THE SOCIETY UPON THE HIMALAY.
(THEOSOPHICALLY ADAPTED FROM BRET HARTE.)
I reside at Table Mountain, and my name is Truthful James;
I am not fond of pious frauds or Oriental games;
And I’ll tell in simple language, as well as I can say,
What broke up our Society upon the Himalay.
But first I would remark that there must needs be painful scenes
When Theosophic gents begin to give each other Beans;
And though Mahatma missives do pan out a little queer,
We should avoid disturbances in the Mahatmosphere.[[2]]
Now nothing could be nicer or more full of harmony
Than the first few months that followed the decease of “H.P.B.”;
Till Judge of Calaveras produced a curious set
Of missives in red pencil what he said were from Tibet.[[3]]
From these he reconstructed a Mahatma (very rare),
A Nest of that peculiar kind pertaining to a Mare;
But Mrs. Besant found a rival missive on the shelf,[[4]]
And said she fancied Mr. Judge had written his himself.[[5]]
Then Judge’s smile took on a most unpleasant sort of curve;
He said he would not trespass so on Mrs. B.’s preserve.
He was a most resourceful man, that quiet Mr. Judge;
He got another missive saying Mrs. B.’s was fudge.[[6]]
Now, it is not edifying for a Theosophic priest
To call another one a fraud—to all intents, at least;
Nor should the individual who happens to be meant
Reply by throwing things about to any great extent.
Then Olcott, H., of Adyar, raised a point of order, when
A chunk of old red pencil took him in the abdomen;[[7]]
And he smiled a kind of sickly smile and curled up on the floor,
And the subsequent proceedings interested him no more.[[8]]
For, in less time than I write it, all the meeting got upset
With “precipitating” missiles which did not come from Tibet;
And the things they called each other in their anger were a sin—
Till the public got disgusted, and the temple roof caved in.
And this is all I have to say of these improper games,
For I live at Table Mountain and my name is Truthful James;
And I’ve told in simple language all I know about the fray
That broke up our Society upon the Himalay.
[2]. “Any action in these controversial matters tends to set up a perfect whirlwind on other planes.”—Mrs. Besant in Lucifer.
[3]. “Mahatma Morya affects red pencil, Koot Hoomi blue.”—“Isis Very Much Unveiled.”
[4]. “She wrote ... it was Master’s wish ... that Master ordered her to do as she did.”—Mr. Judge’s circular to the E.S.T.
[5]. “I now know that they were written by Mr. Judge.”—Mrs. Besant, “Report of an Enquiry,” &c.
[6]. “Under Master’s direction, I declare Mrs. Besant’s headship at an end.”—Mr. Judge’s circular to the E.S.T.
[7]. “Isis,” Chapters IX., X.
[8]. “I declare, as my opinion, that this Enquiry must go no farther.”—Colonel Olcott, “Report of an Enquiry,” &c.
F. E. G.
“WHEN AUGUR MEETS AUGUR”—
“It is rather a squalid fight between the augurs that the curtain has been raised upon; but it has got to be fought out now before the public, and it is in vain to try to ring the curtain down again.”