The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1899-12-01

ER&,h CA cations in good
%SRSHEAAW earnest. But, as I
.Is1ssAW had prophesied, I
- :: s; :: s:
It was practically
impossible for me to carry on the
everyday work of my profession, and
at the same time give up my mind to
the almost appalling undertaking l had
in hand. Any spare time that was left
to me, after providing for my days
work, was more than occupied in COL
lecting notes of those particular kinds
OF physical and mental, or, to coin a
word, spirituo-mental phenomena
some of which are, as readers of THE
Secret of Life" may see, exceedingly
rare-that required as groundwork
OF my argument, and with the carry
ing on of voluminous correspondence
with such scientific men all over the
world as did not set me down as a
dreamer, or worse. So J. had to make
up my mind either to do one thing OR
the other, give up my search after the
moral philosophers stone, or surren-
der the lease of my chambers in the
city. For some months l worked dou-
Die tides, and hesitated, but at last my
decision could no longer be postponed,
lit must be one thing or the other. So
in my perplexity l consulted Fanny,
and having laid the whole matter be-
fore her, asked her which course she
thought I ought to take. Her answer
was prompt and unhesitating. 1t was
to the effect that l should give up my
profession and devote myself eSclu-
sively to my Investigations.
"You have six hundred year to live
on she said, "and therefore will not
starve; and, if you succeed, you will
achieve immortal fame; for you will
have found the way to minister to a
mind diseased, and, if you fail, you
will have acquired an enormous mass
OF knowledge which you may be able
to turn to account in some other way.
have no doubt myself on the matter.
Think of what the reward before you
is,''
did not quite like Fanny's way of
putting the matter. She always SEEM
ed to me to dwell too much upon the
personal advantages that would re-
suit from my success. Now such a
quest as mine is not for the individual;
1t is for the whole wide world, and for
the millions and millions who are yet
to live upon 1t. What does it matter
who finds. provided that the truth is
found? Why, any right-thinking man
should be glad, if his circumstances
will permit of it to give his life to such
cause; aye, even if he knows that, so
lar as he is concerned, he will never
reach the goal, but be trodden down
and forgotten. He should be glad and
happy, say, if he can only think that
some more fortunate seeker will be able
to step pace to forward on his pros
trate form. But, after all, even the
best and widest-minded women. as /
have found them, will look at things
in strictly personal light. l do not
think that as class they care much
for humanity at large, or would go far
out OF their way to help it; of course. |
mean if they are certain that nobody
will hear of their good work. But this
is only an opinion.
4 pointed this out to Fanny, who
shrugged her handsome shoulders, and
said that really she did not think it
mattered much which way one looked
at it; the great thing was to succeed.
Well. l took her advice, partly be-
cause it fell in with my own views. and
partly because have always paid more
attention to Fanny than to any other
living creature. Indeed, to this day I
hold her judgment in almost childish
veneration. 1t was a hard wrench to
me, giving up the outward and visible
following OF my profession. more espe-
cially as was then in fair way TO
achieve considerable success in it; but
1t had to be done. felt it my duty to
do it, and so l made the best of it.
What was still harder, however. was
the reception that my decision met
with among such few relatives as I
ROoo0ooCO, oA0 NY 1AlcuUS ana &C.
quaintances. They demonstrated with
me personally and by letter, and an
aoyed me in every way, and upon every
possible occasion. Even relatives with
whom had never had the slightest in
tercourse thought this a good oppor-
tunity to inaugurate an epistolary ac-
quaintance. One old aunt wrote to ask
what amount of truth there was in the
rumor that / had given up my profes.
sion, and what had taken to in place OF
It? replied that was devoting myself
TO scientific research. An answer came
by return of post, to the effect that
having heard that was doing SO well
as a doctor, she had recognized my
talents in her will. This she had, on
receipt of my letter of explanation, a,
once given instructions to alter by the
commission of my name; she was moi
going to have her money squandered
on scientific researches, which always
ended in smoke. Science, indeed
her letter ended. "Why you might as
we'll have taken to looking for. the
d.