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THE 
 
 SUPREME ADVENTURE 
 
 BY 
 SARAH LOWE TWIGGS 
 
 THE ACADEMY BOOK ROOM 
 
 BRYN ATHYN, PA. 
 
 19 19 
 

 Copyrighted by 
 
 The Academy Book Room 
 
 Bryn Athyn, Pa. 
 
 1919 
 
 OCT Jl ijjj9 
 
 ©CI.A5368 77 
 
REVERENTLY DEDICATED 
 
 TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 This metrical story of the future Hfe, which voices the 
 persistent aspiration and unquenchable faith of all the 
 ages, also looks beyond the incident of death with the 
 bold eye of a soldier of the great war, a member of the 
 Foreign Legion and winner of the War Cross who, be- 
 fore he was killed in action, wrote thus to a friend in 
 his native America : ''Living as we do with death as a 
 constant companion has but deepened my conviction of 
 something after this life. x\ man's soul must include 
 his capacity for action, work, his creative faculties. The 
 numbers of young men just on the threshold of their 
 creative life — these men, killed, utterly destroyed in a 
 second by a few ounces of explosive, have made im- 
 possible the belief that all their minds held is definitely 
 lost to humanity. I believe that death is followed by 
 life as surely as sunset is followed by sunrise, but by a 
 life much more closely related to this one than theologi- 
 cal dogma would have us believe. All this has taught 
 me to regard death as an episode. It has lost much of 
 its mystery and all of its terror. I have a curiosity, an 
 eagerness, to see and begin the new life, tempered by a 
 wish to know this one a little more fully.'' 
 
 It is inconceivable that the mind of this young soldier, 
 facing death at the cannon's mouth with a serene phi- 
 losophy and even an adventurous curiosity, will not con- 
 tinue to function as of old and more perfectly beyond 
 his battle-grave. The curiosity he confessed, a natural 
 
6 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 accompaniment of the ever-enduring desire for immor- 
 tality, has been uncommonly active during recent event- 
 ful years. The question has come home to men of all 
 classes, to the eminent scientist and the humblest day 
 laborer : what becomes of the flower of the world's young 
 manhood dying in millions on the battle front in all 
 their vivid youth, high hope and ripening powers of 
 mind, passing in an instant from the great adventure 
 of war into the ''supreme adventure" of death? The 
 question is old, for it was estimated long ago that more 
 than a hundred thousand souls daily pass out of this 
 life, but the world war,, adding its daily average of about 
 five thousand, has made the question almost new in its 
 attention-compelling gravity. It can not be that the vast 
 and ceaseless emigrations through the gates of death 
 end in a mere pit of night and oblivion. The burrowing 
 mole can not see or believe in the stars that shine for- 
 ever in the heavens, but man, creation's crowning flower, 
 can lift up his mind and heart and see and feel. He can 
 knozv that the Power providing this world and all it 
 contains — men. animals and vegetation, eternally repro- 
 duced in the most marvelous manner — can as readily 
 provide the no greater miracle of a different and higher 
 realm in harmony with the needs and developed powers 
 of the acutely-sentient souls of the so-called dead. 
 
 This look behind the veil of the eschatological realm, 
 most fittingly entitled "The Supreme Adventure," is a 
 timely response to the yearning questions that have come 
 to new life in the states of mind produced by the great 
 war, a response the more welcome because it gratifies 
 the craving for truth in forms of beauty. Truth in 
 idea it is assuredly, if not in all its detail. With high 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 7 
 
 resolve, sustained enthusiasm and a rare gift of ex- 
 pression, the author, after years of labor, has produced 
 a picture of the world to come eminently sane and logi- 
 cal in conception, more human, far more alluring, than 
 that of the creed-burdened Milton or the medieval Dante, 
 yet no less startling at points in consequence of the 
 symbolic representation of evil's deformities which are 
 depicted with epic powers of the imagination Aside 
 from its gladdening message of hope, and judged merely 
 as a work of art, "The Supreme Adventure" will appeal 
 widely because of the literary felicities to be found in 
 every part of it. Admirable in form, the poem achieves 
 the greater merit of being wonderful in idea, delectable 
 in its vision of supernal beatitudes., — a noble task well 
 done. 
 
 Louis Pendleton. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 
 
 PART I 
 
 "Here, on sweet nature's breast, the mother breast. 
 Where oft in th' old life's weariness and pain 
 He sought repose, 'tis meet he shall awake. 
 Fragrant with meadow-bloom his 
 
 grassy couch ; 
 The blossomed thorn ringeth with happy biras. 
 And the bright sunlight thro leafy riot 
 Strained, tingeth witli grateful green this bow 'red 
 
 shade." 
 
 "Aye, nature's freedom for the free ! 
 Fairer 
 
 To long captivity of pain this fresh 
 Spring woodland, than silk'n chamber 
 
 of a king! 
 No stir as yet of his awakening soul?" 
 
 '^Herald e'en now his quick'ned pulse and lighter 
 Respiration, its blest approach. 
 Sleepeth 
 
 He so like a tired child, th' April zephyrs 
 Kissing his gold'n hair, that save for impress 
 Of maturer thought, and for his gracious 
 Stature, one would not speak him 
 as yet past 
 
10 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 His sunny boyhood. No ling'ring shadow 
 
 Of the weary strife, as in transition 
 
 Oft we see, marreth his peaceful calm. 
 
 Soft! 
 
 The happy moment we await, is here. 
 
 Come nearer, thou sweet-throated thrush, and first 
 
 Be thou to bid him 'Good morning.' " 
 
 In vague, half-conscious dream, the twilight-land 
 Of myth and whim, where phantom 
 
 masquerades 
 As truth and truth as phantom flits, I heard. 
 Or seemed to hear, th' wood-dove's dulcet 
 
 murmur, 
 Clearer now, as voices perceived. Zephyrs, 
 Spice breathing, swept my cheek, 
 
 the dawning world 
 With rosy amethyst suflfused. Then sudd'n 
 I awaked, beholding near me gently 
 Ministrant, two beings, such as no 
 
 dreaming 
 Bard e'er sung, nor art Promethean 
 
 portrayed. 
 In glory of ripe manhood's perfect mold, 
 The shining seal of wisdom's majesty 
 Upon his brow, one more apart thoughtful 
 And rev'rent stood. Th' other beside 
 
 me knelt, 
 A woman clothed with love's divine and crowned 
 In purity so white, my dazzled sense. 
 From th' effulgence shrank ; whereat she closer 
 In verdant shade withdrew, tho on my heart. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 11 
 
 Its pulses keeping, her hand still lightly 
 Lay. Spell-bound, yet with assuring 
 
 reason 
 Hedged, that fevered, unsubstantial vision 
 Tricked my sight, I gazed into her azure 
 Eyes, minding me of boyhood days when couched 
 In meadow grass by limpid brook 
 
 I watched 
 The pure in-growing lilies of the crystal 
 Under-world, and thro their ever changeful 
 Beauty the perfect shining of the heaven's 
 Blue. Lest a mere breath, the fair 
 
 phantasie 
 Dissolve, I speech essayed not, till my thought 
 Divining, she gently spake : 
 
 "No fickle shadows of disordered sense 
 Thou dost in us behold, but beings 
 
 human 
 And substantial as thyself. The Father's 
 Servants we, by His appointment hither 
 Sent to minister unto thy need. These 
 Blossomed woodlands, teeming with joyous life, 
 His pleasant pastures are." 
 
 "My father's ?" I glanced about me. 
 
 "Methinks 
 Long illness hath my brain confused that, save 
 This billowed field of sweet red clover, naught 
 Doth familiar seem." 
 
12 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 I. 
 I breathed a deep and tranquil sigh. 
 
 "So restful 'tis to leave the chambered dark 
 And lie here in the blessed sun ! But how 
 I hither came, and when, I know not." 
 
 ''Nay, thou didst profoundly slumber." 
 
 ''Brought sleep's blest angel healing in her wings, 
 That I awake so calm and free of pain ?" 
 
 "Aye." 
 
 "Thank God ! Seemeth to me I fell asleep 
 At early dawn. Methinks I do recall. 
 All weak and spent, the robin's drowsy pipe 
 And the faint stir that tells us night 
 
 hath passed, 
 And morning come. No more since then — unlcss- 
 Was't a dream, or did I hear them weeping 
 Say, that I was dying?" 
 
 "Nay, 'twas no dream ! Thou heard'st aright. 
 To thee 
 
 In truth the night of pain and sorrow hath 
 Forever passed, and morn eternal come !" 
 
 I started, with sudd'n shock. 
 
 "Surely, thou dost not mean I am of that 
 Pale band we call 'the Spirit Dead.' " 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 13 
 
 "No bloodless wraiths in this blest land abide, 
 But 'tis most true thou hast the mortal dropt 
 And put on immortality." 
 
 Msibly agitate, I 'gainst the light 
 
 Held forth my hands, warm, tinctured thro, 
 
 with life's 
 Red-coursing tide. Possessed they ne'er before 
 This perfect, blue-veined symmetry. Yet, from 
 The truth my soul unreasoning recoiled. 
 
 ''Looks spirit thus?" 
 
 "Aye." 
 
 "And can it be, I have th' awful portal 
 Passed? Hath the grim messenger his sickly 
 Victim claimed?'' 
 
 A truant smile, hid in the fringed covert 
 Of her eyes, stole forth and dimpled about 
 Her mouth, as she replied : 
 
 "Would'st thou behold this gruesome messenger. 
 This spirit dread, who thro th' ages hath Earth's 
 Dreams affrighted? Come hither, Azrael!" 
 
 At her behest th' august presence, who from 
 Our converse had in part retired, drew near; 
 And o'er me with protective tenderness 
 Inclining, took in his own, my proffered 
 Hand, as thus he spake : 
 
14 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 ''She at thy side, and I, of thine own race 
 And brethren are who dwell on earth. 
 Thence passed 
 
 We e'en as thou, and as the countless hosts 
 Of all our planet's dark'ned children. 
 Thou seest 
 
 In us a vast angelic order, whose 
 Holy office 'tis to loose th' immortal 
 Soul from carnal thrall, and here 
 
 thro peaceful 
 Slumber loving guard, till the blest moment 
 Of awakening to life and liberty 
 Eternal. To blinded Earth our dreaded 
 Name is 'Death,' but by th' angels we are known 
 As 'Life,' since in the vasty universe 
 From star to shore there is no death. 
 Arise, 
 
 And let us walk these meads, where all that greets 
 Th' eye is joyous life. Yon laughing brooklet 
 Dancing in the sun, the little playful 
 Lambs that browse its banks, glassing 
 
 their fleecy 
 Snow like cloudlets in the mirrored blue, call 
 Happily to thee. Come!" 
 
 IL 
 
 Dropping his hand, I reached by long habit 
 For my crutches, dismayed at the moment 
 To find them not. Smiling, and half-ashamed, 
 I strove to rise, but thought still 
 t' accustomed 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 15 
 
 Uses and conditions bound, restrained me. 
 Struggling now with smitt'n hope and faUering faith, 
 I backward sank. 
 
 "I cannot rise. A helpless cripple from 
 My mother's womb was I, and such am still." 
 
 To my galled sense there seemed a hush 
 
 of bird 
 And brook and all sweet sounds of woodland life, 
 As tho my bitter words had dropt a blight 
 Upon the land. Gently th' angel spake : 
 
 "There are no cripple in our Father's House. 
 The crutch thou dost require, is faith in Him. 
 Arise !'^ 
 
 Then sudd'n, as thro storm-cloud breaks God's sunshine, 
 
 With efforts less than lightest thought on will 
 
 Imposes, I upright sprang, and in full 
 
 Manhood's strength before them stood. 
 
 Uttering 
 
 A joyous cry, I tossed my arms aloft, 
 
 Stamped on the yielding sod to realize 
 
 My pow'r, and further to test it, swiftly 
 
 Ran, leaping the brook, elastic of foot 
 
 And limb as mountain hart, and bounding back, 
 
 Intoxicate with freedom and aglow 
 
 With life. What transport, to feel 
 
 the heart's wine 
 Thrill and sparkle thro its rosy gatew^ays 
 To the finger-tips, and know one's self from 
 
10 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Crown to feet, in every least atomic 
 Part, whole, and eternally alive ! Mine 
 Eyes with grateful tears were dimmed, 
 
 and I seemed 
 To hear again the little leading voice 
 Of th' infant choir, whose tiny treble from 
 The parish sabbath-school oft stole with breath 
 Of lilacs to my window, faint and sweet : 
 
 "Go tell it to Jesus!" 
 Deep in the stillness of my soul, I cried 
 A great and yearning cry : 
 
 ''Where art thou, Lord?" 
 
 A voice, as 'twere within me, answered : 
 
 "Lo, I am with thee alway !" 
 
 By the rude altar of a mossy rock. 
 Half-hid in reedy thicket and till now 
 Unnoted, I kneeling bowed my burdened 
 Heart in thanks-giving and penitential 
 Tears. In that veiled holiest, where neath 
 
 the light 
 Of God's all searching truth the shrinking soul, 
 Naked as the first Adam, and ashamed, 
 Stands at his own judgment bar and inmost 
 Tribunal, self-accused and self-condemned, 
 I saw my blighted and abortive life, 
 The lowly vale, wherein 
 
 Eternal Love 
 Its holy purpose patient wrought, and from 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 17 
 
 My hapless failures, scarred deep with bitter 
 Warfare 'twixt insurgent soul and its gyved 
 Impotence, aye, from my dead crucified, 
 A Temple Beautiful arose, 
 
 that 'neath 
 The Master-Builder's Hand, reared stone by stone 
 Its heavenly symmetry, and kissed the stars ! 
 Dashed I 'gainst this my mad rebellious will ? 
 Strove my finite folly with Omniscient 
 Wisdom ? Father, forgive me ! 
 
 Ill, 
 
 Arising from the woodland sacristy, 
 I found myself alone with many- voiced 
 Nature, who sang for me her old sweet songs. 
 Set to a new-strung harp, in key divine. 
 Following the brooklet's call, 
 
 I wandered 
 Happily its bloom-starred banks, 'mid April's 
 Leafy patter, sweet bird-cries, and all sounds 
 Of meadow-murmur, that deep'ning the while 
 I rambled, merged in a great forest's full 
 Symposium of light and song and color. 
 Here down green-shadowed aisles that lost themselves 
 In rank luxuriance of sylvan splendor. 
 The sun, unrivaled artist, sketched with leaf, 
 And bough, and spired grass, fantastic 
 
 pictures. 
 That ever to lightest breath of wooing breeze 
 Blotted their filmy tracery in mad 
 Chaotic carnival. Mid varied bloom, 
 2 
 
18 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Enchanting in hue and fragrance, 
 
 that ne'er 
 Mayhap found root on earth, flow'rs precious sweet 
 To mem'ry my eager exploration 
 Greeted, bee-lad'n honeysuckle, gold-belled 
 Jasmine, and the scarlet woodbine's 
 
 elfin 
 Bugles, that in th' old life's fancy meseemed 
 To hear faint thro the young May woodland blowing 
 'Neath the magical new moon. 
 Reveling 
 
 In that keen joy of Nature, that only 
 Her ardent worshippers may know, I thro 
 The pathless wild my wanderings pursued. 
 Scarce realizing in accustomed plant 
 And creature-life th' astounding 
 
 verity 
 That this — howe'er incredible it seemed — 
 Was undeniably the spirit- world. 
 And I a spirit, tho still in every 
 Human part a man, naught having lost save 
 Bodily affliction. How had 
 
 th' earthly 
 Church so widely erred in its abortive 
 Conception of the life immortal? 
 
 Where 
 In illimitable space, that awful 
 Unthinkable expanse, taught in our schools. 
 The blest abode of disembodied souls. 
 Who wait with gold'n harps 
 
 and alleluias 
 Ceaseless, the resurrection of their lone 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 19 
 
 Scattered dust, and final judgment? Yet through 
 What agency — of human parts divest — 
 They praises yield, was ne'er to our simple 
 Faith explained. I glanced at my 
 
 reflection 
 In the brook — a goodly form, thank God — then 
 Smote my strong palms together, till their redd'ned 
 Tissues smarted keen. Was this the bloodless 
 Wraith that should e'en now its place 
 
 in ghostly 
 Caravan appointed take? Merrily 
 I laughed, till all th' echoed wood laughed with me : 
 Behind an oak a squirrel startled peeped. 
 A proud-winged red-bird in his preening paused 
 To scan me thro leafy lattice curious ; 
 And where th' ever deepening brook 
 
 its brawling 
 Hushed to dimpled stillness, I saw a trout 
 Leap like a living jewel in the sun. 
 Further beyond, a mossy dell, purpled 
 With sweet violets and water-loving 
 Iris, whither a great gold butterfly. 
 Tacking his silk'n sails, my quest 
 
 preceded. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Oh! glad, exultant life of all things here! 
 And how transcending that so late I knew ! 
 The whole vast woodland, athrill with nearness 
 To the great fount of vital energy, 
 And linked to my soul with mystic kinship, 
 
20 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Seemed throbbing about me, like a mighty 
 Heart ! E'en a blue-bell, plundered 
 
 from the grass, 
 Glowed brighter to my touch and sweeter breathed, 
 As tho its tiny pulses to my thought 
 Responsive stirred. Thus, by all-endearing 
 Witcheries of nature wooed, 
 
 I followed 
 Where in playful fancy the goat-hoofed Pan 
 With finger on his lip for silence becked. 
 His cherished secrets to my quick-glancing 
 Eye and ready ear confiding; 
 
 whither 
 In ready covert the blue crane nested, 
 Or yellow oriole his airy castle 
 Hung; or where the shy arbutus cunning 
 Hid from bold marauding bee and rifling 
 Honey-bird its shell-pink treasures ; 
 
 oft too, 
 Wet dingles wading, t' espy where ghostly 
 Indian pipe the marshy hollows haunted 
 With its faint perfume. How long I wandered 
 Here, in sooth I know not. Time's sickle hung — 
 His empire o'er — at gate of this new world. 
 But when the thinning forest closed at last 
 Its wondrous picture-book, I found 
 
 myself 
 Emerged upon an op'n country, greenly 
 Undulated with a densely wooded uplands, 
 And cleft by a bold river flowing southward. 
 Of my unguided rambling, hitherto, 
 No care its perfect joy o'ercast; bnt sought 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 21 
 
 I now some well-worn path, that should 
 
 mayhap 
 Give guidance. None discerning, anxiety 
 Awaked. Sudd'n thro th' echoed hills a boat-horn's 
 Winding blast resounded ; and soon from cape 
 Of verdant ridge, where flashed the deep current's 
 Wrinkled silver, shot out a gala barge, 
 White swelling sails a-glitter 
 
 and pennants 
 Blue as the vaulted azure flying to breeze. 
 My kerchief joyful I waved ; the pilot 
 Answered with his boatman's cap, 
 
 and swiftly 
 For a landing steered, whither I eager 
 Made my way. As thrust the prow — a shining 
 Eagle's head — thro nodding osiers,, he leaped 
 Ashore. 
 
 V. 
 
 "Welcome ! my lad, thrice welcome ! forgott'n me ?" 
 
 His cheery voice strangely familiar rang. 
 
 **Ah, well ! Contents me that thy hand 1 clasp 
 Again ; tho when I held it last 'twas lost 
 In my brown palm. My thought forsooth 
 Hath much 
 
 Ado, to link with this gracious manhood 
 Th' wide-eyed urchin, who listened on my knee 
 To old sea tales, and who " 
 
 "Why uncle Jack !" I clasped him in my arms ; 
 
22 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 His bearded cheek pressed mine. 
 
 A moment thus,, 
 
 Then from embrace withdrawn, each on th' other 
 
 Silent gazed, my gHst'ning eyes, the grey-haired 
 
 Sailor tracing, his, the child. 
 
 ''And so the old sea-captain was forgot, 
 'Till in thy memory he dropped a spark?" 
 
 "Forgot? Nay, my lexicon of love shows 
 Not th' empty word. 'Twas but the counterfoil, 
 'Twixt my trusty eyes and faithful mem'ry, 
 Confused and baffled both. Small wonder when 
 Transformation such as thine, 
 
 confronteth 
 Me! Frosted with winter's rime thy scanty 
 Locks, when to my greedily devouring 
 Ear the stories of thy distant wand'rings 
 Thou didst relate. Behold them now! 
 Not spring's 
 
 New russet, silkier nor browner ! Then, too. 
 Thy sea-dog's cheek, so weather-roughed, didst laugh 
 To see 't wince me, no smallest semblance bore 
 To this young velvet, that tricked 
 
 and still tricks 
 My 'stonished sight." 
 
 He smiled. "The fountain of eternal youth. 
 Was not a fiction of De Leon's brain. 
 He erred but in the seeking. Its magic 
 Waters bubble only here^" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 23 
 
 "How marvelous," I said, "that thro such change, 
 As would methinks identity destroy. 
 Is still preserved that subtle seal, 
 
 whereby 
 We evermore the man distinguish ! Thus. 
 While to glory of thy youth transfigured, 
 Art thou in all that was thyself, the same !" 
 
 "Conclusive evidence that soul alone 
 Is personality. Tis as thou know'st 
 The man himself. Th' earthly body, 
 
 his more 
 Or less imperfect cast, drops from the mould. 
 Its purpose served, never to be resumed. 
 Tho this — his deep grey eyes flashed mirthfully — 
 Is not what we were taught. But come ! Our bark 
 Impatient chafes the tide." 
 
 VI. 
 
 He laid his hand upon my head, at touch 
 Whereof th' old life's memories receded 
 Dim and blurred, as mirrored scenes in crystal 
 Lake by summer wind o'er-breathed. 
 
 "To meet me didst thou come?'' 
 
 "Aye.'' 
 
 "By chance, I wandered here ; who told thee what 
 Myself knew not?*' 
 
24 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Chance is earth's comage and hath no meaning 
 Here. Blot it from mem'ry and write instead, 
 Divine Providence." 
 
 Unspeakable emotion whelmed my soul ! 
 Oh ! What was I, that He, th' eternal King 
 Of glory, should remember me? Humble 
 And rev Tent, I stepped aboard 
 
 the restless 
 Bark, that set now for the purpling hills, spread 
 Like a freed carrier her snowy pinions. 
 And with us southward sped. Twixt bowered banks, 
 Fringed deep with border rushes, 
 
 the river 
 Dimpling in light, or darkling to April's 
 Coquetry, glassed in its breast the leafy 
 Marge, aspen above whisp'ring to aspen 
 Below, and willow laving with willow 
 In the pulsing tide their pale green tresses. 
 Here, too, great oaks stretched coverts cool, 
 
 whither 
 The small brown hare limped tim'rous, and white-winged 
 Water-birds took refuge from our foaming 
 Keel, calling deep-throated to their absent 
 Mates. Not earth, I mused, but this fair world 
 
 where 
 Broods no shadow of decay o'er budding 
 Leaf or dew-pearled blossom, is nature's true 
 Domain. Yet much my thought bewildered. 
 Whence, 
 
 This happy creature-life I ever loved 
 And joyed to greet again? Such, on the earth 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 25 
 
 We were instruct, hath not immortal part. 
 
 Conversely, naught here perisheth. Truly 
 
 'Twas a sphinx-like riddle. 
 
 To my captain 
 
 For solution turning, I met his deep 
 
 Grey eyes observant on me fixed. 
 
 ''Methinks," he said, 'T read thy question; though 
 Let me first another ask of thee. 
 What, 
 Was thy chief surprise on waking here?'' 
 
 "Mine answer showeth me a fool confessed. 
 'Twas in sooth to find myself a real 
 Man within a real ivorld!'' 
 
 "Thou hadst therein much goodly company. 
 'Tis the common wonder. Man's conception 
 Of his dual nature is thro evil 
 Heritance disordered ; and all ideas 
 Derived therefrom like verdure 
 
 in this stream 
 Reflect, showing inverted. Thence the many 
 Falses that warp his judgment, confusing 
 Cause with sequence, substance with mere shadow, 
 Truth with seeming. So fixed these 
 
 fallacies, 
 Vast numbers newly here arrived themselves 
 Believe still on th' earth in body carnal. 
 Deriding who assure them otherwise 
 As tricksters or insane.'' 
 
26 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Much in this life persuadeth such belief. 
 Here, as in terrestrial meadows, browse young 
 Lambs ; fish glance like irised light in forest 
 Streams, and leafy glades with chatter and sweet 
 Cries resound." 
 
 "Hingeth thy question here?" 
 
 "Aye ; 'tis a mystery, the key whereof 
 I vainly seek." 
 
 "Profound thy quest; yet not in vain. 
 The key 
 
 Thou seekest opes the vistaed infinite 
 Of knowledge, whither the soul, God-guided, 
 Follows, follows, follows, t' eternity! 
 Know thou, the creature life we here 
 
 behold 
 Is not from earth by resurrection thence, 
 But of immediate creation, diff'ring 
 No whit from carnal types, save in respect 
 To substance. The forms of matter, 
 
 grosser, 
 Less instinct with life, and ever subject 
 To time and space, have thereby permanence, 
 While spirit objects, wholly untrammeled. 
 Are instant as thought create, 
 
 appearing 
 Or vanishing, according to ordered 
 Correspondences with mental states." 
 
 "What meanest by correspondences with 
 Mental states?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 27 
 
 "The perfect harmony of human soul 
 With its symboHc 'vironment. 
 Let me 
 
 More lucidly this truth present, since new 
 To thee, and earth-mists still thy thought becloud. 
 
 VII. 
 
 All worlds were in creation's morn divine 
 Symbols of the Father's love and wisdom, 
 Wherein man, mirrored, saw himself th' image 
 Of God's glory ; but sin alas ! for earth 
 That harmony destroyed, 
 
 good and evil 
 Together growing, and cruel with kindly 
 Basking in equal freedom 'neath God's sun. 
 Impossible to spirit spheres 
 
 this state 
 Discordant, since by eternal fiat 
 Of like to like they live and have their being. 
 Nor, as in carnal life, are nature's forms 
 Produced, or re-produced, by seed and growth. 
 Instant from divine thought they do appear, 
 Tho by Omniscient Wisdom 
 
 mediately 
 Create thro spirits who, all unconscious 
 Of their divine agency, their mental 
 States in corresponding forms harmonious 
 Project." 
 
 "Dost mean to say this scene is from myself 
 Evolved !" 
 
28 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Aye, in least jot and tittle. This river, 
 Touched here and there with silv'ry light, 
 
 God's truth 
 In thy receptive mind declares, and these 
 Young mountain cedars, thrusting their eager 
 Roots beside the living waters, thy thirst 
 For spiritual knowledge show. 
 The reedy 
 
 Shallows bord'ring our winding way, evils 
 And fallacies denote, sown in th' earth-life 
 Of thy soul, tho lightly there embedded. 
 This boat, as that wherein the Master taught. 
 Doth doctrine typify ; birds, thy winged 
 Thought and active intelligence 
 
 bespeak ; 
 Lambs, thy guileless love ; and other creatures 
 Of this wild, affections natural." 
 
 ''Oh ! light that on mine earth-dulled vision breaks, 
 Thrilling my soul with wonder ! 
 As from some 
 
 Heavenly Pisgah, behold I all things new. 
 And luminous th' answer of that mystic 
 Sympathy 'twixt man and nature that e'er 
 Till now my wistful soul eluded !" 
 
 "Well may'st thou marvel ; for in this law 
 Thou seest creation's basic principle. 
 The magic key to all its harmonies." 
 
 ''Clearly 'tis in myself made manifest. 
 But what of thee? Hadst thou not also here 
 Thine own fair representatives?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 29 
 
 "Only so far as certain of these types 
 Included me with thee. Close our psychic 
 Kinship ; and for this cause, He, who all things 
 Knoweth and directeth, did me unto 
 This joyful ministry appoint. 
 Thy fair 
 
 Fraternity, whither we swiftly skim 
 These silver waves, was also mine, till called 
 Thence by our Father to another sphere. 
 Whose soul-estates may not upon this plane 
 Expression find." 
 
 *Ts not this heaven?" 
 
 '' 'Tis the lowest or most external sphere 
 Thereof, related to angelic heaven 
 As a vast spiritual Alma Mater, 
 Where such as may be, are for their highest 
 And holiest prepared. Enter 
 
 daily here 
 The countless multitudes, good and evil, 
 Who pass from earth, and here by unerring 
 Law of like to like gravitates each soul 
 To that which represents its own. 
 The Heaven 
 
 Of our dreams and highest aspirations 
 Is not one sphere where all the blest abide, 
 But kingdoms twain. Of these 
 
 beatitudes 
 The first is known as Spiritital Heaven, whose 
 Angel hosts effulgent shine from Holy 
 
30 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Truth; while of Celestial glory they, whose 
 Deep implanted innermost is Love." 
 
 **Alas!" I faltered, "from contemplation 
 Of sucli heights sublime shrinks my unworthy 
 Soul aghast ! The thought of all God knoweth 
 Me to be, yet all I must be 
 
 ere dare 
 I to His holy mountains lift mine eyes, 
 Appalleth me ! Oh ! barren, barren years. 
 That lived aright had yielded at last through 
 Weariness and pain a better harvest !" 
 
 I turned my agitated face away. 
 
 While darkling shadows swept the river's breast, 
 
 And the sweet birds grew silent. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "Why troublest thy heart with vain repinings? 
 Thou canst not one poor moment of thy past 
 Recall, far less remould ; neither unto 
 Thy stature smallest measure add, 
 
 nor take 
 Therefrom. Then struggle not in the Divine 
 Arms about thee, and seek not of thyself 
 To build this temple of thy soul. Belongs 
 That holy work to God alone. 
 Grow thou 
 
 As lilies of the field, lifting thy soul's 
 Chalices to heaven's sun and dew, leaving 
 The rest to Him/' 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 31 
 
 "Thou comfortest me still as when, a child, 
 I wept in pain upon thy breast." 
 
 "Thou art no more a pensioner of pain ; 
 The morn of thy rejoicing is here." 
 
 E'en as he spake, the shadows fled; the birds. 
 Took up again their happy song, and faint, 
 As from distance borne, came floating sweetly 
 O'er the hills a chime of merry bells, that 
 In my heart responsive music made. 
 
 ''Whence," I asked, "the joyous chimes?" 
 
 "Greetings they from thy fraternal order, 
 To new arrivals from our earth. Yearneth 
 Thy heart thither?" 
 
 "Aye! but since I know thy mission endeth 
 There, gladly would I our journey lengthen. 
 The bells ring far away." 
 
 "We reckon not distance here, as on th' earth," 
 He smiling said. "For tho horizons still 
 The sense deceive, and mental states impress 
 Us still with thought of time, as long or short, 
 Moments or aeons, 'tis but illusion. 
 The soul's desire, its sole 
 
 chronometer. 
 One little pulse-beat, leaping impatient 
 For thy journey's close, had proved thy swiftest 
 Transit." 
 
32 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 **Oh! wonder-world, more marvelous than aught 
 Conceived in fabled story !" 
 
 "Thy feet scarce touch as yet the border-land 
 Of all its marvels and its mysteries." 
 
 ''Fully this I realize as also, 
 By contrast, my fathomless vacuity." 
 
 "Who are the wise? Angels of celestial 
 Heaven are but in lesser ignorance than 
 Thou. Much knowledge is in this life 
 
 connate. 
 Thus, the language thou speak'st was not acquired ; 
 Instant to thy lip it sprang, as heaven's light 
 To eye or breath to lung !" 
 
 ''This language! Speak I another tongue?" 
 
 "Aye, that to spirit universal ; though 
 No consciousness hadst thou of lingual change. 
 Thou canst not now, one word of thine 
 
 old speech 
 Recall ; 'tis in thy mem'ry quiescent ; 
 And only the Father, when He willeth. 
 May that forgotten knowledge re-awake.". 
 
 "Wonder upon wonder ! Are we by means 
 Of schools instructed here?" 
 
 "Aye, schools numberless, and various; 
 many, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 33 
 
 Tow'ring- o'er the hills in stately beauty. 
 Visible afar, and unseen temples 
 Of the secret soul, whose altared holies 
 None may enter, save the Divine Teacher 
 And Master-Builder : for gain we not heaven 
 By knowledge of God's truth alone, 
 
 nor climb 
 We wisdom's starry infinite, save w'hen 
 Love, truth's wedded partner, leadeth/' 
 
 *'How diff'rent 'tis on earth ! There, intellect 
 Is king, and knowledge pow'r ; while love 
 
 oft-times 
 With ignorance in lowly cottage dwells." 
 
 "True ; many famous on earth as mental 
 Prodigies are on arrival here more 
 Stupid demonstrate than densest hind ; 
 
 while 
 Oft this is reversed. Instructing angels 
 Quickly the cause perceive, in dearth of love. 
 Or its supremacy. Thus is fulfilled 
 The prophecy of Holy Writ : 
 
 ^To him that hath shall be given, 
 And to him that hath not 
 Shall be taken azcay even that 
 Which he hath.' " 
 
 IX. 
 
 I looked into his eyes, thrilling with sudd'n 
 Light of revelation. 
 3 
 
34 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "I thank thee for illumining an old 
 Perplexity. Is study of the Word 
 A part of our instruction here?" 
 
 He smiled. "Study of the Word by Divine 
 Science, that is th' internal key thereof, 
 Is the chief purpose of the schools." 
 
 "Naught knew I in the former life of this 
 Internal sense." 
 
 "Few Christians enter this life with other 
 Than thine own experience. Yet the new day. 
 Long prophesied in Holy Writ, the day 
 Of the Lord's fulfilled promise 
 
 to His church, 
 Hath even now begun. The great trumpet-blast 
 Of dispensation new hath heaven sounded, 
 But Zion, who from her lofty watch -tow'rs 
 Should first the joyful tidings speed, 
 
 stirs not 
 As yet, neither doth she recognition 
 Manifest." 
 
 "Alas! How may this be? Wherefore responds 
 She not to this new glory, that should 
 
 th' whole 
 Christian world electrify?" 
 
 "When, without a fierce and bitter struggle, 
 Hath Divine Truth upon our hapless globe 
 Its holy ends accomplished? 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 35 
 
 But deeper 
 
 Than this, thine answer. Th' old apostolic 
 
 Church is slowly dying. Seeing she 
 
 perceives not, 
 Nor hearing understands." 
 
 I started visibly. "Ah! say not so! 
 
 The church of my love and faith, the church 
 
 Christ 
 Planted on our earth, dying?" 
 
 ' 'Tis true. But grieve not for ordination 
 Of Divine Love and Wisdom. Time, 
 
 to thought 
 Infinite, its cycled courses marketh, 
 As in creation's day, earth's morn and ev'n. 
 Of these one hath latterly 
 
 its cycle 
 Ended, ushering a new age of pow'r 
 And great glory. Aye, old things are passing 
 With a day that's past, and dispensation 
 New flusheth with rosy-mantled sunrise 
 Our planet's mountains. For the grand 
 
 old 'Ship 
 Of Zion,' bless we her holy Founder ; 
 But her work is done, her mission ended. 
 Beat'n and torn by tempests of conflicting 
 Faiths, divided (prophetic) 'gainst herself, 
 And wrenched from anchored fastness 
 
 to totter 
 In rocky shallows of man-made doctrine, 
 
36 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Serves she no longer purpose Eternal. 
 
 The shadowed even of her day hath closed." 
 
 Mcetlno- my startled eyes, he gently asked: 
 
 "How in thy carnal life didst thou receive 
 The Scriptures?" 
 
 ''As the holy inspired Word of God ; yet 
 As a veiled Shekinah of mysteries, 
 Inscrutable. Enough, methought, of what 
 Is plainly writ giveth He for daily 
 Food. The rest, wait we patient till He come." 
 
 "Discerned thy faith wisely, tho e'en as they 
 Who with the Master journeyed, 
 
 knowing Him not, 
 So pondering in thine heart these things, stood He 
 Before thee as th' op'n Word unrecognized," 
 
 I started, as from thunder-shock. 
 
 ''What meanest thou?" 
 
 "That He, as promised, hath to earth His second 
 Advent made. Not, as the blinded church still 
 Watcheth for Him, hath He in visible 
 Humanity appeared, but in 
 
 th' wondrous 
 Out-pouring of His Spirit on our Globe, 
 Revealing the hidd'n treasures of His Word, 
 And quick'ning with mighty influx of new 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. ^'^ 
 
 Thought all avenues of human 
 
 progress, 
 'Stabhshmg thereby a new Hegira 
 Of His holy Truth hath He, as promised, 
 Descended in power and great glory." 
 
 'Yet, of His coming is the promise, that 
 In 'the clouds of heaven' we shall behold Him." 
 
 "Aye, and 'tis fulfilled. Spake He not unto 
 Them save in parables. By 'clouds of heaven,' 
 He typified the darkness of the Word's 
 Literal, wherein are veiled the glories 
 Of its spiritual sense. Let me 
 
 from these 
 Obscurities thy vision clear. The Book 
 Of books, like every work that cometh forth 
 Of its Divine Author, is patterned trine, 
 And writ as the volume of creation 
 In forms or symbols of His Infinite. 
 Of its most holy trinity 
 
 is first 
 The letter' or historic narrative. 
 Here folded and interfolded. belike 
 Two priceless jewels, each in its ordered 
 Casket precious closed, deeper 
 
 and holier 
 Significations of the literal 
 Are shrined, in wisdom inconceivable. 
 These — as in spheres of trinal heaven, whereto 
 They correspond — are oped, 
 as seeth the Lord's 
 
38 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Omniscient Providence, we may receive. 
 For be 't known to thee, that mind or spirit 
 Hath also three distinctive planes, 
 
 whereby 
 They are receptive of these life-degrees ; 
 Lower, that correspondeth to the Word's 
 Literal and also to this basic 
 Sphere; higher, with internal spirit sense 
 Or second degree of heaven ; 
 
 and highest, 
 With sense innermost or heaven's celestial 
 Holiest. Existeth this order for sake 
 Of heaven's inflowing life whereon man's vital 
 Breath depends, and which must e'en thro 
 
 symbols 
 Of the divine to him descend. The soul's 
 Receptiveness of these degrees its state 
 Or quality determines. Heaven's angels 
 Instant this perceive, in voice, countenance, 
 Or gestures." 
 
 "Joyful, these truths I hail, as one groping 
 Befogged to light emergeth. 'Twas ever 
 To me a mystery that God to man 
 A Book of Life should give, 
 
 the greater part 
 Whereof is to his understanding closed. 
 In light divine, what pygmies we!" 
 
 "Openeth He the Book of Life according 
 T' our need. Milk of the literal for babes 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 39 
 
 In truth. Meat of the Spirit, for the soul's 
 Manhood, and for an-hungered on Caanan's 
 Verge, who do with op'n vision heaven 
 
 behold. 
 Celestial manna. In that fair morning 
 Of our race, renowned as 'the gold'n age,' man 
 Blest communion with heaven enjoyed, Angels 
 Thence to him God's mandates bearing. 
 But sin 
 
 Alas ! that pure estate destroyed, thereby 
 Heaven closing. Yet ceased not revelation 
 To His fall'n children, for He of holy 
 Men inspired servants made 
 
 and with His pow'r 
 Clothed. Earth hath outgrown her childhood. 
 Th' advent 
 
 Of lordly reason hath blind faith displaced, 
 Contenting not itself with garbled truth 
 Of Zion's nurseries. Man, son and heir 
 Of God, must know his heritance ; and He, 
 Whose times fail not, who reck'neth 
 
 the bursting 
 Bud, the robin's mating call, the nestling 
 Eaglet's flight, hath answered." 
 
 'Pray we the hasting of that joyful day, 
 When this new light shall blaze triumphant thro 
 The world! But how may Christ find faith 
 
 on earth, 
 While man with all his lofty claims is yet 
 The slave of carnal brutishness? Brother 
 'Gainst brother striveth still for selfish gain. 
 
40 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 And war's dread scabbard gory reeks, 
 
 thro lands 
 Whose altars proudly show the Christian's cross." 
 
 "Aye, sadly true; but maketh God all things, 
 Yea, e'en hell itself, to serve Him. 
 Behind 
 
 The dripping plowshare walks unseen th' angel 
 Sower, and souls anointed watch prayerful 
 The patient building stone by stone of that 
 New Church th' inspired seer beheld descending 
 Out of heaven." 
 
 X. 
 
 "Alleluias to his holy name ! 
 What 
 
 Sign and seal hath He unto the nations 
 Given, whereby they shall Him know as very 
 Christ r 
 
 ''The re-op'ning to man of a divine 
 System of Spirit-law, known to him once 
 As the Science of Correspondences 
 Or Spirit Causes: but lost with his blest 
 Estate, a forfeiture of sin. 
 Flickered 
 
 Its dying spark in Pharaoh's day, when evil 
 Magic vaunted its false thunder and mocked 
 Omnipotence with sin-wrought miracles, 
 Relateth it to Science natural 
 As heaven t' earth, or soul to carnal body. 
 By its all-comprehensive laws 
 w^ere planned 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 41 
 
 And wheeled in space the starry host, and framed 
 
 In its Hght supreme that shining ladder 
 
 Of ascending and descending angels 
 
 'Twixt earth and heaven, the Holy Word. 
 
 Came forth 
 
 Of its Divine — as fabled Pallas from 
 
 The riv'n God-brain — the science of numbers, 
 
 And that mystic chirography of spheres, 
 
 Astrology. The finite mind may not 
 
 Conceive it, nor its illimitable 
 
 Deep explore. Thus, 'tis to universal 
 
 Heaven a vistaed infinite of knowledge. 
 
 The lore of angels to eternity. 
 
 Only so much is now to earth 
 
 revealed, 
 As doth The \\'ord's internal spirit-sense 
 Interpret. Yet, as the fleeting ages 
 Roll, man purified shall more and ever 
 More of heaven receive, till that new day when. 
 Thro the Word's celestial sense, God's kingdom 
 Shall again to His bereav-ed children 
 Ope, and men, as in life's rosy-mantled 
 Dawn, commune with angels." 
 
 "Meanest by 'His children' all uiank'mdf 
 
 "Aye, all in love of Christ unite." 
 
 Silence pregnant with thought between us fell, 
 While, like wing of some dark bird, a shadow 
 Swept my soul. 
 
42 • THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Breaks the new light of heaven's truth o'er the dread 
 Mysteries of hell ? Reads the dark riddle 
 How the infinitely loving Father 
 Dooms to eternal penalty of woe 
 His erring children whom in 
 
 fore-knowledge 
 He did create, and in the lowly flesh 
 As Jesus died to save ? 'Gainst th' inhuman 
 Creed ever mine inmost soul revolted 
 And wrestling reason strove. 
 Seeking in vain 
 
 To reconcile God of eternal love 
 And mercy with eternal hell, I said, 
 'Let every man a liar prove, hut God 
 Be true! There is no hell!'' 
 
 "So hath skepticism, bred of doctrines false, 
 Sucked the warm life-blood of the church ! 
 Never, 
 
 Since flamed this planet from creative thought, 
 Hath God one sin-perverted soul, tho warped 
 Thereby from human semblance, doomed to hell ! 
 Oh ! blinded blasphemy of ignorance ! 
 Such dogmas; worthy alone 
 
 of fetich 
 Savage, whose vengeful Deity, a fierce-fanged 
 Wolf, ravens all dripping- jawed ; vanish thank 
 God! in light of His new-reveal-ed truth." 
 
 "Who then consigns unto that dread abode 
 Their wretched habitants?" 
 
 "Themselves !" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 43 
 
 'Thou canst not mean that of free will they choose 
 Their lot?" 
 
 ''Aye, of free will. Man, ere his tenement 
 Of clay forsaking", chooseth by the love 
 That moulds and dominates his soul, for heaven 
 Or for hell. No awful bar, 
 
 nor irate 
 Judge, with fateful record waits the trembling 
 Sinner, but writ on mem'ry's eternal 
 Tablets, his Book of Life, and faithful there, 
 In form of his afifections mirrored, stands 
 To himself revealed. Falls on his 
 
 shrinking 
 Ear no dread anathema nor final 
 Word of doom. Such in Scripture, the fiery 
 Symbolic shadows, 'twixt opposing states 
 Of good and evil. Thus, the soul's ruling 
 Love, its own tribunal ; and by 
 
 primal 
 Law magnetic, that atom weds t' atom. 
 Orb t' orbit, each its true affinity 
 And inmost kinship ever finds, sounding 
 Instinctive and unerring the keynote 
 Of responsive life. Beings there are, 
 
 breed hate,, 
 And glut voracious maw on human bane. 
 Nurtured as that ancient king on poisons, 
 They poisons still for life and breath require. 
 Lungs, long inured to dungeon damp, 
 
 collapse 
 On mountain top, and hearts with lava-tides 
 
44 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Of lusts aflame beat sluggish in God's sun. 
 So, like to like, the law of spirit-life,, 
 And hell, in light of truth revealed, 
 
 showeth 
 Equally with heaven God's tender mercies 
 And His loving care." 
 
 XI. 
 
 "Thou sweep'st th' old perplexity, as cobwebs 
 From my brain ! Yet, comprehend I not how 
 The same Hand that formed th' earth, and stretched 
 
 the heavens 
 Out, glory above glory fashioning. 
 That love may evermore its holy law 
 Fulfil, also a dwelling-place prepares 
 Where evil shall on its own corruption 
 Batten. 'Tis not conceivable that God 
 Provides for sin?" 
 
 "Nay, He provides for sinner, not for sin. 
 On mountain crag, from human haunts afar, 
 The lonely vulture nurtures her dark brood. 
 Tiger and spotted pard lap new-shed blood 
 In desert sands, or stealthy in jungled 
 Ambush wait th' unwary victim. 
 In foul 
 
 Morass, where sullen shadows bat-like cling, 
 And vapored pestilence spreads phantom pall, 
 Toads croak and venomed serpents 
 
 hissing glide. 
 So, in one universal loom of law, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 45 
 
 All creatures, small and great, evil and t^ood. 
 Their fitting vesture find, and hell, whatc'cr 
 Its unimagined horrors, is alas! 
 The self-appointed state 
 
 and livery 
 Of sin-distorted souls, whose vital parts 
 May in no other sphere their uses serve. 
 The psychic cells formed exquisite as flow'rs, 
 And cupped as they for constantly 
 
 inflowing 
 Life, in childhood's innocency heaven-ward 
 Turn ; but evil this primal order doth 
 Invert with sequence deadly ; and spirits 
 Infernal would, to heaven's reflexive light 
 Exposed, extremest sufifering 
 
 endure. 
 A habitant of hell I once o'erheard 
 His Maker blasphemous arraign, claiming 
 Foul-mouthed and insolent, entrance to heaven's 
 Gates. For his instruction, tho urgent 'gainst 
 His violence and folly warned, 
 
 a guide 
 Was for his conduct thither straight despatched ; 
 But ere on distant verge billowed in light 
 God's holy mountains, the hapless spirit 
 Laboring respired, pains racked his failing 
 Joints, his limbs convulsive writhed, 
 
 and reeling 
 With gasping outcry he to his own place 
 Plunged headlong." 
 
 ''Dread retribution." 
 
46 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Yet madly persistent, essay these bold 
 Rebellious spirits — oft artful disguised 
 As heaven's angels — to invade the highest. 
 Sin is a serpent, venom-blind, that doth 
 In its own flesh its fatal fangs 
 
 infix; 
 And pleasure infernal is the monstrous 
 Sire of infernal pain." 
 
 XII. 
 
 "All luminous I now behold hell's dark 
 Enigma ! Oh ! science of sciences 
 Transcendent ! Light Divine ! wherein false creeds 
 And superstitions vanish, as twilight 
 In resplendent day. Athirst for knowledge 
 Pf this wondrous truth drink I thy discourse. 
 Conscious that what I erst as truth esteemed 
 Was but its empty shell. In sooth, 
 
 not light 
 Thy gracious task, would'st sow this arid waste ; 
 For scarce has thou one knotty problem solved, 
 When straightway from its false precipitate 
 Arising another doth confront me." 
 
 He smiled into mine eyes, amused. 
 
 " 'Tis joy to share with thee such heavenly food, 
 As canst thy soul assimilate ; but chafe 
 Not, thou nestling eaglet, for heights beyond 
 Thy cairn. What now thy quest ?" 
 
 ''Elucidation of an old problem. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 47 
 
 By thine argument provoked, that vexeth 
 Me the more, since in no brook I pebble 
 E'er have found, that smites not Zion, 
 
 rather 
 Than her crafty foe. Clearly thou showest 
 That we on earth our choice pre-determine 
 For good or evil, heaven or hell. 
 Just here, 
 
 Goliath cometh to mock with weaver's 
 Beam, my helplessness. How reconcilest 
 Man's free agency with all the startling 
 Inequalities of life that plainly 
 Some to good incHne, others to evil? 
 Instance myself. Of godly 
 
 parentage, 
 Unto the Master's service consecrate, 
 Was I in holy love begot. Zion's 
 Baptismal waters blessed my birth, her songs 
 Mine infant wailings hushed on mother breast. 
 'Twere out of nature had I from 
 
 heavenly 
 Paths revolted, where angels of the home 
 Guided my steps to manhood. Yet, teemeth 
 Earth with children begot of lust and crime ; 
 Who on the drunk'n wanton's breast draw 
 
 venomed 
 Milk, and on whose baby brows the father's 
 Soul hath stamped,, ah ! Christ ! his loathly image. 
 Shaped by ancestral chisel, as primal 
 Earth by cataclysmic fires and glacial 
 Plow, orbital to evil, as whirling 
 
48 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Planet to elliptic plane, what 
 
 freedom 
 Of choice have they, enslaved by that whereof 
 Their very life and substance is a part 
 
 0" 
 
 "Judge not by that which seems. Tis 
 
 the fatal 
 Lure of falsity. Fix in thy mind this 
 Basic truth. Man, by his dual nature, 
 Is at birth in equUibrium 'twixt 
 Heaven and hell. Tho son of man, 
 
 forget not, 
 He is also,, son of the living God! 
 Inheriteth his soul the fatal seed 
 Of sin and death? Another heritance 
 Is his, of righteousness and life! 
 Tempted, 
 
 Is he of devils? Holy angels watch 
 His slumber and his erring footsteps guide. 
 Thus the soul is launched on its eternal 
 Voyage free! Oh ! matchless creative wisdom, 
 That hath fore'er man's liberty ordained ! 
 To fetter the will, with touch e'en 
 
 lighter 
 Than summer zephyr, were to shrivel that 
 By which we are made heirs of love, and pow'r. 
 And glory ; to sink the divine image 
 To level of a poor automaton. 
 And roll before the door of life a stone 
 That bars development, 
 
 and sepulchers 
 Our hope ! What knoweth th' old philosophy, 
 
THE SUPREME ADJ'EKTVRE. 49 
 
 Of spirit and its constituted laws? 
 How,, then, may it predicate of that which 
 Forms the 'hfe and substance' of th' immortal 
 Soul? But "mid our earth's outgrown and passing" 
 Systems hath a light sprung up ; 
 
 a new note 
 Sounded. The voice of one in wilderness 
 Of dark'ned science crying, a way preparing 
 For coming truth, and thrilling rejoicing 
 Angels with his inspired words : 
 ■'''Love is the life!' 
 
 Apply now to mine argument this truth. 
 
 Baptized on earth and sealed in heaven. 
 
 Clearly 
 
 Shalt thou perceive that naught is of the soul 
 
 A living part, evil or good, save that 
 
 It thro desire weds, and makes its z'ery 
 
 Ozun. All with the ruling love 
 
 at variance 
 Drops at doorway of this world, as withered 
 Leaves from spring's new-vestured green. 
 Thus, whate'er 
 
 The soul loveth, is its life and substance. 
 And ivill, enthron-ed monarch of the mind, 
 Is th' immortal man! Thou hast thy pebble." 
 
 "Say rather a flaming sword of heaven's truth, 
 Wherewith thy wisdom hath mine ignorance 
 With power girded. Yet grief and horror 
 Whelm my soul, with thought of God-defying hosts. 
 
 ^Herbert Spencer. 
 4 
 
50 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Who choose — sin-madd'ned — death of all 
 
 good and truth, 
 Rather than life eternal. A charnel 
 Limitless of spirit dead ! Oh ! martyi ed 
 Christ ! And shall the ghastly Hinnom ever 
 Reek 'neath heaven's jasper and the gates of pearl 
 Shall hell's unruly prodigals 
 
 never 
 To the Father's House lift penitential 
 Eyes ; and human woe, a bleeding, unhealed 
 Wound, forever scar the Saviour's breast ? Nay, 
 Reason cries impossible!" 
 
 XIII. 
 
 "With Him who 'op'neth and no man shiitteth, 
 Who shutteth and no man ofneth; is thine 
 Answer. Angel, nor flaming archangel. 
 No more of hell's dark mystery may know 
 Than thou. Hold many in heaven 
 
 eternal 
 Durance of the life infernal, basing 
 Their arguments on law immutable 
 Of course and sequence. Others, in equal 
 Light, this reasoning oppose. 
 What, argue 
 
 They, know heaven's wisest of that infinite 
 iVdjustment of th' atomic universe 
 To principles of order we define 
 As law ? Who hath that limitless profound 
 Explored? ]\Ieasure we upon 
 our finite 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 51 
 
 Reel the measureless ? Prescribe we His ways, 
 Or by what means He shall His holy ends 
 Accomplish? Ag^ain, with more aggressive 
 Argument ; shall He, whose name is Love, whose 
 Thought is Light, who, ere first 
 
 luminary 
 Flamed in space, held in hollow of His hand 
 Creation's divinely patterned purpose, 
 The countless hosts of human souls ordain, 
 To whom the precious gift of life must prove 
 The seal of doom? But from another point 
 The question still pursuing ; if evil shall 
 With stubborn will forever God resist. 
 Then plainly is His Kingdom 
 
 rent in twain, 
 His sovereignty eternally defied, 
 And Love's last sacrifice for all mankind, 
 A failure that should quench the very stars 
 With weeping, and shroud the universal 
 Host of suns in sackcloth. To this belief 
 Yield I allegiance." 
 
 "And I mine own. But what of another 
 Creed on earth advanced, annihilation 
 Of the wicked ?" 
 
 "No basis doth it for controversy 
 Offer. Man's spirit, divinely kindled. 
 Cannot die! But granting for argument 
 The contrary, who may creative God 
 A trifler with His pow'r conceive, 
 breathing 
 
52 rilE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Out souls as human bubbles, to watch them 
 Drift a moment in His sun, then vanish 
 In nothingness? Thus, howe'er from premise 
 True or false, the question we pursue, one 
 Answer, swift as sunlight, 
 
 itself presents. 
 The final triumph of good o'er evil, 
 And heaven, the destination of every 
 Human soul! Aye, tho divine attainment, 
 Governed by eternal law, its misty 
 Perspective lengthen, as earth's creative 
 Birth-throes, thro hoary ages! 
 Thus, I read 
 
 The deep celestial innermost of that 
 Blest story so divinely told, the son 
 'Who was dead, and is alive again! ivho 
 Was lost, and is found!' '' 
 
 "Oh! Glory of redeeming love! If God 
 Be God, it must be so!" 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The while we spake, the river deflecting 
 From its course, as 'twere of idle dalliance 
 Impatient, thrust wide its leafy 
 
 barriers. 
 And broad'ning majestic to the billowed 
 Verge, whitened the base of blue perspective 
 Cliffs with flying batteries of jettied scud. 
 As in full view we fronted, a sudd'n cry 
 Escaped me . 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 53 
 
 "Behold!" said my guide, "the terraced headlands 
 That mark our journey's close. Fair subsides 
 Are they of th' Elysian Highlands, 
 
 pictured 
 In Zion's dreams and songs as 'Beulah-land.' 
 Follow to thy right yon zone of hazy 
 Chrysoprase and violet. The flaming 
 Points thou seest are thy city's sun-kissed spires.'' 
 
 I traced, subconsciously, the star-pricked space, 
 Revolving in my thought a mystical 
 Experience. Presently, I said : 
 
 "Impossible as doth it seem, this view 
 In all its least details is to mine eyes 
 Familiar." 
 
 "How so?" 
 
 "Naught save the startling truth I know 
 that years 
 Agone 'twas on my mental camera 
 Impressed in what methought a dream 
 V^ainly 
 
 I sought to re-produce from memory 
 The picture. Approacheth not gross matter 
 Tints ethereal." 
 
 "Regardest th' experience phenomenal? 
 Resultant 'tis of our dual nature. 
 Occurring oft in sleep, tho misnamed dream. 
 On earth we are co-habitant of two 
 
54 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Distinct, yet closely correspondent 
 
 worlds,. 
 Intimate relate as soul and body, 
 Tho consciousness — save in conditions rare — 
 Extendeth but to one. Of common clay 
 And fire divine are we, and oft, 
 
 in sleep's 
 Blest ministries th* immortal part, briefly 
 From carnal thrall released, wanders afar 
 In native Vironment;, happy in states 
 And scenes beyond our lower ken. 
 Waking, 
 
 We say: 'I dremned.' Many, sleep's agencies, 
 Howbe't th' external only are to man 
 Made known. Science its healing doth confess, 
 While naught of its magic cause divining. 
 'If he but sleep' — ofttimes th' anxious 
 
 watchers 
 Say — *He may recover ;' discerning not, 
 The latent principle, that slumber's trance 
 The carnal hold relaxeth, 
 
 and the soul. 
 In fuller receptivity of heaven's 
 Eternally inflowing life, is thereby 
 Re-infused, kindling anew the wasted 
 Fires of its earthly tenement." 
 
 ''Oh ! tender providence of angel sleep. 
 Blessing alike spent body and captive 
 Soul ! Descendeth here also the heavenly 
 Benison ?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 55 
 
 'Aye, tho not on aching limbs and weary 
 Eyes, as in the lower life, nor with fixed 
 Rule of alternating- day and night. 
 Sleep, 
 
 In this probationary sphere, the soul's 
 Twilight is, wherein obscure perception 
 Of divine truth ever precedeth dawn 
 Of clearer spiritual light and larger 
 Capacities for heaven's descending life. 
 Thus, 'tis a transition state ; 
 
 the happy 
 Harbinger of birth and change. Here, where time 
 Is not, and moments or countless ages. 
 But the pulse's beat, day is the shining 
 Sun of love's effulgence ; night, the chill, black 
 Pall of its extinguishment. 
 
 The spirit 
 
 World is nature's birthplace, and all her sweet, 
 
 Endearing changes, rose-flushed dawn, the young 
 
 Morn's jeweled beauty, noontide's resplendence. 
 
 The dying altar-fires of slow declining 
 
 Day, and evening's star-tipped 
 
 introspective 
 Veil, while in this purer atmosphere more 
 Vividly by far than on th' earth portrayed. 
 Are ever symbolic lights and shadows 
 Of the soul's transit around our central 
 Sun, th' Eternal King of Glory. 
 Thus, with 
 
 Clime and seasons. Heat and cold gradations 
 Of the affections indicate. Planes we find — 
 
56 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 As in terrestrial zones, — where one may drive 
 In sleds thro wintry snows ; cull fruit and flow'rs 
 Of tropic lands, or dreamy with 
 
 turbaned 
 Arab sit, 'neath plumy palm, where wide-eyed 
 Stars thro tented azure gaze on Islam's 
 Glowing sands." 
 
 ''On Islam's sands? Dwell tribes and nations here 
 Distinct, as on the earth?" 
 
 ''Aye, tho situate according to their 
 Truths of faith ; Christians, central, 
 
 more or less ; 
 The rest, circumferent in order. All 
 Races and peoples of our motley globe 
 Do here — for a term, by wisdom of our 
 Lord prescribed — their propaganda, civil. 
 Social and religious 'stablish, while such 
 As may be, are for heaven prepared." 
 
 "Astonishing f 
 
 ''Nay, how so? All worlds, are for creation's 
 Crown and glory (man) ordained. 
 Shall He, who 
 
 Nature to her needs adjusted, water 
 For her finny tribe, th' airy ambience 
 For bird, and earth for higher structured forms. 
 Neglect for souls immortal 
 a like care? 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 57 
 
 We are not instant of earth's mem'ries stript, 
 Too close upon her mother-breast our hfe 
 We drew for so swift weaning ; wherefore 
 
 thought 
 Natural accustomed ideas and scenes 
 Project, till mental change and altered state 
 Their corresponding new environment 
 Beget. Nathless, not all their former life 
 And local habitude renew. 
 Some souls 
 
 Earth's mantle lightly wear, and lightly cast ; 
 Thoughts and affections spiritual 
 
 rather 
 Than terrestrial reflecting. Such are here 
 To cities of instruction led, where seeth 
 Divine Wisdom they shall most readily 
 To truth unfold. Central of these is yon 
 White city, whither by strong 
 
 magnetic 
 Forces we are drawn. Blazoned in lettered 
 Light, upon its harbor-gates, the motto 
 Of thine order : 
 
 'Behold I make all things neiv! " 
 
 "Writ in light? How gloriously typical!'' 
 
 "The Holy Word, and all therefrom inscribed. 
 Shine in this life from Truth efifulgent, 
 Seest 
 
 \\\ yon violet expanse one central 
 Point of light, as 'twere a star of heavenly 
 
58 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Magnitude? 'Tis thy city's chief Temple 
 Of devotion, illumined by the Word 
 Alone." 
 
 Thrilling with rev'rent awe, I seemed to hear, 
 Thro beat of billowed surges on a lone 
 Sea-girt shore : 
 
 ''And the city had no need of the sun, 
 Neither of the moon, to shine in it, 
 For the Glory of God did lighten it, 
 And the Lamb is the light thereof." 
 
 XV. 
 
 Some moments passed ere converse we resumed ; 
 Then I unto my guide: 
 
 "What diff'rence radical, other than that 
 Thou hast already shown, existeth 'twixt 
 Th' old church and the new?" 
 
 "The diff'rence is in all things radical. 
 Fruit, unsound at core, is throughout unsound ; 
 And basic error is superstructed 
 Doom. Instance, the doctrine of Redeeming 
 Love, whereon the Christian's faith 
 
 is founded. 
 Obscurely by th' old church comprehended. 
 And warped from its Divine significance 
 To meet a false theology, 'tis more 
 A pagan immolation to justice 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 59 
 
 By one of three co-equal Deities, than 
 The sublime deliverance of sin-thralled 
 Man by Him who saith : 
 
 7 am God, and beside me 
 There is none else' 
 
 The Holy Truth that bows in adoring 
 Alleluias th' enfranchised soul, and which 
 Is of the Lamb's Bride, Her fair foundation 
 Jasper, maintains, that Jesus — 
 
 as plainly 
 He by Word of mouth declared — Jehovah, 
 The Father Almighty and Creator, 
 Is, who to save from engulfing evils 
 His sin-wrecked children — yet their liberty 
 Preserve — vested with man's carnal nature 
 His Divine Human, the hosts infernal 
 Thereby admitting', and thro 
 
 temptations. 
 E'en on the cross, combatted and o'ercome, 
 Vanquished, as God in Man, the pow'rs 
 
 of Death 
 x\nd Hell, perfecting thus His natural 
 Degree, and glorifying it by union 
 With th' infinite of which it was begotten, 
 Became the blest Saviour and Redeemer 
 Of mankind. No ransom He 
 
 to frowning 
 Justice paid, nor penalty of brok'n law 
 By sacrifice of His own life removed. 
 Death on the tortured cross was but the last 
 
60 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Struggle of a mighty conflict, th' awful 
 
 Sublimity and vast significance 
 
 Whereof the finite mind may not conceive !" 
 
 "I thank thee for this elucidation 
 Of the true doctrine, by contrast wherewith 
 Th' old perverted faith appeareth monstrous!" 
 
 " 'Tis the 'Great Red Dragon' of the Prophet's 
 Vision that, casting to earth 
 
 a third 
 Of heaven's stars, and flooding with falsities 
 The holy truth, hath slain the church." 
 
 "Alas ! that loving followers of Christ 
 Should blindly grope to Him, thro teachings false ! 
 Might I one special answer to my prayers 
 Receive, this humbly would I ask of God ; 
 That He would with His Truth my soul 
 
 prepare. 
 And in some way His Wisdom may devise 
 Appoint me to preach t' unawakened brethren 
 Of th' earth this gospel of His Kingdom !" 
 
 The deep grey eyes fixed on me earnestly 
 Kindled with sudd'n fire, while half-audibly 
 As to himself he murmured : 
 
 ''He may, who knoweth?'' 
 
 XVI. 
 
 In silence, pondering his words, I watched 
 The river's broad'ning silver change slowly 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 61 
 
 To pellucid sapphire, nearing- meantime 
 
 The palm-crowned headlands, beetling- 
 majestic 
 
 Above the billowy expanse, that proved 
 
 A great mountain lake, the river's spring-head. 
 
 Our altered course had from us wholly shut 
 
 The City's spangled violet upon 
 
 The verge, and knew I not our close 
 approach 
 
 Thereto, till waved aloft from bannered heights 
 
 Th' azure insignia of our fraternal 
 
 Order. And now, as homing message-bird 
 
 That greets with quick'ned wing its goal, 
 our swift-keeled 
 
 Bark, responsive to my pulse's joyous 
 
 Beat, the promontories gained, and sweeping 
 
 Sudd'n inward entered a deep indentured 
 
 Bay, where glittering arose from crescent 
 
 Marge the hav'n of my heavenly 
 sojourning. 
 
 Of white, unquarried stone, built not with hands. 
 
 The shining wonder, lifted from wave-kissed 
 
 Shores to far blue subsides of mountain 
 
 Range its archetypal glories. 
 
 Girdling 
 
 Its bounds, a pure white wall of buttressed rock 
 
 Symbolic battlements reared luminous, 
 
 Where wing-ed steeds in marble poised, 
 gold-hoofed, 
 
 'Twixt towered bastions. Three spacious stairways, 
 
 Lucent as alabaster, conducted 
 
62 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 From the harbor's brink to a great pillared 
 Arch, whereon in lettered light resplendent, 
 Read I, as fore-told, the heavenly 
 
 motto 
 Of our order. Barks, many and various, 
 Swayed on the sapphire waters, commingling 
 In depths crystalline their bright regalia. 
 With our approach, chimes rhythmic sweet, as old 
 Cathedral bells that ring for lovers wed. 
 Gave greeting, while cheer on cheer of 
 
 happy 
 Voices echoed thro the serried hills their 
 Joyous welcome. Methinks, whate'er 
 
 of bliss 
 May in the blest eternity my soul 
 Await, I still shall hear sweet-undertoned 
 T' all its raptured harmonies the music 
 Of that heavenly home-coming! 
 A whelming 
 
 Moment, wherein I neither saw nor heard, 
 For thunder of my pulses ; then rev'rent 
 Passed the blazing arch,, and in awed silence 
 Stood before the mansions of my Father's 
 House. Oh ! thou fair-city of our God, 
 
 wrought 
 As of gold and cloud-pearl, fairer wert thou 
 To me for Marah's bitterness ; for scars 
 Of battles lost and won ! How spicy sweet 
 With mountain-cedar and rich spikenard bloom 
 Th' air! And how the birds sang! 
 I seemed to feel 
 Thy presence dearest dear, thy mother-heart — 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 63 
 
 Next in my soul's reverence to God — beat 
 Close to mine ! Nearer, beloved ! As on that 
 Glad spring" morning in the village church where, 
 Mid th' Easter lilies kneeling, 
 
 a little 
 Child his life unto the Master's service 
 Gave. Did MemVy fond delude me or pressed 
 She tenderly her lips upon my brow? 
 As from dream I started, when my beloved 
 Instructor all gently on my shoulder 
 Laid his hand. 
 
 "Let us," he said, "thy comrades join." 
 
 xvn. 
 
 Thro spacious avenue and ivied court, 
 
 Sibilant with leaf and fountain, 
 
 Passed we to miracles of templed stone, where each 
 
 Its heavenly use in least particulars 
 
 Proclaimed. Was one to worship 
 
 dedicate ? 
 The whole tabernacle shone resplendent. 
 As though it shrined th' orb of day ! Reared music 
 Her altered sacristy? The very stones 
 Piled rhythmic, and sculptured beauty 
 
 silent 
 Sang. So with science, art, and poesy. 
 From one, to study of th' Word's internal 
 Sense devote — and glorious with light of truth 
 Unsealed — a vast multitude in manhood's 
 Early springtime issued. All flowing garments 
 
64 THE SUPREME ADl'ENTURE. 
 
 Of changeful gold and sapphire wore, their heads 
 Uncovered, and about their brows a gold'n 
 Circlet. To him who with me waited their 
 Approach, they, pausing, reverent obeisance 
 Made, saluting me thereafter with smiles 
 And cheers. As chord to sympathetic touch, 
 I echoed answer, wondering 
 
 that while 
 No one of these I in th' earth-life knew, each 
 To my soul familiar dear as brother 
 To brother seemed. That instant my heavenly 
 Guide and counselor, kinsman by earthly 
 Ties no longer, but closer in spirit's 
 Truer kinship bonded, was 
 
 to mine eyes 
 An angel of Celestial heaven revealed, 
 Known to me thereafter as Gamaliel. 
 Whelmed with the knowledge, it yet no shrinking 
 Awe inspired, nor cold supernal 
 
 barrier 
 Upreared ; but rather, as tender-budding 
 Plant to sweet impulses of the vernal 
 Time unfolds, my spirit in his quick'ning 
 Sphere its pow'rs expanded. 
 Long afterward, 
 
 I learned amazed, that angels to lower 
 Spheres descend not, but ever there appear 
 By that which represents them, since decline 
 From heaven's light supreme would their transcendent 
 Potencies confuse. Watching now the great 
 Concourse southward file, sweet strains 
 
 of voice ful 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. o5 
 
 Music from the shore my pleased attention 
 Thither drew. Naught I at the first discerned. 
 But ere long the lake's pellucid waters 
 ]Mirrored a fairy scene. From hidden harbor 
 Of the verdured hills emerging, 
 
 a fleet 
 Of forty barges, fashioned all of some 
 Pure roseate substance, such as the dreamer 
 Conjures of auroral argosies .that 
 Usher in the new-born day, 
 
 a shining 
 Galaxy of maid'n beauty bore. No hands 
 Nor forceful art their galleyed oars, dripping 
 Prismatic fire, impelled, but rose and sank, 
 To harmony obedient, as woman's 
 Jeweled breast in song. Bowered 
 
 in lilies. 
 And by dazzling sun obscured, the gentle 
 Voyagers saw we only as prevailing 
 Beauty. But one mine eyes distinct beheld 
 Who at the prow angelic leader stood. 
 Her loosened tresses,, fair as the shining 
 Amber that poets sing th' wounded 
 
 sea-bird 
 Weeps, tossed to lake breezes unconfined, save 
 Where a jeweled fillet stayed the showered 
 Glory. A robe of some pure fabric, white 
 As the lilies on her breast, her slender 
 Symmetry defined, and o'er her fair young 
 Brow, sealed with the beauty 
 
 of the Master's 
 Spirit, a star of precious rubies flamed. 
 5 
 
66 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Enraptured, Gamaliel I hasty pressed 
 With eager inquiries. In one 
 
 brief glance 
 He seemed to probe my soul ; then tenderly, 
 As breathing benediction, answered : 
 
 "Another city, like, yet unlike this, 
 Its complement, or other half, nestles 
 From view amid yon eastern hills. 
 Secret, 
 
 Its entrance, and only as guarding 
 Angels may appoint, spirits admittance 
 Find. The fair ones thou seest 
 
 are its gentle 
 Citizens, who form the polar inverse 
 Oi this sodality, each mind without 
 Th' other incomplete. 'In the beginning, 
 Male and female, created He them.' 
 Thus, as dual parts of one society, they 
 Here together dwell. Image of Divine 
 Wisdom was man formed. Woman's 
 Finer soul creative Love reflected. 
 Since compassed points to Love and Truth 
 
 relate, 
 Bordereth this city on the southern 
 Shore, while yon white doves, by angel 
 
 guardians 
 O'er-brooded, nest in th' olivegroves and bow'red 
 Almond of th' eastern hills till fledged for heaven." 
 
 "Dwell they there as here in cities sep'rate?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 67 
 
 "Nay ; and of this lower sphere, they only 
 Who in preparation are for higher 
 States. She of whom thou dost inquire angels 
 Celestial know by a sweet-voweled name 
 That signifies 'The Violet,' 
 
 so-called, 
 Since of earth's lowliest she bloomed in pathways 
 Of the toiling poor, giving to thankless 
 Of her little cup, and shedding patient 
 Under swinish feet the heavenly fragrance 
 Of her sacrificial love. In a great 
 City's crowded mart, whose tow'red 
 
 palaces 
 And banquet-halls homeless and hungered mock. 
 Her brave young spirit passed. With Christ her 
 
 crust 
 Was all unknowing shared, and of His 
 
 boundless 
 Treasure shall she evermore receive." 
 
 A tender mist my vision dimmed, 
 
 the while 
 Projecting headlands shut the fleet from view. 
 
 "Whither," I asked, "are all these multitudes 
 Directed?" 
 
 xvni. 
 
 "Look straitly southward ! Dost mark yon 
 palm-crowned 
 Summit, where fitful flash thro billowed green 
 The bannered blue of thy fraternity? 
 
68 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 The bold heights a vasty theater enthrone, 
 Devote to purpose educational 
 By methods off'ring much entertainment ; 
 Chiefly, dramatic art; renowned 
 
 lectures 
 By distinguished orators, and famous 
 Explorers of other planets than our 
 Own; the tilt and tourney of debate 
 
 'twixt 
 Noted partisans, and music's divine. 
 That opes with sceptered wand, 
 
 the slumb'ring soul's 
 Long silent chambers, kissing from evil 
 Trance, as Prince of old'n story, the beauty 
 Of pure affections and heavenly desires. 
 For thro o'erwatching Providence 
 
 these gold'n 
 Seasons are to vast numbers of this sphere 
 Extended, who mainly for diversion 
 Thither flock. Of such, this morn's occasion. 
 A famous orator, and scoffer 'gainst 
 The holy truth, whose recent passing gave 
 Th' old church freer breath, doth boldly 
 
 challenge 
 To combat controversial whoe'er may 
 Of the Christian faith go forth to meet him. 
 Steel for steel. Thy city's President hath 
 Promptly the gauntlet ta'en for a champion 
 Of truth, unknown to fame, summoned 
 
 at close 
 Of the assailant's argument by a white 
 Glove, in silver blazoned, hurled at his feet. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 69 
 
 The contest o'er,, one of three judges shall 
 Proclaim the victor and the prize 
 
 award. 
 Hark ! to the silver-throated orchestra ! 
 The amphitheater e'en now is thronged. 
 Twelve 
 
 Portals, three on every side, it hath, each 
 Guarded that none admittance gain save thro 
 Insignia of their fraternal order, 
 Whereby they are unto respective ways 
 Assigned. This also for precaution 'gainst 
 Th' upper hells. The gold'n eaglet 
 
 on thy sleeve 
 Embossed doth thee with thy comrades usher, 
 Within the great south-gate." 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Of my apparel hitherto no thought 
 I took, but thus reminded was amazed 
 To find myself in garb identical 
 With that of my fraternal order. Not 
 Thus had I to spirit-life 
 
 awakened. 
 But in accustomed guise familiar. Wlien 
 And how, without my knowledge, was the cliange 
 Effected? 
 
 Gamaliel my bewilderment, amused. 
 Regarded. 
 
 Tn thyself," he said, *'thou seest illustrate 
 
70 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Th' all-prevailing principle of psychic 
 Law, by which the spirit freed from 
 
 cumbrous 
 Clay, mouldeth to instant correspondence 
 With inner state th' outer temple. 
 Wherefore 
 
 Seemeth it to thee miraculous? Wert 
 Not in earth-life by the same magic clothed? 
 Didst mark the moment of thy growth ! 
 
 or how 
 On thine expanding form the cuticle 
 Its gauzy covering o'er-laid ? Know'st when 
 These locks of wavy gold issued from their 
 Minute follicles to crown thee? 
 Thinkest 
 
 'Tis more marvelous that thy reception 
 Of divine creative Good and Truth should 
 Instant here thine outer vesture change, than 
 That the same life-agencies on time-thralled 
 Earth should thro symbolic medium 
 
 of food 
 And drink thy blood transform to flinty bone, 
 And corded sinew, tissued gauze,, and silk'n 
 Filament? Ponder this, and know the truth ; 
 That nature's miracles, whether to time's 
 Dull chariot or spirit's light'ning 
 
 harnessed. 
 Are nature s laws and one, as God is one. 
 These garments,, that so graciously befit 
 Thee, are not, as methinks thou dost infer, 
 The regulate appointments of this fair 
 Fraternity. Far other, their 
 
 profound 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 71 
 
 Significance. Let us as we our way 
 Pursue, interpret them. 'Tis meet we first, 
 To causal source Light, Form, and Color, trace. 
 Form, in nature's universal 
 
 kingdom. 
 Is the divine order of symbolic 
 Substance. Light, a symbol of Truth Divine; 
 And Color, a form of Truth, reflecting 
 In types manifold Divine affections. 
 From these, by derivations 
 
 limitless. 
 Flows nature's infinite variety that 
 Overwhelms thought, sinking it blind 
 
 and reeling 
 Like a drowned sea-bird. Thence, too, 
 
 the hidd'n key 
 Unto her holiest, where mid illumined 
 Altars she shall her mystic heart unfold ; 
 Teaching by what art th' atomic crystal 
 Bosseth on wintry pane its fay-like flowers 
 And microscopic ferneries ; 
 
 or builds. 
 As for Titania and her tiny court 
 In mountain grot, its jeweled palaces. 
 There, shall the wild-rose and the robin's Q,gg 
 Their unguessed secrets whisper, and thou shalt 
 Know a deeper beauty in the day-dawn's 
 Amethyst, the butterfly's bespangled 
 Velvet, and the rain-cloud's diadem. 
 Yea, 
 
 The variations of prismatic light shall 
 Be to thee as 'Urim' and 'Thummim ' girt 
 
72 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 On the breast of nature's holy priestess, 
 
 And thou shalt read their shining- 
 oracles 
 
 As messages of Him, who writeth His 
 
 Divine Love in crimson ; His heavenly Truth 
 
 In azure ; His eternal Good in gold ; 
 
 And th' united glories of His perfect 
 
 Righteousness in dazzling white. Thus 
 
 The flowing 
 
 Pattern of thy robe do we interpret 
 
 As thy divine calling to th' angelic 
 
 Priesthood. Its rich-hued sapphire, 
 goid-broidered, 
 
 Thy faith (thro good) in the Word's internal 
 
 Sense. The gold'n circlet clasped about thy brow, 
 
 Thy love of knowledge, as a pow'r for good. 
 
 These shining sandaled feet, thy readiness 
 
 To do the Master's will, and this 
 
 Fair crest 
 
 Of nested eaglet poised for flight, thy soul's 
 
 Impassioned yearning for Zion's mountains." 
 
 XX. 
 
 Heard I his teaching in the spirit-world, 
 Or stood we in immensity upon 
 Some spiritual Patmos, vibrate with heaven's 
 Thunder? The sense illusive of spatial 
 Limitations vanished, and I beheld 
 As in a rain of Pentecostal fire 
 Creation's face transfigured ! 
 All forms, from 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Clod to singing spheres, breathed flame 
 
 and uttered 
 Speech ! Naught insignificant, naught needless ; 
 But each, commissioned of th' eternal King, 
 His message bore, and royal signature. 
 Pallid, with revelation's lightening-glare 
 I seemed to hear a voice, as a mighty 
 Trumpet blast, proclaiming thro earth and heaven 
 
 ''Behold! I make all things new!" 
 
 The vision or mental illustration 
 
 Passed, but in the soul's "large upper chamber *' 
 
 Still I lingered. Oh ! dullards 
 
 of the dark'ned 
 Earth, we feel our slow hearts burn within us. 
 Thrilling, we know not why, to undertones 
 Of wood and stream, or weeping with mystic 
 Rapture by sun-kissed peak, or lonely shore, 
 E'en while sweet nature singeth in divine 
 Symbols to unheeding ears her holy 
 Meanings ! A deep-drawn sigh revealed 
 
 my sadden'd 
 Thought. Lifting mine eyes, I met Gamaliers 
 Benignant gaze. 
 
 'That dusk-winged bird,'' he gently chid, 
 
 ''belongs 
 Not to the building temple, but rather 
 To crumbling ruins of th' old. Look not back, 
 But forward ! Angels are astir on earth. 
 And thro chill shadows that precede the dawn 
 
74 THE SUPREME ADVENTLRE. 
 
 Glimmers the heavenly jasper of the New 
 
 Jerusalem, the Lamb's Bride. 
 
 Not distant 
 
 The day when eyes that blindly strain 
 
 thro dark 
 Shall catch the glory of the inner temple ; 
 When hands that tremble o'er false-vibrant 
 
 chords 
 Shall a lyre sweep, waking to harmony 
 The slumbering globe ; and Zion, rejoicing, 
 Shall arise and put on her beautiful 
 Garments, for the Bridegroom waiteth." 
 
 As thus he spake, a sudd'n burst of music 
 From the hills announced the landing barges. 
 
 "Whence," I inquired, "This brilliant orchestra?" 
 
 "All members are of thy fraternity, 
 Pupils of an illustrious composer. 
 To earth unknown." 
 
 "Instructeth he daily here?" 
 
 "Nay, Cometh he intuitive to psychic 
 Need, as all of God's inspired galaxy : 
 For since endowment in music, poesy, 
 And art, is but the fragrant 
 
 blossoming 
 Of heaven's ennobling uses. Great Masters 
 Rejoice to implant in souls responsive 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 75 
 
 The jeweled seeds of knowledge won 
 On God's transcendent mountains." 
 
 Profoundly moved, I hung upon his words. 
 The fire of impassioned art was mine from 
 Childhood ; a tender boon, as tho the Lord 
 Of life had stooped, compassionate, 
 
 to bless 
 His sin-marred handiwork, and left beneath 
 His loving touch th' imprint of His shining. 
 Ever as chilled and starvling bird, that beats 
 With wing persistent light's flaming portals, 
 Wrestled I for art's creative secrets. 
 At last opened to my yearning soul the gold'n 
 Doors of hope's fulfilment. 
 
 "And who of that constellation glorious, 
 (My voice with eager emotion trembled) 
 
 ''May teach me here th' art divine, of waking 
 To Hfe dead canvas?" 
 
 Ere he spake, a smile of reminiscence 
 Tender answered : 
 
 "He, the dream-faced idol of thy boyhood. 
 Whose miniature on ivory I found 
 For thee in Florence." 
 
 ''Not Raffaello Santir 
 
 •'Aye, the picture didst keep at night beneath 
 Thy pillow would here, by vivid contrast 
 With the great original, all rudely 
 
76 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 His spiritual beauty show." 
 
 "And I oh ! dizzy joy, shall see him, speak 
 With him, be of him instructed?" 
 
 " 'Tis as thou wilt. To spirit the blossomed 
 Wish bears speedy fruitage. Mark how 
 
 the while 
 We walk this principle is manifest. 
 The steep ascent to this o'er-topping hill 
 We climbed not, but when thy city's splendid 
 Orchestra the landing barges greeted, 
 Our pulses thither quickened, 
 
 and instant. 
 Unconscious of transition, we arrived !" 
 
 I paused abrupt, beholding at a glance 
 Th' evidences of our magic transit. 
 Oh ! marvel of true enchanted story ! 
 The headland's plumed and pillared 
 
 coronet. 
 Beetling beyond us but a moment since. 
 Cast at our feet its shadow-tapestries ; 
 While far beneath the sunlit city lay, 
 A jeweled crescent on the water's breast ! 
 The recognition of my new-born soul. 
 As a divinely sceptered powV, 
 
 flamed sudden 
 Thro me, tho chastened by prophetic thought 
 Of duties so exalted, of unknown 
 Ministries so far beyond my present 
 Grasp, I dizzied shrank, as callow 
 
 eaglet, 
 To awesome thunder-call of cataract 
 
THE SUPREME APyENTUKE. 77 
 
 And glacial avalanche. What, O wondrous 
 God-breathed Psyche, shalt thou 
 
 render unto 
 Him who hath redeemed thee by His mighty 
 Arm, and made thee heir of His eternal 
 Glory? As tho in answer to my thought, 
 Gamaliel reached out, and plucked 
 
 a little 
 Flow'r, blue as the vaulted firmament. 
 
 ''Wear it," he said, "upon thy breast; thou shalt 
 Its teaching need. 'Tis the ftoiv'r of FaifJi." 
 
 XXL 
 
 Following thro stately palms our southward 
 Path, and watching the last tributaries 
 Of the vasty concourse, we came unto 
 A massive gateway of pure jasper stone, 
 Whereon two gold'n lions guarded, rampant, 
 An azure shield, bearing this inscription : 
 
 ''Nozi} are zve permitted to enter 
 Into the mysteries of holy Truth." 
 
 Beyond, triumphal arches, floral wreathed. 
 And gay with bannered welcome, 
 
 conducted 
 By mild acclivity to a spacious 
 
 Eminence, spread smooth with spring's young velvet. 
 Here, majestic 'mid purpling headlands 
 
7% THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 
 
 Throned, and vaster by far than 
 
 crumbling- boast 
 Of ancient Rome,, th' amphitheater we sought 
 Lifted above besieging multitudes 
 Its gold'n-domed magnificence. 
 The splendor 
 
 Of its pillared alabaster, sculptured 
 Arches, friezes, and shining colonnades 
 Of pale blue lapis lazuli, bespoke 
 Its lavish architecture ; to my thought. 
 Distinctly of the Roman school. 
 Something 
 Of this I to Gamaliel remarked. 
 
 His eyes with keen amusement flashed, the while 
 He answered : 
 
 "Th' inverted mirage of old vision still 
 Haunteth thy mental camera. No schools 
 Of art originate on earth, since all 
 Their classic lines and rules of form 
 
 are types 
 And shadows of the causal world. 
 Art heaven's 
 
 Offspring is, and every builded splendor 
 Of our globe was thence derived." 
 
 "By influx?" 
 
 "Aye, spirit hath in earth its ultimate, 
 And — in so far as grosser states, may heaven's 
 Effluence receive — th' emanations thence 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 79 
 
 Of structured glories are on external 
 Plane in-breathed as ideas, that, 
 
 classified, 
 Give rise to schools of form. More beautiful 
 Than thy conception, angelic mansions,, 
 Yet heaven's temples comparison transcend, 
 For that they represent in each the grand 
 Whole of all its parts, or divine union 
 Of its holy good and truth. 
 Similar 
 
 Distinction in this middle sphere prevails. 
 And also (by correspondence) on th' earth. 
 Where public buildings are th' aggregation 
 Of a city's wealth." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Entered we now the great south colonnade, 
 Guarded by officers, whose gold-laced garb 
 Their martial rank disclosed, but armed not save 
 With pow'r invincible of heaven's truth. 
 Thence, 
 
 Thro tidal resonance of thronging feet, 
 And spacious splendors hitherto undreamed, 
 We to the Grand Forum passed unushered ; 
 Each, by instinctive psychic law, his own 
 Place finding. Here, gently ascending 
 
 gyres 
 Of resplendent dais a vasty circuit 
 Swept of orient magnificence, pulsing — 
 As I sensibly perceived — with strongly 
 Conflicting forces of electric life. 
 
80 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 So great a concourse ne'er had 
 
 I beheld, 
 
 Ranged, as GamaHel to my attention 
 
 Called, according to their truths of doctrine ; 
 
 Christians, south and east; the remainder, 
 
 north 
 And west. Yet, as I learned, no special place 
 Had local vantage, each, by some metric 
 Law to me unknown, fronting 
 
 in equal 
 View and audience. Below the richly draped 
 Proscenium, th' orchestra — scarce visible. 
 Thro bowered bloom — a brilliant overture 
 Rendered superb. To right, in regal state 
 Pavilioned, sat the judicial 
 
 triad ; 
 To left, in like dignity, our gracious 
 President, who should the Christian champion 
 By tok'n designate. Two chairs 
 
 imperial, 
 Of gold and ivory, the orators 
 Awaited, the first of whom now entered, 
 Announced by martial music and prolonged 
 Applause. My heart with sudd'n recognition 
 Leaped, time, place and subject swift 
 
 recalling 
 Of a great lecture 'twas my good fortune 
 Once to hear him, mid enthusiastic cheers. 
 Deliver. A man of massive mould, 
 
 topped 
 He in brain and body men of his day 
 On earth, and by magnetic dominance, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 81 
 
 Nigh irresistible swayed to his moods 
 
 His auditors, as great Euroclydon 
 
 The forest glades. His profane attacks 'gainst 
 
 God's most holy Word ever I shunned ; 
 
 knowing 
 Alas! too well, the vulnerable joints 
 Of old church armor ; and how by specious 
 Argument, and subtle interweaving 
 True with false, he smote and dismayed 
 
 Zion 
 With weapons from her own false bulwarks drawn. 
 Attentive now unto his opening theme, 
 (Eternal Love and Wisdom manifest 
 In nature), I felt his giant's power. 
 Here, as with magician's wand, 
 
 his list'ners 
 Held he spell-bound ! Yet God, th' imaged Glory 
 Of Love and Wisdom, he denied, mocking 
 As pagan myth a divine creative 
 Being, Deity — "so-called" — 
 
 interpreting 
 As nature's majestic exposition 
 Of an all-powerful, all pervading force, 
 Inexplicable^ and unknowable. 
 The Genesis of sacred history. 
 And fall of man, the "bloody 
 
 cruelties," 
 Approved and "commanded" of the ''Christian's 
 Fetich/' th' incarnation and redemption. 
 He made the targets of his thrice-barbed wit 
 And venomed gibe, reserving 
 
 as final 
 6 
 
82 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Spectacular burlesque th' inspired vision 
 Of th' Apocalypse ! My breath grew labored, 
 And a dull roaring, as of beating waves, 
 Drowned in mine ears his closing blasphemy. 
 Oh ! patient God ! A sick'ning horror, 
 
 blanched 
 My cheek, as thundered the theater with wild 
 Applause, and floral tributes rained. As one 
 To homage used, gracious acknowledgment 
 He made; then calmly confident himself 
 Reposeful throned. So coucheth 
 
 the glutted 
 Lion that cometh up from prey. And now 
 All eyes the President's pavilion sought. 
 No sound the breathless silence stirred. Sudd'n, like 
 A white falcon, soared the gauntlet ! 
 Just heaven ! 
 
 What strange delusion tricked my 'stonished sight? 
 Delusion? Nay, directly at thy feet. 
 In view of all, the tok'n lay! 
 What meant this 
 
 Choice of a mere lad ; a babe in knowledge 
 And forensic skill? Dared they, as passing 
 Jest, my youth and inexperience 
 
 bemock ? 
 The blood forsook my cheek and, quivering 
 As to descending scourge, I rose to hurl 
 In scorn the gauntlet back, when on mine arm 
 An unseen hand was laid, and a low voice. 
 As from my spirit's depths, rebuking spake : 
 
 **Believest that / am able to do 
 This thing?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. \ 
 
 Straight-way my sours tempestuous Gallilee 
 Was stilled, and brokenly I answered : 
 
 ''Lord, forgive me ! I believe ! Do with thy 
 Servant as Thou wilt !" 
 
 Brushed lightly in that moment 'gainst my cheek 
 The small blue flow'r on my breast; 
 
 and I seemed 
 To hear again the warning of my guide 
 And counselor : 
 
 ''Thou shalt its teaching need." 
 
 Had he then known? Pale, but calm, the rostrum 
 I forthwith ascended, and obeisance 
 Made. A storm of acclamation rent th' air. 
 Mingled with hisses and derisive 
 
 cheers ; 
 But none I heeded, for a great peace like 
 Wings of brooding Seraphim o'ershadowed 
 Me, and I seemed to hear chanted sublime 
 By choirs celestial : 
 
 "Ye shall he brought before governors 
 And kings for my sake. Take no thought 
 Hoiv or what ye shall speak, for it shall 
 Be giv'n you in that same hour. It is not ye 
 Thdt speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
 Which speaketh in you.'' 
 
84 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The vast assemblage from my vision passed ; 
 Its surf-like thunder ceased to beat upon 
 Mine ears ; and I stood as 'twere 
 
 on flaming 
 Horeb ! Burned from my soul in that white fire 
 All mem'ry of my inspired discourse, save 
 These bare arguments that dropped, as living 
 Embers from ash'n coil into my lower 
 Thought : 
 
 Life, as a dynamic, all-pervading 
 
 Principle, void of organic strvicture, 
 
 Yet evidencing in activities 
 
 Of nature a loving, thinking, planning. 
 
 Creative entity, is utterly 
 
 Untenable as thought apart 
 
 from mind 
 Or form from substance ; therefore God, First Cause, 
 Or howsoe'er we designate th' Author 
 Of creation, is plainly manifest 
 As primal organism and primal Being. 
 
 God is in esse demonstrate as Love ; 
 And love of its divine necessity 
 An object doth demand, fitted 
 
 for free 
 Participation in its blessedness. 
 Thus, for communion and correspondence 
 With its Maker, the human form ; and God 
 Thereby revealed is primal Man. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 85 
 
 The Word is in its Holy Trinity 
 A type of the Divine Human and, thro 
 That correspondence, a vital medium 
 'Twixt God and man. Divorced from 
 
 internal 
 Sense, 'tis as a human body divest 
 Of soul and spirit. The letter its life 
 And power from heaven's infolded sense derives. 
 But th' old church on plane externe declined 
 
 naught 
 Seeth save the symbol that, misinterpret. 
 Hath become a stone of stumbling. 
 
 The Book of books, internally revealed, 
 Is not — as in the literal appears — 
 A record of earth's creation, 
 
 and man's 
 Primeval history, but a divine 
 Epic of the soul's birth and high estate. 
 Declension thence thro sin, and subsequent 
 Regeneration writ from Genesis 
 
 to closing 
 "Amen!" of Revelation in symbols 
 Of the natural. Opening, with th' inspired 
 Words : 
 
 "7» the beginning, God created 
 The heavens and th' earth," 
 
 It leadeth from the soul's chaotic dark 
 Thro six creative days, that signify 
 Successive states of heavenly progression. 
 Inaugurate with light — the dawn whereof, 
 
86 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Ere sun, or moon, or stars, 
 
 the spirit-sense 
 Confirming — floweth onward the wondrous 
 Story of evolving Hfe„ till in God's 
 Fair symbolic ''garden" behold we His 
 Finished work and imaged glory ! Follows 
 On heaven's sobbing harp, thereafter, 
 
 the soul's 
 Lost Paradise; its weary pilgrimage 
 Of sin and sorrow, trials, temptations, 
 Conflicts, and final victory, closing 
 With a new song of heaven regained, 
 
 descent 
 Of the Holy City in its conquered 
 Canaan, and the benediction of peace 
 Divine. 
 
 "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men; 
 And he shall dwell zvith them, and they 
 Shall he his people; and God himself 
 Shall be with them, mid be their God. 
 
 And God shall wipe all tears from their 
 Eyes, and there shall be no more death, 
 Neither sorrow, nor crying; neither 
 Shall there be any more pain. 
 For the former things have passed away.'' 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 In breathless stillness, such as thro pulsing 
 Heat precedes the storm, my discourse ended. 
 Then, as one man, the mighty multitude 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 87 
 
 Applauding rose. Louder, and yet louder, 
 Swelled the tempest, till the great arches shook 
 As caverned coast t' ocean's volleyed thunder. 
 Sudd'n, a bugle's shrill command 
 
 the clamor 
 Pierced. From judicial hand the gold'n gavel 
 Fell, and silence imperial descended. 
 The central figure of th' august 
 
 triad 
 Now arose to render judgment. 
 Holding 
 
 In full view a star of blazing jewels, 
 His voice clave the silence like a sword : 
 
 "We who by deliberation of twelve 
 Councils are elect to render judgment 
 In this controversy, do the guerdon 
 Of victory, this jeweled star, 
 
 symbol 
 Of heaven's truth, unto the Christian champion 
 Unanimous award. But that justice 
 Of our verdict be established, ye shall 
 To higher tribunal appeal.'' 
 
 Descending the pavilion, he calmly 
 The rostrum mounted, and stood betwixt us, 
 Facing the audience. Addressing the former 
 Speaker, he bade him stretch forth his 
 
 open hand. 
 Again, in view of all, the star he held. 
 Then dropped it flaming in th' extended palm. 
 Instant, the stones grew black and lusterless, 
 
88 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 As charcoal ! Astonished murmur rippled 
 Thro the vast assembly. The Judge 
 
 now walked 
 The rostrum's length and thus aloof bade me 
 Unto mine outstretched palm the rayless star 
 Transfer. Lo ! at my touch the jewels blazed 
 Resplendent, forming in ray of sunshine 
 O'er my head a nimbus 
 
 of prismatic 
 Glory. Enthusiastic cheers and stormy 
 Acclamation this scientific test 
 Of psychic law now greeted, and. herald 
 Of the floral show'r that swiftly followed, 
 Fell like a blazing meteor 
 
 directly 
 At my feet a vivid crimson rose ! Whose 
 Hand the glowing tribute threw ? A mystic sense 
 Vague,, indefinable, as 'twere of some 
 Magnetic sphere, haunting its fragrance, 
 
 thrilled 
 Thro me, while in acknowledgment profound. 
 I pressed to my lips the dewy beauty, 
 And on my breast secured it with the star. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Triumphant music now the plaudits 
 
 drowned, 
 z\nd gratulating comrades round me closed ; 
 But soon my late antagonist I sought. 
 Noting 'neath the warrior's mail his wounded 
 Pride. Essayed he with formal courtesy 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 89 
 
 To pass, but love that will not thus be barred 
 Impelled me to his side. 
 
 ''Most heartily," I said, do I rejoice 
 That at my feet the gauntlet fell ; 
 
 since seeing 
 My callow youth, and how unfit to meet 
 In controversy such as thee, thou art 
 The more persuaded of a God, who thro 
 Me His unworthy mouth-piece speaking, must 
 Manifestly be Himself 
 
 in human 
 Form. No word I on yon rostrum uttered 
 Was of mine own, but as I faithfully 
 To thee declare, inspired by Christ the Lord ! 
 King Agrippa, believest thou?" 
 
 He smiled, and warmly shook my hand. 
 
 'T believe in thee, and in the promise 
 Of thy youth, despite thy superstitions 
 And their furtherance by our juggling Judge. 
 'Tis a proof of genius to weave the films 
 Of falsity into the warp and woof 
 Of argument, 'till they as truth 
 
 appear ; 
 Howbe't one breath of nature's reason shall 
 The shining gossamer to film again 
 Resolve." 
 
 "Wilt thou that test unto mine argument 
 Apply?" 
 
90 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE 
 
 "Aye. Answer — tho well I know thou canst not- 
 This simple question. If, as thou claimest, 
 Thy God be substance, and in the human 
 Form,, where hideth He, that never yet hath 
 Eye beheld Him? Wherefore, is He not hej'e, 
 Visible?" 
 
 "His glory in this lower sphere we may 
 Not bear, save as 'tis tempered to our sense 
 In yon transcendent orb 
 of dazzling light, 
 The symbol of His love and wisdom. But 
 In the land that hath no need of sun, nor 
 Moon, since 'The Lamb' is evermore the light 
 Thereof, we shall behold Him 'Face to face' " 
 
 Incredulous amusement brimmed his eyes. 
 
 ''When thou arrivest in that wondrous land. 
 If I be still alive on earth, wire me, 
 I pray, the joyful tidings !" 
 
 Thus, with light raillery, and ere for sudd'n 
 Shock my speech I could regain, he to his 
 Own departed. 
 
 'Twas evident he knew not he had passed 
 
 Into the immortality, whereat 
 
 He scoffed! Oh, blind insanity! 
 
 Sadly, 
 
 I turned me to the Southern exit, where 
 
 Gamaliel, his face all joy-illumined, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 91 
 
 My coming waited. Tenderly he took 
 
 My hands and folded them upon his breast. 
 
 ''Remember, thou anointed of the Lord," 
 He said, "the heavenly lesson thou has learned 
 To-day. Death of th' old selfhood, dependence 
 JV holly upon Him. And now, 
 
 I leave thee ; 
 For to other fields the Master calleth. 
 A brother soul, who did precede thee here, 
 Shall with thee dwell, and in my place, 
 
 Thy guide and loved companion be." 
 
 "Wilt come to me again, Gamaliel ?" 
 
 "If 'tis the Master's will. Yet, the I come 
 Not, soon in the heavenly Canaan we meet 
 Again." 
 
 E'en as the music of his words I drank 
 He vanished from my sight. 
 
PART II 
 
 The theater was now from every exit 
 Its multitudes outpouring. At the great 
 South-gate I waited, hark'ning thro 
 
 surf-like 
 Roar of tidal life the signal I knew 
 As his, to whom from the first 
 
 my spirit 
 Leaped, in recognition true. Th' impassioned 
 Fire of creative art touched luminous 
 His youthful beauty, kindling the darkness 
 Of magnetic eyes, that 'neath Italia's 
 Inspired stars first drank the light. 
 To vision 
 
 Far beyond me had his fair soul attained, 
 But set to the same key our life's music, 
 And that his spirit rang to mountain peak, 
 Mine answered in the glen. Swift as echoes 
 Of his joyous yodel, he now appeared. 
 
 "How missed we each other, Israefel?'' 
 
 Merrily he laughed — 
 
 "How, in this vasty surging sea of friends, 
 Who wildly exultant pressed about thee, 
 Szvam we together at the last ; 
 
 methinks 
 A greater problem ! Oh ! the victory !" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 93 
 
 "To God alone the praise ; for His, not mine, 
 The victory." 
 
 'True; yet He so ord'reth, that the soul shall 
 Ever in His warfare and His triumphs 
 Share. Fell not by Divine 
 
 Omnipotence 
 Alone to-day's Goliath ! Hadst faltered 
 On yon rostrum, thou hadst not conquered:' 
 
 "The faith that did uphold me was His gift." 
 
 "What in sooth are we, from least 
 to greatest, 
 But vessels for His infilling Spirit? 
 Th' only difference 'twixt hell and heaven 
 
 is 'twixt 
 Rejecting and receiving. 
 I saw thee 
 
 In friendly converse with the fall'n chieftain. 
 How beareth he his signal overthrow ?" 
 
 "Stubbornly; naught of his holdings yielding, 
 Denying the world he now inhabiteth, 
 And with assurance comic, affirming 
 Himself still on th' earth, in body carnal." 
 
 A shade of pity chased from my comrade's 
 Face the half-formed smile. 
 
 "Methinks," I said, "that meeting with old friends 
 Long passed from earth, and marking — as seemeth 
 
94 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 He must — the wide distinction 'twixt spirit 
 And gross matter, conviction of a truth 
 So plain were scarce avoidable." 
 
 " 'Tis but the habit of false doctrinals, 
 Confirmed in lower life, and here pursued, 
 That by correspondence with unbelief, 
 His ideas of state confuse." 
 
 "How pitiful, that one so gloriously 
 Gifted should be from God so far !" 
 
 "How know we, he is from God afar ?" 
 
 I looked into my comrade's face, surprised. 
 
 "Surely, his discourse hath to all this morn 
 That question answered." 
 
 He paused in thought a moment, ere replying: 
 
 I. 
 
 "With one who in the earth-life knew him well 
 Spake 
 
 I to-day. 'Few men,' he saith, 'hath 'scutcheon 
 So unblemished borne, or lived in closer 
 Brotherhood to man !' Who of the public 
 Knew him best, were neediest. Children, ever 
 Found in him a ready comrade ; 
 
 and once 
 This friend, upon a wintry day by storm 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 95 
 
 O'ertak'n, saw him from his body strip, thro 
 Hissing sleet, a fur-warmed coat, and wrap it 
 About a shiv'ring beggar girl. Such souls 
 Are not from God afar!" 
 
 "Nay, there was he in truth, the son of God! 
 I knew him not, save as the foe of faith, 
 The Christian's deadly Saul." 
 
 ''From all I of him learned this morn, 
 
 'twould seem, 
 His bitter warfare 'gainst the church, th' outgrowth 
 Of its perverted teachings, and his soul's 
 Impassioned — tho misguided — love for truth. 
 Flouted his clear perception, 
 
 the fungus 
 Growth, of man-made doctrine, that drop by drop 
 Hath sucked the life-blood of the church. Lesser 
 Of soul had silent scorned what truth could not 
 Accept; but arose this man, like fearless 
 Saul, with fire and sword. Thousands, 
 
 are to-day 
 His vaunted followers, and many more 
 Such are in secret, lacking true courage 
 To proclaim it." 
 
 ''Alas ! for earth !" 
 
 "Nay, why 'alas?' Thro Divine Providence, 
 Such men are instruments of good." 
 
 "0/ good? Hatcheth turtle dove of falcon. 
 Or the wild hawk ?" 
 
96 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 'In sense spiritual, aye. Maketh God all 
 Things to serve Him. Few of the Christian Church 
 Search for themselves the Scriptures. 
 The masses 
 
 Religious faith accept as heritance ; 
 More valuable for the mould upon it. 
 Such are by fierce assaults constrmned to think ; 
 And Zion's ship, aroused from her 
 
 sluggish 
 Moorings by guns against her sides, hath ris'n 
 To defense." 
 
 "Aye, and vanquished been !" 
 
 "Strength is born of action ! Fighting for God 
 Shall lead the way unto His truth." 
 
 "Thinkest he, who fell inglorious to-day 
 Before the Lord, shall in th' end his stubborn 
 Sword surrender?" 
 
 *'Aye ! Love and Truth are heaven's 
 eternal mates; 
 And tho, alas! in sin-disordered souls 
 Divided; what God hath joined, not earth, nor 
 All the pow'rs of hell, may keep asunder ! 
 Whoso hath love shall, as the Lord liveth, 
 Her heavenly bridegroom -find." 
 
 II. 
 
 The sound of lute and timbrel from the shore 
 
 Our further speech arrested. Israefel 
 
 Bent eager fonvard ; his eyes flashed, and leaped 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 97 
 
 To his cheek, a vivid crimson ! 
 
 **See!'' he exclaimed, "the barges!" 
 
 Thrusting quickly aside the leafy screen, 
 
 We hasted to a rocky eminence 
 
 Commanding the water-way whence, 
 
 Rounding 
 
 The Southern cape, gleamed rosy on our sight 
 
 The swift returning fleet. With his kerchief 
 
 My comrade signaled. She at the foremost 
 
 Prow, a lily, in recognition waved. 
 
 Then, as with one voice from the sailing choir. 
 
 Arose th' old triumphant song of Miriam: 
 
 "Sing ye to the Lord, for he that triumphed 
 Gloriously ! The horse and his rider 
 Hath he thrown into the sea ! 
 The Lord is my strength and song, 
 And he is become my salvation!" 
 
 As sank in worshipful ''xA.men !" the last 
 Strain of the triumphant paean, I loosed 
 Impulsive from my breast the crimson rose, 
 And waved responsive. Returned 
 
 a dainty 
 Hand the courtesy, or was 't a lily 
 Nodded to the breeze ? Ere I the hazy 
 Question solved, the fleet had vanished, 
 
 leaving 
 In its foamy wake a faint auroral 
 Trail of silv'ry light. The rose replacing — 
 7 
 
98 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Methought it sweeter breathed — I silent stood 
 In contenuplation of the scene, wherein 
 All objects my mood reflected, 
 
 howbe't 
 I comprehended not the mood. A sense 
 That was not sadness, yet thereto akin, 
 Swept sudd'n o'er me, as filmy clouds th' April 
 Sunshine ; and the grey lapwing's plaintive cry 
 My soul's inexplicable yearning voiced. 
 
 Sighing, I turned away, but sudd'n my footsteps 
 Checked, before th' wondrous light that 
 
 glorified 
 My comrade's face, as one who rev'rent waits 
 At threshold of some altared sacristy. 
 Not of the sun-smit hills, that radiance ! 'Twas 
 As some raptured thought had oped 
 
 unconscious 
 In his soul a veiled shekinah, and thence 
 Its inmost glory shed. A moment thus, 
 Then lifting up his eyes unto th' eastern 
 Highlands, he sang as Peri at heaven's gate 
 A matchless song of love's inspired 
 
 sweetness. 
 Thrice on th' earth heard I a far-famed tenor. 
 To my music-loving soul each joyful 
 Festival was inspiration ; thrilling 
 Mine earth-bound thought, till it arose 
 
 on gold'n 
 Pinions to that heavenly Helicon, where 
 Spirit re-baptized sweeps as the spider's 
 Gossamer its carnal thrall, and enters 
 
THE SUPREME ADJ^ENTURE. 99 
 
 Into its lordly heritance. 
 
 Compared 
 
 That voice to this, as lark to nightingale ! 
 
 From its transcendent, impassioned fervor, 
 
 Methought a sphere inefifable 
 
 exhaled, 
 Suggesting faint as elf-land airs the tinet. 
 And subtle fragrance of wood-violets. 
 When the last cadence sank like falling star 
 Down spaces amethystine T, sighing, caught 
 My breath. 
 
 'Oh! Israefel, what angel of the choir 
 Celestial his mantle on thee cast?" 
 
 He smiled. ''The same that in the Master's time 
 Shall thine own inspiration be." 
 
 "To me the gift of song hath been denied. 
 What God bestows not, angels all vainly 
 Woo!" 
 
 'Song, in this life," he answered, "is love's own 
 Language ! When the soul's harp for its divine 
 Music is attuned, love smites the gold'n chords. 
 And song is born !" 
 
 III. 
 
 In sweet fraternal converse thus engrossed. 
 
 We reached, thro greenish dark of blossomed wood 
 
 Thrilled to its singing heart with bird and brook, 
 
100 THE SUPREME ADJ'ENTURE. 
 
 The city's southern g^ate; there 
 
 by command 
 Pausing to give the countersign. 
 
 " 'Tis a precaution," Israefel explained, 
 " 'Gainst evil spirits, who lurk craftily, 
 Seeking, disguised as angels, admittance 
 To this fairest of our Christian cities. 
 Yet some despite all vigilance, 
 
 aided 
 By infernal arts, at times their entrance 
 Make ; howbe't, such instances are rare. 
 These, 
 
 From th' upper hells, are for the most part such 
 As on earth were house-breakers and highway 
 Robbers." 
 
 *'How thro disguise, are they detected ?" 
 
 "By a foul sphere, like that perceived 
 in dens 
 And caverns of rapacious beasts, to which 
 Thro evil affections they correspond 
 With such exactitude, that in the light 
 Of heaven they are so seen." 
 
 "Proveth ejection difficult?" 
 
 *'Nay, no simpler method may be devised. 
 Our guards, the watchman of yon great 
 
 white tow'r 
 Signal, who instant on the citv turns 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 101 
 
 The search-light of angeHc truth. 
 At touch 
 
 Of its transforming- rays, th' evil spirit 
 Is revealed according to his secret 
 Correspondence : tiger, wolf, or spotted 
 Leopard ; and by the same light, 
 
 that ever 
 Doth opposing falsity with keenest 
 Pain afflict, is he t" abode infernal 
 Straight pursued." 
 
 "How marvelous!'' 
 
 *' Tis but th' operation of symbolic 
 Law, whereby is brought to pass the sacred 
 Prophecy : 
 
 ''For there is nothing covered that shall not 
 Be revealed, nor hid that shall not be knoivn: " 
 
 "Are many of earth's civic offices 
 Required in this life?" 
 
 *'Aye, all, or such as to them correspond ; 
 And many more than on th' earth 
 
 are needed ; 
 As manifest, when we the limitless 
 Expanse and population of these spheres. 
 With uses proportioned to their higher 
 States, consider." 
 
 IV. 
 
 Returning by a way passed not this morn. 
 We entered now a verdant avenue, 
 
102 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Fragrant with blossomed lime, and creamy bloom 
 Of giant-limbed magnolias, 
 
 conducting 
 By slow ascent to spacious terraced heights, 
 Crowned stately with mansions of translucent 
 Marble. Towxred this glittering array. 
 Far out, beyond my vision's farthest range, 
 Circling, as Israefel informed, by 
 
 gyred 
 Esplanades. And not, as in pent cities 
 Of our space-cramped earth, that dole in miser's 
 Measure their scant sod, trenched each on other ; 
 But every dwelling seemed to draw 
 
 deep breaths 
 Of freedom, as conscious of larger life, 
 And nobler sovereignty. Of these approached 
 We one, that held for me a special charm. 
 Sweet rambler roses, tender in niem'ry 
 Associate, mirrored in the lucent stone 
 Their glowing crimson ; while myrtle 
 
 and blossomed 
 Almond, towering aloft as trees, shook 
 O'er the velvet sward their petaled fragrance. 
 Somewhere to left, mid budding greenery 
 And mazy bloom, a-whisper 
 
 with fountained 
 Spray, stole th' entrancing sweetness of the small 
 Brown shrub,, adored of my predatory 
 Boyhood, and gathered till my pockets swelled 
 With ravished hoard ; till wild bees 
 
 persistent 
 Trailed me, and the yellow wasp searched me thro 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 103 
 
 Flicking osiers for hidd'n treasure. How sweet, 
 To find in these fair mansions of the hlest 
 The things we loved of yore ! 
 
 Israefel my keen delight reflected 
 In his eyes. 
 
 ''Methinks thou lik'st the picture!" 
 
 "Aye, that I do ! What happy birds nest here ?" 
 
 "Thou and I. Together we here abide, 
 Till one, or both, the Master calleth." 
 
 "Oh! doubly wov'n joy of our Father's love, 
 And tender providence!" 
 
 E'en as I spake, the silver gate swung wide. 
 And sudd n whirring from the myrtle, 
 
 circled 
 Above our heads two mating doves." 
 
 "Behold !" said Israefel, "the welcome-sign. 
 And happy augury! So on my first 
 Entrance here greeted they me." 
 
 Ascending the broad threshold 'twixt couchant 
 Lions buttressed in shining stone, entered 
 We from ivied portico a spacious 
 Vestibule, or columned court, beautiful 
 With art's inspired works adorned, 
 and mantled 
 
104 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Ill wondrous fabrics, such as no far famed 
 Weaves of Persian Ind, nor priceless broid'ries 
 Of old Castile, e'er wrought. Beyond this court 
 Oped lordly chambers, all murmurous with silk'ii 
 Stir, and breathing thro wafted 
 
 April-bloom 
 The sweet, famiHar sphere, we recognize 
 As home. Of these one framing in wide-domed 
 Windows the vistaed Beulah-land, now bathed 
 In purple mist, my thought 
 
 unquestioning 
 To Israefel assigned, whose dreamful soul 
 It seemed to radiate. That looking southward. 
 White-crested lake and greenly-wooded shore 
 Commanding, proclaimed itself mine own. 
 There, 
 
 Eager entering, I paused, observing 
 Surprised in place accustomed my rosewood 
 Easel, with pallet of fresh-laid colors, 
 And last unfinished picture ! 
 Oh ! magic, 
 
 Of recreative mem'ry ! A richly 
 Carv'n cabinet of antique ivory 
 My wandering eyes next drew to rows of books, 
 Familiar bound. I took one from the shelf. 
 'Twas verily my well loved Keats, 
 
 or else 
 A duplicate exact. x\ye, here my writt'n 
 Name, and margined notes ; there, at sweet story 
 Of St. Agnes Eve, a fragrant leaf, slipped 
 In to keep the page. A momentary 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 105 
 
 Mist the stanzas blurred. Replacing. 
 
 my glance 
 Fell on a shining silver stand, where lay 
 In vellum white and gold another book. 
 My father's gift last Easter morn. 
 It oped 
 At touch to the blest promise : 
 
 ''And God shall ivipe all tears 
 From ■their eyes; and there shall he 
 No more death, neither sorrozv, nor 
 Crying, neither shall there he any 
 More pain; for the former things. 
 Are passed azvay:' 
 
 Alleluias, to His Holy Name ! This 
 Day to me was the sublime prophecy 
 Fulfilled ! Closing reverent the sacred 
 Volume, I found my palms and finger tips 
 Aglow with light. To Israefel I held 
 Them forth. 
 
 "Behold !" 
 
 ''Thou seest," he said, "the shining of God's Word 
 From its indwelling truth. 'Tis the sole lamp 
 That lighteth here all temples dedicate 
 To Him ! Hast in thy desk a sheet of white. 
 Translucent paper? Thanks! Tis just the width 
 Required. Watch, while I further demonstrate 
 This principle.'' 
 
106 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 With flying pen he wrote in close concentric 
 Circles the Lord's prayer, then interfolded 
 Deft to fashion of a star that instant 
 A brilliant radiance diffused. 
 Oh ! Wondrous 
 Attestation of Divine Truth! 
 
 "This glory," said Israefel, *'proceedeth 
 From the Word's internal sense." 
 
 V. 
 
 The chambers all save one explored, we now 
 By onyx stairway, softly luminous. 
 To fair rotunda of the lofty dome 
 Ascended,, that at a glance its double 
 Joy, observatory and art studio, 
 Revealed. 
 
 "How magnificent !" I cried, my kindled 
 Eyes sweeping the view. 
 
 He smiled, "Methought thy beauty-loving soul 
 sVould thrill to this." 
 
 " 'Tis a joy unspeakable; and also 
 A master-teacher in perspective." 
 
 Designated Israefel a mountain 
 
 Scene so featured. ''What thinkest of that?" 
 
 "The vistas are marvelous. Thv work?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 107 
 
 ''Nay, 'tis by a former member of this 
 Brotherhood, who gave it me ere passing. 
 'Twas after these perspectives modeled." 
 
 I gazed about me, on the beautiful 
 Creations of brush and chis'l, the studio 
 Adorning. 
 
 "The landscape on thy left," said Israefel, 
 "And its companion, 'Oh, the rocks,' also 
 
 Yon group in marble, 'Love dominating 
 
 Hate and War,' are replica of famous 
 
 Classics." 
 
 "And the rest are thine?" 
 
 "Aye, tho several their truest touches 
 Owe to my inspired master, who on earth 
 Was the great Santi. Conception, and birth, 
 Are to me due, so far as finite souls 
 May arrogate creative thought; but that 
 Pure fire the rash Prometheus 
 
 so dearly 
 Filched I gave not, save to one. Yon blue-eyed 
 Dryad, stepping forth from beech 'n heart, 
 
 was 'neath 
 Mine ardent pencil the fairy-footed 
 May, but lived not, till a master-hand touched 
 Mouth and eyes. That sun on satyr-haunted 
 Wild shone true, but of a sense interior 
 Was dumb, till a magician 
 
 smote the scene. 
 
108 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Revealing in tangled wilderness man's 
 Natural and carnal to spiritual 
 Sun awakening." 
 
 "Thy work amazeth me !'' 
 
 He gave a gesture of dissent. 
 
 "Too many borrowed plumes ! This, my best, claim 
 I entire." 
 
 Approaching a curtained easel, dainty 
 Wrought in aromatic wood, he lifted 
 The silk'n veil, disclosing to my 'stonished 
 Eyes a painting marvelous of her who 
 Led the fleet ! A work of finest 
 
 fancy 
 'Twas, the fair prototype as airy sylph 
 Portrayed, poised o'er a brook-enamored bank 
 Of violets, the spirit suggesting 
 Of their purity and fragrance. 
 No great 
 
 Inspired master of immortal fame might 
 Animate with truer spark creative 
 This living loveliness ! How, sudd'n strident, 
 Scaled he this o'ertopping height? 
 How wrested 
 
 From bays Olympian this crowning laurel 
 Of untimely leaf? I laid in wonder 
 My hand upon his shoulder. 
 
 "Whence this miracle?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 109 
 
 His face illumined as crested hill that greets 
 The sunrise. 
 
 **One holy, uncreated, fire kindleth 
 Alike finite and infinite. The source 
 Of every inspiration and all pow'r, 
 Yea,, the life-force of th' universe 
 
 is Love! 
 Think not this fairest flower of mine art 
 With others of mine easel's garden grew. 
 Like mountain edelweiss, it bloomed alone 
 In purer atmospheres on heights 
 
 beyond 
 This plane. Moments there are — for which we thank 
 The Lord of life and love — when on some mount 
 Of raptured soul transfigured heaven opes ; flames 
 Th' incensed air with angels ; and thought sublimes 
 To sceptered pow'r. Thus was born this picture. 
 She, whom no highest art may e'er 
 
 portray. 
 Is in this world my bride affianced." 
 
 I started, in profound amaze. 
 
 ''Thy bride affianced T' 
 
 "Aye, seemeth it to thee so strange?" 
 
 'Tn sooth, most strange ! Marriage, 
 I understand. 
 Ordained for natural, not spirit life. 
 Earth is to heaven seminal, and blossom 
 
no THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 On the marriage stem prospective angels. 
 The end and purpose thus attained, 
 
 what use 
 Hath wedded state in heaven ?" 
 
 "The same." 
 
 "Thou speak'st in riddles, or methinks 
 some cloud 
 My reason doth befog." 
 
 VI. 
 
 "Use, as thou discernest, is creation's 
 Goal ; but while th' earth is seminal to heaven, 
 And create therefor, is 't not inversely 
 True that heaven is likewise seminal t' earth ?" 
 
 "Not likewise." 
 
 "Aye, like as spirit may be to matter, 
 Or higher,, unto lower. Let me these 
 Earth-clouds from thy thought dispel. 
 The human 
 
 Soul, patterned divine, hath two eternal 
 Principles, distinguished in creation's 
 Morn as male and female. This dual state. 
 Symbol of God's wedded Love and Wisdom, 
 Our whole organic structure doth 
 
 pervade. 
 Take thyself, for instance. Thou hast two brains. 
 Two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, lips and hands. 
 
Tim SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ill 
 
 And thus, throughout thy members. 
 
 Of profound 
 
 Significance this order. That thou'rt man, 
 
 Not woman, is simply, that of thy two 
 
 Electric poles the male was thence project, 
 
 The female lying as 'twere dormant. 
 
 In naught 
 
 Is difference ; save as the one external 
 
 Is, th' other internal, and as the male 
 
 To truth or understanding corresponds,, 
 
 The female, to love or will. Hence, 
 
 th' outer 
 Man is woman ; th' inner woman, man. How 
 Beautiful illumined thus the story 
 Symbolic of woman's birth in Eden ! 
 Marriage, thus demonstrate 
 
 a principle 
 Divine, and in all kingdoms of nature 
 Symbolized, is universal basic 
 Lazv! Destruction of its holy altars 
 Would suns extinguish ; th' animating spark 
 Of nature quench, and th' whole cosmos, 
 
 crumble ! 
 All to its heavenly harmony opposed 
 Is anarchy and death ! The strife of tongues ; 
 The clash of swords ; War with its dread 
 
 offspring 
 Plague and Famine ; th' earthquake's devastating- 
 Fury, and the Storm-wind on its hell-foaled 
 Steed astride, whence are they, and what? 
 Follow 
 Their hissing arteries to flaming source ! 
 
112 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Pause not where earthly science halts ! 
 Press thro 
 
 External nature to the spirit's core ! 
 There, in the dark abode of human hate 
 And lawless lust, the direful realm 
 
 of souls 
 Divorced from divine marriage with their Lord 
 And Maker, shalt thou answer find ! 
 
 In heaven 
 As on earth the wedded state fruition 
 Yields. Children of angelic marriages 
 Are tenderest affections and vital 
 Energies of Good and Truth, whose 
 
 paths grow 
 Lilies, and whose descending effluence 
 Refresheth with spiritual life the spheres 
 Beneath, as Hermon's dew the parch-ed vale." 
 
 VIL 
 
 "Thy revelation doth my soul o'erwhelm ! 
 But how interpretest the Word of God 
 That plainly saith : Tn the resurrection. 
 They neither marry, nor are in marriage 
 Giv'n, but are as the angels?' " 
 
 "No word of God, whether of sacred writ, 
 Or nature's illustrated page, showeth 
 In divine lumen contradictory. 
 The Holy Scriptures are for man 
 
 designed 
 And to his mental growth adapted. How 
 
77//: SUPREMB ADVENTURE. 113 
 
 Speak we to children, save as their infant 
 Thought may grasp? So answered His 
 
 'Little ones ' 
 The patient Jesus. Of marriage in heaven, 
 Its holy uses, and significance. 
 What comprehension had His questioners, 
 Sin-blinded and debased? Neither, might they 
 The truth receive, that souls in spirit life 
 Are by divine creative laiv 
 
 conjoined. 
 And not in marriage giv'n. Wherefore, He sowed 
 Not to profaning folly the crown-pearls 
 Of His kingdom ; but gently their scoffing 
 Chid, replying- only as they understood 
 On plane corporeal." 
 
 "What of the marriages in earthly life 
 Contracted?" 
 
 "The truly wedded of our earth do here 
 Their blest estates renew ; but rarer they. 
 Than flow'rs that bloom 'neath winter's snow. 
 Whom God 
 
 Hath not conjoined are in the spirit- world 
 Dissociate ; their former relationships 
 No more rememb'ring-. While each 
 
 for his own 
 Eternal mate, doth wisdom infinite 
 Ordain, sin hath the true perception closed, 
 Divine adjustment thereby confusing". 
 In the young morning of our race 
 
 psychic 
 8 
 
114 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Selection erred not ; but alas, for earth ! 
 Meet daily now, upon her voyaged deep, look 
 In each other's eyes, and pass as strangers. 
 Souls God created one: Or, if in night 
 Of stormy stress the light'ning\s flash 
 
 doth each 
 Its own reveal, 'tis oft but to be gulfed 
 Again in rayless dark, deeper, alas ! 
 For that one moment's gleam. Let us thank God, 
 We passed ere this our lot, to the blest land. 
 Where love smites on her gold'n harp no falsely 
 Vibrant note,, and marriage bells ring true!" 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Surging emotions held me mute. 
 
 In what 
 
 Lethargic deep slumbered my perception 
 
 That it waked not to some feeble 
 
 glimmer 
 Of this light? How failed I, in the spirit's 
 Clearer vision, to recognize my soul, 
 The half of its divinely imaged being, 
 Whose counterpart, its highest and holiest. 
 Awaited somezvhcrc in God's 
 
 Providence, 
 The moment of magnetic unity, 
 As pole electric, its eternal mate? 
 The bounding blood, sang in mine ears ! 
 Marriage 
 
 For me 'gainst whom the magic gates, that ope 
 Enchanted paths to happy lovers, clanged 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 115 
 
 Harsh at birth? For mc, who made a sealed 
 Sepulcher of all sweet hopes 
 
 and tender 
 Joys that bless the lives of other men, this 
 Crown of heaven's beatitudes? 
 I glanced thro 
 
 Wide flung windows to hills new-glorified. 
 Soul of my soul! Where art thou? In what fair 
 Garden of our Father's many mansions 
 Waiteth our heaven-appointed tryst? 
 For naught 
 
 Throughout th' universe, mountains, rivers, seas, 
 Powers, nor principalities, may bar 
 Me from thee, who wheresoe'er thou dwellest, 
 Art nearer to me than breath to lung, than 
 Heart unto its living pulses ! 
 Waking 
 
 From reverie, my comrade's hand I pressed 
 In gratulation mute, warm with a new 
 And closer sympathy. 
 
 "Tell me," presently I asked, ''what hallowed 
 Place recordeth thy first meeting?" 
 
 He kindled as a live coal breathed upon. 
 
 ''Seest where yon rosy trail of flow'red red almond 
 Flusheth th' eastern shore ? I rowed and sketched there, 
 On the day my young life blossomed. 
 Midway 
 
 The billowed bloom, close to the lapping tide. 
 Nested in reedy covert two milk-white 
 
116 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Swans, and oft I fed the pretty creatures ; 
 But that morn a fairer hand mine office 
 Did usurp. My boat, with noiseless approach, 
 Scarce touched the shore, when screened by 
 
 o'erhanging 
 Masses of wild muscadine, I watching 
 Saw emerge 'neath bushy bloom, first, dainty 
 Foot, then a white arm, bared to sat'n shoulder 
 Of its gauzy vestments by audacious 
 Branches, and anon, thrust through 
 
 the floral 
 Canopy, in aureole of rippling 
 Tresses framed, a face! Dropped from 
 
 my nerveless 
 Hand with idle plash th' oar ! She started, looked, 
 The boat unstayed swung full in view. 
 Grasping 
 
 A drooping osier, I rose in homage 
 To my feet ; mine eyes drank hers, and instant, 
 As leaps in law elective the bolted 
 Lightning, I knew her my soul's eternal 
 Mate, my bride of heaven ordained. 
 A moment. 
 
 As timid dove in woodland cote surprised, 
 She fluttered, sweet confused ; then swift to bow 'red 
 Shades withdrew. Yearning, I called 
 By the dear 
 
 Name, that sprang instinctive as heaven's music 
 To my lips: 'Flee not thyself, Violette ! 
 Speak thou, to thine own soul !' She paused, 
 
 looked back, 
 And loosing from her white throat a cluster 
 
THE SUPREME ADl'ENrURE. 117 
 
 Of her dewy namesakes, tossed them fragrant 
 At my feet. I followed, but the jealous 
 Wood gainst me conspired, and traceless the sward, 
 As 'twere by fairy pressed. Vainly 
 
 I sought 
 Each day the wild swan's nest, and wooded ways 
 Explored. One eve — for thus had my mental 
 Sun declined — I, baffled from fruitless quest, 
 Returning, beheld her thro the purple 
 Gloaming gathering the shy 
 
 arbutus 
 In a mossy dingle. At my approach 
 She flushed and paled alternate, as her sweet 
 Trophies ; but fled not, and there our happy 
 Troth we plighted." 
 
 'Sweet the story !" 
 
 "A sweeter to thy thought shalt thou ere long 
 In turn relate." 
 
 'God speed the day!" 
 
 'His wisdom all things ordereth. We wait 
 His guidance. Wilt bide thee here awhile ? 
 Or art impatient to explore our fair 
 White city?" 
 
 1 long to behold all things the Father 
 Hath for us prepared." 
 
118 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Let us then go hence, unto the street called 
 'Shining.' " 
 
 IX. 
 
 Apt, methought, the christening, as led our way 
 
 Mid palaced splendors, flashing their tow'red 
 
 Glories in the sun, and thro enchanting 
 
 Gardens, symphonies of color, fragrance. 
 
 Singing birds,, and sparkling fountains. 
 
 Of these. 
 
 Where four broad streets converged in terraced bloom, 
 
 A study in classic marble, crowning 
 
 Life-sized th' apex, mine eyes admiring drew. 
 
 A marvel 'twas in trinal harmony, 
 
 Symbolizing in three peerless 
 
 graces 
 Love, Truth and heavenly Use. 
 
 "Whose masterful creation this?" I asked, 
 For at the base it marks of chisel bore. 
 
 " 'Tis not, as doubtless it thee impresseth, 
 Th' offspring of a name illustrious ; but work 
 Of a poor Genoese, to fame unknown; 
 Who in earth life, herded, (ofttimes hungry 
 And half clad), his master's flocks. 
 Loved he well 
 
 This fair fraternity, where his lofty 
 Genius expanded, and ere departing 
 Wrought for 't this splendid tribute." 
 
 ''Knewest him?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 119 
 
 "Nay, save as we know all kindred souls. 
 Passed 
 
 He to heaven long ere I joined this happy 
 Brotherhood." 
 
 Proceeding on our way, we came unto 
 
 A wondrous temple, whence the street its name 
 
 Derived. Its vast magnificence of tow'red 
 
 Alabaster, glittering with countless 
 
 Spires of purest crystal that caught the light 
 
 In dazzling prismatic splendence, 
 
 appeared 
 In the distance, a stupendous jewel, 
 Set in the day-god's flaming gold. 
 
 "No belfry," said Israefel, "this temple 
 Hath, nor are especial hours to w^orship 
 Dedicate. The service is choired music, 
 And the doors are never closed.'' 
 
 "j\Iy heart with thanksgiving and praise is full ; 
 Let us into His presence enter." 
 
 When to the mellowed light mine eyes 
 
 conformed, 
 I saw a great concourse devotional 
 Assembled, and noted, profoundly awed, 
 The symboled splendors of th' inner temple. 
 As ever tends the beautiful in art 
 And nature to its divine archetype. 
 So centered these convergent 
 
 symphonies 
 
120 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Of form and hue in altared holiness, 
 Where lay effulgent 'twixt extended wings 
 Of gold'n cherubim th' open Word. 
 About the shrine no burning incense rose, 
 Yet thrilled the air with aromatic breath 
 Of silent orisons. Kneeling, 1 prayed ; 
 And in that heavenly communion, 
 
 methought 
 She knelt unseen beside me, her head bowed 
 Rev'rent, her hand confidingly in mine. 
 The congregation by another way 
 Dispersed, and following we reached a point 
 Where a broad avenue of stately palms 
 The street transected. There,, o'er a greenly 
 Fronded sea, majestic domed, 
 
 and shining 
 From within as a colossal lamp, stood 
 The resplendent edifice, whence issued 
 So late the cheering concourse who 
 
 greeted 
 My arrival. How long ago, in view 
 Of all my soul's experience it seemed ! 
 
 "This temple," said my comrade, "is devote 
 To study of the Word's internal sense. 
 Our angel instructors are departed,, 
 But ope the doors alway to visitors 
 And such as may desire to read or make 
 Research." 
 
 X. 
 
 The great high-vaulted entrance, 
 triple-spanned 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 121 
 
 By coruscating arcs of flame-blue light, 
 Admitted to a vasty pillared court. 
 Known as the "Court of Lions," prototype. 
 Of that in earth's old Moorish palace, where 
 Twelve of these royal beasts 
 
 the reservoir 
 Of a fountained show'r uphold. The beauty 
 Majestic of this supernal marvel 
 My soul with rev'rent awe inspired, the while 
 Its heavenly symbol I interpreted ; 
 Truth by Divine Pozv'r guarded 
 
 and sustained. 
 Passing the sentry, continued we through 
 Stately corridors and shining archways 
 To chambered splendors ; libraries devote 
 To Causal Science, and studios connect 
 In order serial, each its own subject 
 By appurtenance announcing, 
 
 tho much 
 I saw therein was to me mystery. 
 In one of these a curious device wrought 
 Of transparent crystal my attention 
 Drew, showing two human figures, one closely 
 Within th' other fitting, yet each distinct. 
 
 "What this?" I asked. 
 
 "A vivid exposition 'tis of soul 
 In its relation to the carnal form ; 
 Immortal man to mortal covering 
 Adjust, as hand to glove. 
 How laughable — 
 
122 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Were 't not so pitiful — the pond'rous tomes 
 Of earthly scientists, to demonstrate 
 The soul a viewless volatile, secrete 
 In pulpy cell of carnal brain, 'scaping 
 At death as gas from chemical retort/' 
 
 I smiled, as he continued : 
 
 ''Man's lordly reason hath thro sin become 
 A brok'n compass, leading by inverted 
 Order, to Folly's island. 
 Thus, in his 
 
 Insane philosophy he nature doth 
 With God confuse; endeavoring to prove 
 By labored argument life generate 
 Of death ; mind of matter, cause of effect ; 
 And sceptered love, that rules the universe, 
 Of protoplasmic mire !" 
 
 Passing t' another studio, a life sized 
 Graving of the human form mine eager 
 Inquiry directed. 
 
 'This figure represents," said Israefel, 
 "The conformation of our trinal heaven 
 In its entirety ; as also of each 
 Sep'rate sphere, and each community 
 
 therein, 
 That by derivation from the Divine 
 Human is thus imaged. And this is true, 
 Not of our planetary heaven alone, 
 But that of every shining orb, that wheels 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 123 
 
 Its pathway thro th' infinite. Hence is each 
 Heaven to eye of God as one Grand Man. 
 Yet— 
 
 Oh ! thought, wherein our finite dizzied reels — 
 Is not a pulse-beat of this stupendous 
 System lost! No secret sigh, nor falling 
 Tear,, no upward glancing of th' eye to Him, 
 But doth His tender love and 
 
 providence 
 Command. The hairs of our head are numbered : 
 And marked in His Omniscience the sparrow's 
 Fall'. Time was, when earth's most ancient church this 
 Deep arcanum knew ; but since the soul from 
 Heaven declined, communion with th' angels ceased 
 And perished thus the knowledge. A spark, 
 
 dropped 
 In its passing still lingers on our globe, 
 But disregarded, or held as the dying 
 Flicker of some bygone myth ; and only 
 Children, seeking pictures, ponder 
 
 'the Man,' 
 On page of yearly almanac." 
 
 I smiled amused, recalling my childhood's 
 Old enigma, and the much beclouded 
 Answers to my persistent inquiries. 
 Till now, no light had touched the mystery. 
 Kindled by his subject, he continued: 
 
 'Th' uses, and animating love of heaven's 
 
 Societies, are ever by location 
 
 In corresponding organs of the 'Grand 
 
124 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Man' indicate. They of the head 
 
 excel 
 In wisdom ; the breast, in charity ; th' arms 
 And hands, in pow'r ; the loins, in conjugial 
 Affection ; the lower limbs and final 
 Feet, in lesser, or more external forms 
 Of good and truth. Heaven's angels who 
 
 instruct 
 Us here are in the provinces of head 
 And breast." 
 
 "How marvelous !" 
 
 "Aye, the finite mind some feeble glimmer 
 Of divine government hereby perceives. 
 Bowing in adoring worship our hearts 
 To Him, the 'Grand Man Infinite ' 
 
 of heaven 
 Universal, and holy Archetype 
 Of the soul's perfected manhood." 
 
 XI. 
 
 Profoundly moved, and pond' ring in my breast 
 These wondrous truths, approached we now, beyond 
 The studios, a vast, high vaulted chamber,. 
 The doors whereof were crowned, 
 
 as the temple's 
 Lofty initial portal, with trinal 
 Arcs of coruscating light, tho whiter 
 These than whitest diamond. Faint, from within, 
 A subtle fragrance exquisite exhaled, 
 
THE SUPREMJl .IDl'EXTURE. 125 
 
 That Israefel informed accompanied 
 
 Angels of the second,, or spiritual 
 
 Heaven, ling'ring oft where they had ministered. 
 
 Recalled I the while he spake a dreamy 
 
 Fragrance 'sociate with Gamaliel, not like 
 
 To this, but more as heavenly zephyrs borne 
 
 From some blest Ceylon. 
 
 Involuntary 
 
 Murmur 'scaped me, as 5wept mine eyes amazed 
 
 The gold'n-domed magnificence of this Grand 
 
 Auditory, or Inner Temple, where 
 
 Convolutions vast of gold and purple 
 
 Dais, a billowed sea of gorgeous 
 
 color 
 Rolled, about a jeweled shrine resplendent. 
 On this,, effulgent in its own glory, 
 Lay the Word. 
 
 "Thou seest," said my comrade, "the focal heart, 
 Of this great edifice, whither its main 
 Arteries instructive flow ; for here, th' Word's 
 Internal spirit sense is to our thought 
 Unfolded." 
 
 ''To whom this holy ministry?" 
 
 "Th' angel Zamiel. Oh ! the shining- 
 beauty 
 Of his countenance, reflected from light 
 Unveiled ! Beholding him, I seem to hear 
 As from the sacred Mount, 'Lord let us make 
 
126 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Three tabernacles; one for thee, one for 
 Moses, and one for EHas.' " 
 
 E'en as he spoke, flashed on my soul, 
 
 the deep 
 Significance of words to me so long 
 Obscured ; aye, and to Peter also void, 
 For in that moment of supernal trance, 
 ''He zvat not what he said." 
 'Twas astounding! 
 
 Three tabernacles of the Holy Word! 
 Moses, slow and dull of speech, its letter 
 Or historic narrative. Elias, 
 Its prophetic or inner spiritual 
 Sense, and our transfigured Lord, 
 
 its inmost 
 Celestial Glory! My face t' Israefel 
 Betrayed the sudd'n revelation that smote 
 And kindled it. Smiling, he responded : 
 
 "Full of all sweet and joyful surprises,. 
 The new-reveal-ed Word. So, evermore, ' 
 Shall we behold the pillared cloud uproll 
 Before the pillared fire !" 
 
 ''Haste we by knowledge of th' internal sense 
 The term of our probation here ?" 
 
 "Nay, while the holy Word is the divine 
 Ladder of ascending and descending 
 Angels 'twixt the Father and His children. 
 We haste not heaven of ourselves. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 127 
 
 'Tis love, not 
 
 Wisdom, maketh ready. What, in His sight, 
 
 Our knowledge? What, our righteousness? 
 
 Man's will 
 
 And understanding were in creation's 
 
 Morning happy lovers ; grown now, alas ! 
 
 Inconstant and estranged. Till re-unite 
 
 In heaven's harmony, come not the wedding 
 
 Garment, nor the marriage ring. 
 
 Few so pure, 
 
 They pass direct from earth to heaven. Some, long 
 
 In this probationary sphere abide ; 
 
 Others, briefly tarry, and recordeth 
 
 TwQ our city's register who 
 
 lingered 
 But a day." 
 
 XII. 
 
 Leaving the temple by its eastern gate, 
 We entered a street, that led inviting 
 Thro a verdured park, rich with varieties 
 Of shrubbery, and bright-winged birds, 
 
 unlike 
 All noted hitherto, here, or on th' earth. 
 Much occupied therewith, I saw not, till 
 Thence directed, two near approaching men. 
 The taller — our President — I instant 
 Recognized. His companion, fair of form 
 And feature, a stranger t' our city seemed. 
 Whose gentle speech, tho of the tongue 
 
 common 
 To spirits, impressed mine ear by something 
 
128 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 I knew not what, as foreign. 
 
 Saluting, 
 
 We were intent to pass, but paused, accost 
 
 By our President, who graciously made 
 
 Known his visitor and guest, the Spirit 
 
 Xanthe ; a famed explorer, new-arrived 
 
 From Mars. Breathless with surprise, we scarce found 
 
 Voice to welcome him. 
 
 ''Mars !" echoed Israefel. 
 
 Then I: "Didst say the planet Mars?" 
 
 The stranger's eyes, a searching amber, flashed 
 Amused. 
 
 "Aye ; seemeth it so wonderful ?" 
 
 "Methinks," I laughing said, "one would not view 
 A trip from Mars t' earth,, as an excursion." 
 Whereat, much merriment ensued. 
 
 " 'Tis plain," said Xanthe, "Thou art to spirit 
 Life as new as I unto thy planet. 
 Since time and space, that are but seeming here, 
 Still haunt thy mental vision. 
 The distance 
 
 From Mars to farthest cosmic orb is just 
 The measure of thy thought from its desire." 
 
 "This by some smaller experience I know. 
 And law of atom is the law of orb ; 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 129 
 
 JUit a few hours of wonder-land 
 
 may scarce 
 The mind to Hmitations used prepare 
 For transits that would render tame exploits 
 Of Oberon and Puck." 
 
 "Who are Oberon and Puck?" 
 
 'Tardon me! They are but fairy myths; mere 
 Creatures of earth's fancy." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 "Wert an explorer in the lower life?" * 
 
 Asked Israefel. 
 
 "Yea, a wanderer was I from boyhood. 
 In all countries of my planet, 
 
 howe'er 
 Untried, left I my foot-prints. Th' outer flesh 
 Unfit at last to serve the Spirit's will 
 Dropped to its native dust in Arctic snows. 
 And now in higher spheres am I again 
 By the Lord's goodness permitted f explore." 
 
 "Where in this planet didst the transit make?" 
 
 " 'Twas in the far circumf 'rence of this sphere ; 
 A wild repellent region, by savage 
 Tribes inhabited, known in thy lower 
 World as 'anthropophagi.' Naught 
 
 human 
 9 
 
130 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Beheld I like to them ! Many of both 
 Sexes, new-arrived, danced measures grotesque 
 About great pyres, themselves still in the flesh 
 Believing, and orgies holding to some 
 Monstrous god ! Oh ! I did weep for pity ! 
 Of one — an angel, whose charge they were — 
 
 prayed 
 I to be informed concerning them. Thus, 
 He answered : 
 
 'These are the Father's hapless children who 
 Never heard His name ; on whose dull ears,, used 
 But to cries of desert beasts and war's dread 
 'Larum, fell never the heavenly 
 
 message 
 Of peace and good-will to men ; yet, who red 
 With blood of fetich altars grope to Him 
 Blindly. Unshap'n blocks are they, 
 
 from darksome 
 Quarry of our earth rough hewn. Nay, weep not ! 
 But wait ye the Divine Sculptor ! 
 Chis'led, 
 
 After similitude of a palace. 
 Shall we behold them set in the Holy 
 City of the Lamb's Bride !' " 
 
 "To Thee, Oh ! Lord, do we give thanks !" murmured 
 Our President. 
 
 Xanthe in rev'rent silence bowed his head 
 Ere he continued : 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 131 
 
 XIV. 
 
 "Thence inward proceeded I, thro varied 
 Belts idolatrous, and lands by higher 
 Forms of faith illumed, reaching- interior 
 The Christian nations, who in accordance 
 With religious truth approach the centre." 
 
 ''How, in that thou hast explored, compareth 
 Earth with Mars?" 
 
 ''Where diff'rence is so radical we scarce 
 Comparison may draw. This Paradise, 
 That doth my soul delight, and where in sweet 
 Accord I fain would linger, 
 
 resembleth 
 Much a fair angelic plane in Mars, though 
 In other belts distinct opposed as light 
 And shade,, or states internal to externe. 
 Thy planet — as mayhap thou art aware — 
 Is of the Grand Cosmic Man 
 
 th' ultimate. 
 Thus most exterior, or in descending 
 Scale of spiritual life, farthest removed ; 
 Nath'less, as in all ultimates, the base 
 And residence of pow'r. In thy Scriptures, 
 'Tis 'The Lord's footstool' called. 
 For this primal 
 
 Cause, and also since 'Alpha' must become 
 'Omega,' 'twas the chos'n theater of man's 
 Redemption." 
 
132 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE, 
 
 *' 'Tis in part a thought new to me,," I said, 
 "But clearly its profound significance 
 I now perceive." 
 
 "What in this middle world," said Israefel, 
 "Hath most impressed thee?" 
 
 "Its many divisions of the Christian 
 Church, and grievous decadence from Divine 
 Truth. For lesser faith, and more external state, 
 Was I prepared; but not in sooth for this! 
 So numerous their diff'rent names and creeds, 
 I ceased to take of them further 
 
 account ; 
 Their public worship I could not attend 
 For that they Deity profane divided 
 In three personal, co-equal Gods, who 
 Claimed they (contradictory) as one. This 
 Monstrous falsity my heart 
 
 affected,, 
 Followed by cold dew and respiration 
 Labored, compelling my swift departure. 
 Sorrowed my soul exceedingly o'er these 
 Declensions from the faith." 
 
 " 'Tis a fulfilment of prophecy," said 
 Our President : 
 
 " 'They parted my raiment among'st them, 
 And for my venture, they did cast lots.' 
 
 Mark ye; of these was one ivovn unthout seam! 
 A day cometh — for mouth of the Lord hath 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 133 
 
 Spok'n it — when Zion's children shall at one 
 
 Altar kneel ! Earth's old external church, torn 
 
 By discordant elements and sapped thro 
 
 Ingrown falsities of spiritual life, 
 
 Is passing; and ere another cycle 
 
 Roll, the new-revealed truth, whose tender 
 
 Plants are putting forth their leaves 
 
 for healing 
 Of the nations, shall spread its deathless roots 
 From pole to pole." 
 
 ''What meanest, by 'new-reveal-ed truth ?' " 
 
 "Our Word's new-oped internal sense; the which 
 Our Master's second coming signals." 
 
 Xanthe looked up surprised. 
 
 "Thy Scriptures," he said, ''are writ 
 in symbols, 
 Th' earliest of languages methought connate ; 
 But as I now perceive quite lost to earth 
 That doth interpretation literal 
 Require, adapted to more external 
 State, and in agreement with 
 
 location 
 In the Grand Cosmic A Tan. Followed mighty 
 Changes the rending of this spiritual 
 Veil? Such, by influx from angelic heaven, 
 W^3uld inevitable seem." 
 
 "Aye. Earth, belike a slumb'ring giant, waked 
 
134 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Revivified. Mountains,, symbol sublime 
 Of heaven's truth, yielded as in enchanted 
 Story long hidd'n treasures. Seas, 
 
 blindly ruled. 
 Gave gleaming forth from billowed depths riches 
 Bewild'ring ; while lordly science, thrilling 
 With new birth, flashed round the globe 
 
 its messaged 
 Lightnings, and wresting from air its wing-ed 
 Secrets, called greetings voiceful o'er awestruck 
 Continents ! Yea, every form of human 
 Progress took up its harp and smote a new 
 Triumphant chord. 'Oh, wond'rous age !' 
 
 th' wide eyed 
 Nations cry. 'Oh, marvelous awakening!' 
 Proclaim the sages ; yet seeing they behold 
 Not, nor hearing understand. Few as yet 
 Th' astounding verity perceive, that earth 
 The cycle of a mighty spiritual 
 Change is entering, the which, 
 
 by contrast 
 With its vivid external progress, would 
 Seem eclipsing darkness of all that doth 
 To Christian hope pertain ; for war, 
 
 fiercer. 
 And more destructive than e'er in former 
 History recorded, our hapless orb 
 Convulseth." 
 
 "Alas ! Wherefore this dread calamity ?" 
 Asked Xanthe. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ul 
 
 "Evil and good, truth and falsity, dwell 
 Not together without war, for God must 
 Reign, and man by his own evils be made 
 To see, suffer, and of free zvill 
 
 renounce. 
 Ere fitted to receive God's cleansing truth. 
 More vital the deadly hold of sin, more 
 Direful the dread upheaval. Thus is war 
 Th' awful reck'ning day of Hell, 
 
 that, breeding 
 Monsters, is of its own vile progeny 
 Devoured. But grieve we not as they, who thro 
 This ghastly issue see not the ruling 
 Hand divine, nor know that a day 
 
 dawneth 
 When nations drunk with blood and hellish hate 
 Shall from their murd'rous madness wake at last 
 To recognize themselves, not jungle-beasts 
 Of fierce-fanged rapine, but men and brothers; 
 Children of our Common Father, 
 
 at whose 
 Feet, earth contrite, shall the benediction 
 Of His peace receive with new baptismal 
 Glory of His Spirit's pentecostal 
 Fire." 
 
 XV. 
 
 A moment's thoughtful silence fell, wherein 
 Gay tropic birds thro greenish shadow flashed, 
 Or called afar to wand'ring mates. Then, 
 Spake I to Xanthe : 
 
136 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "I comprehend not why ancient pagans 
 Of our earth thy more internal planet 
 Did personify as 'War;' or wherefore 
 'Tis still by present day astrologers 
 Our astral foe regarded. 
 A fiery 
 
 Light it hath, but other orbs give forth like 
 Flaming rays." 
 
 He smiled. ''Methinks no planet doth exist 
 
 More peaceable than Mars, since war we know 
 
 Not, nor its diabolic arts. 
 
 Whate'er 
 
 In apposition orbital hostile 
 
 Or repellent seems, is but th' attitude 
 
 In each of mental planes dissimilar. 
 
 This, with its ruddy light 
 
 by solar rays 
 Refracted, the idea of war mayhap 
 Suggested !" 
 
 "Aye, doubtless this psychic disagreement, 
 Rather than spacial distance, 
 
 explaineth 
 Th' oft repeated failures of our learned 
 Scientists to send on wings electric 
 A merry 'Good-morning !' to our neighbor." 
 
 ''Nay, while conditions opposite repel, 
 Earth's failure to reach us hath another 
 Cause; absence of telegraphy in Mars." 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 137 
 
 "Telegraphy unknown in Mars?" 
 
 ''Nay, not unknown, but unemployed. 
 Little 
 
 Or naught care we for arts and sciences 
 External. In such — from information 
 Gleaned of spirits here — earth doth our planet 
 Far excel. T' advancement psychic, 
 
 rather 
 Than material our efifort we direct." 
 
 "What hast in lieu of our telegraphy?" 
 
 "Thought transmission, accompanied by shade 
 Or limbus of the messenger, that being 
 Of finest earthly substances composed 
 Is to the eye apparent." 
 
 "How wonderful ! 'Tis with our scientists 
 As yet a dream." 
 
 "A dream we confidently may predict 
 Will soon be realized. Rung by rung mount 
 We th' eternal ladder of evolving 
 Spirit, and to what heights sublime 
 
 man may 
 On earth thro rolling centuries attain, 
 Who save th' Omniscient shall declare? 
 Recordeth our planet many wondrous 
 Instances of holy servants, 
 
 who while 
 In body carnal were in the spirit 
 
138 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 To realms beyond the bars of time and space 
 Admit." 
 
 "Similar, the records of our Sacred 
 History," responded the President, 
 
 "But chief on earth of God-illumined souls 
 That psychic marvel, and phenomenon 
 Of the New Ag^e, renowned as Swedenborg, 
 Whose inspiration and pow'rs 
 
 supernal 
 No seer of Holy Writ e'er paralleled. 
 Sage in lower life,, savant in heaven, dwelt 
 He,, ambigenous, in two distinctive 
 Worlds, companion of spirits and angels 
 For twenty-seven years." 
 
 "Astounding ! What his divine commission ?" 
 
 "To herald the Master's advent, 
 And the new dispensation of the Word's 
 Internal or spiritual sense reveal; 
 Also, since man's development required 
 To drop the mystic veil that 
 
 terrorized 
 His false conception of the life beyond, 
 'Twas needful a mortal of God prepared 
 Should th' unseen worlds explore." 
 
 Xanthe kindled. 
 
 "Profoundly thou interestest me ! Hast 
 Published memoirs of his journeyings?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 139 
 
 ''Aye, much of exploration hath he writt'n ; 
 Also, labors Herculean in psychic 
 Science and philosophy. His volumes 
 In my library have honored place. Wilt 
 Accept them, they are thine." 
 
 "Thanks, gratefully! I shall each one enjoy, 
 But chiefly his explorations, that though 
 Mayhap in realms my rudimental state 
 Admits not, shall my wanderings instruct." 
 
 "He visited thy planet, and others 
 Of our solar system ; also, cosmic 
 Orbs to us unknown.'' 
 
 "More and more, thou prick'st in me 
 a livelier 
 Interest. How hath thine earth this wondrous 
 Revelation of new truth received?" 
 
 "Never, without conflict, hath Divine Truths 
 Its shining star-seed on our planet sown. 
 Some, as in the Master's former advent, 
 Gladly believe, tho vaster numbers 
 
 shoot 
 Out the lip contemptuous, crying 'impostor' 
 Or 'insane' while others, by old doctrine 
 Panoplied, shut as 'twere profane their ears. 
 Yet watching angels patient abide, 
 
 knowing 
 The day long prophesied to earth is here, 
 And tho she struggle in th' arms that tender 
 
140 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Her faithlessness enfold, she shall at last 
 
 Upon His Breast in recognition ci*y : 
 'My Lord, and My God!' " 
 
 ''Grant we may behold it soon, O Christ !" 
 
 prayed 
 Xanthe, and with one voice, we fervent breathed 
 "Amen!" 
 
 Said Israefel, whose thoughtful eyes Xanthe 
 Regarded : 
 
 "While much we do rejoice thou didst our earth 
 Desire to explore, wherefore — if I may 
 Ask — turned not thy primal thought 
 
 to belted 
 Saturn, or four-niooned Jupiter, rather 
 Than to this least of planets?" 
 
 "Least, aye, and greatest! For on this little 
 Globe, 'mid weeping angels, and hosannahs 
 Of triumphant hosts celestial, 
 
 transpired 
 Events the most stupendous of human 
 History ! Here th' infinite Jehovah 
 Was incarnate ! Here lived and gave His life 
 For love the mightiest of heroes ! 
 Here 'gainst 
 
 Powers, and principalities of hell, 
 And for issues, the magnitude whereof 
 The finite mind may not conceive, 
 
 was fought 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 141 
 
 And won a battle that thrilled th' universe, 
 And theme of themes shall be of every orb 
 That rings its glorias adown th' infinite ! 
 What Saturn after this? What Jupiter? 
 Oh ! how oft, I watched this little star,, 
 
 praying 
 I might some day in spirit stand upon 
 Its consecrated sod. The Lord's goodness 
 Hath my soul answered. Here, where 
 
 His Bless-ed 
 Feet once trod, where to dying thief His promise 
 He fulfilled, lift I unto His holy 
 Mountains my adoring eyes, waiting th' hour 
 When 'face to face ' I shall behold Him !" 
 
 Silent,, with profound emotion I clasped 
 
 His hand. Ah ! sweet the brother-love in Christ 
 
 United ! 
 
 ''Nay, leave us not," urged Xanthe, when later. 
 
 We reluctant bade adieu : 
 ''Our errand 
 
 The city's exploration ; if thine, why 
 
 Part we company?" 
 
 "Thanks ! Happily co-incident our plans. 
 Let us then together wend our way." 
 
 Too long my story would I our wond'rous 
 Wanderings relate, or all we in sweet 
 Interchange of thought discussed 
 that happy 
 
142 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Day. Xanthe, to whom each form of beauty 
 Spake a language divine,, had in our fair 
 White city much delight, oft lingering 
 To sketch with explorer's pad and rapid 
 Pencil some mountain vista, or templed 
 Glory, that to his keen artistic sense 
 Appealed. On our return the President 
 Consented not our company we break, 
 'Till of his festal cheer we had 
 
 partak'n ; 
 For while no weariness in spirit-life 
 As on th' earth we know, the soul its seasons 
 Of refreshing hath. Princely 
 
 the mansion. 
 That with music silver-stringed our entrance 
 Greeted, and soon the spacious chambers thronged 
 With guests for heavenly wisdom eminent, 
 Of whom rejoiced I to meet in social 
 Converse the learn-ed judges, whose 
 
 recent 
 Ruling chronicled my happy soul's first 
 Victory thro' faith. So close affiliate 
 Xanthe with our fraternity, he seemed — 
 Apart from such small diff'rence, as manner 
 Of speech alien betrays — a citizen 
 Of our own communal, rather than one 
 From distant planet new-arrived. 
 Magnet 
 
 Amid the shining galaxy he drew 
 All thought, till later by the President's 
 Request Israefel to hush expectant rendered 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 143 
 
 With thrilling pow'r and sweetness, 
 
 thro the deep 
 Viol's low breathed following-, that joyous 
 Canzonet of th' inspired bard : 
 
 ''How beautiful upon the mountains T 
 
 Thereafter, by strains orchestral ushered, 
 Our host with Xanthe to the banquet led. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 How may I, to earth's grosser sense, 
 
 that feast 
 Describe? Yet tho my lute 
 Unworthy fail, or purer notes that find 
 On lower plane no echo die unsung, 
 Must I my heaven-appointed task 
 
 pursue. 
 Thro fountained court, rich in mosaic beauty, 
 Passed we to a terraced loggia, fronting 
 The vistaed Highlands, where gala roses 
 Drooped in mazed festoons from pillared crystal. 
 And lacy drap'ries, wrought 
 
 as of mountain 
 Mist and woodland shadows, swayed on th' incensed 
 Air to music dreamy. Glittered midway 
 The festal scene a splendent banquet-board 
 Of gold-traced crystal, surmount with 
 
 luscious 
 Fruits and dewy orchids, vying vermeil-lipped 
 Above a nectarous repast ; compounds 
 
144 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Of creamy nuts and honeyed-nard of flow'rs 
 Prepared ; dainties, light as hoar-frost, 
 
 of heaven's 
 Manna ; conserves of deUcious fruits, t' earth 
 Unknown, pooled in pellucid syrups rose 
 And amber ; melons, ribbed deep in pulpy 
 Crimson, green and gold, that riped not 
 
 to sun 
 Nor dew ; and miracles ambrosial, such 
 As no cunning art t' appetite enslave^ 
 Hath e'er conceived. Central amid these joys, 
 A miniature fount of pure rubescent 
 Wine flashed high a fragrant shaft 
 
 of Hquid 
 Light, that broad'ning at the crest a carmined 
 Lily formed, ere to jeweled chalice 'twas 
 Returned, a bubbling show'r. 
 
 "Let us,'' said our host, "give thanks, 
 and humbly 
 Pray, that He who knoweth and provideth 
 For our need, may thro these heavenly symbols 
 Of his divine our souls with grace infil." 
 
 As worshipful we bowed, I seemed to hear 
 Again by ivied window of th' old home 
 Church, while the warm sun thro Gothic pane shed 
 Amethystine glory on th' op'n Word, sweet 
 Voices of the choired children, intoning 
 Clear : 
 
 "Who crowneth thee with loving kindness, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 145 
 
 And tender mercies. Who saiisHeth thy 
 Mottth ivith good things, so that thy youth 
 Is rcneivcd as the cagles's." 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Not, as in banquets of the lower life, 
 
 Attendant service we required, for that 
 
 We chose the spirit's magic instant served, 
 
 Or traceless at a thought dismissed. 
 
 As roves 
 
 The honey-bee, fickle of choice. 
 
 Mid rival colors and contesting sweets, 
 
 So mine eyes the nectared feast, Israefel 
 
 Meanwhile observant. His face 
 
 illumined. 
 When from a gold'n candelabrum, entwined 
 With grapes, tinct in varieties of purple, 
 Emerald, and glowing sardius, my final 
 Choice, a miracle of pris'ned flame, declared. 
 
 "No seer am I," he smiling said, "nathless. 
 Thy preference my thought divined." 
 
 ''For that it was thine own?" 
 
 ''Nay, for psychic reasons more interior. 
 In spirit life; our attitude in all 
 Things, great or small, is by the ruling-love 
 Determined ; and tho that love the Father 
 Only knoweth, something of its 
 
 hidd'n plane 
 10 
 
146 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Is manifest to kinship true. The deep 
 Significance of these blood-tinctured grapes, 
 Linked correspondent with thy secret spring 
 Of thought and voHtion,, governed 
 
 thy choice. 
 In this blest sphere, the sensories are heaven's 
 Harps, ever to symbolic harmonies 
 Attuned. But sin doth this divine accord 
 Destroy, changing to dissonance. Organs 
 Of taste, perverted thus, would then delights 
 Repugnant find." 
 
 "Repugnant? These?" I crushed a fragrant globe 
 Between my lips. 
 
 "Aye, this I once saw plainly demonstrate. 
 A number of wand'ring gypsies, newly 
 From earth arrived, and seeking diversion. 
 Hither came. On their return they rudely 
 Our orange-groves, freighted as now 
 
 with gold'n 
 Fruit, despoiled. I smile whene'er the comic 
 Picture I recall, of their voracious 
 Greed, and swift discomfiture, 
 
 all hurling 
 Afar their wanton plunder, or trampling 
 Under foot disgusted." 
 
 "A punishment as wondrous as grotesque." 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 147 
 
 XIX. 
 
 **Is not the same principle in earth-life 
 Shown? To jaundiced eye all things 
 
 are jaundiced ; 
 Revolteth lip fevered from food healthful, 
 And clamor such as would rack thy shrinking 
 Ear affecteth savage as music sweet. 
 Thus ever is sense to state obedient ; 
 Tho more on earth unto intelligence 
 Conformed, while here 'tis as the love 
 
 alone 
 Determineth, of self or of the Lord. 
 These festal dainties no heavenly products 
 Are, of season,, clime, nor spirit's mystic 
 Art, but instant of divine pow'r 
 
 create, 
 Thro love and truth received into our souls. 
 And thence in symbolic forms projected. 
 What fruiteries, by gold'n suns and silver 
 Rains caressed, may vie in tint 
 
 or flavor 
 With these clustered glories, fresh from divine 
 Creative thought, or pulpy miracles, 
 Such as thou strip'st of downy tegument?" 
 
 *'Nay, they transcend comparison ; and what 
 Is wonderful, within each fruit, methinks 
 I do a subtle quality perceive. 
 Distinct from taste or fragrance, 
 
 and rarer 
 Far than either. Something ineffable ! 
 Divine! Is 't thus manifest to thee?" 
 
148 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 He smiled. "Aye, 'tis th' interior celestial 
 Sphere, pervading exquisite this heavenly 
 Feast, and readily of thee discerned since 
 Correspondent with thy psychic plane ; else 
 'Twere to thy senses wholly unperceived. 
 Such the divine relationship 
 
 of soul 
 To type and symbol, that here partaking, 
 We shall go forth infused with higher life, 
 And strengthened in all righteousness." 
 
 Later, the banquet o'er, our gracious host 
 With upraised hand the hum of voices stilled ; 
 Holding on high a gold'n beaker filled from 
 The ruby fount. 
 
 "Let us," he said, *'in this blest symbol, our 
 Love and faith repledge to Him, 
 
 'Who satisfieth the longing soul. 
 
 And Ulleth the hungry soul zmth goodness.' " 
 
 Rev'rent we responded, drinking as they 
 At Cana's feast wine heaven-brewed ; 
 
 and blessing 
 His holy Name, who in the "better wine" 
 Set forth the glories of his spiritual 
 Word. Then passed the "Loving Cup" 
 
 (a custom 
 New to Xanthe) at touch whereof our hearts 
 In sweet fraternal joys communed ; 
 And now. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 149 
 
 As 'neath enchanter's potent rod, vanished 
 All traces of the princely banquet ; while 
 From the crystal board an efflorescent 
 Vapor purpureal arose, filling th' air 
 With aromatic fragrance, th' incensed type 
 And offering of consecrated souls. 
 
PART III 
 
 The whir of ring-doves passing my window 
 Waked me from sleep. To souls in spirit-life, 
 Whom unseen ministries for heaven prepare,, 
 Come seasons introspective, 
 
 succeeded 
 By states of humility profound, when 
 Best within us shadowed seems with selfhood. 
 And sense of all unworthiness shuts heaven 
 From our hope. Such yestermorn 
 
 my chastening. 
 Thereafter sweet peace had kissed mine eyelids 
 Down, and restful as child on mother-breast 
 I slept. Aroused by wing-ed stir, I lay 
 A dreamy moment, watching the sun sketch 
 Leafy frescoes on my chamber walls ; then 
 Sprang from couch, threw wide the half -drawn 
 
 shutters, 
 And at th' op'n casement stood, drinking 
 
 the view. 
 Sparkled the hill-sides like cut emerald: 
 The racing white-caps, pursued by sportive 
 Lapwing, played 'gainst th' irised rocks for highest 
 Their silv'ry spray, and a crisp breeze, 
 
 freighted 
 With blossomed almond, fanned my cheek. 
 Oh ! fair 
 Blest day, forc'er in memory enshrined ! 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE, 151 
 
 "Thou art a mirror of this shining morn !" 
 Said Israefel', who from his chamber door 
 My coming greeted. ** Sweet sleep, hath of thee 
 Made a very Phoebus !" 
 
 I laughed. ''Singeth for me to-day the whole 
 Glad world! Slept I long?" 
 
 "Aye, past Zophar's lecture, and th' art class." 
 
 "I would thou hadst awakened me." 
 
 "Wherefore? We are not pensioners of time, 
 Thou hast eternity before thee. Then 
 Too, God's angel bringeth sleep, and none save 
 He awak'neth. Thy picture of David 
 The Shepherd King, wrestling with the lion 
 For his hillside flocks, our great Art-Master 
 Praised." 
 
 The quick blood tingled from my heart to cheek. 
 "Thanks, for the joyful message!" 
 
 A boyish way he had with me of walking 
 Arm about my shoulder. Together thus 
 Entered we the breakfast chamber, 
 
 fragrant 
 With tempting fruits and fresh-culled daffodils, 
 Where cups we poured of some delicious cheer 
 To earth unknown. 
 
 "A famous tenor entertains this morn, 
 At Music Hall. Inclinest thither?" 
 
152 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Nay, hungers my soul to-day for nature's 
 Thousand voices ; for orchestra of winds 
 And woods and rushing streams, 
 A call as 'twere 
 
 Insistent. What say'st to a ramble thro 
 The hills?" 
 
 ''Naught more to me appealeth, but promised 
 Am I for Music Hall. Mayhap, I join 
 Thee after." 
 
 Hark'ning a well-known signal from without, 
 He waved adieu, and with a merry band 
 Departed. Their light, elastic voices 
 Still lingered in th' air, when sought I, eager 
 As schoolboy on a happy 
 
 holiday. 
 The harbor gate. O'erhead from blossomed bough 
 Came vibrant clear the red robin's mating 
 Call, and on my breast the rose 
 
 still dewy 
 Fresh, as when it fell a flaming tribute 
 At my feet, breathed witching fragrance ; 
 For fade 
 
 Not flow'rs in this magic land, tho vanish 
 They oft thro change of state. 
 
 I. 
 
 A rowboat decked 
 
 In colors of our order danced the wave ; 
 I sprang in lightly, grasped th' oars, 
 and sped far 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 153 
 
 Out thro rippling silver to th' eastern hills, 
 Where, coasting close, gigantic palisades 
 Of forest brawn, that gripped with 
 
 gnarl-ed roots 
 The mossy sod, and densely interlaced 
 With vine, and thicket, wove to the lapping 
 Waters a native fortress, challenging 
 Invasion. Intent this forest fastness 
 T' explore, and searching where least 
 
 resistance 
 My entrance offered, I drifted slowly 
 Thro pellucid emerald, while gay-winged 
 Birds flamed in green canopies, and timid 
 Fauna anon from leafy covert peered. 
 Ere long a pretty creature, 
 
 velvet-eyed, 
 Thrust shy thro scarlet tangle a milk white 
 Head, and presently, with quick'ning pulses, 
 I discerned th' outlines of a young gazelle, 
 All spotless as its snowy myrtle bow'rs. 
 Eager for capture, my boat 
 
 in verdant 
 Ambuscade I noiseless drew, observant. 
 Once, to mine eyes, 'twas lost ; then reappeared, 
 And soon, thro myrtle thicket that o'ergrew 
 The marge, I saw my pretty quest 
 
 descend 
 And drink. The fortress gate was now revealed, 
 And more ; for round the small white neck, so near. 
 My boat's cord and I wished had noosed it, 
 
 gleamed 
 In the sun a slender band of jeweled 
 
154 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Gold. The prize I sought was clearly captive 
 Of a fairer hand. My heart stirred 
 
 strangely 
 As it questioned "whose?" Moved now by impulse 
 Deeper than sends th' wild bee on its honeyed 
 Quest, the swift-winged swallow southward, 
 
 I vowed 
 To follow where my woodland pilot led. 
 Slaking at cautious intervals its thirst, 
 The graceful creature raised anon its head. 
 Pink-dilate nostril, eye and ear alert, 
 Thro dreamy silence, voiceful with 
 
 lapping 
 Wave, and rippling forestry. In fruited 
 Branch directly o'er me a paroquet, 
 So glossy green one scarce knew if 'twere bird 
 Or leaf, tugged at a choice spray with horny 
 Beak, wrenching it from the bough ; 
 
 but missing 
 Reward of its persistence, as plashing 
 Noisy beside me fell the clustered prize. 
 The doe started, my hiding place at once 
 Espied and vanished with a bound. 
 Quickly 
 
 I followed, tethered in haste my little 
 Bark, and up the shrubby steep sped nimbly. 
 Alas ! my hoped-for guide had disappeared, 
 As 'twere th' airy changeling of a tricksome 
 Sprite! Vainly the turf for tiny 
 
 hoof-prints 
 Searching, I now a narrow trail descried 
 Threading the forest tortuous, and opening 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 155 
 
 A prodigal luxuriance of tropic 
 
 Wild, that from its vivid splendor a sphere 
 
 Of warm, magnetic life diffused, 
 
 seeming 
 At times half human. This, the symbolic 
 Link, methought, 'twixt man and nature, 
 That though 
 
 On earth obscurely sensed, and ever veiled 
 In mystery, peopled her ancient woods 
 With dryads, satyrs, nymphs, and fauns, 
 
 her seas 
 With shell-wreathed tritons, and her mountain heights 
 With sceptered deities. Each footstep 
 
 probing 
 The forest heart trod fuller arteries 
 Of sylvan life and flora, more subtly 
 Sentient revealed. Somewhere, not far beyond. 
 Came muffled thunder of falling torrent, 
 Deep'ning reverberate with my approach. 
 
 II. 
 
 And now sweet nature smote her harp anew 
 To strain majestic. Billowed the teeming 
 Earth abrupt in lofty hills and densely 
 Wooded subsidence of Highland range, 
 
 whence 
 A thin line of silvVy mist the torrent's 
 Course denoted. Thither, my ascending 
 Way I wound, entering a deep ravine, 
 Musky with wild blossomed grape, 
 
 and vibrant 
 
156 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 With shock of the bold mountain stream, that rushed 
 Tempestuous adown the slope to bow'red tryst ; 
 But of its bouldered barriers impatient, 
 Deflected left-ward, and plunging 
 
 headlong 
 Thro yawning scissure, fell thund'rous below 
 In glen sequestered. Kneeling, I fashioned 
 Of my hands a cup, and of the crystal 
 Tide drank deep. How cold and pure, 
 
 the sparkling 
 Draught ! How pregnant of divine causation. 
 Heavenly Truth ! The summit scarce I reached, when 
 In thicket berry-laden a gleam of white 
 Revealed the doe. A startled moment, eyeing 
 Me it stood, then bounded forward, 
 
 gamboled 
 At my side,, and in its boisterous delight 
 Had shredded from my breast the crimson rose. 
 But that the pretty pet I held aloof 
 Till its glad demonstrations ceased. 
 What meant, 
 
 This altered attitude? Was I for some 
 Familiar forester mistaken ? Pond'ring 
 Amused and curious th' eccentric humor, 
 I slipped my fingers neath the banded gold. 
 Turning it careful in the greenish light 
 For mark of ownership. Discerned I none, 
 But flashed methought responsive 
 
 to my touch 
 The jeweled clasp, a blood-red Sardius, 
 Cut as a Damask rose. Involved the fair 
 Design no sweet significance ? Was this 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 157 
 
 Idyllic venture merest chance? Breeze, 
 
 leaf, 
 And droning bee, seemed murm'ring remembered 
 Words : ''Chance is earth's coinage, meaningless here. 
 All things are ordered, by the Love Divine." 
 Sudd'nly, the doe halted ; head forward 
 
 thrust, 
 And ears pricked keen, in list'ning attitude. 
 Naught heard I save the wind and rushing stream ; 
 But nature's forest-child caught other sounds ; 
 And joyous, as answ'ring some well-known call, 
 Sped, leaping light as thistle-down from view. 
 
 III. 
 
 The path, obscurely climbing the ravine, 
 
 Was at the summit lost in turfy growth ; 
 
 But here and there small hoof-prints guidance gave. 
 
 Intent, I these pursued, pausing 
 
 at times 
 Amazed and half -awed by this majestic 
 Forest rolling eastward. Unlike the wood 
 So lately passed, these terraced heights, 
 
 billowed 
 By nature in some larger thought, were void 
 Of thicket-wood ; th' eye sweeping thro serried 
 Ranks of giant boles that, like dark Druid 
 Men of old'n tale, guarded with knotty brawn 
 Their templed fastness. The free, hill-cradled 
 Stream, by native ramparts pent, tore 
 Sinuous 
 Its rugged way, here foaming tempestuous 
 
158 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 O'er jutting rocks ; there, leaping dizzily 
 From ledge to ledge, chanting t' applauding 
 
 cliffs 
 Its song of victory. Following these 
 Changeful moods, I entered now another 
 Broad defile rent thro the headland's heart 'twixt 
 Frowning crags, that seeming would with bouldered 
 Catapult resent the yawning scissure. 
 But for the laughing sunshine, and strong arms 
 Of greenly climbing plants that hugged them 
 
 close, 
 And laid wami-petaled lips in protest gainst 
 Their roughened cheeks, as tho they secret leagued 
 With nature for a vasty fernery, 
 And won. Rippled the whole ravine with these 
 Fair plumed and dew-spent children 
 
 of the wild; 
 Not like their ruder sisters of th' earth — save 
 In such structure as to kind relateth — 
 But exquisite, as elf-land shadows, 
 
 tinct 
 As th' elusive iris that hides in clefts, 
 Or haunts the vapored hollows. Here, ling' ring 
 With ardent love of all things 
 
 beautiful. 
 I seemed to hear,, faint as from distance borne, 
 The vibrant notes of some stringed instrument. 
 Again ! And now, tho fainter still, again ! 
 Mounting a projecting ridge, 
 
 I list'ning 
 Stood. A lute ! Aye, by the touch, a ivomans 
 Lute ! And not as methought afar, but dimmed 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 159 
 
 To distance by the torrent's roar. Swiftly 
 Descending", th' elf-like music now my guide, 
 I followed the broad'ning ravine 
 
 neath grove 
 Of fruited trees, t' earth unknown, glimpsing thro 
 Verdant rifts red-tufted polls of gold-green 
 Cockatoos, eyeing me askance as gravely 
 My invasion of their woody ramparts 
 Questioning. Of these gay-coated 
 
 troopers 
 A bold captain, who without dela} would 
 Settle the debate, dropped from his airy 
 Barracks like a blazing torch, and perching 
 On rocky parapet, stretched down a much 
 Beruffled neck of anxious 
 
 scrutiny ; 
 Then back to watching comrades flamed, raucous 
 His decree proclaiming. Presumably 
 Acquitted I amused my way pursued, 
 Reaching to left a gaping interval 
 Of bouldered 'scarpment, showing 
 
 precipitous 
 Below a dimpled dell, so fair 'twould seem 
 Nature designed it as a trysting-place 
 For all her countless lovers ; where gold'n light, 
 And velvet shadows ever chased, and where 
 In wild rose coverts swift-footed faun might 
 Hide and seek with wood-nymph play, 
 
 or flow'r-capped 
 Fairy dance with laughing elf to music 
 Of Pan's reeds. As thus I dreamed, a fateful 
 Pebble by my step displaced rolled bounding 
 
160 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Down the steep, falling audibly below. 
 Instant, wraith-like from ferny brake 
 
 appeared 
 The white gazelle, that after a moment's 
 Keen espial vanished, I saw not where. 
 The music also had ceased to guide. Missed 
 I in these echoed hills the trail? 
 Perplexed 
 
 I stood, when presently, so vibrant near, 
 My pulses leaped, again the lute ! And now 
 Th' unseen minstrel sang — 
 
 "Wind of the perfumed-haunted isles 
 That dream in southern seas. 
 Sweet wanderer of velvet wing. 
 
 Wafting love's messages, 
 Come to my woodland bow'r, 
 Come 'tis the mystic hour,, 
 And whisper to me, 
 To me! 
 
 Singeth the silver nightingale 
 
 In blossomed myrtle snow, 
 And evermore he saith to me 
 
 In tuneful cadence low, 
 'The south-wind bloweth maid'n. 
 And fairy ships love-lad'n. 
 Are sailing to thee. 
 To thee.' 
 
 Bird of my waiting soul rejoice ! 
 Thy sweetest measure pour. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 161 
 
 For the south-wind showers blossoms 
 
 As he whispers from the shore, 
 'A white sailed bark lies gleaming 
 In harbor of thy dreaming, 
 And hasteth thy lover 
 To thee.' " 
 
 IV. 
 
 Oh ! soulful voice ! waking with its first sweet 
 
 Note the music of my life ! No longer 
 
 Hesitant, I looked below. 
 
 A greenly 
 
 Mantled mound of earth and crag, that fronted 
 
 The bold declivity anear its base, 
 
 Descent invited. Thither, by magic 
 
 Will up-borne, silent and swift as glancing 
 
 Light, I airy transit made ; there 
 
 gazing 
 Vision-tranced, as altared priest to whom hath 
 Oped in moment rapt the heaven of his dreams ! 
 Spirit of the true inspired Helicon, 
 Touch me from thy baptismal fount ! 
 Re-plume 
 
 Mine earth-trailed pinions, and o'er this falt'ring 
 Harp divinely breathe, that I of Her may 
 Sing! Before me, half-hid in ivied rock. 
 As 'twere a guarded secret of the hills. 
 Sparkled a crystal grotto, 
 
 intertrailed 
 Minute with climbing water plants, that sucked 
 The dripping crevices, and lavish paid 
 11 
 
162 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 In leafy broideries, such as might deck 
 The palace of a fay. Here, 
 
 on mossy 
 Dais reclined, the yielded lute beside her. 
 She leaned in sweet abandon on her arm, 
 Watching above a rill- fed rivulet 
 The play of embryonic fish, 
 
 that flashed 
 Thro greenish light like splintered emerald. 
 The clinging folds of some pure gossamer. 
 As 'twere of morning mist and moon-beam spun. 
 Her lissom grace defined, yet tender veiled. 
 And 'scaped from bands of beaded pearl 
 
 tresses 
 Dusk as reluctant night that on th' evening's 
 Glowing verge belated lingers, strayed silk'n o'er 
 Her flow'r-like cheek, or wandered 
 
 caressing 
 To her jeweled zone. One little sandaled 
 Foot, blue-veined, and white as chambered shell, 
 
 drooped 
 O'er the marge, where creviced hare-bells shyly 
 Peeped, and gold'n butterflies hovered anear. 
 To marvel at a form so dainty fair. 
 All rev'rent, as before some minstered shrine, 
 I stood, till by my gaze intense 
 
 up drawn 
 The fringing lashes lifted, and her eyes. 
 Pellucid pools of heaven's innocence, dark 
 And wistful as her pet gazelle's, rested 
 Amazed on mine. A moment thus, 
 
 I held 
 
rilE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 163 
 
 Them magnetized, then springing to her feet, 
 The tender apple-blossom of her cheek 
 Deepened to vivid pomegranate. A bright 
 Red rose, shak'n by the motion from her breast, 
 Into the streamlet fell. Instant, 
 
 I leaped 
 Below, the glowing prize secured, and pressing 
 To my lips, with smiling homage proffered. 
 
 *'Let this sweet advocate," I said, ''my plea 
 And pardon make. I grieve to startle thee !" 
 
 ''Nay," a regnant graciousness supplanting 
 Sweetly her confusion, "Thou didst surprise. 
 Not startle, since that word methinks 
 
 conveys, 
 What in our Father's House we know not, fear." 
 Then, archly smiling, "No advocate thou 
 Need'st, for in this park none entrance gain, save 
 On divinely ordered errand bent." 
 
 V. 
 
 I took her unresisting hands, folding 
 
 Them in mine upon my breast. 
 
 Oh ! shell-pink 
 
 Palms, fore'er of heaven ordained, the rosy 
 
 Shekinah of my highest and holiest ! 
 
 "Beloved, mine errand here is th' old errand 
 Of th' universe ; of sun to earth, of sea 
 To shore, of soul to divine-created 
 
164 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Counter-part ! Not twain are we, but one ! Thou, 
 My life's warm-beating heart; I, thy Hving 
 Breath ! Dost know this, dear ?" 
 
 "Aye" — smiHng" thro tender mist of happy 
 Tears — "I knew it on the day I saw thee 
 First.'* 
 
 ''The day thou sazv'st me first? Didst dream of me. 
 As I of thee?" 
 
 "Nay, 'twas no dream when, armed with heaven's holy 
 Truth, thou didst o'ercome the blasphemer!" 
 
 "Thou near me, and I unknowing? 'Twere e'en 
 As dawn should witless be of rosy light ; 
 The sun, of warmth and radiance ! 
 Ah ! traitors 
 Were mine eyes to trick me thus at heaven's gate !" 
 
 "Nay, true and loyal were thine eyes, steadfast 
 On thy heavenly mission fixed. Mine, lesser 
 Lights, beheld alone th' imaged form of truth 
 In thee. But not upon that mount 
 
 inspired 
 Saw I thee first. 'Twas in the lowly vale 
 Of wounded pride, and falt'ring faith, when fell 
 The tok'n at thy feet and foolish hisses 
 Rained. In thy set lip and bloodless cheek read 
 I thy soul, and trembled ; but when 
 
 thy hand 
 Defiant clenched the gauntlet, my spirit 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 165 
 
 Rushed to thine, and unseen as the viewless 
 Wind, touched thine uphfted arm and heard 
 The voice that spake to thee. Since then, 
 
 my heart 
 Hath been a secret gallery, wherein 
 I set of thee dear pictures ; saying, 'Thus looked 
 He on that day. and thus, and thus. 
 Here, burned 
 
 His eyes blue flame into my list'ning soul ! 
 There, was he transfigured in the shining !' 
 Each morn I waited, watching the telltale 
 Faces of the flow'rs, when the wind whispered. 
 And reading close sweet nature's 
 
 message book 
 For happy auguries, that should foreshow 
 Thy coming. This morn, ere from deep slumber 
 I awaked, a star-like lily, that ne'er 
 Bloomed before, oped just beneath 
 
 my window 
 Its gold'n heart, shedding its witching fragrance 
 Thro my dreams. Also to-day, my pretty 
 Fawn that loves me w^ell, and guards this grotto 
 A.s 'twere a temple and I, its vestaled 
 Priestess, wandered for the first time 
 
 afar. 
 Vainly I searched the ferny brake, calling* 
 By th' endearing names that prick attention 
 In her small pink ears. Then blew I upon 
 A pipe of reeds the warden of the park 
 Gave me for signaling. Still 
 
 the little 
 Truant tarried, but ere long came bounding 
 
166 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Back, and resting her head between my hands, 
 Gazed wistful in mine eyes, as tho she yearned 
 A happy secret to confide, upon 
 Her dumb lips sealed. Dear love ! How was't 
 
 thou didst 
 Surprise me, when 'twas writ so plain thou would'st 
 Be here to-day." 
 
 For answer I caught her to my glowing breast, 
 Raining down kisses on her brow, her eyes, 
 Her lips, her fragrant hair, with love's divine 
 Impassioned ardor,, such as no 
 
 moment 
 Of our earthly life e'er knew. Methinks some 
 Dark'ned soul exclaims : "What ! passion there ?" 
 Oh! thou 
 
 Profane ! whose sin dulled eyes distinguish not 
 Th' angel's shining pathway from the serpent's 
 Trail ! Approach not unto that holy mount, 
 Oh ! ye unsanctified ! 'Tis not for souls 
 Uncleansed to know that passion 
 
 purified 
 From carnal dross is heaven's hallowed fire, that 
 On Ibve's holy altars doth descend thro 
 Correspondence with divine creative 
 Glory ! Upon our sin-marred planet reigns 
 It at best a fall'n Lucifer, 
 
 wearing 
 On his shadowed brow the mark of exile ! 
 Raptured, yet wholly rev'rent, I drew her 
 To the mossy dais, placing in her hands 
 The ribboned lute. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 167 
 
 "Sing me sweet the songs I heard, when thro these 
 Leafy bow'rs love wand'ring sought thee!" 
 
 She laughed as playful children, or the glad 
 Rivulet that bubbled at her feet. 
 
 "I cannot an' I would. The song was born ^ 
 Of my soul's cry for thee, and since thou'rt here, 
 Its vanished spirit I may not recall, 
 As th' warm sun, in noontide splendor basking, 
 May enter not again its twilight hour." 
 
 'Then dearest, will I sing to thee !" 
 
 VI. 
 
 With bold true hand I swept the silver chords, 
 That answered to my touch as to the skilled 
 Musician's practised art; and void of doubt. 
 Or hesitance, as the male bird 
 
 that pours 
 His sweet inspired sonnet to his list'ning 
 Mate, I lifted up my voice, thrilling with 
 Love's vibrant tenderness ; while nature from 
 Her minstered aisles responses undertoned, 
 With bird, and stream, and whisp'ring palm, 
 
 unto 
 Th' old, old story ! As died the rhapsody 
 In air, I drew her to my breast, kissing 
 Away the happy tears, that, mutely on 
 Her lashes beaded, spake what the trembling 
 Lips essayed not. Near by, two mated 
 
 doves 
 
168 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 White as the blossomed bough whereon they 
 
 swayed, 
 Spread wing and, whirring thro the grotto, thrice 
 Circled o'er our heads ere vanishing. 
 
 "See!" I exclaimed, "Th' auspice of our bridal! 
 God speed it !" 
 
 Her eyes, alight with wistful joy, followed 
 The heavenly augury. 
 
 *'0h ! bridals blest!" she softly said, "where broods 
 No fear of change, nor parting ; where on love's 
 Gold'n sea no ships go down, nor plow 
 
 half-wrecked 
 Thro sobbing waves to shore ; but e'er in heaven's 
 Surety embark, storm knowing not, nor stress. 
 Unto eternity !" 
 
 The while she spake, I watched all magnetized 
 The changeful play of tender thought, that chased 
 Like April sunlight o'er her flow'r-like face, 
 Lost in the wonder of it ! 
 
 "Methinks," musing she continued, "heaven's crown 
 Of crowns is love's emancipation from 
 Earth's grim specters, Doubt and Fear! 
 
 The shadow 
 Of loss in that whereon we pledge our more 
 Than life hovers o'er our marriage altars, 
 Haunteth our dreams, and ofttimes Banquo-like 
 Ariseth at our feasts, passing betwixt 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 169 
 
 Us and the warm red wine we sip, till Death, 
 Our hberator, saith : 'No farther !' '' 
 
 ''Who made thee sweet thus sorrow-wise? 
 'Twould seem, 
 
 So child-Hke fair art thou, the dark specter 
 On thee looking, relented, and passed by." 
 
 "Nay, the griefs of whom we love are ours. Two 
 Sisters dear had I on earth. One, a sweet 
 Vale-lily, her fond heart did break for love 
 That faithless and unworthy proved. 
 Th' other 
 
 A gallant sailor wedded, but alas ! 
 The cruel sea divided them. His ship 
 In raging storm went down, and ne'er was heard 
 Of more. Then, dearest of my friends was she, 
 Who grew with me from childhood, 
 
 like twin buds 
 Upon one stem, till he to whom her troth 
 Was plight a canker 'twixt us came. 
 What tho 
 
 I loved him not, and scorned his faithlessness ? 
 The breach was made ! Ah, happy, happy we, 
 Fore'er from mortal heritage immune !" 
 
 "Aye dear, and happier, in that we sorrow's 
 Chastening knew. Come we into the lower 
 Life sin-warped, and in the Father's image 
 Grow not, save thro pain. Too brief as yet our 
 Soul's experience, too limited 
 our thought. 
 
170 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 For dimmest dreams of heaven's least blessedness. 
 If in this border-land our fondest hopes 
 Pass not the rimmed horizon of love's glad 
 Immunities, what, as the ages roll, 
 Of its fruition, and development 
 In glory?" 
 
 She leaned her head upon my breast,, quoting 
 In half-whispered reverence : 
 
 ^'Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, 
 
 Neither have entered into the heart of man, 
 The things ivhich God hath prepared 
 For them that love him." 
 
 VII. 
 
 Presently, she took the lute and rippled 
 Thro a fragment of my song. 
 
 "Dearest, in our long honey-moon, wilt teach 
 Me to sing as thou?" 
 
 I smiled. "Thou hast no need ; since all of song 
 I know was learned of thee!" 
 
 ''Of mer 
 
 "Aye, ne'er till this day I sang, nor music 
 Waked of any instrument. The gold'n fount 
 Of song was sealed within me. 'till thou, sweet 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 171 
 
 Sorc'ress, oped its hidd'n spring. As pressed 
 
 my lips 
 To thine,, flooded all my soul with music. 
 And love to thee its raptured story told !" 
 
 "How marvelous!" 
 
 "This, the true Wonder-world, where mighty love 
 The soul's magician is, whose magic reigns 
 As law eternal ! Where live again our 
 Buried hopes and vanished dreams ! 
 Where witching 
 
 Tales of old enchantment, and the thrice dear 
 Fairy-land, that blessed our childhood, 
 
 and trailed 
 Their perfumed mem'ries thro all our after 
 Years, come true! Where living Faith, our heavenly 
 Aladdin's lamp, evoketh what it will ; 
 And love with gold'n-star tipped wand 
 
 our lowly 
 Estate to princely palace doth transform. 
 Where elf and fay, as infant innocence, 
 Dance meads celestial, and where we happy 
 Greet again, from fancy's fair dream-kingdom, 
 The little sceptered pow'rs of casteled 
 
 clouds, 
 And deep-sea palaces ; of wild thyme banks, 
 And cradled cowsHp bells, transfigured all 
 To glorious realities, as angels 
 And ministers of grace." 
 
 "Ah ! true ! divinely true ! Too fettered our 
 
172 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Souls on carnal plane to realize that 
 All earth's fairest ideals are living truths,. 
 That need but breath of spirit atmospheres 
 To show them form and substance." 
 
 I leaned, and pressed with my lips the dewy 
 Rose that nestled in her hair. 
 
 "Methinks the little hand that plucked this rose 
 Holdeth the secret of its counterpart 
 Upon my breast." 
 
 She laughed. "Ah ! wondrous wizard ! Canst also 
 Guess the hand that answered from the fleet 
 Thy signal?" 
 
 ''Methought a lily nodded in the sun ; 
 Nor erred I widely there !" 
 
 " 'Tis meet I whisper thee a compact Love 
 Hath secret with me made, whereby he shall 
 Fore'er with liis most potent spell thine eyes 
 Bewitch." 
 
 " Tis also meet love shall the compact seal ; 
 But since the wing-ed boy is blind, he hath 
 Deputed me his notary, with charge 
 Of seven seals. Thus, one for thy lily brow, 
 Two for thine eyes, one for each velvet 
 
 cheek, 
 And two for the crimson bow. whence sendeth 
 Forth the little god his gold'n darts !" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 173 
 
 "Thou subtle notary ! 'Tis plain the rose 
 Thou wearest doth invoke a tricksome sprite, 
 Wherefore, I for another do depose 
 It. This" — her slender fingers transference 
 Deft efifecting — "is a most 
 
 staid rose,, 
 That on my lattice hath been wisely trained." 
 
 "Since it hath lain in thy sweet tresses meshed, 
 Exhaling thence a dual fragrance, 'tis 
 An unwnse exchange ! Said'st thou 'twas on thy 
 Lattice trained ? Then, to thy bow'r familiar, 
 'Twill be my guide!" 
 
 Her light elastic laughter tinkled thro 
 The grotto. 
 "Oh ! thy dear ignorance ! Art not aware 
 That only heaven's-appointed messengers 
 Enter the white city of our eastern 
 Hills?" 
 
 "Nay„ little know I of thy fair city, 
 Save 'tis the casket that doth hold my pearl of pearls.'' 
 
 ''Then come with me to a clear space beyond 
 This leafy zone, and I will point thee where 
 It lies. There is no city like it here, 
 Nor on th' earth, tho 'tis said its prototype 
 Is seen in heaven." 
 
174 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 From arborescent twilight passed we hand 
 In hand thro sunlit meadows, starred 
 
 with bloom, 
 And flecked with fleecy snow of browsing lambs, 
 To the green shoulder of a lofty ridge, 
 The subsidence of heaven-kissing headlands 
 Ranging eastwards. Midway 'twixt these, 
 
 clear 'gainst 
 Th' azure dome, appeared a wondrous vision. 
 Akin to that phenomenon we know 
 In lower life as mirage, tho diflf'ring 
 In philosophy, since here the symbol 
 Not th' object was reflected. 
 A vasty 
 
 Lily, pure as snow,, its petals nimbused 
 Faint with irised light, shone in the purple 
 Distance like a gigantic star. 
 Silent 
 
 And rev'rent I turned to meet th' earnest eyes 
 On mine fixed questioning. 
 
 ''Dost understand?" 
 
 "Aye, 'tis divinely manifest. The church 
 As a whole, by woman represent, hath 
 In yon great white lily 
 
 its inmost 
 Or celestial type ; hence, 'tis of thy fair 
 City and its angelic sisterhood 
 The mirrored symbol. How worshipful 1" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 175 
 
 *Ah ! dearest, not ever pure and perfect 
 As to-day shineth the heavenly Hly. 
 Fadeth it oft to dimly outlined haze ; 
 And oft thro clearly visible 
 
 dark films 
 Its lustrous petals mar ; for read we there, 
 As 'twere a psychic dial, our faulty 
 Deflections from the true spiritual sun. 
 Let us now by near approach the symbol 
 In external form dissolve." 
 
 Borne onward thro th' air as by enchanted 
 Wand, we reached a lofty eminence whence, 
 Looking downward, we beheld 
 
 a towered 
 City, white and luminous as sea-pearl, 
 Sparkling in the morning sun with countless 
 Minarets, and formed in vast concentric 
 Orbits to the billowed hills,, 
 
 effecting 
 Th' appearance of a colossal basin, 
 Wound to rimming emerald with snowy 
 Lilies. The circling spaces were gardens 
 Edenic, silv'ry with fountains, 
 
 and bright, 
 With gay-hued birds, that swept in flaming curves 
 From gold'n dome and sun-kissed spire 
 
 like rockets 
 In pyrotechnic carnival. No more. 
 By distance barred, could I behold, save far 
 To left a white-capped lake or inland sea. 
 
176 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Where courtesied, as in stately 
 
 minuet 
 To partners of a crystal under-world. 
 The rosy fleet ! 
 
 *'0 heavenly city !" I enraptured cried ; 
 
 "Thou shalt not ever bar me from thy gates 
 Elysian ! Soon, shall thy shining portals 
 Ope to welcome me, triumphant bridegroom !" 
 
 ''Aye," softly she responded, " 'twill be soon ! 
 The happy day we know not, but e'en now 
 Methinks I read in nature's auguries 
 Its rosy heralds." 
 
 ''Hath e'er the heavenly departure witnessed?" 
 
 "Nay, op'n vision of celestial glories 
 Is not here accorded ; but something know 
 We of the blest transition, thro angel 
 Guardians. Th' eventful morn, the happy bride 
 To presence awakes of naked 
 
 cherubs 
 Hovering above her, wreathed in lilies. 
 And bearing the wedding garment wherein 
 She is by them arrayed. The jasper gates . 
 To music rapturous unfold. A sphere 
 Of heavenly beatitude, shed as from 
 Incensed altars, pervades th' air : 
 
 and afar 
 Float down the golden echoes of angelic 
 Song. Oh ! holy mystery !" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. Ml 
 
 IX. 
 
 ''Veiled thus to awed and wond'ring Israel, 
 Entered Highpriest into the holiest. Thus 
 Too, to tryst ineffable, on Horeb's 
 Flaming mount, ascended the veiled Moses. 
 Descended to our earth in carnal veil 
 Redeeming God ; and opening of the Word's 
 Internal sense, as also 
 
 our holy 
 Union with Christ glorified, are shadowed 
 In rent veil, and riv'n sepulcher ! 
 One grand 
 
 Pattern hath th' universe; Himself! Recall 
 I oft, ashamed, my fatuous conceit, that 
 Many portions of the Word, accepted 
 As inspired, are but external ideas 
 Of human thought, confused 
 
 at confluence 
 With infinite ; such as Jehovah God 
 To templed furnishings descending; cords, 
 Curtains,, candlesticks, and the long series 
 Apparently inconsequent. 
 Also 
 
 In books prophetical, seeming absurd 
 Commands to holy servants giv'n. 
 Oh ! blind 
 
 Presumptuous folly that looked in Wisdom's 
 Starry eyes, and knew her not : inquiring 
 'What doth she here?' That rushing in profane 
 Where angels rev'rent kneel, sees 
 
 but the rude 
 12 
 
178 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Encrustments of God's jeweled truth, and stamps 
 It spurious! How, in the broad'ned periscope 
 Of this new Hfe, shrivels our inflated 
 Judgment ! How transcendent shines the Word !' 
 
 "Methinks, as mother-love smiles tender down 
 On babe that blindly smites with puny fist 
 The warm, fuU-flaggoned breast whereat 
 
 it clings, 
 So God our self-assertive folly doth 
 Regard, ordaining in His Providence 
 That each presumptive battery of doubt 
 Shall ever fuller effluence evoke 
 From th' unfailing well-spring of His holy 
 Love and truth/' 
 
 X. 
 
 ''Thy perfect illustration doth in our 
 Ignorance and impotence the secret 
 Of heaven's eternally unsated joy 
 Discover. The brute brain its little all 
 Of knowledge and affection 
 
 connate hath. 
 Man, blinder and more helpless born than mole. 
 Never his highest doth attain ; but e'er 
 Beyond the blessedness we know beckons 
 The vistaed glory of a higher. Thus, 
 Faithful as we follow Him, 
 
 partaketh 
 Our finite of His infinite. Oh ! thought, 
 With bliss a-reel„ together, heart to heart 
 And hand in hand, we shall that 
 
 shoreless deep 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 179 
 
 Explore, where every sunlit billow bears 
 
 Some truth afire with God ! Where each far blue 
 
 Horizon its effulgent veil uplifts 
 
 To sweeter knowledge of immortal life ! 
 
 When was 't first we met? In yon 
 
 green-caverned 
 Palace of the Dryad Queen, or conscious 
 Lovers dwelt we in creative thought, ere 
 Earth a molt'n globule glazed its cycled path ? 
 Methinks no moment was when thee I knew, 
 And loved not !" 
 
 "Aye, love baptizeth us into its own 
 Infinity, that no beginning hath, 
 Nor end ; linking us a part of all that 
 Was, and is, and shall be; making 
 
 our souls 
 Th' ever haunted halls of echoes, touches. 
 Voices,, and unwritt'n harmonies, that float 
 Adown the hoary ages ! For sang love 
 When the stars were young the same music that 
 Thrilleth us to-day ! Aye, 'tis here, 
 
 methinks, 
 Th' old philosophy — metempsychosis — 
 Still held by certain of our earth, its source 
 Derived. Souls keenly sensitized at times 
 These echoes of the cosmic belt mistake 
 For states in former life, and thus 
 
 was born 
 That vampire bat with human face we call 
 Re-incarnation." 
 
180 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Oh ! thou kaleidoscopic wonder ! Scarce 
 A moment since, 'twas as sweet singing-bird 
 Thou didst the glen with raptured music fill ; 
 Now subtly art thou turned 
 
 philosopher ! 
 But cold philosophy, man's bloodless steed, 
 Is at thy woman's magic touch transmute 
 Unto a flame-eyed Pegasus, that feeds 
 On flow'rs grown in meads celestial ! 
 Who taught 
 
 Thee sweet t' wear the sage's venerable 
 Cap as doth Titania her cowslip hood ?" 
 
 ''Nay," — laughing — "there are no woman sages. 
 Ruth-like we follow, gleaning at noon where 
 Boaz in the morning passed. Men struggle 
 With nature, wresting from her with iron will 
 Truth's hoarded grain. Come we after, 
 
 binding 
 With love the sheaves of knowledge won, winning 
 Thereby a heritage richer than all 
 Their harvest. Woman, true, hath climbed to fame ; 
 But never, save where man with 
 
 mail'-ed hand 
 Hath hewn the path before her. 'Tis God's own 
 Plan ; the matchless pattern of th' universe. . 
 Thou'rt our sun ; we,, thine inseparable 
 Moon, and in thine own reflected glory 
 Are we glorified." 
 
 Entranced, I gazed into her luminous 
 Uplifted face. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 181 
 
 "Shine on, with all the tender witchery 
 Of thy dear light, belov-ed moon, whose pure 
 Effulgence doth my soul illume, 
 
 touching 
 Its unworthy shadows to supernal 
 Beauty, and moulding th' earthly to image 
 Of its heavenly ideal !" 
 
 XL 
 
 The last-breathed word yet trembled on my lip 
 When, fluttering overhead, a milk white-dove 
 Descended on the little blue-veined hand 
 That rested confiding on my shoulder. 
 
 "Ah, love !" she sighed, "Behold the messenger 
 That tells us our happy tryst is o'er !" 
 
 Impatient, I thrust the bird away that, 
 Hovering anear, perched on a flow'ring 
 Thorn, with plaintive coo. 
 
 "Nay ! Nay ! thou shalt not leave me ! 
 In this fair 
 
 Kingdom Love is king, and therefore highest 
 Law! Who doth precede me here?" 
 
 "The King of kings!" she rev'rent whispered. "This 
 White-winged courier is from His angel 
 Who hath charge. We part but for a while." 
 
 "Appointest no trysting ere thou leavest me?" 
 
182 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 *'Nay ; as the Lord thee here directed, so 
 In His own time and way meet we again." 
 
 Silent, I folded her unto my heart. 
 
 Oh ! bitter sweet ! Oh, raptured pain ! 
 
 One draught 
 
 Of heaven's perfect bliss, then yearning arms clasped 
 
 Empty air! Ere turned my feet reluctant 
 
 From bow'rs that still her fair young 
 
 presence 
 Breathed, I found myself by spirit's magic 
 Transit where tossed my tethered boat, below 
 The woody palisades. Dear God ! how changed 
 And glorified my life since here so late 
 I stood ! Profoundest gratitude 
 
 my soul 
 O'erwhelmed and, grasping th' oar, my voice in song 
 Of praise arose, 'till all the sunlit hills 
 With joyful hosannahs rang. 
 Israefel, 
 
 His face irradiate, my coming greeted, 
 While both extended hands closed warm o'er mine. 
 
 ''And so, thou fair-haired minstrel, thou hast found 
 The gift of song !" 
 
 "And her!" I answered, the sky-lark's buoyant 
 Gladness in my voice. 
 
 "Of that thy deep-souled song assurance gave. 
 Since onlv love's divine such music wakes. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 183 
 
 Let us to yon terraced green repair, 
 
 whilst 
 Thou thy heavenly idyl dost relate." 
 
 How sweet to me, remembrance of that hour, 
 
 When on the velvet sward recHned 
 
 I oped 
 
 My heart unto my brother, while the brown 
 
 Thrush poured his silver interlude, the breeze 
 
 Shook petaled fragrance at our feet, 
 
 and thro 
 Green rifted umbels fell the sun 
 In gold'n pools of trembling light. 
 The happy 
 
 Story told, as only raptured lovers 
 Tell, Israefel, his countenance illumined. 
 Arose, his hand extending. 
 
 'Come with me," he said, "t' yon green eminence. 
 Where a joyful message happily 
 Await I, too, have something sweet to tell." 
 
 A prescient glance of startled inquiry 
 I gave, and followed him. 
 
 Purposed was I to join thee on yonder 
 Headland, but the Divine Hand that thither 
 Led thee my steps arrested. Light brighter 
 Than midday sun about me shone whence spake 
 As 'twere an angel's voice, saying: 
 
 'Go not forth unto the hills ; the mountains 
 call.' 
 
184 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Ere passed the heavenly effulgence, floated 
 
 To my sense, with breath of violets, music 
 
 Of wedding march triumphant. Brother ! th' hour 
 
 Of my soul's divine baptism is anear ! 
 
 Soon shall the heavenly summons 
 
 come to thee ; 
 But not till God hath shown thee wondrous things ; 
 For thou unto a special work, art chosen 
 And prepared. The nature of thy 
 
 guidance 
 Know I not, but dimly as thro twilight, 
 I seem to see thee girding thy spirit's 
 Strength for a strange journey. Fear not, 
 
 neither 
 Be thou over-bold. Who goeth before 
 Thee on thy way, is He who led the camp 
 Of Israel!" 
 
 XII. 
 
 And thus he spake a glory transcendent 
 Smote him, and I was alone ! Profoundly 
 Agitate, and pondering his parting 
 Words, I in th' empty air still vacant gazed, 
 W^hen conscious of some kindred sphere I turned, 
 To greet with joyful surprise, 
 Gamaliel ! 
 
 "Ah! doubly art thou welcome!" I exclaimed, 
 ''Since Israefel, my friend and well-beloved. 
 Hath e'en this moment from me passed." 
 
 'T saw the bridal retinue, as went 
 It forth to meet him." 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 185 
 
 ''Relate it me I pray, if 'tis permit." 
 
 He smiled into mine eager eyes, amused, 
 Yet tender, as one a little child would 
 Answer, asking for that beyond its ken. 
 
 "No secrecy the heavenly transition 
 Doth involve, but glories of the inmost 
 Kingdom are to lower plane of spirit 
 Thought ineffable, and thus thro language 
 Incommunicable. This shalt 
 
 thou know 
 Hereafter." 
 
 His hand upon my shoulder, in loving- 
 Salutation laid, a sense of added 
 Strength distinct imparted. 
 
 *T bear thee tidings ! 'Tis the Master's will 
 Thou dost a distant journey with me take." 
 
 My pulses leaped. The prophecy it seemed, 
 E'en now, fulfilment found ! I reverent 
 My head inclined. 
 
 ''His servant to obey am L" 
 
 "Art ready?" 
 
 "I am ready!" 
 
 "Well spok'n ! Let us then forthwith depart !" 
 
PART IV 
 
 Swiftly behind us the city faded, 
 And soon in lonely distance disappeared. 
 A thin grey mist the former cloudless blue 
 Obscured, strange birds cried shrilly, 
 
 and th' erewhile 
 Pleasant path grew roughly devious, leading 
 Now thro thorny cactus and low brambled 
 Growth, where central amid four compassed ways 
 A great white stone divergence marked. 
 Here our 
 
 Northward course I had continued,, but paused, 
 Admonished by my guide. 
 
 'Not there !" he said. "We pass a way thou hast 
 Not journeyed hitherto." 
 
 'Westward.^" 
 
 'Aye : The path we follow here the Lord hath 
 Chosn." 
 
 x\pproaching on our left a gloomy wood, 
 The sound of hasty footsteps my backward 
 Glance directed, e'en as two dark-browed men 
 Stumbled upon the stone, and headlong fell. 
 Foul curses muttering, they painfully 
 Arose. I touched my guide. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 187 
 
 "See ! One is bleeding ! Shall we assistance 
 Proffer?" 
 
 "As thou wilt." 
 
 Advancing, I them accosted. 
 
 "Friends, by the south road-side is pure water. 
 Here's my kerchief ; let us bathe and bind thy 
 Wounds." 
 
 The darker of the two, who scowled, and nursed 
 His hand, furtive at his companion glanced. 
 Who limping forward eyed us suspicious. 
 But with feigned courtesy replied : 
 
 "Thanks ! Not serious the hurts, and urgent 
 Business ours. No cause for stumbling we find — 
 Looking about him keenly — but in some 
 Way, I know not how,, tripped we violent 
 On what hath cut and bruised us sore." 
 
 "Why 'twas the stone!" amazed I said. 
 
 "Stone? what stone? we see none here." 
 
 To Gamaliel I turned, in mute appeal. 
 
 "Come!" impatient th' other muttered, plucking 
 At his companion's sleeve. "No time to lose 
 Have we in parley with these fools." 
 
188 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Thus, ending the colloquy, they hasty 
 Plunged into the darksome wood, and soon were 
 Lost to view. 
 
 "This incident," significantly said 
 My guide,, "begins what thou art here to learn. 
 These men who spake with us are murderers, 
 Fleeing — as they beheve — from justice. 
 On earth, 
 
 They fled red-handed ; straightly were pursued, 
 And struggling fiercely with their captors, slain. 
 So instant their transition to this life. 
 They hold no other thought than that 
 
 they still 
 Live on th' earth, 'scaped from the deadly contest, 
 And seeking to elude arrest. The hand 
 Thou saw'st wounded and bleeding is the hand 
 That did the deed ! The stone of their stumblinsf 
 Is the stone of Truth, and guards the highways 
 South and east. This, sin-blinded, they perceived 
 Not." 
 
 "How didst thou their crime discover?" 
 
 'T read their memories ; 'tis writt'n there." 
 
 Entered we now the gloomy wood, by paths 
 Worn sinuous thro matted grass, and spiny 
 Under-growth, tending ever obliquely 
 Downward. Thick, interlacing boughs of dark, 
 Forbidding trees, the paling sunlight 
 drank, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 189 
 
 While dusk-winged night-birds swept thro 
 
 deep'ning gloom. 
 The foul vampire flitted, and shrilled afar 
 The prowling panther's quav'ring cry. 
 
 ''Be careful here!" cautioned Gamaliel. 
 Scarce from his lips the warning fell, when 'twixt 
 My feet a spotted viper hissing slid. 
 Presently, the wind arose, and the great 
 Wilderness, tossing its mighty arms, 
 
 moaned 
 As in pain ; the level earth heaved in vast 
 Ridges, or sudd'n yawned abysmal,, as though 
 Recoiling upon itself, affrighted. 
 My guide paused here, and from his breast 
 
 a cross 
 Of shining silver drew. 
 
 "Take this," he said, ''grasp firmly, and hold 'twixt 
 Thee and whatsoe'er may threat'ning show." 
 
 And now, the habit of nature ghastly 
 Changed ; her leafy vestments dropped from her, dry 
 xA.nd sere; her lusty brawn shriveled, deformed, 
 Tossing as with bony arms 
 
 and fleshless 
 Fingers, or else took on a human guise. 
 In bloated and diseased protuberance, 
 Seeming to leer upon us as we passed. 
 I shuddered, and mv cheek with horror 
 
 blanched. 
 
190 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Gamaliel his hand upon my shoulder 
 Laid, my veins with vital warmth re-kindling, 
 And timely ; for presently a leopard. 
 From his rocky lair emerged, 
 
 slid crafty 
 On his belly toward us noiseless. Nearer 
 Approached, the beast was to our eyes revealed, 
 A human monster, stealthy and murd'rous 
 Upon us creeping. Finding his 
 
 artful 
 Tactics vain, he boldly now confronted, 
 Demanding at the poniard's point jewels 
 And gold ; meantime thro signal 
 
 re-in forced 
 By darker and more brutal than himself. 
 My guide unmoved, stood silent. 
 
 I raised the cross, whereat they cowering, 
 As savage beasts before a blazing torch. 
 Malignant slunk away. 
 
 *'Who are these creatures, and what do they here?" 
 I asked. 
 
 ''A class of evil spirits, who infest 
 These woods, and who on earth were 
 
 highwaymen. 
 By correspondence with their cruel craft 
 They at a distance appeared as leopards. 
 Among these cavernous abodes they dwell, 
 Th' approaches secret scouting, for such their 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 191 
 
 Madness, they still believe themselves 
 
 on earth, 
 With power to slay as erst the bodies 
 Of their fellow-men." 
 
 ''Tendeth our mission unto hell?" 
 
 "Aye. Of Divine Love and Wisdom, the dire 
 Pilgrimage. His purpose know we not, nor 
 Need we know. In His own blest time and way 
 'Twill be revealed. Trust all to Himf 
 
 A thrill of exultation in my voice 
 Rang, as king 
 The bugfle-cali. 
 
 Rang, as king-commissioned soldier who hears 
 
 't>' 
 
 'Rejoice I, Gamaliel, to be worthy 
 Found of service to my Lord and King ! How 
 Direful soe'er the journey. He leadeth, 
 And thou my captain !" 
 
 IL 
 
 A gulch precipitous we presently 
 Descended, where haggard trees,, like leprous 
 Mendicants, clutched at our garments, 
 
 while perched 
 On bossed excrescence of rotting boles, 
 That awful semblance bore to human skulls. 
 The horn-ed owl all glassy staring whooped 
 Sardonic. Beyond,, a range of sooty 
 Mountains belched volcanic. In one of these. 
 
192 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 At base, a frightful cavern yawned, 
 
 kenneled 
 By double-headed hounds, that clam'rous frothed 
 Thro lurid glare. Marveling, the meaning 
 I inquired. 
 
 " 'Tis the mouth of hell ! We enter there. Let 
 Not its seeming barriers thy soul dismay. 
 The monstrous forms thou seest are illusive 
 Films of fiendish hate and filthy lust, that 
 Thro infernal correspondence threatening 
 Show." 
 
 Nearer approached, a noisome cadaver 
 Thence arose, as of putrescent bodies. 
 Whereat I sick'ning reeled. My guide his hand 
 Waved thrice, and the foul atmosphere 
 was cleansed. 
 
 "The fetor of hell," he said, "is ever 
 Correlate to such as in trespasses 
 And sins are dead ; by whom they are 
 
 perceived 
 As odors sweet. Inversely, the fragrance 
 Of heavenly spheres revolteth them. 'Tis best 
 We enter here invisible. Follow 
 Thou me !" 
 
 Downward, 'twixt sulphurous and smoking rocks, 
 Mid rumbling noises of volcanic fires,. 
 Descended we now into a lower 
 Opening, whence a red glare of light and heat 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 193 
 
 As from a furnace issued, with 
 
 grating- 
 Sounds of gnashing teeth, the which, (jamaHel 
 Informed, denoted disputations fierce. 
 
 Thro this we entrance made into what seemed 
 An endless cavern, chambered by pillared 
 Conformations, not unlike stalactic 
 Junctions of earth's mountain caves. Here, 
 
 countless 
 Numbers,, male and female, sat at tables, 
 Gambling in ways diverse, and not 
 
 as such 
 On earth appear, with passion mute repressed, 
 But raging boist'rous, like angry breakers 
 Of a stormy sea. Some railed o'er luckless 
 Dice with impotent clenched fury; 
 
 Or whelmed — 
 As they believed — in ruin, strode wild-eyed. 
 And ghastly from the scene. Others wrangling 
 Fierce, dealt out the spotted pack, while many 
 More — a greedy horde — pressed wolfish about 
 The fatal wheel. 
 
 "Vast numbers of these insane," Gamaliel 
 Remarked, "believe themselves in that resort 
 Of wealth and fashion, vice and misery. 
 Known widely on earth as Monte Carlo. 
 Such, the dark group upon thy left." 
 
 His indication following, I saw 
 What for a time my gaze held riveted. 
 13 
 
194 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Ventures (seemingly) were high; emotions 
 Tenses. The central figure, a decrepit 
 Crone, watched vulture-beaked the swift 
 
 revolving 
 Disc, uttering at loss a croaking cry, 
 Or shrieking in hollow owl-like laughter 
 As her hook-ed talons swept the gains. 
 
 "That wretched circle," said Gamaliel, "held 
 Once in European courts distinguished 
 Rank. The frightful female, o'er her winnings 
 Gloating, a rich viscountess was, for wit 
 And beauty famed. She wrecked in ways 
 
 here shown 
 Her husband's millions, drove him to suicide, 
 And ended her earthly life a pauper. 
 Begging bread. The foul creature at her side- 
 A Russian Baron in his little day, 
 Of fortune princely — was the dark 
 
 tempter 
 To whom she sacrificed her chastity, 
 And husband's honor. Neither now th' other 
 Doth remember." 
 
 III. 
 
 From chamber to chamber of these grisly 
 Horrors passing, we paused before a group 
 With cards in curious devices painted. 
 All, tho ragged and filthy, 
 
 the gaudy 
 Finery of Spanish hidalgo wore. 
 The faded colors, and tarnished tinsel, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 195 
 
 Pathetic with their ghastly hvidness, 
 Contrasting. Of these one had by knavish 
 Trick his dark opponent whehned 
 
 in despair 
 Knowing not, sin-bHnded, the bankrupt gambler 
 Was on earth his son. The wretched victim, 
 Plucking a stiletto from his belt, 
 
 plunged 
 Vengeful in his foeman's breast, the trickster 
 Falling face downward. Horror-smit, my state 
 Invisible forgetting, I quickly 
 To his succor sprang ; but my watchful guide 
 Restrained me. 
 
 "Nay," he admonished, "thy touch would harmful 
 Prove, since to his ruling love thy heavenly 
 Sphere is contrary." 
 
 "Poor spirit ! Are there none to care for him ? 
 A shot dog methinks should some small pity 
 Here evoke !" 
 
 "Nay, these are they in whom all love, 
 save that 
 Of self, is dead. Yet, not uncared for, this 
 Poor prodigal ! The 'Good Physician' doth 
 Not tarry ! He is here !" 
 
 "So still he lies, the spark of life doth seem 
 Extinguished !" 
 
 "Aye; such tragedies are daily in these 
 
196 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Hells enacted. Some, after a few hours, 
 Revive; others, for three days unconscious 
 Lie ; and this, by divine Providence ; since 
 For that time their evils are quiescent." 
 
 "What of the murderer? for such in vile 
 Intent is he." 
 
 "Existeth in all spheres of this dread world 
 A class of evil spirits, punitive, 
 Known as 'Avengers y who with poor pretense 
 Of public use their baleful powV wielding, 
 Live solely for delight 
 
 malevolent 
 Li human woe. Thus, in some small degree. 
 Is hell restrained, and they, the punishers, 
 Likewise from fiendish cruelties withheld. 
 By angels of heaven's watchful care, beyond 
 Whose Hmitations dare they not. 
 Behold, 
 E'n now, the bailiffs of the direful band !" 
 
 I looked, and saw approaching four demons, 
 Uniformed in black and red, with pointed 
 Caps of bluish flame alternate changing 
 In respiration to vivid 
 
 scarlet, 
 Perversions of heaven's love and truth thereby 
 Revealing. Not as the spirits of these 
 Gambling hells, their monstrous faces ; 
 
 but dark 
 And fiery ; their swart bodies effluvia 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 197 
 
 Emitting, such as in dens of savage 
 
 Beasts perceived. Roughly their trembUng 
 
 pris'ner 
 Seizing, they bore him unresisting from 
 Our sight, the deep hush that followed 
 
 the dread 
 Attesting, wherein these officers were 
 Held. 
 
 "Let us," said my guide, "pass on." 
 
 IV. 
 
 Thro many caverned sections, similar 
 In main to these, we came unto a wall 
 Of sooty rock, where the dark underworld 
 In tunneled ways divided ; 
 
 one entering 
 Upon our left by owls and vampire-bats 
 Inhabited, startling with impish hoot 
 Or flapping wing, while cold and bloodless things 
 Threatened with slimy ooze our steady feet. 
 At last, in sudd'n blinding glare 
 
 a caverned 
 Court we reached, that echoed thro its vasty 
 Concave with deaf 'ning din. Naught we at first 
 Discerned, but when to fiery light our eyes 
 Adjusted, we saw of men 
 
 a huddled, 
 Shouting horde, pushing their way, or fighting 
 To stations round about, where on the walls 
 Were vivid writ in blue electric flame 
 
198 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 The names of produce bought and sold. 
 'Neath these 
 
 Appeared their fluctuating figures, that leaped 
 Magical to view, or in like manner 
 Vanished, accordant with a sliding scale 
 Of market values. The roaring 
 
 concourse, 
 (Turned from us in their maddened rush) were 
 
 formed 
 Neck-downward, human ; but with recoiling 
 Shock I now perceived their heads shaped 
 
 monstrous ; 
 Some as prairie wolVes, others as foxes, 
 And many, as the ruel-tusked wild boar; 
 These frightful malformations by mental 
 Attitudes projected. 
 
 *'Thou seest in its insane reflection," said 
 Gamaliel, "a branch of that pernicious 
 Gambling, wearing in carnal life the guise 
 Of lawful commerce, brazen 
 
 frontleted 
 As 'Produce and Stock Exchange.' 
 No darker, 
 
 Nor more disastrous phase of th' infernal 
 Vice hath been by human greed devised; 
 
 since 
 Strikes its venomed fangs at root of public 
 Weal. Would'st the record of its crimes behold? 
 Lift up thine eyes!" 
 
 High o'er our heads a trail of smoky filni 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 199 
 
 The vasty dome enwreathed, that presently, 
 Took shape, evolving spectral, yet distinct, 
 A Cyclopean giant, brutal- jawed 
 And satyr-hoofed, trampling o'er dead 
 
 and dying 
 Victims a path for his voracious greed ; 
 Men wrecked and hopeless ; women and children 
 Crying with out-stretched arms for bread 
 
 or huddled 
 Benumbed mid froz'n heaps, while frantic wretches 
 Of both sexes grappled in bloody dust 
 With the weir wolf of haggard want. 
 
 This," sadly said my guide, "is but one page 
 Of the dark history yearly upon 
 Our globe enacted in name of lawful 
 Enterprise. Here,, as on the planes above, 
 All nationalities are represent 
 'Neath one hell-blazoned banner/ 
 
 'Human Greed' 
 Lowest of gambling hells these dread purlieus, 
 And since their dark activities disguise 
 As public uses, their plane infernal 
 Is that to hypocrites assigned. 
 Visaged 
 
 As beasts, each in his own deformity 
 His soul's lost brotherhood to man proclaims." 
 
 V. 
 
 Leaving th' insane uproar by a lower 
 Opening to the right, we now a mouldy 
 Steep descended, conducting thro winding 
 
200 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Passages into a darksome region, 
 Pestilent with vapors foul 
 
 arising 
 From fetid marches, where toads croaked dismal, 
 And crawling creatures reared thro viscid slime 
 Their loathsome heads. Picking our way, 
 
 we came 
 Unto the border of a Stygian lake, 
 That stretched 'twixt frowning rocks, far out 
 
 beyond 
 The black horizon, its sluggish waters. 
 The banks, with caverns honey-combed, gave forth 
 A noisome stench,, like that from habitats 
 Of rats and mice ; the cause whereof was soon 
 Apparent ; as hordes of these disgusting 
 Vermin rushed from their holes inquisitive, 
 Or scoured the plains for plunder. 
 Seen nearer, 
 
 They, to my 'stonishment, were shown, not rats, 
 As by their correspondence they at first 
 Appeared, but predatory multitudes 
 Of frightful hunchbacks, with fiery 
 
 black eyes, 
 And rodent teeth gleaming vindictive thro 
 Whiskered mass of coarse grey hair, that 
 
 bristled 
 From the mouth on either side, like restless 
 Antennae. 
 
 "These," said Gamaliel, ''were in th' earth-life known 
 As misers. Filthiest of planes infernal 
 This society, save one, whither we pass 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 201 
 
 In order due. There — pointing a sooty 
 Cavern — we enter invisible." 
 
 With our approach, a monster resembling 
 A colossal wharf-rat sprang to the front, 
 Fiercely resistant, but shrank as the cross 
 I raised, venting in retreat 
 
 a squeaking 
 Outcry. The nauseous effluvium within 
 A moment's dizzy faintness in me caused. 
 But my watchful guide the foul atmosphere 
 Soon purified. The cavern for a space 
 Stretched mainly level ; then sharp 
 
 descending, 
 Wound intricate thro narrow passages, 
 Conducting to a low-pitched chamber, where 
 Cowered the dark occupants ; some scowling 
 Belligerent : others hasting away 
 To hide in holes and fissured 
 
 crevices 
 Bags of imaginary gold. Shivered 
 All as with ague, whereof Gamaliel 
 I questioned. 
 
 'They tremble from a double cause ; partly 
 Thro fear of spoliation, partly thro cold. 
 No glowing warmth their shrunk'n hearts 
 
 and bloodless 
 Arteries pervades, save when pillaging, 
 Or o'er their coins counting, since e'en self-love, 
 That universal spark of vital heat. 
 Is well nigh lost in greed of gold. 
 
202 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Yet, their 
 
 Attenuated hold on life remains 
 
 Thro use. Th' appointed Charons they of this 
 
 Black lake receiving for such service small 
 
 Returns, accepted in their currency 
 
 As pence and shilling's." 
 
 Ere reaching th' outer air a sudd'n faintness 
 Seized me ; I staggered, and death-like moisture 
 Gathered on my brovv^. Quickly Gamaliel 
 Mine arm fast locked in his. 
 
 "Lean thou on me ; 'twill strength impart. 
 This sphere 
 Affecteth thee as poison virulent. 
 
 Let us go hence." 
 
 VL 
 
 Along a rotted, shaking pier,, that wheezed 
 Beneath our tread, like feeble age vainly 
 Imploring pity, or groaned like starving 
 Wretches supplicating bread denied, stepped 
 We aboard a black-hulled boat, 
 
 by dwarfish 
 Monster piloted, who watched us furtive 
 Thro his grizzled mane, meanwhile safe distance 
 Keeping, his flanged bristles moving restless 
 The while — he rowed. Slowly, before the plowing 
 Keel, parted the viscid waters, 
 
 that 'gainst 
 The gloomy craft tideless and sluggish lapped. 
 
I 
 
 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 203 
 
 But from the cloud-piled west arose ere long 
 A sullen muttering-, accompanied 
 By flick'ring flashes that lit the jagged 
 Rocks anon and o'er the lake 
 
 in bluish 
 Fire played, with meaning sinister. 
 Then brake 
 
 Hell's livid thunder ; gashing with flaming 
 Scymetars the dark'ning dome, while shrieking 
 Demoniac, to bellowed call, a mighty 
 Wind loosed from the black horizon 
 
 its dread 
 Satanic forces, lashing t' abysmal 
 Gulfs and raging billows th' affrighted deep, 
 Where staggered, leaped and plunged, 
 
 the Stygian boat. 
 Like hunted creature, battling 'gainst hopeless 
 Odds for life. Sudd'n mid elemental wrack 
 And roar, a blinding, crashing peal, that seemed 
 To rend th' infernal vault, wrenching 
 
 from shore 
 A blazing mass of black volcanic rock. 
 That hurled aloft as 'twere a wisp of straw, 
 Scarce missed in fiery descent our straining 
 Craft, falling with frightful detonation. 
 And hissing clouds of vapor sulphurous. 
 Into the boiling 'strom ! 
 The dark Charon, 
 
 Till this cataclysmic moment sullen 
 And unmoved, now 'neatli the dripping gunwale 
 Trembling cowered, his glassy-staring eyes 
 And livid lips the slavery of hell 
 
204 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 To ruling- fear bespeaking. 
 
 The yielded 
 
 Oars tossed in their stanchions wild, and the frail 
 
 Boat, to forces pitiless surrendered, 
 
 Pitched as an empty cockle-shell amid 
 
 Devouring breakers, that snapped at her sides 
 
 Like famished sea-wolves or hollowed 
 
 monster 
 Jaws, wherein mine eyes had read engulfing 
 Doom, but I knew His angel guided, 
 And 'neath us were the everlasting Arms. 
 'Twas in this stormy tribunal of faith 
 Triumphant my heavenly pilot 
 
 stretched o'er 
 The raging sea his hands, and in His name. 
 Who spake, and it was done, who commanded, 
 And it stood fast, bade the warring spirits 
 Of the dark underworld : ''Be still !" 
 The winds. 
 
 And bolted thunders fled rebuked ; the madd'ned 
 Waves sank powerless ; and a great calm befell, 
 The while our awestruck boatman plied again 
 His oars, and in our wake a shining trail 
 Of silvery glory the lead'n lake 
 
 illumined. 
 
 Lifting my soul in grateful praise, I sang 
 An old familiar hymn, fore'er in sweet 
 Memory enshrined : sang, till the shores gave 
 Back the stanzas, and the now distant pier 
 Grew wonder-thronged : 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 205 
 
 "Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, 
 Pilgnm thro this barren laud, 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Hold me zvith thy pow'rfu! hand." 
 
 VII. 
 
 The boat with sudd'n shock ground on the landing- 
 Harsh, but still the monster oarsman stirred not, 
 And in the staring eyes a human light. 
 Coupled as 'twere with vague remembrance, 
 
 dawned. 
 My guide from folds about his breast two coins 
 Drew, one silver, th' other gold, and dropped them 
 In his clam-like palms, saying: 
 
 "The God of Jacob op'n thine eyes that thou 
 May'st see !" 
 
 Greedily, th' eager fingers clutched the coins. 
 But instant let them fall, as tho they burned 
 His flesh ; the while his bristled lips quivered 
 Spasmodic, vainly essaying utterance. 
 
 "Speak ! and thou wilt," my guide commanded ; 
 *' Speak 
 In the old forgott'n tongue thou would'st recall !" 
 
 His unintelligible mutterings 
 Grew more articulate, as to himself, 
 In patois of the Polish Jew, hoarsely 
 He whispered : 
 
206 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Th' old man ! He begged for bread ! I spurned 
 
 him from 
 My doorstep in the cold ! 'Twas a bitter 
 Day!" (He hesitated forward) "Stop him! — 
 I would the morsel give ! 'Tis but a crust, 
 Yet more I cannot ! Pennies are ducats 
 In the small !" 
 
 Thus his mutterings continued, lapsing" 
 As we stepped ashore to incoherent 
 Jargon. Looking backward, we saw 
 
 him stoop 
 To gather up the fall'n coins. Lo ! they had 
 Changed to common metal, stamped in device 
 Infernal. 
 
 "What meaneth that?" I questioned. 
 
 "The coins I for his service paid were types 
 Of heaven's Good and Truth. Unto his evil 
 State antipodal, they burned his palms like 
 Fiery embers, but by his touch pervert, 
 Were instant to Satanic currency 
 Transmute. Yet, contact with symbols heavenly 
 Old memories and states forgot revived ; 
 For naught the soul e'er felt or knew, 
 
 no thought, 
 Nor utterance, from infancy, to life's 
 Last earthly sigh, but on that marvelous 
 Electroscope is evermore inscribed ; 
 And when the Father's wisdom 
 
 so ordains, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 207 
 
 His angel draweth again the rusted 
 Bolts,, leading us adown deserted halls, 
 And long-forgott'n chambers, here, 
 
 echoing 
 With childish laughter, there, bright with happy 
 Visions of life's spring-time, or sweet with love's 
 Dead roses. Music, conditioned by God's 
 Providence, is oft a pow'r in lowest 
 Hell. Thus thy song, a heavenly 
 
 messenger 
 Of Love and Faith, smote on yon shattered harp, 
 Till its dead chords gave faltering response." 
 
 'Bless God, for love that will not let us go, 
 Howe'er in our blind rebellious selfhood 
 We struggle in His Hands!" 
 
 vni. 
 
 Leaving the lake, now shut from sight by dense 
 Grey mist, we thro a rocky desert made 
 Our way, along a threat'ning volcanic 
 Belt, flame-swept, and thunder scarred, 
 
 descending. 
 At intervals precipitous defiles, 
 Where from o'erhanging clifif the leopard stretched 
 His lissom neck, the black vulture, fierce-beaked 
 Pirate of th' infernal deep, spread 
 
 shadowed 
 Pinions, and anon, borne on the fetid 
 Air, came angry bellowing, and vengeful 
 Hisses, the cause whereof was presently 
 
208 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Apparent. Above a deeply scissured 
 Gorge, whence came the sound of fierce 
 
 contention, 
 Two monsters, one a prodigious python, 
 Steely-scaled, th' other, a frightful dual 
 Shape, head and fore-claws dragon, 
 
 hinder-parts 
 Stallion, in deadly battle strove; while coiled 
 On rocky ledge anear, a pythoness, 
 Malignant rearing, the doubtful struggle 
 Watched, venting at crucial moments a loud 
 Vindictive hiss. Close round the hippogrifife 
 Enwrapped, his dragon's armored head and claws 
 Fast fettering, the python knotted strained. 
 Thrice in the dust thus grappled, 
 
 and grappling. 
 Writhed they convulsive, when with prodigious 
 Wrench, the dual monster freeing his mighty 
 Head, crushed as an egg-shell 'twixt his saw-like 
 Teeth th' assailant's skull. A few 
 
 spasmodic 
 Throes of the relaxed coils, and the exultant 
 Victor bellowed forth his blood-bought triumph. 
 While gliding swiftly from her vantaged ledge. 
 The pythoness her frightful paramour 
 Enfolded in voluptuous embrace. 
 
 "Thou seest," said my guide,, "by law symbolic 
 Illustrate, a combat 'twixt two demons 
 For possession of a wanton. Females 
 Of the hells — a direful host — 
 occasion 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 209 
 
 The greater part by far of all the endless 
 Dissensions and sangumary conflicts 
 Known therein ; for only adulterous 
 Relations of the sexes in these spheres 
 Exist. The foul spirits of this 
 
 loathsome 
 Plane are they whose ruling love is boundless 
 Lascivious desire. No farther enter 
 We here; for such th' infected atmospheres 
 Beyond this gorge they would thy sanity 
 Imperil. Let us now 
 
 invisible 
 The chasm cross, where nearer, tho in safety, 
 We may the late combatants behold." 
 
 Instant, we stood upon a point of rock, 
 
 Whence the monsters — one in his life-blood pooled 
 
 Unconscious — were plainly in human shape 
 
 Revealed, but so abnormal and deformed 
 
 They yet more frightful than their symbols seemed. 
 
 Exceeding in blackness the cannibal 
 
 Of Afric coast, their narrow, lustful eyes, 
 
 Distorted features, and jagged 
 
 tusk-like 
 Teeth, th' awful debasement of creative 
 Image to swinish brute proclaimed. Th' object 
 Of inflamed contention e'en more loathsome 
 Than her paramour appeared ; 
 
 as woman 
 Degraded is ever of sin's vasty 
 Theater the most appalling spectacle ! 
 Type in her white, unblemished purity, 
 14 
 
210 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Of th' angelic church, how Lucifer-Hke 
 Her fall ! O Christ ! I covered 
 
 with my hand 
 The rose upon my breast. 
 
 "How," I inquired, "can such monstrosities 
 Attraction mutual inspire?" 
 
 He smiled. "They to each other and themselves 
 Appear, not as we behold them, but through 
 False lumen of their distempered fancies, 
 And this by divine mercy of the Lord, 
 Who for consociation thus 
 
 provideth. 
 These sooty crags, putrescent lakes, low lead'n 
 Skies, and smoky mountains, disordered souls 
 Perceive as beauty and delight." 
 
 "Existeth unremitting such insane delusion?" 
 
 "Nay, else like the fabled lotus-eaters. 
 They would with their perverted phantasies 
 Contented be. Therefore,, th' eternal love. 
 That harmonizeth sense with state, 
 
 holdeth 
 At times truth's mirror to deformity. 
 That out of the whirlwind God may speak." 
 
 "How past our finite thought His ways ! 
 Methinks 
 
 The marvelous adjustment in this life 
 Of man to his ruling love were ample 
 Evidence alone of a divinelv 
 
T?IE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 211 
 
 Human God, were all the countless myriads 
 Of nature's attesting voices silent !" 
 
 The while we thus communed, a sudd'n shadow 
 O'er us swept, and a black vulture swiftly 
 In the gorge descended, alighting near 
 A crimson pool, that trickled 
 
 from the scene 
 Of carnage. Shuddering, I turned away, 
 Our grewsome journey mute continuing. 
 Presently, I of my guide inquired : 
 
 "What nationality once claimed yon black 
 Abhorrent monsters ?" 
 
 "Naught that their inky visages suggest. 
 The males were fair-haired Norsemen, the female 
 A French courtesan ; and in their little 
 Day accounted comely. Let us pass on." 
 
 IX. 
 
 O'er crusted lava-beds, thro trails befouled 
 By poisonous gases and thick volcanic 
 Bitumen, we cautious the mountain-side 
 Descended. Anear the base a vasty 
 Bouldered rock our further way 
 
 obstructed. 
 'Gainst this my guide his upraised hand smote firm. 
 Whereat the granite mass with shudd'ring groan 
 Prodigious yawned,, disclosing thro fiery 
 
212 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Issuance a gulf profound. 
 
 "Enter we here?" 
 
 *'Aye. 'Twixt upper and nether hells this gulf 
 Is fixed, impassable from either side, 
 Save by pow'r delegate to heaven's angels. 
 Give me thine hand." 
 
 Now jx>ised in empty air we slowly sank 
 'Mid rayless, suffocating darkness, while 
 With returning shock and roar the pond'rous 
 Jaws above us closed. Down, down, down, 
 
 sinking 
 Thro what seemed endless night and primal void ; 
 Then a smoky twilight, spreading upward, 
 And we stood at last within a vasty 
 Cavern, connecting as my guide 
 
 forewarned. 
 With countless of like evil order through 
 Passages and by-ways labyrinthine. 
 Wherein unwary wanderers were lost. 
 Induction heretofore to these dread spheres 
 Rang hideous with noise infernal ; 
 
 but here 
 The demon crew in silence sinister 
 Their direful arts invisible deployed. 
 As deeper inward we progressed, a host — 
 Apparently of wand'ring stars — flashed sudd'n 
 Into view, whereat I started, paused. 
 
 ''Halt not," my guide advised, ''save when 
 I halt, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 213 
 
 And move not till I advancing motion 
 
 Make. These flitting lights are evil spirits 
 
 Thus disguised, and signs to heaven's instructed 
 
 Of pitfalls near. Upon a time. 
 
 This kind 
 
 Infested grievously the spirit world 
 
 And thence th' earth,, bodies of men with wicked 
 
 Arts obsessing. Of these the 'Legion,' whom 
 
 Jesus cast into the swine. Ended their 
 
 Infestations with His second 
 
 advent, 
 When to their own foul sphere expelled they now 
 Beyond its limitations pass not." 
 
 'How look these snares, that here our way beset ?*' 
 
 'To eyes that see not from angelic light, 
 E'en as the solid earth whereon we stand ; 
 But to God's messengers, they are perceived 
 As hazy shadows, not unlike 
 
 the pale 
 Penumbra cast, when passeth the wan moon 
 'Twixt earth and sun. One on my left lieth, 
 And presseth thy foot scarce an ell's measure 
 Of another. Would'st with mine eyes behold 
 These pitfalls and their vile inventors?" 
 
 'Aye." 
 
 "Then pause a moment here, and stir not till 
 I give thee sign." 
 
214 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 He touched mine eyelids, and a bluish light 
 
 The ghastly scene illumined, showing th' earth 
 
 thick sown 
 With hellish snares, while roving th' air headless, 
 And trunkless, foul masses of wiry black 
 Hair, framing vindictive eyes and tusk-like 
 Teeth, haunted us malevolent. My breath 
 Suspended, and my veins seemed turned to ice. 
 
 *'A11 spirits," said my guide, "are images 
 Of whatsoe'er their ruling love. The vile 
 Monstrosities thou dost behold, 
 
 unto 
 A certain class of fiends belong, whose chief 
 Delight is to pervert in human souls 
 Th' ultimates of divine order, thereby 
 Insanity producing. In God's great 
 Madhouse, none darker, nor more dangerous 
 Exist, save the dread bands who occupy 
 The lowest deep. 'Tis now imperative, 
 I shut them from thy sight." 
 
 Again he touched mine eyes, when as before 
 The spirits roved as wand'ring stars. 
 
 "Link firm thine arm in mine," he caution gave, 
 "And falter not. Thy way Omniscient Love 
 Directeth." 
 
 X. 
 
 Thro haunted chambers, intricate with paths 
 ^Misleading, and fraught with conjurations 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 215 
 
 Dire, our ghastly way we wended, 
 
 till gleamed 
 On my sight a blood-red disc, the tunneled 
 Terminus of light and liberation. 
 Another passage, dark and perilous, 
 Wherein I dizzied, and my sense swam ; 
 But guidance firm upheld me. Then, a steep 
 Slippery ascent, while the long 
 
 silence 
 Brake in ribald jeers, and the foul caverns, 
 Echoing with loud vindictive curses, 
 Behind us sank in blinding glare. 
 My guide, 
 
 Watchful and tender, drew me in the great 
 Shadow of a fire-scarred clifT, till faintness 
 And momentary blindness passed. 
 Our way 
 
 Skirted for a space the frowning headland, 
 But sharply now deflected thro a deep 
 Volcanic scissure, that bellowed beneath 
 Our tread, shooting anon from creviced rock 
 Pale, bluish tongues of fork-ed flame, 
 
 that fouled 
 Th' air with vapors sulphurous. Whence, methought 
 This garish livery of earth and sky? 
 But e'er my lip the question framed. 
 I stood 
 
 Transfixed before its answer, a scenic 
 Vision of magnificence, appalling ! 
 A raging ocean of devouring flame, 
 Leaping like maddened coursers to th' east-wind's 
 
216 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Vengeful lasH, flung all its hell-born 
 
 fury 
 'Gainst rock-battlemented base of burning 
 Mountains, whose Titanic throats hurled lurid 
 Lightnings, and fiercely coruscating wrath 
 Defiant to the Plutonian heavens ! 
 Thence 
 
 Fiery volumes of infernal smoke writhed 
 Like stupendous pythons across the dome, 
 Or trailing downward lapped the seething flood, 
 Where scaly monsters, such as old fable 
 Breeds from flame, reared direful, lashing iron-thewed 
 Th' awful chaldron. 
 
 *'Oh ! for a brush and canvas !" 
 
 'Thou hast better than thy wish," Gamaliel 
 Responded. "The wondrous picture liveth 
 In thy soul's camera, and shall beneath 
 Thy pencil glow whene'er thou wilt, 
 
 losing 
 No jot nor tittle of its transcendent 
 Splendor ; albe't that thou here beholdest 
 Hath neither substance nor reality. 
 Existing as a phantasmal shadow 
 Of the final deep, whither we direct 
 Our way. Give me thine hand." 
 
 Like two great birds of prehistoric time, 
 Sailing in fiery silhouette God's fifth 
 Creative day, we skimmed th' upper air, nor 
 Paused, till coasting anear a mountain slope, 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 217 
 
 My guide gave signal to alight. 
 
 Here strange 
 
 Amorphous creatures, part gyr-vulture, part 
 
 Vampire, circled above us greedy-eyed ; 
 
 And reared from slumbrous coil in fissured rock. 
 
 The deadly cockatrice with venomed fang 
 
 And claw our right of way disputed; but 
 
 Brief, the baleful menace ; for at 
 
 my guide's 
 Imperious command, the great ridge, belike 
 Some monstrous saurian, oped wide its caverned 
 Jaws, and ere reclosing, I found myself 
 Once more in rayless dark engulfed, 
 
 dropping 
 Thro night and nothingness in what would seem 
 A bottomless abyss. Somewhere a cry, 
 As 'twere a sentry's challenge, rang hollow- 
 Thro the void, acknowledged by my heavenly 
 Pilot with clear-called countersign. 
 Downward, 
 
 And still downward ! the darkness seemed curdling 
 About my heart, stifling its pulsations. 
 Presently, another signal, answered 
 As before. Where were we? Whence the voices? 
 Was this a vacuous interior approach 
 To lowest deep? or voyaged we 
 
 thro pathless 
 Planetary space, hailed in the transit 
 By spirits orbital? E'en as my thought 
 Th' awful question pondered, my feet touched earth : 
 And now, with sharply in-drawn breath, I stood 
 
218 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 At portal of the dread profound. 
 
 The land — 
 
 If such the lifeless desert, stretching from 
 
 Rim to rim, of dusky-lined horizon — 
 
 Lay like a dead Titan, staring starkly 
 
 Upward, in unbrok'n silence, 'neath the palled 
 
 Canopy of night and doom. 
 
 "Thou seest," said Gamaliel, *'the vestibule 
 Of final Hell. There, beyond the sky-mark, 
 Lieth a mighty city, the fortressed 
 Stronghold of a direful realm, 
 
 whose evil 
 Arts, and God defying sorceries, would scale 
 The very heavens, but that th' Omnipotent 
 Hath limitations fixed, impassable. 
 Thither, 'tis His will, we journey." 
 
 XI. 
 
 The while thro twilight gloorri and desert-sands 
 We passed, I glancing upward saw floating 
 High in air what seemed the tattered fragments 
 Of night's dissolving mist ; but clearer now 
 Discerned, a ghastly company 
 
 revealed 
 Of fleshless human forms, trailing the void. 
 Methought my soul to horrors' shock immune ; 
 But chilled my veins, as shuddering I spake ; 
 
 'Whence, this vast spectral caravan?*' 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 219 
 
 " Tis that thou oft hath witnessed here, th' ever 
 StartHng apparition of symbolic 
 Mirage. Such, the flaming sea 
 
 so lately 
 Passed, that lashed by scaly monsters evils 
 And falses in activity portrays ; 
 But as we deeper penetrate this sphere. 
 Psychic conditions are in this phantom 
 Army of spiritual dead reflected." 
 
 "Tell me of this mighty city, whither 
 We journey. Meanest a vasty stronghold 
 Of cavernous abodes, such as we see 
 Throughout these spheres?" 
 
 *'Nay, the spirits of this final deep dwell 
 In a fantastic kingdom, by wicked 
 Arts and direful sorceries devised." 
 
 "How may this be? I comprehend thee not." 
 
 "Thou know'st the story of our ancient race ; 
 That early sovereignty of lofty souls. 
 Who in creation's morn lived near to God, 
 And drank the wine of wisdom's immortelles 
 With angels. Of how, dizzied 
 
 with knowledge, 
 They blasphemous God's holy truth t* evil 
 Use perverted, aspiring to create 
 And reign in heaven, and how by presumptuous 
 x-\mbition fell that shining galaxy 
 Of morning stars, proud Lucifer." 
 
220 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 A shade of poignant pity swept his face, 
 As indicating- with his hand the vast 
 Entombment, he added : "Of this profound. 
 Are they!" 
 
 Overwhelmed with th' astounding thought, I mute 
 Upon the speaker fixed my startled eyes. 
 
 "These God-defiant spirits continue 
 Here their evil thaumaturgic science, 
 Potent in all that doth Satanic hate 
 And purpose serve, tho haply now to earth 
 Unknown. Thro such unlawful 
 
 agencies 
 Construct they an illusive realm, conceived 
 By fancy, or evoked from th' electric 
 Film that interlieth 'twixt external 
 Nature and the spirit-world, 
 
 where all earth's 
 Vanished voices sleep resilient, and forms 
 Of creative thought in dust of ages 
 Crumbled relive in shadows. These empty 
 Shells of life's resounding sea deceitful 
 Magic doth infil with seeming- 
 substance, 
 So like th' infinite, that only a touch 
 Of truth divine, or inter-probing shaft 
 Of heaven's light, their false interiors reveal. 
 Also, themselves to beauty they 
 
 transform, 
 Reigning, according to thaumaturgic 
 vSkill, as gods and demi-gods. Such th' evil 
 
Tilll SUPREME ADVENTURE. 221 
 
 Sorcerers of Pharaoh's day, whose deadly 
 Sciences, commit t' archives of the g"reat 
 Egyptian library, were of 
 
 divine 
 Providence destroyed. To one chief city 
 Of this direful realm — its nave and potent 
 Capital — God's mandate hath our journey 
 Limited, and the dim lights now pricking 
 The western verge announce our goal.'' 
 
 Nearer approached, the shining points became 
 A brilliant zone, that ever to vision 
 Broad'ning evolved ere long a starry sea, 
 Outlining in glittering perspective 
 A colossal dragon. 
 
 "Thou seest in yon monstrous shape," Gamaliel 
 Instructed, ''the city's magic symbol, 
 And crest armorial ; also a sceptered 
 Pow'r in demonology, evoking 
 Agencies infernal." 
 
 XII. 
 
 With our advance the symbol disappeared 
 
 In scenic splendors, such as we wond'ring 
 
 Read of cities now but dust. 
 
 A mighty 
 
 River, sentineled beyond the vision's 
 
 Range by stately palms, and spanned by massive 
 
 Archways dragon-guarded, rolled at our feet, 
 
 And on th' opposing shore th' old, old city. 
 
222 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Further in time removed than 
 
 Nineveh 
 
 Or Tyre, repeated in the wat'ry deep 
 
 Its dazzHng effulgence, and stupendous 
 
 Architecture. Not here, the lead'n concave 
 
 That hitherto our journey marked, 
 
 but blazed 
 Th' azure firmament with constellated 
 Glories, and central o'er the city shone 
 Great Draco. No word of mouth I needed 
 T' instruct me that on the lotus-tangled 
 Marge I stood of Egypt's hoary river, 
 Gazing adown the vanished 
 
 centuries 
 Upon a monument of man's inspired 
 Art, whereof no record nor least vestige 
 Doth on bereav-ed earth remain. 
 And this, 
 
 Was necromancy! Oh! pow'r Promethean, 
 That reared from ages immemorial 
 This regal daughter of old Nile ! I heard 
 The river's lapping sob ; the sigh and swish 
 Of wand'ring breezes, freighted 
 
 with perfumed 
 Lotus; the rustle of palm and swaying reeds 
 That etched in trickling shadows the moonlit 
 Marshes ; the mating bittern's lonely cry ; 
 The flutter and hoarse pipe 
 
 of drowsy birds 
 From in-drawn shutters of the sensitive 
 Mimosa ; and afar, as hum and roar 
 
THE SUPREME ADJ'ENTURE. 223 
 
 Of madly rushing waters, th' old city's 
 Ceaseless turbulence. Could this be 
 
 wholly 
 Phantasie? Robbed not these lawless bandits 
 Of th' underworld, more than discarded shells 
 Of spirit's border sea? Had these wondrous 
 Creations no spark of heaven's infinite? 
 
 As tho I spake, Gamaliel responded. 
 
 "Would'st tear the mask from these appearances 
 Deceitful? Would'st see by touch of heaven's truth 
 A black drop of the dragon's blood?" 
 
 He plucked a lotus, and the long-stemmed flow'r 
 Writhed in his firm hand, a hissing serpent! 
 I shrank aghast ! He breathed upon 't, whereat 
 The foul creation vanished in blackened 
 Smoke ! Then smote he with his foot 
 
 contemptuous 
 A gnarl-ed root, that instant gaped apart 
 In two great jaws, a monstrous crocodile 
 Revealed. Gamaliel smiled. 
 
 ''Be careful how thou approachest! Now, smite 
 It with thy cross!" 
 
 Lo ! at contact with the Christian's holy 
 
 Standard, shriveled th' audacious counterfeit 
 
 To fragment of volcanic rock ! 
 
 My guide. 
 
 His face all luminous as with white flame. 
 
 Now to the city turned. 
 
224 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "Come ! Let us go up into this fortressed 
 Habitation of the dragon! For God 
 Hath even now His purpose to me made known!" 
 Then, with pathetic gesture and inspired 
 Voice, he cried: 
 
 "Alas ! how art thou fall'n, O' Lucifer, 
 Son of the morning! For thou hast declared, 
 
 'I will ascend into the heavens. My throne 
 Will I exalt above the stars of God !' " 
 
 ''Howl O Gate! Cry O City! 
 for the day 
 Of the Lord is at hand! 
 Stand flow ivith thine enchantments, 
 And the multitude of thy sorceries, 
 If so he thou shalt prevail! Behold, 
 They shall be as stubble! Desolation 
 Shall come upon thee suddenly. 
 For month of God hath spoken it.'' 
 
 XHL 
 
 Scarce from his lips th' ancient denunciation 
 Of the prophet fell, when by the Spirit 
 Borne aloft we left the soughing river 
 In our wake, passed o'er the griffin-guarded 
 Walls unseen, alighting now 
 
 on shining 
 Dome of a stupendous temple, devote 
 Unto the reigning king or sorcerer. 
 This thaumaturgic nave twelve magic pow'rs 
 Sentineled, appearing as twelve seal-ed 
 Dragons, pacing restless the fountained court, 
 
THE SUPREME ADl'EXTURE. Ill 
 
 And breathing flame. Serene 
 
 in angelic 
 Stronghold, my 'stonished eyes the vision swept 
 Of mighty achievements in constructive 
 Art, the key whereof is lost to man ! Where — 
 O patient searcher of earth's 
 
 crumbled forms 
 For traces of thy brother's vanished hands — 
 These precious secrets of dead centuries? 
 Where, inexorable Time, that stayeth 
 Not nor spareth, tho earth wail 
 
 unto thee 
 For her treasures, yon vistaed avenues 
 Of sphynx and obelisk, gleaming thro palm 
 And silv'ry fountains to the misty verge? 
 Where, yon pillared and statued theater 
 Waving with banners, and floral 
 
 garlands, 
 That echoed to tilt and tourney and flying 
 Chariot, when Hercules was young? 
 Ah ! Where, 
 
 Despoiled and bereav-ed Love, thy hanging 
 Gardens of delight, drowsing the dreamy 
 Air with orange-bloom and roses? 
 A sudd'n 
 
 Burst of martial music, followed by shouts 
 And clam'rous applause, brake on my rev'rie 
 Harsh. 
 
 "Behold!" exclaimed Gamaliel, "the bloody 
 Beelzebub, and his infernal princes !" 
 
 I looked, and lo ! a mighty multitude. 
 15 
 
226 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Greeting with cheers and homage worshipful 
 A brilHant cavalcade of royal guards, 
 Numbering six-hundred horsemen, that rode 
 On either side the spacious 
 
 thoroughfare, 
 And 'twixt them the reigning pow'rs and princes 
 Of this direful knigdom. Th' imposing staff, 
 Resplendent in silver-scal-ed armor, 
 Lithe as serpent-skins, and bearing lances 
 Tipped with magic fire, sat flame-eyed 
 
 stallions. 
 Black as their demon dam, dark sorcery, 
 That rearing with gold-shod hoofs imperious, 
 And neighing shrill thro vicious teeth bared 
 
 ghastly. 
 Smote with chill horror my appall-ed soul. 
 Smiled gracious down upon his worshippers, 
 From gold'n chariot by fiery dragons drawn, 
 The sceptered blasphemer ; and at his side. 
 In dazzling pomp surpassing 
 
 Sheba's queen. 
 The cruel courtesan and witch malign, 
 Foul Hecate, show'red on th' appalling throng 
 Her evil amulets. Thus wound onward. 
 Like colossal python, the glittering 
 Procession, till reaching th' amphitheater, 
 Now teeming with impatient hordes, 
 
 the august 
 Body their magic equerry dismissed, 
 And 'mid prolonged ovation ascended 
 Th' imperial pavilion. 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 227 
 
 ''What meaneth this?" I asked. 
 
 A look of scorn, mingled with pain, passed o'er 
 His watching eyes. 
 
 "The cruel Beelzebub must be amused !" 
 
 ''The portals thou observest of the Grand 
 Palaestra ope westward to an-hungered 
 Or maddened beasts ; eastward, to their hapless 
 Victims !" 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Scarce died the uproar, when as returning tide, 
 That sweeps with swollen crest its former mark, 
 It brake again ; the while to signal trump 
 And rolling drum portentous twelve 
 
 blood-red 
 Stallions — hell-gendered — burst with cyclonic 
 Fury in th' arena, each a naked 
 Thong-bound victim bearing, one a woman ! 
 Thrice round the hippodrome the demon beasts 
 Sped frantic, endeavoring 
 
 with dizzy 
 Leaps and tortuous gyrations to expel 
 Their burdens ; or failing this, attempting 
 By backward toss of frothing jaws to tear 
 Them limb from limb. Goaded now by efforts 
 Unavailing, the equine fiends 
 
 on haunches 
 Reared, and with slirill neighings, such as no earth-foaled 
 
228 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Steed e'er sounded, in combat deadly closed, 
 Hoof ringing hard on hoof, thud answering 
 With crimson spurt to thud and brutal scream, 
 To scream ; the gloating populace 
 
 meanwhile 
 Cheering vocif'rous. Horror-sick, I turned 
 Away, and covering my face essayed 
 To shut from mental vision the ghastly 
 Consummation. "O Christ!" methought, "hast Thou 
 Too turned away Thy face?" 
 
 "Nay," spake Gamaliel who read my fainting 
 Soul. "Who reigneth supreme in light reigneth 
 Supreme in darkness ! Lift up thine eyes !" 
 
 Oh ! miracles of miracles ! A thing 
 Incredible, mocking e'en as I gazed 
 Attesting sense ! The frenzied brutes, 
 
 create 
 Of infernal sorcery, were instant 
 To elemental flame resolved, while safe. 
 Untouched by fatal hoof or demon teeth, 
 The liberated pris'ners trembling 
 
 stood. 
 Counter-illumed amid the blazing pyres 
 By a great Hand outstretched upon the heavens, 
 Effulgent ! Meantime hell's myrmidons rushed 
 To and fro, seeking like rapine-thwarted 
 Wolves th' unseen source of their 
 
 discomfiture. 
 Alarums pealed ! drums rolled ! Blue signals flashed, 
 And tides of vengeful devils surged, hasting 
 
TlUi SUPREME ADVENTURE. 229 
 
 To swell the dread influent hosts, marshaled 
 
 To mandate of their demon kini;-. 
 
 And now, 
 
 'Neath vivid search-light on the city turned, 
 
 Our lofty station was revealed. Instant, 
 
 Signaled by uplifted wand, six hundred 
 
 Lances deadly aimed fell like 
 
 extinguished 
 Rockets at our feet. Thrice, and thrice again, 
 Abortive hissed the direful projectiles. 
 Then, baffled fury, Plutonian lightnings 
 Thundered, gashing the fiery vault into 
 An hundred hells, whence issued 
 
 infernal 
 Forms of invocation, that all vainly 
 With venomed fang or scorpion barb assailed. 
 Below, the guarding dragons paced, 
 
 lashing 
 With frightful bellowings their scaly coils. 
 While shook the great thaumaturgic temple 
 From base to dome with issuance of pow'rs 
 Infernal. Serene, amid hell's thunder, 
 Towered the Messenger of God. 
 Lifting 
 
 To heaven his face all glorified with truth's 
 Divine, he silently stretched forth his hands ! 
 O Thou, whose holy ministers of grace 
 Are at Thy will a flaming sword, who shall 
 Their vested pow'r withstand? 
 As withered leaves 
 
 That mock the cyclone's devastating path, 
 As bubble in the hot sirocco's breath, 
 
230 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 As darkness before creative fiat, 
 
 So, in that fateful gesture, vanished hell's 
 
 Mighty mimicry ! 
 
 When transient blindness from my vision passed, 
 I stood on summit of a fire-scarred crag, 
 O'erawed, bewildered, yet tranquil withal, 
 As child who feels in whelming thunder-shock 
 His father's clasping hand. Beyond 
 
 the black'ned 
 Ruins of volcanic rock, an arid 
 Desert stretched, such as one pictures of some 
 Out-burned spacial orb, extinguished. 
 
 'Th' awful desolation thou beholdest," 
 Said Gamaliel, "is all that remaineth 
 Of hell's phantom city, its deceitful 
 Glories, and God-defiant lawlessness ! 
 These, the grewsome bones, whereon Satanic 
 Necromancy its marvels reared.'' 
 
 As one who from horrific dream awakes, 
 I stared upon th' incinerated waste, 
 Seeking in vain some vestige of the vast 
 Pricked bubble ; some traces of th' awful scene 
 Burned in my memory with penciled fire. 
 
 'Oh ! mighty spirits, of a day 
 
 inspired ! 
 Oh ! pow'rs perverted and profaned ! Methinks 
 Th' ocean's briny bed were all too shallow 
 For tears th' angels weep o'er earth's quenched stars !' 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 231 
 
 "VVould'st thou the true estate and 'vironment 
 Behold of these rebellious sorcerers, 
 Stript now of their enchantments? Nay — distress 
 We not by our presence ; enter we there 
 Invisible." 
 
 XV. 
 
 Descending- the cliff,, we skirted westward 
 A sooty ridge, that near its terminus 
 Yawned in a prodigious chasm, the beetling- 
 Boundaries whereof were native 
 
 ramparts 
 Of black basaltic rock, that smoked and rocked 
 With late volcanic scissure. No access 
 To this vast profound appeared, yet thither 
 Doubtless led our way. Ere I the question 
 To my guide referred, he on my shoulder 
 Laid his hand. 
 
 *We enter here," he said. 
 
 A moment, on the dizzy brink we stood, 
 Then sweeping bird-like downward, alighted 
 In a desert fastness, where anon, through 
 Twilight gioom, cries doleful quavered, 
 
 whether 
 Of human voices, or distant prowling 
 Beast, discerned I not. Beetled to such height 
 This stronghold, a vulture on the summit 
 Wheeling showed lesser than a wind-tossed leaf ! 
 Yet what restraint, I mused, were height or depth 
 Or fortressed barriers to spirit powrs? 
 
232 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 "None," answered Gamaliel, to whom my thought 
 Was known. "They are but representatives 
 Of power, and apart from Divine fiat, 
 Binding e'en less than seven green wythes th' unshorn 
 Samson." 
 
 Proceeding more to westward, the dismal 
 Sounds, distinctly now perceived as human 
 Voices distressful, led to a hood-like 
 Cavern, whence thro foul cadaver 
 
 issued 
 Wailing cries, mingled with maledictions 
 Fierce and vengeful. My guide, the fetor 
 Cleansed as erst, bidding me follow. 
 Silent, 
 
 And invisible, we here a mouldy 
 Passage-way precipitous descended, 
 Reaching a vasty underworld, that stretched 
 Beyond the vision in a pestilent 
 Morass, by lowest forms 
 
 inhabited 
 Of slimy life, and deep'ning to darkness 
 On the rayless verge, that seemed th' appalling 
 Borderland of night eternal ! 
 No hint 
 
 Of feebly budded blade, nor mockery 
 Of leaf pricked here or there the hideous 
 Expanse ; but nature, ever maternal. 
 Striving as 'twere with blind, forgott'n, 
 
 impulse 
 Toward genesis of plant and tree, produced 
 From her abortive womb a forestry 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 233 
 
 Of giant fungi, that in its bloated 
 Pallor sin's loathly leprosy proclaimed. 
 At roots of these lay prone, or coiled, 
 
 or writhed, 
 What in the gloom prodigious serpents seemed : 
 But as they reared white-bellied from the mire, 
 I saw, O God ! their heads, tho sharply drawn 
 To lines ophidian, were human! 
 My limbs 
 
 Trembled ; a clammy dew my brow o'erspread, 
 And consciousness had darkly from me passed 
 But that my guide's supporting arm upbore 
 Me from the scene unto the plane above. 
 
 "Methought to spare thee this,," he gently said, 
 "But leadeth thy mission to the journey's 
 
 End. Closeth here our direful errantry ; 
 
 And well hast thou thy faith and courage proved. 
 
 Th' appalling debasement thou hast 
 witnessed 
 
 Of man's human is not, as doth appear, 
 
 The punishment of arbitrary pow'r, 
 
 But th' unfailing sequence of eternal 
 
 Correspondent law, to thee familiar." 
 
 ''See they themselves and their environment. 
 As to our eyes revealed?" 
 
 "Aye; since to their true estate they needs must 
 Be aroused. When humbled and horror-smit 
 They for deliv'rance cry, divine mercy 
 Doth provide they shall again in human 
 
234 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Form appear, tho sentenced in these pris'n walls 
 To daily servitude." 
 
 ''Remain they long incarcerate?" 
 
 " 'Tis as Omniscient Wisdom doth decree." 
 
 "Recur these judgments oft?" 
 
 "Nay, such as this hath not been chronicled, 
 By cosmic registry, for six-score years." 
 
 ''What meanest by 'cosmic registry?'" 
 
 "All mighty upheavals of the causal 
 World are by responsive planetary 
 Change recorded. Great spiritual judgments 
 In the one are in th' other 
 
 seismic shocks, 
 Such as vast territories have engulfed. 
 No wave that mounts upon this shore 
 Pauseth, till it breaks on bounds terrestrial." 
 
 "Alas ! for earth ! When shall her sorrows cease, 
 And sin be swallowed up in victory?" 
 
 "Rest thee in peace ; for as thy soul liveth 
 Shall we in God's eternity that day 
 Behold. Let us depart." 
 
 "Return we by the way we came?" 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 235 
 
 "Nay, our dark pilgrimage is o'er. From this 
 Profound a secret exit openeth, known 
 Only to heaven-appointed messengers. 
 Give me thine hand." 
 
 XVL 
 
 Next moment a fresh pure air, reviving, 
 Fanned my cheek ; my feet pressed tender-budded 
 Sod ; and spring's green mantle wrapped 
 
 the fair young 
 World, that laughed and sang and shook its blossomed 
 Petals down in pearly rain for very 
 Ecstacy of life. My senses blissful 
 Swam ! Where were w^e ? Could this blest land 
 
 be heaven? 
 Nay, one who would for me a paradise 
 Of any common field create 
 
 rejoiced 
 Not with me here,, and heaven without her were 
 Inconceivable. 
 
 "Not far art thou from heaven," said Gamaliel, 
 Who followed me with happy smiling eyes. 
 
 "These girdling mountains thine own blue Highlands 
 Are, and this thy wedding day !" 
 
 I caught his hands, and held them close, while shook 
 And thundered thro my soul the magic words : 
 "Thy wedding day/' E'en as he spake,, 
 o'erflushed 
 Th' eastern hills with rosy radiance, and thrilled 
 
236 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 Th' air with music, faint as in dream, of choirs 
 Invisible. A wondrous light about 
 Us shone, wherein I saw Gamaliel's face 
 As 'twere transfigured. 
 
 "Beloved," he said, ''th' hour of thy heavenly 
 Transition is anear; but ere we part, 
 So soon to meet again, I in His Name, 
 Who hath thee to His holy priesthood chos'n, 
 Do hands of ordination on thee lay." 
 
 Bowing my head, I sank upon my knees. 
 
 ''As thou from angels hast received, so teach. 
 To blind and unbelieving earth. 
 
 'Write,' saith 
 The Lord, 'What in the spirit thou hast seen 
 And heard.' For this,, thy direful pilgrimage, 
 To spheres that know Him not. Tho in descent 
 To lower planes and denser atmospheres 
 Th' inbreathed fires of thy heavenly script burn low. 
 Enough shall live to light the way to Truth's 
 Eternal mountains. God's grace be with thee !" 
 
 XVII. 
 
 When I arose I was alone and, while 
 Of change unconscious hitherto, 
 
 beheld 
 Myself in wedding garments glistening 
 As snow; my feet in jeweled sandals shod, 
 And o'er my head a radiance of nimbused 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 237 
 
 Glory. Now rang th' echoed hills 
 
 with music 
 Triumphal ; the vaulted azure rifted 
 Effulgent ; and where the shining pathway 
 Smote the verge, a flaming chariot appeared, 
 By twelve white coursers drawn, 
 
 caparisoned 
 In kingly gold and purple. Tossing plumed 
 Heads on high, wide nostrils quivering, they paused 
 Beside me, all restless champing bitted 
 Gold, and stamping the flow'r bespangled mead. 
 Impatient for their homeward journey. 
 Twelve 
 
 Naked cherubs, types of heaven's innocence. 
 Hovered attendant, torches hymeneal 
 Bearing, that trailed th' incensed woods with wreathed 
 Clouds auroral. Along the way flow'rs burst 
 Spontaneous thro velvet turf 
 
 in honeyed 
 Greeting, and circling o'er head two mated 
 Milk-white doves symbolic led in orbits 
 Rhythmical. Thus went I forth to meet her! 
 Ere long, oh ! glorious fulfilment of love's 
 Prophecy, the city's folded gates swung 
 Wide ! A sweep thro bow'red fragrance 
 
 and plashing 
 Fountains : a crimson splendor of latticed 
 Roses ; then a reminiscent breath faint 
 Thro her silk'n chamber wafted, as I clasped 
 Her to my breast. O star of holy love's 
 Transcendent beauty! O glowing wine of Hfe, 
 
238 THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 
 
 One ruby drop whereof, were 
 
 recompense. 
 For anguished years ! The bridal robe, a fihii 
 As 'twere of light and dew, clung shimmering 
 About her, jewel-cinctured; and flowed from 
 Tiara of precious stones, in order 
 Of the Holy City set, a pure white 
 Radiance, type of her Maid'n soul, that 
 
 veil-like. 
 To jeweled feet her grace ineffable 
 Enfolded. As on the heavenly vision 
 I raptured gazed, a note that was not sigh, 
 Yet plaintive as wind-harp to caressing 
 Zephyr breathes, fluttered its vermeil gateway 
 Thro. 
 
 ''Whence," I whispered, "this little trespasser 
 On love's domain ? Didst miss me, dear ?" 
 
 "Misseth fond earth her lover sun, when sinks 
 His g"lowing chariot below the dark'ning verge? 
 Yet, other shadows did my soul o'ercast. 
 Strange visions, and wild'ring dreams 
 
 oppressed me ; 
 And once — she caught her breath — methought I saw 
 Thee whelmed in rain of fire ! Weeping, I prayed ; 
 Then, deep within my troubled soul I seemed 
 To hear: ' 'Tis I. Be not afraid.' 
 But now, 
 
 The mystic night, whate'er its meaning, hath 
 Forever past, and folded to thy breast. 
 My falt'ring faith its lamp of life relumes." 
 
THE SUPREME ADVENTURE. 239 
 
 'Beloved, whom God created one ne'er know 
 Divided pulses. Together, by fixed 
 Eternal law, the currents of our being- 
 Flow, and whatsoe'er my spirit shadows 
 Its pale penumbra casts on thine. 
 When from 
 
 Our lover's tryst we parted, the Master's 
 Service did require, I with His angel 
 Messenger go forth upon a journey 
 Dark and direful. Not meet for this blest day 
 The story ; but in some love-enchanted 
 Bow'r of heaven, when droppeth on thy 
 Gentle 
 
 Soul God's perfect peace, I'll draw thee, dearest. 
 To my breast, and in thine ear th' errantry 
 Unfold. Hark! to the restless, tramping steeds. 
 That my impatient yearnings sound for heaven 
 And thee! Come!" 
 
C 82 89 .iii 
 
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 ^*^ N. MANCHESTER, 
 INDIANA 46962