"The humble and the proud are equally subject to the decrees of
Heaven; and often one is raised and the other brought low."
The system of education which I early inaugurated soon gave to my hand
men of wondrous intelligence, fervid and eloquent emissaries, having at
heart the success of my doctrines.
These men, themselves convinced, and earnest to convince others, I sent
in all directions to prepare the people, and to discover genius and
intelligence under whatever garb concealed, for I had determined that
all should be encouraged to use their powers for their own and the
general good, and be advanced accordingly.
Many things had happened to strengthen this, my early resolve. One
incident I will now relate.
A beggar made many attempts to gain admission to my palace, but was
turned away with blows; his prayers that he might speak with me were
received with derision,--he was looked upon as a madman, and not allowed
to pass the outer gate.
This same beggar--Vyora, by name,--saved the life of a little boy, the
child of one of my leading men called Usheemee, "Men of truth."
The child would have been crushed to death under the wheels of a
chariot, moved by electricity and drawn by fleet horses,[1] had not this
same beggar rushed forward, regardless of peril, and saved the boy.
[Footnote 1: The beauty of our horses, the desire that
the chariots should not be cumbersome, and the steep
hills everywhere in Montalluyah, are the reasons why
electricity is not used alone. When the horses stop,
the electric action is suspended, and the momentum is
neutralized simultaneously by a governor or regulator.]
The man refused money, and for his sole reward requested that he might
be brought into my presence. The father told me of this, which seemed to
him the more strange inasmuch as the petitioner refused to say what he
required of me.
When brought before me, I asked Vyora what he sought? He replied that
his whole desire, his soul's longing, was to be appointed a teacher,
that he might instruct youth, and see little children grow wiser around
him.
I regarded the man attentively, and put many searching questions. He
answered all in a remarkable way, and gave proofs of intellect,
knowledge, and perception beyond the masters who had passed through the
required ordeals, and was so gentle and modest withal, that it was
delightful to speak with him.
The father of Vyora had possessed wealth, but from the cruelty and
oppression of an enemy mightier than he, had lost both fortune and life,
and at his death left a family dependent on charity.
The widow, a woman of remarkable gifts and keen sensibilities,
prostrated by grief, died soon after, carried off suddenly by a disease
called, "Karni ferola," "Absorption of the vitality," [1] which at that
time baffled the skill of the physicians, who indeed had seldom
suspected its presence till the disease was beyond cure.
[Footnote 1: Answering to "consumption;" this disease
is now detected and cured in its germ.]
Vyora, himself an emaciated boy, unfitted for physical labour, was the
eldest of many brothers and sisters, who looked up to him in their
hunger. He was driven to beg their food.
After the poor man had passed easily all the ordeals, I appointed him "a
Character-Diver," to discover the qualities and detect the faults of
little children,[2] and raised him from indigence to affluence.
[Footnote 2: See p. 19.]
The ability, industry, and wisdom of the man, and the good he did were
beyond all praise, and I soon appointed him head of all the
Character-Divers in Montalluyah.
This incident, with many others, engaged my most serious reflection. But
for an accident, the powers of a truly superior mind would have been
lost to humanity! Vyora was but the type of numbers, evidencing how
capriciously wealth and honours were then distributed.