The Monticellonian., 1917-02-01
|MARYROTHWAY'SM MEMORY


| of the HelleneS nau been less out
 spoken about his convictions he would have done far less good. Imagine doctor of European reputation, delegate to the Con- gress of Penologists at Boston, calmly advocating the treatment Of nervous diseases upon the basic the ory of reincarnation: imagine grave and learned medicos listening in cold silence which was warmed into kindii- ness by the enthusiasm and sincerity of the little earnest man; imagine the doctor not only retaining his reputa- tion, but actually winning a sympa- thetic hearing from men like Maine, Harvey, Lucien Bronkhorst and Field ing-Parr-but you could not imagine anything seemingly so improbable un. less you knew Doctor Immanuel. l can see him now, the great neurologist, penologist and sociologist, seated be- fore the fire in Paul Tarrants library, nursing one knee, his black beard thrust aggressively forward, his white hand waving in the air as he acclaimed in an impassioned plea.
 This night he was having the fight of his life. l. his assistant, was only passively on his side, while Paul Tar rant, the millionaire, our host. flatly denied his claim, and Capt Mervyn O'Farrell of the Ninth Virginia regi- ment, declared that the doctor was talking absolute nonsense, if you'll excuse me, doctor" The captain was a member of the Episcopalian church and held the creed in its orthodox rigidity. He had no use for imported Oriental myths. as he expressed him self. If he had known that the doe Urine of reincarnation was held uni versally in the ancient world, not ex- cluding some of the early missionaries of Christianity, he would still have pro tested with equal vehemenee. In fact. he grew so heated that he cut short his visit by full hour and left us. courteously enough, but distinctly up set by what he would have privately called the damned nonsense of that little Greek doetor.'
 When the captain was gone we drew our chairs closer around the fire and warmed our fingers at it's blaze.
 He's a fine fellow, OFarrell." said MT. Tarrant, apologetically-for the captain had gone in his opposition al most to the limits of what courtesy al lowed You must forgive his heat. Immanuel. The fact is, he is iaboring under severe nervous strain just now. Would you like to hear the story"
 We were glad to have the subject changed so adroitly.
 Its very sad" pursued the million aire. "O'Farrell is, as you may have seen, physically the image of some old Roman hero. In fact, l have bust in my gallery which l want you to look at afterward; if I believed in reincarna tion, doctor, 1 would almost declare OFarrell to be Maximius come back to earth. And mentally and morally he is no whit inferior to his physical makeup. Everybody loves hm-a big hearted, hot-headed, impetuous. kind ly Irishman. His character is in fact, singularly gracious and winning And when he fell in love with Mary Roth way six months ago everybody envied her and congratulated him as being the only man living who was worthy of her.
 Mary Rothway is the only daugh- ter of the late Senator Rothway They have a big house-an old-fashioned colonial mansion-out on Brooklyn heights It's been in the family for generations, and in former days the Rothways owned large section of the land fronting on the East river Mary never went much into society She was home-loving girl. and very re. ligious. When she met O'Farrell it seemed to be a case of love at first sight with each of them. But l have it from the Rothway's family phy- sician that Mary is of markedly neu- rasthenic temperament. He alone was dubious when the engagement was an. nounced. He told me in eonfdence-I may perhaps repeat it to you gentle men, since you are both doetors-that she suffers from what he calls-clos. trophobia?"
 "Claustrophobia," corrected. and Doctor Immanuel suddenly stopped nursing his knee and stared hard at Mir. Tarrant.
 odd! Exceedingly odd!" he mur- mured. q beg your pardon. MT Tar rant"
 The symptom of this disease. as understand" resumed the millionaire lis an ineradicable fear of closed spaces"
 "Yes." said Doctor Immanuel Tt is quite common among neurasthenies- and among ordinarily healthy people. too, for the matter of that-as is its opposite. agorophobia, or fear of open spaces, such as streets and squares. The sufferer from claustrophobia fears to remain in a closed room The walls seem about to rush in and crush him to death He cannot pass down nar. row passages without terror. But so long as the fear is kept within reason able bounds it is not of great conse- quence."
 Mary Rothway." pursued Tarrant. "brooded over this weakness of hers. She was afraid that she would make her husbands life unhappy, perhaps ruin him. She could not be reasoned out of her morbid terror-and the re- suit is that she intends to enter sis terhood, the members of which are pledged to celibacy so long as they re- main in it. And we all realize that when Mary enters the doors of this in stitution she will leave the world be-