Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1885-02-12
WILL SHE LIVE AGAINf
n.l.p L.L.. in the ArgOnaut.

Hslsp Laks. in the ArgOnaut.
Late one night in June two men, a
aedicsl student and q young lawyer. sat
discussing more things than Horstio
dreamed Of in his philosophy.
sCan you think. said Graham, the law
year, that there is absolutely no exist
ence of any vital principal apart from
the physical functions that stop with
death? will never believe that there
is not something behind ali thst-the
something that looks out of the eyes
that intangible. incomprehensible some
thing; that II or that you which only
uses human eyes or voice to express it.
sAil that has been discovered to be
nothing but combination more or less
complicated of brain cells returned
Fielding, the lstadent. If you had gone
into that sort Of thing, as / have. yoR
wspld see that it is all redueible to mat
ter. A few more steps aud there will be
no question Of spidt,even for such ideal
lists rs you. Touch one spot in the brain
Of . genius, and you have gibbering
idiot. Lift Bit of bone from an idiots
brain, and you can educate q man OF
geAius.'
Graham shook his head.
You won't BEE. Hasn't that idiot in
SEINE way lost the connection between
matter and spiritf Try as you may,
yoa never will discover that sub
tile, Vital essence. When you have call
cd the intellect the working of the brain !;
the neral seense the working of the
brain again; all good or evil qualities
the working OF the brain still again-I
say there Ii something above and be,
yond all that. that you train and edu-
cate, and that escapes with death.
whether there is individual immortali-
,ty or not. am not prepared to argue
with you, but on the very theory of the
indestructibility Of existing principles in
the universe. that vital principle is not
destroyed
All the musty remains of an inherited
Theology returned Fielding. You are
not brave enough to discard them in the
face of scientific proof. have seen too
many deaths and too many dissections
not to be positively assured that the vi
tai essence is extinct with death. Why,
just look at it, how many triding acci+
deats put an end to mans existence.
Stop his heart, take away few
pounds of blood, destroy his digestion.
and you have destroyed him, say. The
necessary combination of forces to work
his machinery has been disarranged, and
he stops for good and all. grant you
for some 1t is hard enough give up the
idea of soul, but most people will be
glad to welcome annihilation, as / do.
No, we are born and we die, and there's
the end
Graham smoked silently for some
time, and locked out Of the open win
dow on the brilliant moonlight that
dimmed half the stars.
"A night for lovers he remarked pres
emily.
Who believe in immortality for one
night only laughed Fielding. What
nonsense it seems that the reflected light
of the dead world, and the twinkling of
few live suns, millions of leagues
away, should make people ready to die
for each other. when they laugh at the
idsa after their own sun rises
'Ysu incorrigible materialistl' cried
Graham; why do people marry every
dsyY
Habit, example and conditions of the
race. One woman is as good as another
If she is healthy and sweet-tempered.'
.Peor Tom Carroll doesn't think so
where Dora Varian is concerned said
Graham, with short laugh.
Yes, and In two years Tom Carroll
will haYe forgotten her refusal and her
existence, under the comfortable regime
Of some indifferently pretty housekeeper
whom accident will saddle on him as q
wife ana mother of bis children
Idon't know why she wanted to throw
Tom ever. said Graham. looking at the
end Of his cigar with slight frown.
What mereiless firt she isl 1t would
not have been so bad if she hadn't
taken him away from another girl. l
wonder if she has any heart at alp
She's a skeptic, like me- said Fielding,
carelessly. These men work up speech
es ont of novels, and play devoted, and
it amuses her. 1t would amuse me-
You don't knew her well, do you?
said Graham. 4 don't believe if you
did, yeu could keep out of her clutches
But she will find her match at last, /
have no doubt. These women do suffer
sometimes
I'll wager you what you like cried
Fielding, that Varian and will play at
love In the most artistic way, and separ-
ats at the end. neither of US the worse
for the game .
Il will make 80 wager said Graham,
briefly; but none the less am sure that
you will either marry, or one of you will
repent it.
Fielding had never been one of the
young men about town. He was sell
dom lured into ball room, and never
into the pleasure parties where people
meet so much more agreeably than un-
der the lighted chandeliers. Now it was
noticed that he was losing his retired
habits to talk to Dora VsriaD, and it was
not long before one was seldom seen
without the other. People wondered