Unveiling a Parallel: A Romance

ke as

report God's work-all

row

ite so strong an impression upon me as had the elder woman, perhaps because I was so preoccupied with, and interested in watching the latter's meeting with Elodia. Certainly there

s fact in conversation with Clytia one day; I said that it was hardly fair for a rich woman to come in and usurp a place which rightfully belonged to some

to the needy. The profession is the highest and most honorable in our land, and only those who are fitted by nature and preparation presume to aspire to the office. There is no bar against those

nd unaffectedness of manner which so agreeably characterizes the manners of all these people. She was rather tall, and slight; though her form did not suggest f

riosity,-as a man is prone to regard a young lady

d out the secret of their fascination, or whether it was simply that they appealed to your artistic sense-as being something finer than you had ever seen before. They were heavily fringed at top and bottom, and so were in shadow except when she raised them toward the light. H

iately to proclaim its ownership and to swear its allegiance to her. From the moment I first saw her there, the blue flowers in her belt gave her, in my mind, the supreme title to all of their kind. I could never bear to see anoth

avitation,-that by which men are attracted to a leader, through intuitive perception of a quality in him round which their own energies may nucleate. We all recognize the need

ieved in,-spiritual royalty; an august force which cannot be ignored, and is never ridiculed-as Galileo was ridiculed, and punished, for

the observatory, and that there wer

e a fine one!" e

ming from one of the sex whose formula is more l

y eyes fell upon him. Or it might have been the reflection I saw in the countenances of my two compan

xclaimed in an undertone, with an accent of peculiar sweetness,-a

the M

and brought him to me, where

him-one does not explain a king! The title by which Ariadne had called him did not at the moment raise an inquiry in my mind. I accepted it as the natural definition of the man

among multitudes, with his head abo

divine countenance-I may well call it divine!-the lambent light of a love so kindly and so tender, t

ith which the Master attended to every word that I said. But I received an equal amount of information myself,-usually in response to the questions with which I rou

; of our manipulation of political and even social forces to great financial ends; of our easy acquisition of fortunes; of our tremendous push and energy, directed

ost discouraging to the adventurous spirit in search of sudden riches. There is no monetary skill worthy the dign

stionable purposes; no gambling houses; no pitfalls for unwary feet; and no mad fever of greed and scheming coursing through the veins of men and driving them to insanity and self-destruction. More than all, there are no fictitious values put upon fads and fancies of the hour,-nor even upon works of art. The Caskians are not easily deceived. An impostor is impossible. Because the p

operates no visible machinery against such crimes, should

individual conscience, and res

pon my understanding, "and how many millions of years

d, "it only approximates perfecti

e same that we have been taught, theoretically, for centuries, but, to tell the truth, I never believed they could be carried out literally, as you appear to carr

s?" the Master said, and his brows went up a little in token of reli

rom its discovery four hundred years ago; and told him about the splendid material prosperity,-the enormous wealth, the extraordinary inventions, the great population, the unprecedented free-school system, and the progress in general education and culture,-of a country which had its birth but yesterday in a deadly struggle

like their fellows, but to whom all eyes turn for help and strength in the hour of peril. But I did not at that time undertake any explanation of our religious creeds, for it somehow seemed to me that these would not count for much with a people who expr

! a country yet so young, s

ad drawn, and in the depths of his eyes I seemed to se

face, murmured in accents of the sublimest reverence that

at came to each of our souls as in a flame of fire, "Here am I." The velocity

is never perfunctory, which is not ruled by time or place. One may worship alone, or two or three, or a multitude, it matters not

to the Master,-wishing t

itious values put upon wor

rdon of every artist for setting up the hideous hypothesis!-But to complete it: the moment a man does that, he loses his self-respect, which is about as bad as anything that can happen to him; it is moral suicide. And he has done a grievous wrong to art by lowering the high standard he himself helped to raise. But his crime is no greater than that of the name-worshipers, who, ignorantly, or insolently, set up false standards and scorn the real test of values. However, these important matters are not left e

he left us it was as though th

to Ariadne. "Tell me," I said, "why is he called Master? Is it a form

ot the 'quality.' But it is in one way perfunctory; it is

the highest rank, presid

ls-old and young alike are their pupils. They are those who have advanced the

re your priests, ministers, pas

fully; our terminology was not

pprenticeship. But, naturally, they rise; there is that same quality in them whi

and the mystery of the man in whose grand c

rised that I should have been ignor

t up for a religious teacher who chooses, with or without preparation,-just

ave let it pass, there was nobody to contradict any impressions I might be pleased to convey

e upon such matters. The boast of our country is liberty, and in some respects we fail to comprehend the glorious possession. Too oft

ted, as one repeats a strange phra

liable to arrest or condign punishment, if he happens to burlesque

assure you that this is not a

though it seems egotistical for one of us to say so! but"-a curious expression touched

merican characteristic of hyperbo

ave the innocent audacity of babes. Yes," I added, "I have told you the truth,-but not all of it; Earth, too, is pinnacled with great names,-of Masters, like yours, and poets, and painters, and scientists, and inventors. Even in the darkest ages there have been these points of il

lar laws operating upon a higher than the physical plane. Children have boundless curiosity, you know, and this makes the teacher's work easy and delightful,-for we all love to tell a piece of news! Through this faculty, the desire to know, you can lead a child in whatever paths you choose. You can almost make him what you choose. A little experience teaches a child that every act brings consequences, good or bad; but he need n

ciences of some very good people in our

she said wit

duct that will serve him through life, as well in his secret thought as in outward act. No one with this principle well-grounded in him will ever seek to throw the blame of his m

ish offende

ns, to be used, if at all, with a tact and skill that make one tremble to think of! They are too apt to destroy freedom of intercourse between teacher and pupil. Unjust criticism, especially, shuts the teacher from an

s surrounded by an atmosphere of coldness and censure. Even Christ, our Great Teacher, af

t is this law of the individual that makes it an effrontery for any one to constitute himself the chancellor of another's conscience, or to sit in judgment upon any act which does not fall under the condemnation of the common law. It is given to each of us to create a world,-within ourselves and round abou

Milton'

ght within his

center and en

s a dark soul an

lks under th

s his own

me with a

uch that it had caused no disturbing vibrations in the current of sy

and she greeted us as returned voyagers

y, and I was alarmed lest we might h

having already had their dinner in the nur

t of the hour. Thought may seem an odd word to use in connection with a dinner conversation,-unless it is a "toast" dinner! but even in their gayest and lightest moods these people are never thoughtless. Their minds instead of being lumbering machinery requiring much force and preparation to put in motion

was mustering his forces round the mountain-tops, and

se of delightful expectancy you see in the unennuied eyes of Youth, waiting for the curtain to go up at a play. All

at the blackness which had gathered everywhere. For the sun had sunk behind a wall as dense as night and left the world to its fate. Before the rain began to fall there was an appalling stillness, which even the angry mutterings of t

impressed, spiritually alive t

de to the mighty piece played before u

-(without destruction)-and has miss

d the frozen point of the Spear and turned its crystal and its snow to gold. The rest of the mountain was still swathed in cloud. A moment more, and a superb rainbow, and another, and yet another, were flung upon the sho

. I happened to be near Fides, and

rdinary manifestation o

t me but di

eard my remark, ex

is a far more wonderful manifestation

a tall, slender woman with thick, white hair, whom I rightly took to be his wife. I was presented to her shortly,

below silenced our voices. It was most peculiar music: now it was tone-pictures thrown upon the dark background of shadows; and now it was a dance of sprites; and now a whispered confidence in the ear. It made no att