The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-14
4 new ADAM.
From the New York Times.

twin peaks OF Une IllQefDefgS- That
thrifty man, wise in his generation, had
believed that thereby would pass to the
boundless fields of the west the traffic
from the river and the sea. But wisdom
hath its own mortality; for the post road
took more northerly direction, and the
railway followed its example, and the
GREAT house grew into the old house amid
q solitude which the progress Of civiliza-
+ion only deepened.
IT. was on account of its very seclusiOn
that Grafton chose to live there on his re-
tu1u from the German university. The
manor of itself was so extensive as to
afford isolation, and beyond, for many
mile, stretched a wilderness of tree and
crap. with here and there the scant clear
ing of charcoal burners, mere existing
folk. whose ambition was food and whose
Measure was sleep.
Grafton dwelt there alone. The care
takers were settled in the lodge by the
gate. and the old woman cooked and
syyent. and the old man attended to water
and fire and dug and bedded the vegetable
Garden. And when they were not so
busied they were unseen. In the second
story front room Grafton slept in the
waiting room to the left of the entrance
he ate. The banquet hall, which covered
the rear half of the first floor, was shut
tered and barred, for therein he had es-
tablished his laboratory.
Grafton had long passed his first youth,
in habit if not in years. He had become
the fixed personification of thought. Tall,
snare and melancholy, with sdowncast
mien, he looked the eremite who sub
sisted on a hermit's fare of grains and
water. save when he raised his black
ewes, and then there was flash pregnant
with vitality and power. At each twilight
hour he walked through the old-fashioned
garden for the rest but for eating and
sleeping, he was engrossed with his pur-
pose.
Grafton's studies in Germany had been
occult and mystic He had followed the
lines of the alchemists, from whom comes
knowledge, however ridiculous their aspi-
rations may seem. And after all, is it
not foolhardy ever to assert impossibility
when the fairy tales of one age are the
sober acts of another?
Grafton sought not to transmute the
baser metals; gold was but the means to
an end with him, and his patrimoney was
ample. He had investigated himself in
particular and life in general. He had
considered the might and the limitation
of human existence, He believed that
knowledge depended on years, and that
man would be a demi-god, possessing the
secret of the bud, the breeze, and the
light if only he could discard the enthrall-
ment of death,
He also believed that the consciousness
of this subjugation was instructive from
BIRTH that through it development was
stunted and aspiration stifed, and that,
though the mind might ignore, every fibre
g 3 ly,l ,s,N1 ~,
sWerable query: What avails it to
struggle, since so soon we must die?"
Gould death be conqueredl That, then,
was his problem. He sought its solution,
not so much for his own preservation
thought that must be a consequonce-as
from pride and pity for his race. He
yearned to be another Prometheus and
rekindle the fires that had dwindled into
ash; to be spiritual Cadmus, and dis
cover and teach the alphabet of immor-
tally.
He had left Germany because he had
exhausted its learning. The day for eX-
pertinent had come, and he realized that
in an atmosphere so exhausted and under
an existence so artificial he could not hope
for favorable results. No, he who would
learn Of nature must look into her face;
he who would gain her secrets must seek
them in her breast.
So ne had returned to the home of his
race. and there found that the ancestors
who had sought to anticipate civilization
had prepared a retreat for the descendant
who should shun it. Here was the peace
OF the cerulcan; here the growth, the de-
cay, the regeneration of the primeval
forest. The soil, the MOSES, the under
brush, the saplings, the gigantic trees,
all denoted lifeand its perpetuation. The
mountains were rich in minerals. The
hern, the twig, the flower, conserved the
slmpleS of nature. The springs were
brewcd in her most covert alembic. Here,
then, Grafton could labor, and he did,
bringing theory into practice and making
knowledge his handservant. AS a man
ne was happy, since he was absorbed, and
When success came with its sense of
power, it added the exaltation of divinity.
For at length Grafton concentrated his
con1ectures into fact and his elements
OF wisdom into d discovery He found
mat disease and decay are the essential
outcome of that instinct of death which
IS inherent in every human being He
found that if this prescience could be re-
moved its fruits would disappear and
man become immortal, save when over
Whelmed by an external fortuitous force,
such as the lightning's bolt, the rush of
deep waters or the fall of crag. He
found, too, that there was an essence
which would eliminate the evil restric-
uon applied by master with a masters
skill
Naught remained then except the actual
test. 1t was apparent that the Younger
the person, the more innocent the mental
lty so operated upon, the more certain
and facile the result. AS for himself, he
feared that years of intense introspectiOn
mad left indelible traces. But from him,
imperfect though he would be even when
transformed, might there not spring a
new and lnglorious race for whom the
world would be a garden, and who would
dwell therein like demi-gods when few
pref years had swept the poor human
pygmles awayl Why should he not be
tnelr Adaml Suppose he should obtain
baby girl and purify her with his magic
and educate her, and in so doing educate
himself the more He was yet young:
IN fifteen years he would still be in his
prime. Why should they not love each
other and be man and wife, and such man
and Wife as the earth had never seen
SINCE the blackness of the void had rolled
pack, and the harmonies of the morning
star had been heard?
The more Grafton thought, the better
ne was pleased with the scheme, From
every view it presented advantages. AS
practical man, he knew that first eX
pertinent should be tried on the finest
substance. AS prudent man, he realized
mat he could better treat himself after
The fact was accomplished. AS a senti-
mental man, his soul exulted within him
IN the hope that he would achieve felic-
hnVnnH lapN hula Of