The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-08
A prcur,TAR wIIL.

We have been very much interested lately with the newspaper accounts of that old woman in Portugal who recently died and left all her property to favorite | old rooster, claiming that her former hus- band had been re-fncarnated and was still living in the fowl. It is interesting as | an evidence of the vagaries of the human l mind. admitting that the woman was not a lunatic.
 So far we have seen nothing in the published statements to indicate the breed of fowls to which this favored rooster belongs. He may be a common dunghill, | or he may belong to some of the many fancy breeds. some of which are so highly prized by fanciers. One thing,
 however. is apparent The woman knew better than any one else the peeuliarities
 of her late husband. and doubtless saw in this rooster traits to which she had
 become accustomed during the years of her married life Her late spouse may have been one of those gay birds who are given to roaming over the human barn-yard and casting sly glances at all the good looking females. or he may have
 been a toroughly domesticated and we'll
 ordered bird, properly disciplined and lnanaged. who would return to the family lperch at twilight and never leave it till daylight. The woman knew him and knew why the rooster was like him. And yet. laugh at this old woman as we will, she was merely putting into practice a belief which is shared today by millions of human beings. The doctrine of transmigration is shared alike
 by the lowest savages and by the most
 learned men of the heathen world In
 Africa and among some of the American
 Indian tribes that belief formed one of
 the principal features of their system of
 religious belief. if we may call 1t by that
 name. These savages. both African and
 tible, and that it must always have
 moral dwelling place. With them the final destination Of the soul is apparently a matter of indifference. their chief con | cern being its condition here. Conse- quently, as soon as death comes to a
 
 a new resting place. Some believe that when it leaves one body 1t will immediate | ly enter into the body of newborn in- fant, while others, less elevated in thei- belief, hold that the soul when liberated l from it's human body will enter the body of some; animal or fowl, or even of an insect r4Et This is one of the lowest forms of the belief, but in parts of Germany. England and other civilized countries there are | those who practically hold to the same | doctrine, though they have a different view of the ultimate destination of the
 soul. Tkey believe that it will finally l reach divine and perfect state, but be- | fore it aitains to that conditions it must pass through various transmigrations, | even passing into flowers and trees, as vels as into living creatures. This is | only a more elevating form of the savage belief. }
 But 1t is in the Brahmanic religion of
 India that this theory of transmigration
 had its widest application, and especially among the Hindus. In the books of
 Manu, the reputed author of their sacred | writings. the doctrine is fully explained | in all it's details. The foundation of that belief is that the soul originally emana-
 ted from supreme being and must finally return to its source, but as it becomes I contaminated while in its human form | it must undergo series of transforma- | ah ia tp on back to its celestial abode. Manu goes into all the details, and tells us how each crime committed by a human being governs his next state of existence. Thus | If a man steals flesh he will become vuiture, and if he steals salt he will be- come cricket and so on. If man kills Brahmin he may become an
 animal, and if a Brahmin drinks any
 strong liquors his soul, at his death. will
 go into a worm or some other form of
 insect life. There are degrees of base
 ness or uncleanness among the beasts,
 fowls or insects. and the soul goes into
 one or the other according to the nature
 and degree of its crimes in human form
 All this may be fanciful and absurd. but it is the firm belief of many millions
 of human beings, so that this Portugese
 woman was not singular in her ideas.
 Just what sin or crime must be com
 mitted to carry soul into rooster we cannot say, but she knew what her hus-
 band had done and where he landed. or thought she did. which amounted to the
 same thing to. her. Whether her will
 can stand is to be tried, but it is but
 little more fanciful than some bequests
 intended to found hospitals for dogs and
 cats.
 Is Mary Maclane the culmina ton or