The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-12

scana Even Mrs. Thompson showed it, and some of the older members had been known to remark in a kindly way, or course-they were always klndly-that Mrs. Thompson was just trihe frivolous at times. Mrs. Gates, whose husband dealt in stocks down in the city, spoke of it as an "uplift." Mrs. Wilson, bride, expressed it as being an eleva- tion of the soul above materialism, but she was only a year out of college. The broader viewpoint" was Mrs. Fanshawe' way of looking at 1t. Mrs. Harrow and her daughter were perfectly agreed that it promoted serenity and led to hlSher thought. Mrs. Dexter always sighed as she said that 1t made all knowledge seem as vanity Others just thought It was nice, without going into details
 The matrons of Gardendale were seen less upon the streets, even during the sunny afternoons. There were hours for meditation and introspection that had 10 be kept Mrs Thompson usually tried to have hers in the forenoon, but household duties frequently interrupted her which made it often necessary to sacrifice the afternoon.
 There was an ethereal atmosphere in Gardendale. It radiated from pretty cot tages and quiet homes. The husbands began to breathe it as soon as they stepped off the train. The tradesmen were distinctly aware of 1t. The railroad felt it, because the 50-trip books almost went out of commissioners few people went to matinees now. The circulating library suffered frightfully, because IL dealt mostly in novels and novels dlo not promote study, much less meditation. Caddying down at the Greenlawn links was no longer what it used to be, ex- cept on Sundays, when the men played. And the arrival and departure of Brother Ramakanda every Tuesday was viewed with a sort of awe by such natives as had sufficient time on their hands to pc present.
 MT. Thompson, MT. Gates and MT. Dex- ter were having 1t out at 14-inch paiK- line. and the Greenlawn Golf club house was very quiet Save for the players, It was almost deserted. MT. Thompson trled a masse missed 1t as usual, and grunted unamiably.
 "You never hold your cue righs," com mented MT. Gates, picking up the chalk
 "No, I suppose not, growled MT. Tbompson "I haven't yet succeeded In applying the cosmological philosophy of the masse to the ultimate substance or the cue ball"
 MT. Dexter dropped the end of his cue on the floor with a bang.
 Are you getting that, too?' he asked
 q sure am," said MT. Thompson. So are you, too"
 ..Well. I know it." said Mr. Dexter, but I wasn't going to make the first crack.
 Say said MT. Gates, you fellows haven't got anything on me. Do you know what my wife wanted to know last night? She wanted to know if I ever gave any thought to the finite and the in- finite. I told her I was too busy. Then she read me lot of stuff out of book about ultra medtative intuition and the loss of personal consciousness. l told her if I ever lost consciousness in my busi- nes we'd be broke, and he got mad"
 'I had a course in mesemphychosis last night. declared MT. Dexter. 'I was blue in the face before Alice goth through, and then she trotted out her book to prove that hadn't any serenity. And I hadn't either"
 "Well," said MT. Thompson wearily, we're at the transcendental point over at our house. I wanted to go to show last night and asked Susie to cut out IIindoo for awhile, but the little woman was so busy getting the uplift that she hardly heard me-
 livery time I come home now" re- marked Mr. Dexter, q close the door softly and walk on my toes, for fear I'll disturb a medtation.'
 But if the women want it I suppose it's all right sighed MT. Dexter, ''al-
 
 now I feel as if I was making her scram- ble down from the peak of a mountain, where she's contemplating the cosmos. I don't like to kick, but when you get transmigration of the soul with your soup, after a hard day in town, and mir vana with your coffee, when you want to talk about a show. or ask if anything happened to any of the kids that day why. then it's just a little too much on the Hindoo for me-"
 The billiard game was tagging T don't think we want to play any more.' said MT. Thompson, putting his cue in the rack q think we want to have Q talk, and if we go down stairs and have a little pantheistic high ball I think we can talk better"
 'Mine'll be polythestic fizz' said MT. Gates, slipping on his coat.
 For me a small and carefully built esoteric rickey," chimed in Mr. Dexter, without too much monism."
 The talk lasted until nearly midnight As MT. Dexter, MT. Thompson and Mir Gates rose from the table the latter said:
 we are not only justified, but if we didn't, we'd be doing less than our duty. I'm in favor of uplift for the masses as well as the classes. We owe something to