I find I have so many things in common with the old Master of Arts, that
I do not always know whether a thought was originally his or mine. That
is what always happens where two persons of a similar cast of mind talk
much together. And both of them often gain by the interchange. Many
ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one
where they sprang up. That which was a weed in one intelligence becomes
a flower in the other. A flower, on the other hand, may dwindle down to
a mere weed by the same change. Healthy growths may become poisonous by
falling upon the wrong mental soil, and what seemed a night-shade in one
mind unfold as a morning-glory in the other.
--I thank God,--the Master said,--that a great many people believe a
great deal more than I do. I think, when it comes to serious matters,
I like those who believe more than I do better than those who believe
less.
--Why,--said I,--you have got hold of one of my own working axioms. I
should like to hear you develop it.
The Member of the Haouse said he should be glad to listen to the debate.
The gentleman had the floor. The Scarabee rose from his chair and
departed;--I thought his joints creaked as he straightened himself.
The Young Girl made a slight movement; it was a purely accidental
coincidence, no doubt, but I saw That Boy put his hand in his pocket
and pull out his popgun, and begin loading it. It cannot be that our
Scheherezade, who looks so quiet and proper at the table, can make use
of That Boy and his catapult to control the course of conversation and
change it to suit herself! She certainly looks innocent enough; but what
does a blush prove, and what does its absence prove, on one of these
innocent faces? There is nothing in all this world that can lie and
cheat like the face and the tongue of a young girl. Just give her a
little touch of hysteria,--I don't mean enough of it to make her friends
call the doctor in, but a slight hint of it in the nervous system,--and
“Machiavel the waiting-maid” might take lessons of her. But I cannot
think our Scheherezade is one of that kind, and I am ashamed of
myself for noting such a trifling coincidence as that which excited my
suspicion.
--I say,--the Master continued,--that I had rather be in the company of
those who believe more than I do, in spiritual matters at least, than of
those who doubt what I accept as a part of my belief.
--To tell the truth,--said I,--I find that difficulty sometimes in
talking with you. You have not quite so many hesitations as I have in
following out your logical conclusions. I suppose you would bring some
things out into daylight questioning that I had rather leave in
that twilight of half-belief peopled with shadows--if they are only
shadows--more sacred to me than many realities.
There is nothing I do not question,--said the Master;--I not only begin
with the precept of Descartes, but I hold all my opinions involving any
chain of reasoning always open to revision.
--I confess that I smiled internally to hear him say that. The old
Master thinks he is open to conviction on all subjects; but if you
meddle with some of his notions and don't get tossed on his horns as if
a bull had hold of you, I should call you lucky.
--You don't mean you doubt everything?--I said.
--What do you think I question everything for, the Master replied,--if I
never get any answers? You've seen a blind man with a stick, feeling
his way along? Well, I am a blind man with a stick, and I find the world
pretty full of men just as blind as I am, but without any stick. I try
the ground to find out whether it is firm or not before I rest my weight
on it; but after it has borne my weight, that question at least is
answered. It very certainly was strong enough once; the presumption is
that it is strong enough now. Still the soil may have been undermined,
or I may have grown heavier. Make as much of that as you will. I say
I question everything; but if I find Bunker Hill Monument standing as
straight as when I leaned against it a year or ten years ago, I am not
very much afraid that Bunker Hill will cave in if I trust myself again
on the soil of it.