TO
MY FRIEND
WILLIAM CURTIS GIBSON

"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?"
—Holy Writ.

"John and Peter and Robert and Paul—
God, in His wisdom, created them all.
John was a statesman and Peter a slave,
Robert a preacher and Paul was a knave.
Evil or good, as the case might be,
White or colored, or bond or free,
John and Peter and Robert and Paul—
God, in His wisdom, created them all."
The Chemistry of Character.

CONTENTS

BOOK ONE—The Age Of Fable

CHAPTER
I.[How the Christmas Saint was Proved]
II.[An Old Man Faces Two Ways]
III.[The Cult of the Candy Cane]
IV.[The Big House of Portents]
V.[The Life of Crime Is Appraised and Chosen]
VI.[The Garden of Truth and the Perfect Father]
VII.[The Superlative Cousin Bill J.]
VIII.[Searching the Scriptures]
IX.[On Surviving the Idols We Build]
X.[The Passing of the Gratcher; and Another]
XI.[The Strong Person's Narrative]
XII.[A New Theory of a Certain Wicked Man]

BOOK TWO—The Age of Reason

CHAPTER
I.[The Regrettable Dementia of a Convalescent]
II.[Further Distressing Fantasies of a Clouded Mind]
III.[Reason Is Again Enthroned]
IV.[A Few Letters]
V.["Is the Hand of the Lord Waxed Short?"]
VI.[In the Folly of His Youth]