get the
+full warm unity of emotional life without losing any of the detail of
+the understanding analysis of the soul.
+This astounding mergence Dostoevsky actually seems to achieve. That
+is what gives him the intimate power which distinguishes every story
+of his from anything else you have ever read. Again he contrasts with
+the classical novelists. For they are quite palpably outside their
+subjects. You are never unaware of the author as telling the story.
+He has always the air of the showman, unrolling his drama before
+your eyes. His characters may be infinitely warm and human, but the
+writer himself is somehow not in them. “Wuthering Heights” is the only
+English story I think of that has something of the fierce, absorbed
+intensity of Dostoevsky. In the great Russian you lose all sense of
+the showman. The writer is himself the story; he is inextricably in
+it. In narratives like “The Double” or “A Gentle Spirit” immanence
+could go no further. The story seems to tell itself. Its strange,
+breathless intimacy of mood follows faithfully every turn and quirk
+of thought and feeling. Its tempo is just of that inner life we know,
+with its ceaseless boring into the anxious future and its trails of
+the unresolved past. These stories follow just that fluctuating line
+of our conscious life with its depressions and satisfactions, its
+striving always for a sense of control, its uneasiness. In Dostoevsky’s
+novels it is not only the author that is immanent. The reader also
+is absorbed. After reading “Crime and Punishment” you are yourself
+the murderer. For days the odor of guilt follows you around. The
+extravaganza of “The Double” pursues you like a vivid dream of your own.
+Such stories, however fantastic the problems of the soul, get deeply
+into us. We cannot ignore them, we cannot take them irresponsibly.
+We cannot read them for amusement, or even in detachment, as we can
+our classics. We forget our categories, our standards, our notions of
+human nature. All we feel is that we are tracing the current of life
+itself. Dostoevsky is so much in his stories that we get no sense
+of his attitude toward his characters or of his criticism of life.
+Yet the after-impression is one of rich kindness, born of suffering
+and imperfection, and of a truly religious reverence for all living
+experience. Man as a being with his feet in the mud and his gaze turned
+toward the stars, yet always indissolubly one in feet and eyes and
+heart and brain! If we are strong enough to hear him, this is the
+decisive force we need on our American creative outlook.
+Theodore Dreiser has had the good fortune to evoke a peculiar quality
+of pugnacious interest among the younger American intelligentsia
+such as has been the lot of almost nobody else writing to-day unless
+it be Miss Amy Lowell. We do not usually take literature seriously
+enough to quarrel over it. Or else we take it so seriously that we
+urbanely avoid squabbles. Certainly there are none of the vendettas
+that rage in a culture like that of France. But Mr. Dreiser seems to
+have made himself, particularly since the suppression of “The Genius,”
+a veritable issue. Interesting and surprising are the reactions to
+him. Edgar Lee Masters makes him a “soul-enrapt demi-urge, walking
+the earth, stalking life”; Harris Merton Lyon saw in him a “seer of
+inscrutable mien”; Arthur Davison Ficke sees him as master of a passing
+throng of figures, “labored with immortal illusion, the terrible and
+beautiful, cruel and wonder-laden illusion of life”; Mr. Powys makes
+him an epic philosopher of the “life-tide”; H. L. Mencken puts him
+ahead of Conrad, with “an agnosticism that has almost passed beyond
+curiosity.” On the other hand, an unhappy critic in _The Nation_ last
+year gave Mr. Dreiser his place for all time in a neat antithesis
+between the realism that was based on a theory of human conduct and the
+naturalism that reduced life to a mere animal behavior. For Dreiser
+this last special hell was reserved, and the jungle-like and simian
+activities of his characters were rather exhaustively outlined. At the
+time this antithesis looked silly. With the appearance of Mr. Dreiser’s
+latest book, “A Hoosier Holiday,” it becomes nonsensical. For that wise
+and delightful book reveals him as a very human critic of very common
+human life, romantically sensual and poetically realistic, with an
+artist’s vision and a thick, warm feeling for American life.
+This book gives the clue to Mr. Dreiser, to his insatiable curiosity
+about people, about their sexual inclinations, about their dreams,
+about the homely qualities that make them American. His memories give a
+picture of the floundering young American that is so typical as to be
+almost epic. No one has ever pictured this lower middle-class American
+life so winningly, because no one has had the necessary literary skill
+with the lack of self-consciousness. Mr. Dreiser is often sentimental,
+but it is a sentimentality that captivates you with its candor. You
+are seeing this vacuous, wistful, spiritually rootless, Middle-Western
+life through the eyes of a naïve but very wise boy. Mr. Dreiser seems
+queer only because he has carried along his youthful attitude in
+unbroken continuity. He is fascinated with sex because youth is usually
+obsessed with sex. He puzzles about the universe because youth usually
+puzzles. He thrills to crudity and violence because sensitive youth
+usually recoils from the savagery of the industrial world. Imagine
+incorrigible, sensuous youth endowed with the brooding skepticism
+of the philosopher who feels the vanity of life, and you have the
+paradox of Mr. Dreiser. For these two attitudes in him support rather
+than oppose each other. His spiritual evolution was out of a pious,
+ascetic atmosphere into intellectual and personal freedom. He seems
+to have found himself without losing himself. Of how many American
+writers can this be said? And for this much shall be forgiven him,--his
+slovenliness of style, his lack of _nuances_, his apathy to the finer
+shades of beauty, his weakness for the mystical and the vague. Mr.
+Dreiser suggests the over-sensitive temperament that protects itself
+by an admiration for crudity and cruelty. His latest book reveals the
+boyhood shyness and timidity of this Don Juan of novelists. Mr. Dreiser
+is complicated, but he is complicated in a very understandable American
+way, the product of the uncouth forces of small-town life and the vast
+disorganization of the wider American world. As he reveals himself, it
+is a revelation of a certain broad level of the American soul.
+Mr. Dreiser seems uncommon only because he is more naïve than most
+of us. It is not so much that his pages swarm with sexful figures
+as that he rescues sex for the scheme of personal life. He feels a
+holy mission to slay the American literary superstition that men and
+women are not sensual beings. But he does not brush this fact in the
+sniggering way of the popular magazines. He takes it very seriously,
+so much so that some of his novels become caricatures of desire. It
+is, however, a misfortune that it has been Brieux and Freud and not
+native Theodore Dreiser who has saturated the sexual imagination of the
+younger American intelligentsia. It would have been far healthier to
+absorb Mr. Dreiser’s literary treatment of sex than to go hysterical
+over its pathology. Sex has little significance unless it is treated
+in personally artistic, novelistic terms. The American tradition had
+tabooed the treatment of those infinite gradations and complexities of
+love that fill the literary imagination of a sensitive people. When
+curiosity became too strong and reticence was repealed in America,
+we had no means of articulating ourselves except in a deplorable
+pseudo-scientific jargon that has no more to do with the relevance
+of sex than the chemical composition of orange paint has to do with
+the artist’s vision. Dreiser has done a real service to the American
+imagination in despising the underworld and going gravely to the
+business of picturing sex as it is lived in the personal relations
+of bungling, wistful, or masterful men and women. He seemed strange
+and rowdy only because he made sex human, and American tradition had
+never made it human. It had only made it either sacred or vulgar, and
+when these categories no longer worked, we fell under the dubious and
+perverting magic of the psycho-analysts.
+In spite of his looseness of literary gait and heaviness of style
+Dreiser seems a sincere groper after beauty. It is natural enough
+that this should so largely be the beauty of sex. For where would a
+sensitive boy, brought up in Indiana and in the big American cities,
+get beauty expressed for him except in women? What does Mid-Western
+America offer to the starving except its personal beauty? A few
+landscapes, an occasional picture in a museum, a book of verse perhaps!
+Would not all the rest be one long, flaunting offense of ugliness and
+depression? “The ‘Genius,’” instead of being that mass of pornographic
+horror which the Vice Societies repute it to be, is the story of a
+groping artist whose love of beauty runs obsessingly upon the charm
+of girlhood. Through different social planes, through business and
+manual labor and the feverish world of artists, he pursues this lure.
+Dreiser is refreshing in his air of the moral democrat, who sees life
+impassively, neither praising nor blaming, at the same time that he
+realizes how much more terrible and beautiful and incalculable life
+is than any of us are willing to admit. It may be all _apologia_, but
+it comes with the grave air of a mind that wants us to understand just
+how it all happened. “Sister Carrie” will always retain the fresh
+charm of a spontaneous working-out of mediocre, and yet elemental and
+significant, lives. A good novelist catches hold of the thread of human
+desire. Dreiser does this, and that is why his admirers forgive him so
+many faults.
+If you like to speculate about personal and literary qualities that are
+specifically American, Dreiser should be as interesting as any one now
+writing in America. This becomes clearer as he writes more about his
+youth. His hopelessly unorientated, half-educated boyhood is so typical
+of the uncritical and careless society in which wistful American talent
+has had to grope. He had to be spiritually a self-made man, work out
+a philosophy of life, discover his own sincerity. Talent in America
+outside of the ruling class flowers very late, because it takes so
+long to find its bearings. It has had almost to create its own soil,
+before it could put in its roots and grow. It is born shivering into
+an inhospitable and irrelevant group. It has to find its own kind of
+people and piece together its links of comprehension. It is a gruelling
+and tedious task, but those who come through it contribute, like Vachel
+Lindsay, creative work that is both novel and indigenous. The process
+can be more easily traced in Dreiser than in almost anybody else. “A
+Hoosier Holiday” not only traces the personal process, but it gives the
+social background. The common life, as seen throughout the countryside,
+is touched off quizzically, and yet sympathetically, with an artist’s
+vision. Dreiser sees the American masses in their commonness and at
+their pleasure as brisk, rather vacuous people, a little pathetic in
+their innocence of the possibilities of life and their optimistic
+trustfulness. He sees them ruled by great barons of industry, and yet
+unconscious of their serfdom. He seems to love this countryside, and he
+makes you love it.
+Dreiser loves, too, the ugly violent bursts of American industry,--the
+flaming steel-mills and gaunt lakesides. “The Titan” and “The
+Financier” are unattractive novels, but they are human documents of the
+brawn of a passing American era. Those stenographic conversations, webs
+of financial intrigue, bare bones of enterprise, insult our artistic
+sense. There is too much raw beef, and yet it all has the taste and
+smell of the primitive business-jungle it deals with. These crude and
+greedy captains of finance with their wars and their amours had to be
+given some kind of literary embodiment, and Dreiser has hammered a sort
+of raw epic out of their lives.
+It is not only his feeling for these themes of crude power and sex and
+the American common life that makes Dreiser interesting. His emphases
+are those of a new America which is latently expressive and which must
+develop its art before we shall really have become articulate. For
+Dreiser is a true hyphenate, a product of that conglomerate Americanism
+that springs from other roots than the English tradition. Do we realize
+how rare it is to find a talent that is thoroughly American and wholly
+un-English? Culturally we have somehow suppressed the hyphenate.
+Only recently has he forced his way through the unofficial literary
+censorship. The vers-librists teem with him, but Dreiser is almost the
+first to achieve a largeness of utterance. His outlook, it is true,
+flouts the American canons of optimism and redemption, but these
+were never anything but conventions. There stirs in Dreiser’s books
+a new American quality. It is not at all German. It is an authentic
+attempt to make something artistic out of the chaotic materials that
+lie around us in American life. Dreiser interests because we can watch
+him grope and feel his clumsiness. He has the artist’s vision without
+the sureness of the artist’s technique. That is one of the tragedies of
+America. But his faults are those of his material and of uncouth bulk,
+and not of shoddiness. He expresses an America that is in process of
+forming. The interest he evokes is part of the eager interest we feel
+in that growth.
+Few people read Newman to-day. The old anxious issues have been drowned
+in a flood of social problems, and that world of liberal progress which
+to him was the enemy at the gates has long ago broken in and carried
+everything before it. Newman’s persuasive voice sounds thin and remote,
+and his ideas smell of a musty age. Yet that title of his, _Apologia
+Pro Vita Sua_, always intrigues one with its modern and subjective
+sound. It is so much what all of us are itching to write. Its egotism
+brushes with a faint irony that absorption in the righteousness most
+emphatically not ourselves with which Newman’s life was mingled. In
+that call upon him to interpret his life, one feels an unquenchable
+ego which carries him over to these shameless and self-centred times.
+Fortunately placed for a week in a theological household, I plunged
+into the slightly forbidding pages of the wistful cardinal. What I
+found in him must be very different from what he found in himself or
+what anybody else found in him at the time. Newman in 1917 suggests
+less a reactionary theology than subtle and secret sympathy with
+certain veins of our modern intellectual radicalism. The voice was
+faint, but what I heard made Newman significant for me. For it implied
+that if faith is eternal, so is skepticism, and that even in the most
+pious mind may be found the healthy poison of doubt.
+Superficially seen, Newman appeared to have abolished doubt. His faith
+was more conservative than that of the orthodox. He surrendered all
+that Victorian life for the narrowest of obscurantisms. The reasons
+he found for his course only riveted him impregnably to the rock of
+unreason. What my mind fastened on, however, was the emotional impulse
+that led him to his tortuous way. One detected there in him that same
+sinister note one feels in Pascal. It is a reasonableness that eats
+away at belief until it finally destroys either it or you. It is an
+uncanny honesty of soul which, struggling utterly for faith, saves it
+only by unconsciously losing it. For if you win your way through to
+belief by sheer intellectual force, you run the risk of over-reaching
+your belief. You do not know that you have passed it, but you have
+really dispensed with its use. If you are honest in mind and religious
+in temperament, you find yourself reduced to the naked reality of
+religion. You are left with only the most primitive mysticism of
+feeling. You are one with the primitive savage group. Ineffable
+feeling, ecstatic union with the universe,--this is your state. The
+more religious you become, the more you tear the fabric of your dogma.
+Belief is only for the irreligious. Intellectuality in religion, under
+the guise of fortifying faith, only destroys its foundations. Newman’s
+approach towards the certitude of dogma was really only an approach
+towards the certitude of mysticism. When he thought he was satisfying
+his intellectual doubts, he was satisfying his emotional cravings.
+Intending to buttress dogma, he only assured for himself the mystic
+state.
+How far he really attained mysticism is a fascinating problem for the
+reader of the _Apologia_. Popular impression is probably right that
+he bore to his incredibly lengthened age a pathos of uneasiness and
+sadness. But popular impression is probably wrong in ascribing this
+to lingering remorse or regret. If there was any uncertainty, it was
+not for having left his Anglican position, but for not having seen the
+thing wholly through. Intellectuality still clung around him like a
+cold swathing garment. He probably never attained that pure mysticism
+which his soul craved. One has the impression that Newman’s pathos lay
+in the fact that he never quite became a saint. The official world
+seemed to hang about him hamperingly. One wonders sometimes if he could
+not almost as easily have become a wan sweet pagan as a saint. The
+tragedy of Pascal was that intrinsically he was a pagan. The kind of
+Christianity to which he drove himself was for him the most virulent
+form of moral suicide. The terrible fascination of his _Pensées_
+lies in that relentless closing in of the divine enemy on his human
+“pride,” which might have been, with his intellectual genius, so lusty
+an organ of creativeness and adventure. It was not disease that killed
+him but Christianity. Pascal is an eternal warning from the perils of
+intellectual religion.
+Dogma did not kill Newman, but it did not save him. He was not a
+pagan, but he never became a saint. He never quite got rid of dogma.
+And that is what so fascinates us in his religious technique. For his
+_Apologia_, is really a subtle exposure of infallibility. It shows us
+what the acute intellectuality of a mystic finds to do with dogma.
+The goal towards which he tends is the utter bankruptcy of articulate
+religion. And involved in it is the bankruptcy of institutional
+religion. It is a religious bankruptcy that acts like modern commercial
+bankruptcy. All material assets are relinquished, and you start again
+in business on the old footing. You throw over your dogma but keep the
+mystic experience, which can never be taken away from you. In this way
+the Catholic Church becomes, or could become, eternal. Newman shows a
+way just short of relinquishment. He uses infallibility to liquidate
+his intellectual debts, and then becomes free of his creditors.
+How these attitudes are implied in the _Apologia_ I can only suggest
+through the surprises that a reading brought. The contention had
+always been that Newman’s apostasy was due to feebleness of will, to
+a fatigue in the search for certitude that let him slip into the arms
+of Mother Church. My Protestant training had persistently represented
+every going over to Rome as a surrender of individual integrity. For
+the sake of intellectual peace, one became content to stultify the
+intellect and leave all thinking to the infallible Church. There
+is nothing of intellectual fatigue, however, in Newman. His course
+did not spring from weariness of thinking. He had a most fluent and
+flexible mind, and if he seemed to accept beliefs at which Protestants
+thrilled with frightened incredulity, it was because such an acceptance
+satisfied some deeper need, some surer craving. Read to-day, Newman
+interests not because of the beliefs but because of this deeper desire.
+He had a sure intuition of the uses of infallibility and intellectual
+authority, and of their place in the scheme of things. This is his
+significance for the modern mind. And he is the only one of the great
+religious writers who seems to reach out to us and make contact with
+our modern attitude.
+Newman loved dogma, but it was not dogma that he loved most. It was
+not to quiet a heart that ached with doubt that he passed from the
+Anglican to the Roman Church. As an Anglican Catholic he was quite as
+sure of his doctrine as he was as a Roman Catholic. His most primitive
+craving was not so much for infallibility as for legitimacy. It was
+because the Roman Church was primitive, legitimate, authorized, and the
+Anglican Church yawned in spots, that he made his reluctant choice.
+His Anglican brothers would not let him show them the catholicity
+of the Articles. They began to act schismatically, and there was
+nothing to do but join the legitimate order and leave them to their
+vulgar insufficiencies. This one gets from the _Apologia_. But this
+craving, one feels, sprang not from cowardice but from a sense of
+proportion. Newman was frankly a conservative. Here was a mind that
+lived in the most exciting of all intellectual eras, when all the
+acuteness of England was passing from orthodoxy to liberalism. Newman
+deliberately went in the other direction. But he went because he
+valued certain personal and spiritual things to which he saw the new
+issues would be either wholly irrelevant or fatally confusing. One
+of the best things in the _Apologia_ is the appendix on Liberalism,
+where Newman, with the clarity of the perfect enemy, sums up the new
+faith. Each proposition outrages some aspect of legitimacy which is
+precious to him, yet his intuition--he wrote it not many years after
+the Reform Bill--has put in classic form what is the Nicene Creed of
+liberal religion. No liberal ever expressed liberalism so justly and
+concisely. Newman understands this modern creed as perfectly as he
+flouts it. So Pascal’s uncanny analysis of human pride led him only to
+self-prostration.
+Why did Newman disdain liberalism? He understood it, and he did not
+like it. His deathless virtue lies in his disconcerting honesty. The
+air was full of strange new cries that he saw would arrest the Church.
+She would have to explain, defend, interpret, on a scale far larger
+than had been done for centuries. She would have to make adjustment
+to a new era. Theology would be mingled with sociology. The church of
+the spirit would be challenged with social problems, would be called
+down into a battling arena of life. Newman’s intuition saw that the
+challenge of liberalism meant a worried and harassed Church. He was
+not interested in social and political questions. The old order had a
+fixed charm for him. It soothed and sustained his life, and it was in
+his own life that he was supremely interested. He loved dogma, but he
+loved it as a priceless jewel that one does not wear. His emotion was
+not really any more entangled in it than it was in social problems.
+Given an established order that made his personal life possible, what
+he was interested in was mystical meditation, the subtle and difficult
+art of personal relations, and the exquisite ethical problems that
+arise out of them.
+Newman’s position was one of sublime common-sense. He saw that the
+Protestant Church would be engaged for decades in the doleful task of
+reconciling the broadening science with the old religious dogma. He
+knew that this was ludicrous. He saw that liberalism was incompatible
+with dogma. But mostly he saw that the new social and scientific turn
+of men’s thinking was incompatible with the mellowed mystical and
+personal life where lay his true genius. So, with a luminous sincerity,
+following the appeal of his talents, he passed into the infallible
+Church which should be a casket for the riches of his personal life.
+He was saved thus from the sin of schism, and from the sin of adding
+to that hopeless confusion of intellectual tongues which embroiled the
+English world for the rest of the century. The Church guaranteed the
+established order beneath him, blotted out the sociological worries
+around him, and removed the incubus of dogma above him. Legitimacy
+and infallibility did not imprison his person or his mind. On the
+contrary, they freed him, because they abolished futilities from his
+life. Nothing is clearer from the _Apologia_ than Newman’s sense of the
+hideous vulgarity of theological discussion. He uses infallibility to
+purge himself of that vulgarity. He uses it in exactly the way that it
+should rightly be employed. The common view is that dogma is entrusted
+to the Church because its truth is of such momentous import as to make
+fatal the risk of error through private judgment. The Church is the
+mother who suckles us with the precious milk of doctrine without which
+we should die. Through ecclesiastical infallibility dogma becomes the
+letter and spirit of religion, bony structure and life-blood.
+But Newman’s use of infallibility was as a storage vault in which one
+puts priceless securities. They are there for service when one wishes
+to realize on their value. But in the business of daily living one
+need not look at them from one year to another. Infallibility is the
+strong lock of the safety-vault. It is a guarantee not of the value of
+the wealth but of its protection. The wealth must have other grounds
+for its valuableness, but one is assured that it will not be tampered
+with. By surrendering all your dogmas to the keeper-Church, you win,
+not certitude--for your treasures are no more certain inside the vault
+than they are in your pocket--but assurance that you will not have to
+see your life constantly interrupted by the need of defending them
+against burglars, or of proving their genuineness for the benefit of
+inquisitive and incredulous neighbors. The suspicion is irresistible
+that Newman craved infallibility not because dogma was so supremely
+significant to him, but because it was so supremely irrelevant. Nothing
+could be more revealing than his acceptance of the doctrine of the
+Immaculate Conception. He has no trouble whatever in believing this
+belated and hotly-disdained dogma. Because it is essential to his
+understanding of heaven and hell, eternity and the ineffable God?
+On the contrary, because it is so quintessentially irrelevant to
+anything that really entangles his emotions. His tone in acknowledging
+his belief is airy, almost gay. He seems to feel no implications in
+the belief. It merely rounds off a logical point in his theology. It
+merely expresses in happy metaphor a poetical truth. To him there is no
+tyranny in the promulgation of this new dogma. Infallibility, he seems
+to suggest, removes from discussion ideas that otherwise one might be
+weakly tempted to spend unprofitable hours arguing about.
+And nothing could be more seductive than his belief in
+Transubstantiation. Science, of course, declares this transmutation
+of matter impossible. But science deals only with phenomena.
+Transubstantiation has to do not with phenomena but with
+things-in-themselves. And what has science to say about the inner
+reality of things? Science itself would be the first to disclaim any
+such competence. Why, therefore, should not the Church know as much
+as anybody about the nature of this thing-in-itself? Why is it not as
+easy to believe the Church’s testimony as to the nature of things as
+it is to believe any testimony? Such dogma is therefore unassailable
+by science. And if it cannot be criticized it might just as well be
+infallible. The papal guarantee does not invade science. It merely
+prëempts an uncharted region. It infringes no intellectual rights.
+It steps in merely to withdraw from discussion ideas which would
+otherwise be misused. Infallibility Newman uses as a shelf upon which
+to store away his glowing but pragmatically sterile theological ideas,
+while down below in the arena are left for discussion the interesting
+aspects of life. He is at great pains to tell us that the Church is
+infallible only in her expressly declared doctrine. It is only over a
+few and definite dogmas that she presides infallibly. You surrender to
+infallibility only those cosmic ideas it would do you no good to talk
+of anyway. In the vast overflowing world of urgent practical life you
+are free to speculate as you will. Underneath the eternal serene of
+dogma is the darting vivid web of casuistry. Relieved of the inanity
+of theological discussion, the Catholic may use his intellect on the
+human world about him. That is why we are apt to find in the Catholic
+the acute psychologist, while the Protestant remains embroiled in weary
+dialectics.
+Such a use of infallibility as Newman implies exposes the fallacy
+of the Protestant position. For as soon as you have removed this
+healthy check to theological embroilment you have opened the way to
+intellectual corruption. As soon as you admit the right of individual
+judgment in theological matters you have upset the balance between
+dogma and life. The Catholic consigns his dogmas to the infallible
+Church and speculates about the pragmatic issues of the dynamic
+moral life. The Protestant on the other hand, encases himself in
+an iron-bound morality and gives free rein to his fancy about the
+eternal verities. The Catholic is empirical in ethics and dogmatic
+in theology. The Protestant is dogmatic in ethics and more and more
+empirical in theology. He speculates where it is futile to speculate,
+because in supernatural matters you can never come by evidence to
+any final, all-convincing truth. But he refuses to speculate where
+a decent skepticism and a changing adjustment to human nature would
+work out attitudes towards conduct that make for flowering and growth.
+The Protestant infallibility of morals is the cruellest and least
+defensible of all infallibilities. Protestantism passes most easily
+into that fierce puritan form which constrains both conduct and belief.
+The Protestant inevitably gravitates either towards puritanism or
+towards unitarianism. The one petrifies in a harsh and narrow moral
+code, the ordering of conduct by the most elderly, least aesthetic,
+dullest and gloomiest elements in the community. The other mingles in
+endless controversy over the attributes of deity, the history of its
+workings in the world, and the power of the supernatural. Religion
+becomes a village sewing-society, in which each member’s life is
+lived in the fearful sight of all the others, while the tongues clack
+endlessly about rumors that can never be proved and that no one outside
+will ever find the slightest interest in having proved.
+If the Catholic Church had used infallibility in the way that Newman
+did, its influence could never have been accused of oppression.
+There need never have been any warfare between theology and science.
+Infallibility affords the Church an adroit way of continuing its
+spiritual existence while it permits free speculation in science and
+ethics to go on. Suppose the Church in its infallibility had not
+stuck to dogma. Suppose the reformers had been successful, and the
+Church had accepted early scientific truth. Suppose it had refused
+any longer to insist on correctness in theological belief but had
+insisted on correctness in scientific belief. Suppose the dogmas
+of the Resurrection had made way for the first crude imperfect
+generalizations in physics. Imagine the hideousness of a world where
+scientific theories had been declared infallible by an all-powerful
+Church! Our world’s safety lay exactly in the Church’s rejection of
+science. If the Church had accepted science, scientific progress would
+have been impossible. Progress was possible only by ignoring the
+Church. Knowledge about the world could only advance through accepting
+gratefully the freedom which the Church tacitly offered in all that
+fallible field of the technique of earthly living. What progress we
+have we owe not to any overcoming or converting of the Church but to a
+scrupulous ignoring of her.
+In punishing heresy the Church worked with a sound intuition. For a
+heretic is not a man who ignores the Church. He is one who tries to
+mix his theology and science. He could not be a heretic unless he
+were a victim of muddy thinking, and as a muddy thinker he is as much
+a nuisance to secular society as he is to the Church against which
+he rebels. He is the officious citizen who tries to break into the
+storage-vault with the benevolent intention of showing that the jewels
+are paste. But all he usually accomplishes is to set the whole town by
+the ears. The constructive daily life of the citizens is interrupted
+in a flood of idle gossip. It is as much to the interest of the
+intelligent authorities, who have important communal projects on hand,
+to suppress him as it is to the interest of the owner of the jewels.
+Heresy is fundamentally the error of trying to reconcile new knowledge
+with old dogma. The would-be heretic could far more wisely ignore
+theology altogether and pursue his realistic knowledge in the aloofness
+which it requires. If there is still any theological taint in him, he
+should not dabble in science at all. If there is none, the Church will
+scarcely feel itself threatened and he will not appear as a heretic.
+On the pestiferousness of the heretic both the Church and the most
+modern realist can agree. Let theology deal with its world of dogma.
+Let science deal with its world of analysable and measurable fact. Let
+them never touch hands or recognize even each other’s existence.
+The intellectual and spiritual chaos of the nineteenth century was
+due to the prevalence of heresy which raged like an epidemic through
+Europe. Minds which tried to test their new indubitable knowledge by
+the presuppositions of faith were bound to be disordered and to spread
+disorder around them. Faith and science tap different planes of the
+soul, elicit different emotional currents. It is when the Church has
+acted from full realization of this fact that it has remained strong.
+Protestantism, trying to live in two worlds at the same time, has swept
+thousands of excellent minds into a spiritual limbo where, in their
+vague twilight realm of a modernity which has not quite sacrificed
+theology, they have ceased to count for intellectual or spiritual light.
+Perhaps the most pathetic of heresies is the “modernism” which is
+spreading through the French and Italian Church. For this effort to
+bring unitarian criticism into Catholic theology, to make over the
+dogmas from within, to apply reason to the unreasonable, is really
+the least “modern” of enterprises. It is only a belated Protestant
+reformation, and if it succeeds it could do little more than add
+another Protestant sect to the existing multitude. It would not in
+the least have modernized Catholicism, for the most modern attitude
+which one can take towards the Church is to ignore it entirely, to
+cease to feel its validity in the new humane, democratic world that is
+our vision. In other words, to take towards it exactly the attitude
+which it takes towards itself. This is its strength. It has never
+hesitated to accept pragmatic truth that was discovered by others.
+The Catholic makes use of whatever scientific, industrial, political,
+sociological development works, and adjusts himself without discomfort
+to a dynamic world. He makes no attempt at reconciliation with the
+supernatural. A Catholic hospital uses all the latest medical science
+without exhibiting the least concern over its infallible “truth.” It is
+doubtful whether the Church ever attempted to prevent Catholics from
+adopting anything as long as they did not bother whether it was “true”
+or not. This is the real mischief, to get your infallible divine truth
+confused with your pragmatic human truth. The “modernist” in setting
+about this confusion simply courts that expulsion which is his.
+All this seemed to me implicit in the _Apologia_. But if the use Newman
+made of infallibility destroys the Protestant position, it no less
+destroys the Catholic. For if you use infallibility as a technique for
+getting dogmas into a form in which they are easy to forget, you reduce
+the Church from a repository of truth to a mere political institution.
+When dogma is removed from discussion, religious truth becomes
+irrelevant to life as it is commonly lived. The Church, therefore, can
+touch life only through its political and organizing power, just as any
+human institution touches life. It no longer touches it through the
+divinely inspiring quality of its thought. Intellectually the Church
+will only appeal to those cowed minds which have no critical power
+and demand absolutism in thought. Spiritually it will appeal only to
+temperaments like Newman’s which crave a guarantor for their mystic
+life. Politically it will appeal to the subtle who want power through
+the devious control over human souls. To few other types will it appeal.
+Newman unveils the true paradox of dogma. If, on the one hand, you
+throw it open to individual judgment, you destroy it through the
+futile wranglings of faith which can never be objectively solved.
+If, on the other hand, you declare it infallible, you destroy it by
+slowly sending it to oblivion. Infallibility gets rid of dogma just as
+surely as does private judgment. Under the pretense of consolidating
+the Church in its cosmic rôle, Newman, therefore, has really put it
+in its proper parochial place as a pleasant grouping of souls who are
+similarly affected by a collection of beautiful and vigorous poetic
+ideas. Fundamentally, however, this grouping has no more universal
+significance than any other, than a secret society or any religious
+sect.
+Thus Newman unconsciously anticipates the most modern realist agnostic.
+For the latter would agree that to relegate dogma to the storage-vault
+of infallibility is exactly what ought to be done with dogma. At such
+an infallible as Newman pictures no modern radical need balk. Newman’s
+argument means little more than that infallibility is merely the
+politest way of sending an idea to Nirvana. What more can the liberal
+ask who is finished with theology and all its works? He can accept
+this infallible in even another sense. For there is not a single
+Christian doctrine in which he does not feel a kind of wild accuracy.
+Every Christian dogma has a poetic vigor about it which might just as
+well be called “true” because to deny its metaphorical power would
+certainly be to utter an untruth. Indeed is not poetry the only “truth”
+that can be called infallible? For scientific truth is constantly being
+developed, revised, re-applied. It is only poetry that can think in
+terms of absolutes. Science cannot because it is experimental. But
+poetry may, because each soul draws its own meaning from the words. And
+dogma is poetry.
+To render dogma infallible is to make it something that no longer
+has to be fought for. This attitude ultimately undermines the whole
+structure for belief. If it is only infallible ideas that we are to
+believe, then belief loses all its moral force. It is no longer a
+fierce struggle to maintain one’s intellectual position. Nothing is
+at stake. One is not braced in faith with the hosts of hell assailing
+one’s citadel. To the puritan, belief meant something to be gloweringly
+and tenaciously held against the world, the flesh and the devil. But
+Catholic belief, in the Newman atmosphere, is too sheltered, too safely
+insured, to count excitingly. One only yawns over it, as his own deep
+soul must have secretly yawned over it, and turns aside to the genuine
+issues of life. But this is just what we should do with belief. We are
+passing out of the faith era, and belief, as an intellectual attitude,
+has almost ceased to play an active part in our life. In the scientific
+attitude there is no place whatever for belief. We have no right to
+“believe” anything unless it has been experimentally proved. But if it
+has been proved, then we do not say we “believe” it, because this would
+imply that an alternative was possible. All we do is to register our
+common assent to the new truth’s incontrovertibility. Nor has belief
+any place in the loose, indecisive issues of ordinary living. We have
+to act constantly on insufficient evidence, on the best “opinion” we
+can get. But opinion is not belief, and we are lost if we treat it so.
+Belief is dogmatic, but opinion has value only when it is tentative,
+questioning. The fact is that in modern thinking the attitude of belief
+has given place to what may be called the higher plausibility. Stern,
+rugged conviction which has no scientific background behind it is
+coming to be dealt with rather impatiently by the modern mind. We have
+difficulty in distinguishing it from prejudice. There is no hostility
+to faith, if by “faith” we only mean an emotional core of desire
+driving towards some ideal. But idealism is a very different thing from
+belief. Belief is impelled from behind; it is sterile, fixed. Belief
+has no seeds of progress, no constructive impulse. An ideal, on the
+other hand, is an illumined end towards which our hopes and endeavors
+converge. It looks forward and pulls us along with it. It is ideals and
+not beliefs that motivate the modern mind. It is meaningless to say
+that we “believe” in our ideals. This separates our ideals from us. But
+what they are is just the push of our temperaments towards perfection.
+They are what is most inseparably and intrinsically ourselves. The
+place of a belief which put truth outside of us and made virtue a hard
+clinging to it has been taken by the idealism which merges us with the
+growing end we wish to achieve.
+Newman illustrates the perpetual paradox of ecclesiasticism, that the
+more devoutly you accept the Church the less important you make it.
+As you press closer and closer to its mystic heart, its walls and
+forms and ideas crumble and fade. The better Catholic you are, the
+more insidious your vitiation of Catholicism. So that the Church has
+remained strong only through its stout politicians and not through
+its saints. As a casket for the precious jewel of mysticism, it
+cannot die. But shorn of its political power it shrinks to a poetical
+society of mystics, held together by the strong and earthy bond of
+men who enjoy the easy expression of power over the least intelligent
+and intellectually assertive masses in Western society. The Church
+declines towards its natural limits. No attack on it, no undermining
+of it from within, can destroy religious feeling, for that is an
+organization of sentiments that are incarnate in man. Newman’s emotion,
+whatever his mind may have done, reached through to this eternal heart.
+Implicit in his intellect, however, is that demolition of religious
+intellectuality which has freed our minds for the work of the future.
+He was an unconscious pioneer. Ostensibly reactionary, he reveals in
+his own _Apologia_ an anticipation of our modern outlook. His use of
+infallibility insidiously destroys the foundations of belief.
+IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE 1913-14[1]
+It was my good fortune as holder of the Gilder Fellowship in this
+University to spend in Europe the thirteen months immediately preceding
+the war. I used the opportunity for extensive travel and general
+acclimatization rather than for specialized research, and was thus
+able to get an extensive survey of the European scheme on the eve of
+a cataclysm from which it may emerge entirely altered. No one can
+predict how truly that year will mark the “end of an era.” It seems
+true, however, that most of the tendencies of democracy, social reform,
+and international understanding, to whose development I gave my most
+eager attention, have been snapped off like threads, perhaps never to
+be pieced together again. And the material development, so striking in
+Germany and Italy, the rebuilding of the cities and the undertaking of
+vast communal projects, will be indefinitely checked, from sheer want
+of capital, wasted in the war.
+[1] Report to the Trustees of Columbia University, 1914.
+No one was more innocent than I of the impending horror. In fact,
+this menacing “armed camp” actually seemed to bristle in less sharply
+defined lines when seen at close range. Public opinion seemed far
+less violent than I had expected. In England there was the persistent
+hostility to Compulsory Service, the gnawing compunction at the folly
+of the Boer War, the complete subsidence of the panic over German
+invasion. In France, there was the unyielding opposition to the new
+three-years’ military law, culminating in the radical victory at
+the April parliamentary elections, a clear national expression of
+reluctance at the increased military expenditures; there was the superb
+irony of the French press over the Zabern affair, where one would have
+expected a raging chauvinism; there was the general public deprecation
+of the activities of the royalists, and the constant discrediting of
+their Alsace-Lorraine propaganda. In Italy I had seen the wild outburst
+of reaction against the criminal Tripolitan war, and the great general
+strike of June, a direct popular uprising against war and militarism.
+Perhaps if I had spent the winter in Germany, I should have felt the
+drift towards war, but even there all the opinion I heard was of some
+gigantic slow-moving Slavic pressure, against which defence must be
+made. And if public and press were full of blatant world-defiance, the
+spirit certainly escaped my attention. My mind became quite reconciled
+to the fact of “armed peace.” My imagination unconsciously began to
+envisage armaments as mere frozen symbols of power, grim, menacing and
+costly, yet little more than graphic expressions, in a language that
+all the world could understand, of the relative strength and prestige
+of the nations. In spite of the uniforms that sprinkled the sidewalks
+and the wagon-trains that littered the streets, my imagination simply
+refused to take them as dynamic. And there was little in press and
+people to make me think that they themselves took them as dynamic. How
+I should have acted if I had known of the imminence of the world-war
+I do not know, but in the light of the event my rambles and interests
+take on the aspect of the toddlings of an innocent child about the edge
+of a volcano’s crater.
+I can give, however, a few indications of what such an innocent
+mind might see and feel in Europe, this year of last breathless
+hush before the explosion. I concerned myself with getting, first,
+a clear impression of the physical body in which each country
+clothed itself,--the aspect of town and countryside, villages,
+farms, working-class quarters, factories, suburbs, plans of towns,
+styles of architecture, characteristic types and ways of living, of
+modern Europe; and, second, the attitudes, social and political, of
+various classes, the social psychology of the different peoples. Such
+acquisitions had, of course, to be the merest impressions. One could
+not get “data”; one’s tour could be little more than a perpetual
+“sizing-up.” The best one could do was to settle down in the various
+capitals for a few months, immerse oneself in the newspapers, talk
+with as many people as one could reach, read the contemporary novels
+and plays, attend political meetings and meetings of social reformers,
+go to church and court-house and school and library and university,
+and watch the national life in action. One could only cut oneself off
+from American interests, imagine that one had always lived in the
+foreign city, and try, by a reach of sympathy and appreciation, to
+assimilate the tone and spirit and attitudes of the people among whom
+one was living. Such an effort may result only in the most fantastic
+illusions. I am not trying to boast that I got any understanding of
+European countries,--a matter of years of acquaintance and not of
+months. I am merely indicating an attitude of approach. But it was an
+attitude I found none too common among American students abroad. Among
+the many who were conducting historical and political researches at
+the libraries, I was never able to find any student interested in the
+political meetings of the campaign, for instance, which I attended
+with so much ardor, as a revelation of French social psychology.
+The Americans I saw would have an enthusiasm for particular things,
+perhaps, that they were interested in, a patronizing attitude towards
+certain immoralities and inefficiencies that impressed them, but as for
+a curiosity about the French mind and the French culture as a whole, I
+could not find any interest that flowed along with mine. My curiosity,
+therefore, had to go its own gait. I seemed to have a singular faculty
+for not getting information. Unless one is fortunate enough to step
+into a social group, one must dig one’s way along unaided. By means
+of newspapers and magazines and guide-books, one hews out a little
+passage towards the center of things. Slowly a definite picture is
+built up of the culture and psychology of the people among whom one is
+living. There is no way, however, of checking up one’s impressions.
+One must rely on one’s intuition. Letters of introduction bring out
+only class or professional attitudes. Very few people are socially
+introspective enough to map out for you the mind of the society in
+which they live. Only the French seem to have this self-consciousness
+of their own traits, and the gift of expression, and that is why France
+is incomparably the most interesting and enlightening country for the
+amateur and curious American student to visit.
+These considerations suggest the fact that I wish to bring out,--that
+my most striking impression was the extraordinary toughness and
+homogeneity of the cultural fabric in the different countries,
+England, France, Italy and Germany, that I studied. Each country was
+a distinct unit, the parts of which hung together, and interpreted
+each other, styles and attitudes, literature, architecture, and social
+organization. This idea is of course a truism, yet brought up, as
+most Americans are, I think, with the idea that foreigners are just
+human beings living on other parts of the earth’s surface, “folks”
+like ourselves with accidental differences of language and customs,
+I was genuinely shocked to find distinct national temperaments,
+distinct psychologies and attitudes, distinct languages that embodied,
+not different sounds for the same meanings, but actually different
+meanings. We really know all this; but when we write about the war,
+for instance, we insensibly fall back to our old attitude. Most
+American comment on the war, even the most intelligent, suggests a
+complete ignorance of the fact that there is a German mind, and a
+French mind and an English mind, each a whole bundle of attitudes
+and interpretations that harmonize and support each other. And each
+of these national minds feels its own reasons and emotions and
+justifications to be cosmically grounded, just as we ourselves feel
+that Anglo-Saxon morality is Morality, and Anglo-Saxon freedom Liberty.
+We do, of course, more or less dimly recognize these differences of
+national culture. We no longer think of other nations as “Barbarians,”
+unless they have a national scheme which is as much of a challenge to
+our own social inefficiency as is the German. We express our sense of
+the difference by a constant belittling. Foreigners are not monsters,
+but Lilliputians, dwarfs, playing with toys. We do not take other
+cultures seriously. We tend to dwell on the amusing, the quaint,
+the picturesque, rather than the intense emotional and intellectual
+differences. The opportunity to immerse oneself in these various
+cultures until one feels their powerful and homogeneous strength,
+their meaning and depth, until one takes each with entire seriousness
+and judges it, not in American terms, but in its own,--this is the
+educative value of a rapid, superficial European year such as mine.
+The only American book I have ever been able to find that deals with
+a foreign country in this adequate sense is Mr. Brownell’s “French
+Traits.” Almost all other writing, political, historical, descriptive,
+about European countries, must be read with the constant realization
+that the peculiar emotional and intellectual biases of the people, the
+temperamental traits, the soul which animates all their activities and
+expressions, have all been omitted from consideration by the author.
+I can only give fragmentary hints in this short article of the
+incidents which built up my sense of these differences of national
+cultures. London was the place where I had the best opportunities for
+meeting people through letters of introduction. There were glimpses of
+the Webbs at a meeting of the Fabian Society, which seems to retain the
+allegiance of its old members rather than enlist the enthusiasm of the
+younger generation. At their house Mr. Webb talked, as he lectures,
+with the patient air of a man expounding arithmetic to backward
+children, and Mrs. Webb, passive by his side, spoke only to correct
+some slight slip on his part; there was another picture of her sweeping
+into the _New Statesman_ office and producing a sudden panic of
+reverent awe among the editorial staff. Lectures by Shaw and Chesterton
+on succeeding nights--Shaw, clean, straight, clear and fine as an
+upland wind and summer sun; Chesterton, gluttonous and thick, with
+something tricky and unsavory about him--gave me a personal estimate
+of their contrasted philosophies. Then there was Professor Hobhouse,
+excessively judicial, with that high consciousness of excellence
+which the Liberal professor seems to exude; Graham Wallas, with his
+personal vivacity of expression and lack of any clear philosophy,
+who considered the American sociologist a national disaster; H. G.
+Wells, a suggestive talker, but very disappointing personally; John A.
+Hobson, whom I cannot admire too much, a publicist with immense stores
+of knowledge, poise of mind, and yet radical philosophy and gifts of
+journalistic expression, a type that we simply do not seem to be able
+to produce in this country.
+I expected to find the atmosphere of London very depressing. On the
+contrary, a sort of fatuous cheerfulness seemed to reign everywhere on
+the streets, in middle-class homes, even in the slums. This impressed
+me as the prevailing tone of English life. Wells and Bennett seem to
+have caught it exactly. As for the world that Mr. Galsworthy lives in,
+though I looked hard for his people, I could find nothing with the
+remotest resemblance. Such a tone of optimism is possible only to an
+unimaginative people who are well schooled against personal reactions,
+and against the depressing influences of environment--slums and fog
+and a prevailing stodginess of middle-class life--that would affect
+the moods of more impressionable peoples. In certain educated circles
+this tone gave an impression of incorrigible intellectual frivolity.
+London has fashions in talk. Significant discussion almost did not
+exist. A running fire of ideational badinage, “good talk,” took its
+place. Every idea tended to go up in smoke. You found your tone either
+monstrously prophetic, as of a young Jeremiah sitting at the board, or
+else unpleasantly cynical. Irony does not seem to be known in England.
+The impression one got from the newspapers and magazines and popular
+books was of a sort of exuberant irrelevance, a vivacity of interest
+about matters that seemed quite alien to the personal and social issues
+of life as one knew it. There seemed indeed to be a direct avoidance
+of these issues. One could never discover whether or how much an
+Englishman “cared.” The national mind seemed to have made a sort of
+permanent derangement of intellect from emotion. In no country is so
+large a proportion of the literary product a mere hobby of leisurely
+gentlemen whose interests are quite elsewhere. The literary supplements
+of the newspapers used to contain the greatest collection of futilities
+that I ever saw. One got the impression that the intellectual life of
+the country was “hobbyized,” that ideas were taken as sports, just
+as sports were taken as serious issues. This impression was rather
+confirmed at Oxford, where the anthropologist, Marrett, turned out
+to be a Jersey country gentleman, digging up prehistoric bones on
+his place, and mentioning Chesterton as “entertaining writer--even
+had him down here to lunch, but not a ‘gentleman,’ you know, not a
+‘gentleman.’” Oxford itself seemed to be one long play of schoolboys
+in the soft damp November air. Schiller, who gave me a delightful
+morning, after I had attended his class where the boys came in their
+black gowns and sat at primitive desks in the low room before a blazing
+fire, from which one looked out on mouldering walls and dead ivy and
+the pale morning sun and wan sweet decay, drew a wicked picture of the
+dons satisfying their thwarted sporting instincts by putting their
+boys through their intellectual paces and pitting them against each
+other in scholastic competition like race-horses. Mr. McDougall, large
+and with an Irish courtliness, I heard and liked, and Mr. L. P. Jacks
+talked with me at Manchester College. A meeting of the Fabians at St.
+John’s and a lecture by Mrs. Pember Reeves on “Coöperation” attracted
+me, with her dramatic flaring out at the stolid audience for their
+“English” lack of imagination--she came from New Zealand--the inanely
+facetious comments of the dons, the lumbering discourses of certain
+beefy burgesses from the local “Coöperative,” who had not followed well
+the lady’s nimble thought. Every little incident of the Oxford week of
+classes and rambles fitted into a picture of the place as a perfect
+epitome of English life, past and present. It was even more than London
+a world.
+Politically, London was dead that autumn. No parliament, and every one
+weary of politics. The bitter Dublin strike dragged along with its
+reverberations through the English labor situation, which showed unrest
+and dissatisfaction with its leaders and much more of “syndicalist”
+leaning than any one would admit. A debate, heard later in Paris,
+hit the English labor situation off beautifully,--Longuet, arguing
+that there was no syndicalism in England because all the leaders had
+written him there wasn’t; Joyaux, arguing that there was, because the
+unions were using forms of “direct action” and acting exactly “as if”
+syndicalist ideas were spreading.
+The Lloyd George land campaign for the bettering of rural labor
+conditions was beginning, but was arousing so little enthusiasm that,
+with the intense dissatisfaction over the Insurance Acts that rose from
+every class, one wondered if the energy of the Liberal social program
+had about spent itself. The London press, solidly Tory--extraordinary
+situation for a Liberal country--was finding, besides its social
+grievances, the Ulster theme to play upon. Indefatigable industry,
+worthy of a better cause, was apparently being exercised to drum up
+reluctant English sentiment against Home Rule. All that autumn we lived
+ostensibly on the brink of a civil war, whose first mutterings did not
+even occur till the next July.
+The suffragettes were quiescent, but their big meetings at
+Knightsbridge gave one a new insight into the psychology of the
+movement. As one watched this fusion of the grotesque and the tragic,
+these pale martyrs carried in amidst the reverent hush of a throng as
+mystically religious as ever stood around the death-bed of a saint; or
+as one heard the terrific roars of “Shame!” that went up at the mention
+of wrongs done to women, one realized that one was in the presence of
+English emotion, long starved and dried from its proper channels of
+expression, and now breaking out irrepressibly into these new and wild
+ways. It was the reverse side of the idolized English “reticence.” It
+was a pleasant little commentary on the Victorian era. Suffragettism
+is what you get when you turn your whole national psychic energy into
+divorcing emotion from expression and from intellect.
+A hysterical Larkin meeting in Albert Hall; meetings of the Lansbury
+people in the East End, with swarms of capped, cheerful, dirty, stodgy
+British workmen; a big Churchill meeting at Alexandra Palace, from
+which seventeen hecklers were thrown out, dully, one after the other,
+on their heads, after terrific scrimmages in the audience; quieter
+lectures at the Sociological Society, etc.; churches and law-courts,
+and tutorial classes, and settlements, and garden cities, and talks
+with many undistinguished people, rounded out my London impression, and
+in December I moved my stage to Paris.
+The weeks of getting a hearing acquaintance with the language were
+spent in reading sociology at the Bibliothèque Ste. Geneviève,
+exchanging conversation with students at the Sorbonne, and attending
+still not understood lectures, in the hope that some day the electric
+spark of apprehension might flash. I soon felt an intellectual
+vivacity, a sincerity and candor, a tendency to think emotions and feel
+ideas, that integrated again the spiritual world as I knew it, and
+wiped out those irrelevances and facetiousnesses and puzzle-interests
+and sporting attitudes towards life, that so got on one’s nerves
+in England. Here was also a democracy, not a society all shot into
+intellectual and social castes, where one lived shut in with ideas and
+attitudes that, like the proverbial ostrich, annihilated the rest of
+the world. In England, unless you were a “social reformer,” you did
+not know anything about anybody but your own class; in France there
+seemed to be scarcely any social reformers, but everybody assumed an
+intelligent interest in everything. In short, a democracy, where you
+criticized everything and everybody, and neither attempted to “lift”
+the “lower orders” nor “ordered yourself lowly and reverently towards
+your betters.” There was a solid, robust air of equality, which one
+felt in no other country, certainly not our own. The labor movement
+had an air of helping itself, and its leaders showed an intellectuality
+that ranked them with the professional men. In fact, the distinction
+between the “intellectual” and the non-intellectual seems to have
+quite broken down in France. Manners, styles of speech, pronunciation,
+ideas, the terms in which things are phrased, seem to flow rather
+freely over all the classes. Class-distinctions, which hit you in the
+face in England and America--I mean, differences of manner and speech,
+attitudes of contempt or admiration for other types--are much blurred.
+The language has remained simple, pure, usable without the triteness
+and vulgarity which dogs English, and which constitutes the most subtle
+evidence of our inherent Anglo-Saxon snobbery. It was a new world,
+where the values and the issues of life got reinstated for me into
+something of their proper relative emphasis.
+With few letters of introduction, acclimatization was much more
+difficult than in London. One had to hew one’s way around by the aid
+of the newspapers. These are infinitely more expressive of every
+shade of political opinion than is the London press. They provided
+a complete education in the contemporary world. Supplemented by
+the interesting symposiums in the reviews, and the mapping-out of
+the various French intellectual worlds which the young _agrégés_
+and instructors I met were always eager to give me, the Paris press
+provided a witty, interpretative daily articulation of the French
+mind at work. It is a very self-conscious and articulate mind,
+interested in the psychological artistic aspects of life rather than
+the objective active aspects which appeal to the English. Life to
+the Anglo-Saxon is what people are doing; to the Latin, rather the
+stream of consciousness, what individuals and also what groups are
+thinking and feeling. This all makes for clear thinking, constant
+interpretation--I noticed that my young lawyer friend was all the
+time saying “Voilà! mon explication!”--and an amount of what might be
+called social introspection that makes France the easiest as well as
+the most stimulating country to become acquainted with. The French are
+right in telling you that their scholarship is not the collection of
+insignificant facts, but the interpretation of significant ones, the
+only kind of scholarship that is worth anything.
+In Paris, I continued my general policy of running down the various
+social institutions, churches, courts, schools, political meetings,
+model tenements, etc., in order to get, at least, a taste of French
+society in operation. I poked about the various quarters of town and
+countryside, and talked to as many people as I could meet. After the
+lectures at the Sorbonne became intelligible, I followed the public
+courses of Bouglé and Delacroix and Burkheim in sociology, and when
+the campaign for the parliamentary election came I plunged into that,
+following the bulletin boards of the parties, with their flaring
+manifestoes--among them the royalists’ “A Bas La République!” calmly
+left posted on the government’s own official bulletin-board, as
+evidence of the most superb political tolerance I suppose any country
+has ever shown!--and attending the disorderly meetings held in the
+dingy playrooms of the public schoolhouses or in crowded cafés. French
+freedom of speech has been struggled for too long not to be prized
+when won, and the refusal to silence interrupters made each meeting a
+contest of wits and eloquence between the speaker and his audience. The
+most extraordinary incident of “fair play” I ever saw--Anglo-Saxons
+simply do not know what “fair play” is--was at one of Bouglé’s
+meetings, where the chairman allowed one of his political opponents,
+who had repeatedly interrupted Bouglé, to take the platform and hold
+it for half an hour, attacking Bouglé and stating his own creed. When
+he had finished Bouglé took him up point by point, demolished him, and
+went on with his own exposition. This at his own meeting, called by his
+own Radical Party, to forward his candidature! When I left at 12:45 A.
+M. the meeting was still in progress. At a Socialist meeting an old
+Catholic, looking exactly like Napoleon III, was allowed to hold forth
+for several minutes from a chair, until the impatient audience howled
+him off. _Young normaliennes_, representing the suffrage movement,
+appeared at meetings of all the parties, and were given the platform
+to plead the cause of women as long as the crowd would listen. These
+young girls were treated exactly as men; there was no trace of either
+chivalry or vulgarity, the audience reacted directly and intensely to
+their ideas and not to them. The first impulse of a Frenchman actually
+seems to be, when he hears something he doesn’t like, not to stop
+the other fellow’s mouth, but to answer him, and not with a taunt,
+or disarming wit, but with an argument. In the Chamber of Deputies
+the same spirit prevailed. The only visible signs of parliamentary
+order were Deschanel’s clashing of his big bell and his despairing
+“Voulez-vous écouter! Voulez-vous écouter!” The speaker in the tribune
+held it as long as he was permitted by his hearers; his interrupter
+would himself be interrupted and would exchange words across the
+chamber while the official speaker looked resignedly on. The Left would
+go off as one man in violent explosions of wrath, shake their fists
+at the Center, call out epithets. Yet this was a dull session that
+I saw, only a matter of raising the pay of generals. Certainly the
+campaign of that election against the new Three Years’ Military Law
+seems very far away now. The crowd outside the Mairie of the Vᵐᵉ the
+night of the election shouting “A--Bas--Les-Trois-Ans,” in the same
+rhythmic way that the law-students a few weeks earlier had marched down
+rue St. Jacques yelling “Cail--laux--as-sassin!” knew no more than I
+how soon they would need this defence of more soldiers. The cheers of
+the crowd as the splendid cortege of the English sovereigns swept
+along the streets seem more important than they did to me at the time.
+Doumergue’s stand-pat ministry, with which my stay in Paris almost
+exactly coincided, and during which the income-tax, lay-instruction,
+and proportional representation issues slowly made progress, appears
+now in the light of a holding everything safe till the election was
+over, and the President could stem the tide of reaction against the new
+military laws. France was waiting for the blow to fall that might be
+mortal.
+On the first of May I was in Nîmes, delightful Southern city,--where
+gaunt Protestants gave out tracts in the cars, and newspapers devoted
+to bull-fighting graced the news-stands,--reading the big red posters
+of the socialist mayor, summoning all the workmen to leave off work and
+come out to celebrate the International. Indeed a foreign land!
+I arrived in Genoa the evening the Kaiser landed from Corfu, and
+witnessed the pompous and important event. In Pisa, I stepped into
+a demonstration of students, who were moving rapidly about the city
+closing the schools and making speeches to each other, as a protest
+against harsh treatment of Italians by the Austrian government in
+Trieste, the passionate _leit motiv_ of Italia Irredenta that runs
+through all current Italian thought and feeling. In Florence I began to
+understand “futurism,” that crude and glaring artistic expression which
+arises from the intolerable ennui of the ancient art with which the
+young Italian is surrounded, the swarms of uncritical foreigners, the
+dead museums. That Mona Lisa smile of Florence drove me soon to Rome,
+where I sensed the real Italy, with its industrial and intellectual
+ferment, its new renaissance of the twentieth century.
+Rome is not a city, it is a world. Every century, from the first to the
+twentieth, has left its traces. It is the one city in Europe to study
+western civilization, an endless source of suggestion, stimulation and
+delight. It is the one city where the ancient and the ultra-modern live
+side by side, both brimming over with vitality. The Church and the most
+advanced and determined body of social revolutionists living side by
+side; the Vatican galleries faced by the futurist; a statue of Ferrer
+just outside Bernini’s colonnade; rampant democracy confronting Prince
+Colonnas and Borgheses; Renaissance palaces, and blocks of monstrous
+apartments built in the mad speculation after 1870; all the tendencies
+and ideas of all Europe contending there in Rome, at once the most
+ancient and the most modern city we know. What is a month in Rome!
+I could do little more than disentangle the political currents, get
+familiar with certain names in the intellectual world, and plot
+out the city, historically and sociologically, after a fashion. A
+noted psychologist, Dr. Assagioli in Florence, had gone over the
+philosophical situation for me; and in Rome, Professor Pettazoni of
+the university told me of the political tendencies. A young Modernist
+priest, discharged from his theological professorship for suspected
+connection with the “Programma,” who talked about as much English as I
+did Italian, proved very friendly and informing, and gave me a sense
+of that vast subterranean, resistless, democratizing and liberalizing
+movement in the Church. Various types, Italian cavalry officers,
+professors of pedagogy, Sicilian lawyers, an emotional law student
+from Lecce, who took me to the university and talked republicanism to
+me, passed through the pension. And in Rome anyway you simply seeped
+Italy in, from the newspapers, as vivid and varied as those in Paris,
+and the host of little democratic and political weeklies, most of
+them recent, but fervent and packed with ideas that indicated a great
+ferment of young intellectual Italy. The young Florentine Papini gives
+in his picturesque books the picture of the Italian soul struggling
+with French, English and German ideas, and trying to hew some sort
+of order out of the chaos. One got the impression that Nietzsche was
+raging through the young Italian mind. But I was all for the candor and
+sympathy and personality of this expression. Papers like “La Voce,”
+published by Papini’s friends, have an idealistic sweep such as we
+simply cannot imagine or, I suppose, appreciate in this country. I had
+touched a different national mind. Expressions which seem wild to us
+fell there into their proper and interpretative order.
+My impression was that almost anything might happen in Italy. While
+I was in Rome, the Pope was drawing protests from even the most
+conservative clerical dailies for his obscurantism. The country seemed
+to be disillusionizing itself about representative government, which,
+though it had become perfectly democratic, and had the most sweeping
+program of social reform, was clumsy and ineffective, and had utterly
+failed to carry out the popular hopes. The Crown scarcely seemed to be
+taken much more seriously than in Norway. Republican sentiment cropped
+up in unexpected places. Nationalism grew apace, cleverly stimulated
+by the new capitalistic bourgeoisie and the new industry, which first
+impressed you as you came through the long string of gayly-colored,
+swarming factory towns on the coast between Ventimiglia and Genoa.
+Political parties, Nationalist, Constitutionalist, Republican,
+Socialist, etc., seemed as numerous as in France, but there was not the
+same fluctuation, for the expert governmental hand kept a majority, in
+the Camera. This body gave little of the impression of dignity that one
+had felt in the French Chamber. One felt that while in Italy democratic
+feeling was almost as genuine and universal as in France, political
+democracy had by no means proved its worth. That Latin passion for
+intellectual sincerity and articulation--that quality which makes the
+Latin the most sympathetic and at the same time the most satisfactory
+person in the world, because you can always know that his outward
+expression bears some relation to his inward feeling--had resulted, as
+in France, in the duplication of parties, which were constantly holding
+congresses and issuing programs, and then splitting up into dissentient
+groups. This trait may be unfortunate politically; but it certainly
+makes for sincerity and intelligence, and all the other virtues which
+our Anglo-Saxon two-party system is well devised to destroy.
+This Latin quality of not being reticent, of reacting directly and
+truthfully, had its most dramatic expression in the great general
+strike of June, which I witnessed in Rome. Disgust and chagrin at
+the Tripolitan war, a general reaction against militarism, had been
+slowly accumulating in the working classes, and the smouldering feeling
+was touched off into a revolutionary explosion by the shooting of
+two demonstrators at Ancona by the police on the festival day of the
+Statuto. This was followed in Rome, as in most of the other cities
+of Italy, by a complete suspension of work. No cars or wagons moved
+for three days; no shops or stores opened their doors; none of the
+public services were performed; the only newspaper was a little red
+“bolletino” which told of the riots of the day before. One did nothing
+but walk the garbage-littered streets, past the shuttered windows and
+barricaded doors, and watch the long lines of infantry surrounding
+the public squares, and the mounted carabinieri holding the Piazza
+del Popolo, to prevent meetings and demonstrations. The calm spirit
+of the troops, surrounded by the excited crowds, was admirable. And
+the overwhelming expression of social solidarity displayed by this
+suspended city made one realize that here were radical classes that had
+the courage of their convictions. On the third day, the conservative
+classes recovered their breath, and I saw the slightly fearful
+demonstration of shouting youths who moved down the Via del Tritone
+while great Italian flags swung out from one window after another,
+greeted with wild hand-clapping from every thronged bourgeois balcony.
+The next day the darting trolley-cars told the strike was over, but
+two days later I alighted at the Naples station into a fortress held
+by Bersaglieri against a mob who had been trying all day to burn the
+station. The shooting kept us inside until the last rioters were
+dispersed, and the great protest was over, though it was days before
+the people of the Romagna, where railroads and telegraphs were cut,
+were convinced that the monarchy had not fallen and a republic been
+proclaimed. The government had kept very quiet, except for the floods
+of oratory that rolled through the Camera; if it had not, there might
+have been a real revolution, instead of merely the taste and thrill of
+one.
+My last political experience in Italy was election night in Venice,
+with the triumph of the conservatives, who had made no bones of the
+economic interpretation of politics, but had placarded the city with
+posters recalling to gondolieri, hotel-keepers and shop-keepers, the
+exact amount of money they had lost by reason of the general strike and
+the wild scurry of foreigners out of the country. This rather appalling
+sum was apparently a final and clinching argument, and we heard the
+gratitude of the Patriarch from his balcony by San Marco expressed to
+the citizens who had “saved” their country. Such incidents are symbols
+of the candors and delights of the Latin temperament and of everything
+in the Latin countries.
+Switzerland, besides its holidaying, contributed the Bern Exposition,
+the intensely significant spectacle of a nation looking at itself.
+If, as was said, every Swiss schoolchild saw the exposition not once
+but three times, our day was one of those times. All Switzerland was
+there studying and enjoying itself. In this little epitome of its life,
+one had a sense of the refreshing value of living in a small country
+where its activities and spirit could all, in some sort of fashion, be
+grasped, understood, contemplated, as one might a large picture. Most
+suggestive, perhaps, were the great water-power development projects,
+electrical engineering schemes, and mountain railroading, planned ahead
+in a broad way for fifty years or so. A country that knew what it was
+about, that knew how to use its resources for large social ends!
+My German tour of the last two weeks of July, cut short by the war,
+was more definitely sociological. I had been through the Rhine country
+to Heidelberg, Stuttgart, and Munich, the preceding summer. This trip
+went straight north from Friedrichshafen to Berlin. There were the
+famous town-planned cities to be seen, and housing-schemes, which I had
+followed rather closely in all the countries, and a general “sizing-up”
+of German “Kultur.” I missed my settling down in Berlin; newspapers
+and people had to be taken on the wing. But then the German spirit and
+expression was much more familiar to me through study than had been the
+French and Italian. My most striking impression was of the splendor of
+the artistic renaissance, as shown particularly in the new architecture
+and household and decorative and civic art. These new and opulent
+styles are gradually submerging that fearful debauch of bad taste which
+followed the French war, and which makes the business quarters of the
+German cities so hideous. But the newer quarters, monuments, public
+buildings of the last ten years have a massive, daring style which
+marks an epoch in art. I have yet to come across an American who likes
+this most recent German architecture; but to me buildings like the
+University at Jena, the Stuttgart theater, the Tietz shops, etc., with
+their heavy concrete masses and soaring lines, speak of perfectly new
+and indigenous ideas. And if artistic creation is a mark of a nation’s
+vitality, the significance of this fine flare and splurge of German
+style, the endless fecundity of decorative design in printing and
+furniture, etc., the application of design to the laying out of towns
+and suburbs, the careful homogeneity and integrity of artistic idea,
+should not be overlooked. These things are fertile, are exhilarating
+and make for the enhancement of life. The Germans are acting exactly
+as if they no longer believed, as we do, that a high quality of urban
+life can be developed in a rag-tag chaos of undistinguished styles and
+general planlessness.
+Specifically, I visited the municipal workingmen’s cottages in Ulm
+and saw the town-planning charts of the city in the office of the
+_Stadtbaurat_; the huge apartments, municipally built and owned,
+in Munich; the big _Volksbad_ in Nuremberg, and the garden-city
+workingmen’s suburb at Lichtenhof, with the schoolchildrens’ garden
+allotments; the model garbage-disposal plant at Furth, a miracle of
+scientific resource and economy; the extraordinary model municipal
+slaughter-house at Dresden, so characteristically German with its
+_Schlachthof_ and _Direktorhaus_ at the entrance; and, lastly the
+famous garden-city of Hellerau, inferior, however, on the whole, to
+the English Hampstead Suburb at Golders Green. Towns like Rothenburg
+and Nordlingen were little laboratories of mediæval and modern
+town-planning. The _Stadtbaurat_ at Rothenburg went over for us the
+development of the city, and gave us considerable insight into the
+government, policy and spirit of a typical little German municipality.
+Undemocratic in political form, yet ultra-democratic in policy and
+spirit, scientific, impartial, giving the populace--who seemed to have
+no sense of being excluded from “rights”--what they really wanted, far
+more truly than our democracies seem to be able to secure, this epitome
+of the German political scheme served to convince us that we were in a
+world where our ordinary neat categories of political thought simply
+didn’t apply. It was futile to attempt an interpretation in Anglo-Saxon
+terms. There was no objective evidence of the German groaning under
+“autocracy” and “paternalism.” One found oneself for the first time in
+the presence of a government between whom and the people there seemed
+to exist some profound and subtle sympathy, a harmony of spirit and
+ends.
+It was dramatic to sweep up through the endless billowing fields and
+carefully tended forests and imposing factory towns--Germany, caught at
+mid-summer, in the full tide of prosperity--and come into Berlin on
+the morning of “the historic day,” July 31st, 1914, with the agitated
+capital on the brink of war; to see the arrival of the Kaiser and
+the princes at the Schloss; to watch the Crown Prince’s automobile
+blocked twenty feet away from us by the cheering crowd;--“der _wahre_
+Kriegesmann,” as the papers were calling him in contemptuous contrast
+to his peaceful father; to hear the speech of the latter--grim,
+staccato-voiced, helmeted figure, very symbol of war--from the balcony
+of the palace; to watch next day the endless files of reservists
+marching through the streets to the casernes to “einkleiden”; and
+then to hear the finally fatal news of Russia’s refusal with the
+swarming crowds on Unter den Linden, hysterical from both fervor and
+anxiety. If ever there was a tense and tragic moment, when destiny
+seemed concentrated into a few seconds of time, it was that 5 P. M. on
+the afternoon of August first, at the corner of Unter den Linden and
+Friedrichstrasse, in Berlin.
+A midnight flight to Sweden, with a motley horde of scared Russians
+and Scandinavians, and two weeks in the distressed and anxious
+northern countries ended my year. Nothing but the war; regiments
+of flaxen-haired Danish boys, mobilizing along the country roads of
+Denmark, the _Landsturm_ lolling along the Stockholm streets, even the
+Norwegians drilling against none knew what possible attack. The heavens
+had fallen. An interview with Herr Branting, the Swedish Socialist
+leader, and the depth of his personal feeling and the moving eloquence
+with which he went over the wreck of socialist and humanitarian hopes,
+gave us the vividest sense of the reverberations of the shock on a
+distinguished cosmopolitan mind. The librarian of the Royal Library
+in Copenhagen, the pastor of the Swedish church, and the editor of
+“Dagens Nyheter,” in Stockholm, whom we were able to talk with, very
+kindly answered our questions on Scandinavian affairs. And we have
+the pleasantest memories of Herr Hambro in Christiania, editor of
+the leading Conservative daily, who had just finished La Follette’s
+autobiography, and would have preferred to talk about America even
+to showing us how the Radical parties in Norway were lording it over
+their opponents. One got the sense in these countries of the most
+advanced civilization, yet without sophistication, a luminous modern
+intelligence that selected and controlled and did not allow itself to
+be overwhelmed by the chaos of twentieth-century possibility. There
+was a mood of both gravity and charm about the quality of the life
+lived, something rather more Latin than Teutonic. This is an intuition,
+reinforced by a sense that nowhere had I seen so many appealing people
+as on the streets of Copenhagen. Valid or not, it was the pleasantest
+of intuitions with which to close my year.
+This sketch, I find, has, in fact, turned out much more impressionistic
+than I intended. But impressions are not meant to be taken as dogmas.
+I saw nothing that thousands of Americans have not seen; I cannot
+claim to have brought back any original contribution. There was only
+the sense of intimate acquaintance to be gained, that feeling of
+at-homeness which makes intelligible the world. To the University which
+made possible the rare opportunity of acquaintance with these various
+countries and cultures, the contact with which has been so incompletely
+suggested in this sketch, my immeasurable thanks!
+TRANS-NATIONAL AMERICA
+No reverberatory effect of the great war has caused American public
+opinion more solicitude than the failure of the “melting-pot.” The
+discovery of diverse nationalistic feelings among our great alien
+population has come to most people as an intense shock. It has brought
+out the unpleasant inconsistencies of our traditional beliefs. We
+have had to watch hard-hearted old Brahmins virtuously indignant at
+the spectacle of the immigrant refusing to be melted, while they jeer
+at patriots like Mary Antin who write about “our forefathers.” We
+have had to listen to publicists who express themselves as stunned
+by the evidence of vigorous nationalistic and cultural movements in
+this country among Germans, Scandinavians, Bohemians, and Poles,
+while in the same breath they insist that the alien shall be forcibly
+assimilated to that Anglo-Saxon tradition which they unquestioningly
+label “American.”
+As the unpleasant truth has come upon us that assimilation in this
+country was proceeding on lines very different from those we had
+marked out for it, we found ourselves inclined to blame those who were
+thwarting our prophecies. The truth became culpable. We blamed the
+war, we blamed the Germans. And then we discovered with a moral shock
+that these movements had been making great headway before the war even
+began. We found that the tendency, reprehensible and paradoxical as it
+might be, has been for the national clusters of immigrants, as they
+became more and more firmly established and more and more prosperous,
+to cultivate more and more assiduously the literatures and cultural
+traditions of their homelands. Assimilation, in other words, instead of
+washing out the memories of Europe, made them more and more intensely
+real. Just as these clusters became more and more objectively American,
+did they become more and more German or Scandinavian or Bohemian or
+Polish.
+To face the fact that our aliens are already strong enough to take
+a share in the direction of their own destiny, and that the strong
+cultural movements represented by the foreign press, schools, and
+colonies are a challenge to our facile attempts, is not, however, to
+admit the failure of Americanization. It is not to fear the failure
+of democracy. It is rather to urge us to an investigation of what
+Americanism may rightly mean. It is to ask ourselves whether our ideal
+has been broad or narrow--whether perhaps the time has not come to
+assert a higher ideal than the “melting-pot.” Surely we cannot be
+certain of our spiritual democracy when, claiming to melt the nations
+within us to a comprehension of our free and democratic institutions,
+we fly into panic at the first sign of their own will and tendency.
+We act as if we wanted Americanization to take place only on our own
+terms, and not by the consent of the governed. All our elaborate
+machinery of settlement and school and union, of social and political
+naturalization, however, will move with friction just in so far as it
+neglects to take into account this strong and virile insistence that
+America shall be what the immigrant will have a hand in making it, and
+not what a ruling class, descendant of those British stocks which were
+the first permanent immigrants, decide that America shall be made. This
+is the condition which confronts us, and which demands a clear and
+general readjustment of our attitude and our ideal.
+Mary Antin is right when she looks upon our foreign-born as the
+people who missed the Mayflower and came over on the first boat they
+could find. But she forgets that when they did come it was not upon
+other Mayflowers, but upon a “Maiblume,” a “Fleur de Mai,” a “Fior di
+Maggio,” a “Majblomst.” These people were not mere arrivals from the
+same family, to be welcomed as understood and long-loved, but strangers
+to the neighborhood, with whom a long process of settling down had
+to take place. For they brought with them their national and racial
+characters, and each new national quota had to wear slowly away the
+contempt with which its mere alienness got itself greeted. Each had to
+make its way slowly from the lowest strata of unskilled labor up to a
+level where it satisfied the accredited norms of social success.
+We are all foreign-born or the descendants of foreign-born, and if
+distinctions are to be made between us they should rightly be on some
+other ground than indigenousness. The early colonists came over with
+motives no less colonial than the later. They did not come to be
+assimilated in an American melting-pot. They did not come to adopt the
+culture of the American Indian. They had not the smallest intention
+of “giving themselves without reservation” to the new country. They
+came to get freedom to live as they wanted to. They came to escape
+from the stifling air and chaos of the old world; they came to make
+their fortune in a new land. They invented no new social framework.
+Rather they brought over bodily the old ways to which they had been
+accustomed. Tightly concentrated on a hostile frontier, they were
+conservative beyond belief. Their pioneer daring was reserved for the
+objective conquest of material resources. In their folkways, in their
+social and political institutions, they were, like every colonial
+people, slavishly imitative of the mother-country. So that, in spite of
+the “Revolution,” our whole legal and political system remained more
+English than the English, petrified and unchanging, while in England
+itself law developed to meet the needs of the changing times.
+It is just this English-American conservatism that has been our chief
+obstacle to social advance. We have needed the new peoples--the order
+of the German and Scandinavian, the turbulence of the Slav and Hun--to
+save us from our own stagnation. I do not mean that the illiterate
+Slav is now the equal of the New Englander of pure descent. He is
+raw material to be educated, not into a New Englander, but into a
+socialized American along such lines as those thirty nationalities
+are being educated in the amazing schools of Gary. I do not believe
+that this process is to be one of decades of evolution. The spectacle
+of Japan’s sudden jump from mediævalism to post-modernism should have
+destroyed that superstition. We are not dealing with individuals who
+are to “evolve.” We are dealing with their children, who, with that
+education we are about to have, will start level with all of us. Let us
+cease to think of ideals like democracy as magical qualities inherent
+in certain peoples. Let us speak, not of inferior races, but of
+inferior civilizations. We are all to educate and to be educated. These
+peoples in America are in a common enterprise. It is not what we are
+now that concerns us, but what this plastic next generation may become
+in the light of a new cosmopolitan ideal.
+We are not dealing with static factors, but with fluid and dynamic
+generations. To contrast the older and the newer immigrants and see
+the one class as democratically motivated by love of liberty, and
+the other by mere money-getting, is not to illuminate the future. To
+think of earlier nationalities as culturally assimilated to America,
+while we picture the later as a sodden and resistive mass, makes
+only for bitterness and misunderstanding. There may be a difference
+between these earlier and these later stocks, but it lies neither
+in motive for coming nor in strength of cultural allegiance to the
+homeland. The truth is that no more tenacious cultural allegiance to
+the mother country has been shown by any alien nation than by the
+ruling class of Anglo-Saxon descendants in these American States.
+English snobberies, English religion, English literary styles, English
+literary reverences and canons, English ethics, English superiorities,
+have been the cultural food that we have drunk in from our mothers’
+breasts. The distinctively American spirit--pioneer, as distinguished
+from the reminiscently English--that appears in Whitman and Emerson
+and James, has had to exist on sufferance alongside of this other
+cult, unconsciously belittled by our cultural makers of opinion. No
+country has perhaps had so great indigenous genius which had so little
+influence on the country’s traditions and expressions. The unpopular
+and dreaded German-American of the present day is a beginning amateur
+in comparison with those foolish Anglophiles of Boston and New York
+and Philadelphia whose reversion to cultural type sees uncritically
+in England’s cause the cause of Civilization, and, under the guise of
+ethical independence of thought, carries along European traditions
+which are no more “American” than the German categories themselves.
+It speaks well for German-American innocence of heart or else for its
+lack of imagination that it has not turned the hyphen stigma into a “Tu
+quoque!” If there were to be any hyphens scattered about, clearly they
+should be affixed to those English descendants who had had centuries of
+time to be made American where the German had had only half a century.
+Most significantly has the war brought out of them this alien virus,
+showing them still loving English things, owing allegiance to the
+English Kultur, moved by English shibboleths and prejudice. It is only
+because it has been the ruling class in this country that bestowed the
+epithets that we have not heard copiously and scornfully of “hyphenated
+English-Americans.” But even our quarrels with England have had the
+bad temper, the extravagance, of family quarrels. The Englishman of
+to-day nags us and dislikes us in that personal, peculiarly intimate
+way in which he dislikes the Australian, or as we may dislike our
+younger brothers. He still thinks of us incorrigibly as “colonials.”
+America--official, controlling, literary, political America--is
+still, as a writer recently expressed it, “culturally speaking, a
+self-governing dominion of the British Empire.”
+The non-English American can scarcely be blamed if he sometimes
+thinks of the Anglo-Saxon predominance in America as little more than
+a predominance of priority. The Anglo-Saxon was merely the first
+immigrant, the first to found a colony. He has never really ceased
+to be the descendant of immigrants, nor has he ever succeeded in
+transforming that colony into a real nation, with a tenacious, richly
+woven fabric of native culture. Colonials from the other nations have
+come and settled down beside him. They found no definite native culture
+which should startle them out of their colonialism, and consequently
+they looked back to their mother-country, as the earlier Anglo-Saxon
+immigrant was looking back to his. What has been offered the newcomer
+has been the chance to learn English, to become a citizen, to salute
+the flag. And those elements of our ruling classes who are responsible
+for the public schools, the settlements, all the organizations for
+amelioration in the cities, have every reason to be proud of the
+care and labor which they have devoted to absorbing the immigrant.
+His opportunities the immigrant has taken to gladly, with almost a
+pathetic eagerness to make his way in the new land without friction or
+disturbance. The common language has made not only for the necessary
+communication, but for all the amenities of life.
+If freedom means the right to do pretty much as one pleases, so long as
+one does not interfere with others, the immigrant has found freedom,
+and the ruling element has been singularly liberal in its treatment
+of the invading hordes. But if freedom means a democratic coöperation
+in determining the ideals and purposes and industrial and social
+institutions of a country, then the immigrant has not been free, and
+the Anglo-Saxon element is guilty of just what every dominant race
+is guilty of in every European country: the imposition of its own
+culture upon the minority peoples. The fact that this imposition has
+been so mild and, indeed, semi-conscious does not alter its quality.
+And the war has brought out just the degree to which that purpose of
+“Americanizing,” that is to say, “Anglo-Saxonizing,” the immigrant has
+failed.
+For the Anglo-Saxon now in his bitterness to turn upon the other
+peoples, talk about their “arrogance,” scold them for not being melted
+in a pot which never existed, is to betray the unconscious purpose
+which lay at the bottom of his heart. It betrays too the possession
+of a racial jealousy similar to that of which he is now accusing the
+so-called “hyphenates.” Let the Anglo-Saxon be proud enough of the
+heroic toil and heroic sacrifices which moulded the nation. But let
+him ask himself, if he had had to depend on the English descendants,
+where he would have been living to-day. To those of us who see in the
+exploitation of unskilled labor the strident red _leit-motif_ of our
+civilization, the settling of the country presents a great social drama
+as the waves of immigration broke over it.
+Let the Anglo-Saxon ask himself where he would have been if these
+races had not come? Let those who feel the inferiority of the
+non-Anglo-Saxon immigrant contemplate that region of the States which
+has remained the most distinctively “American,” the South. Let him
+ask himself whether he would really like to see the foreign hordes
+Americanized into such an Americanization. Let him ask himself how
+superior this native civilization is to the great “alien” states of
+Wisconsin and Minnesota, where Scandinavians, Poles, and Germans have
+self-consciously labored to preserve their traditional culture, while
+being outwardly and satisfactorily American. Let him ask himself how
+much more wisdom, intelligence, industry and social leadership has come
+out of these alien states than out of all the truly American ones. The
+South, in fact, while this vast Northern development has gone on, still
+remains an English colony, stagnant and complacent, having progressed
+culturally scarcely beyond the early Victorian era. It is culturally
+sterile because it has had no advantage of cross-fertilization like
+the Northern states. What has happened in states such as Wisconsin
+and Minnesota is that strong foreign cultures have struck root in a
+new and fertile soil. America has meant liberation, and German and
+Scandinavian political ideas and social energies have expanded to a new
+potency. The process has not been at all the fancied “assimilation”
+of the Scandinavian or Teuton. Rather has it been a process of their
+assimilation of us--I speak as an Anglo-Saxon. The foreign cultures
+have not been melted down or run together, made into some homogeneous
+Americanism, but have remained distinct but coöperating to the greater
+glory and benefit, not only of themselves but of all the native
+“Americanism” around them.
+What we emphatically do not want is that these distinctive qualities
+should be washed out into a tasteless, colorless fluid of uniformity.
+Already we have far too much of this insipidity,--masses of people
+who are cultural half-breeds, neither assimilated Anglo-Saxons nor
+nationals of another culture. Each national colony in this country
+seems to retain in its foreign press, its vernacular literature, its
+schools, its intellectual and patriotic leaders, a central cultural
+nucleus. From this nucleus the colony extends out by imperceptible
+gradations to a fringe where national characteristics are all but lost.
+Our cities are filled with these half-breeds who retain their foreign
+names but have lost the foreign savor. This does not mean that they
+have actually been changed into New Englanders or Middle Westerners. It
+does not mean that they have been really Americanized. It means that,
+letting slip from them whatever native culture they had, they have
+substituted for it only the most rudimentary American--the American
+culture of the cheap newspaper, the “movies,” the popular song, the
+ubiquitous automobile. The unthinking who survey this class call them
+assimilated, Americanized. The great American public school has done
+its work. With these people our institutions are safe. We may thrill
+with dread at the aggressive hyphenate, but this tame flabbiness is
+accepted as Americanization. The same moulders of opinion whose ideal
+is to melt the different races into Anglo-Saxon gold hail this poor
+product as the satisfying result of their alchemy.
+Yet a truer cultural sense would have told us that it is not the
+self-conscious cultural nuclei that sap at our American life, but these
+fringes. It is not the Jew who sticks proudly to the faith of his
+fathers and boasts of that venerable culture of his who is dangerous
+to America, but the Jew who has lost the Jewish fire and become a
+mere elementary, grasping animal. It is not the Bohemian who supports
+the Bohemian schools in Chicago whose influence is sinister, but the
+Bohemian who has made money and has got into ward politics. Just so
+surely as we tend to disintegrate these nuclei of nationalistic culture
+do we tend to create hordes of men and women without a spiritual
+country, cultural outlaws, without taste, without standards but those
+of the mob. We sentence them to live on the most rudimentary planes
+of American life. The influences at the center of the nuclei are
+centripetal. They make for the intelligence and the social values which
+mean an enhancement of life. And just because the foreign-born retains
+this expressiveness is he likely to be a better citizen of the American
+community. The influences at the fringe, however, are centrifugal,
+anarchical. They make for detached fragments of peoples. Those who
+came to find liberty achieve only license. They become the flotsam and
+jetsam of American life, the downward undertow of our civilization with
+its leering cheapness and falseness of taste and spiritual outlook, the
+absence of mind and sincere feeling which we see in our slovenly towns,
+our vapid moving pictures, our popular novels, and in the vacuous faces
+of the crowds on the city street. This is the cultural wreckage of our
+time, and it is from the fringes of the Anglo-Saxon as well as the
+other stocks that it falls. America has as yet no impelling integrating
+force. It makes too easily for this detritus of cultures. In our
+loose, free country, no constraining national purpose, no tenacious
+folk-tradition and folk-style hold the people to a line.
+The war has shown us that not in any magical formula will this purpose
+be found. No intense nationalism of the European plan can be ours.
+But do we not begin to see a new and more adventurous ideal? Do we
+not see how the national colonies in America, deriving power from
+the deep cultural heart of Europe and yet living here in mutual
+toleration, freed from the age-long tangles of races, creeds, and
+dynasties, may work out a federated ideal? America is transplanted
+Europe, but a Europe that has not been disintegrated and scattered
+in the transplanting as in some Dispersion. Its colonies live here
+inextricably mingled, yet not homogeneous. They merge but they do not
+fuse.
+America is a unique sociological fabric, and it bespeaks poverty of
+imagination not to be thrilled at the incalculable potentialities of
+so novel a union of men. To seek no other goal than the weary old
+nationalism,--belligerent, exclusive, in-breeding, the poison of which
+we are witnessing now in Europe,--is to make patriotism a hollow sham,
+and to declare that, in spite of our boastings, America must ever be a
+follower and not a leader of nations.
+If we come to find this point of view plausible, we shall have to give
+up the search for our native “American” culture. With the exception of
+the South and that New England which, like the Red Indian, seems to
+be passing into solemn oblivion, there is no distinctively American
+culture. It is apparently our lot rather to be a federation of
+cultures. This we have been for half a century, and the war has made
+it ever more evident that this is what we are destined to remain. This
+will not mean, however, that there are not expressions of indigenous
+genius that could not have sprung from any other soil. Music, poetry,
+philosophy, have been singularly fertile and new. Strangely enough,
+American genius has flared forth just in those directions which are
+least understanded of the people. If the American note is bigness,
+action, the objective as contrasted with the reflective life, where
+is the epic expression of this spirit? Our drama and our fiction,
+the peculiar fields for the expression of action and objectivity,
+are somehow exactly the fields of the spirit which remain poor and
+mediocre. American materialism is in some way inhibited from getting
+into impressive artistic form its own energy with which it bursts. Nor
+is it any better in architecture, the least romantic and subjective
+of all the arts. We are inarticulate of the very values which we
+profess to idealize. But in the finer forms--music, verse, the essay,
+philosophy--the American genius puts forth work equal to any of its
+contemporaries. Just in so far as our American genius has expressed
+the pioneer spirit, the adventurous, forward-looking drive of a
+colonial empire, is it representative of that whole America of the many
+races and peoples, and not of any partial or traditional enthusiasm.
+And only as that pioneer note is sounded can we really speak of the
+American culture. As long as we thought of Americanism in terms of the
+“melting-pot,” our American cultural tradition lay in the past. It was
+something to which the new Americans were to be moulded. In the light
+of our changing ideal of Americanism, we must perpetrate the paradox
+that our American cultural tradition lies in the future. It will be
+what we all together make out of this incomparable opportunity of
+attacking the future with a new key.
+Whatever American nationalism turns out to be, it is certain to become
+something utterly different from the nationalisms of twentieth-century
+Europe. This wave of reactionary enthusiasm to play the orthodox
+nationalistic game which is passing over the country is scarcely vital
+enough to last. We cannot swagger and thrill to the same national
+self-feeling. We must give new edges to our pride. We must be content
+to avoid the unnumbered woes that national patriotism has brought in
+Europe, and that fiercely heightened pride and self-consciousness.
+Alluring as this is, we must allow our imaginations to transcend
+this scarcely veiled belligerency. We can be serenely too proud to
+fight if our pride embraces the creative forces of civilization which
+armed contest nullifies. We can be too proud to fight if our code of
+honor transcends that of the schoolboy on the playground surrounded
+by his jeering mates. Our honor must be positive and creative, and
+not the mere jealous and negative protectiveness against metaphysical
+violations of our technical rights. When the doctrine is put forth that
+in one American flows the mystic blood of all our country’s sacred
+honor, freedom, and prosperity, so that an injury to him is to be the
+signal for turning our whole nation into that clan-feud of horror
+and reprisal which would be war, then we find ourselves back among
+the musty schoolmen of the Middle Ages, and not in any pragmatic and
+realistic America of the twentieth century.
+We should hold our gaze to what America has done, not what mediæval
+codes of dueling she has failed to observe. We have transplanted
+European modernity to our soil, without the spirit that inflames it
+and turns all its energy into mutual destruction. Out of these foreign
+peoples there has somehow been squeezed the poison. An America,
+“hyphenated” to bitterness, is somehow non-explosive. For, even if
+we all hark back in sympathy to a European nation, even if the war
+has set every one vibrating to some emotional string twanged on the
+other side of the Atlantic, the effect has been one of almost dramatic
+harmlessness.
+What we have really been witnessing, however unappreciatively, in
+this country has been a thrilling and bloodless battle of Kulturs. In
+that arena of friction which has been the most dramatic--between the
+hyphenated German-American and the hyphenated English-American--there
+have emerged rivalries of philosophies which show up deep traditional
+attitudes, points of view which accurately reflect the gigantic issues
+of the war. America has mirrored the spiritual issues. The vicarious
+struggle has been played out peacefully here in the mind. We have seen
+the stout resistiveness of the old moral interpretation of history
+on which Victorian England throve and made itself great in its own
+esteem. The clean and immensely satisfying vision of the war as a
+contest between right and wrong; the enthusiastic support of the Allies
+as the incarnation of virtue-on-a-rampage; the fierce envisaging of
+their selfish national purposes as the ideals of justice, freedom and
+democracy--all this has been thrown with intensest force against the
+German realistic interpretations in terms of the struggle for power and
+the virility of the integrated State. America has been the intellectual
+battleground of the nations.
+The failure of the melting-pot, far from closing the great American
+democratic experiment, means that it has only just begun. Whatever
+American nationalism turns out to be, we see already that it will
+have a color richer and more exciting than our ideal has hitherto
+encompassed. In a world which has dreamed of internationalism, we find
+that we have all unawares been building up the first international
+nation. The voices which have cried for a tight and jealous
+nationalism of the European pattern are failing. From that ideal,
+however valiantly and disinterestedly it has been set for us, time and
+tendency have moved us further and further away. What we have achieved
+has been rather a cosmopolitan federation of national colonies, of
+foreign cultures, from which the sting of devastating competition has
+been removed. America is already the world-federation in miniature,
+the continent where for the first time in history has been achieved
+that miracle of hope, the peaceful living side by side, with character
+substantially preserved, of the most heterogeneous peoples under the
+sun. Nowhere else has such contiguity been anything but the breeder of
+misery. Here, notwithstanding our tragic failures of adjustment, the
+outlines are already too clear not to give us a new vision and a new
+orientation of the American mind in the world.
+It is for the American of the younger generation to accept this
+cosmopolitanism, and carry it along with self-conscious and fruitful
+purpose. In his colleges, he is already getting, with the study
+of modern history and politics, the modern literatures, economic
+geography, the privilege of a cosmopolitan outlook such as the people
+of no other nation of to-day in Europe can possibly secure. If he is
+still a colonial, he is no longer the colonial of one partial culture,
+but of many. He is a colonial of the world. Colonialism has grown
+into cosmopolitanism, and his motherhood is not one nation, but all
+who have anything life-enhancing to offer to the spirit. That vague
+sympathy which the France of ten years ago was feeling for the world--a
+sympathy which was drowned in the terrible reality of war--may be the
+modern American’s, and that in a positive and aggressive sense. If the
+American is parochial, it is in sheer wantonness or cowardice. His
+provincialism is the measure of his fear of bogies or the defect of his
+imagination.
+Indeed, it is not uncommon for the eager Anglo-Saxon who goes to a
+vivid American university to-day to find his true friends not among
+his own race but among the acclimatized German or Austrian, the
+acclimatized Jew, the acclimatized Scandinavian or Italian. In them
+he finds the cosmopolitan note. In these youths, foreign-born or the
+children of foreign-born parents, he is likely to find many of his
+old inbred morbid problems washed away. These friends are oblivious
+to the repressions of that tight little society in which he so
+provincially grew up. He has a pleasurable sense of liberation from
+the stale and familiar attitudes of those whose ingrowing culture has
+scarcely created anything vital for his America of to-day. He breathes
+a larger air. In his new enthusiasms for continental literature, for
+unplumbed Russian depths, for French clarity of thought, for Teuton
+philosophies of power, he feels himself citizen of a larger world. He
+may be absurdly superficial, his outward-reaching wonder may ignore all
+the stiller and homelier virtues of his Anglo-Saxon home, but he has at
+least found the clue to that international mind which will be essential
+to all men and women of good-will if they are ever to save this Western
+world of ours from suicide. His new friends have gone through a similar
+evolution. America has burned most of the baser metal also from them.
+Meeting now with this common American background, all of them may yet
+retain that distinctiveness of their native cultures and their national
+spiritual slants. They are more valuable and interesting to each other
+for being different, yet that difference could not be creative were it
+not for this new cosmopolitan outlook which America has given them and
+which they all equally possess.
+A college where such a spirit is possible even to the smallest degree,
+has within itself already the seeds of this international intellectual
+world of the future. It suggests that the contribution of America will
+be an intellectual internationalism which goes far beyond the mere
+exchange of scientific ideas and discoveries and the cold recording of
+facts. It will be an intellectual sympathy which is not satisfied until
+it has got at the heart of the different cultural expressions, and
+felt as they feel. It may have immense preferences, but it will make
+understanding and not indignation its end. Such a sympathy will unite
+and not divide.
+Against the thinly disguised panic which calls itself “patriotism”
+and the thinly disguised militarism which calls itself “preparedness”
+the cosmopolitan ideal is set. This does not mean that those who hold
+it are for a policy of drift. They, too, long passionately for an
+integrated and disciplined America. But they do not want one which is
+integrated only for domestic economic exploitation of the workers or
+for predatory economic imperialism among the weaker peoples. They do
+not want one that is integrated by coercion or militarism, or for the
+truculent assertion of a mediæval code of honor and of doubtful rights.
+They believe that the most effective integration will be one which
+coördinates the diverse elements and turns them consciously toward
+working out together the place of America in the world-situation. They
+demand for integration a genuine integrity, a wholeness and soundness
+of enthusiasm and purpose which can only come when no national colony
+within our America feels that it is being discriminated against or that
+its cultural case is being prejudged. This strength of coöperation,
+this feeling that all who are here may have a hand in the destiny of
+America, will make for a finer spirit of integration than any narrow
+“Americanism” or forced chauvinism.
+In this effort we may have to accept some form of that dual citizenship
+which meets with so much articulate horror among us. Dual citizenship
+we may have to recognize as the rudimentary form of that international
+citizenship to which, if our words mean anything, we aspire. We have
+assumed unquestioningly that mere participation in the political life
+of the United States must cut the new citizen off from all sympathy
+with his old allegiance. Anything but a bodily transfer of devotion
+from one sovereignty to another has been viewed as a sort of moral
+treason against the Republic. We have insisted that the immigrant
+whom we welcomed escaping from the very exclusive nationalism of his
+European home shall forthwith adopt a nationalism just as exclusive,
+just as narrow, and even less legitimate because it is founded on no
+warm traditions of his own. Yet a nation like France is said to permit
+a formal and legal dual citizenship even at the present time. Though a
+citizen of hers may pretend to cast off his allegiance in favor of some
+other sovereignty, he is still subject to her laws when he returns.
+Once a citizen, always a citizen, no matter how many new citizenships
+he may embrace. And such a dual citizenship seems to us sound and
+right. For it recognizes that, although the Frenchman may accept the
+formal institutional framework of his new country and indeed become
+intensely loyal to it, yet his Frenchness he will never lose. What
+makes up the fabric of his soul will always be of this Frenchness,
+so that unless he becomes utterly degenerate he will always to some
+degree dwell still in his native environment.
+Indeed, does not the cultivated American who goes to Europe practise a
+dual citizenship, which, if not formal, is no less real? The American
+who lives abroad may be the least expatriate of men. If he falls in
+love with French ways and French thinking and French democracy and
+seeks to saturate himself with the new spirit, he is guilty of at least
+a dual spiritual citizenship. He may be still American, yet he feels
+himself through sympathy also a Frenchman. And he finds that this
+expansion involves no shameful conflict within him, no surrender of his
+native attitude. He has rather for the first time caught a glimpse of
+the cosmopolitan spirit. And after wandering about through many races
+and civilizations he may return to America to find them all here living
+vividly and crudely, seeking the same adjustment that he made. He sees
+the new peoples here with a new vision. They are no longer masses of
+aliens, waiting to be “assimilated,” waiting to be melted down into
+the indistinguishable dough of Anglo-Saxonism. They are rather threads
+of living and potent cultures, blindly striving to weave themselves
+into a novel international nation, the first the world has seen. In an
+Austria-Hungary or a Prussia the stronger of these cultures would be
+moving almost instinctively to subjugate the weaker. But in America
+those wills-to-power are turned in a different direction into learning
+how to live together.
+Along with dual citizenship we shall have to accept, I think, that free
+and mobile passage of the immigrant between America and his native
+land again which now arouses so much prejudice among us. We shall have
+to accept the immigrant’s return for the same reason that we consider
+justified our own flitting about the earth. To stigmatize the alien
+who works in America for a few years and returns to his own land,
+only perhaps to seek American fortune again, is to think in narrow
+nationalistic terms. It is to ignore the cosmopolitan significance of
+this migration. It is to ignore the fact that the returning immigrant
+is often a missionary to an inferior civilization.
+This migratory habit has been especially common with the unskilled
+laborers who have been pouring into the United States in the last
+dozen years from every country in southeastern Europe. Many of them
+return to spend their earnings in their own country or to serve
+their country in war. But they return with an entirely new critical
+outlook, and a sense of the superiority of American organization to the
+primitive living around them. This continued passage to and fro has
+already raised the material standard of living in many regions of these
+backward countries. For these regions are thus endowed with exactly
+what they need, the capital for the exploitation of their natural
+resources, and the spirit of enterprise. America is thus educating
+these laggard peoples from the very bottom of society up, awaking vast
+masses to a new-born hope for the future. In the migratory Greek,
+therefore, we have not the parasitic alien, the doubtful American
+asset, but a symbol of that cosmopolitan interchange which is coming,
+in spite of all war and national exclusiveness.
+Only America, by reason of the unique liberty of opportunity and
+traditional isolation for which she seems to stand, can lead in this
+cosmopolitan enterprise. Only the American--and in this category
+I include the migratory alien who has lived with us and caught the
+pioneer spirit and a sense of new social vistas--has the chance to
+become that citizen of the world. America is coming to be, not a
+nationality but a trans-nationality, a weaving back and forth, with
+the other lands, of many threads of all sizes and colors. Any movement
+which attempts to thwart this weaving, or to dye the fabric any one
+color, or disentangle the threads of the strands, is false to this
+cosmopolitan vision. I do not mean that we shall necessarily glut
+ourselves with the raw product of humanity. It would be folly to absorb
+the nations faster than we could weave them. We have no duty either to
+admit or reject. It is purely a question of expediency. What concerns
+us is the fact that the strands are here. We must have a policy and an
+ideal for an actual situation. Our question is, What shall we do with
+our America? How are we likely to get the more creative America--by
+confining our imaginations to the ideal of the melting-pot, or
+broadening them to some such cosmopolitan conception as I have been
+vaguely sketching?
+We cannot Americanize America worthily by sentimentalizing and
+moralizing history. When the best schools are expressly renouncing
+the questionable duty of teaching patriotism by means of history, it
+is not the time to force shibboleth upon the immigrant. This form of
+Americanization has been heard because it appealed to the vestiges of
+our old sentimentalized and moralized patriotism. This has so far held
+the field as the expression of the new American’s new devotion. The
+inflections of other voices have been drowned. They must be heard. We
+must see if the lesson of the war has not been for hundreds of these
+later Americans a vivid realization of their trans-nationality, a new
+consciousness of what America means to them as a citizenship in the
+world. It is the vague historic idealisms which have provided the fuel
+for the European flame. Our American ideal can make no progress until
+we do away with this romantic gilding of the past.
+All our idealisms must be those of future social goals in which all
+can participate, the good life of personality lived in the environment
+of the Beloved Community. No mere doubtful triumphs of the past,
+which redound to the glory of only one of our trans-nationalities,
+can satisfy us. It must be a future America, on which all can unite,
+which pulls us irresistibly toward it, as we understand each other more
+warmly.
+To make real this striving amid dangers and apathies is work for a
+younger intelligentsia of America. Here is an enterprise of integration
+into which we can all pour ourselves, of a spiritual welding which
+should make us, if the final menace ever came, not weaker, but
+infinitely strong.
+Gilbert was almost six years old when they all--Mother, Olga, and
+baby--went to live with Garna in her tall white house. And his
+expanding life leaped to meet the wide world, with its new excitements
+and pleasures. It was like a rescue, like getting air when one is
+smothering. Here was space and a new largeness in things. Gilbert was
+freed forever from the back-street.
+Garna’s house was ridiculous but it was not despicable. For your
+meals you went down into a dark basement dining-room, behind a
+blacker kitchen. And the outhouse, buried in Virginia creepers and
+trumpet-vine, was down a long path bordered by grape-vines, where you
+went fearfully at night. Gilbert was afraid of this dark, long after
+he was old enough to be ashamed that his mother must come with him and
+stand protectingly outside. In winter, the stars shone at him with icy
+brilliancy, and the vines made a thick menacing mass around him.
+Back of the house was a pump, painted very bright and green, where the
+water came up cold and sparkling and ran suddenly out of its spout
+over your shoes unless you were careful. And when they had finished
+pumping, the well would give a long, deep sigh, whether of fatigue
+or satisfaction, Gilbert never knew. In the dark kitchen, which you
+entered down a flight of stone steps, there was another pump, but it
+brought forth, after long persuasion, only rain-water which to Gilbert
+tasted uninteresting, and which he was not allowed to drink, but which
+they carried in zinc pails up two long spidery flights, and for Aunt
+Nan’s room, three, so that you could wash your face in the morning.
+Only on wash-day was that pump interesting when the servant filled
+great wooden tubs out of it, and created huge foamy waves in them, and
+beat and rubbed, and then filled long clothes-lines with damp white
+garments which coiled around you clammily and disgustingly if you ran
+too close under them when you were playing.
+The dining-room always had a musty smell, and was always cold in
+winter, though the door into the warm kitchen was propped open with
+a brick. Gilbert would eat his breakfast and run out quickly to warm
+his hands at the shining black range. In the summer, it was close and
+stuffy, for it was lighted only by two windows at the top which were
+level with the ground and opened into a little depression, so that the
+shutters would move freely. In the great thunder-storms of summer,
+this hollow would fill with water and as Gilbert sat there eating his
+lunch, thrilling at the loud claps and the darting lightning, the
+water would begin to stream over the sill and down the walls. Then
+Annie would have to be hastily called, and with many ejaculations she
+would throw her apron over her head, and rush out with a dish-pan to
+bail out the hollow. Gilbert would stand on a chair and see dimly
+through rain-streaming panes this huge slopping figure, throwing
+pails of water into the path. But ordinarily nothing happened in the
+dining-room. Sometimes in the summer, an odious snail or two would come
+out of the walls and leave his track across the worn carpet. In a vast
+closet were stored rows of jellies which Garna had put up, and which
+Gilbert and Olga would sometimes get a taste of, for a treat. Behind
+the dining-room was the cellar, gratefully warm in winter with its
+glowing furnace, and cool in summer with its whitewashed walls. Gilbert
+loved to spend long summer afternoons there watching Annie turn the
+ice-cream freezer, and waiting anxiously until the top was taken off to
+be tested, and you got a taste of the fresh churned cream, or licked
+the dasher when it was all over. Or sometimes, in winter while Annie
+shovelled coal into the furnace, Gilbert stood fearfully by and saw the
+blackish flame shoot up through the new coal. But on the whole, the
+basement was not a pleasant place. The furnace, so hot when you stood
+by it, sent only feeble currents of air up to the little registers that
+opened into the vast rooms above. And always, the year round, there was
+that musty dining-room to descend into three times a day, with its old
+frayed chairs, its uncertain carpet, its stained brown walls.
+Nor did the creatures who inhabited the basement attract him. Annie
+changed her guise, but not her nature. And she scarcely changed her
+guise. If his mother had ever had a servant in the back-street,
+Gilbert did not remember it. But in Garna’s house one naturally had a
+servant, and one naturally had a Polish girl. Gilbert did not at first
+understand what Annie was doing in the kitchen, this queer, whitish
+young woman with many skirts and vast breasts, who gave a sort of
+growl-smile when you spoke to her, and always started incontinently,
+with alacrity, to do something without knowing what it was. Gilbert
+would come in from the garden into the fragrant kitchen on baking-day
+to look for cookies, and find his mother moving about, with her
+serious, anxious expression, while Annie sprawled about, cutting up
+potatoes, and listening to his mother’s earnest expostulations. In
+a few months there would be another Annie; her mouth was perhaps
+crookeder and her hair yellower, but she would plunge clumsily about
+in the same old way, and would take up her education not where the
+other Annie had left off, but precisely in that brutish ignorance where
+she had begun. To Gilbert’s mother, the living and successive tissue
+of Annies became the absorption of life, but Gilbert was not absorbed
+in Annies. They were not pretty, and they had a stale odor which
+Gilbert avoided when he could. He associated the unpleasantness of
+this strong, docile creature, who relapsed in each transformation to
+her original brutish ignorance, with the whole unpleasantness of that
+downstairs floor, the dining-room which remained always the same, whose
+dull squalor nobody ever did anything to take away, for which Gilbert
+could not do anything, and for which perhaps nothing could be done.
+Upstairs, Gilbert liked Garna’s house better. The front parlor was a
+vast and cavernous room, the mysteries of which Gilbert penetrated
+only slowly. The back parlor was much more comprehensible. Here the
+sun shone in, and people sat and lived. When you entered the front
+parlor, you involuntarily lowered your voice, and you moved around
+subdued, as if someone had died there. Garna never opened the windows,
+and the shutters of the bay which looked towards the east were always
+kept tightly closed. But in the back parlor on bright winter days you
+sent the shade flying up to the top, and let the sun stream in over
+the floor all the way to the monster of a horsehair-covered sofa which
+stretched along the wall.
+Horsehair made you feel almost as puckery as matting to touch it, and,
+besides, you could not climb up its slippery edges very easily. And
+once you were perched up there, you began to slide and slide until you
+would fall in a heap ignominiously off that ungainly and inhospitable
+bulk of a sofa. So you would go over and sit at Garna’s feet, as she
+rocked slowly in her great chair, which you must never tip too far
+back for fear of the grand-father’s clock that stood in the corner
+behind it. The clock had a loud and lovely bell which struck the hours.
+Gilbert could always tell when it was going to strike, for a minute
+or two before the hour there was a sharp click. Then a little later
+would begin a vast rumbling from the very chest of the old clock,
+as if it were taking a long, deep breath for its pealing song. When
+Gilbert was in the room, he always stopped and listened for the whole
+long satisfactory performance. It was slow, it was prepared, it was
+beautiful, and when Garna got a clock for the dining-room which rattled
+off a quick little tinkle of a stroke, Gilbert despised it, and would
+have covered his ears if he had not thought it would be silly.
+Upstairs the rooms were just as vast. There was Mother’s room, into
+which the sunlight poured, and which was the warmest in winter,
+though you took turns rushing to the register to dress where it was
+warm, before washing in the cold water of the wash-bowl. Just off from
+Mother’s room was a little room, with nothing in it but a huge bed,
+where Olga and Gilbert slept, and a dresser, in which Gilbert’s clothes
+were kept. On the wall were two old pictures, one representing a donkey
+in the midst of illimitable and ineffable summer pastures, and marked,
+“Everything Lovely,” the other showing him in the blizzard before a
+locked stabledoor, with “Nobody loves me!” Against the tall window,
+at the foot of the bed, were rows and rows of shelves, on which stood
+flower-pots all winter long, geraniums and begonias, and heliotrope
+plants, so that they could catch the full warmth of the winter sun
+and keep green for summer, when Mother took them out of the pots and
+put them in rows in the garden again. The window was almost smothered
+in rich greenery, and sometimes when Gilbert would wake up early on a
+winter morning, when the light was just beginning to come through the
+leaves, he would find that the shelves had become a black silhouetted
+tracery of amazing figures. Queer outlandish heads,--fierce dragomans
+with pipes in their mouths, Chinamen with queues, policemen with round
+helmets, or animals such as Gilbert had seen at the Zoo--camels with
+misshapen humps, elephants with long trunks, the head of a lion. It was
+very startling to wake up, lying on one’s back and gazing out where
+this faint light appeared in the crevices between these weird figures.
+The pleasant green plants with which they had gone to bed had given
+place to queer apparitions. Yet they must be plants. But how could
+plants look so terrifyingly like heads? Everywhere he looked there
+appeared a bristling, clear shape. The window was a vast tracery of
+strangeness. Gilbert was never quite sure how real they were, and he
+was always grateful when the advancing light gradually brought out the
+greenness of the leaves, and finally threw them into relief, so that
+the menacing head would finally dissolve into the utterly meaningless
+juncture of two geranium blossoms, and the elephant trunk became a
+familiar begonia frond. Then he was cheered, and he wondered how he had
+ever seen anything else. No wildest forcing of his imagination could
+make him see the things he had seen.
+It was in this room that Gilbert’s mother put the children to bed every
+night, and then took out the lamp to her room, leaving the door just
+slightly ajar, so they would not be afraid. Everything was so cozy and
+comfortable during the undressing. Then would come the frightening
+thought, “Perhaps this comforting presence is going to be withdrawn!”
+For sometimes you would wake up suddenly with a little clutch at the
+heart. The dim light would be burning through the crack of the door,
+but there would be a vast stillness. You knew that the house was empty,
+that somehow it was the middle of a night that would never end, and
+everybody, Garna, Mother, and Annie, had gone off to some distant
+muffled cavern and would never come again. Olga, sleeping in a little
+round ball at your side, her eyes seraphically closed, was of no avail.
+The light burned steadily on, only deepening the terror of eternity,
+of being lost. Should you call? What would be the use? They were
+infinitely far away, in a sort of Buddha-like trance. So you cried a
+little, and fell off asleep.
+Or if you did not go to sleep, you waited dumbly, and, after æons of
+time, you heard an unmistakable door close softly downstairs, and in a
+minute Mother was looking in at you, to see if you were safe. And you
+said, “Mother!” in a half-choking voice, while great waves of relief
+and happiness surged through you, and you went sound asleep. So Gilbert
+got in the habit of asking his mother every night whether she was going
+out. And what assurance and peace there was when she said she was not!
+He was safe, no matter how long the night lasted.
+In Gilbert’s new house, you could go upstairs in two ways--the
+front-stairs, and the back-stairs. The front-stairs were very straight
+and very long and very steep, and were covered with a thick carpet.
+They went straight down to a little narrow hall and the front door.
+The back-stairs were crooked and narrow and covered with oil-cloth.
+They ran down to a little passageway which connected the back parlor
+with the “side-door,” right at the opening of the dark, steep flight
+that went down into the dining-room. All these regions and passages
+in Gilbert’s house had names. Gilbert soon learned that he must never
+go down the front-stairs, but must always use the back ones. But one
+unfortunate day, his cousin George, who was eight, showed him the
+delights of sliding down the banisters, and Gilbert, although he could
+never walk down the front-stairs without a feeling of the most awful
+guilt, let himself be seduced into this new and amazing adventure. The
+rapturous slide down the long, straight, polished wood was so safe and
+gave him such a thrill that he tried it again and again. But Olga,
+who by this time was all of five years old, insisted on riding too,
+and threatened so instant and tumultuous a devastation of tears, that
+Gilbert and George, in a panic at being discovered, held her up and,
+having adjusted her little legs and cautioned her as to the way one let
+one’s fingers slide along the slippery rail, let her go.
+Now there was attached to the wall by a bracket a lamp, which Gilbert’s
+legs just cleared, although he was always conscious of a fine potential
+crash. But as Olga went slipping down the rail, it was inevitable that
+she should choose just that place to fall off, which Gilbert had all
+the morning been thrillingly avoiding. She fell floppily into the hall,
+carrying the lamp-shade with her, and making a crash which brought
+Mother and Annie from the kitchen and Garna from her room above. Then
+there were tears and scoldings in a great flood, and a few reluctant
+whacks; George was sent home, and the banisters were never slid on
+again, at least not by Olga. Gilbert used them only as a special treat
+to himself and only in his most unwatched moments. It was one instance
+where his fiercely clutching guilt melted away before the thrill of
+that slide.
+Gilbert’s house, however, afforded few excitements. Garna’s big room
+you did not often enter, though you might on Sunday while she was
+putting on her veil and bonnet to take you to church. Gilbert did not
+care very much how the rest of the family got to church, but it was one
+of the most important things in his life that he should go with Garna.
+At nine o’clock the church-bell would begin to ring, gayly, quickly,
+sometimes the long peals almost falling over each other in their
+eagerness. Then it would stop, with a final long echo. Now the whole
+town knew that it was Sunday. Then at ten o’clock the great bell would
+ring again, not quite so gayly nor so quickly, to let the people know
+that there would be church that day. Then at twenty minutes after ten
+the bell would begin its real earnestness,--slow and solemn strokes,
+each one ringing its full sonorous note and dying away before the next
+one began.
+At the first stroke of the ten o’clock bell, Gilbert would rush to
+Garna’s room, where he would find her putting on her black silk dress
+and little lace collar. Her black bonnet with its long crêpe veil,
+which Gilbert soon learned meant that grandfather was dead, would be
+spread out on the bed. When the last bell began to ring, and Garna had
+not yet put on her bonnet, an icy fear gripped Gilbert’s heart. They
+would be late! The maddening slowness with which Garna put the last
+touches to her bonnet used to send Gilbert into a delirium of anxiety.
+Finally they were out on the elm-shaded streets, Gilbert fairly tugging
+and straining to get them there before service began. Mother and Olga
+were always late, but that was because Olga cried. He could abandon
+them. He did not know what would happen to Garna and him if they were
+late, but he felt that it would be something namelessly awful.
+But they were never late. They would sit there in the pew several
+minutes while the organ played and the great bell boomed outside, up in
+the tower. Then the minister would come in, and a sense of security
+and peace would steal over Gilbert, listening to the hymn and looking
+up at Garna, so glossy and placid next him in the pew.
+In prayer-time, Gilbert would have liked to put his head down on the
+pew-rail in front of him, just as Garna and all the other people did,
+but he could not reach it. So he had to be content with ducking his
+head into his hand, and holding his eyes very tightly shut until he
+heard the “Amen” which sent them all upright again. Why people had to
+conceal their faces while they prayed Gilbert did not know, but it gave
+him a very solemn feeling to keep his eyes closed, and an even more
+solemn one to open them surreptitiously and look over the wilderness of
+bent backs.
+The ceiling was very far away, and very blue, with queer indented
+squares that shot out reddish lines. Out of it came two enormous
+chandeliers of brass, with a ring of lights around, which were
+sometimes lighted on a dark day and made a chain of dancing lamplight.
+There were galleries running down each side of the church, held up by
+slender white pillars. Outside, just at the top of the pillars, ran a
+narrow ledge. Gilbert’s imagination would perform perilous adventures
+along that ledge. You would walk along, along, and around the back and
+up the other side, dizzily perched above the congregation, clinging to
+the brass rail, and you would come to the choir behind the minister’s
+desk. From the ledge to the choir was a gap of a few feet, but Gilbert
+saw himself jumping it, and his heart would beat faster. And then he
+would return painfully, exhilaratedly, around that ledge, holding on so
+tightly.
+When Gilbert got tired of this play he would look up at the strange
+figures that were fastened to the under side of the ledge. They looked
+like playing-cards, little square raised blocks marked with black
+points, at regular intervals down the gallery. Gilbert sometimes
+imagined that they were really cards, and that a hooded figure moving
+down the aisles would touch them with a wand, and they would lose their
+frozen state and fall to the floor. From where Gilbert sat, lines went
+out from him in all directions: lines of the pews, lines of the aisle
+ahead which went along under the gallery, angles of the walls, lines
+of the windows. Sometimes, as his gaze wandered around the church, the
+line of a pillar would coincide with the line of a window, and Gilbert
+would hold them there together, getting a sudden satisfaction out of
+holding them in coincidence, and letting them go reluctantly, only when
+his eye would mount to the queer people in the gallery, whose bonnets
+and eyes and noses you could just see over the brass railing.
+Sometimes in the summer when Uncle Marcus’s family was away, Garna and
+Gilbert sat in their pew at the back of the gallery, a pew that was as
+big as a house, with great arm-chairs and cushions for your feet. In
+front of you was the clock, the face of which you could not see, for it
+looked out straight towards the minister, but whose ticking you could
+hear. Gilbert felt very public and self-conscious when he sat there,
+under the high ceiling, with two long arms of the gallery, crowded with
+its two tiers of people, stretching away on either hand. Yet it was
+all very august, and religion seemed to have attained its most solemn
+worthiness when you sat in Uncle Marcus’s pew.
+The minister was very large and very loud, and he wore a white tie.
+Gilbert did not altogether like him when he laid his moist and unctuous
+hand on Gilbert’s head, as he sometimes did in Sunday School. For
+after you had gone to church with Garna, you let her go home, and you
+stayed to Sunday School. You went into an old brick building, which
+stood a little distance from the church. The light poured through the
+big windows, and you could see the lilac-bushes outside. The room swam
+with very fluffy little girls, but when they had sung several hymns,
+Gilbert and half a dozen other little boys were shepherded into a
+corner and sat on their little chairs in a circle around Miss Fogg,
+while she taught them the lesson for the day. Gilbert always knew his
+golden text, and he was often the only little boy who did. Miss Fogg
+would smile at him, which would make him uncomfortable, and he would be
+glad when they all stood up and marched around the room to drop their
+pennies into a basket which Miss Fogg held while they sang:
+“Hear the pennies dropping,
+Listen while they fall,
+Every one for Jesus.
+He will have them all.”
+Gilbert did not doubt that Jesus would have them all, and he was
+not in the least interested in what Jesus did with them when he had
+them. It was part of the ceremony, to which you resigned yourself
+unquestioningly, and when the penny-dropping was over, Gilbert ran
+home as fast as he could go, to the wonderful dinner of roast beef and
+potatoes that Mother had for them on Sundays.
+Sunday School was a neutral, colorless event in his life. Every Sunday
+as they left the Sunday School, each child would receive a little
+leaflet; those who had known their golden texts would get a card with
+a golden star on it. Gilbert always cried a little if he lost his card
+while running home, and he cherished his leaflet for a day or two. But
+he never tried to read it, and he soon mislaid his golden star. Good
+boys, after they had got a prodigious number of golden stars, were
+each supposed to receive as a reward a Bible all of his own. But when
+Gilbert was seven years old, Garna gave him a beautiful thick black
+Bible, with his name--Gilbert Shotwell Harden--stamped on the cover
+in golden letters. Besides, it did not appeal to him to grub along
+for a prize. Far better to have things, glorious, imposing, come to
+you out of the blue sky. Once Aunt Shotwell promised him fifty cents
+if he would learn the Westminster Catechism, but Gilbert never got
+farther than “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him
+forever.” Something obscure, unconscious, revolted in him at the base
+commerciality of the transaction, and although he did not question that
+this was the chief end of man indeed, he did not want to be bribed into
+proclaiming it.
+Things were better in the stories he learned from Miss Fogg: that Adam
+had eaten the apple and been expelled from Eden; that Noah had built
+and taken his cruise in the ark; that Abraham had offered up Isaac,
+and Jacob served seven years; that Moses had led the Israelites into
+the wilderness, and Joshua made the sun stand still; that David should
+have loved Jonathan and killed Goliath; that Samson should have been
+shorn of his strength, and Esther gotten Haman hanged higher than the
+housetops;--all in order to teach little boys and girls to be good, to
+obey their fathers and mothers and go regularly to church and Sunday
+School, seemed to Gilbert entirely plausible, at least as it was
+expounded by the patient and smiling Miss Fogg. He read the stories in
+his new Bible, but he did not wonder much about them.
+Every now and then there was a temperance lesson, when Miss Fogg
+would horrify the little boys with her pictures of the evils of strong
+drink. Gilbert had never seen any spirituous liquors, and he could
+hardly identify them in his mind, but through the vivid and scandalized
+exhortations of the minister and Miss Fogg, Gilbert conceived liquor as
+a dark, evil-smelling brew, a sort of religious urine, which foul and
+wicked men put into their stomachs, so that at once homes were wrecked,
+and mothers and children brought to abject want. The process by which
+this result arrived was vague in his mind, but the earliest genuine
+crime of which he had knowledge and felt with a shuddering realization
+of the existence of sin was this crime of entering a saloon, or of
+drinking down wine or beer. One of the golden texts was a special
+favorite with Gilbert and Olga, and she would declaim it with great
+éclat, in a broad, free-verse style:
+“Wine is a maw-aw-ker,
+Strong drink is ray-ay-ging,
+And whoever is deceived there-by-y,
+Is not--wise!”
+But sin, on the whole, was a very vague idea to Gilbert. He early
+learned that God had sent His Son Jesus down to earth to save us from
+our sins, and that this was the central fact of life. Garna told him
+about it, and so did Miss Fogg, when they later had lessons in the
+New Testament. We must all love God very much, and especially Jesus,
+who had done so much for us. And in the solemn Sunday afternoons,
+when Gilbert was told to take his Bible and sit by the window in the
+back-parlor and read a chapter, he would sometimes wonder if he loved
+God enough, or if he loved Jesus. God was a majestic old gentleman with
+a white beard, reclining on white cumulus clouds, and Jesus he knew
+equally well as a young man in an archaic blue robe, holding a lamb in
+one arm, and followed by others. He had seen their pictures long ago,
+and whenever either of them was mentioned, these images popped into his
+mind, faintly colored by a sense of awe, as in the case of God, and of
+tenderness, as in the case of Jesus. But did he love them? The pastor
+was certainly a very poor caricature of God, and yet with his beard and
+square head and loud words, there must be a faint resemblance. Gilbert
+certainly did not like him.
+Much more nearly like God was his father’s father, whom he had once
+been taken to see and whom he remembered now as a white-haired,
+white-bearded man, very solemn, and yet with something cold and
+repellent about him whenever Gilbert had touched him. Gilbert did not
+feel that he loved this God, and yet he knew that he ought to, that it
+was the most important thing in life that he could do. So he would sit
+there and try to screw his heart into an attitude of loving. He would
+grow very serious and tighten his muscles, and fix his thought on the
+majesty reclining on the white cloud, and, pretty soon, he would feel
+that indeed he now loved God, and he would be kept from sin. Jesus, who
+was tenderer, he might have found easier to love, but for the fact of
+those lambs. Gilbert had never seen young men carrying lambs, and the
+picture, whose authenticity he did not question, aroused no emotion
+within him. But after he had come to love God, he tightened his heart
+towards the benignant being in the blue robe.
+He was always present, because before every meal they would all put
+down their heads, so that they breathed upon their plates, and they
+would ask Jesus to bless their food. Sometimes Gilbert would say it,
+sometimes Olga, and the food unblessed would have tasted bad in their
+mouths. Gilbert would have had a vague presentiment of something evil.
+Did Garna and Mother love God? Garna must, because every day she would
+put on her gold-rimmed spectacles and read a chapter in her Bible, and
+mother would kneel down with Gilbert and Olga at night while they said
+their prayers, and often murmur something fervently with them. The
+prayers, they understood, were addressed directly to God in heaven,
+and were necessary if you were to show your gratitude to the Heavenly
+Father and ensure for yourself a peaceful and secure night. You asked
+God also to bless all those people you were fond of, and you knew that
+if they should die before they woke, their souls also would be taken to
+Heaven with yours.
+If it was only with painful effort that Gilbert in his early days of
+church and Sunday School loved God and Jesus, whom did he love? Did he
+love Mother? He did not know. He loved her very much at night when he
+felt her protecting presence in the house, but in the daytime she was
+a strange being who did not seem interested in Gilbert and Olga. She
+spent most of her time with little brother, or, if he were asleep, she
+would be lying stretched across the foot of the bed, with her face in
+her hands. Often there were tears in her eyes, and if Gilbert wanted
+her to do something for him, she would say piteously that she was not
+well. There were no more walks on the village green, but this did not
+make any difference to Gilbert, for the wonderful yard in which Garna’s
+house stood was a region that could never be explored or exhausted.
+The one person that Gilbert knew he loved was Garna. You could not
+always see her, for she would be shut up in her room; but when you were
+let in, how inexhaustible she was, how comfortable you felt, playing
+about on the floor while Garna sat always by the window, sewing, always
+sewing, looking so wise and jolly and good out of her gold-rimmed
+spectacles. Garna was always the same, and always good to be with and
+look upon. Gilbert loved to sit in her lap, and touch her hair, brushed
+to such silky smoothness and parted in the middle. As she bent over, he
+would run both hands back over it from her forehead, and laugh as she
+laughed and pretended to arrange it again.
+Gilbert liked to have Garna all to himself, and it was fortunate
+that Olga was not much interested in Garna. She did not seem to half
+appreciate her or her wonderful room. But once in a while she would
+take a perverse desire to come in with Gilbert when he went to see
+Garna. Olga would have to be prevented with all his weight and force.
+How could he stand so outrageous an invasion of his rights? And Olga
+would probably hit him, concentrating all her round little pugnacity
+into one stout blow, and Gilbert would hit back, and Olga would scream,
+and Mother would come running, and there would be many tears, and Eden
+would be spoiled, if not altogether denied him, for that afternoon. On
+the very threshold, Olga, who did not really care to be with Garna, had
+ruined his day with her! Hateful little Olga! And all the time, Garna
+would be inside, behind the closed door, serene, unheeding, letting
+her daughter, Gilbert’s mother, settle the whole affair, as far away
+as if she were in Pampelune. Gilbert felt the perversity of Fate, the
+inexorable aloofness of the gods, the fragility of happiness. Going
+eagerly to taste this sweet exhilaration of an afternoon with Garna,
+the cup, without any warning whatever, would be fatally dashed from
+his lips. But he could not have it shared with Olga!
+Between Garna’s chair and the window was a high, chintz-colored box
+which opened into a voluminous cavern of sheets and white things. In
+the corner just behind Garna’s chair was the tall secretary-desk, with
+its big doors above that opened on shelves full of books, and its heavy
+writing-lid which folded down and rested horizontally on two supports
+that pulled out on each side. You could sit on the high chintz-box
+and write on the secretaire. Gilbert thought this was one of the most
+satisfactory spots in the whole world. At your right was the window
+looking down through the black-walnut trees to the street below; just
+behind you sat Garna, busily knitting or sewing; you had all the flat,
+shiny surface of the lid to make your puzzles on, or practise writing,
+or draw on; your legs hung down over the chintz-box, high above the
+ground; you were shut in to the most delicious privacy. At the back
+of the secretaire were innumerable compartments and pigeon-holes in
+which Garna kept her letters and papers; there were old diaries and
+account-books, which Gilbert puzzled over, and one compartment Garna
+gave Gilbert for his very own, so that he could keep his pencils and
+paper there, and anything he chose, safe for ever from the depredations
+of the marauding Olga, who seemed to Gilbert, whenever he thought of
+her at all from his safe retreat, as a very imp of lawlessness, of
+restless and devastating mischief. Sometimes, to make sure that no one
+interrupted him, he would silently turn the keys in the doors. But
+Garna did not like that very much, and it was awkward if Mother or Aunt
+Nan really came and wanted to come in, and Garna had to wonder how the
+doors could ever have become locked.
+In the summer afternoons Garna would take her waist off, and sit
+sewing in her bare arms. Gilbert liked to lean over and rub his face
+against the expanse of cool flesh, lay his head on the cool shoulder,
+and listen to Garna’s stories of when she was a little girl. Gilbert
+learned about her father’s house in Burnham, which he should some day
+see, but it was a long distance from where they lived now; about his
+mill-pond and his mill, where great mahogany logs that came from the
+West Indies were sawed up for furniture; about the canal that was dug,
+when she was a little girl, through their very front yard, and on
+which they saw the very first boat sail grandly by, the grandfather of
+those boats that Gilbert had loved to watch from the porch of the house
+in the back-street, and which he had almost forgotten now that he had
+come to live with Garna.
+So he would lean there against her arm, stroking her plump elbow with
+its dimples that so fascinated him, and listening to her stories until,
+in the drowsy summer air, he sank away indistinctly, and knew nothing
+until he woke up towards supper-time on Garna’s high bed. Every now
+and then, as a great distinction and event, Gilbert would be allowed
+to sleep with Garna. How different and solemn it was from any other
+sleep! When Gilbert said good-night to Garna in her big chair in the
+back-parlor, it was with a “I’m going to sleep with you to-night!” Then
+he would get, not into the hard little bed with Olga, but into the
+great feathery soft bed in Garna’s room. He would sink off to sleep in
+billows and oceans of soft pillows and sheets. Along towards morning
+he would half wake, perhaps, and there would be the huge, comforting,
+dear presence of Garna filling the bed beside him, as he lay pressed
+against her warm night-gown. And when he woke again, Mother would be
+there standing by the side of the bed, and she would whisk him off to
+her room to be dressed. And life would go on as before.
+Aunt Nan seemed to love Garna as much as Gilbert did. And she liked
+Gilbert. Often, on summer days, she would take him up to her room
+in the third-story, a region to which Gilbert never ventured alone,
+for there were queer, pitchy-black closets and alcoves that led far
+back under the sloping roof, and contained trunks and boxes, in which
+and behind which you never knew what menacing forces of evil might
+be hidden. At the top of the stairs was a little hall, lighted by a
+sky-light, through which you saw the blue sky. Aunt Nan’s room was
+shaped like an L, but the ceiling on one side ran down so steeply that
+Gilbert could stand against the wall and touch the line where it joined
+the ceiling. Aunt Nan would fix up a pallet on the floor, soft and
+comfortable, and on hot days Gilbert would roll half-naked on it, while
+Aunt Nan rubbed his hot arms with a sweet-smelling balsam. Then she
+would sit and read a great shiny new book, which Gilbert spelled out
+as “Psychology. James.” She had several books on shelves over her desk,
+and a great bunch of programs stuck together on an iron hook that hung
+on the wall. In the winter Aunt Nan was not in the house. Mother said
+she was a teacher, and lived in New York.
+Aunt Nan was very tall and slender and very straight, and she had very
+black hair that came over her forehead in a kind of bang. She always
+wore black and white dresses, and she always had a bright fierceness
+about her that Gilbert liked. She was several years younger than
+Mother, and she was very proud. There was a stiff exhilaration in her
+walk and in her laugh that daunted Gilbert a little, but made him like
+to be with her. Sometimes she would put the tennis-net across the green
+lawn and play with a neighbor, darting so swiftly, like a long black
+bird, across the green, hitting the ball so straight and true, and
+blazing so fiercely with her black eyes when she missed, that Gilbert
+sat enthralled, motionless, until the set was over and they went in
+to supper. On those days he would help her mark the court, going to
+the little barn and watching her fill the marker with white powdery
+lime, and then helping her push it over the closely-mown grass. The
+long summer days were full of Aunt Nan. She loved the garden, with its
+flower-beds, and she loved to see the paths all clipped and weeded and
+raked. Once a week, a black man would come from somewhere, and spend
+the whole day with Aunt Nan, mowing the lawn, digging the vegetable
+garden, and weeding the flowers. That was a glorious day for Gilbert
+and for Aunt Nan. How much there was to be done. They all seemed to be
+wrestling with the whole yard, to turn it up, to bring it to a bright,
+shiny newness. At the end of the day, Gilbert would walk about the
+garden on the gravelly paths with Aunt Nan to survey their handiwork.
+She would be immensely contented. Her bright black eyes would soften;
+she would be weary and her hands would be dirty, but Gilbert would feel
+the peace that radiated from her at the sight of this freshly burnished
+garden. The grass would be smooth like a carpet, the flower-beds and
+the vegetable-garden all dark and tumbled with their upturned earth.
+The paths would be straight brown indented tracks, or, where they went
+around the house, beautifully curved tracks, with the marks of the
+rake on the fine earth where George had worked it over. During the week
+the grass would grow longer, the weeds shoot up in the flower-beds,
+the paths become bedraggled at the edges, the grass grow up rank on
+the lawns. But soon Saturday would come with George, and the fine
+renovation would take place all over again.
+Aunt Nan was neat and quick in her movements. She had a cold scorn for
+dirty faces and dirty hands, and Gilbert sometimes became a little
+weary trying to satisfy her demands. He was always a little intimidated
+by her, but at the same time fascinated by her vibrancy, her restless
+passion. He loved to see her coming towards him, because he knew that
+she would snatch him away to something interesting. But he was a little
+fearful, too; subdued by that decisiveness that made him realize how
+little what he wanted would count. She did not kiss or fondle Gilbert
+much. She would take him on her lap and put her arms around him.
+Mother was never like that. She did not seem to know what she wanted.
+Every incident was a crisis. Gilbert found that he and Olga could
+resist her by delaying. Dirty faces could be grudgingly and slowly
+cleaned. One could come in the utmost disapproving reluctance when one
+was called. Mother was always distressed that you did not obey her; she
+was always distressed about what to do with you. She would implore you
+to be good, and you would be good with a certain chilly haughtiness,
+because it seemed somewhat humiliating to see Mother so distressed and
+uncertain. Olga did not usually obey, but kicked and screamed. Gilbert
+soon got the habit of ignoring his mother’s expressed desires and
+wearing out her decisiveness. Then he would be left alone to follow his
+own desires.
+That yard, which Aunt Nan loved so much, was for Gilbert a domain,
+a principality. It was years before he had really explored it
+thoroughly or searched out all its delights. At first it was a rich and
+bountiful collection of all the things that Gilbert had missed in the
+back-street. He did not know that he had missed them, but now that he
+had found them, something down very deep in him told him that this was
+what his restlessness and sadness had craved.
+You rushed out the side-door--for the front door was just as heavily
+interdicted as the front stairs--and you tumbled into a bed of myrtles
+and wistaria which climbed out of the flower-bed in thick stalks and
+grew steadily over the corner of the house. Across the path were two
+tall pine trees, whose branches brushed Gilbert’s shutter by his bed
+when the wind blew loud. Beyond the trees lay the green, unbroken lawn,
+covered with velvety grass that even the lawn-mower could not keep from
+growing thick and soft like a carpet. The lawn went straight up towards
+the neighbor’s fence, but just before it reached there it turned into
+a long flower-bed, with rose-bushes and tangled flowery vines that
+climbed over and pretended that there was no fence there at all. To the
+right, and up near the street corner of the yard were three more lordly
+pines set in a triangle, which Gilbert had promptly named “Three Trees
+Grove.” The floor was covered with needles. It was shady and spacious,
+almost as big as Gilbert’s room. It could be turned into a house, or a
+shop or a church, at a moment’s notice. The big trunks stretching up
+above Gilbert’s head gave it an air of delightful majesty, and he could
+not play there enough with Olga and Cousin Ethel.
+At the other end of the broad lawn were the grape-arbors, six or
+seven lines of them, where you walked between the overflowing vines
+and looked longingly at the green bunches which took endless æons, all
+through the long golden summer, to ripen, while Gilbert went every day
+to examine them. Behind that was the barn, from which the horses and
+carriage had vanished, though when Grandfather was alive, Garna told
+him, they had their horses and Aunt Nan had ridden one of them, and so
+had Uncle Rob, who was far off in Texas now. Gilbert could see traces
+of the carriage road which had led out through the side-gate to the
+side-street, but which was now all grass-grown. The barn was now full
+of rakes and hoes and wheel-barrows, but there were deep bins where
+still remained a peck or two of oats and a measure, and there was a
+manger which swung back and forth from the stall to the bin, so you
+could fill it and then turn it in to the horse. Gilbert wished that
+there were still horses to play with, but it was fun turning the manger
+and making Olga and Ethel pretend to be horses.
+If you went on beyond the barn you came to a clump of currant and
+gooseberry bushes which ran out in a thin line to the fence, which by
+this time had lost its rose-bushes and become a prickly tangle of
+blackberries. Enclosed by the blackberries and the currants was the
+broad expanse of the vegetable garden, with corn in summer that Gilbert
+could get quite lost in, and an amazing variety of good vegetables to
+eat. The vegetable garden ran up to Uncle Marcus’s barn and his garden.
+Straight down back of Garna’s house, through the middle of the yard,
+ran a path, part way through a grape-arbor of its own, and then past
+the currant bushes. At the end of the garden it joined a path in Uncle
+Marcus’s yard. Along the foot of the path, where it passed the garden,
+was a row of rhubarb, and on the other side Aunt Nan’s sweet-peas,
+which she planted every spring. On the other side of the path was an
+open meadow where the grass was not cut, and where Gilbert sometimes
+lay on cool summer days and looked up at great white clouds floating
+past in the blue sky. Nearer the house you came to a wilderness of
+fruit-trees, pears of all kinds and apples, and as you approached the
+street the yard broke into flower-beds and shrubs and bushes. Close to
+the house grew lilies-of-the-valley, and a curious ribbon-grass which
+Aunt Nan could take between her fingers and blow shrill whistles on.
+Along the path which went past the dining-room window were beds of pink
+and white peonies and tall white lilies which had a smell so sweet that
+Gilbert felt almost faint when he touched them. And along the whole
+side of the yard was a beautiful japonica hedge, with its white and
+red flowers in the spring, which turned into sweetly smelling green
+balls in the summer. There were great maples interspersed in the hedge
+that threw down their keys in the spring. And all along the front of
+the yard, close to the house, ran a white wooden fence just within
+which was a line of graceful black-walnut trees, with their thin green
+clustered leaves and the green nuts which fell in heaps on the ground.
+Aunt Nan and Gilbert would collect them in sacks and put them in the
+barn. There they would grow all black, so that you could strip off the
+covering and find the crinkled nutshell within. Then you cracked them
+on a stone.
+The yard was wonderful to Gilbert. The winter was one long torpor
+when, as he played with his blocks in the great stretch of sunlight in
+Mother’s room, the days passed almost in a dream. It was only when
+spring came, and he could run about and see the buds and the flowers
+come out one after another, that he felt alive again. And it was good
+in the endless summer days to have so much to attend to. He could be
+playing in Three Trees Grove, and yet have running in an undercurrent
+of his mind the sense of the garden or the japonica hedge, or the
+manger in the barn. He could go down to the cherry-tree to see if the
+cherries were ripe, or to the currant-bushes, or he could prick his
+fingers on the rose-bushes, or get himself stuck in the gum of the
+pine-trees. The yard was a world, and only very dimly did he imagine
+anything beyond it. What his mother did in the kitchen or about the
+house only very dimly concerned him. What they had to live on never
+entered his mind. His sorrows were concerned almost entirely with the
+rebellions of Olga, or the calamities of weather which would keep
+them all home from a walk to the kind lady who lived up the street
+and gave them cookies when they went to see her. Or the hornets and
+yellow-jackets. Sometimes on very hot days, when Mother kept them
+in the darkened back parlor and the big clock ticked menacingly,
+insistently at them, and Gilbert felt sleepy and could not go to
+sleep, the tædium vitæ would overwhelm him in a great drenching wave.
+He was suddenly conscious of time, endlessly flowing and yet somehow
+dreadfully static. Nothing was ever going to happen again; he was as if
+alive in a tomb. The flies buzzed; the clock ticked; Mother was taking
+an exhausted nap; Aunt Nan and Garna were away for a vacation. The
+world was a great vacuum with nothing to experience and nothing to do.
+And if a summer afternoon could produce so appalling a sense of
+eternity, what must heaven be like, where you went so infallibly when
+you were dead? Either because lovely Garna and mild Miss Fogg had kept
+Gilbert from the terrors of hell, or it was his natural ego, it never
+occurred to him that he was not destined for heaven, or that there
+was any way of avoiding it. And the thought of eternal life seemed
+to fuse itself with the long and empty summer afternoon. The tædium
+vitæ was transmuted into the colossal ennui of heaven. Not as a pearly
+municipality of golden streets and white-robed choirs did Gilbert
+imagine heaven, but always in the guise of those white clouds on which
+God rode. He saw himself clearly, seated infinitely high above the
+earth, to which he should never be able to come again. Perhaps there
+was the intimation of a harp, but what seized Gilbert’s imagination
+was the vast emptiness of the space around him, the disorientation
+of everything. Time and space were no longer fluid and mobile, but
+frozen; and in the hot, sticky afternoon, his slightly feverish body,
+all alert and sensitive at every pore of time that dripped past him,
+would be terribly conscious of this horror that awaited him, of this
+immobile time in empty space. It was not the dark or stillness that he
+feared. On the contrary, he saw this future state as floating in the
+clearest, most luminous light. On certain days, when he happened to
+look at the sky, he would see just that pale infinite blue into which
+you could look on and on and never reach the end. When it was really
+blue or cloudy, it curved comfortingly over you, near and definite like
+a bowl. But when it was of a certain paleness, the bowl seemed to have
+been removed and you looked through, out into nothingness. And if in
+this nothingness there were white majestic clouds floating, that looked
+solid as if they could bear you away, then over Gilbert would sweep
+again this ennui of heaven, lost and forgotten perhaps since that last
+afternoon in the darkened parlor. And a vague feeling of homelessness
+and of fear would fall upon him. His play would flag until the clouds
+drifted away again and he forgot that they had come.
+The first break in Gilbert’s world came when his mother decided that he
+and Olga ought to go to school. Gilbert was seven years old, and when
+his mother told him rather worriedly about it, he felt at first rather
+pleased at the idea of something so important. What would they teach
+him? Mother said Miss Waldron would teach him. He knew how to read and
+write and he could spell all the words he wrote. He read all the books
+he was given and sometimes looked into Hawthorne’s Wonder Tales, and
+read a page or two. When he went back for the book, however, he would
+forget where he had left off. So he would read a page anywhere. What
+did it matter? He read his Bible in the same haphazard way. He knew his
+multiplication table, and he liked to recite it. And he knew all about
+the calendar and the hymn-book. Most of these things he had known
+since he was four or five, and what good did they do him?
+But in the morning he liked taking Olga by the hand, and leading her
+out the gate under the big black-walnut trees, and down the street.
+Mother always kissed them good-bye with such a serious and anxious
+air that Gilbert felt he was setting out on a genuine mission. At
+the crossing he would restrain Olga from rushing ahead; then he
+would carefully look up and down the street to see if there were any
+horses and wagons coming. Then he would dash across, pulling Olga
+precipitately behind him. They would go along the upper green, under
+the great railroad bridge, and come to Miss Waldron’s.
+To Gilbert the school was an enormous joke. He could not take Miss
+Waldron seriously. Her tall, bony frame and her sad, fierce eyes
+touched no springs of affection in him. A lesson or two unlocked all
+the latent cruelty in him. She was there to teach Gilbert and Olga
+and the half-dozen other little children who came to the school-room
+over the kitchen, and she was determined to teach them. She knew that
+children under seven needed to be taught to read and write and spell.
+So she gritted her teeth, and came every morning to her hard and bitter
+work.
+But Gilbert by that time had read so many books at home that it seemed
+absurd that he should be taught to read, and he would rattle through
+the lesson while the younger children fidgeted and then tried painfully
+to puzzle it out. Gilbert could spell, too, and he raced through the
+words, and when he was asked the meaning of words he would say that
+“retire” meant “go to bed,” because he had seen it mean that in a book
+he had read. And Miss Waldron would say he was a saucy boy, and plead
+with him to answer nicely. Then he would mimic her, and watch her fight
+back the temper in her sad, fierce eyes. She would stand him in the
+corner, with his back to the class, and he would look round and wink
+at the other children to make them laugh. Miss Waldron’s sisters would
+come up from the kitchen below, where they were baking, and beg Gilbert
+not to make the teacher so unhappy, and promise him a cookie if he
+would be good. And Gilbert, drunk with power, would refuse everything,
+and ride his high horse until the mill-whistles blew twelve o’clock,
+and they all went home for the day.
\ No newline at end of file