If such a man, by speculation or otherwise, becomes able to surround himself with the tokens of wealth, there will not be wanting those who will bow low tohim; and when he is called out of life, with perhaps no particularly heavy weight on his conscience, he will strut into another world carrying with him a very large sense of his own importance.
Now, there is no need to enlarge upon the emotions he will arouse, the intense though secret hilarity with which he will be taken in hand, and the endless variety of hazing operations to which he will be subjected; but he will be sure to make the unexpected discovery that death is a lost friend, long before the last spark of self-conceit is extinguished within him.
It is scarcely possible to convey an idea of how small a part individual egotism is allowed to play in the world beyond.
In this world our race, as a race, is under protection. We are all more or less conscious of this in our own person.
Even the most stolid, when suddenlyreduced to the extremity of distress, find themselves calling upon God, almost without conscious volition.
If it were not so, if this protection were withdrawn, our race would shortly cease to be.
In the spirit-world, or in that part of it which adjoins this, figuratively speaking, which we enter as individuals, this sense of a general protection disappears. We find we are to stand or fall on our own individual record. We cannot lose ourselves in the mass. There is no mass. Time and space no longer exist for us. They are gone with the bodily senses and mathematical reasoning to which they were a prime necessity.
Sight, hearing, and touch of the soul have awakened, however, and how to use these new senses whose field of action is so immensely greater than the senses we have parted with, engages our attention.
Their first reports are so different from anything we have known that we discredit them entirely, are sure we must be dreaming, and put forth strong efforts to wake up. Failing in this, we look about us and endeavor to get our bearings.
Although time and space have left us, eternity and infinity have taken their place, and a feeling of awe steals over us at the realization, a feeling that extends in part to ourselves as we discover a certain element within us which now for the first time recognizes its home.
Then, in a flash, we perceive as never before, the essential narrowness of the limits of earth-life, and our mental vision shows us that whatever may have raised that phase of existence above the merely sensual or animal, had its home in the Beyond, and was only a visitor on earth.
We find ourselves ushered into thedomain of causes, and a thousand perplexities of memory disappear in a magical way, as we become sensible of the tremendous force of the activities at work in this heretofore hidden realm.
A spirit sometimes finds himself as if on a stage, and the pressure of a powerful will bids him to act out his own character. He consents, for why should he not? Scene follows scene; men and women from every walk of life, those whom he has known, and those of whom he has read, appear and act their part; kings and courtiers come and go, prophets and peasants, soldiers and merchants; and he finds some link connecting him with them all. Perhaps a plot is formed to destroy his reputation; thread by thread the web is wound about him. How shall he get free? Is it not all a dream? But he is made to feel that he must not insist upon knowing. Something like an electricshock answers his thought, and bids him to consider his surroundings real, whether they are or not, and forbids him to think of such a thing as applying a test. And, indeed, there is small leisure for anything of that kind. He finds himself obliged to put forth energies he never dreamed of possessing, to keep from going distracted. The stage widens until it becomes the floor of a world. The audience swells to millions. He reaches out for their sympathy, but they do not respond. They do not pretend to know whether he is a true man or a scoundrel. If he cries, "I am true," they answer, "Prove it." What can I do to prove it? But they turn away unconcerned, while another strand of falsehood is thrown around him and he is brought to his knees, where he is made the target for scorn and contempt, which come like arrows to pierce his form. In the depth of his despair, hesends out a piercing cry to the spheres above him for help.
Just then he discovers that he is clothed in armor, with a good sword at his side. He did not know it before, he could not possibly say how or whence it came, but it is not a time for curious questions. He seizes the blade and with one sweep severs the cords that bound him, stands upon his feet, and then, in a voice that startles himself, he calls upon his enemies to show themselves. Instead of that he hears their retreating feet, the clouds lift, the applause of the audience gives him back his lost strength, and he is ready for the next ordeal.
Now it may not be supposed that during such a scene as this, it would be possible for the spirit to receive and answer thought-messages from his friends on earth, but it is even so. A spirit with a heart will at least make the effortto respond to every demand made upon it, but if among the circle of his friends one sends out the message, "Come now, if you care anything about me, I wish you would help me find this gold-mine. What do you have to do anyhow?" the spirit may be excused if he fails to respond, and does not immediately proceed to explain just what he has to do.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[A]EditorThe Agnostic Journal, London, England.
[A]EditorThe Agnostic Journal, London, England.
[B]The Arena, January, 1894, "The Higher Criticism."
[B]The Arena, January, 1894, "The Higher Criticism."
Vision of Thyrza:
THE GIFT OF THE HILLS.
By IRIS.
The author is convinced that war, strife, poverty, misery, disease, and death are the result of man's reckless self-indulgence; and that so long as he shall be actuated by greed and selfishness in his tillage of the soil, in the various industrial pursuits, and in the marts of trade, he will "sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
But the lamentable state of things will not continue forever. The author, with "prophetic mind," perceives that the time will come when man will live in harmony with Nature, and yield himself to the guidance of "Divine Love." So guided and inspired, he will refine, purify, and ennoble the life of his fellow-men. Then agriculture will be "restored to right uses" and held in its pristine honor; and the earth will yield its fruits abundantly. A noble simplicity and wholesomeness will characterize the life of man, and universal peace will gladden his heart. The whole world will rejoice in the return of the Golden Age.
Cloth, 75 Cents.The Arena Publishing Company,COPLEY SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS.
His Perpetual Adoration;
—OR,—
THE CHAPLAIN'S OLD DIARY.
BY REV. JOSEPH F. FLINT.
This is an extremely interesting and realistic war story, told in the form of a diary left at his death by a veteran who had been a captain in the Northern army, and with Grant at Vicksburg and Sherman on his march to the sea. Two or three of the great events of the war are told in stirring fashion, but the narrative deals mainly with the inside life of the soldier in war time, and its physical and moral difficulties. A fine love story runs throughout, the hero having plighted his troth before setting out for the front. Being wounded in Georgia, he is cared for in the home of a Southerner, who is at the front with Lee's army, but who has in some way earned the bitter hatred of the wife whom he has left at home. She falls desperately in love with her wounded guest, and to him there comes the sorest temptation of his life. How he comes out of the ordeal must be left to the reader of the story to discover.
Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 50 Cents.The Arena Publishing Co.,COPLEY SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS.
THE LAND OF NADA.
BY BONNIE SCOTLAND.
The Land of Nada, the scene of this charming fairy story, is an enchanted country, ruled over by King Whitcombo and the beautiful Queen Haywarda. Prince Trueheart and his blue-eyed baby sister, Princess Dorothy, and their wonderful adventures; the enchanted cows and chickens, the wonderful lemon tree whose trunk yields three different kinds of beverages, are some of the wonders of this delightful land; as are, also, the doings of fairies, genii, goblins, and enchanted hawks. How the blind prince recovers his sight, how the baby princess is spirited away, cared for, and finally restored to her home, and how the wicked goblin and the two hawks that spirited her away are punished, may be read in this delightful fairy story, which teems with graceful conceits and charming fancies, and which can be read, not only by children of tender years, but by those of larger growth.
The style in which the book is gotten up makes it very suitable for a Christmas present.
Cloth, 75 Cents; Paper, 25 Cents.The Arena Publishing Company,Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
NICODEMUS: A POEM.
By Grace Shaw Duff.
In this fine blank-verse poem, written by the well-known New York authoress, Mrs. Grace Shaw Duff, is given, in autobiographic form as from the lips of Nicodemus himself, a poetic account of the two episodes between that ruler of the Jews and Jesus, as related in the third and seventh chapters of John's gospel. The poem is full of local color, and opens with a striking description of sunrise on the morning of the last day of the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. Then follows a picture of the unusual stir in the city due to the crowds attending the feast, after which there is a fine word painting of the scene in the temple, with its motley throngs of maimed and halt, of venders of unsavory wares, of idlers, and of graver men.
The description of the midnight visit of Nicodemus to Jesus may be quoted in full as a typical specimen of the tone, manner, and fine musical versification of the whole poem:—
The book is beautifully printed on first-class paper, and is finely illustrated with numerous half-tones, after sepia-wash drawings by that excellent artist Fredrick C. Gordon; and each section of the poem has a charmingly artistic vignette for the initial capital letter. The binding is in keeping with the general get-up, and the book would make an admirable Christmas present.
CLOTH, 75 CENTS.The Arena Publishing Co., Copley Sq., Boston, Mass.
The Woman-Suffrage Movement
IN THE UNITED STATES.
By A LAWYER.
The author of this book believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that those who accept its teachings as authoritative must be opposed to the woman-suffrage movement. Though he bases his arguments mainly on the teachings of Holy Scripture, he does not overlook the lessons of history. But history only confirms him in his contention that marriage is something more than a civil contract terminable at the pleasure of the partners. From the true point of view marriage is an ordinance of God. Should it ever become the general belief that it is other than a sacrament, there would be "no protection, no honorable or elevated position, no high social plane or place for woman." And if marriage is a sacrament, there is but one valid cause for divorce—the one laid down in the Word of God. The husband is the head of the household, and his commands should be respected and obeyed, for obedience and protection are correlative terms; the interests of husband and wife should be identical.
The various "cries" of the advocates of woman suffrage, as "taxation without representation," "liberty, fraternity, and equality," are considered and declared to be without force, and this declaration is supported by cogent reasons. The author is confident that if woman suffrage were enacted into law it would not only harden women but work irreparable injury to man, for those now opposed to the movement would then "reconcile the principle and its effects upon their environment with the Bible by throwing the Bible away." Thus, the "attack strikes at the root of all moral and religious training."
The book merits a wide circulation. Candid advocates of the movement will desire to know what can be said against it; and its opponents will be glad to have at hand reasons so forcible and illustrations so apt in condemnation of woman suffrage.
We cheerfully say so much for the book, though, as is well known, we are strongly in favor of the movement towards a larger liberty of action for woman; and we are looking earnestly and expectantly for the coming of the day when woman emancipated and enfranchised shall work out her destiny in perfect freedom.
154 pp. Cloth, 75 cents; Paper, 25 cents.The Arena Publishing Company,Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
The Heart of Old Hickory.
By WILL ALLEN DROMGOOLE.
Eight charming and popular stories by this gifted young Tennessee writer are collected in this beautiful volume. Each of these stories is a study that reveals a different phase of human character, and each study is a work of art. Several show the author's subtle skill in dialect-writing, and all reveal the hand of a master in delineating character. Here we have inimitable humor, gleeful fun, delightful sallies of wit, and genuine pathos, all combined with extraordinary descriptive powers. Raciness, strength, vividness, and felicity of expression characterize the author's style. He is to be pitied who can read these stories without being widened in his sympathies, elevated in thought, quickened in conscience, and ennobled in soul. The stories are the work of a literary genius, and go far to justify an admirer of her writings, who has himself no mean fame as editor, author, and critic, in calling Will Allen Dromgoole the "Charles Dickens of the New South."
Cloth, $1.25; Paper, 50 Cents.The Arena Publishing Company,Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
WHICH WAY, SIRS, THE BETTER?
A Story of Our Toilers.
By JAMES M. MARTIN.
This is the story of a labor strike, its causes and consequences. The chief character, Robert Belden, is a self-made man, who, from being office-boy in the Duncan Iron Works at Beldendale, Pa., had risen, by dint of intelligence, hard work, and attention to business, to be partner and business manager of the concern.
A temporary depression in the iron trade makes it necessary for him to give notice of a reduction of ten per cent in the wages of his employees. The latter are dissatisfied, and, after calling a meeting of their union, demand from him an inspection of the books of concern by a committee on their behalf, so that they may have the assurance that the reduction is necessary. As the disclosure would injure the business, the manager refuses to comply with this demand, and the workmen go out on strike. Thereupon the manager, in order to fill his contracts, employs laborers from a distance, and hires a band of fifty guards from a detective agency to protect them and his works. A dreadful riot ensues, with bloodshed and loss of life, and the works are closed.
After a time the manager proposes a new arrangement with his former workmen, whereby, under the system of profit-sharing, they shall receive a share of the profits in addition to their wages. The plan works admirably. In a comparatively brief period the workmen become well-to-do and contented, many owning their own homes, and Beldendale becomes the model of a prosperous and happy manufacturing town.
The story has evidently been suggested by the terrible strikes and riots in the coke fields of Pennsylvania, and the later ones at Homestead and Buffalo, and the author's object is to show the uselessness and the evil results of strikes, and to propose "a better way for the solution of the perennial conflict between capital and labor." His admirable story does this most effectively. It is written in that unassuming, straightforward style which is so impressive when dealing with "the short and simple annals of the poor," and it should be read and pondered over and taken to heart by every capitalist and employer of labor in the country, on the one hand, and by every workingman, on the other.
Cloth, 75 Cents; Paper, 25 Cents.The Arena Publishing Company,COPLEY SQUARE, BOSTON, MASS.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.