San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-12-17

opportunity of being wearied in that
way"
Begin by opening your eyes to
facts, then. 1t is you who are trying
to jest. 1t is / who am in earnest.
Did you, or did you not, offer your
soul for a certain piece of inf6fma-
ton? Did you, or did you not, hear
those dead things moan and cryp
Did you, or did you not, see them
move?"
GLOW absurd" cried Unorna.
You might as well ask whether, when
one is giddy, the room is really going
round. Is there any practical differ
ence, so far as sensation goes, be-
tween mummy and a block Of
w0odg" ,
THAT, my dear lady, is precisely
what we do not know and what We
most wish to know"
"But how do you know what hap
pens when decay is not only arrested
but prevented before it has beguns
How can you foretell what may hap
pen when skillful hand has restored
the tissues OF the body to their orig
mai hexibility or preserved them in
the state in which they were last sem
siUive?n
Nothing can ever make me be-
lieve that mummy can suddenly
hear and understand, said Cnorna;
much less that it can move and pro-
du,e u sound. | know that the idea
has possessed you for many years,
but nothing will make me believe it
possible"
And on the ground of temporary
insanity you would repudiate the bar
gain?"
Unorna shrugged her shoulders inn
patiently and did not answer. Keyork
relinquished the fencing.
"Keyork, do you believe that the
souls OF the dead can come back to
usP she finally asked.
Keyork Arabian was silent for q
few seconds.
ii know nothing about it," he an
swered.
But what do you thinkp"
Nothing. Either it is possible or
ii is not, and until the one proposition
or the other is proved l suspend my
judgment. Have you seen a ghostP"
II do not know. | have seen some
thing" she stopped, as though the
recOllections were unpleasant.
Then" said Keyork, the probable
ity is that you saw living person.
Shall | sum up the question Of ghosts
for you?'
Il wish you would, in some way
that can understand.
I'VE are, then, in precisely the
same position with regard to the be-
lief in ghosts which we occupy tow
ard such questions as the abolition Of
death. The argument in both cases
is inductive and all but conclusive.
We do not know of any case, in the
200 generations of men, more or less,
with whose history we are in
some dCTree acquainted, of any in
dividual who has escaped death. We
conclude that al. men must die. Sim
ilarly we do not know cerlainlY--not
from real, irrefutable evidence, at
least-that the soul Of any man or
woman dead has ever returned visibly
to earth. We conclude, therefore,
that none ever will. There is differ
ence in the two cases which throws q
slight balance of probability on the
side Of the ghost. Many persons have
asserted that they have seen ghosts,
though none have ever asserted that
n lin En. NJ
have had a very wide, practical and
intimate acquaintance with dead peo-
ple-sOmetimes in very queer places
but | have never seen anything even
family suggestive of a ghost. There
fore, my dear lady, l advise you to
take it for granted that you have seen
living person"
IL never shivered with cold nor felt
my hair rise upon my head at the sight
of any living thing" said Unorna,
dreamily, and still shading her eyes
with her hand.
You are quite sure that it was not
really a woman"
Would awoman-and of all women
that One-have come and gone with
out word?
Not unless she is very singularlY
reticeut person. answered Keyork,
with a laugh. But you need not go
SO far as the ghost theory for an ex-
PLANTATION. You were hypnotized my
dear friend, and he made you see her.
That is as simple as anything need
be-"
But that is impossible-beoause
-" Unorna stopped and changed
color.
Because you had bypnotized him
already" suggested Keyork, gravely.
= ..Tha thinr Is not nnsSihle y IInnrna