Evening star., 1927-11-17

Joseph. Addison is usually associated with
Richard Steele in the preparation of the, So
called Spectator Papers, which appeared, in
son was born in 1912 and died in 1919.
With steele. he vas the creator tor Of the IA
VIII Honeycomb, who loves to show
upon occasion all the little learning
he has picked up, told us yesterday at
the club that he thought there might
be great deal said for the transmit
grations of souls. and that the eastern
parts of the world believed in that doc
trine to this day.
''Sr Paul Rycaut," says he, "gives
us an account of several we'll disposed
Mahometans that purchase the free
dom of any little bird they see con-
fined to a cage, and think they merit
as much by it rs we should do here
by ransominG any of our countrymen
from their captivity anywhere.
'Nou must know" says VIII, the
reason is because they consider every
animal as brother or sister in dis
guse, and think themselves obliged to
extend their charity to them. though
under such mean circumstances
They'll tell you that the soul of
man. when he dies, Immediately passes
into the body of another man. or OF
some brute, which he resembled in his
humor, or his fortune, when he was
one of us"
AS I was wondering what this pro-
fusion of learning would end in, VIII
told us that Jack F'reelove, who was
a fellow of whim, made love to one
of those ladies who throw away all
their fondness on parrots, monkeys
and lap-dogs. Upon going to pay her
a visit one morning, he wrote pretty
epistle upon this hint.
"Jack." says Will. was conducted
into the parlor, where he diverted
himself for some time with her 1aVof-
ite monkey, which WAS chained IN
one of the windows. Till at length,
observing a pen and ink lie by nm,
he wrote the following letter to his
mistress, in the person of the mon
kew, And upon her not coming down
so soon as he expected, left it in the
window. and went about his business.
"The lady soon after coming into
the parlor, and seeing her monkey
look upon a paper with great ear
nestness, took it up, and to this day
is in some doubt" says VIII,
whether it was written by Jack or
the monkey"
The paper read as follows:
Madam:
"Not having the gift Of speech, l
have a long time waited i'll vain for
an opportunity of making myself
known to you. Having at present the
conveniences of pen, ink and paper
by me, l gladly take the occasion of
giving you my history in writing.
which l could not do by word of
mouth.
you must know, madam, that
about a thousand years ago l was
an Indian Brahman, and versed in
all those mysterious secrets which
your European philosopher, called
Pythagoras, is said to have learned
from our fraternity. I had so ingra-
tiated myself by my great skill in
the occult sciences with demon
whom / used to converse with, that
he promised to grant me whatever l
should ask him. / desired that my
soul might never pass into the body
of a brute creature; but this he told
me was not in his power to grant
me. / then begged that into what
ever creature / should chance to
transmigrate, I might still retain my
memory, and be conscious that j was
the same person who lived in differ
ent animals. This he told me was
within his power, and granted my
request.
"When I died that time I entered
another human body, becoming first
minister to a prince who reigned on
the banks of Ganges. But my mas
ter, since / had become odious to
him, one day shot me through the
heart with an arrow.
Upon my next move / found my
self in the woods. under the shape
of a jackal, and soon listed myself in
the service of lion. / used to yelp
near his den about midnight, which
was his time of rousing and seeking
after his prey. He always followed
me in the rear, and when / had run
down a fat buck, wild goat, or an
hare, after he had feasted very plen-
tifully upon it himself, would now
and then throw me a bone that was
but half picked for my encourage
ment. But upon my being unsuccess-
full in two or three chases, he gripped
me so hard in his anger that / died
of it.
I'm my next transmigration I was
again set upon two legs, and became
taX-gatherer. But, having been