My Library

realize that it was a phantasm. The thing was impossible. It looked like the reflection of a dog in a looking-glass, and I actually turned my head, not to look for the dog, but for the picture of one upon the wall, that might have caused the image in the mirror. There was no such picture. The old man enjoyed my surprise, and muttered — “ ‘Nothing supernatural, ha? Remember that idiots, bigots, and fools only dispute the existence of that which others do, but they do not understand. True, many pin their faith in a hereafter upon the curious phenomena attributed to disembodied souls, but they err in so doing. The demonstration can never be afforded through any process of either phenomena or intellection. Of that, be assured. Immortality can never be thought; it must be felt. Your philosopher cannot possibly grasp the idea, because it is not an idea at all. It is a reality, and comes to man never through the intellect, but ever and always through other channels of the spirit—comes over roads that begin on earth and terminate directly at the foot of God’s throne. Thus, when storms fall on the philosophic soul it shrinks and plays the coward. Not so the truly intuitional man. He feels, and, feeling, sees God through the gloom; and that, to him, is an insurance against loss or annihilation. He rides triumphant over circumstances that bar themselves effectually