The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1909-03-03

This lake is said to have no bot
| tom; it has never been sounded. No
bodies can be washed up by these
waves Nirvana lies beneath. But
first say your prayers"
At last he took a seat under a bal
sam fir, which seemed to invite him
to repose under it's shade. The air
| was delicious with the notes and
balmy odors of spring. Over the wall
were stately trees and the heavy foil
age of the forest.
mo one would think to look at it
that"
He left the sentence unfinished and
sat there trying to think, to fix his
| mind upon some certain definite fact
| which seemed to have escaped him
forever, but the power of concentra-
ton had left him.
II don't even know why wanted to
kill myself" he reflected.
"You don't want to remember that"
said voice at his elbow He turned,
and saw an old man sitting beside
him. Hugh could have sworn that he
had not spoken his thoughts aloud A
second glance showed that the man
was not so old as his long white beard
made him appear. His eyes were
| bright and sparkling.
Il haven't the pleasure of your &C.
quaintance," said Hugh, though it
seems to me I have seen you be-
fore. My name is Hugh Stoker."
"YaC knnW NV Sc
field, Herman Winfield; eyer heard
the name before?"
He seemed relieved when Hugh an
| swered in the negative.
us there anything I can do for
your"
Il remember you now" cried Hugh,
you sat by me like this and you said
| those same words-let me sect
| might have been year ago, or it
might have been yesterday. 1t was in
Central park
1T was yesterday morning."
Il had made up my mind to die and
did kill myself last night, or
thought l did. Were you brought here
for trying to kill yourself?" he asked
at last
mo. A suicide is a coward 1 am
not coward"
Hugh flushed and an angry reply
rose to his lips, but he checked him
self; it wouldn't do to get into a
brawl with the first fellow patient he
met.
Thank you," he said with curling
lip.
Il admit that the act OF suicide re-
lures certain physical courage or
'ather reckless state of mind, where
one feels as though he may dare the
lev1l himself But that is not bravery;
1 suicide is morally a coward. Look
At the paper almost any day and you
VIII see how some man has lost cour-
age and given up the fight and blown
'ut his brains. That would be all the
better, perhaps, for the world had he
eft no one behind him; but that same
man has left a wife and some half
dozen children to fight the battle
alone. Is there any bravery in desert
ing your post under fire and leaving
your companions to do the fighting?
All the world would brand such action
as tpat OF coward. 1t is my opinion
that a coward is not fit to live any
way. That is why I have built this
temple of Nirvana. That is why |
have filled it with cowards-just for
the pleasure of seeing them kill them
selves-just for the pleasure of hay
ing their worthless bodies to expert
ment upon when they are dead"
When he opened his eyes, Hugh
found himself in his own bed. He sat
up and stared about him to make sure
that it was his own room. Everything
was the same except that upon the ta-
BILE beside him lay the red bound yo..
ume with the strange title which he
had seen the morning before, but had
not opened. Beside it lay a letter
which he seized and opened. It ran:
Dear Stoker: AS you seem thor
oughly cured l discharge you from nv
lnst1tution-take you away in the
came manner that brought you here.
You will receive a letter this morning
from an old friend of your fathers Of
ferlng you an opening in his bank. /
hope you will make good. Your mem
DRY will return in "a hours, and when
1t does. do not forget how you ran
from the death chair and the ,ethal
cup, neither of which could posslbly
have done you any harm. You would
not have seen the grotto had You not
been tested A sound sleep
and a hearty meal is the surest way
to cure the disease from which YOU
were suffering.
"Think kindly of the Temple of
Nirvana and your friend
HERMAN WINFIELD"
Hugh reached for the book and
found that small part was printed in |
English. 1t was an eloquent descrip. |
ton of the temple of Nirvana. found |
ed by the celebrated philanthropist |
Dr. Herman Winfield, who urged all |
who felt tempted to quit the struggle
Of life to come there to see him and