The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1899-12-21
I Nv = have no mutual friend 81 slid

can this woman be 81 ...s
she is my wife" said Stanton.
Sir, you nre jesting.''
Sir, ! am not jesting. You appealed
to your position for the right to ask me
such questions as you chose. / have
answered each truly, so help me God"
Sir, you bewilder me. You astound
me-
Sir, the same conditions have per-
| picked, amazed, bewildered and as
founded me too, quite enough to ac-
count for any slight depression which
may have attracted your attention. tt
must be obvious to you that little bene-
mt can be derived through conversation,
where the immediate effect upon YOU
Is the same as the more deliberate effect
on me. I trust that you will respect
what to me is very painful subject, and
never refer to it again. =. <45s
Whatever the conclusions at which
the missionary arrived they were sure
ly not unkind, for during the last din
ner on board he rose at the table and
cordially thanked Robert Stanton,
Esquire, on behalf of the passengers,
the officers, and the crew, for his I'M
failing cheerfulness and his untiring
good offices to all, making the voyage so
much pleasanter and making them all
better for his being among them. (
The sentiments were Incompetent
sible and intensely disagreeable to
Stanton, and yet there was something
in them which set him thinking and
gradually opened his eyes.
ut was small thanks to me-" he said
to himself, as he thought the matter
over on shore. II never exerted myself
in that way before, simply because I
never had right good selfish incen-
tive. Misery drove me to it, but it
surely did make others happier. T be-
lieve it was the first time in my life that
ever attempted to make others happy,
and it surely made me less miserable,
too. There's an idea there that is good
straight philosophy. If I think con-
tinually of myself, I've no time to think
of others. If I think sometimes of
others, I've less time to think of my
self. brought myself into fine con-
dition, thinking only of myself. 1t is
high time took the hint. I don't
wonder Esther Thorndykc didn't want
me, but it may be, If I make myself 4
different man, that may yet be worthy
of her as real wife. will try.''
Instantly the world about him began
to assume an attractiveness which only
his Office and profession had ever pos
sessed for him before.
He found humanity an intensely in
teresting study the moment he looked
upon it as anything but means to pro-
fessional comfort. More than that, he
was astonished to find it instantly re-,
ciprocative. Giving, it was given unto
him, till he had more abundance of pre-
cisely the same commodity which he en-
deavored to impart
His enthusiasm for the new idea con-
stantly increased as he went on through
the orient, following the itinerary,
date for date, with careful precision.
Increasingly the new theory worked
wonders with the world as he saw it and
it saw him. j~
He was passed along from friend to
friend, by letters and kilograms in ad-
vance of him, till it soon became evident
to him that there was no possibility of
taking the initiative, and that at the
best he was only reciprocating. Strang-
est of all to him, he found himself en-
joying the condition, especially each OPP
portunity to reciprocate.
He was conversing with a Brahmin
scholar, in Delhi, when the argument
turned upon the value of men.
''Surely we are all but atoms," said
the pundit. awe are aiding to the ulti-
mate if we make men happier and bet
ter, and we retard the progress of
things when we wrong ourselves or
others. An atom is of value to the ulti-
mate, and to itself, only as it is of value
to others. The men who built these
walls, thousands of years ago, aided to
the ultimate. DO not you?''
Il hardly know" said Stanton. "Of
late have been trying to follow vague
hints, at least, in that directions; and
l confess if I had known, long ago,
what was losing by not following them
before, I should not have lost so much"
Happiness is. the highest state at
tainable," said the pundit. TT is the
highest conception of which the mind is
capable, and the time to be happy is
surely now. There is but one way to
be happy and that is in making others
So"
Stanton grasped his companions
hand as he replied:
'That is neither pagan nor Christian
1t is simply TRUTH 5......
Even in the heart of Persia-even in
Bagdad-he found himself making
friends, approaching them, and panied
at parting. They were new and de-
ightful sensations. Even the pain was
a counter-irritant that served 4 Z good
purpose. .y@ ...->.-
In Bagdad he found young Persian,
Shiekali, educated in Europe, who met
him when the steamer arrived, warned
of his his coming by friends in India. He
proved not only most agreeable host,
but a profound antiquary, who was just
pushing forward to completion his dis
covery that the base of the great river
wall on the old Bagdad side of the III