The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 7, 1896, Page 18

18 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 1896. WONDERFUL TALES OF THE OCCULT--MAGIC BLACK AND WHITE. Tautriadelta Tells of the Unearthly Marvels He Has Seen in Africa. A REAL MAGICIAN. The Extraordinary Feats of Levitation. How an Aged Rain-Maker Passed Through the Solid Walls of the Hut. A Pupil of the English Novelist Tells Weird Stories of Un- seen Powers—Snakes That Come From the Fire. A real magician, English, well dressed, with close-cropped hair and waxed-mus- taches, is a curious figure in the world of to-day. There is one, though, in England whom Mr. Stead, London editor of the Review of Reviews, and one time editor of the Pall Mall Gazefte, believes so | strongly in that he gives him fiiteen pages of his magazine, Borderland, to recount his weird experiences. Mr. Stead says: The writer of the following extraordinary fragment of antobiography is one of the most remarkable persons I ever met. For more than a year I was under the impression he was the veritable Jack the Ripper—an im- pression which I believe was shared by the police, who at least once had him under ar- rest, elthough, as he completely satisfied them, they liberated him without brifiging him into court. * * * The magician who prefers to be known by his Hermetic name of Tautriadelta, and who objects even to be called & magician, will undoubtedly be re- garded by most people as Baron Munchausen redivivus. He has certainly traveled in many lands and seen very strange scenes. Tautriadelta was a pupil of Lord Lytton, the novelist, says the New York World. He talks of exchanging bodies with his oc- cult friends as the rest of us would talk about borrowing an overcoat. He describes African rainmakers and the marvelous feats of the Obeevans as facts. He says Rider Haggard’s “She”’ is well within the truth, and tells of exhibitions of magic beside wnich the basket and mango tricks of India are tame. It is childish to suppose that we have learned the half of what it is possible to know about the laws of nature and kuman life. A century ago the clearest-headed people would have laughed at the idea of electricity running tram cars. Two rainmakers in the village of an African king in what is now German terri- tory, the Hinterland of the Cameroons, Tautriadelta describes at length. This was thirty years ago. There wasa great drought and all living things were dying for rain. Out of a sky of brass these two men— ‘“‘one an cld man, a stunted but sturdy fellow, with bow legs, the other, about 30, a magnificent specimen of bumanity, six feet in height, straizht as a dart and with | the torso of a Greek wrestler, but a most villairous face,” at blazing noonday drew torrents of rain. Three thousand warriors surrounded them, and failure meant death., Two minutes after they finished their incanta- tions, whi'e the old man was still writhing in an epileptic fit on the ground, the clouds suddenly gathered and the thunder- storm broke. “After it was over,” says the writer, “I visited the rainmakers, who were fort- unately allotted the next hut to mine. I found that they boih spoke Bocosoo and a little Arabic (which last they had picked up from the Arab slave-dealers of the in- terior), so we got on finely. “By certain means, known to all occuit- ists, I at once acquired their confidence, | and they agreed to show me what they could do. There was a fire on the ground in the center of the hut, and we seated ourselves around it at the three angles of an imaginary triangle. “Throwing some dried herbs and min- eral powders (all of which I carefully ex- emined and identified) into the fire, they commenced singing and rocking them- selves backward and forward. “This continued for a few minutes, when, all rising to our feet, but keeping the same relative positions, the old man began making a series of motions, like mesmeric passes, over the fire. Almost instantly the fire seemed alive with snakes, which crawled out of the fire in scores, | and in which I recognized the most deadly serpent on the face of the earth—the Afri- can tic-polonga. These brutes raced madly round and round the fire, some en- deavoring to stand on their tails, hissing loudly all produced the effect on the spectator of a weird dance of serpents. On the utier- ance of one Arabic monosyllabic word, | the polongas hurled themselves into the fire and disappeared. “The younger man, who had hitherto taken no active part, then openea - his | mouth wide and & snake’s head popped out. He seized hold of it by the neck and pulled out of his throat a tic-polonga be- tween two and three feet long and threw it also in the fire. I said, ‘Do it again,’ and he repeated the feat several times. ““It must be remembered that both men were entirely naked at the time, excepting for their foather head-dresses, so no clever jugglery or sleight of hand was possible. “The next tuing was that the old man lay down on tie floor and told us to take him by the head and the heels and raise him up. This wa did to the height of about three feet from the floor, he' having made himself perfectly rigid. We held bim there for a moment, and then he sofily ‘floated’ out of our hands and sailed right around the hut, I following him closely. He then approached the wall, feet first, and fairly floated through it into the outside darkness. ' [ immediately feit of the spot where he had gone through, expecting to find a hole; but no, all was as solid as stout beams of timber and a foot of sun-baked clay could make it. 1rushed outside to look for him, and even ran around the hut, but, with the dark might and heavy rain, I could see nothing of him. 8o Ireturned, wet to the skin. The other man sat by the fire alone, singing. “In a few moments the old man came floating in again and sat down at his point of the trisngle. But I noticed that the feathers in his head-dress were dripping wet and that his black skin fairly glistened with rain.” * Speaking of ‘‘She” Tautriadelta says: “It strikes me as being not so much the creation of a vivid imagination as the sim- ple recital, or, perhaps; one should say, the skillful adaptation of facts well known to those who penetrated the recesses of the west coast of Africa » generation ago.” i sway of his body more pronounced, until he works himself into a state of complete frenzy. Then with his body actually quivering and his head rapidly working about from side to side he sings in a loud voice how a certain najo (whom he names) had asked money of those people and was the time, until it absolutely | TAUTRIADELTA —The Modern Magician and Pupil of Bulwer Lytton in the Occult Arts, Whom W. T. Stead Exploits in “Borderland.” Marvels of Necromancy by Bhagats of India. | Having thus given some account of the deona, we now come to the bhagat, called | by the Hindus sokha and sivnath. This is the highest grade of all, and, as I ought to have mentioned before, the ’ilm (knowledge) of both the déona and bhagat | grades is only to be learned by becoming a regular chela of a practitioner; but Iam given to understand that the final initia- tion is much hastened by a seasonable liberality on the part of the chela. During the initiation of the sokha certain cere- monies are performed at night by aid of a human corpse. This is one of the things | which has led me to think that this part at least of these practices is connected with | lantric black magic, says a writer in u; London magazine. The bhagat performs two distinct func- tions—(first) a kind of divination called | bhao (the same in Hindi), and (second) a | kind of Shamanism called d ta 1n | Hindi and bharoten in Horokaji, which, | however, is resorted to only on very grave occasions—as, for instance, when several families think they are bewitched at one | time and by the same najo. | The bhao is performed as follows: The i person having some query to propound | i makes a small dish out of a sal leaf and | | puts in it a little uncooked rice and a few | pice; he then proceeds to the bhagat and lays before him the leaf and its contents, propounding at the same time his query. | The bhagat then directs him to go out and gather two golaichi (varieties of Posinia) | | flowers (such practitioners usually having | | a golaichi tree close to their abode); after | i the flowers are brought the bhagat seats | Dhimself with the rice close to the inquirer, | and after some consideration selects one | of the flowers and, holding it by the stalk | at almost a foot from his eyes in his left | hand, twirls it between his thumb and | tingers, occasionally with his right hand dropping on it a grain or two of rice. In | a few minutes his eyes close and he begins | a talk—usnally akout things having noth- | | ing to do with the question in hand, but after a few minutes of this he suddenly | throws out an answer to the question, and without another word retires. The iu-| quirer takes his meaning as he can from the answer, which, I believe, is always ambigucus. The bharotan, as I have above remarked, is only resorted to when a matter of grave import has to be inquired into. The bhagat makes a high charge for a seance of this description. We will fancy that three or four fal es in a village con- | sider themselves bewitched by a najo, and they resolve to have recourse fo a bhagat to find out who the witch is. With this view a day is fixed on. and two delegates | are procured from each_of five neighbor- ing villages, who accompany the afflicted people to the house of the bhagat, taking | with them a dali, or offering, consisting of-vegetables, which, on arrival, is formally presented to him. The delegates are posted at each of the four points of the compass and the other two seat ihem- selves with the two afflicted parties to the right of the bhagat, who occupies the center of the apartment with four or five chelas, a clear space being reserved on the left. One chela then brings a small earth- enware pot full of lighted charcoal, which is set before the bhagat with a pile of | mango wood chips-and a ball composed of dbunia, gur (treacle), and ghee (clari- fied butter), and possibly other ingredients. The bhagat's sole attire consists of a | scanty lenguti (waistcioth), a necklace of | the large wooden beads such as are usu- | ally worn by fakirs, and several gartands of | golaichi flowers round his neck, his hair being unusually long and matted. Beside him, stuck in the ground, is his staff. One chela stands over the firepot with & bamboo-mat fan in his nand, another takes charge of the pile of chips and a third of the bail of composition, and one or two others seat themselves behind the bhagat, with drums and other musical instru- | ments in their hands. All beiny in readi- | ness the afflicted .ones are requested to state their grievance. This they do and pray the bhagat to cail before him the j afflict them, in order that he may be pun- isbed. The bhagat then gives a sign to his chelas, those behind bim raise a furious din with their instruments, the fire is fed with chips and a bit of the com- position is put on it from time to time, producing a volume of thick, grayish-blue smoke. This is carefully fanned over and toward the bhagat, who, when well wrapped in smoke, closes his eyes and quietly swaying his body begins a low chant. The chant gradually becomes louder, the nsjo who has stirred up the spirits to |° refused, and how he stirred up certain spirits (whom he also names) to hunt them, how they killed so and so’s bullocks, | some one else’s sheep and caused another’s child to fall ill, Then he begins to call on the najo to come and answer for his doings, and in doing so rises to his feet—still com- randing the najo to appear; meanwhile hereelsabout, then falls on the ground and is quite still except for an occasional wince and a muttered, “I see him; he is com- ing!” This state mav last for an hour or more till atlast the bhagat sits up and an- nounces that the najo has come. As he says so a man apparently mad with drink rushes in and falls with his head toward the bhagat, moaning and. making a sort of snorting as 1f half stified. Ia this per- son the bewitched parties recognize a neighbor, and sometimes a relation; bput whoever he may be they have bound themselves to punish him. The bhagat then sveaks to him and tells him to con- fess, at the same time threatening him, in case of refusal, with his staff. He then confesses in a half-stupefied manner, and his confession tallies with what the bhagat has told in his frenzy. The najo is then dismissed, and runs out of the housein the same hurry as be came in. To Learn the Arts of Antiquity. The announcement that the Theosophi- cal Society of America will soon lay the cor- nerstone of a college wherein the mysti- | cal arts &nd sciences will be taught isone of the biggest Vieces of news that has been flashed across the wire from New York re- cently. and has awakened a great deal of interest and curiosity from all quarters. The information in the press dispatches was meager enough, and may well be sup- plemented by the following data contained in a private letter to a member of the so- ciéty in this city. % In regard to the school of occultism, says the writer, the following official an- nouncement was made by C. F. Wright: The real founders of the Theosophical Soci- ety are preparing to found & school for the re- vival of the lost mysteries of antiquity in which those who have served their time in the lesser mysteries or the preceding degree— namely, in the discipline of the soul and the | service of humanity—may enter the greater mysteries and become masters indeed by evolv- ing to higher planes of knowledge and power, on the one condition that such power and knowledge shall be devoted unreservedl: d forever to the service of humanity. To carry out this purpose funds will be solicited, a suit- able site procured and buildings erected, when the aim and possibilities of such an un- dertaking shall have become apparent to those who have the power and tbe disposition to carry it into effect. achieved with certainty through the diffusion of reel knowledge regarding the origin, nature a;-rz destiny of man by the Theosophical So- clety. This grand object will be | Strange Land. An Audience With the Dalai Lama in the Heart of Thibet. EVERYTHIN HE KNOWS Wisdom of Sages, Who Says the Science of Numbers Is an lllusion. ~ Christian countries such as this have so vague an idea of Thibetan culture and particularly of occult science in Thibet that the account which the German scholar, Professor Heinrich Hensoldt, gives of his experiences in the land of Buddhba will be regarded by the many as mere fiction. He visited the city of Lhass, and there, after much patient waiting, and aided by strong Buddhisticinfluences, he was granted an audience with the Dalai Lama, tha chief of the Buddhist hierarchy. The Dalai is always a child of very tender age, seldom over 12 years. A new Dalai is being chosen from among the people, is solemnly installed and procleimed the most holy incarnation of Buddha, and “from that moment seems to pattake of the knowledge and power of the great teacher of transcendental wisdom.” Pro- fessor Hensoldt had been informed that the Dalai was a feeble-minded puppet in the bands of a crafty clique. He says he found him a boy 8 years old, with eyes that sent astonishment and awe through the beholder. The Dalai addressed Hen- soldt in the latter's own native German dialect, which he could not have acquired by any process known to ordinary mor- tals. Furthermore, the professor had taken special precautions to conceal his nationality. The Dalai fathomed his vis- itor’s inmost thonghts. His knowledge of science was profound. In' speaking of time, the Dalai said it wasa ‘‘mere illu- sion,” and he sought to show that mathe- matics, the most stable of sciences, wasi based on the *‘airy fabric of a vision.” “There is no such thing astime,” he said. “Itisan illusion, like the concep- tion of space. You say that time is a suc- cession of events. How, if it can beshown that there are no-events and that every- thing is illusion? What is a century, what The Child Wonder of a PA Boy of Eight Years, With the |- usually a child of 5 or 6 years of age,which, | is a year, what is aday? Yousay that a day is the time this planet requires for rotating once around its axis. Take the | equator of this earth, divide it into twenty-four equal parts, build a house at each of these points; what would be the result? Why, according to your lagic, you | would have an hour’s difference in time in each of these twenty-four houses. Now, | imagine these houses ten degrees farther north; you would then have them much | closer together, yet there still wouid be an hour’s difference in each; and, finally imagine these houses so close around the | north pole that they form a complete | circle and are in actual contact—still there | would be an hour’s difference of time in each. Ifitis12o’clock in one house, itis | 1 o’clock in the house to the right and 11| o’clock in that to the left. If the houses were all connected by doors you could run in five minutes through a hundred years of time. In fact, you could recall the past | and step into the vanished centuries by merely running in the opposite direction. | On the other hand, you culd banish time | completely and enforce an everlasting present by stepping into the next house the moment the hour was on the point of expiring; thus you could always bave it at 12 o’clock. Indeed, by stepping to the pole itself, even this small exertion | becomes superfluous, because there is| absolutely no time there.’ In regard to the science of mathematics the Dalai deseribed it as another illusion, | proceedin g thus: **What is mathematics based upon? On a hypothetical assumption, viz., the num- ber on®, which has no existence. This may seem a new truth to you, but it is as old as the eternal stars. What is your num- ber one? Tt must relate to some existing object, for all abstract conceptions are ideal and therefore vnreal. What, then, isone? Isita stone, a tree, an animal? | That stone, tree or animal will not be the same to any two persons on this planet, because no two minds are alike; besides, | the stone which you see to-day is not the stone which you beheld yesterday, for even since yesterday your mind has| undergone changes, however slight, and | your world is no longer the same. Mathe- | matics, then, is based on something which has no tangible or even definable | existence, and when you come to consider 1t a little more closely you will find it full of contradictions, incongruities and ab- surdities. % “For instance, can you imagine the possibility of approaching an object for ever and ever without the remotest How Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton Appeared in the Astral Light at Paris. Oceult, and Master of the SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON, Author of “Zanoni” and Other Tales of the Modern Mage, Tautriadelta. chance of reaching it? Yet this is what your infallible science of mathematics teaches you. Let us suppose that you owe even & single rupze and that you arrange to discharge this debt by paying half of the rupee to-morrow, one-fourth the day after, one-eighth the next day,. etc., always paying haif of what you dis- bursed on the day previous. You might go on paying day after day for millions of years and you would never pay off that rupee. Of course this is a truth which some of your mathematical prodigies will pronounce self-evident, yet it involves a profound mystery, and it 1llustrates the iallacy of your science of numbers. Here you are everiastingly adding fraction to fraction and piling up particles of silver to all eternity without the remotest pos- sibility of its ever reaching the amount of one rupee. Imagine itif youcan. Each payment brings you a little nearer the goal, but you neyer reach it. Does this not prove that your wonderfully exact seience is illusion?” The Dalai Lama finally declared, “We do not ‘reason out’ things, but ‘see’ them, and toere is no such thing as doubt or un- certainty in the ‘world behind the cur- tain.’ A College fo—r the Study of Occultism. Ernest T. Hargrave, president of the | Theosophical Society in America, has also spoken on the subjeét of the proposed col- | lege for the revival of the lost occult arts of antiquity, and in an interview the other day declared his intention of visiting the site of the proposed institution upon his return from a tour around the world. About the college in particular, Mr. Har- grove said: The statement made by Mr. Wright, pointing to the opening of & school for the revivalof the old mysteries I know to be true, and it only needs time to bring it to a fruition. The time has come and nothing in nature can prevent its accomplishmeng, and now that the old souls are coming Bhek it is absolutely necessary to have this school. Look at the past and see Egypt, its rise and fall; the decay of other empires; se¢ some of the Europ2an countries on the verge of crum- bling, and then turn to America in the heyday of its youth. Ithasnotyet reached its turn- ing point, but in the next few years we may expecta big development. The future of this country is agreat one, and I look to this country as the nucleusof arace which is to follow the present race, when man will have realized the universal brotherhood. It was announced that no money would be taken in exchange for teaching in the school, the tuition in which would be abso- lutely free and for those only who were “duly and truly prepared.” About $35,000 in cash has been contributed already. Tautriadelta, the English Magician, Watching the Ascent of the Ancient Rainmaker Through the Solid Walls of the Hut. it — ! i Vi u‘p 1 i s i {) "‘ MY o i i W L / TN W W 4. 1 7/ ffl / W07 f 4 7 i ///// / // '1"';" / Mh"/a /f i i 7 4 / . . ¥ vil i Tales of Savages Who Kill by Black Magic. Having lived thirty years on tbe Nil- | giris, employing the various tribes of the hills on my estates, and speaking their languages, I have had many opportunities of observing their manners and customs, writes Mrs. E. H. Morgan in the London Theosophist, and of witnessing the fre- quent practice of demonology and witch- craft among them. On the slopes of the Nilgiris live several semi-wild people—the Curumbers, who frequently hire out to neighboring estates and are first-rate fellers of forest; the Toim, or Honey Curumbers, whc live largely on honey ‘and roots and who do not come into civilized parts, and the Mulu Curumbers, who are rare on the slopes of the hills, but common in Wy- naad, lower down the plateau. These Mulu Curumbers are credited with con- trolling power over all wild animals. I had on my estates, near Ootacamund, thirty young Badagas whom I had in my service since they were children. From week to week I missed one or another of them and on inquiry was told they had sickened and died. One market day I met the Moneghar of the village to which these young mer belonged. The moment he saw me he stopped me and said, “Mother, I am in great sorrow and trouble, tell me what 1 can do?” “Why, what is wrong?” I asked. “All my young men are dying, and [ cannot help them nor prevent it. They are under the spell of the wicked Curaum- vers, who are killing them.” “Pray explain,” I said. “Qh, madam, they are vile extortioners, always asking for money. We have given and given till we have no more to give. I they said, ‘All right—we shall ses!” Surely as they say this we know what will fol- low. Atnight when we are all aslesp we wake up suddenly and see a Curumber standing in our midst—in the middle of the room occupied by the young men.” “Why do you not close and bolt your doors ?” I asked. “What is the use of bolts and bars to them? They come through stone walls. Our doors are secure, but nothing can keep out a Curumber. He points his finger at Madu, at Kurira, at Jogie; he utters no word, and as we look at him he vanishes! In a few days these three young men sicken, a low fever consumes them, their stomachs swell; they die. Eighteen young men, the flower of my village, have died thus this year. These effects always follow the visit of a Curumber at night.”’ “Why not complain to the Govern- ment?’ I said. “Ah, no use; who wiil catch them? We musct find the money somehow, I sup- pose,”” and he turned sorrowtully away. A Mr. K— is the owner of a coffee plantation, and employs burghers. On one occasion he took seven or .eight burghers along with him on a hunting ex- pedition for big game. He severely wounded & fine elephant swith tusks. Wishing to secure the ivory, he followed up his quarry, but eould not induce his burghers to go deeper into the forests, for they feared to meet the Mulu Curumbers who lived there. By dint of ‘threats and bribes he finally induced them to proceed cautiously, and as they met no one their fears were allayed and they grew bolder, when, suddenly coming upon the elephant lying dead—oh, horror to them !—the beast was surrounded by a party of Muln Curum- bers, busily engaged in cutting out the tusks, one of which they had already dis- engaged. The frightened burghers fell back, and nothing would induce thenrto approach toe elephant, which the Curum- bers declared was theirs, They had killed it, they said. But Mr. K— was not to give up the game in this fasbion. He approached the Curumbers threateningly with his gun and compelled them to retire, and called to his burghers at the same time. The Curumbers only said, “Just you dare to touch that elephant,” and retired. Mr. K-— thereupon cut out the remain- ing tusk himself, and slinging both ona& pole with no little trouble, made bis men carry them. He took all the blame on himself, showed them they did not touch and finally declared he would stay there all night rather than lose them. The idea of a night near the Mulu Carum- bers was too much for the burghers, and they finally took up the vpoles and tusks and walked home. From that day those men, all but one. who probably carried the gun, sickened, walked about like lfeoun, doomed, pale and ghastly, and before the month was out all were dead, with the one exception. told them we had no more money, and | MYSTIC NEOPHITE. An Empty Armchair Is Filled by a Shadow. The English Magician Tells of His Initiation Into the Secret Arts. What Was Seen in an Egg-Shaped Crystal—The Master Stood in the Sacred Pentagon of Red Chalk. Tantriadetta writes a description of his first interview with Lord Bulwer Lytton for Mr. Stead’s *Borderland.” “I was always, as a boy, fond of everything per- taining to mysticism, astrology, witch- craft and what is commonly known as the occult sciences,” hesays. *Iread ‘Zanoni’ with great zest, but I am afraid with very little understanding, and longed exces- sively to know its author, little dreaming that I should one day be the pupil of this great magist, Bulwer Lytton—the one man of modern times for whom all the systems of ancient and modern magism and magic, white and black, beld back no secrets. “It was in the winter after the publica- tion of the weird, strange story, in which the master attempted to teach the wor'd many new and important truths under the veil of fiction, that I made the ac- quaintance at Paris of young Lytton, the son of the then Sir Edward. He wasat that time, I suppose, about ten years my senior, and though passionately attached to his father, who was both father and mother to him, did not share my intense admiration and enthusiasm for his mystic studies and his profound lore. “Anyhow, in the spring following, he presented me to his father asan earnest student of occultism. I was then about 22 years of age, and I suppose 8ir Edward was attracted to me partly by my irre- pressible hero-worship, of which he was the object, and partly because he saw that 1 possessed a cool, logical brain, had iron nerve, and above all, was genuinely, ter- ribly in earnest. «] remember that the first time he con- descended to teach me anything, he seated me before an egg-shaped crystal and asked me what I saw therein. For the first ten minutes I saw nothing, and { was somewhat aiscouraged, thinking that he would blame me for my inability, but presently to my astonishment and deiight I very plainly descried moving figures of men and animals. I described the scenes as they camerinto view, and the events that were transpiring; when, to my in- tense satisfaction—and I am afraid self- glorification—he said, ‘Why, you are a splendid fellow! You are just what I want.” $ “He then asked me if I would really like to seriously study magism under his guidance. His wordson this point are as fresh on my memory as ever. He said: «“'Remember, my boy, it will be very hard work, fatiguing to body and brain. There is no royal road, nothing but years of study and privaiion. Before you can conquer the powers you will have to achieve a complete victory over Self—in fact, become nothing more nor less than an incarnate intellect. Whatever knowl- edge you may gain, whatever powers you may acquire, can never be used for your advancement in the world, or for your per- sonal advantage in any way. Evenif you obtain the power of a king and the knowl- edge of a prophet, you may have to pass your tife in poverty and obscurity. They will avail you nothing. Weigh well my words. Three nights from this I will call ou!” 5 “On the third evening I never left my rooms after dinner, but lit my pipe and remained anxiously awaiting Sir Edward’s arrival. Hour after hour passed, but no visitor. I determined to sit up ail night, if need be, feeling that he would come. «And he did, but not in the way I ex- pected. I happened to look up from the book which I was vainly attempting to read and my glance fell upon the empty armchair at the other side of the fireplace. Was I dreaming or did I actually seea filmy form, scarcely more than a shadow," apparently seated there? [awaited develop- ments and watched. Second by second tne film grew more dense, until it became some- thing like Sir Edward. I knew then it was all right and sat stili while the form grew more and more distinct, until at last - it was apparentiy the master himself sit- ting opposite to me—alive and in propria persona. I instantly arose to shake hands with him, but as I got within touching dis- tance he vanished instantly. I knew then that it was only some variety of the Scin- Leca that I had seen. It was my first ex- perience of this and I stood there in doubt what to do. “Just then his voice whispered close to my ear, so close that I even felt his warm breath, ‘Come!” I turned sharply round, but, of dourse, no one was there. “I instantly put on my hat and great- coat to go to his botel, but when I got to the corner of the first street, down which I should turn to get there, his voice said, ‘Straight on.’ Of course I obeyed im- plicitly. In a few minutes mors, ‘Cross over’; and, so guided, I came where he was. Where matters not; but it was cer- tainly one of the last places in which I should have expected to find him. «I entered. He was standing in the middle of the sacred pentagon, which he had drawn on the floor with red chalk, and holding in his extended right arm the bagnette, which was pointed toward me. Standing thus he asked me if I had duly considered the matter and had decided to enter upon the course. I replied that my mind was made up. He then and there administered to me the oaths of a neo- phyte of the Hermetic Lodge of Alexan- dria—the oaths of obedience and secrecy.” ApvicE BY ProXxy. Bhe—What? The doctor suggested that I ride & wheel? Theidea! He never said any- thing like that to me! He—No; he didn’t care to say so to you; but he told me that no matter how ridiculous you might look it would do you good. . In St. Louis. “d ln:pot:oyuu hotel men are at your wits’ end where to put the delegates to the Natio: Convention?” e e “Not at all! It's makine room for the candi dates that bothers us.”—New York Herald,