The San Francisco call., 1898-02-06


 that I did obtain it is the i'm
 portant fact. and having done
 so I was obliged to fall in witl existing arrangements and submit tC the. conditions imposed, which were that should go alone at night to the secret place of meeting and should leave at the very instant that Wes signaled to do so.
 had enrolled myself in the ranks of occultist students, and as a special ia vor and a foretaste of higher things to follow l was to be permitted to attend the initial portion of one of the secret meetings of the order.
 So it was that I found myself one evening last week standing alone on the deserted platform of the San Rafael railroad station twenty-five miles from my own favorite restaurant, with the local train disappearing in the distance.
 It was twenty minutes past eleven. and I was alone in an unfamiliar place, bound on the strangest adventure of my life It was a chill night, with a sky full of lowering rain-laden clouds through which the moon now and then glanced indifferently. 1 shivered, turned up my coat collar and the bottoms of my trousers and started down the muddy road which I had been directed to follow till I should be picked up.
 It is awfuny still in the country be- tween eleven and twelve at night, and t was almost opaquely dark under the shadow of the trees; but l plowed along as best I could until I nearly ran over, pr was nearly run over by. horse at tached to what I discovered by the light of a match to be a mud-bespat- tered family carriage and driven by a man who looked as if he were wrapped up for a winter expedition in the Klon- dike.
 Are you going there?" demanded a voice from the mass of garments. My affirmative answer was followed by a curt order to @'get in." I obeyed. The equipage was turned sharply about and in a short time l altghted before a large, rambling house which, surround ed by trees, set some little distance back from the road, and, having no gIeam of light visible from the front, presented a most decidedly gloomy ap- pearance.
  words preceded me up the steps and opened the door into an unlighted and chilly hall.
 Door to the left at the lower end, '' he said; then closed the portal behind me and left me to my fate.
 Since the host of the occasion had de- cided to have no lights I felt that must not invoke even the feeble as sistance of match. I had been ex- pressly charged not to interfere in any way with existing conditions, therefore I felt along the wall carefully, skated one foot out experimentally and then the other and at last reached the wall at the further end of the hallway. My hand was on the knob of the door when from within the room a voice suddenly rose, clear, resonant, unmodulated, re- citing in a measured chant which knew no change of tone nor rhythmical i'm pulse, some sentences with which my amateurish occult studies had made me familiar.
 "The thorough understanding of self Is the beginning of all real knowledge, D said the voice. Widen your thoughts and dissolve your personality. To seek after the truth which thing repre- sents means to conjure it's spirit. To recognize the character of a thing with all it's various attributes means to see its spirit To know how to use all the powers that are hidden in a thing is to make it's spirit subservient to your power If I know the attributes of a thing I know it's spirit. If I can make use of the qualities of a thing its spirit will be my servant To understand a thing thoroughly is to imagine to be 1t. While the body sleeps the soul may go to different places and act intelli- gently there Wherever consciousness is there you are. Concentrate your mind, mediate upon that which you wish to know and so learn"
 Silence followed. After a moments pause opened the door quietly.
 I saw large room bare of the usual draperies. There was no carpet, no rugs, no soft curtains or portieres There were a number of hard-seated chairs set stiffiy back against the wall, and seven similar ones were arranged in a slightly curving line facing to- ward, but a little distance removed from the wood fire which was blazing on the hearth and furnished the only illumination of the apartment.
 Six Of these seats were occupied, but the seventh was vacant. As 1 had previously been instructed I slipped into it without going through the for mality of waiting for greeting or wei come. No one appeared to notice my advent the six men present sat silent and motionless. gazing straight before them. apparently expressed with their own thoughts.
 They sat with their legs horizontal to the knees. then perpendicular to the 6oor. their bodies erect and their hands