The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-04-20

in the coffin that the soul may revisit the body
it it wish. Even to-day European peasants
open the windows in sick rooms in order that
Inc soul, wishing to 60 out, may not be angered
| by hindrance.
| The savage naturally makes no distinction
| between the man and the brute in this matter.
| He sees the shadow Of the dog. and recognizes
| its other self. The Kafr who has killed an
| elephant, will cry out that he did
not mean to do it and lest the elephants
soul should still seek vengeance. he
Will cut off and bury. the trunk, 50 that the
crippled other self of the mighty beast may be
unable to strike him. Even plants are accred-
tied with souls, and the Talein will not cut
down tree without first seeking to propitiate
Its ghost by laying the blame on some one else.
And even lifeless objects have other selves
which pass into the world of ghosts. "If an
axe or chisel is worn out or broken up, away
lilies its soul for the service of the gods," say
the FiJlans. In this we see how simple aud
consistent is the logic which guides the savage
and how inevitable the genesis of the great
mass of beliefs to our minds SO arbitrary and
grotesque. However absurd to US the belief
that pots and kettles have souls, it is the only
belief the savage can consistently hold, for they
NAV appear in his dreams, he sees them fol-
they are struck. The Algonkins insisted to
Charleviox that since hatohets have shadows as
we'll as men, therefore the shadow or soul of
the Ratchet must accompany the shadow or
soul OF the warrior to the spirit land.
When once hasituated to the conception of
souls OF hatchets passing to the land of ghosts
the savage cannot avoid carrying the interpre-
tation still further, so that wind and water,
hre and storm, are accredited with indwelling
spirits akin by nature to the soul which inhaD-
its the human frame. That the mighty spirit
by whose impelling will the trees are rooted up
and the storm-olouds driven across the sky
should resemble freed human soul is natural
inference, for to his mind all events are the
manifestations of capricious vOltion. In point
of fact we find that savage philosophy makes
no distinction between the human ghost and
the elemental demon or deity. This Is sutf-
GENTLY proved by the universal prevalence of
the worship of ancestors. The essential prin-
ciple of manes-wOrship is that the tribal chief
or patriarch, who has governed the community
during life, continues also to govern after his
death, assisting IN its warfare with hostile
tribes, rewardlng brave warriors and Furnishing
traitors and towards. Thus from the concep-
ton of the living king we pass to the notion
OF what Mr.. Spencer calls the "god.king', and
thence to the rudimentary notion of deity.
Among such savages as the Zulus, the doctrine
of divine ancestors has been developed to the
extent of recognizing first ancestor, the
Great Father, Unknlukulu, who made the
world
Thus said the lecturer, by a somewhat cir
cuitous process we reach something like con-
slstent and satisfactory explanation of the true
nature OF mythology. On the one hand philol-
gy mas shown that myth is an attempt to eX-
plain some natural phenomenon, by endowing
with human feelings and capacities the sense
less factor in the phenomenon, as when the
ancient Hindu explained thunderstorm as
the shifting of Vritra by the unerring shafts of
Indra. On the other hand brief survey of
barbaric superstitions has shown how uncul-
tured man by the best use he could make of
his rude common sense, has invariably cons to
regard all objects as endowed with souls ard
all nature as peopled with supra-buman enti-
ties. Thus the natural mode of genesis for the
presentations of mythology is made up.
The concluding lecture of the course will be
given this evening, and its theme is the Aryan
folklore, the old myths which have fallen from
their high estate as statements of religious be-
lief and exist now only as nursery legends.
The lecture will be of far greater popular inter-
est than its predecessors, for it illustrates the
history of Red Riding Hood. of the Travelling
Musicians. of Fortune-Seeking Jack, and other
famous heroes of child-worship.