The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1911-03-17

ohu time nave WllIully 0eceiVeu you.
The first occasion. as you will remem.
Der well. was when you first came to
me. when l hypnotized you in my
study for the purpose Of turning your
mind from the gloomy thoughts of
suicide that possessed you. On this
occasion ! felt impelled to say less
than the truth for fear that you would
attempt to dissuade me from my pur-
pose.
Il told you that intended to make
my most difficult experiment, to 60
through the gates of death and to
search out and bring back with me
the soul OF the imbecile child. Forgive
me for having made this statement.
1t was an impossibility. The electric
current that l sent through my own
body with my own hand destroyed
once and for all tho vital powers.
Nothing on earth could have restored
them. l tell you this in order that you
may not think you were remiss or
negligent in your endeavors to resus.
citate me. The two flames that you
Will doubtless have seen within the
globe were not the souls, but only
those Mays which are given forth
from all living things. whether men.
beasts or trees. When the last fame
went out the organism was dead be-
| yond possibility of recall
THE child revived because the cur
| rent was SO graduated that 1t merely
stunned. without destroying, that dull
| er organism. Had 1t been OF force
proportioned to that which passed
throught my own body, nothing could
have revived him. But now. to ex.
plain more fully what 1t was my in
tent to do. and what hope and think
that l have done.
"As have told you, knew that NO
power on earth could bring the soul
| into the child's body. 1t was, in fact,
born soulless, nothing more than =
vital organism. 1t was my purpose.
then, In dying, to transfer my own
identity into that child's body, 30 that
while the Ivan Brodsky whom you
knew disintegrated slowly, according
Mo the natural processes of the body
h spirit might gain q new lease q
life nd grow to manhood, forgetf1
of thN old ills and troubles. eager
fulf1n he work that I had laid
for myseffA
81 leave II N in your
less within YeN day /Dsra
to manifect human lntel renee. Al
he grows older he will have vague
memories of my own life He Wi
repay your care within the truest
ton, since l myself shall be his Il
Ing spirit, and this, you u
for you. He will hay
"reminiscences, will recall
sons strange to him, but
These recollections you will
age Remember that he is a
Ing, whose life Is as yet an un Wf1cE kan
page, and that the past must remain
sealed to him through all his life.
Train him, then, in the medical
profession, and guide his mind so that
when he reaches maturity he will
voluntarily take up those studies OF
mine where have dropped them.
have embodied these in 4 typewriter
document which you WI find in a
secret drawer at the of nv
bureau" (here followe\ Motions
for opening it,. In thd ction
you will learn much tha 49,
told you of. things that,
OF evil men might plung
world into barbarism and
the pillars of civilization
lowed some purely persona
tons But ahOvp all rom ar
| leave everything to your
discretion, since all things
pointed to their own end, and
hopes are vain, nothing ca4 B.
them to fruition.'
When / had finished reading this
letter l sat thinking for long while.
Then l went to the bureau and. after
some fumbling, found and pressed the
secret spring. A drawer flew back.
In 1t / found typewriter paper, half
covered with dried rose petals. ! I'M
folded 1t and began slowly to read.
/ read till the day was gone. |
Then / committed it to the
flames
For l felt, and still feel that, many |
as were lne evils which BrOQSky cured |
during the brief period of our associa-
ton. the world is better off without
this knowledge Of his. The risks were
too many. And, after all, as he had
always said, this is a world of light:
there Is long eternity when we shall
be shut off from external activities,
when the things of the soul only will
be of account. Let us not NEEDLE with
them here, but go about our appointed
tasks in the manner set for u.s.
The boy is growing to manhood.
Already he is planning to enter the
medical school; ! find in him odd
traces of Brodsky, odd flashes of men,
ory and intuitive appreciation of the
things Brodsky cared for. But | dis
courage all his interest in the realm
of psychic things. 1t may be that his
will will prove stronger than mine,
that he will succeed in taking up the
doctors work where Brodsky aban-
doned it. In such event | shall give