The Tomahawk., 1917-03-22

Field fell in love with his heroine
In the last, scene before the sacrificial
stone she and the hero swear to meet
again and fulfill their love though a
thousand lives intervene between that
and the one so soon to be ended. Then
their breasts are rent by the flint knife
of the priest, who sacrifices his daugh-
ter to atone for her delinquency. I
knew that Field had suffered thus,
thousands of years ago, for even the
writing of it occasioned him untold
agony. He loved his heroine and wept
over her; he wrote the last three chap
tiers in condition of ecstasy.
Field was engaged to Miss Cynthia
Latham, charming girl from his na-
tive town Of Salem. Now, to say that
writer's heroines may become rivals
of his own fiancee or wife sounds like
| an absurdity. Yet, as Field wrote, the
| conviction dawned on him that his
marriage would prove to be an I'M
happy one. Lota, the woman of his
imagination, came to fill his heart, I'M
til she was more real than any wom-
an of flesh and blood. Miss Latham
was not slow to notice the change in
him. She questioned him. but Field
laughed and ascribed his erratic be-
havior to overwork. And Miss Latham
let her faith override her judgment.
ut was two days before his mar
riage that Field came to see me. His
eyes were bloodshot, his manner indi-
Gated that he was upon the verge of
nervous breakdown.
"'Doctor,' he burst out excitedly, 1t
is all over. I cannot marry her. I do
not love her. 1 seem to be possessed
by a perverse devil, for 1 love this
woman of my creation more than any
one on earth. And feel that in mar
rying Miss Latham I am committing
an unspeakable sacrilege.
edo you remember that passage I
read to you from my book?' he contin-
ued. Though we be severed through
a thousand lives to come, each from
each, yet I will find thee at the end?"
And then the lovers, embracing, and
utterly convinced that some day they
will be reunited, yield themselves to
the knife without a pang? Doctor,
am that man. Laugh at my idea as
you choose, know it; and know that
somewhere in the world Lota, the
heroine of my romance, is waiting for
me to claim her. And If fail her now
shall lose her forever
"'The thing for you to do an
swered, is to forget about your own
representative emotional personality
and think about Miss Latham. How
would it affect her if the marriage
were not to occur?'
"T know that it would break her
heart he answered Immediately. And
yet, what is her love to Lotas? Has
she waited for me ten thousand years?
"'Since the beginning Of the world,
Field answered. Nothing is left to
| chance, though we make our own fac
| tors in the predestined totality. There
is one thing that 1 have learned Of
life above all others; do the duty that
lies before you and let your dreams
alone, for these will work themselves
out without your volition. If you are
pledged to Lota, you have waited for
her through reasonably large num-
Der Of incarnations, and you can rea-
sonably wait until the next, when you
| will perhaps have acquired greater
wisdom. Take my advice, Field; don't
throw your chance of happiness away
for phantasy, but marry Miss La
than and spend your honeymoon in
some romantic place where you will
learn to send Lota packing back to
the land of Dreams
"He did not relish my remarks.
Then suggested that he let me hypno-
tie him. 1 thought that l might per-
haps effect, by suggestion, some sharp
err cleavage between the normal man
and the dreamer. With his permission
! l placed him under hypnosis and dis
covered, as l had anticipated, that the
hypnotic state was the real one. Field
hypnotized was Field, and not Field
plus the Atlantean hero. So sent the
Atlantean back to his own lodgings
and, when he awoke, Field was quite
himself again and laughing at his
imagination of ten minutes before.
"They were married as they had
planned and were supremely happy.
But couple Of months after their re-
turn from their honeymoon Field
came to me in great perplexity.
"'Doctor,' he said, Il don't know
what is the matter with me, but ]
can't write a word. I can't even get
an original idea. And I've got to earn
money. Diagnose my case; isn't it the
result Of your treatment?'
"As a matter of fact, it was. In
sinking down the shadowy, prehistoric
Field, as I may as we'll call him, SO
deeply that he could not come into my
patients consciousness, had also
sunk down the imaginative faculty.
Here was a nice problem before me;
to restore just enough of the Atlantean
to give Field back his imagination, but
not enough to restore him to any
semblance of personality. I was very
loath to attempt to make this fine dis.
elimination.