Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1903-01-01
DONALD
DONALDSON, JR.
Being True Record and Explanation
Of the Seuen Mysteries No,O ASso-
cidted With His Name In the
Public Mind, and Of an
Eighth, Witch Is tho
Key Of the Seuen
By HOWARD FIELDING
Copyright, 1902, by Charles w. Hooke
CHAPTER |.
THE PROBLEM.
By HOWARD FIELDING
AVE known Donald Donaldson,


and that is about four years before ne
saw the light and nearly two years be-
Bre first heard of either of his par
ents or they Of each other. In plain
words, he was an ideal of mine, sub
iect of speculation and study, dweller
in my brain before he had an actual
existence, so that he might be tenant
of my heart.
1t is singular that two romances,
many mysteries and very startling
tragedy should hang upon so small ana
commonplace a peg as this which
shall show you. Twenty odd years ago
| made an appointment with Stephen
Hackett, then my partner and since
deceased, to meet him in a New York
bookstore, choosing the place simply
because it was convenient | was ahead
of him and Of the hour, indeed, and
while waiting | took up volume en-
titled Psychic Marvels," by an Eng
lish writer whom | now perceive to
have been both credulous and menda-
cious, a man to believe good lie and
improve it in the telling. In those days,
however, had read little, and the book
appealed to me as a scientific presenta-
ton of subject of great interest and
Importance too often Stunned by prac-
teal men and left to be the sport of i'm
posters.
When Hackett arrived, | was sitting
on top of small stepladder on rollers,
q device common in boOkshOps, while
two polite clerks were vainly endeavor,
ing to gain my attention for the pur-
pose of telling me that the business of
the establishment was suffering for
lack of that ladder. bought Psychic
Maryels," and we devoted the evening
to it, Hackett and |, in the library of
my house In Tunbridge, n. J.
Now, If you please. that was the
cause of Donald Donaldson, Jr. If |
had not suggested the bookstore as
place Of meeting, if that particular vol
ume had not caught my eye, perhaps
even if the stepladder had not been
placed handily for me to sit upon,
there would be no story for me to tell.
But some one built the store, and some
one wrote the book, and some one else
was the father of the author, and an
other was his grandfather, and so on
back to the monkey who was the an
cestor of them ALL not to go further,
Tracing causes is famous old amuse-
ment of our race, though we know al
ready that the whole past Of the uni
verse is the cause of every blade Of
grass, even as that blade itself is an
essential prop Of the whole future. 1t
is a worthy effort, however. to see as
much Of this vast skein as we can,
and he is wiSeSt who sees most. pro
vided that he does not fancy that he
sees all which exists even in the small
portion that is under his eye.
To resume my story, Hackett and l
spent a studious evening with "Psy-
chic Marvels," sitting up so late that
neither of us was fit for business on
the following day, and we were led to
read many other books and to engage
at last in a practical. common sense
investigation Of an interesting subject
The firm of Hackett & Harrington
manufactured carpets-still does so, in
fact-and keeps the name, though my
partner long since closed his earthly
account and went to meet another
which could not have been one to
shame him. / hope my own may be
as good, for it must soon be closed.
Tunbridge people began to call me
''old" John Harrington a matter of ten
IN, In do np
which am now writing | was a young
man Of fOrty-twO, and Hackett was not
much older. We had made a good bit
of money in our business, and both of
US had been fortunate in outside in
yestments, so that we felt very secure.
The time had come when we might
afford to relax the pressure under
which we had labored since boyhood
and to take more ease and pleasure in
the world. But the opportunity to en-
joy is one thing and the power is an
other. | had little appetite for amuse-
ments, and Hackett had none. We
were uneducated men, with narrow So
cial interests, and, to be brief about it,
we really did not know what to do with
ourselves. Unlike many others in the
same situation, however, we knew
what was the matter with us-we need.
ed mental exercise. This decision we
had reached before the Englishman's
book fell into our hands and offered
an acceptable suggestion. If we had
not chosen to investigate psychic phe.
nomena, the hidden wonders of the hui
man mind, we should have followed
some other line, with less definite re.
suit perhaps.
1t would be singular If two trained
business men, with thoroughly practi.
cal minds, accustomed from their youth
to deal with hard facts, should fail to
accomplish anything in such an under
taking. We approached the subject
without prejudice. When we discussed
the matter in the light OF the blazing
logs in my library. Hackett would be
the skeptic on Tuesday evening anC
| on a Wednesday. We never agreed
in those early stages except upon a
statement of the first essential of the
Investigation. AS to that, we never
ulHtTtu. we " DdSC Oul hOlh
upon the wisdom of the old prOyerb
which says, First catch your rabbit,
and then cook him." There is no doubt
whatever that nearly all mankind have
tried to cook this particular rabbit be-
fore catching him.
Suppose we take the psychic problem
in its simplest form, which used to be
called clairyoyance, and | still think
that that is the best term for it. Is
there upon record one single genuine
case of it, proved beyond doubt? Hack
EFT and read fifty books and failed to
find an instance based upon such evil
dence as we would accept in our bust
ness. Yet where there is so much
smoke there must be q little fire, and,
using this crystal of popular wisdom
as a touchstone in the matter, | would
be willing to assert that one ten
millionth of the labor wasted in base
less discussion Of doubtful facts would
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