Points of Friction
thoughts of some greater mentality in the other life." But this is not adding to our store. It is trying to take away from us the merit of what we have. "Anne Simon" reads the riddle thus: "In earth-proximity the spirit leaves behind him his efficacy, for the time, of Heaven-emanation; so it is better to open the heart, and wish the larger beneficence than to visualize the spirit-form. For the spirit-form without its spirit-treasure does not bring the mortal to the higher places."
Which, though not wholly intelligible, is doubtless true.
If we do not get what we hunger for, what is it we receive? Professor Hyslop once assured me that the authorship of "Jap Herron" was "proved beyond question." This contented him, but dismayed me. The eclipse of the "merry star" which danced above Mark Twain's cradle, and which shone on him fitfully through life, suggests direful possibili-
62
