The padre could not help joining in the merriment the song provoked, while his glowing face attested to the aptness of the conception; still he offered the smiling remonstrance, “According to your own creed, I should be lacking in honesty if I pretended to believe what I can’t understand. If the Dosch can explain to me how a man’s soul can be saved that was lost by transgression, without the efficacy of pardoning grace, it would please me to learn how it is to be done.”
Dosch. “Well, padre, I am afraid Manito’s inspiration was a little premature. But let us now dispense with mythological themes for those from which we can truly realize tangible impressions of happiness, as we are now able to add to conversation facial expression, and, in a limited degree, exampled effect.”
Padre. “Pardon my interruption. I hope that you do not think me willfully obstinate, for I had much rather you would think me stupid in perception and weak in determination. I know that habits contracted in youth rule in age, but aside from my lack of self control, I can appreciate the fact of the Heracleans’ real happiness, and that it is derived in source from purity and goodness. Indeed, I have wondered how they could tolerate me; and can also see the vast improvement made in the habits of Mr. Welson, Mr. Dow, and the members of the corps. If I have been beset with doubts, it cannot be strange to your experience. If I waver again, I hope that you will pity, rather than chide me with vexation; for I shall try to act honestly, according to my impressions. It would be presumptuous folly for me to uphold my frailties and inconstancy against the clear evidence of my perceptions, which cannot fail to realize the truthfulness of all you advocate in the example of the Heracleans. It was the transparent purity of your bodies that made me think that you might represent in translation “the souls of the just made perfect.””
Dosch. “We possibly expected more from your perception than our experience warranted; but we thought that your natural goodness could be revived for an appreciation of the success we have obtained with your companions, that would lead you to think, instead of talking from the impression of your senses. But the Heraclean parents have concluded to anticipate the day appointed to visit the schools, and for your advantage have set apart the morrow for the monthly reunion with their “boys.””
CHAPTER XXIV.
The prætor and his family called at the quarters of the corps shortly after breakfast on the following morning, to escort the members to the Adolescentium. Instead of proceeding up the foræ avenue to the temple gate, the prætor conducted them to the edificos sacerdotium, and from the court of the centre building led them to an intermural stairway, that commanded the only means of ascent to the temple walls, which were higher and distinct from those of the cinctus enclosure. The prætor in ascending explained that the houses abutting the wall upon the inner and outer faces, now occupied by the teachers, were designed in building to facilitate the mysteries of the temple ceremonies. Reaching the parapet we passed in its walk to a septum wall of an elliptic form, uniting at its distal extremity from the falls, with, but was in altitude higher than the cinctus. The outer and inner walls of the lower enclosure contained an oblong piece of ground of considerable extent. The interspaces between the walks were planted with fruit trees and vines, the mist of the falls veiling it from the brink of the precipice. The priests had undoubtedly availed themselves of these natural aids for the furtherance of their mysterious impositions; its counterpart of the northern temple being subject to the same interposed screen, which closed in the view to all beyond the walls. The undulating upward lift of the misty veil disclosed the familiar blossoms of the apple, pear, peach, and apricot, with other exotics of the temperate zones that the misty atmosphere favored; discovering to us the flavoring source of preserves which we had attributed to artificial production. The prætor informed us that the germs of these were of Manatitlan transportation. The fruitful view on either hand—for the temple garden was also under kindred cultivation—called forth expressions of admiration.
The prætor, addressing Dr. Baāhar, directed his attention to a pyre in the centre of the orchard enclosure. “That,” he said, “will answer your question with reference to the disposal of our dead during the siege; although it has been long disused for incineration, we still continue the practice in a less objectionable way. Opposite, at the extreme outer curve of the wall, you observe turrets rising above the parapet; these are the vents to ovens or chambers of incineration, and the urns bordering the garden walks are the family receptacles for the united ashes of the deceased. Our present method is of Manatitlan devisement, and it enables us to reduce the bodies to their material ultimatum. The northern garden is used for the same purpose, the alternation being dictated by the direction of the wind draught in its waft from the cinctus enclosure. We were advised by the Manatitlans that your people practiced inhumation, and supposing that you were prejudiced in favor of the burial rites of your ancestors, with the padre’s tenacity, we withheld our method of disposal until your objections had been anticipated by Manatitlan influence. As you have been impressed with the body’s corruptibility in diseased materialism, and adjunct manifestations of instinctive vitality, of voluntary and involuntary source, you will now regard with horror, akin to our own, the putrefactive process of decomposition which of necessity imperils the well-being of the living from the entombment of the dead. How have you been able to escape the conviction that your practice of inhumation is cannibalism in a double sense, as you virtually live on the products of recomposition derived from the decomposition of a dead ancestry, and are subject to corrupt inoculation from the putrefactive emanations of decay. The very fact of the festering incorporation of a dead ancestry with the earth from which you derive sustenance, has conveyed a shock to our sympathies, in your behalf, that exceeds our powers of expression, as it is so directly opposed to the current realization of purity. Have you never thought of the material analogy sustained by the bodies of the present generation’s reincorporation with the future, in resemblance to the ancient Egyptian theory of transmigration, which led them to associate their embalmed relatives with the bodies of reptiles similarly prepared? The bright array of vessels you see arranged in the colonnades on either side of the ovens are the body receptacles for incineration, but they were designed for bath basins, and used by the luxurious old Heracleans, when they visited the City of the Falls, for recuperation from the effects of excessive indulgence. Their massive thickness and primitive design, with the resistant qualities of the metal, has rendered them proof to wearing attrition through the ages they have been in use. The Dosch, on your first arrival, cautioned us not to be over hasty in making known to you the extent of our utensil resources in this metal, as he said you worshiped it as the god of your salvation, the largest possessors being esteemed the most godly, without regard to the means used in obtaining it. But what could we think of the sanity of your race, when they averred that this god of their worship was the inciter of envy, hate, and revenge, the ministering demons of murder, and its tributary types of woe? Still, with your ready appreciation of our affection, we can scarcely imagine that you were ever ready to sacrifice honor, honesty, and all the endearing ties of instinct to possess, as a devotee, its favors for aggregation, in excess of the requirements enforced by custom, which has made gold an equivalent for an endurable life with your race.”
Padre (excitedly). “He doesn’t mean to say that they are made of gold? Why there is enough to make the Jews believe that Heraclea is the New Jerusalem, and the prætor the promised Messiah!”
Prætor. “One would suppose from the padre’s excitement that he had been a worshiper?”
Dr. Baāhar. “A far off worshiper. His sympathy was excited for the failings of a race who were known in their prime as Hebrews. And it is recorded in legendary lore, that one of their number, named Judas, betrayed a person who declared himself to be a son of their god; but they scoffed, derided, and crucified him. He was the originator of the sect to which we belonged. But with regard to your process! are you able to reduce the bones as well as the flesh, without trituration or chemical aids?”