The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1895-04-23
THE MAHATMAS.

man, with weak eyes, long iron graz
hair and pasty complexion. He spok'
in confidential half whisper, lest b.
should awaken his unsympatheti,
friend, the professor, rolled in his blan
kets near by, and provoke controversy.
"A mahatma. " he said hesitatingly
in answer to my inquiry, is being
difficult of exact or satisfactory de1ni
tion to mind unfamiliar with at leas
the elements of esoterio philosophy anc
,unattuned to the harmonies of orienta
thought. He has been tersely but made
| quately described as one who by in
tense self absorption has attained super
natural powers and faculties. He Is O
the illuminate, Of the Brothers, al
Adept, in the occult sense. Developed
| and perfected by spiritual asceticism
he finds himself able to read nature'l
occult laws, to pass unhindered from
| one distant place to another in thu
| twinkling of an eye, to melt from view
| and reappear at pleasure, to surround
himself with phantasms' -
/ ''What do you call 'em what does al
| thisi' queried Calkins with awakening
interest
"Mahatmas," rather snappishly rs
piled the theosophist, not relishing the
interruption.
II run against q pair Of 'em once
way out on the desert east Of 'Old
Woman's Springs, and l reoollect well
! how they done me- That's why
asked, . explained Calkins.
"a pair of mahatmasl Done you
Impossibls'' exclaimed the theoso
phist.
"Well, II you say it's impossible.
reckon that settles it" said Calkins,
and he spat aggressively into the white
ashes in the fireplace.
1 "But, my dear sir, F" demonstrated the
| theosophist in conoiliatory tone, 81
did not, Of course, intend to suggest any
doubt of the perfect sincerity of your
assertion. But the idea Of your having
met two Of these phenomenally gifted
beings and of their having, as you say,
done you struck me. for the moment,
you know merely for the moment-as
-well-as certainly most remarkable. =
''Well, it was just that, said Cal
kins, softeaed. 1T was, as you say, the
remarkablest racket, considered all
round, l ever was in. and II allow I've
seen more astonishin things in my time
than most men. .
Would you mind giving us the par
ticulars Of your experience. Mr.. Cal
kinsa' urged the theosophist, with gen.
/ uine interest
"Well," said Calkins after mo-
ment's pause and with the tone and air
of overcoming a reluctance to speak
further on the subject, with man
who didn't know me''-he had met the
theosophist that evening for the first
time and hadn't the learnin and un-
derstandin to tackle such matters I'm
free to allow I'd hesitate to give 'em
this account But with you it seems
different somehow. You II see the bear
in's of it as p'r'aps some wouldn't
i had q claim about 40 miles south
east of Old Woman's springs, and there
was q rock tank within mile where
could get water for camp use. I'd rig
ged up an arastra near the tank, and
had been paokin ore down from the
claim with the one mule had, and
then turned him into harness to run the
arastra, but 1t made the work hard and
slow both for me and him.
$50 after I'd made one pretty good
run out Of about ton and a quarter
got three balls of amalgam, which,
when I'd roasted and hammered 'em,
weighed risin ten ounces-I started to
go in from the desert, cash my bullion
and buy some burro to pack with.
ut was we'll into November when I'd
finished my run and started to come
in. and the nights was gettin too sharp
for sleepin ont with any comfort. ]
planned to make Higgins Wells first
night out. for there was an old stone
cabin there, half built into the side hill,
without much roof, to be sure, but fur
nishin some cover and givin shelter
from the wind.
well. cached my tools and powder
and Strengthened things out at camp be-
fore leayin, and SO didn't get started
until we'll on toward noon. 1t took about
eight hours steady hustlin to get to the
Wells, but knew ! had a moon to
travel with when the sun went down.
SO didn't feel hurried, though the days
was gettin short
about shutdown 1t grew raw right
away, and then the mountains to the
east and every little knob and butte
stood out sharp. with chilly dead light
ON 'em, like they was gettin purple with
the cold. There wasn't cloud nowhere
to be seen, nor breath Of wind stirrin,
and knew it was goin to be still,
pinchin, frosty night, and / buttoned
my coat up tight, and for the first time
on the trip begun to hurry up my mule.
just after shutdown on clear, sharp
nights the lonesomest time to be trav-
elm on the desert when you're by your
self. With the dusk comin on and the
red fadin out in the sky you feel some-
how like everythin In the world but
just you and your mule had been stone
dead for a hundred years, and feelin that
way your animal gets to be great COM
pany. When the moon come up, 1t was
some cheerfuller, but felt glad enough
when seen the butte where the Wells
and the stone cabin was and thought Of
a fire and blankets.
"When I'd got to within p'r'aps
quarter mile Of the cabin, / see some
thin never seen before and couldn't
no ways account for. twas like long,
wavy line of mist, oomin from the east,
movin through the air just above the
ground and maxim for the butte faster n
a locomotive and straight's bee fiesl
''It didn't look like mist exactly
neither, but more like string of misty
figures, with long. while streamers
BLOWN out behind 'em on the windl /
scarcely had time to speeds what it
was, when Just by the cabin it melted
away and disappeared altogether. The
air was clear and as dry as bone, SO /
knew it couldn't be just fiyin vapor
I'd seen, and besides there was nary
breath Of wind to drive it.
"While was wonderin at all this, a
light broke out Of the cabin door and
through the little window, like some
one had just started fire inside. Then
next / see campfire fame up, Just
down the hill by the Wells, and men
and animals movin about near by. /
thought it was queer hadn't seen 'em
till just that minute, for the country
was open all round, and up to now there
hadn't been a sign Of life anywhere.
''Then says to myself, Most likely
it's prospeotin party, and they was
hid by the willows CROWN round the
Wells, but somehow this explanation
didn't satisfy me, and rode up toward
the cabin, feelin glad at the prospect Of