Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-06-12

philosophers with the sincerity OF his
protested contempt for the blessings of
earth.
Alexander the Great and his staff
officers accepted an invitation to attend
a similar performance, but, like the
paladins of the first Napoleon, were
probably too worldly minded to ap.
plaud waste of heroism in non mill
tary enterprises.
If they had succeeded in the at
tempted conquest of Hindoostan they
would probably have established
lunatic asylum for the accommodation
of the saints described by Edwin Arnold
-"Yogis and Brahmacharis, who
For days and nights had stood with lifted
arms,
Till, drained of blood, and withered by dis
Their slowly-wasting joints and stiffened
limbs
J utted from sapless shoulders like dead
forks
From forest trunks. Some walked on SAN
dals spiked,
Gashed breast and brow, Scared these with
fire,
Threading their flesh with jungle thorns
and spits.
There crouched a miserable saint, self
manned,
Eyeless and tongueless, sexess, crippled,
deaf
deaf at all events to the remonstrances
of rationalists, if we may Judge from
the obstinacy of European ascetics
during that epidemic of self-torture.
which, like other plaques, had almost
certainly a South Asiatic origin. AT
the very time when pillar saints and
self-mutilated hermits began to appear
on the coasts of the Mediterranean,
Southwestern Asia swarmed with
Buddhist emissaries. and every form
of self torturing insanity practiced in
medieval Europe, had its prototypes
in the birthland of the renuciation
dogma.
The manly common sense of the
North Caucasian nations soon revolted
against that mania (Which, by the
way, appears to have proved equally
obnoxious to the plucky natives OF
Turkestan and the Japanese archi-
pelago), but further south the seed
takes root, and it would be a mistake
to suppose that all its traces have been
eradicated by the rationalistic reaction
of the last 400 years. Like other
anachronisms, asceticism has taken
refuge in rustic communities and noun
tain solitudes, among the Pueblo In
dams of our Southern Sierras, and in
the highlands of Spain, where heaven
ward pilgrims still select the throniest
possible path. The penitents of the
Mexican border States experience per-
iodic revivals of the f1agellation
craze, and the natives of the Southern
Cyrenees enact passion plays of a very
realistic sort, carrying enormous wooden
crosses, and trotting barefoot on uphill
trails through the stone labyrinth of
the wild mountains. Whole commun-
tiles often join in such professions, as
in the border hills of the Spanish pro-
vince of Navarro, where the chant of
the cross bearers can be heard from
afar. as they come trudging up under
the escort of switch armed alcaldes.
Unlike the actors of the ODER Ammer-
gau Easter drama, the Navarrese peni-
tents do not desire spectators; they
scowl at the sight-seers from the
neighboring French mountain resorts
and often mask their faces, but take
care to reveal their identity to their
village priest and get him to sign a
certificate of attendance. Absentees of
certain age have to plead physical
disability, and if we can credit the
report of French press correspondent,
few Spanish highland girls within
fifty miles Of the abbey of Roncesvalles
would encourage the suit of a swain
who can not prove his participation
in a certain number of cross process
sions.
The self torments of our North
American redskins have an entirely
different motive, and, like those of the
ancient Greeks are prompted by the
desire to prove the passive heroism of
young warriors. The law of Lycurgus
distinctly recommended trials of en-
durance that would make the recruiting
service of modern army rather I'M
popular. At periods varying from
week to a couple of months the mill
tant population of Sparta had to turn
out in heavy marching order, encum-
bered with arms. camping outfits,
axes, spades and all sorts of extras,
except rations. to test their ability to
endure maximum. of fatigues with
minimum of comestibles. but the
youngsters did not get off so easy and
were beaten like corridor carpets,
merely to endow them with the advan-
tage of tough hide.
The sun dance solemnities of our
Northern Indians have been repeated
for long series of generations. and
may have had something to do with
developing that practical stoicism sup
posed to be a Characteristic of the
North American aborigines. r. l..
Oswald.
VERY SMART DOG.
IL. y