The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-15

bearer to pass over the glowing Goals in tht
! before the glowing he'd of Goals. At the
I same way But no one in our little grouI
| seemed willing to sacrifice himself on the
| altar of experiment, fer even the mos
sbeptical baked at the prospect of any
hitch in the arrangements entailng mors
or less discomfortins results.
y The native spectators, however, were
eager for the privilege. and a land-offic'
business was done araong them by ths
priests. The firg being at its highest pitch
! of heat. several OF the priests ran over II
| lightly and then called on those who wished
| to do so to cross. as the soul had beer
taken out of the glowing Goals and theirs
was no danger in the operation.
The first to go across was a woman with
baby Oh her back She afterwards crossed
,, several times After her came forty or tif'
ty people men. women and children, walk
ing fearlessly across, one closely following
the other some. like the mother and heI
baby returning to go across again and
three who appeared to hurry at the end
but this was rather because they had
stepped on a sharp coal than because they
had received a burn.
While the salt and alum at each end had
been renewed from time TO time, there were
many who walked across when 1t was prac-
tically exhausted, and they could have come
in contact with very little of it. eAs each
one started on the fiery pilgrimage the
priest with the flint and steel struck sparks
about the persons head, while the other
priests did not cease from their prayers and
the waving of fans and gohei Sacred
wands).
AS night fell the scene became more and
more impressive. The Goals glowed out by
contrast. and the white-robed priests. with
their weird incantations; the swami, intent
faces of the onlookers and the eerie sur
roundings made one imagine for the mo-
ment that he was passive and spelibound
witness of one of Dore's imaginative draw
ings sprung into actual being
The Japanese women and men and chill
dren about US got up and walked over the
fire unhu.t, a continuous stream passing
over the fiercsly glowing Goals. the occa-
sional swirl of the colored banners held by
the priests. the pickering of the little red
lanterns hung about the temple like 81
gantic firefies. and the fascinating specta-
Gle of the devotees passing ike super
natural visitors from another world through
the fiery bed of charcoal combining to
form an indescribably weird and eerie PAN
Drama.
Curiosity prompted me few days later
to visit the temple, where l was able to
interview the head priest through the good
offices of mutual Japanese friend, Moth
ing which 1 cleaned during this converse
tlOn tended 10 tnTOW hShl upoh tie
apparently unexplainable phenomenon. but
the manner in which the Shintoists them
selves claim to receive supernatural power
to perform this puzzling feat may not be
without interest.
ITO you, and to the ordinary spectator
replied the chief priest, in answer to my
queries, cit seems an impossible thing, and
doubtless you believe that it is some mere
vulgar trick or conjuring deception. But we
of the Shintoist faith do not find it difficult
to account for our Immunity while passing
through the ordeal. We believe in our god
thoroughly and purely, and by invoking him
we are able to pour boiling water over our
bodies to walk over fire and TO mount
sword blades without sustaining any harm. "
''Ail this power we have gained by living
pure and abstemious lives: we eat only
when necessity prompts and never Of flesh.
nor do we ever take stimulants 1t Is only
after We have lived this life of absolute
purity Tor years, and are clean in heart
and spirit, that We can perform what seems
to you, and Is, a miracle
Copyright. 1908, by w C. J. Reid.