Mr. Dow assured him that the revelations of Mr. Welson were strictly true, and that whatever was at variance with their former selves had been effected by Manatitlan wisdom. He then asked Corycæus, if present, to give a joint pull upon the most sensitive vibrilla in the padre’s ear. His sudden start, with the tearful winking of his eyes, gave evidence that the Manatitlans were still there. Seeing that the old mythical idea of spirit possession still lingered, he asked them to sing in chorus Old Lang Syne, as that was the only tune the padre could recognize. This was so well rendered in sympathetic harmony that the padre beat time with both hands, and at its close exclaimed, “My goodness gracious, I never heard such music; why it thrilled me through and through, yet the voices seemed small, and far off, as if they came from the heavenly realms of bliss!”
After the morning meal the padre was escorted to the auriculum by all the initiated, including the mayorong and his family. The padre having been placed in a favorable position for hearing and seeing, at an appointed signal a large number of giantescoes, mediums, and tits, suddenly appeared on the reflecting platform of the tympano-microscope, with a movement so quick that neither action or source of emergence could be detected. The suddenness of their appearance caused the quick adjournment of the padre’s hand to his hair, its usual place of resort when his faculties were surprised with doubts requiring the aid of counter-irritation for elucidation. The Dosch and Doschessa advanced to the front of the platform, and after a reciprocal introduction to the padre, the former plainly stated the reason why a portion had been excluded from a knowledge of their existence. It was not, however, until a full hour had passed in the discussion of various topics relating to Manatitlan influence, that the padre ventured to speak. He then timidly inquired of the Dosch, “Do you and your wife and the rest of the Manatitlans feel quite like men and comfortable?”
Dosch. “You can rest assured that we all feel like men,—except our women,—and really comfortable!”
Padre. “Are your women in being smaller less comfortable than the men?”
Dosch. “As you perceive, they hold the same relative proportion with regard to size as the females of your own race. But if they were larger, perhaps the men would feel less comfortable. You know from experience that women wield a strong influence upon whichever side they lend their weight.”
Padre. “Do you cook your food or eat it raw?”
Dosch. “We are, like your own race, omnivorous, but select and adapt our food to the healthy requirements of our bodies, using fire for its preparation.”
Padre. “But how can you make such small fires?”
Dosch. “We hold ourselves in advance of your race in that respect, as we are not dependent upon material combustion for our fires. You are, of course, laboring under the impression that our small size must embarrass the organic functions. But in the intensity of the spark you will find an apt illustration of the vital energy that we have been enabled to preserve in the purity of its brightness. Although you may esteem it a spark of egoism, we can, with truth, assert that we feel free from the vagaries of appetite and lust, and an infinitesimal concentration of vitality that imparts purity to our impressions. This exemption from the ills to which you are subject in the flesh, we have obtained by the consistent cultivation of our perceptive endowments bestowed by the Creator as an heirloom independent of the body’s material tenement. For your enlightenment with reference to the physical coöperation of our educated perceptions with the body, I will say that we possess, from transmitted cultivation, a nervous and muscular energy, with a sensitive perception, that enables us to detect and guard against dangers while yet distant. In sudden emergency, by our agile presence of mind, we can, without extraordinary effort, avoid impending danger, that would inevitably prove fatal to your slower faculties of apprehension. That you may appreciate, in a measure, the quickness of our movements, Corycæus, the padre’s familiar, will pass from the platform to his ear.”
Corycæus. “Yes, and he may catch me if he can.”