The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-03-16

lire in his coy consulting room, has
always been held by advanced thinkers
in every civilized community. Though
i am a Greek, l may say, l believe with
out contradiction, that the ancient
Greeks were the most shining ex-
ample of civilization, that the
world has ever seen. 1t was
taught them by Plato and Py-
thagoras, the latter having evidently
brought it from India and the former
having studied it in Egypt. The Mys-
teries of Orpheus made the belief more
common among the religiously in
clined. Plotinus tells us that all the
world held to it about the time of our
Lord. And Christianity itself is based
on it."
But surely, doctor, the gospels do
not teach rei~ncarnation." interposed
Tarrant.
Il maintain the contrary" said I'm
manuel. Though our Lord frequently
said that he spoke in parallels, that
certain things must be concealed, it is
impossible to read the Gospels with
out coming to that conclusion. Is it
not clearly stated in the seventeenth
chapter of st. Matthew that John the
Baptist was the reincarnated Elijah?
yet" he continued, this doctrine
is too immensely dangerous ever to be
allowed to come into universal accept
ance. Even in India the masses have
but a dim understanding Of it. For
consider the lives of most Of us, the
wrongs that are done, the friendships
that are broken never to be cemented,
the tragic failures, the sense of world
WEAKNESS that comes upon most of us
in middle life; well, if memory per-
sisted, or if we knew ~assuredly that
at some distant epoch we should take
up our lives again, what incentive
would we have to make our exits
gratefully and to repair, as best we
can, our faults?
yet there are many recorded in
stances where memory does persist,
and / shall relate one of these to you.
Here is a case where a love was so
intense and the resolution for reunion
so strong that 1t was brought to sue
cess, and because that resolution was
unwise the result was not wholly sat
isfactory. Does either of you know
Field, the author?"
THE man who wrote The Trans
gressors?'" asked Tarrant. 8" met
him once, l believe, years ago. A
cheerful sort of fellow with a fine
sense Of humor?"
Yes" answered Emmanuel. "A well
poised man in every sense. But The
Transgressors,' which is his last book
published, is not the last he wrote.
His latest novel was held back from
publication by the advice of Morton
and James. They said it vas too
fanciful, that it would impair the sale
of his more serious works. The plot
is laid in Atlantis, that ancient CONT
nent which, as Plato tells us, sank in
to the e thousands of years before
the dawn of recorded history. And
the astonishing thing about it is that
it is not a fanciful work at ALT is a
record Of experience"
How can one tell that?" asked Tar
rant.
Because" answered the doctor,
Field wrote that book by automatism.
You know what 1 mean? l believe it is
lot an uncommon process; Stevenson
is said to have written his finest short
story in the same way. Field told me
that he would awake out of a deep
sleep and sit down at the table, not
knowing what he was going to write.
AS soon as his pen touched the paper,
however, it would begin to scribble at
a furious rate, while Field, looking on
merely as a spectator, saw the story
shaping itself without any knowledge
on his part of how it would turn out.
"Field fell in love with his heroine.
Her name was Lota she vas a daugh-
ter of a priest Of the river god, des-
tined to be a temple virgin. The hero
of this weird story loved her, their
love was discovered, and both were
put to death, executed upon the sacri-
fetal altar. So much for the theme.
But the wealth of imagery, the realism
of tie story overwhelmed me when l
read it. l knew at once that memory
alone could have given such a store of
treasure to the world. And afterward
i discovered that much of the descrip-
ton tailed with a strange account Civ
en- by the Popol Vuh, the sacred book
of the Guatemalans.
Field fell in love with his heroine.
In the last scene before the sacrifcial
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. !
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 a condition of ecstasy.
Field was engaged to Miss Cynthia
Latham, a charming girl from his na-
tive town of Salem. Now, to say that
a writer's heroines may become rivals
of his own fiancee or wife sounds like
an a%bsurdity. Yet, as Field wrote, the
conviction dawned on him that his
marriage would prove to be an un
happy one. Lota, the woman of his
imagination, anne to fill his heart, un-
til she was more real than any WON
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 cratic be-
havior to overwork. And Miss Latham
let her faith override her judgment.
1T was two days before his mar
rage that Field came to see me. His