The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-01-04

ENelyn voice over the telephone, J
was fairly tingling with ardor for the
game; and her request to call on Pro
lessor Griffin, the expert in Orienta,
literature, who occupied a chair In Co
lumbia college, and lived n mile OF
more back from the Greenwich sta
ton, was a welcome call to action.
Very briefly she explained that she
had seen the professor that morning
and had laid before him the Original
letter and my copies of the others
and that he had kindly promised tc
make careful study Of them and &C
quaint her with the result later in the
day. She thought 1t better, however
that should call upon him for his
conclusions, she said, as they would
probably be verbal, and she doubted
her own ability to convey them to me
with entire accuracy. or course she
had told him nothing as to the circum
stances surrounding the letters. Az
they bore no dates, and were unad
dressed, she had him to infer that
they were autographic curiosities be
longing to her uncle. In which we
were all three interested.
/ had met Professor Griffin on sew
eral occasions. Once or twice he had
contributed articles to The Week. and
While we were scarcely intimate. we
were on terms Of friendly acquaint
anceship. He was an oldish, white
haired gentleman, Of rather the ascot
fc type, with long, somewhat peaked
face, and light, watery blue eyes
which seemed to bulge behind the
strong lenses Of his gold-bowed spec
tacles.
He received me in his study, a spa
cious, book-lined room on the second
moor OF his old Colonial stone house
Il have been deeply interested, Mr.
Clyde" he began, "in the autographs
and copies which Miss Grayson
brought to me. They are unique speci
mems OF English composition, in that
the Oriental influence is so clearly
demonstrated throughout. Do you
by any chance, know where Mr.. Cam.
eron obtained them?"
was hardly prepared for this cues
ton. but / answered as promptly as
possible that they had recently come
into my friends possession, be-
heved, but from just what source /
mad not learned
The three sheets lay before him on
the writing-shelf Of his old-fashioned
mahogany secretary; and now he took
up one Of the copies, holding It at
some distance from his eyes, as
though his glasses, thick as they were,
were not as powerful as his sight re-
quired.
"The three writings" he went on,
In the tone Of classroom lecturer,
evidently form a series, of which, /
take 1t, this is the first"
THE one which says, Take warning
OF what shall happen on the seventh
day'?" I queried.
"Yes. That is the first. The other
OF the copies, in which occurs the
phrase once MORE is, Of course, the
second. And the original autograph
is the last"
Exactly" I agreed. It seemed to
me that all this was very obvious, but
in courtesy could not say so.
"All three" he continued sagely,
begin, as you must have observed,
with the same sentence, That which
you have wrought shall in turn be
wrought upon you That is a quota
tion."
"A Quotation!" I exclaimed, in sur.
prise.
"A quotation from Mencius, the
great expositor of Confucius, who
lived B. c. 372 to 2S9. In the origi-
nal. a word meaning Beware pre-
cedes the warning. and a more literal
translation Of the passage would be:
Beware! What proceeds from you
VIII return to you again."
1t seemed to me this was taking q
great deal for granted. feared that
the professor. like many savants who
specialize, was strafning the fact to
fit his theory, but ne very promptly
disabused me.
THE supposition that the words are
a paraphrase OF Mencius," he ex-
planned, would not be tenable, per-
haps-the idea Is not anomalous
were It not that we find running
through the series, other quotations
that are unQuestionably Of Chinese or.
fgin. The first letter, for example,
concludes with: The ways Of our God
are many. On the righteous he show
ers blessings; on the evil he pours
forth misery This Is from the Book
of History. or 'Shu King in which are
the documents edited by Confucius
himself. 1t usually has been rendered
In this way: The ways of God are
not invariable. On the good doer he
sends down all blessings, and on the
evil doer he sends down all miser-
les That is the more exact render
ing, And again I'm the second letter