Mexico Missouri message., 1913-02-06


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 to
make a careful study OF them and &C
quaint her with the result later in the
day. She thought It better, however,
that l should call upon him for his
conclusions. she said, as they would
probably he verbal, and she doubted
her own ability to convey them to me
with entire accuracy. OF course she
had told him nothing as 10 the circum-
stances surrounding the letters AS
they bore no dates, and were unad.
dressed, she had him to infer that
they were autographs cUrios!ties be
longing 10 her uncle, In which we
were all three interested.
! had met Professor Griffin on sew.
eral occasions Once or twice he had
contributed articles 10 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
&c type. with long, somewhat peaked
face, and light, watery blue eyes,
which seemed 10 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
floor Of bis old Colonial stone house.
u have been deeply interested, Mr..
Clyde he began. in the autographs
and copies which Miss GraysOn
brought 10 me. They are unique speed
mems Of English composition. in that
the Oriental influence is 50 clearly
demonstrated throughout. Do you,
by any chance, know where Mr.. Cam
eron obtained them?"
! was hardly prepared for this Cues-
-tion, but ! answered as promptly as
possible that they had recently come
into my friends possession, be-
tieveG, but from JUST what source
had 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 II al
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 a classroom lecturer,
~eyidently form a series, Of which,
take IT, this is the first"
The one which says, Take warning
Of what shall happen on the seventh
day l 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" ! agreed. Il seemed TO
me that all this was very obvious, but
in courtesy l could not say so.
An three" he continued sagely,
Dc gin, as you must have observed,
with the same sentence, That which
you have wrought shall in turn be
wrought upon you. That is q quota
ton"
"A quotation" exclaimed, In sur.
prise.
"A quotation from Mencius. the
great expositor Of CoufucuE. who
lived B. c. 372 to 2s9. In the origi.
nal, word meaning Beware pre-
.cedes the warning. and more literal
translation Of the passage would be.
Beware! What proceeds from you
will return TO you again."
1t seemed TO me this was taking q
great deal for granted ] feared tina,
the professor. like many sayants who
specialize. was straining tho fact tc
a. his theory, but he very promptly
.oisabused me,
The supposi.ion that the words ar,
a paraphrase OF Mencius," he ex
planned, would not be tenable. per
hAps--the idea Is not anomalous
eers Il not that VIC find runninI