w^- 
 
 J
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 I
 
 The Brotherhood 
 of Rest.
 
 1
 
 The BrotJierhood 
 
 of Rest.
 
 The Brotherhood 
 of Rest. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. W. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY E. LANGLEV, 
 
 LOVEJOY's library, READIMG. 
 
 1886.
 
 /; 
 
 THE BROTHERHOOD 
 OF REST. 
 
 HE old Physician 
 who prescribed 
 but three drugs, 
 Change, Rest, 
 and Happiness, had one 
 weak point in his patholo- 
 gical method. He could 
 write a prescription in a fair 
 (or crabbed) hand, but he 
 could not tell the inquiring 
 
 A 2 
 
 ^ f'. O «>,<(-» \»A^\
 
 patient where to have it 
 made up. The Chemist 
 round the corner had none 
 of these among his golden- 
 labelled bottles, the British 
 Pharmacopoeia knew them 
 not, and the hapless pa- 
 tients recovered or died, 
 as little affected by their 
 doctor's ministrations as in 
 the case of more ordinary 
 diagnosis. 
 
 Yet there never were 
 more needed medicaments, 
 especially in these hurried 
 times — when even night has 
 lost her spell of peace, and 
 through the dark hours, 
 Sleeplessness sits beside 
 the rack on which she tor- 
 tures those who have defied 
 her. 
 
 The man whose business
 
 each day is a little more 
 than his power of doing it, 
 sees the heap of work un- 
 done slowly growing into an 
 overhanging cliff, one day 
 to fall and crush him — the 
 vision lies down with him 
 at night, and stands by his 
 bedside when he starts from 
 the hour of dreams that fol- 
 lows his hours of waking ; 
 and he, perhaps, never 
 reahzes that one day the 
 work must be left undone 
 or get done somehow with- 
 out him, and a night come 
 of whose dreams he has 
 thought too little. 
 
 For we do not Meditate 
 now, it is an old word, and 
 a forgotten act — and one 
 might as well, so such men 
 think, fall asleep while cross-
 
 ing a crowded street, as me- 
 ditate in middle life. 
 
 These thoughts bring me 
 to the strange little story I 
 have to tell. 
 
 A successful Barrister, 
 whose nervous tissues, 
 caught in grinding tangle of 
 the wheels of work, refused 
 any longer to be forgotten, 
 went to a Physician not 
 hoping much at his hands, 
 but in that terror of un- 
 known evil which makes a 
 man seek any hand of help. 
 He told his symptoms, the 
 Physician smiled as if he 
 had heard it all before. 
 
 " You are needing rest," 
 he said ; " you must leave 
 your work at once.'\ 
 
 " That is easily said, but 
 not easily done ; my work 
 follows me everywhere."
 
 " Why not travel ? go 
 right away, and leave no 
 address." 
 
 " I cannot travel, my head 
 could not bear the jarring 
 of a train, the effort of 
 planning a journey, or the 
 horror of being ill far from 
 home among strangers." 
 
 " Ah ! I think you might 
 join the Brotherhood." 
 
 This the Physician said, 
 after watching for a while 
 the face of his patient, who 
 looked in the interval hur- 
 riedly at the clock, remem- 
 bering the appointments of 
 the morning. 
 
 " Come to me on Wed- 
 nesday, and I will give you 
 your prescription made up." 
 
 That day was Monday, 
 lived through as best it
 
 might be, and Tuesday was 
 like unto it. 
 
 On Wednesday afternoon 
 he went to the Physician's 
 door, grudging the time from 
 the over-full hours of the 
 day. 
 
 He was met with a smile. 
 His doctor, not a fashion- 
 able one, gently laying down 
 a volume of Montaigne up- 
 on a little heap of books, 
 among which were "The 
 Professor at the Breakfast 
 Table," Thomas h. Kempis, 
 and "The Thoughts of 
 Marcus Aurelius." 
 
 " Before I give you your 
 prescription, I must ask you 
 to write a letter. You are 
 not married, I think ? No ? 
 Who is your nearest rela- 
 tion ? A brother, you say ?
 
 That is right, I thought you 
 might have an aged Mother, 
 and that would be difficult. 
 I want you to write to your 
 brother and to your clerk 
 from my dictation." 
 
 Question and answer fol- 
 lowed one another rapidly ; 
 the doctor evidently wished 
 to allow his patient no time 
 for thought, and putting a 
 sheet of paper before him, 
 he quickly dictated the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 " I am ill with over-work, 
 my doctor sends me off at 
 once for change and rest; 
 no letters are to follow me, 
 but if I am absolutely need- 
 ed, letters sent to Dr. 
 
 will be forwarded. My ad- 
 dress will also be in the 
 hands of Mr. X., mention-
 
 ing the name of a very busy 
 Solicitor slightly known to 
 the patient, and the marvel 
 of all his acquaintance, for 
 his fresh, care-free aspect, 
 and for occasional myste- 
 rious absences from his 
 chambers. 
 
 "Now," said the Phy- 
 sician, "I ask one favour, 
 that you will keep my pre- 
 scription a secret. You 
 promise ? That's right — 
 go home, pack a change of 
 clothes, and before that is 
 done, I will be with you." 
 
 It will easily be imagined 
 that the Man of Law was 
 more than once inclined to 
 question or rebel against 
 his doctor's orders ; but on 
 the one hand there was 
 something at once confi-
 
 dent and suasive in the 
 manner in which they were 
 given, which was very diffi- 
 cult to withstand; on the 
 other, the distressing sensa- 
 tions which had led him to 
 seek advice, intensified by 
 two more days of worry, 
 inclined him at least to try 
 the nostrum so strangely 
 offered. 
 
 Physician and Patient 
 were soon at the great ter- 
 minus of the N. W. E. S. 
 railway, and their tickets 
 taken for a little way-side 
 station in shire. 
 
 Soon the train had rushed 
 and throbbed out of reach 
 ofhouses and gas-works and 
 brick-fields, and soon, but 
 just Jww soon I may not 
 disclose, they stopped where
 
 the setting sun made crim- 
 son paths along the gossa- 
 mers over quiet fields of 
 growing meadow grass. 
 
 At the station a humble 
 little carriage awaited them, 
 and they drove for two or 
 three miles along a sandy 
 road, over a common tufted 
 with gorse and heather, and 
 dotted with small home- 
 steads among blossoming 
 orchards. 
 
 Under a wooded slope 
 the carriage stopped by a 
 little gate. They alighted, 
 and took a narrow foot-path 
 which led them up the hill 
 and into the heart of the 
 wood. 
 
 There was still clear twi- 
 light when they came to a 
 break in the trees disclosing
 
 the summit of the hill. 
 This, which seemed from 
 below to be crowned with 
 wood, was really occupied 
 by a square of low-roofed 
 old buildings groupedround 
 a green court — rather in the 
 manner of Worcester Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Approaching it by a steep 
 path from the wood, they 
 came to a broad flight of 
 mossy stone steps leading 
 up to a gate-way, through 
 which they saw a glimpse of 
 the green court I have 
 mentioned. 
 
 An old man with a gentle 
 reverend face, dressed in a 
 very simple, somewhat 
 monkish habit of brown 
 serge, seemed to be expect- 
 ing them, as he stood
 
 holding the gate open to 
 receive them, and when 
 they had entered he took a 
 large key from his girdle and 
 made the great bolt fly for- 
 ward with a ringing sound, 
 fastening the beautiful bar- 
 rier of tendrilled iron behind 
 them. 
 
 " I have brought you the 
 new brother," said the Phy- 
 sician, " I will stay here too 
 to-night." 
 
 " Your room is always 
 ready, Brother Lucas," said 
 the Porter, and led the way 
 with a smile. 
 
 The wearied Man of Law 
 was taken across the court 
 to a little room opening 
 straight on to the grass, 
 which he was told was his 
 own.
 
 A heavy curtain within 
 the massive door shut out 
 the night air, now growing 
 cool, otherwise this Httle 
 cell was very simply, almost 
 barely furnished, but its 
 walls panelled with old oak 
 gave it a look of dignity, if 
 not of luxury. 
 
 On a chair lay a brown 
 habit like that worn by the 
 old man of the keys, a scroll 
 of paper was pinned to it 
 bearing the words "For 
 Brother Felix." All this time 
 his friend the Physician has 
 told him nothing of his pur- 
 pose in bringing him here, 
 but now he began to guess. 
 
 He put on the brown 
 habit, he took into his heart 
 the pleasant new name that 
 it carried with it, and then 
 
 B 2
 
 noticed for the first time a 
 small vellum-bound book 
 upon the table lettered 
 outside " Brotherhood of 
 Rest," and containing little 
 sentences for meditation, 
 written in a beautiful clear 
 manuscript, also a few sim- 
 ple rules for the life of the 
 Order. From reading these 
 he was called by a boy in 
 a grey habit to supper, and 
 led by him. into a long low 
 hall pleasantly lighted, 
 where about twenty brothers 
 were seated at table. At the 
 head of the table sat a 
 youngish man whom they 
 called the Prior, the Phy- 
 sician beside him. The 
 meal was simple and almost 
 silent till a brotherrose from 
 table and taking his place
 
 on a raised seat began to 
 read a pleasant book of 
 modern essays, sparkling in 
 style, half serious, half tri- 
 fling in motive, requiring 
 but little thought. 
 
 The voice of the reader 
 was rich and musical, and 
 the words enunciated each 
 one like some clear-cut gem 
 in its finished perfection, 
 carried Brother Felix away 
 in swift flight from that quiet 
 hall, and set him for the 
 moment in the heated air 
 and aching light of a 
 London theatre. Yes, actors 
 too, have found peace at 
 times in the home of the 
 brotherhood. 
 
 In the morning the sound 
 of soft singing awoke the 
 new brother from a sleep
 
 not perfectly restful and 
 dreamless, but far more re- 
 freshing than any he had 
 known for months, and 
 looking out on to the green 
 court, he saw a company of 
 twelve boys standing in the 
 centre round an old stone 
 fountain-basin while they 
 sang a short " Hymn of 
 Waking" as he afterwards 
 learned it to be. They then 
 dispersed in different direc- 
 tions to their work, for, as 
 he soon discovered, they 
 were not only the singers 
 but the servitors of the 
 house. 
 
 One of them soon brought 
 him his simple breakfast, 
 and opening a door he had 
 not noticed over-night, led 
 the way into a tiny panelled
 
 room, just containing a 
 small table and chair and a 
 bookcase with a few care- 
 fully chosen volumes. The 
 window of this room looked 
 upon a garden, beyond and 
 beneath which he caught a 
 glimpse of an orchard in 
 blossom, beyond that the 
 ground broke away to the 
 south, where white lines of 
 mist far below were just 
 stealing away from the wil- 
 lowy streams, and faint grey 
 hills, bounding the horizon, 
 looked as if they looked 
 upon the sea. 
 
 Breakfast over, he took 
 down from the shelf an 
 author once beloved, but 
 long neglected, and seating 
 himself at the open window, 
 where pleasant scents of
 
 grass and flowers came in, 
 he half read, half dreamedas 
 the familiar words brought 
 back forgotten thoughts. 
 
 Looking up, he saw a 
 brother come slowly out into 
 the garden, and begin some 
 little weeding and raking 
 operations among the 
 flowers, then another ; at a 
 little distance, till five or six 
 of them were thus occupied. 
 
 He asked the boy who 
 waited on him, if all the 
 brothers were expected to 
 work. 
 
 "Not at first, Brother 
 Felix ; you are allowed to 
 take a week of perfect rest, 
 but I will show you a 
 pleasant walk in the woods 
 when you incline to go out." 
 So spoke Hermas, that was
 
 the boy's ''rest name;" he 
 was a gentle, gracious crea- 
 ture, who had been over- 
 worked at school, and whose 
 mother could not afford 
 him any other change of 
 air, though indeed she could 
 nowhere have found so 
 exactly the rest he needed. 
 
 The good Physician came 
 in at this moment to take his 
 leave, and first to assure him- 
 self that his patient was not 
 dissatisfied with his pre- 
 scription. 
 
 He saw at once that all 
 was well, and told his friend 
 that in the afternoon the 
 Prior would walk with him 
 if he liked and would ex- 
 plain whatever was still 
 needing explanation in the 
 life of the Brotherhood, and
 
 would show him afterwards 
 the buildings and the garden. 
 If after this he inclined to 
 be formally received as a 
 brother, this ceremony- 
 would take place at even- 
 ing service in the chapel. 
 
 " How long am I to stay 
 here, doctor?" asked the 
 Patient. 
 
 The Physician smiled. 
 
 "Till you are tired of 
 rest. Good-bye." 
 
 The sunset light was 
 fading in a long Hne of 
 pale yellow sky under black 
 bars of cloud, and belated 
 blackbirds flying with bust- 
 ling twitter from under the 
 sweetbriar hedge of the 
 spital-garden when the 
 Prior and Brother Fehx 
 returned from their walk in 
 the woods.
 
 In that time much had 
 been explained to the new- 
 comer. 
 
 The brotherhood counts 
 among its number men of a 
 great variety of pursuits and 
 tempers, bound just by their 
 desire to snatch from the 
 flying whirl of life, from the 
 feverish chase of vague or 
 sordid ends, some days of 
 quiet thought, of fruitful 
 meditation on eternal pro- 
 blems, and questionings of 
 their o\vn souls as to the 
 purposes that they had set 
 before them. 
 
 They go back to their 
 work in the world refreshed 
 and gladdened, and the con- 
 sciousness of the secret 
 bond of Peace keeps many 
 of them on higher levels of 
 c
 
 hope for themselves and 
 their fellows than they 
 could have attained with- 
 out it. 
 
 They become of that 
 high and hidden company 
 
 "In the loud stunning tide 
 Of human care and crime 
 With whom the melodies abide 
 
 Of the everlasting chime ; 
 Who caiTy music in their heart, 
 Through dusky lane and wrang- 
 ling mart 
 Plying their daily task with busier 
 
 feet 
 Because their secret souls a holy 
 strain repeat." 
 
 Only a few brothers, and 
 those for special reasons, 
 remain always at the Spital. 
 
 The Prior had entirely 
 broken down in health as a 
 curate in Stepney, and ac- 
 cepted his present office as
 
 an alternative to a health- 
 seeking life abroad, which 
 seemed to him a selfish one. 
 There is one permanent 
 teacher of the Boy-Servi- 
 tors, whose duties of service 
 occupy but short hours of 
 the day, and an old mu- 
 sician who feels that his 
 resting time among earthly 
 harmonies could not, any- 
 how, be very long, is glad 
 to find a home on that 
 peaceful hill, and spends 
 most of his time at the 
 beautiful organ of the 
 chapel. The house, al- 
 most a ruin when bought 
 by the first brothers, had 
 been an old Priory and was 
 exactly suited to their needs. 
 Their life is simple and in- 
 expensive, the garden culti-
 
 vated by the brotherhood 
 supplies many of their 
 wants, and donations given 
 at will by the richer bro- 
 thers after a time of rest are 
 more than sufficient to pro- 
 vide for the support of the 
 resident brothers, and ser- 
 vitors. 
 
 The library, a pleasant 
 low room with doors open- 
 ing on to the smooth or- 
 chard-sward west of the 
 house, contained a delight- 
 ful collection of history, 
 poetry, and fiction, some 
 science, rather of the phi- 
 losophical than minutely 
 technical kind, and a large 
 number of autobiographies, 
 and books of inward reflec- 
 tion and meditation ; all 
 these had been given at vari-
 
 ous times by the brothers, 
 who Hked to find their fa- 
 vourite authors in the only- 
 place where they could be 
 sure of quiet hours for read- 
 ing them. 
 
 But I must describe the 
 chapel before entering it 
 with the Prior and Brother 
 FeUx. It is a beautiful old 
 building, with a large, dimly- 
 lighted ante-chapel, and to 
 some of the brotherhood it 
 is an especial refreshment to 
 sit in a sort of glorified 
 solitude among its myste- 
 rious arcades, their thoughts 
 companioned and uplifted 
 by the sweet singing of the 
 young voices in the choir, 
 yet not bound to the effort 
 of being visibly present or 
 following the service, 
 c 2
 
 Sometimes at evening 
 prayer one after another 
 would steal across the bar 
 of moonlight that fell from 
 one high window, and pass 
 silently away to kneel in 
 spaces of deep shade. And 
 it was strangely solemn to 
 worship there, alone, yet in 
 communion, while over the 
 rich dark tracery of the 
 screen, the delicate cano- 
 pies of the choir-stalls and 
 of the high East window, 
 shone in the soft golden 
 glow of lamps and candles. 
 
 The ceremony of recep- 
 tion was a very simple one, 
 a prayer repeated by all the 
 brotherhood present — for a 
 blessing on the soul of the 
 new brother — a " Hymn of 
 Rest " sung by the choir,
 
 and the inscription of his real 
 name and his " Rest name " 
 in the book of the Order. 
 
 I think my little story is 
 told ; let no one think that 
 these men go back to be 
 idle workers in the world ; 
 rather, those whose work is 
 really useful return to it 
 with new eagerness, for in 
 their days of meditation 
 they have seen that time 
 for each man is too short 
 for what he has to do, and 
 life more full of meaning 
 than they knew before. 
 
 Some have changed their 
 professions, having realized 
 that what one does, if not 
 fruitful of the highest good, 
 is not worth doing. 
 
 And I think when Brother 
 Felix, after a (qw weeks of
 
 pleasant rest in the sweet 
 spring weather, returned 
 refreshed and with nerves 
 re-tuned to his work as a 
 man of law, people noticed 
 that his standard in legal 
 matters was higher than it 
 had been before ; and his 
 clerk was puzzled and dis- 
 tracted more than once by 
 his refusing a brief for high- 
 flown reasons of his own.
 
 THE WAKING SONG OF 
 THE BROTHERS. 
 
 Brothers atvake ! the round 
 
 earth while you slumbered 
 Hath borne you softly to the 
 
 doors of day. 
 Blessings of painless peace 
 
 iinhiown, unnumbered, 
 Have filed the darkness and 
 
 the dawning grey ; 
 Brothers., arise and pray.
 
 'THE BROTHERS' GRACE. 
 
 Brother and Lord, among 
 
 Thy weary sitting 
 Lord of our toU, Partaker 
 
 of our rest, 
 Lord of our feast, to Thee as 
 
 is most fitting 
 Praises and love we bring, 
 
 our whole soul's best. 
 Jesus, be thou our Guest.
 
 C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS 
 COURT, CHANCERY LANE.
 
 T^he Island of Anarchy.
 
 The Island of 
 Anarchy. 
 
 A Fragment of History in 
 the 20th Century. 
 
 BY 
 
 E. W. 
 
 " Bind thyself with one cord." 
 
 
 '^^^r^ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY MISS LANGLEY 
 
 LOVEJOY S LIBRARY, REAPING. 
 
 1887.
 
 Chiswick Press : 
 
 Charles Whittingham and Co. 
 
 Tooks Court, London.
 
 THE ISLAND OF 
 ANARCHY. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 " As for my particular, I am 
 verily perswaded, that since that 
 age (thirtie yeares), both my 
 spirit and my body have more 
 decreased than encreased, more 
 recoyled than advanced. It may 
 be that knowledge and expe- 
 rience shall encrease in them, 
 together with life, that bestow 
 their time well : but vivacitie, 
 promptitude, constancie, and 
 other parts much more our owne, 
 more important, and more es- 
 sentiall, they droope, they lan- 
 guish, and they faint." — Mon- 
 taigne {Florws translation). 
 
 'HE ending of the 
 nineteenth cen- 
 tury, like that of 
 the eighteenth, 
 was a time of terrible and 
 5 A 2
 
 strange things, as if it were 
 coming to be the law of 
 human affairs that the sun- 
 sets of the centuries should 
 be red with a " Terror" and 
 and dark with despair. 
 
 In England— then, as in 
 the past, the refuge of ba- 
 nished men — social disor- 
 der reached a height that 
 would soon have driven all 
 her quiet dwellers to seek 
 more peaceful homes on 
 the other side of the globe, 
 had not a new and strange 
 thing changed the whole 
 aspect of affairs. 
 
 It began to be perceived, 
 and was soon widely ac- 
 knowledged, that the cause 
 of the great weakness and 
 futility of our government 
 lay in the advanced age of 
 6
 
 those by whom the most 
 important offices were held. 
 Age is wont to trifle, to 
 take things hghtly, and to 
 study life, of which it can 
 at best hope to possess so 
 little, from a frivolous and 
 temporary point of view. 
 
 '* Things are well enough 
 as they are," say they; " a 
 little tinkering here, a little 
 fancy legislation there, and 
 they will last our time; 
 meanwhile, let us hear our- 
 selves talk." 
 
 The only wonder now 
 seemed that the world had 
 been so slow to perceive 
 this, that it had taken the 
 human race so many thou- 
 sand years to discover a 
 truth which now seemed as 
 simple and patent as the 
 7
 
 converse one, that it would 
 not be wise to entrust grave 
 affairs to children in their 
 first decade. 
 
 And so the younger men 
 of England, by a sudden 
 and united effort at the 
 general election of 19 — , se- 
 cured the return of a House 
 of Commons containing no 
 man over the age of thirty- 
 five, and no woman : (for 
 women had begun to come 
 in and to make matters 
 worse). 
 
 This House of Com- 
 mons, strong, in earnest for 
 real work, and not divided 
 by Party, that frivolous 
 pastime of politicians who 
 were too old for other 
 games, passed without diffi- 
 culty a wise "superannua- 
 S
 
 tion law." And the govern- 
 ment of the country, thus 
 at last able to govern in- 
 deed, made the almost 
 foundering ship of our un- 
 happy State once more an- 
 swer to the helm, and 
 steered for that haven of 
 peaceful order and settled 
 rule which men remem- 
 bered sadly as a lost Para- 
 dise or longed for as 
 an undiscoverable "Atlan- 
 
 tis." 
 
 That laws are made to be 
 obeyed had glided in those 
 days from the place of a 
 truism into that of a fallacy. 
 It was the first principle 
 of the new Cabinet. 
 
 To two classes this prin- 
 ciple had to be made clear 
 — Criminals, or law-break-
 
 ers; Anarchists, or law- 
 deniers. 
 
 Of the first of these we 
 will speak first. It will now 
 hardly be believed that 
 there existed at that time in 
 England what were called 
 " the Criminal Classes " — 
 thousands of men, women, 
 and children known to be 
 living in the continual com- 
 mission of crime, as other 
 people are engaged in com- 
 merce, husbandry, and the 
 like, spending much of 
 their time in prison, and 
 never doing or desiring any 
 honest work. 
 
 This state of things the 
 young government set 
 themselves to bring to an 
 end. 
 
 Instead of progressing 
 
 lO
 
 towards that universal slip- 
 shod leniency which the 
 philanthropists of an earlier 
 time had set before them- 
 selves as a goal — with capi- 
 tal punishment evaded for 
 awhile and eventually abo- 
 lished, — these rulers, with 
 all the ruthless severity of 
 youth, extended the area 
 of crimes- punishable by 
 death. To those whose 
 lives were hurtful to the in- 
 nocent community, mercy 
 could only be shown, so they 
 held, at the expense of those 
 to whom mercy, that is, pro- 
 tection, was really due. 
 Not only all who com- 
 passed, or even attempted 
 the lives of others, but all 
 who after repeated smaller 
 punishments still lived the 
 II
 
 lives of evildoers, were 
 counted unworthy longer 
 to live, — and this without 
 any attempted distinction 
 of sane or insane, — the exis- 
 tence of the latter being 
 considered even more hope- 
 lessly injurious to the State 
 than that of the former, 
 and, on the other hand, less 
 valuable to themselves. 
 
 But while the punish- 
 ment of death was certain 
 and frequent, it was no 
 longer inflicted in the bar- 
 barous manner which con- 
 tinued, a ghastly anachro- 
 nism, through the reign of 
 the tender-hearted Victoria. 
 
 Those whose lives were 
 forfeit were placed for a 
 time — the length of which 
 depended on various cir- 
 
 12
 
 cumstances — in a place of 
 solemn sequestration, to 
 the care of which a society 
 of holy men and women 
 devoted their existence, 
 and which was placed 
 rather under the authority 
 of the Church than of the 
 State. The State, indeed, 
 had done with them; they 
 were already cut off from 
 their place as citizens ; it 
 only remained for the 
 Church to lead them with 
 kind hand through paths of 
 penitence and prayer to the 
 door of a new life, a new 
 hope — Avhere this was pos- 
 sible. With some, with 
 many perhaps, the soul 
 seemed already dead be- 
 fore the body. 
 
 When the time came, sur- 
 13 B
 
 rounded by a serious com- 
 pany of the "Brethren of 
 Death/' whose prayers and 
 solemn hymns made the 
 last moments beautiful to 
 those who were repentant, 
 and awful to those who 
 were hardened, the con- 
 demned drank an opiate, 
 which closed their eyes in 
 a painless sleep from which 
 there was no waking, while 
 those about them still 
 prayed for the departing 
 spirit on its way to a higher 
 judgment. 
 
 Beautiful histories were 
 told of some who in the 
 quiet of their cells, aided 
 by the gentle ministrations 
 of the Brothers and Sisters, 
 came to see with an anguish 
 of repentance the sinfulness 
 14
 
 of their past, and to rejoice 
 in the thought of passing, 
 sprinkled with fresh dews 
 of penitence and forgive- 
 ness, away from a world 
 whose temptations had been 
 too strong for them. Of 
 their forfeit lives they made 
 a willing sacrifice, and they 
 were glad to be allowed to 
 lay them down. 
 
 Children who had com- 
 mitted crimes, after fitting 
 punishment were placed in 
 settlements where they were 
 kept under strict discipline 
 and carefully instructed, 
 the rudiments of some use- 
 ful art being added to a 
 simple education in general 
 subjects. Girls were trained 
 in household work, and all, 
 as soon as they were grown
 
 men and women, were re- 
 moved from these settle- 
 ments to places where their 
 past was unknown, unless 
 they showed themselves so 
 dyed with their early habits 
 and so resolved to return 
 to them that this would 
 have been harmful to the 
 State. 
 
 In these cases, which 
 were very few, they were 
 treated in the same way as 
 the hardened oflfenders 
 of whom I have just 
 spoken. 
 
 There were not wanting 
 intelligent persons to whom 
 the punishment of death 
 for a misused life seemed a 
 terrible and even a wicked 
 thing. Yet, not only had 
 such punishment been in 
 i6
 
 use for just such offences in 
 the time of Queen Elizabeth 
 and of other sovereigns, but 
 at so late a time as the com- 
 mencement of the present 
 century, war among civi- 
 lized nationswas considered 
 justifiable, and the profes- 
 sion of a soldier was even 
 held to be a noble and 
 Christian calling. The very 
 women whose tender hearts 
 cried out against the new 
 law would send their young 
 sons away with their bless- 
 ing to face death in com- 
 passing that of other inno- 
 cent and unwilling victims 
 in a cause for which, often, 
 none of them cared. Those 
 who thus perished in war, 
 believing that it was for 
 their country's honour that 
 17 B 2
 
 they fought, were among 
 the best and bravest of the 
 nation — men to whom dis- 
 cipHne and order were their 
 very breath. Those whom 
 the new law excluded from 
 life were scarcely worthy 
 of the name of men, and 
 more hostile to their country 
 than any of the soldiers of 
 other states. 
 
 This then was the course 
 adopted with reference to 
 theLaw-Breakers. We must 
 now speak of the Law-De- 
 niers. Anarchy, Socialism, 
 free-land leagues, commu- 
 nistic democracy more or 
 less indigenous, and every 
 shade of Nihilism and Dyna- 
 mitism introduced from the 
 East and the West, had so 
 long had free course that 
 i8
 
 a large mass of the popula- 
 tion had come to believe 
 practically that might was 
 right, and the problems of 
 the earliest stages of bar- 
 barism were staring men in 
 the face as the products of 
 an over-ripe civiHzation. 
 
 It was true, and the young 
 rulers recognized this, that 
 much of the discontent of 
 the poorer classes had had 
 just ground in the indiffe- 
 rence and selfish luxury of 
 the rich, but that cause 
 was already in great part 
 removed, and in two 
 ways. 
 
 Women as highly edu- 
 cated as men, and now wise 
 enough to see that they 
 were made for better things 
 than the dust of politics, 
 19
 
 turned their thoughts to 
 home reforms. Their 
 higher standard of principle 
 and refinement of taste led 
 to a contempt for what was 
 gorgeous or costly in dress 
 or equipage, food or furni- 
 ture, as essentially vulgar, 
 or at best barbaric. Thus 
 their quiet ways and simple 
 attire left little space to be 
 bridged over as regards out- 
 ward show between them 
 and the thrifty women of a 
 humbler class, and that 
 space was bridged by kind- 
 ly intercourse, by know- 
 ledge shared, and by the 
 ready sympathy which is 
 the gift of the highest intel- 
 ligence. 
 
 This was one great power 
 for good. The other was 
 20
 
 the fact that so many 
 owners of land had devoted 
 large portions of it to sites 
 for Industrial Villages, and 
 even those who had no sym- 
 pathy for the poor or enthu- 
 siasm for the good of their 
 country, partly for fashion's 
 sake, and partly because 
 these schemes proved not 
 only useful to the poor but 
 beneficial to the landowner, 
 joined to aid the great work 
 of withdrawing the popula- 
 tion from the towns into 
 the country. 
 
 The gradual disuse of 
 steam, with all its dismal 
 accompaniments of black- 
 ened skies and unlovely 
 chimneys, allowed of almost 
 all manufactures being car- 
 ried on under healthy and 
 
 21
 
 cheerful conditions. On 
 every hill, rows of wind- 
 mills gathered the force 
 which produced electricity 
 and stored it for the use of 
 the village below ; while by 
 every stream, and on every 
 shore visited by tides, the 
 forces of water were in the 
 same way brought into a ser- 
 vice which, being no longer 
 intermittent, was of perma- 
 nent and continuous value. 
 Thus the real misery of 
 the honest poor in England 
 was becoming a thing of 
 the past, and the large class 
 of people whose stock-in- 
 trade was the discontent of 
 others became at once more 
 reckless and more danger- 
 ous when, flinging away all 
 disguise and separated from 
 
 22
 
 those whose wrongs had 
 lent colour to their schemes, 
 they appeared under their 
 true flag as the enemies of 
 all law and duty, industry 
 and religion. 
 
 The young Cabinet saw 
 at once the way to meet 
 them. Those who would 
 not obey the laws of one 
 country must seek a home 
 in another. Banishment 
 seemed at once the mildest 
 and the most reasonable 
 punishment (if indeed it 
 can be so called), — not tran- 
 sportation to some special 
 spot, but simply exile from 
 England and from all Bri- 
 tish dominionsand colonies 
 — the Great Federation 
 being absolutely united in 
 this important matter — un- 
 ^3
 
 der penalty of death if the 
 banished returned. 
 
 On conviction the An- 
 archist was marked, by an 
 indeUble brand in a painless 
 manner, with a red O in 
 sign of outlawry, and re- 
 ceived his sentence of ba- 
 nishment — and in this way 
 some thousands of the dis- 
 affected and idle were at 
 once removed from our 
 shores. 
 
 Some of them were of 
 the lowest and most violent 
 class, who are naturally 
 rude and lawless because 
 bound by no inner law 
 themselves (though, as has 
 been shown, those leading 
 an actually criminal life 
 were dealt with in other 
 ways) ; and associated with 
 24
 
 them, indignant at the new 
 law, and therefore enthu- 
 siastically determined to 
 share the fate of the exiled, 
 were men and women of a 
 far higher type, mistaken, 
 yet nobly in the wrong. 
 Some few were poets, his- 
 torians, religious visiona- 
 ries, women whose dreams 
 of a millennium were based 
 on a false notion of the 
 origin and essence of law. 
 All these last gave them- 
 selves up at once, and 
 stretched out the right 
 hand that had held the pen, 
 or blessed the chalice, or 
 soothed the dying forehead, 
 for the circle in which they 
 gloried as a sign of their 
 fellowship with the op- 
 pressed. 
 
 25 c
 
 At first the result was, of 
 course, that in other coun- 
 tries the Anarchists found 
 hearers for their doctrines 
 and ready adherents to 
 their destructive schemes, 
 the false notion that law- 
 lessness is liberty being 
 one readily welcomed by 
 the unthinking. But one 
 by one the countries to 
 which they had fled fol- 
 lowed the precedent of 
 England, and banished 
 from their shores also the 
 men and women of the 
 red right hand. In those 
 days the States of Europe 
 were already bound in a 
 sort of confederation, with 
 an International Court in 
 which matters of common 
 interest were discussed, and 
 z6
 
 it was agreed that a place 
 must be found for the 
 growing nation of outlaws, 
 who else might justly plead 
 for a home in a law-obey- 
 ing state as a mere necessity 
 of humanity. 
 
 In the terrible era of vol- 
 canic action which began 
 about the year 1885 and 
 lasted nearly half a century, 
 many coasts and islands 
 had been submerged, with 
 great loss of human life 
 and of the results of human 
 industry. Among others 
 the beautiful Island of Me- 
 liora in the South Pacific 
 had been the scene of the 
 sudden formation of a vol- 
 cano and of a fearful erup- 
 tion. It seemed as if the 
 whole heart of the Island 
 a?
 
 were poured for many 
 days and nights into the 
 sultry sky, and then sank 
 into the sea and was seen 
 no more. 
 
 After a period of several 
 years, the captain of a mer- 
 chant vessel, looking with 
 his corrected chart for the 
 circle of coral reef which 
 marked the place of the 
 lost Island, saw with wonder 
 Meliora re-arisen from the 
 sea, crowned by the wide 
 crater of its fatal mountain 
 and already clothed with 
 brilliant vegetation. It 
 would seem strange that 
 its re-appearance had not 
 been noticed by other ves- 
 sels, as the trees upon it 
 showed that it must have 
 been some years above 
 zS
 
 water, but this will not ap- 
 pear remarkable when it is 
 known that no ordinary 
 course for vessels carried 
 them within sight of the 
 Island, and that the new 
 reefs which had been raised 
 around it by the action of 
 the volcano were so dan- 
 gerous that captains who 
 entered those seas avoided 
 their neighbourhood. The 
 line of coral reef which en- 
 circled the Island had not 
 sunk more than a few feet, 
 hence the thick growth of 
 Coco-palms that covered it 
 had not been submerged, 
 and no doubt directly Me- 
 liora arose from the waves 
 seeds from these would at 
 once begin to take root 
 and make rapid growth in 
 Z9 C 2
 
 that wonderful soil and cli- 
 mate. 
 
 When the captain of the 
 *' Ville d'ls," driven out of 
 his way by adverse winds, 
 saw the wonder of the re- 
 stored land, it was at the 
 moment of perplexity of 
 which I have spoken as to 
 where the outlawed nation 
 should find a home. 
 
 It was at once resolved 
 by the united governments 
 of Europe that they should 
 be offered transport to this 
 Island — an offer which the 
 most part gladly accepted, 
 chased as they had been 
 from country to country, 
 and very weary of their 
 wandering. 
 
 Indeed, what other chance 
 remained for them, since 
 30
 
 to enter any civilized coun- 
 try, any country governed 
 by settled rule of law, was 
 to die ? 
 
 From all points of the 
 compass ships with various 
 flags entered the circle of 
 reefs that surrounded Me- 
 liora, and set down their 
 strange passengers on that 
 beautiful shore. 
 
 A land large enough for 
 all, fertile as a garden of 
 romance, perfect in climate, 
 and abounding in all they 
 could need for food, cloth- 
 ing and shelter, what more 
 could the outlaws desire ? 
 
 31
 
 Chapter II. 
 
 "Exile is when a man is for 
 a crime condemned to depart out 
 of the dominion of the common- 
 wealth, or out of a certain part 
 thereof, and during a prefixed 
 time, or for ever, not to return 
 to it ; and seemeth not in its 
 own nature, without other cir- 
 cumstances, to be a punishment ; 
 but rather an escape, or a public 
 commandment to avoid punish - 
 mentbyflight."— HoBBE'sZma- 
 than. 
 
 ^ HE first to land 
 in Meliora were 
 a company of 
 English Socia- 
 lists, with whom a few of 
 the best who so called them- 
 3*
 
 selves were careful to cast 
 in their lot. These were 
 men of forethought and re- 
 source, and the truth that 
 the circumstances of men 
 are made by their inner 
 natures was never more 
 clearly seen than in the 
 difference which soon ap- 
 peared in the homes of the 
 new settlers. The leader 
 of this elect company was 
 an old Scholar who in 
 his younger days had dis- 
 tinguished himself in many 
 ways, but, from a genuine 
 belief that the medicine of 
 a sick world lay in a socia- 
 list creed, had laid aside all 
 that had gained him fame 
 and credit for this one 
 dream, and sealed his 
 choice with the brand. 
 33
 
 To him in his old age, 
 after years of desolate wan- 
 derings, the thought of a 
 home in a new Atlantis 
 was welcome indeed, — the 
 soft sweet air of the south- 
 ern seas, the beautiful vege- 
 tation and strange fantastic 
 story of the Island awakened 
 the old poetic feelings of 
 his youth, and it seemed 
 as if his mission to the 
 world would here meet ful- 
 filment and find its lost 
 harmony with the earUer 
 longings of his genius and 
 fancy. 
 
 Through his help and 
 counsel the first setdement 
 of the land was organized, 
 houses suitable to the cli- 
 mate were built, Indian 
 corn and other crops for 
 34
 
 which they had brought a 
 common stock of seed were 
 sown for the coming season, 
 and to each was allotted an 
 equal share of the fruitful 
 land on which there was 
 only so much need to 
 labour as Adam found in 
 Milton's Paradise. 
 
 Some of course were more 
 industrious, some more in- 
 genious, than others. Some 
 had less bodily vigour; a- 
 mong these were those of 
 whom I have spoken as the 
 elect few — the old Scholar 
 and a little company of 
 young clerics, " Priests " of 
 the Church of England. 
 
 This Church from the 
 
 time of its disestablishment 
 
 had begun a new life — it 
 
 had at once shown its vita- 
 
 35
 
 lity by casting off some of 
 its old disused organisms 
 and by adapting itself in 
 quick sympathy to the 
 needs of a changed order 
 of things. 
 
 The young Priests of 
 whom I have spoken be- 
 lieved that men had lost 
 sight of the great commu- 
 nistic idea of early Chris- 
 tianity, and they made 
 themselves poor and home- 
 less for the sake of their 
 creed. True brethren of the 
 Cross they were, not the 
 less willing to cast in their 
 lot with the outlawed be- 
 cause most of these denied 
 the Christian faith with 
 their lips. Some of them 
 they knew acknowledged it 
 in their lives, while in the 
 36
 
 multitude who cast away 
 all law and chose evil rather 
 than good, they recognized 
 the lost sheep whom it was 
 their mission if possible to 
 recall. 
 
 These men, who were less 
 strong in body than many 
 others, were yet much more 
 skilful in the use they made 
 of the advantages which all 
 shared alike, and even the 
 women, of whom a small 
 company of enthusiasts 
 had arrived, were so wise 
 and industrious in the 
 building of their simple 
 homes and the tilling of 
 their small plots, that the 
 western point of the Island, 
 in which these elect ones 
 took up their abode, be- 
 came soon a thriving and 
 37 D
 
 pleasant settlement, while 
 the homes of the less intelli- 
 gent, even of those who were 
 of great bodily strength, 
 were of poorer construction, 
 their lands worse tilled, 
 and an altogether different 
 manner of living and oc- 
 cupation prevailed among 
 them. 
 
 And this notwithstanding 
 that the little brotherhood 
 of Priests made no home 
 for themselves beyond a 
 rude shelter from the air 
 before they had built with 
 the best skill they pos- 
 sessed, and with all the 
 help they could persuade 
 others to give them, a 
 church where daily worship 
 of the simplest kind was 
 offered. 
 
 38
 
 Things went for a time 
 very happily ; all that the 
 elect company possessed of 
 skill or knowledge they 
 were eager to share with 
 others. The old Scholar of 
 whom I have spoken gave 
 advice in regard to the 
 building of each new dwell- 
 ing; those whose crops 
 were the largest shared with 
 those who had least, and 
 through the whole little co- 
 lony in the western part of 
 the Island a common exile 
 produced a common feeling 
 of loyalty to one another, 
 and of desire for the good 
 of the community, to which 
 for a time even those who 
 professed to believe 'n no 
 moral order yielded. I 
 cannot say that the white 
 39
 
 wooden church among the 
 Bread-fruit trees held many 
 worshippers, but at least 
 the Christian Brotherhood 
 was looked upon as a harm- 
 less and kindly element in 
 the new society. 
 
 Some Russian noblemen 
 and students were among 
 the next arrivals. They 
 were full of enthusiasm for 
 the future of the settlement, 
 though enraged at their 
 banishment, and a little 
 jealous of the established 
 order they found on the 
 island and of the influence 
 of the Scholar and the 
 Priests. The former, by the 
 love and esteem in which 
 he was held by many, and 
 even by the beauty of 
 his venerable countenance, 
 40
 
 seemed to them dangerous- 
 ly like a patriarch or chief, 
 and the superiority of the 
 western dweUings was to 
 them a sign of something 
 reactionary. They built 
 their own homes rather 
 carelessly, and gathered 
 little companies together 
 by the side of the Lagoon 
 to whom they talked in low 
 and earnest tones and in 
 excellent English of the 
 beauty of Anarchy and of 
 Nihilism, glorifying the 
 absence of certain things as 
 a presence more than any 
 religion or philosophy had 
 done before. The " No- 
 thing" of Molinos, the 
 emptiness of Nirvana, would 
 have been far too existent 
 for them. 
 
 41 D 2
 
 Their ideas did not al- 
 ways meet with acceptance, 
 for even the more violent 
 of the Socialists could 
 hardly see that there was 
 an object for destructive 
 denunciations in the simple 
 order which seemed to 
 them an assurance of indi- 
 vidual freedom. 
 
 But a change was com- 
 ing. 
 
 I am not going here to 
 write the history of the 
 great Irish revolution which 
 followed the separation of 
 that country from England. 
 It is well known how terri- 
 ble that time was, and how, 
 when all men were wearied 
 out and sick to death of 
 the horrors of civil war, 
 there followed a great swing
 
 of the pendulum towards 
 order and high-handed 
 government; they entreated 
 for a king of the Royal 
 Family of England, and a 
 strongly Conservative Cabi- 
 net in DubUn banished in 
 large numbers all who re- 
 mained of the disaffected 
 party. 
 
 These were the men who 
 next landed in Meliora. 
 They had been maddened 
 with rage against their own 
 Church in consequence of 
 the wise part taken by the 
 Pope and the Irish bishops 
 against the revolutionary 
 party. Hence they were 
 enemies of all creeds and 
 forms of religion, and they 
 were also of course filled 
 with the old bitterness 
 43
 
 against all of English 
 race. 
 
 At the same time a great 
 number of German and 
 Belgian Socialists of the 
 most violent kind were also 
 landed on the Island, and 
 they found no difficulty in 
 making friends at once with 
 the Irish company, the 
 German system of education 
 having made them as per- 
 fect in the use of foreign 
 tongues as it left them igno- 
 rant of the first principles 
 of moral law and of all 
 sound theories of govern- 
 ment and political economy. 
 
 These new-comers set- 
 tled themselves in the south- 
 east of the Island, where 
 there were large forests of 
 Coco-palms, Bananas, and 
 
 44
 
 Bread - fruit trees, which 
 they began at once to fell 
 in order to use the timber 
 for their houses, and this 
 in so wasteful a way that 
 they cut down those trees 
 which were valuable for 
 fruit, but of slight use as 
 timber, quite as freely as the 
 others. Indeed, for such 
 houses as they wanted much 
 smaller wood was sufficient. 
 The abundant Hybiscus 
 would have supplied all 
 their material in that cli- 
 mate, where solid and sub- 
 stantial dwellings are en- 
 tirely needless. 
 
 Not content with a reck- 
 less destruction in their own 
 district, they did not scruple 
 to begin cutting wood from 
 the coco-bearing reef which 
 45
 
 fringed the Lagoon far to 
 the westward of their set- 
 tlement. 
 
 A Q;entle remonstrance 
 from those whom I will 
 name the Western party- 
 called forth feelings of anger 
 and unreason in these men 
 of violent ideas, and there 
 arose among them, it is 
 scarcely known how, an 
 idea of building ships in 
 which they might go out and 
 subdue some neighbouring 
 islands. At the same time 
 they had a scheme for con- 
 structing defences on their 
 own shore against the at- 
 tacks they might in this 
 manner provoke. And, 
 later, they showed signs of 
 erecting a sort of stockade 
 which, with the abrupt line 
 46
 
 of the great mountain and 
 its outlying ridges of broken 
 crater, would separate them 
 from the Western settle- 
 ment. At first, as has been 
 said, the scheme which led 
 to their cutting down the 
 forest was chiefly one for 
 shipbuilding. To this the 
 Western party strongly op- 
 posed themselves. 
 
 What indeed was the use 
 of such a project ? All the 
 islands of the South Pacific, 
 in which signs of their great 
 future were already fore- 
 shadowing, were members 
 of the British Federation. 
 To land on any one of 
 them could only mean a de- 
 fiance of the whole power 
 of that Federation, some 
 fresh laws of repression, and 
 47
 
 possibly the presence of 
 troops in the island. 
 
 And this, a mean and 
 futile struggle with the laws 
 of a strong country instead 
 of the peaceful future for 
 which the Island might have 
 looked — a future not of con- 
 flict, but of freedom and 
 peace, so the Western en- 
 thusiasts believed — a future 
 in which every man should 
 be a law to himself, in which 
 each should willingly work 
 for all — a future from which 
 the old world, with its worn- 
 out notions, should learn 
 this lesson — that to be with- 
 out laws was not to be law- 
 less, and that freedom from 
 forms of external govern 
 ment did not mean slavery 
 to selfishness and passion. 
 48
 
 Such counsels of perfec- 
 tion were hardly fitted for 
 the wilder notions of the 
 Southern and Eastern set- 
 tlers. The remonstrances 
 of the West were met with 
 many an angry cry. From 
 the Irish that they had not 
 come round the world to 
 submit again to English 
 rule ; from the Russians 
 that they would not be 
 governed by priests ; from 
 the Germans every possible 
 argument with no possible 
 ground. 
 
 After a time a sort of 
 parliament was convened 
 in an amphitheatre formed 
 by one of the craters of the 
 great mountain. No one 
 could think of this strange 
 place of assembly as having 
 49 E
 
 been so lately given over 
 to the two fiercer elements 
 of those primal four in 
 which the old world be- 
 lieved, the rush of angry 
 Fire, or the wash of stormy 
 Waves under which it had 
 lain a little while, but long 
 enough for the busy coral 
 creatures to have claimed it 
 for a foundation. Now it 
 seemed as if Earth from the 
 beginning had held it in 
 her green arms, and as if 
 the gentle Air had imme- 
 morially carried to and fro 
 the sleepy odours of its 
 wonderful flowers. 
 
 Here they met, the Wes- 
 tern party standing loyally 
 round their leaders and chief 
 speakers— the old Scholar 
 of whom I have spoken, the 
 so
 
 young Priests, and a large 
 company of English work- 
 ing men, who believed 
 heartily in the communistic 
 idea. I will not say that 
 as they discussed the affairs 
 of their Island nationahty 
 and opinion always kept 
 together. There were some 
 Englishmen of a low type 
 who applauded the violent 
 and warlike party ; there 
 was a company of the wiser 
 and more educated Rus- 
 sians who were convinced 
 by the words of the West ; 
 there were moderate men 
 among the Germans and 
 Belgians; but the Irish were 
 mostly for the axe and the 
 sword. It was clearly shown 
 at this time that the Mode- 
 rates were in the minority ;
 
 there was no force to which 
 they could appeal, and, as 
 . the sun set behind the 
 ridge on which they stood, 
 they turned and went rather 
 sadly homeward. 
 
 Still there seemed one 
 effort to be made. The 
 Western party was now, 
 through the opposition of 
 the South, bound by a real 
 unity of thought. They 
 could, at any rate, set 
 themselves to persuade by 
 individual converse some 
 of the other side ; indeed, 
 as I have said, some of the 
 better class of Russian Ni- 
 hilists had already been 
 convinced — these might in- 
 fluence their own people. 
 
 So for a while, though 
 without much hope, milder 
 52
 
 counsels were urged here 
 and there by messengers 
 from the West, who went 
 singly across the hills to 
 speaic to all who would 
 listen. The young Priests 
 even endeavoured to recall 
 some of the settlers of the 
 South to thoughts of duty 
 and heavenly wisdom, and 
 preached the gladness of a 
 life in which each lived for 
 his fellows, in contrast with 
 the misery of that state in 
 which each strove for his 
 own gain, wTangling like 
 brute beasts. But though 
 some few, touched bywords 
 that recalled an innocent 
 past, inclined at least to 
 consider their meaning, 
 there were but few who 
 were ready to receive them, 
 53 E2
 
 and to most the Cross 
 seemed but a worn-out em- 
 blem of the creed of op- 
 pressors. 
 
 Finally, the sole result of 
 all these efforts was to 
 rouse the opposition of the 
 Southern leaders, who went 
 to and fro denouncing those 
 of the West, inflaming the 
 passions of their own fol- 
 lowers by violent appeals 
 and angry denunciations, 
 till that day came which all 
 had foreseen — how could it 
 indeed not come ? Yet it 
 seemed, so said those who 
 remained to tell the story, 
 as if so horrible a thing 
 could not really happen in 
 that sweet, languid air, un- 
 der that warm sun, tem- 
 pered by soft winds and 
 54
 
 weet with a thousand 
 flowers. Conflict and tu- 
 mult and cruelty — what 
 had they to do with such a 
 scene ? 
 
 It was a Sunday morning. 
 All the Western folk were 
 gathered in and round the 
 church, whose open arcaded 
 sides allowed those without 
 to join freely the worship 
 of those within. The church 
 indeed was too large for 
 those who mostly cared to 
 enter it, but to-day the sense 
 of coming trouble brought 
 the whole community to- 
 gether. 
 
 Suddenly upon the sound 
 of prayer broke in the noisy 
 shouts and hideous laughter 
 of their enemies ; a wild 
 multitude came rushing 
 55
 
 through the trees, and then 
 forming a ring round the 
 church and the kneeUng 
 crowd, they called for those 
 they most hated in all that 
 company — the Scholar and 
 the Priests. 
 
 The old Scholar, if the 
 truth be told, was one who 
 had no love for creeds ; he 
 cared little for churches, 
 though these Churchmen 
 he had come to honour as 
 men — good men, wise, gen- 
 tle and true of heart. He 
 took pleasure in believing 
 that he was no Christian, 
 not knowing himself. For 
 in truth he loved the Christ 
 in His poor, and in these 
 men His servants, and he 
 had long lived, though, as 
 has been said, not thinking 
 56
 
 it, the life of the Cross. 
 Self had long been put 
 away, so far as it can be 
 by any still dwelling in the 
 flesh, only he had not ever 
 looked up into the face of 
 Him who led him by the 
 hand. Hewas therefore not 
 within the church, but a 
 little away, under a Bread- 
 fruit tree. 
 
 But when he heard them 
 call his name, he came and 
 stood upon the steps at the 
 door and spoke to the 
 leaders of the crowd. He 
 said that they might do as 
 they would with him, but 
 he would entreat them once 
 again to consider what was 
 good for the peace and 
 safety of the whole Island. 
 He begged them to spare 
 57
 
 the Priests who had come 
 there to serve them, to 
 teach their children, and to 
 help all with wise counsels 
 and the example of virtuous 
 lives. While he spoke, these 
 mqn, having reverently 
 finished their prayers, came 
 and stood beside him. Then 
 the crowd broke out in 
 wild cries and thrust them 
 back into the church, while 
 some of their number, with 
 a sudden inspiration from 
 the Evil Will, set fire to the 
 slight wooden roof of the 
 porch. 
 
 It was but for a little 
 while that the flames ran 
 round the dry, thin walls 
 and mounted the wooden 
 spire, and rose, a column 
 of clear, pale scarlet a- 
 S8
 
 gainst the brilliant green 
 of the tall Bread - fruit 
 trees. Those within the 
 church saw that ther^ was 
 no escape, and the youngest 
 of the Priests, a boyish fel- 
 low who in England had 
 thought much about stoles 
 and albs, quietly gave out 
 the hymn they had meant 
 to sing at the end of the 
 service. All joined with 
 one voice, and only as the 
 flames wrapped round and 
 choked them the sound of 
 their singing died away — 
 no groan, no cry for help, 
 no struggle to escape, but 
 just one solemn, triumphant 
 martyr song, and all was 
 still. The old Scholar died 
 on the steps of the altar, as 
 they knew by his signet 
 59
 
 ring, an antique of great 
 beauty, on which was en- 
 graved the figure of a man 
 bound by his outstretched 
 hands and feet, supposed 
 to represent Prometheus 
 chained upon the rock. 
 
 60
 
 Chapter III. 
 
 " This is the righteous maid, the 
 comforter. " 
 
 HUS ended the 
 hopes of the 
 West. The time 
 that followed 
 was one of wild confusion. 
 Violence was the only law, 
 and those who escaped in 
 that terrible day yielded 
 themselves in hopeless mi- 
 sery to the disorders they 
 
 6l F
 
 could not avert or control. 
 Some few there always were 
 who longed for order and 
 peace, and mourned in si- 
 lence for their lost leaders; 
 but none had the courage 
 to speak out. 
 
 It was in these days that 
 a ship of strange appear- 
 ance was seen approaching 
 the entrance of the Lagoon, 
 which, passing quickly 
 round to the north of the 
 Island, a bare, rocky region 
 not yet inhabited, landed 
 there a large number of 
 passengers, and before the 
 rest of the inhabitants could 
 cross the mountain and dis- 
 cover who were the new- 
 comers, the ship which 
 brought them had vanished 
 again into the open sea. 
 
 62
 
 A stealthy departure and 
 scarcely to be wondered 
 at, for the government 
 ofBurmah had grave fears 
 whether even on the Is- 
 land of Outlaws its pas- 
 sengers could be welcomed 
 or endured. They were a 
 large company of an entirely 
 lawless robber race known 
 at that time by the name of 
 Dacoits — the terror of the 
 Burmese country. 
 
 These men soon found 
 that they had been put 
 ashore on the least fertile 
 part of the Island, and they 
 began to come over the 
 heights and plunder the 
 older settlers for whatever 
 they needed, even driving 
 them from their homes and 
 taking possession of these. 
 6S
 
 There was no govern- 
 ment or settled order to 
 which anyone could appeal 
 — " each man for himself" 
 was the only rule. The 
 number of the early settlers 
 was much diminished by 
 the years of strife and vio- 
 lence, and though some of 
 those who came as children 
 to the Island were now 
 growing to man's and wo- 
 man's estate, these were not 
 many, and the fact that 
 among the older settlers 
 there were some who had 
 families was a great source 
 of weakness to them as 
 against the new-comers, for 
 even the most lawless of 
 the old Southern men 
 dreaded the attacks of 
 these wild marauders upon 
 64
 
 their feeble women and 
 children. 
 
 Thus the presence of the 
 Dacoits wrought a change 
 at once on the island. 
 
 The common trouble to 
 which they were now ex- 
 posed inclined the earlier 
 settlers to look upon one 
 another with more friendly 
 eyes, and indeed I think by 
 this time they were all be- 
 ginning a little to weary of 
 conflict, and so they drew 
 together and determined on 
 measures in which they 
 should all unite for driving 
 the Dacoits back to the 
 North, or at any rate re- 
 ducing them to some sort 
 of subjection. 
 
 But this was by no means 
 easy. Men who had no 
 65 F 2
 
 scruple at midnight murder, 
 and delighted in the torture 
 of little children in the sight 
 of their mothers, could not 
 be met by any force but 
 that of perfectly organized 
 and strong repression, and 
 the leaders of the party 
 who now represented the 
 order of the Island began to 
 dread whether they would 
 not indeed all perish at the 
 hands of these savage in- 
 vaders. It might be so, 
 but all that was best in 
 these men rose up to meet 
 the danger and to defend 
 their homes. They were 
 beginning to understand 
 the meaning of union, of 
 some sort of law, of the 
 sacrifice of the will of each 
 one to the good of the 
 66
 
 whole, when a new thing 
 happened. 
 
 Some Dacoits who had 
 just been driven back from 
 a plundering expedition 
 were men who had learnt 
 a few words of English, and 
 as they sullenly retired they 
 uttered 'terrible threats a- 
 gainst their opponents, 
 which they said they would 
 perform when the next moon 
 was round, for then ships 
 would come bringing their 
 friends, and they made signs 
 to show that these would 
 come in great numbers. 
 
 Here were indeed tidings 
 of despair for the settlers. 
 They met once again in the 
 green amphitheatre in which 
 they had been convened 
 before, and many of them 
 67
 
 remembered sadly how 
 things had changed for the 
 worse since that day. The 
 presence of this terror made 
 them all of one accord, 
 though there seemed no- 
 thing to be done. The 
 shipbuilding projects had 
 been long abandoned a- 
 mong the pre-occupations 
 of their internal conflicts, 
 and the little boats in which 
 they crossed the Lagoon 
 were perfectly useless for 
 long voyages at this time of 
 year ; but indeed, since all 
 could not leave the Island, 
 none of them would dream 
 of deserting their compa- 
 nions in misery. 
 
 Further, if other reason 
 were needed for their re- 
 maining, all but the children 
 6g
 
 and quite young men and 
 women bore the brand 
 which made life impossible 
 for them elsewhere. 
 
 And now a voice was 
 heard among the anxious 
 company to which all lis- 
 tened, for most of them 
 knew it well. It was a 
 woman's voice, the voice of 
 one who came among the 
 first settlers of the West, 
 drawn there not by political 
 sympathy or communistic 
 fellow-feeling with them, 
 but simply by the thought 
 that here, if anywhere, 
 would be sick souls to heal, 
 sick bodies to tend, and 
 women and little children 
 needing help and care. She 
 was called " Our Sister," 
 and no one had learnt any- 
 69
 
 thing of her family or her 
 history. Of those whom she 
 comforted in sickness or 
 trouble, each one felt assured 
 that she held the creed his 
 mother had taught him as 
 a little child ; some would 
 have sworn she belonged 
 to the Church of Rome; 
 the Russians claimed her 
 as theirs ; some wild Welsh 
 Home-Rulers were certain 
 that she belonged to the 
 Primitive Methodist Con- 
 nexion ; and a company of 
 rough men from the English 
 iron districts were still 
 more certain that her gentle 
 voice was that of a Quaker- 
 ess from a secluded York- 
 shire valley. 
 
 It did not matter. 
 
 She had escaped, almost 
 70
 
 alone of the inmost circle 
 of the West, at the time of 
 the burning of the church, 
 by the fact that she was 
 that day nursing a little 
 child who was sick of a 
 fever and whose mother 
 had just died. Since that 
 time evil habits and careless 
 living had led to a great 
 spread of this terrible dis- 
 ease, and the Sister had 
 gone from one sick bed to 
 another bringing medicine 
 and the healing of her pre- 
 sence, and there were those 
 who said that something 
 miraculous lay in the touch 
 of her hands and the whis- 
 per of her prayer. 
 
 It was her voice that 
 spoke in the midst of the 
 people that day. She stood 
 7«
 
 on a little mound among 
 the tangled growth of 
 scented flowers — almost a- 
 midst of the great amphi- 
 theatre — and in the perfect 
 hush of her hearers and the 
 stillness of the clear wind- 
 less air every syllable was 
 heard. 
 
 She said that these trou- 
 bles had come upon them, 
 as they knew, through their 
 own folly and dissensions ; 
 that they might now, if they 
 were indeed united, resist 
 their enemies and oblige 
 them to live peaceably in 
 their own part of the Island, 
 getting their supplies from 
 the northern reef, which was 
 very fruitful, and not cross- 
 ing the hills ; that if, taking 
 warning from the weakness 
 72
 
 which their disorders had 
 brought, they would set 
 themselves to strengthen 
 some simple form of go- 
 vernment, they might even 
 yet live peaceable and happy 
 lives on the Island. If the 
 new company of Dacoits 
 found them thus united 
 and strong they might sub- 
 mit to the same rule as the 
 others ; but alas ! the moon 
 was near the full. There 
 was but little time for such 
 measures, even if all did 
 their best. 
 
 But there was one weapon 
 they had all long neglected, 
 the weapon of Prayer, and 
 she entreated them all to 
 kneel down around her. 
 
 The wild multitude thus 
 taken unawares in a serious 
 73 G
 
 mood did not bethink them 
 of scoffing, indeed they 
 loved her, and that was 
 enough. 
 
 Her sweet, piercing voice 
 seemed to touch the cloud- 
 less sky as she confessed 
 the sins of that company 
 and acknowledged their 
 need of all things; and with 
 words that claimed as the 
 gift certain to be given by a 
 loving father's hand, what 
 others would timidly have 
 asked as a doubtful favour 
 from a distant king, she 
 seemed to lay hold at once 
 with a strong hand on all 
 the, infinite help hidden in 
 the storehouse of the Hea- 
 venly Will. 
 
 She claimed for that 
 company, not safety only, 
 74
 
 but blessings and gladness 
 undreamed of by any; and 
 when she ended, a great 
 " Amen " went up from all 
 that strange congregation. 
 
 At this moment a wild 
 cry was heard from those 
 who stood on the eastern 
 ridge of the crater, which 
 commanded the sea and 
 the opening in the reef by 
 which vessels entered the 
 Lagoon. A ship whose 
 lines were but too well 
 known was in sight : the 
 Dacoits were coming. 
 
 The whole assembly 
 climbed up the sides of the 
 crater and on to the long 
 ridge of hill beyond, and 
 stood looking seaward. 
 The ship came quickly 
 nearer — when those who 
 75
 
 knew the coast observed 
 that, instead of following 
 the winding channel of deep 
 water that leads to the 
 opening of the Lagoon, they 
 were hurrying on to a great 
 sunken reef to the north of 
 this, on which the sea, be- 
 ing unusually calm, was not 
 breaking as it was wont to 
 do at most seasons. 
 
 They saw a crowd of 
 Dacoits rush to the shore 
 making signs to those on 
 board, but it was too late. 
 The ship struck, and sank 
 at once in the fathomless 
 depth of water outside the 
 reef. The Dacoits on shore 
 swam across the Lagoon, 
 and running over the reef 
 again, swam towards the 
 sunken ship, and dived in 
 76
 
 the hope of saving their 
 friends. But during this 
 little space of time, the 
 tide, which turns there very 
 suddenly, brought great 
 waves again to break over 
 the sunken rocks and on 
 the outer edge of the reef, 
 and many of those who 
 swam out to the wreck 
 were drowned. 
 
 Why the ship took the 
 wrong course no one could 
 ever know; perhaps, hav- 
 ing made the voyage before, 
 the captain ventured with- 
 out a pilot. 
 
 To all who stood on the 
 mountain ridge and saw 
 what happened in that 
 short space of time, it 
 seemed only that their 
 prayer had been answered. 
 77 f^' 2
 
 Chapter IV. 
 
 Love, and do what thou wilt." 
 
 HE next 
 another 
 meeting 
 convened. 
 
 deliverance 
 of it 
 
 day 
 
 great 
 
 was 
 
 Their deliverance and 
 the manner of it had 
 wrought a great change 
 in many, especially in the 
 less educated of the com- 
 munity, who experienced 
 at that time a conver- 
 78
 
 sion — that reversal of the 
 natural selfish state which 
 makes self come last 
 instead of first in the 
 thoughts of a man, and 
 which leads him also to 
 realize a Presence in the 
 Unseen, I mention this 
 because it very much 
 changed the nature of their 
 deliberations. I do not say 
 that these conversions 
 would have had a lasting 
 effect but for certain events 
 which followed. 
 
 All desired a settled or- 
 der in the Island. Those 
 who were not truly in prin- 
 ciple Anarchists, but rather 
 Democrats, proposed some 
 form of social contract by 
 which they might "confer 
 all their power and strength 
 79
 
 upon one man, or upon 
 one assembly of men, that 
 might reduce all their wills, 
 by plurality of voices, unto 
 one will ; which is as much 
 as to say, to appoint one 
 man, or assembly of men, 
 to bear their Person ; and 
 every one to owne, and 
 acknowledge himself to be 
 Author of whatsoever he 
 that so beareth their per- 
 son shall Act, or cause to 
 be acted in those things 
 which concerne the com- 
 mon Peace and Safetie; 
 and therein to submit their 
 Wills, every one to his Will, 
 and their Judgments to his 
 Judgment. This is more 
 than consent or concord ; 
 it is a real Unitie of them 
 all, in one and the same 
 80
 
 Person, made by covenant 
 of every man mth every 
 man, in such manner, as if 
 every man should say to 
 every man, ' I authorize 
 and give up my right of 
 governing myself to this 
 Man or to this assembly of 
 men, on this condition, 
 that thou give up thy right 
 to him and authorize all his 
 actions in like manner.' " 
 
 These words are origi- 
 nally those of Thomas 
 Hobbes of Malmesbury, 
 and these, or something 
 like these, were spoken on 
 this occasion by a young 
 Englishman of gentle birth 
 and manners, but of very 
 ungentle notions when first 
 he came to the Island. He 
 was not one of those who 
 Si
 
 came of their own free will, 
 but as a branded man, 
 having continued, after 
 many warnings, to gather 
 large companies of men in 
 the London squares, and 
 to exhort them to Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 He was now, notwith- 
 standing, as we have seen, 
 rather old-fashioned in his 
 ideas, and his proposal was 
 metbynotalittleopposition. 
 Who, it was asked, should 
 be the governing body? 
 How chosen ? Who should 
 make, and who enforce, 
 the laws ? All the old well- 
 worn, yet not worn-out dif- 
 ficulty about elections, and 
 minorities, and oligarchies, 
 seemed to appear in fore- 
 cast on the Island, which 
 82
 
 at least had never known 
 these evils ; and the young 
 man, as the argument pro- 
 ceeded, felt himself to have 
 been in the wrong. 
 
 But the voice which on 
 this day made itself heard 
 with the most clearness 
 and decision was that of a 
 Russian Prince, who was 
 persuaded as firmly as he 
 had ever been that in An- 
 archy — absence of all go- 
 vernment — lay the only true 
 order of society. He had 
 always acknowledged that 
 to this end certain princi- 
 ples of morality recognized 
 by the whole community, 
 were necessary. He had 
 believed, on first coming to 
 the Island, that the mere 
 absence of outward law 
 83
 
 would develop in men that 
 natural morality from which, 
 under the blight of govern- 
 ment, they had fallen away; 
 and he had opposed the 
 work of the Priests of the 
 West on the ground that 
 the artificial restraints of 
 religion are as fatal as civil 
 enactments to the free 
 growth of this natural vir- 
 tue. But he had seen what 
 sort of fruit was borne by 
 common human nature 
 when first left in a wild 
 garden. His soul had been 
 awakened to find that the 
 morality of which he had 
 dreamed, kindled and 
 made living could be no 
 other than the life of the 
 Cross. 
 
 In truth, like the old 
 84
 
 Scholar of the Western set- 
 tlement, his heart had long 
 been dwelling in the place 
 of lowly service and of 
 death to self, without know- 
 ing the meaning of such a 
 life, or putting it into the 
 words of the Christian faith'; 
 for the Christian faith that 
 he had been taught had 
 been shut up in sacred 
 books and disguised in sa- 
 cred images, and so hidden 
 from his eyes. 
 
 But on the evening be- 
 fore this convention, after 
 the great deliverance, he 
 had gone up the western 
 slope of the mountain and 
 had found the Sister sitting 
 in silent meditation at the 
 door of her house, wearied 
 with all the anxieties and 
 
 85 H
 
 events of the day, and with 
 the reaction that comes to 
 all high natures after times 
 of tension and excitement. 
 The thought of the drowned 
 Dacoits, of the unsettled 
 state of the Island, of the 
 wickedness that abounded, 
 and of her own helplessness 
 for good, weighed on her 
 sensitive spirit. She was in 
 Elijah's mood when he 
 said, "Oh, that I now might 
 die!" 
 
 To those who feel weary 
 and wanting all things, the 
 call is often to work and to 
 give; and so it was that 
 evening with the Sister. 
 They spoke together by 
 the door of her house till 
 the full moon dropped 
 from the height of the nor- 
 86
 
 them sky towards the wes- 
 tern sea ; and as they talked 
 the things unseen seemed 
 the only realities. The 
 high hope and faith in 
 which the Sister had long 
 lived and moved were com- 
 municated in that hour to 
 the seeking soul of the 
 Prince ; his whole being 
 rose up to greet the new 
 vision of the Best; and 
 when he took his leave of 
 the teacher to whom he 
 owed so much, it was not to 
 return at once to his home 
 by the southern shore. He 
 climbed by a steep path to 
 the mountain top, and 
 there, till the moon set and 
 dawn came over the sea, he 
 communed with his own 
 heart and swore a solemn 
 87
 
 allegiance to the Master 
 whom he had chosen. 
 
 To-day, full of hope and 
 confidence, he rose among 
 the people, and laid before 
 them his scheme of a Chris- 
 tian Anarchy — a society of 
 men set free from all out- 
 ward law, set free from the 
 bondage of self and of evil 
 desires, because the willing 
 servants of a holy Lord. 
 
 As we have seen, he was 
 not the first to speak in the 
 assembly; his old restless 
 desire to make his voice 
 heard was gone; he was 
 clothed with a new humi- 
 lity. The cause for which 
 he pleaded was not his, 
 but that of One who hastes 
 not : — 
 
 88
 
 " Day by day, 
 And year by year He tarrieth : 
 
 little need 
 The Lord should hasten. " 
 
 It has been shown that 
 the people were ready in 
 heart for such an appeal. 
 There was not one voice 
 raised against him ; each 
 seemed fired by a high en- 
 thusiasm for the good of 
 all; each eager only that 
 the highest will should be 
 done. 
 
 This will not seem strange 
 to those who realize the ex- 
 citement of the times just 
 past, and who remember 
 how frequent in the history 
 of religion has been the 
 sudden awakening, under 
 strong feeling, of large mul- 
 titudes of men. I will not 
 89 H 2
 
 say that this was altogether 
 unlike such other awaken- 
 ings ; I only say that it was 
 more lasting in its conse- 
 quences than many such 
 have been. 
 
 With a people in this 
 temper the structure of the 
 new Polity seemed rather 
 the building up of a Church 
 than the ordering of a Com- 
 monwealth. 
 
 Yet it truly resembled 
 neither of these things. 
 They determined that no 
 written laws, no written 
 book of religion, no formal 
 creed should have a place 
 among them. They had 
 seen how law-making means 
 law-breaking, and they de- 
 termined that their rule of 
 life should be simply this 
 90
 
 one thing — a principle, a 
 passion, not a command ; 
 just this — Love to a Uving 
 Lord, in whom they recog- 
 nized the perfection of all 
 that the mind of man can 
 conceive as holiest and 
 best, whom they knew to be 
 among them always. In all 
 troubles and difficulties 
 they stretched out hands of 
 prayer and proved His pre- 
 sence. 
 
 These being their 
 thoughts, it was rather a 
 furtherance of their work 
 than a hindrance of it that 
 all the books of the Priests 
 had been consumed in the 
 burning of the church. 
 They did not attempt, as 
 they might well have done, 
 to reconstruct a book of
 
 Faith from the words and 
 thoughts with which the 
 memories of the Sister 
 and some others were 
 stored. 
 
 These were held all the 
 more precious because they 
 had to be told by one to 
 another, and told again and 
 again, till in the hearts of 
 all were embedded as shin- 
 ing jewels fragments of per- 
 fect truth and flashes of 
 mystical insight. Dearest 
 to all were the parable of 
 the Vine and Its branches, 
 the Story of the Cross, the 
 "Sermon on the Mount," 
 and many sayings such as 
 these : " The letter killeth, 
 but the Spirit giveth life ; " 
 •* He that loveth his life 
 shall lose it ; " many 
 92
 
 words of St. Paul, and 
 especially those which 
 tell of the struggle of the 
 soul to get free from the 
 only real tyranny, and the 
 splendid anarchy of the 
 slaves of Christ ; many 
 sayings of Thomas a Kem- 
 pis, of Tauler, of Moli- 
 nos, and of Marcus Aure- 
 lius, dear to the heart of 
 the Sister ; many fragments 
 of poems and hymns such 
 as she loved and had learnt ; 
 many beautiful old hymns 
 which some of the wives of 
 the German Socialists re- 
 membered and sang. But 
 it would not be possible 
 even to hint at the chosen 
 words which ruled the lives 
 of that happy community, 
 every voice in which swelled 
 93
 
 the sweet hymn of praise 
 which rose at morn and 
 even among the Bread-fruit 
 groves. They did not as- 
 semble to worship or to 
 sing, for they sang and wor- 
 shipped everywhere. 
 
 No one called anything 
 his own; and each was 
 eager to find opportunities 
 of helping others with his 
 strength or his substance. 
 
 But as to the Dacoits, 
 concerning them even the 
 Prince was led to doubt the 
 fitness of Anarchy. They 
 were not, indeed, now so 
 strong, or the rest of the 
 community so weak, that 
 they could not be forced to 
 submit to laws ; but they 
 did not seem able to un- 
 derstand the very rudiments 
 94
 
 of that inner law which he 
 saw was needful to the 
 peace of a country ordered 
 on the principles of which 
 we have spoken.. 
 
 So they were taken in 
 calm weather in the Lagoon 
 boats to a small neighbour- 
 ing island, where they 
 would find plenty of food, 
 but no large timber of which 
 boats might be built ; and 
 they were left there to work 
 out for themselves the pro- 
 blem just solved on Me- 
 liora. 
 
 How long the Anarchy, 
 which was truly a Theocra- 
 cy, would have continued 
 in unbroken peace cannot 
 be known. It is possible 
 that, though the children 
 of the first settlers were 
 95
 
 passionately eager for set- 
 tled order, and enthusias- 
 tically religious, their chil- 
 dren might show a return of 
 evil tendencies, and that 
 those who did not remem- 
 ber the first fearful days of 
 strife in the Island might 
 wilfully have roused again 
 a spirit of disorder ; for the 
 world and all the spheres 
 mount only in upward spi- 
 rals toward that point of 
 the Heavens where they 
 shall rest at last, and are 
 turning always to the same 
 point again, only a little 
 higher than before. 
 
 What did happen was 
 this. 
 
 Not long after the time 
 of which I have written, 
 the Sister having died, and 
 96
 
 been buried at her desire 
 high up on the mountain, 
 the Prince went one even- 
 ing to sit by her grave a- 
 whileandto gather strength 
 by communing with the 
 spirit that had first led him 
 into the way of gladness. 
 
 It had been a sultry day, 
 and the breeze that was 
 wont to cool the Island 
 when the sun went down 
 was this day asleep ; no 
 breath lifted the heavy air. 
 
 The heart of the Prince 
 was mournful too ; only 
 the hidden help which 
 never fails upheld him in 
 the vague depression which 
 stole over him. 
 
 Then he heard suddenly 
 a strange rumbling sound in 
 the mountain under him; 
 97 I
 
 the earth shook, and as he 
 sprang to his feet he saw a 
 horrible sight — the sea 
 drawn back from the reef, 
 sucked from the great La- 
 goon, and then rushing in 
 upon the Island and surging 
 up over the reef, over the 
 fringe of Palms, over all the 
 peaceful homes below. 
 Twice this was repeated as 
 he staggered down from the 
 highest point of the moun- 
 tain ; and when the violence 
 of the shock was over, the 
 crater lay at his feet a salt 
 lagoon, and over all the 
 fruitful plain the sea lay 
 deep and still. 
 
 He alone was left of all 
 that land's inhabitants. 
 
 To a nature like his 
 there was nothing terrible 
 98
 
 in solitude, nor did the 
 whole of this awful event 
 seem to him so sad as it 
 would have been to hear 
 one evil word from the lips 
 of a child. 
 
 He lived for some years 
 after this a life of medita- 
 tion and peace, finding just 
 enough food to supply his 
 need among the fruits of 
 the higher mountain forests ; 
 and one day, in his extreme 
 old age, a ship's boat seek- 
 ing water entered the La- 
 goon. He was taken on 
 board, and he brought with 
 him a manuscript which he 
 had written on slips of the 
 bark of trees, relating the 
 history of the Island. From 
 his own lips yet more of the 
 story was gathered and 
 99
 
 written down by a Jesuit 
 father who Avas returning 
 in the ship from a mission 
 to the newly-settled An- 
 tarctic Continent. 
 
 There is no more to be 
 told. The old Prince died 
 on the voyage, glad to de- 
 part as soon as he had told 
 his tale. 
 
 He had come to see 
 many things clearly in his 
 lonely years on the moun- 
 tain height. What these 
 things were, beyond what 
 has been written here, he 
 told to the Jesuit father — 
 under the seal of confes- 
 sion. 
 
 loo
 
 Notes. 
 
 I 2
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Page 22, 
 
 )OW little any thought 
 in those happy days 
 from wliat quarter the 
 storm of invasion 
 would come, or how the whole 
 order of the civilized world 
 v.'ould be once more sunk under 
 waves of barbarism ! We might 
 now indeed despair, only that as 
 from each such wave in ages 
 past a better world has risen 
 than that which went before, 
 from the depth of our trouble 
 now may rise the best of all — 
 103
 
 the new earth to which the new 
 Heaven shall come down. 
 
 Page 26. 
 
 A very interesting paper in a 
 magazine of last century by Pro- 
 fessor Seeley was the first pro- 
 phecy of this European Court. 
 See Macmillan^s Magazine, 
 March, 1871. 
 
 Page yj. 
 
 The women. — Of course I do 
 not here allude to the wives of 
 the Anarchists, of whom some 
 accompanied their husbands. 
 
 Page 48. 
 
 Troops. — This must not be 
 understood as if national armies 
 were then existing. The United 
 States of Europe and America 
 maintained a large military force, 
 which was sent hither and thi- 
 ther, where needed, as represent- 
 ing the Power which preserved 
 the order of the civiUzed world 
 104
 
 and controlled the still savage 
 or unruly. 
 
 Page 63. 
 
 Burmah had before this time 
 ceased to be governed by Eng- 
 land, having insisted on " Home 
 Rule." 
 
 Page 78. 
 
 Thenowreduced number of the 
 Dacoits vv'.as felt to be no longer 
 a cause of danger if the rest of 
 the society were ordered and 
 strong ; for it will hereafter be 
 shown that even a free associa- 
 tion for the ordering of a state 
 must be able to deal in some 
 way with the disorderly. 
 
 -^-^^^ 
 
 105
 
 NTERLIBRAR^ LOANSl 
 
 FEB 1 1966 
 
 -OUR WEEKS ?Rm 
 I^ON-RENEWABLE 
 
 DAFE OJE RE£Ein 
 
 Aiv 
 
 ID 
 
 f R 9 tg;? 
 
 PM 
 
 REMINGTON RAND INC. 20 
 
 213 (533)
 
 Ill 
 
 AA 000 379 93( 
 
 PR 
 3991
 
 /fj^l^f^.: