The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-18


has been done does not affect the result.
Neither does 1t disturb the equanimity OF the
superior being when he meets with opposing
superior beings who have also made up their
private accounts with truth, but in quite
another handwriting and with different sum
total at the bottom of the page; who have also
unlocked the gate OF the great mysteries but
with key of contradictory words, while the
gate itself is ofranother order of architecture
altogether. But then nothing ever does dis
turb the equanimity of the superior being; for,
as he is above all rivalry, so is he beyond all
teaching. The meeting oftw superior beings
of hostile oreeds is only like the meeting of the
two blind kings in the story, each claiming the
crown for his own, and both ignorant of the
very existence of a rival. 1t may be that the
superior being has scared away into the cold
region of spiritual negation, whence he regards
the praying and praising multitudes who go
to church and believe in Providence as grown
people regard children who still believe in
ghosts and fairies. Or it may be that he has
plunged into the phosphorescent atmo-
sphere of mysticism and an allpervading
su perstition; ana then all who hold by scien-
tiic law, and who think the test of common
sense not absolutely valueless, are Sadducees
who know nothing Of the glorious liberty of
the light, but who prefer to live in darkness,
aud make themselves the agents of the great
Lord of Iies. Sometimes the superior being
as against reason or experience, holding the
Psychologist and political economist as crea-
lures absolutely devoid of feeling; and some
times his superiority is shown in the applica-
tion of the hardest material laws to the most
subtle and delicate manifestations OF the mind
But on which side soever he ranks himself
as a spiritualist to whom reason and matter
are stumbling. blocks and acoursed, or as a
materaist denying the existence of spiritual
influences at all-he is equally secure OF his
own superiority and serene in his own con-
ceit. That there should be two sides to any
question never seems to strike him; and that
man of another creed should have as much
right as himself to q hearing and con-
sideration is the one hard saying impossible
for him to receive. With a light and airy
manner of playful contempt-sometimes with
a heavy and Johnsonian scorn that keeps no
terms with an Opponent-the superior being
meets all your arguments or batters down all
your objections; sometimes, indeed, he will
not condescend even so far as this, but when
you express your adverse opinion just lifts up
his eyebrows with a good -humored kind of
surprise at your mental state, but let's you
see that he thinks you too hopeless, and him
self too superior, to waste powder and shot
upon yOu. 1t is of the nature of things that
there should be mOles and that there should
be eagles; so much the worse for the mOles,
who must be content to remain blind, not
seeing things patent to the nobler vision.
The superior being is sometimes q person
who is above all the passions and weaknesses
of ordinary men; a philosopher, or an ethe-
rialized woman dwelling on serene Olym-
plan heights which no clouds obscure, and
where no earth-fOgs rise. The passions which
shake the human soul, as tempe5ts shake the
forest trees, and warp mems lives according
to the run of their own lines, are unknown
to these Olympan peIsonnges, and they can
not understand their power They look on
these tempestuOus souls with q curious ana
lytical gaze, according 10 the direction of the
agony through which they pass, and wonder
why they cannot keep as calm and quiet as
they themselves are. They sit in scornful
Judgment on the mysterious impulses regu-
lating human nature--Tegulating and disturb
ing-and think how perfect all things would
be if only passions and instincts were cut out
OF the great plan, and men and women were
left to the dominion of pure reason.
But they do not take into their account the
law of constitutional necessity, and they are
utterly unable to strike anything like q
balance between the good and evil wrought
both by the tempests of souls and by those of
nature. They only know that storms are in
convenient, and that for themselves they have
no need for such convulsions to clear off stag
nant humOrs, nor are they made of elements
which kindle and explode at the contact of
such or such materials. And if they know
nothing OF all this, why then should others
Ii they can sit on Olympian heights serene
above all passion, why should not the whole
world sit with them, and fogs and fires be
conditions unknown When this kind of
superior being is a woman, there is something
pretty in the sublime assumption of her
supremacy, and the sweeping range of her
condemnation. Sheltered from temptation aud
secure from danger, she looks out on life from
the serene heights of her safe place, and
wonders how men can fail and woman fall be-
fore the power of trials of which she knows
only the name. Her circulation
is lapguid and her temperament
phlegmatic, and therefore the burning desire
of life which sends the strong into danger,
perhaps into sin, is as much unknown to her
as is the fever OF the tropics to Laplander
crouching in his snow-hut; but she Judges
none the less positively because of her igno-
rance, and, as she looks into your quivering
face with her untroubled eyes, let's you see
plainly enough how she despises all the
human frailties under which you or yours
may have tTipped and stumbled. Sometimes
she Iebukes you loftily. Your soul is sore
with the consciousness of your sin, your heart
is weak with the pain of life; but the supe-
rior being tells you that repentance cannot
undo the evil that has been done, and that to
feel pain is weak. The superiority which
some women Iassume over men is very odd.
1t is like the grave rebuke of a child, not
knowing what it is that it rebukes. When
women take up their parable, and censure
men for the wild or evil things they do,
not understanding how or why it has come
about that they have done them, and knowing
! as little of the inner causes as of the outer,
! they are in the position of superior beings
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