"Those eyes of hers seemed as if you could see worlds in them, and when you looked into them your mind seemed taken away from everything about you, and you would have to check yourself or else you would feel as if you had left the body and were passing through the ethereal regions.

"She had a remarkable organism, being so very fine in quality. The first impression one would have on seeing her would be that of distinction, she was so superior in her makeup to all her kind. Her features were finely moulded, and her whole contour was perfect. She had a wonderful presence; so much silent power went with it. I could not help being conscious of it when in the room with her. I felt as if something of an elevating nature was coming from her to me all the time. I always felt a better man after having been in her company. And before I attained to the plane I am now on, when at times I would be depressed or discouraged and went into her presence with those feelings, it would not be long before they left me and I felt as if I was the strongest and most hopeful man living. She being the most powerful of the two brought me into her condition and made me feel strong, like a giant refreshed with new wine.

"After visiting at her house many times, I conceived the impression that for some cause she took a great interest in me, not because I was a young man, but for some other reason.

"Sometimes I would visit the family and she would not be at home, and late in the evening she would return all alone. She would go anywhere at any time. I have seen her late at night walking through the slums of Calcutta all alone. She was free in the truest sense of the word, not being in bondage to her material form, or in recognizing family or social standing; she had no superstitions; she was above and beyond them all. I noticed she was loved very much by her parents and brother, and seemed to possess a deep affectionate nature herself. Her peculiar qualities were fully recognized by the family, she having no household duties to perform, only as the notion might take her.

"I was always a welcomed guest at the house, and I felt as much at home as if I were a member of their family.

"After I had known the family about a year, I called at the house one evening just about the time it was getting dark. Wavernee was sitting in the door-way. She seemed very pleased to see me and invited me in, saying: 'The other members of the family are all away.'

"The room we went into we entered at its center, and she turned to the left and walked to the end of the room. She gave me a seat so that I sat at the extreme end of the room. She closed the door and took a low seat on my left. To my great surprise, she commenced a conversation about common things, and talked as interestingly as any intelligent young lady would talk. We chatted about fifteen minutes, and by that time the room was dark so I could not see one object from another.

"She became silent and I received an impression that she did not wish me to speak, so we both sat in the silence for about ten minutes, when the room became illuminated and she herself seemed to be the brightest object in it. I never saw a room so bright as that in my life. After a few minutes everything in the room appeared dark except the wall at the further end; and where it was light there seemed to be a white covering such as is used for magic lantern pictures. I was looking at it when there appeared a picture which covered the whole cloth. It represented men and women of all tribes and nations bending beneath heavy loads of bondage. I observed their bondages were not all the same. There was a difference in the kind of bondages the men were bound with to those that held women in slavery. Then I saw that the men had some bondages the same as the women had. I observed the bondages of the women were not all the same. For instance, the American's woman's bondage in some respects was different from that of the Japanese woman, and the bondages of the Hindu woman were not the same as that of the Chinese woman. It was a sad sight. As they were all presented, they appeared to be living, moving figures.

"There were a few Hindu men and women who were free, going among them trying to lift them out of bondage, but it was very hard, for they seemed to love being in bondage. Only those who were tired of their bondages were helped by the workers. Wavernee kept her eyes intently on the picture all the time, and when she turned her face towards me the scene disappeared and the whole room became dark. In about ten minutes the whole room was again illuminated and I never saw Wavernee look so much like the embodiment of perfect love as she did then. She seemed as if she had been touched with a live coal from off the altar, the sacred fire was so bright in her eyes. The atmosphere was one of sacred blissful love. Whatever there was of lukewarmness or indifference in me in regard to humanity was licked up, as it were, by a fiery flame of love. I felt as if my whole nature had become white-heat with love. The most miserable creature seemed dear and sweet to me.

"While I was in that frame of mind the room became dark, except the further end, and I saw another living scene on the canvas. It was Wavernee walking along a hot dusty road a few miles from Calcutta. She seemed indifferent to the heat and dust, and was looking exactly the same as I have just described her. As she was walking along, I noticed a little way in front of her was a young woman sitting down on the side of the road with only a few dirty rags on her poor body. Her face and form showed marks of sin and disease. When she saw Wavernee coming near her, she put her hands to her face and held her head down. O, the apparent contrast between the two! Wavernee sat down beside the young woman and took one of her hands and held it awhile, meanwhile talking to her. Then she opened a basket she had and took out a bottle and poured the contents into a glass and gave it to her to drink. There was a label on the bottle and glass which read 'love,' and the young woman drank the glass empty. After awhile Wavernee stood up and the young woman stood up, too, and as she did so her rags fell from her and she was clothed like Wavernee, and when I looked into her face I saw no difference between them.

"The scene disappeared, but it was quickly replaced by another which represented Wavernee and some other native workers clearing large tracts of land. Then they ploughed and harrowed it. As fast as they prepared one tract of land for the seed they commenced clearing another piece. On the land that had been cleared I saw myself and some one else with me that had a veil over head and face, so I could not see who the person was; but we were both engaged in the same occupation of sowing seed, each one of us having a large measure containing the seed. On the outside of the measure was the word truth. We would sow one piece of land and then go to another piece that had been cleared and sow that. On the ground that I had sowed, a crop came up in the form of many men and some women who were all out of bondage. They were free. Where the person with me had sowed, there was a crop of many women and some few men who were out of bondage. They were all free. I wish I could convey to your mind how happy and joyful they all were.

"As this last scene disappeared the whole room became illuminated. Wavernee looked at me with eyes of celestial love and said: 'Penloe, thou hast seen all. What appeared before thy vision will convey to thy mind more than any words of mine. Before you is a future that angels might desire. Be true to thy highest light, then wilt thou realize what thy eyes have seen. Your co-worker is one that I love. She knows me not, but I know her, and when she becomes one with you in your life and work of love, give her this ring (taking it from her finger and giving it to me) with my love and tell her to accept it as a symbol of your union in love and work.

"'This ring has a history. It was worn by a beautiful young Indian princess who, after having been a wife to a prince for two years, became disgusted with her life, and, weary of all the luxuries of the court, she left one night in disguise, saying to herself: "I can live here no longer, for I am a greater slave than the poorest of the Pariah women. My nature cries out for freedom. I would rather be free in poverty than be a slave in luxury. Give me freedom or give me death!" She lived for many years in the realization of her own highest nature. She looked on all about her as being God and showed that love and reverence for all as she did for the Divine Being. Her whole life was devoted to being a blessing to many others; particularly to the elevation of those of her own sex. Just before she died she gave it to my Guru's (Spiritual Teacher) mother, who was then a young woman, saying: "Wear this as a vow that thy life will be consecrated to lifting thy sisters out of bondage." My Guru gave it to me with its history, saying: "My mother lived and died for woman's freedom. May you live for the same noble purpose."' Then Wavernee rose and took from a shelf this beautiful little box, saying: 'Keep the ring in this box.'

"After I thanked her she said: 'This is the last time you will see me, for I am going away and when I return you will have left this country.' I received a mental suggestion not to ask any questions, and there seemed to be nothing left for me to say, but to part with such a sweet exalted character in the way and manner that two spiritual friends should take leave of each other.

"Stella, she was the greatest mystic I ever met in that land of mystics."

When Penloe finished his narrative he looked at Stella and saw she was deeply moved. Neither spoke for a few minutes, then Stella leaned her head towards Penloe and said in a soft touching voice:

"Penloe, dear, I have just seen Wavernee. Oh, what a beautiful loving soul she is; her countenance is something wonderful! For a few moments I seemed to be with her in a sacred room in her home in India. As I entered she came forward and greeted me in a most affectionate manner. Leading me to a small altar at one end of the room, we both kneeled for devotion, after which I looked up and saw on the wall the inscription: 'Our lives are consecrated to the Lord in His humanity."

"After I read that everything disappeared, and I realized I was here on this porch with you, my mind being full of your exceedingly interesting story."

After a pause Penloe remarked: "I am not surprised, Stella, at the experience you have just had of seeing Wavernee, for I have seen her twice since I have been in Orangeville. It is a gift which comes to some in their higher unfoldment. I am very glad you saw Wavernee, for it is an inspiration to see such a person."

Stella replied: "Yes, Penloe, she is all you have described her to me, and much more. Her presence has a remarkable power of elevating. She is my ideal, for she is highly gifted and still only full of pure love. What you have related and what I have seen has been a great revelation to me, and fills me with joy in the thought of being your co-worker in living the life as Wavernee saw us as dispensers of truth, and helpers of humanity through love."

Penloe said: "Yes, dear Stella, it is a great blessing and privilege to be of service to others. It is the test of greatness of character; for Jesus said: 'He that is greatest of all must be servant of all.'"

After a little silence in which both were thinking about the great work before them, Stella's attention was called to the box containing the ring, by Penloe handing it to her. On taking it she said: "Is not the box beautiful?" Then opening it she took out the ring. It was a cinnamon garnet ring, made from Ceylon stone, with hieroglyphics outside and inside beautifully cut. It was a fine piece of skilled workmanship.

Stella said: "Penloe, do tell me the meaning of the hieroglyphics on the ring. I am very desirous to know."

Penloe said: "Outside it reads, 'All are one in God.' Inside it reads, 'The fire of spirituality burns by continual devotion.'"

Stella remarked: "How true is the beautiful thought contained in the outside inscription, 'All are one in God,' for it makes our own union feel sacred and precious as well as bringing us close to all others. The inside inscription is an exceedingly fine one, 'The fire of spirituality burns by continual devotion.' Because without devotion the spiritual life droops and withers as a flower without water." Continuing, she said: "There are two kinds of devotion, one consisting of heartfelt prayer and singing from the soul, sacred hymns; and the other kind consists in rendering service to others. They are both essential for spiritual growth."

Stella was very much interested in the history of the ring, and putting it on her finger she said: "What a true symbol of the nature of our union is the ring. I am so glad it is not made of gold and set with diamonds. If it were I never could wear it, for it would neutralize all the good I could do. Supposing it had been one of those very handsome gold rings set with diamonds such as Indian princesses wear. Every lady's eye, young and old, would be on the ring, while their minds would be speculating on its great value, and their thoughts so taken up with its beauty that what I might say to instruct them would have very little effect, and even the influence of my own life would be small. No, Penloe, I never would wear a costly ring, not even if you gave it to me; for it would have a tendency to keep myself and all who saw it in bondage. This ring is not costly or very attractive, but its history is rich and the truths cut into it are precious." Here she kissed Penloe for the ring and spoke again in loving terms concerning Wavernee.

That evening the moon looked down on no happier couple than Penloe and Stella, for they were both free and attracted towards them all that was joyous and beautiful in the Universe.

On that porch so sacred in blissful associations, before retiring, they spent a few minutes in silent prayer, after which I heard them sing so softly and sweetly, their voices blending in harmony and melody. I never heard such singing before. I looked up in the starry firmament, and did my eyes see some of the angelic host looking down on them as they sang?

"If such the sweetness of the streams What must the fountain be!"



CHAPTER XXII.

THE HERNE PARTY.

Mr. and Mrs. Herne had become greatly interested in Stella, and they made their house feel like a home to her whenever she favored them with a visit, which she did many times previous to her living with Penloe in the mountains. They were very much attracted towards her and loved her, for she always brought sunshine with her, and her charming presence, her agreeable manners, together with her fresh, bright, original character, so sweet and beautiful, could not but help making her a very desirable member of the Herne family, for they had come to look upon her as such since her engagement to Penloe, for Penloe to them was a dear brother, and now they looked upon Stella as a dear sister.

On the evening that Penloe was relating the story of the ring to Stella, Charles and Clara Herne were sitting on the porch enjoying the beautiful evening and entertaining themselves in a conversation about the newly married couple who were expected to come to-morrow and be their guests for several days.

While they were talking about the leading part Stella had taken on the sex question, Clara said to her husband: "If Penloe had a wife made to order he could not have had a more suitable mate than Stella. That match was made in heaven."

Her husband, who had picked up some of Penloe's ideas, said: "Why, Clara, she was made to order for him."

Clara laughed and said: "Well, Charles, do you think I was made to order for you?"

"Certainly, and I was made to order for you, my dear," replied he.

Mrs. Herne said: "It is very easy to believe that persons so suited to each other as you and I, and Penloe and Stella, were made to order for each other, but how about Fred Thaxter and his wife, who were married a year ago? Mrs. Simmons called on me yesterday and told me she had heard that Fred was about to apply for a divorce."

Clara said: "I feel sorry for them both. Charles, so far, you and I have not taken any active part in the sex reform movement which has been just started. While we are of the same mind as Penloe and Stella in thought, yet we have so far been silent, except in the circle of our own home, and I think the time has come for us to show our colors."

Charles said: "My dear, I am ready to hoist the flag whenever you say the word."

Clara made answer: "I say the word now, Charles."

Charles said: "We will have a talk with Penloe and Stella and see what way we can help the movement forward."

Clara said: "I think, Charles, we had better retire early to-night, for to-morrow Penloe and Stella will be with us for several days, and we never retire early when they are our guests, and the day after to-morrow we give a party in their honor."

Early next day, according to an understanding, Mr. Herne sent a man with his two-seated surrey to Mr. Wheelwright's for his guests, and about eleven the handsome span of blacks were reined up in front of the Herne residence, and there were two warm hearts on the porch to greet the newly married couple. Charles Herne came forward and received Stella as if she had been his own sister, and she kissed him as if he were her own brother, and Clara Herne received Penloe in the same way, for they lived what they taught, and Penloe and Stella called them Charles and Clara.

Just after dinner Clara was talking about the invited guests to the party to-morrow, saying that she had received a note from Mrs. Hardy, a lady who had been married about five years, which read that she could not come to-morrow as she was sick with her old complaint, but she wants you both to call on her before starting on your wedding tour.

Continuing, Clara said: "How much that poor lady has suffered. I have heard her talk very strongly of her mother for being so close-mouthed with her concerning matters that she ought to have enlightened her about. I remember calling on her at one time and found her lying on the lounge. At times she was in great pain. I was telling her about the interest which had just begun to be aroused in the sex reform movement. She said: 'Oh, if I could only be put back ten years with the knowledge I have, what an active part I would take in the movement, for I don't want other girls and women to suffer what I have, through ignorance and fear.'"

Penloe said: "Stella, we had better call on Phebe this afternoon, for neither of us have seen her since we lived our mountain life, and we will have more time to-day than later."

Stella answered: "I am ready any time."

Charles Herne asked Penloe: "What time would you like to leave here?"

Penloe said: "About two."

"Well," said Charles, "I will have the boy bring the team round for you at that time."

It was two o'clock but the team had not yet been brought to the front of the house. Charles Herne had gone out to the orchard and Clara was elsewhere in the house. Penloe and Stella were in the parlor.

Penloe said: "Stella, I will go up to the barn and see if the team is ready." So out he went.

While Penloe had gone to the barn for the team, Clara Herne entered the parlor, with a paper in her hand, and called Stella's attention to a criticism on the sex reform movement.

When Clara entered the parlor, Stella was standing looking at an oil painting on the wall. Stella took the paper, and sat down on the nearest chair. Mrs. Herne went out in the kitchen, and there was Mrs. Wentworth and her child, who was about three years of age. Mrs. Wentworth's husband was poor, and they lived on a small, rented place, near the Herne ranch. Mrs. Wentworth belonged to that type of woman who has very little inclination for solving the problems of the Universe or settling the affairs of the nation, but who seem always to have a great amount of leisure to devote to the doings of her neighbors. It was seldom that Mrs. Herne had company but that Mrs. Wentworth found some kind of errand to her house.

One day at dinner Mrs. Herne, in a humorous way, said: "I think Mrs. Wentworth is owing me for about twenty-seven lots of yeast, forty-two little lots of butter, sufficient matches to light all the fires in Orangeville for six months, enough loaves of bread to feed a multitude, for she often is out of bread or had bad luck with her baking. I have let her have more milk than would be required to drown herself in, and, as for coal-oil, why the quantity that she has borrowed would illuminate many dark places of the earth; and my tea and coffee seem just suited to her taste." Then, after a pause, she said: "Well, the poor woman is welcome to all she has had."

"Yes," said her husband, "they have a hard time."

To-day she came to get Mrs. Herne to read a letter she had received, saying: "There are some parts that neither my husband or myself can make out."

While Mrs. Herne was engaged in reading the letter, Mrs. Wentworth's child, seeing the door leading from one room to another open, took the opportunity of doing a little exploring. It was not long before he was in the parlor. When he entered Stella just looked up from the paper she was reading, to see who it was, and went on with her reading, which she was absorbed in. She had seen the child about the house on other occasions. Now, where Stella was sitting, there was another chair at the back of Stella's chair, and this vacant one was against the wall. On the wall just over the chair was a pretty shelf, with a fancy bright-colored ball fringe all around it, which attracted the child's attention. So he climbed up in the chair, and when he stood up on the seat he saw on the shelf a small, fancy, cut-glass bottle, with a very shining silver-like top to it; so he put his hand out and took it from the shelf, after which he turned round and faced the back of Stella's chair. In passing the bottle from one hand to the other, in order to help himself down with his possessions, his faculty of weight not being as yet well trained, he let go of the bottle before he had got a firm hold of it with the other hand, and the result was that it fell on Stella's shoulder. Fortunately the stopper did not come off till it reached her lap, when she received the whole contents of a bottle of ink on her wedding dress.

Just about that time Mrs. Wentworth said to Mrs. Herne: "I must go and see what that child is doing;" and she arrived in the room just as the bottle of ink fell into Stella's lap. Mrs. Wentworth took the situation in at a glance and the hot blood instantly flew to her face, and hotter words came from her mouth; and, among other things she said, was:

"My God! that brat of mine has spoiled your fine, white dress;" and she took the boy, and was spanking him amidst hot words and the cries of the child.

Stella said: "Please don't hurt the child; it's nothing, it's nothing, Mrs. Wentworth." But the mother paid no attention to Stella's protests, but left the room with the child just as Mrs. Herne entered.

Clara said: "Why, Stella, dear, what is the matter?" Stella laughed, and said: "I have got some new figures on my wedding dress. Don't you think they are pretty?"

On seeing Stella's skirt and underskirt all saturated with ink in places, Clara was not quite prepared to enter into the same laughable mood as her guest, but said:

"Stella, dear, how well you take it! I wish I could be that way."

To which Stella replied: "I would not have a disturbed mind for a dozen of the best dresses ever made. Clara, nothing is so dear and sacred to me as 'the peace of mind which passeth all understanding.'"

Clara said: "I see you kept the ink from going on my new carpet, by rolling your skirts up. It's just like your thoughtfulness, dear."

Mrs. Wentworth came running into the room, saying: "Penloe is waiting outside with the team. What will you do?" Stella smiling, went to the door, and holding out the front of her dress said, laughing, "Penloe, how do you like these hieroglyphics on my dress?"

Penloe laughed, and said: "They are different to any I have ever seen deciphered."

In about fifteen minutes Stella took her seat beside Penloe, with some new garments on, which she had brought with her, and they went on their way to Mrs. Harding's.

After they were gone, Mrs. Wentworth said to Mrs. Herne: "I never seen anything like those two in all my life. If that had happened to me I would have been so mad that I would have cursed and swore, and felt like warming the child's hide. And as for my husband, do you think he would have laughed and sat in the buggy, like a hen on her nest? No, he would have been in and out of the buggy many times; every minute he would be looking up at the house to see if I was coming, and now and then calling out to ask me if it took me all day to change my dress. Then he would think he had something to do about the horse's head, then back to his seat, then out again, doing something to the back of the buggy, then he would look up at the house again, with a frown on his face, and call out, 'Are you never coming?' He would be as restless as a fox in a cage."

Mrs. Herne smiled at the description of Mr. Wentworth's disposition, as given by his wife, and said, in a quiet tone: "We all need more patience and self-control."

On the following day all were very busy in the Herne household, making preparations for the party. Penloe and Stella attended to the rearranging of the furniture and decorating the rooms, while Clara superintended the supplies for the table. The guests arrived a few minutes after five. To Clara Herne's great surprise, the last guest to arrive came in the form of Mrs. Harding. Clara Herne, in receiving her, said: "What, Phebe, I am so glad you are able to come."

When they were all alone in the room where the ladies left their wraps and hats, Clara said: "Do tell me, Phebe, what has made you so much better, for after reading your note I had no idea of seeing you to-day."

"No more had I when I wrote the note," said Phebe. "But, Clara, have you not heard? Did not Penloe or Stella tell you?"

"No," said Clara; "when I asked them how you were, Stella told me what you said about your condition when she asked you how you were."

"Well, Clara, I will tell you," said Mrs. Harding. "Penloe and Stella were with me about an hour. After they had been in the room with me about ten minutes, they talked very little. About half an hour afterwards such a sweet feeling of peace and rest came over me; all pain had left me, and when they said 'good-bye,' I felt healed and I keep feeling better all the time. Clara, my heart is full of joy and gratitude to that man of God and his angel wife. What beautiful countenances they have."

At half past five the company sat down at a long table which was tastefully spread with viands and dainties to tempt the appetite of the most fastidious epicure. Penloe sat on Clara's right, and Stella sat on the left of Charles Herne. Four of Mr. Herne's men waited on the table; so well did they perform this service that a stranger could not have told them from professional waiters.

The meal was thoroughly enjoyed amidst mirth and laughter, wit and humor, jokes and short stories, for the whole company were in the best of spirits.

After supper some of the guests sat on the porch, others walked about the grounds, and some played croquet. Among the invited guests were Prof. French and wife, a couple who had been married about a year; they were both professional musicians, living in San Francisco, and were visiting their relatives, the King family, and they received an invitation with the King family to the party.

Among those who were sitting on the porch were Mr. and Mrs. Bates. They had always been very friendly with the Hernes and lived only about two miles distant from them.

A little later in the evening the croquet players and those who had been strolling about the grounds were coming towards the house, just as Mr. Bates was relating to Mr. and Mrs. Herne what to him had been a very trying experience. Mr. Bates always called Mr. Herne Charles. He said:

"Charles, I don't know that I would have been here to-night if it had not been for my wife."

"Why, how is that?" said Mr. Herne.

Mr. Bates replied: "Well, I will tell you. This morning, Weeks' boy was playing with my boy in the barn. There were a number of sacks of barley and wheat on the floor. The boys got to scuffling, one boy trying to throw the other down. At last my boy got Weeks' boy down and gave him a blow and ran out of the barn with Weeks' boy after him. They both ran out into the orchard and then over the fence to Page's barn. Now, when Weeks' boy ran after my lad he left the barn door open. There was no one about the barn at the time the boys left. My man and I were at the further end of the ranch fixing the line fence. When we came up at noon we found the barn door open and that fine four-year-old colt of mine and a lot of hogs were all in the barn eating grain. They had torn every sack open and had eaten more than half of it. The colt had eaten so much as to make him bloat. When I saw it all I felt so mad I had to use some hot words. When I went to the house I told my wife about it. At first she seemed put out, but when she saw how wrathy I was she tried to cool me down. I asked where the boy was, and she said, 'Weeks' boy was here and asked for our boy to go to his place to play and have dinner. They said they were going to get Page's boy to play with them.' I felt so worried about the colt and so mad at the boys I could not eat my dinner. I told my wife I did not feel like coming here to-night, and when I said that I saw I had made matters worse, so I went out to the barn and worked over the colt some more. When the boy came home I had him tell me all about it. I told him if he or any boy with him ever left the barn door open again he would not want to sit down for a week."

Just here Mrs. Bates said to Mrs. Herne: "Henry does take such things so hard. It seems as if he can never get over it."

Mr. Bates spoke up a little louder and said: "Such thoughtless, careless doings as that are enough to make any one lose his temper. Why, I came very near losing the colt, besides the damage the hogs did to the grain."

Mrs. Herne said: "Mr. Bates, I must tell you what an experience Stella had yesterday, and see if you don't think she had something to disturb her."

Mr. Bates said: "Would like to hear it; misery always loves company."

So Mrs. Herne commenced telling about the bottle of ink falling into Stella's lap. Just as she commenced to relate the incident Penloe came on the porch with Mrs. French, and they took a seat near Mrs. Herne. About two minutes later Prof. French and Stella joined the group, and before Mrs. Herne had got to that part of the story where she asks Stella, "What is the matter?" and Stella laughed and said: "I got some new figures on my wedding dress, don't you think they are pretty?" about all the guests were now grouped about Mrs. Herne. They were either sitting on the wide porch or standing near by. When Mrs. Herne had finished, Mr. Bates said in a comical kind of way: "If that had been my wedding dress, I would have felt so mad that I would feel like throwing the youngster out of the window and swearing a blue streak."

Turning to Stella, he said: "I have got no such control over myself as you have. I wish I had."

Mrs. French said: "Stella, how could you take it so cheerfully? Why, if that had been my wedding dress, I would have felt too mad to speak; in fact, I don't know just what I would do."

Pretty Miss Grace Nettleton, a young lady full of fun and always the life of any party, laughingly said: "As I intend to be an old maid, no bottle of ink will ever fall on my wedding dress, but if such a thing should happen I would feel like going to bed and having a good cry."

Several other ladies remarked: "I don't see how Stella could have been so peaceful and pleasant. I know I never could."

Miss Baker, the school teacher, who had many trying pupils, remarked to Mrs. French: "I wish I could control myself like Stella; how easy I could govern the scholars."

Penloe said: "Did any of you ever hear the story of Shuka?"

Several answered: "No."

Mrs. French said: "Do tell it, Penloe."

"Yes," said Mrs. Herne, "we all would like to hear it." The company became very attentive while Penloe related the following story with telling effect:

"There was a great sage called Vyasa.[3] This Vyasa was the writer of the Vedanta philosophy, a holy man. His father had tried to become a very perfect man and failed; his grandfather tried and failed; his great-grandfather tried and failed; he himself did not succeed perfectly, but his son Shuka was born perfect. He taught this son, and after teaching him himself, he sent him to the court of King Janaka. He was a great king and was called Videha. Videha means 'outside the body.' Although a king, he had entirely forgotten that he had a body; he was a spirit all the time. The boy was sent to be taught by him. The king knew that Vyasa's son was coming to him to learn, so he made certain arrangements beforehand, and when the boy presented himself at the gates of the palace, the guards took no notice of him whatsoever. They only gave him a place to sit, and he sat there for three days and nights, nobody speaking to him, nobody asking who he was or whence he was. He was the son of this great sage, his father was honored by the whole country, and he himself was a most respectable person; yet the low vulgar guards of the palace would take no notice of him.

[Footnote 3: Karma Yoga, Vivekananda.]

"After that, suddenly, the ministers of the king and all the high officials came there and received him with the greatest honors. They took him in and showed him into splendid rooms, gave him the most fragrant baths and wonderful dresses, and for eight days they kept him there in all kinds of luxury. That face did not change; he was the same in the midst of this luxury as at the door. Then he was brought before the king. The king was on his throne, music was playing, and dancing and other amusements going on. The king gave him a cup of milk, full to the brim, and asked him to go round the hall seven times without spilling a drop. The boy took the cup and proceeded in the midst of this music and the beautiful faces. Seven times he went round, and not a drop was spilled. The boy's mind could not be attracted by anything in the world unless he allowed it. And when he brought the cup to the king, the king said to him: 'What your father has taught you and what you have learned yourself, I only repeat; you have known the truth. Go home.'"

When Penloe had finished Mrs. Herne said: "Thank you, Penloe, that is very good, for it brings out the idea so well."

Mrs. French said: "Is not that very fine, Penloe? I never heard that thought expressed before. It is new to me."

Dr. Finch, who was a well educated young dentist, said: "That thought, though old to the people of the Orient, is just beginning to come to the front in the literature of the West. I was very much gratified in listening to Penloe."

Saunders, the merchant, laughed and said: "If it had been me sitting at the gate, instead of Shuka, I would have got mad in ten minutes and gone home, if the guards had treated me in that manner."

It began to get a little cool on the porch and the company were invited into the large double parlors to play some games. After enjoying a variety of games for an hour, it was proposed to have some music. The Hernes had a fine-toned piano, and it was always kept in tune. Several young gentlemen asked Miss Grace Nettleton for a song, and all the other members of the company joined in the request. Miss Nettleton said she would like some one to play the accompaniment, and Prof. French said: "I will play for you."

As Miss Grace Nettleton was a young lady of romantic turn of mind and very fond of reading love stories and singing love songs, she selected one to sing according to her taste, from which we give the following verse:

"Sitting on the garden gate, Where the little butterfly reposes, Now I hate to tell, but then I must, 'Twas love among the roses."

Some of the young people being delighted with that sentimental song, called for another, for they could not think of her taking her seat after singing only one; so she very kindly sang another. In a very soft, sweet voice, she sang a song containing the following verse:

"I love to think of thee, when evening closes, Over landscapes bright and fair, I love to think of thee when earth reposes, To calm a grief which none can share. When every eyelid hovers When every heart but mine is free, 'Tis then, O then, I love to think of thee."

If the true feeling of one or two young gentlemen present could be told, they certainly would like to have had Miss Grace Nettleton think of them in that way. After receiving many compliments from the company, the young lady took her seat. Mrs. French, who was a professional musician like her husband, was called for and sang with fine effect, "I am dreaming, yes I am dreaming, the happy hours away," etc, etc. Her fine cultivated voice was much appreciated by the company and they were eager to have Mrs. French sing again, but she wished to save her voice, and got her husband to sing "Beautiful Isle of the Sea." His fine baritone voice was a great treat to the guests, for it was seldom such talent as that of himself and wife was heard in the parlors of Orangeville.

Stella was called for and Professor French played the accompaniment, while she in a very sweet and feeling voice sang, "Hark! I Hear an Angel Sing." As her graceful form stood beside the instrument with her face and eyes turned a little upwards, she seemed to be lost to everything mundane, and when she sang those soul-melting words that she heard the angel sing, the effect was complete, for it seemed to those present as if it was the voice of an angel singing those words and not that of a human being.

The attention was so great that when she finished you could have heard a pin drop. The effect was very fine. There were some there who will never forget that song. Professor French and his wife were very much taken with Stella's singing; both of them pressed her hand and thanked her for her sweet song. They afterwards said, in all their musical career they never heard anything to equal it of its kind. The song was entirely new to every one present.

Mrs. French, who was half in doubt in her own mind as to whether Penloe had any musical talent or not, said: "Perhaps Penloe will favor us with some music."

Prof. French said: "Yes, Penloe, I would like to hear you very much." Mrs. Herne laughed and said: "It seems strange to think that, though Penloe has made many visits to our house, I never thought to ask him if he could play, for we always have so much interesting conversation that I never think about music."

Stella laughed and said: "Why, Clara, I don't know myself whether Penloe can play the piano, for he is so modest about his attainments. We have sung together many times, but I am like you, I never thought to ask him if he could play." Turning to Penloe, she said: "Now, Penloe, I do want to hear you play so much"; and when he rose to take his seat at the instrument curiosity reached its height in the minds of Mr. and Mrs. Herne as well as Stella, so eager were they to see his personality manifested in music.

The eyes of each member of the company were now riveted on that remarkable figure who had just begun to finger a few keys with one hand. He did not do as some would-be performers sometimes do, strike eight to ten keys as soon as they touch the piano, but, strange to say, he commenced playing with one hand.

We will here give the words concerning Penloe's performance as told to a friend in San Francisco by Mrs. French in her own unique way, as follows:

"My husband and I being at a party one evening given by Mr. and Mrs. Herne in Orangeville, I met a gentleman there by the name of Penloe, who certainly is the most gifted man I ever have met in all my travels. There is a power in his personality that is irresistible; you cannot help being drawn towards him. But his power is of that kind that is uplifting and elevating, and there is something very sweet in his nature. After supper I took a little walk with him about the grounds, and his conversation was exceedingly interesting. I will never forget the talk I had with him. He seemed to be able to bring out of me ideas which I had never expressed before; in fact, making me talk, as it were, above myself. In thinking it over, I must say my own conversation was a surprise to me; and as for him, while he does not take you all of a sudden into great depths of thought, or attach wings to you and have you flying through the heavens, yet he has the genius of taking the most commonplace subjects and causing you to see such an interest and beauty in them as you never saw before. After we all assembled in the large double parlors and had some games, there were several who favored the company with instrumental and vocal music, when I thought it would be no more than proper to ask Penloe to play. After he had been seated at the piano a few minutes, I was a little in doubt whether I had not made a mistake in asking him, for he commenced playing with one hand and only touching one key at a time, more like a child playing. He still went on playing with one hand, but touching two and three keys at a time. I noticed some ladies and gentlemen began looking at each other and then at Penloe, hardly knowing what to make of such playing. As he proceeded further in his performance with one hand, though the playing was simple, yet there was a peculiarity about it that can hardly be expressed as he went along with his apparently amateur performance. Then he used his other hand and fingered a few more keys occasionally, and I felt an interest growing in me, and also those around me seemed to share the same feeling. A little later and the fingers of both hands were going a little more rapidly over the key-board, and the childish and amateur performer had ceased and the playing began to impress me as being that of a young professional. I began to feel myself more drawn into the playing, and when the playing of a young professional had given place to the experienced professional, I was all attention; but it was not long before the professional had disappeared and I knew that the music I was listening to now was that of a genius. I was conscious a great master was at the instrument, and after that I seemed not to be conscious of the performer or those about me, and how long I was in that condition I do not know. When I came to myself again, the music had ceased, there was no performer there, for Penloe had left the room.

"In talking with some others of the party about Penloe's playing, it seemed to have produced exactly the same effect on them as it did on me. I will, in a very inadequate way, tell you as near as I can the impression it made upon me. I felt, when he first commenced to play in his child-like way, as if all our minds were very much scattered; that is, I mean as if a great separateness and distinction existed, and as he proceeded with his playing it seemed to have the effect of collecting our minds and bringing them together till we all seemed to be just one mind. Then there arose in this one mind a desire, and the desire grew till it created a disturbance, and it kept increasing and growing more powerful till it burst into a storm of passion, and the storm became furious within; for it seemed at times as if it would rend and tear me to pieces, and I was about to be conquered by it. I felt like saying, 'Must I yield? Is yielding the only way out of this? Must I give way and let it have full sway over me?' I said, 'Must I let it die out by consuming its own self?' And as I was about to cry out in despair, 'There is no other way; I will feed the fire till there is nothing left for it to burn;' and just as I was on the brink, on the edge of the precipice, as it were, the fury of the storm being at its very height, then all of a sudden I saw a light and the storm began to lose some of its fury, and the clouds appeared not so black, and the light seemed growing brighter. At last the storm ceased within me, and the dark clouds were disappearing fast, till the last one had gone and a wave of sunshine swept over my soul, and I felt like saying, 'How peaceful it is after the storm,' and while I was enjoying that sweet feeling of peace a change came over me, I began to be lifted, as it were out of my little self, and myself and the world seemed to be larger than I had ever imagined. I began, as it were, to rise, and great as the world had grown I had grown greater still. Then I entered a much larger world than even the great one I had lived in, and when I had outgrown that grand world, I went into another still more beautiful, and on I went rising out of one beautiful world into another far superior till I reached a condition that human language cannot convey the blissful state of the soul in me. Oh, the happiness I then realized. I shall never forget. My husband, in speaking of the piece Penloe played, said: 'That music was never composed on earth, it was born in heaven,' Mr. Herne heard my husband make that remark, and said, 'In order to play that kind of music, you have got to live in the same world as Penloe does. That is how it has its birth.'"

It is true, as Mrs. French told her friend, that after the music had lost some of its power over her she realized that Penloe had left the room. The piano being near the door, which was open, and no one sitting between the door and the piano, when Penloe ceased playing he quietly left the room and sat in a chair on the porch. About five minutes later, a soft footstep was heard on the porch and the sound of a light rustle of a dress, for Stella had taken a seat beside Penloe. His performance at the piano had stirred the dear girl's nature to its greatest depths and also had scaled its lofty heights. On that porch, gazing at the grand canopy of the heavens, those two souls listened to such strains of music as only the purified hear.



CHAPTER XXIII.

A VISIT FROM BARKER AND BROOKES.

About ten o'clock the next morning after the party, Mr. Herne was in the front yard, superintending some work, when he saw a buggy coming towards his house and he recognized the occupants as being Mr. Herbert Barker and Mr. Stanley Brookes, of Roseland. When the team stopped in front of the house. Mr. Herne was there to receive the two gentlemen.

After shaking hands and exchanging a few pleasant words, Mr. Barker asked: "Are Penloe and Stella here?"

Mr. Herne said: "Yes, they are, come in, gentlemen," and gave them seats in the parlor, saying, "You had better stay to dinner, and I will have a man take care of your team," an invitation which they gladly accepted. Mr. Herne entered the sitting-room to tell Penloe and Stella that Barker and Brookes were in the parlor waiting to see them. Since those two gentlemen had become Stella's co-workers for sex reform consequently they had seen much of each other, and had come to a mutual understanding that they would lay aside all formalities and act as brother and sister; therefore, instead of addressing each other as Mr. or Mrs., they called each other by their given names.

When Penloe and Stella entered the parlor, the two gentlemen rose from their seats and came forward to tender their congratulations to the newly married couple. After a lively social chat, Stanley Brookes made known the object of their morning call in the following words. Looking at Stella, he said: "Since you were with us last in Roseland, we have been receiving information through various channels concerning certain persons, in a number of towns and cities, who may be considered advanced enough to profit by our literature. In most cases the persons receiving it have written for more, to circulate among their friends. Since sending a second lot, we have been in receipt of a number of letters, like the following, and here Brookes took one from a large package of letters, and read it to Penloe and Stella. It was as follows:

"LOS ANGELES, Cal. "Stanley Brookes, Esq., "Roseland, Cal.:

"DEAR SIR: The literature which you kindly sent me I placed where I knew it would do the most good. It gives me pleasure to inform you that the California idea is gaining ground here, and interest is growing faster than I anticipated. I was not aware there were so many ready for the sex reform thought; but in talking with some of the more advanced, they said that they had done a little thinking along this line for some time, but their ideas were only half formed, and this reading matter was just what they needed to let the light into their minds. They are all now anxious to have a meeting, and want to know if you could get Penloe and Stella to come here and speak. They think the largest hall in this city would not hold the crowd that would want to hear and see those two much-talked-of-and-written-about persons. I will see that all their expenses are paid, if you will see to getting them here. I know if they come it will give the movement a big lift. Write as soon as you know if they are coming.

"Yours for Reform, "HAROLD CHAMBERS."

At the conclusion of reading the letter Brookes said: "It seems that some of our literature got into the State of Colorado. The papers in that State called it the 'California Idea,' and as the 'C.I.' began to grow they called it the 'California Movement.' Some of the papers in this State have used the same expression, and the people in California seem to be pleased with the names given the new sex thought."

Stella laughed, and said: "Well, Stanley, I rather like the names C.I. and C.M. Don't you, Penloe?"

Penloe said: "Yes, the term or name 'Sex Reform Thought' I think very ambiguous, but C.I. and C.M. are names which convey to the mind the ideas they are intended to express."

Brookes said: Stella, I will read you another letter I received from a friend of mine in Bakersfield:

"BAKERSFIELD, Cal. "Stanley Brookes, Esq., "Roseland, Cal.:

"DEAR FRIEND BROOKES: Yes, it is just as you say, Bakersfield may be a very fast town, but there are some people here who are ripe for the 'C. Movement.' My experience and what I see here about me every day have made me so sick of the old ideas concerning sex that it does me good to see the interest people are taking in the literature you sent me. One woman told me that the pamphlet I gave her had been read by nine persons. Say, old boy, don't you think you could get Penloe and Stella to come here and wake us up a little more. My, they would be a drawing-card! I will see that they are not out anything by coming. Now, do your level best to get them here, for they would start the ball a-rolling in fine shape.

"Yours for the 'C.I.,' "ARTHUR PAINE."

Holding up the package of letters, Brookes said: "Here are letters from Ventura, San Jose, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Oakland, Sacramento, and a number of other places, all asking the same question, 'Could I get you both to come to their places to speak.' They all seem so anxious to see and hear the leaders of the great C.M., and that is why Herbert and I are here this morning to see if you both will accept these pressing invitations to speak in a cause which is so dear to you."

Stella said: "I appreciate your kind thoughtfulness in coming out here to see us, and thus give us an opportunity of talking the matter over together." Then she was silent, and Barker and Brookes both said afterwards they never saw Stella look so serious and sober since they knew her as she looked then. It seemed as if a struggle was going on within her. After a few minutes' silence, there seemed to be a feeling in Stella's voice as she spoke. Looking straight at the two young men before her, she said: "To you I can speak in confidence. My aunt (Mrs. Marston) has known for a year or two that I had a great desire to travel and see the world. Since I first met Penloe that desire has grown much stronger. On my wedding day, aunt gave me a bank book with ten thousand dollars placed to my credit, saying it was to be used for the purpose of enjoying our honeymoon on a long journey around the world. I can hardly tell you how delighted I was when I thought what had been only a dream to me was about to be realized. Next week we were going to Roseland to visit aunt, then we were going abroad. Yes, Penloe and I have had such delightful talks about the countries we were going to visit. We talked much about some of the places and people in India we expected to see. Penloe has told me about the Sannyasins and the great Yogis of India, saying he could arrange matters so that we could live with some of them for a while. The thought of seeing and talking with those wonderful spiritual giants has kept me awake at night, my mind filled with joyous thoughts. He said, 'The great Yogi Kattakhan has conquered all nature, and at any time he could put himself in a mental condition so that he could give the contents of any book in any part of the world.'

"I remember the last time I was with you in Roseland, both of you were telling me you had read Burnette's book on 'The Freedom of the Women of Tiestan,' also Wharburton's 'The Land of Surprises.' Well, we had decided to visit the city of Semhee, in Tiestan, and see those remarkable people. Till now I had not thought of there being anything to prevent our going."

Barker said: "Well, Stella, all we had heard was that you were married, and we did not know anything about your contemplated tour."

Stella said: "It was quite right for you to come and see us, and I am very glad you have. Of course, we intended calling on you both before we left for the Orient. Now, what I have told you is that you may see and know exactly how we are situated in regard to accepting the invitation to speak in the various places. The C.M. is dear to me, yes, very dear. I rejoice in the progress the movement is making through the efforts of you both, and before giving you an answer I must go and think it over, so you will please excuse me."

As her graceful figure was leaving the room, she said: "Penloe, come to our room about fifteen minutes before dinner. Clara told me that they were going to have dinner at one o'clock to-day."

After Stella had left the room, Penloe chatted with the young men about the C.M., and then said: "Would you like to take a walk about the place?" and they both said, "Yes, this is our first visit to Treelawn."

This was the first time Barker and Brookes had met Penloe. They had heard him deliver his address in Roseland, and were now pleased to have the opportunity of enjoying his company. Penloe was about their age, and the three became interested in relating some of their college experiences. Barker and Brookes were eager to have Penloe tell them all about the Hindu students, and what kind of men the Hindu professors are. They had many a laugh while Penloe was relating some experiences which seemed very peculiar to them. Penloe's interesting conversation had made time pass very rapidly with them, and it was near the dinner hour before they were aware of it.

Penloe said: "Please excuse me, I hear Stella calling." Taking out his watch he said: "It is about time I was in the room; I did not think it was so late."

After Penloe had left them, Barker said to Brookes: "Did you hear Stella calling Penloe?"

"No," said Brookes, "did you?"

"No, I never heard her voice," said Barker, "but what did he mean by saying she called him?"

"He meant she called him by what they call mental telegraphy," said Brookes.

When Stella left the parlor and went to her room and had taken a seat, her mind was filled with many conflicting thoughts and emotions. She said to herself: "I was so unprepared for this; it was only last night I remarked to Penloe, in about two weeks we would be on the ocean going to Japan." "And, why can you not go?" said a powerful voice within her. "You surely are not going to disappoint your aunt, are you, by not going, after she has shown such love towards you as to give you ten thousand dollars to travel on?" A little voice spoke within her and said: "Are you and Penloe not the leaders of the C.M., and would it be right for you to leave just as an interest is being awakened?" The powerful voice said: "Stella, this is your wedding tour, and you have accepted the money given you to go and you would not be doing yourself justice to stay at home now." The little voice said: "Stella, what effect do you think your influence would have on Barker and Brookes and other young workers, if they see you indifferent to the calls? You have always talked as if you would be willing to sacrifice everything for the cause which is so dear to you." The strong voice said: "Yes, but if you put off going now you will have to return the money to your aunt, and when you are ready to go you may not have the money to go with." The little voice said: "Stella, can you not give up the pleasure of a wedding tour for the sake of helping others out of bondage into freedom, thus making their lives happier and brighter?" The powerful voice said: "It is only idle curiosity on the part of the people wanting to see you. Do not be influenced by them; just think how it will help you in your future labors to have visited the Oriental countries and sat at the feet of those great Spiritual luminaries of India. If you go now, you have got the money and you have got Penloe, who is the most interesting traveling companion you could have. He knows many languages and can master the Japanese and Chinese in a month or two. If you don't go now, but postpone it till you think you can go, then perhaps Penloe might be dead and how could you enjoy traveling without him?" That suggestion touched Stella very deeply. After awhile the little voice said: "Stella, dear, have the people of Japan, of China, of Persia, or of India sent an invitation to come and speak to them? Are the great Sannyasins and Yogis looking forward to receiving a visit from you? If the people of the Orient had given you a special call, it would be right for you to go now. They have not called you at all; but the people of California have. They want you to follow up the grand noble work you so heroically commenced, a work so dear to you that you were willing to make every sacrifice in order to be true to yourself and thus free others from bondage. Go into the silence, Stella, ask the Blessed Spirit for light and knowledge and he will show you which path to choose."

And that is just what Stella did. When she came out of the silence her face was radiant and her mind settled and clear.

When Penloe entered the room Stella spoke in a serious tone and said: "I have half a mind to be just a wee bit put out with you, because you have acted so indifferently in regard to our wedding tour. Why, it does not seem to concern you whether we go or stay here." With a half twinkle in her eye she said: "I must say, you don't act like most men would who had just married a young lady with ten thousand dollars to spend on a wedding tour."

Penloe said: "I will answer you, Stella, dear, as if you spoke in earnest."

Stella said: "That is just what I want you to do, Penloe."

He said: "Stella, why should I care whether I am here or going on a wedding tour through the Orient with you? All I have to do is to realize and manifest the Divine. Stella, I have learned this one lesson, that I am not in it, for it is He that is doing it all. It was He that placed me in certain environments in India for my spiritual unfoldment. It was He that brought me to Orangeville. It was He that caused you and me to come together as co-workers in a cause which is so dear to us. It was He that made us man and wife. It was He that caused you to pass through this struggle which you have just had with yourself and brought you out victorious. It was He that caused you just now to cut the last cord of attachment and made you free."

Penloe had been standing while he talked and just here Stella rose from her seat and, going up to him, put her arms round his neck and said: "Yes, dear, it is He, it is He. He hath done it all and He has given me you as my husband and spiritual teacher." She kissed him and said: "Bless you, dear."

Continuing, she said: "Do you know that the fight I have just had has been the most trying and severe I ever experienced?"

"Yes, dear," said Penloe, "I know all about it, and when a youth I thought I was free from all attachment, till I passed through the most trying experience in my life, which showed me I was not free from all desire and attachment. In coming out of that struggle I cut the last cord which bound me to the external, and since then I have been free, and illumination followed, and that is why I have received light, and knew before I rose the next morning after our wedding we would not go now on a wedding tour, but would speak all through the State of California. I knew what a struggle you were going to have, and I knew it was necessary in order that you might be free from all attachment, for the love of traveling through the Orient owned you just a little, and now that you have become truly free illumination will be yours." He ceased speaking and kissed her.

Stella said: "I must take care and let nothing own me, for I see that as soon as I allow myself to be owned I become its slave, and you know, dear, that freedom from everything is my goal."

Penloe and Stella entered the dining-room just as Mrs. Herne had seated Barker and Brookes at the table. As Stella took her seat the two young men thought they had never seen her face so beautiful, with its sweet smile and calm expression. Her vivacity brought out the wit and humor of the two guests, who were always considered good company at any one's table. Penloe said little, because he saw how the two young men were enjoying Stella's bright conversation. After dinner the company adjourned to the parlor.

Stella seated herself between her two friends, and looking at Barker she said: "I must tell you and Stanley that we have given up going on our wedding tour through the Oriental countries. We both feel we are wanted here and we will stay where our work calls us."

Barker replied saying: "Your decision is grand and we will feel much encouraged in having you with us."

Stella said: "We will spend a week with aunt before starting out to speak. During our stay in Roseland we will see much of each other and have opportunities for perfecting our plans."

Two days later Penloe and Stella became the guests of Mrs. Marston, arriving at that lady's house about four in the afternoon, which was an hour before Stella's aunt dined. Mrs. Marston was delighted to receive her niece and her husband, for she was at her best when she had company. After dinner, as it was a little chilly, a fire was lit in the open grate and the three sat round to enjoy a social time.

Mrs. Marston said: "Stella, I suppose you and Penloe have all your plans made for your wedding tour."

Stella said: "Well, Aunt, we had made many plans and I had built several castles which I expected to occupy during our journey, but we received a visit from Herbert and Stanley while we were at Charles' and Clara's and they brought with them a number of letters containing invitations for us to speak on the 'California Idea,' as it is now called, and we think it best to give up our wedding tour and do what we can to help forward the California movement; and, Aunt, the money which you so very kindly gave me to use for a wedding tour, I feel I ought to return to you, as we are not going; and so here is a check for the full amount of your gift made payable to your order."

Mrs. Marston received the check from Stella and said: "I had hoped you would have gone on your tour."

And added in a laughing tone: "You two are the strangest persons I have ever met. The idea of giving up ten thousand dollars and losing the opportunity of seeing the most interesting countries in the world, for the sake of talking to persons who are curious to see how you both look because they have read about you in the papers."

"I appreciate your gift just the same, Aunt, as if we had used the money," said Stella.

Mrs. Marston said: "Of course, I want you both to do whatever you think best." As they continued their conversation the door-bell rang and four of Stella's friends called to see her. They were Dr. Lacey's two daughters and two young gentlemen. They spent the evening in games and music, and when they left it was late. Mrs. Marston, Penloe and Stella sat in front of the fire a few minutes before retiring, and just before Stella rose from her seat to wish her aunt good-night, Mrs. Marston said: "Stella, dear, I thought I would have a little fun with you so I accepted the check, but I had no intention of taking the money back. No, dear, I want you to keep it and use it as you think best"; and taking the check off the mantel with a laugh she threw it into the fire.

Stella rose from her seat to wish her aunt good-night, and thanked her again for her handsome gift.

Mrs. Marston's guests spent a very pleasant time in Roseland. As they were very popular, they received many invitations to dinner. They saw Barker and Brookes every day and had chats about the C.M. After several consultations in regard to making arrangements for the work, they at last reached the conclusion that it would be best for Penloe and Stella to go to Southern California and commence their labors there. At Penloe's request the two young men agreed to accompany them, as Penloe said there was a kind of work to be done that they were adapted for and their services would be really needed. And as Charles and Clara Herne wished to be actively engaged in the C.M., it was decided to transfer the head office from Roseland to Orangeville, where the Hernes would see to the sending out of literature and do all the correspondence, and so that would relieve Barker and Brookes, and they could travel with Penloe and Stella, and Mr. Herne could do their work and see to his ranch. Barker said: "Brookes and I will pay all our own expenses connected with the work," and Penloe said: "For the present we will do likewise, as we do not wish to accept money from any one for our services; for by so doing our influence will be much greater."

Brookes said: "Why, Penloe, the people who have invited you and Stella to speak have expressed a wish to pay all expenses and remunerate you both for your services as well. When I think how hard you worked to get what few dollars you may have saved from your earnings, I hardly think you are called upon to use your hard earnings when there are so many more financially able to pay your expenses."

"I thank you, Stanley," said Penloe, "for your interest in my financial welfare, but I see you are under the same impression that many others are, in thinking that I worked out for the money there was in it. If it had been money I wanted, I could have accepted a very fine offer from a university to fill the Chair of Oriental Languages; but instead of being Professor of Sanskrit and drawing a fine salary, I took the position as dishwasher in a restaurant in San Francisco for awhile. Then I worked with pick and shovel on the Pacific Coast Road. Next I worked on the streets in the City of Chicago. I returned to Orangeville and took a position as cowboy on a great cattle ranch near Orangeville. Then I worked out as a ranch hand. I did all this hard, disagreeable work for my spiritual unfoldment. I did it to bring myself in touch with the hard lot of the masses. I did it also to show that if a man is upright in his purpose he can live the Divine life anywhere. Again, I did it that I might minister to the needs and necessities of that class of men who see and hear so little in their lives to touch their Divine nature. That was excellent for me; it helped to broaden and fit me for other work."

Brookes said: "It must have been exceedingly disagreeable to a man of your tastes, culture and refinement, to perform such hard muscular work in such rough surroundings, among coarse animal men."

Penloe said: "It would have been all that you have just expressed had it not been for the fact that neither my work, my rough, tough companions, nor my disagreeable environments were my world. No, they were not my world. I built a wall around me and allowed none of these things to enter my inner thought. My life was one of bliss, for I was all the time drinking deep at the fountain of Divine love, and by His help I trained and disciplined myself so that I saw Him in my hard manual toil. I saw Him in all my uninviting environments, and, above all, I saw Him in my animal companions."

Barker and Brookes saw such a glow of spiritual fire in Penloe's face as he finished his last remark as they had never seen there before. They realized they were in the presence of a divine man, and their natures had been touched by his discourse.

After a pause Penloe said: "My father left me property which brings me an income sufficient to make me independent of receiving financial support from those we intend to address."

After further talk in regard to perfecting arrangements, it was decided that Barker and Brookes should go to Los Angeles and arrange for Penloe and Stella to speak on Thursday evening of the following week. The committee of arrangements in Los Angeles saw the need of securing the largest hall in the city, for the city dailies had taken up the matter of their coming and dwelt upon it, so that interest in the subject combined with curiosity to see and hear two such remarkable personages caused the committee to do their best to provide accommodations for the large crowd they expected. Before the time for opening the meeting every seat in the large hall had been taken and standing room was all that was left, and that even was taken by the time the meeting was opened.

The Mayor of Los Angeles opened the meeting in the following language:

"It gives me great pleasure this evening to see before me this large and intelligent audience. I am proud to think that this audience before me to-night has demonstrated the wisdom and good sense of the leaders of the C.I. in selecting this city, above all others in this State, to open the campaign for the C.M. In order that you may feel better acquainted with the persons who will address you to-night, I will let you into a little secret which came to me in a very indirect way. It seems that the gentleman and lady who are on the platform were about to start on their wedding tour through the Oriental countries, and they had received the gift of a handsome sum of money to defray their traveling expenses; but when Los Angeles and other places sent pressing invitations to them to speak they gave up their wedding tour and returned the money to the giver in order that they might be able to accept the call which you and other cities have given them. I must say, in justice to the giver, it was subsequently returned. They are here at their own expense, they receive no remuneration whatever. I tell you this so you may appreciate their nobility and fidelity of character, their honesty of purpose in so grand a cause. Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the honor of introducing to you Penloe and Stella, the leaders of the C.I., who will address you this evening."

When Penloe and Stella came forward the whole audience rose and saluted them.

In regard to the meeting, we will quote a few extracts from one of the Los Angeles dailies: "However various the views on the C.I. the audience may have which heard Penloe and Stella last night, there can be but one thought in regard to the speakers themselves, and that is they are the two most remarkable and distinguished personalities that ever appeared before a Los Angeles audience. As speakers, they are brilliant, logical and impressive, and soon inspire you with their sincerity of purpose and with confidence in themselves. It seems there is tacked on to the C.I. 'Woman's Suffrage', for it is claimed that a woman is still in bondage till she stands equal before the law, and has all the rights and privileges that a man has.

"Penloe's remarks were addressed more particularly to men, looking at the C.I. from the standpoint of a man, while Stella presented the woman's view.

"Penloe put these questions to the men of the audience: 'Is there a man here to-night who does not think that the average woman is as intelligent as the average man? Is there a man here to-night who does not think that woman has a divine nature the same as man? I would like to see the man rise in this audience who thinks he has a divine nature, but does not wish another being who has a divine nature to enjoy the same privileges as he himself enjoys?'... Stella portrayed in a telling manner the sufferings and misery which have been woman's lot through being in bondage to her material form.... We here give a few notes from Stella's address:

"A woman who is in bondage to her material form can never rise above the idea that she is just a woman and nothing more."

"A woman to be free must have a higher idea of herself than that she is only a woman."

"A woman can only advance as her thought concerning herself advances."

"When woman looks upon herself as an intellectual and spiritual being, and not as just being a woman only, and her whole thought is to adorn her mind and manifest the qualities of her soul, then will man look upon her with the same eyes as she looks upon herself."

"It is not man that keeps woman in bondage, but woman keeps herself in bondage through the thought she has concerning herself."... "Stella said we are not here on a flying visit, we have decided to remain in Southern California till two-thirds of its inhabitants are not only talking of but living the C.I., and we will stay here till we get a vote of two-thirds from all males over twenty-one, and all women over eighteen, in favor of woman's suffrage. It does not matter how pressing the calls to speak elsewhere may be, we shall not accept them till the work is completely done in Southern California."



CHAPTER XXIV.

OUT OF BONDAGE.

The next day after the meeting Barker and Brookes were busy with the C.I. Committee of Los Angeles in dividing the work up and organizing, so that each ward of the city had its committee, whose business it was to do all it could in enlightening the people of the ward in which the committee lived.

Penloe and Stella devoted one afternoon and evening to informal talks in each ward in the city, those present having the privilege of asking questions. After Penloe and Stella had worked in every ward, they went with Barker and Brookes to San Diego and spent a week there; then they worked all the other towns in Southern California, and then returned to Los Angeles. On their return they were more than satisfied with the progress of the C.M. What helped the movement very much was the character which Penloe and Stella gave it. When some of the more conservative element suggested the impropriety or immodesty of the C.I., they were met with the answer: "Look at Penloe and Stella, who live the idea every day of their lives. Are there any purer-minded persons than they are? Do not the best people of the city open their houses to welcome them? Did they not tell how living the life helped them intellectually and spiritually?" Those replies quieted all opposition and gave courage to those who were a little timid and fearful, also to those in doubt whether it was right or not. As the movement was gaining ground rapidly, persons began to think how very foolish it was to entertain such thoughts as they had been accustomed to concerning the sexes. The movement in Southern California showed how the movement would work elsewhere in this way. It was one of those movements that needed a few intelligent, courageous spirits in a locality to start it, and when once it got a going, most of the other members of the community fell in line, and when it was about universally adopted in one locality, the people living in the next county soon joined the movement. After three months' labor in Los Angeles a vote was taken. For Woman's Suffrage, eighty-five per cent. voted "Yes," and by a very careful estimate seventy-five per cent. had put in practice in one form or another the C.I. Soon San Diego followed Los Angeles, then Pasadena and Riverside, and soon after all the other towns in Southern California fell in line. The result was wired all over the State and nation.

During the progress of the movement in Southern California, Mr. and Mrs. Herne were not idle. They put their hands in their pockets freely, and paid for much of the printed matter they circulated.

Now that Southern California had gone overwhelmingly for the C.I. Penloe and Stella, Barker and Brookes, felt at liberty to accept some of the many urgent calls from other parts of the State. They were continually receiving calls from other States, but would accept none till the same condition prevailed throughout the whole State as now existed in Southern California and the State Legislature had granted to woman the same legal standing in the eyes of the law that man had.

The next places visited by the workers were Bakersfield, Hanford, Tulare, Visalia, Fresno, Oakland, and San Francisco. In all these places they found the work in a more or less advanced state. The fact that Southern California had gone for the C.I. was a great help in forwarding the movement in other places, so that after about eight months' work in these cities just named, and some other places, it was found that the entire State had been carried for the C.M. and Woman's Suffrage, except one county. The Legislature was about to meet in a month's time, and would give to woman the suffrage, and place her, in other respects, on an equality with man in the eyes of the law.

Great work was being done in the last county, so that it joined the rest of California for progressive thought, and the whole State was carried for the C.I. just as the Legislature passed the necessary acts for woman's legal freedom. The news was wired to every State in the Union, and California was one scene of rejoicing throughout the entire State. It was a great day for California when her men and women threw off the yoke of superstition and ignorance and thus cut some of the bonds which had held them in ignorance. They had taken one great stride toward the goal of freedom. California now took her true place among the States in the Union, for she led the way toward freedom in its highest sense.

The leaders of advanced thought in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho were very active in working for the C.I. All these States having granted woman the suffrage before the C.M. was started, the workers found it easy to get them to follow California in the grand procession for freedom.

Wyoming, which was the first to grant the suffrage to woman, was the next to join California; then came Colorado, then Utah, and then Idaho wheeled into line.

Penloe and Stella were receiving calls to labor from other States, and finally decided to go to Illinois. Kansas wired the following message to the Central Committee of California: "Kansas is all ablaze with the C.M. from its center to its circumference, and its fires have leaped the borders into Nebraska, Iowa, and reached Minnesota."

After the C.I. had been practised in Southern California a few months, if a young gentleman had just returned to the East from Los Angeles, his friends wanted to know immediately how the C.I. worked.

Mr. Franklin Hart, of New York, a young gentleman who had just returned from Los Angeles, was sitting in a parlor with some young friends, and they all wanted him to relate his impressions of the C.I. in Los Angeles. When he was describing its workings, two or three young ladies put their hands to their faces and laughed, one saying, "How strange and funny it must have seemed." Another young lady remarked, "There has been too much foolishness about such things." Mr. Franklin Hart said: "After you have been there about a week the old idea seems stranger than the new. You wonder to yourself however such thoughts could have fastened themselves on us for generations and generations."

Prof. Dawson, of Boston, visited Los Angeles two years after the C.I. had been in operation, and wrote a letter to the leading Boston daily, as follows:

"DEAR SIR: Being naturally of a conservative turn of mind, I came to Los Angeles with ideas unfavorable to the C.M. I had not taken the least stock in what the papers said or the people of California wrote in regard to the practical workings of the C.I. I expected the defenses of morality and modesty had been swept away by such ideas, and that the communities of Southern California had sunk into licentiousness. I had spent two years in California about eight years ago, and I considered at that time that the morals of the people were not of a high order. So I expected to find society in a still worse moral condition now. I have been here six months, and, in justice to truth, I must state the facts even if they show that my previous opinions were incorrect. To those who study the people closely in regard to sex matters, I can say truthfully that sexual excitement has fallen fifty per cent., and that obscene pictures and stories have no attraction for the people. The low places of amusement, that used to be run under the name of 'Variety Theaters,' and other such names, are closed up, for the reason, as a former proprietor of one of these resorts expressed it, 'A leg and bosom show has no attraction for the people since the C.I. has been in operation.' Houses of prostitution are less in number by forty per cent., so the chief of police informed me, and I saw a large number of them closed. The low dives are closed, and places where girls made exhibitions of themselves for the sole purpose of exciting passion in man are no more. They died for want of patronage. The forms of each sex are looked at now with eyes which see purity and beauty.

"I notice, also, the conversation among young people has improved greatly, being of a higher and purer kind. Now I practised the C.I. myself, and came in contact with many of both sexes. After very careful observation in Los Angeles, and other towns in Southern California, I feel I am in a position to know and I can state that I now consider the C.I. is the greatest reform movement that the world has ever seen.

"Yours truly, "ROBERT DAWSON."

In about a year later the four progressive States known as Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa, had removed all barriers from woman's political freedom and placed her, in the eyes of the law, where California had. The C.I. having become the predominant thought, it was lived throughout these four States. The C.M. received a great impetus when they fell into line with the other advanced States.

Penloe and Stella, with Barker and Brookes and other workers, had worked for over a year in Illinois, and now they were concentrating all their forces in Chicago, the other part of the State being all right. It was in that city that a great battle for reform had to be fought. The opposition was strong. It consisted of society ladies and gentlemen, who thought woman's position was above politics; that is, to their minds it was far higher for a woman to be prettily and daintily dressed, and to be a petted slave, than to use her God-given intellect for the benefit of herself and the nation in which she lived. The other wing of the opposition consisted of those who were making money in the saloon business and running low places of amusement. They did not want woman to vote in making laws which might be detrimental to their business interests. As the opposition became strong in its concerted action to overthrow the influence of the reform forces, the two great figure-heads, the two grand leaders of the C.M. seemed to acquire increased energy and power. Listen to what Barker and Brookes said, after having attended a meeting in the great Auditorium of the Lake City, when over a thousand had to be turned away for want of room:

"Though I have been so much with Penloe and Stella like yourself, and one would naturally think that the influence of their personality had become common, yet such is not my experience," said Brookes.

Barker replied: "Is not that strange, where we see them almost every day, as we have done for about two years? Instead of their influence becoming tame and commonplace, it seems to take a renewed force and power with each day, and they appear to carry a newness and freshness with them continually. Their efforts to-night were the greatest of their lives."

Brookes said: "I saw the power of the Yogi to-night as I never had witnessed it, to such a degree, before. Did you notice, Barker, that at the close of the meeting, instead of having some prominent person speaking against the C.M., there was not one dissenting voice when opportunity was given, but the short speeches which were made by prominent members of the audience were all in favor of the movement. Just think of the number of invitations that poured in upon them to deliver the same address in other parts of the city. The battle is won, Barker, for no opposition can withstand that power which was manifested to-night."

It was as Brookes said, the opposing forces had to yield, for there was a seen and an unseen power sent out which swept and overcame all opposition, and a month later Illinois was counted in with the procession which California was leading. A year later the great States of Ohio and Pennsylvania had joined the ranks, followed by the old Bay State with its conservative element, and Boston became the scene of illumination and rejoicing. The influence of these great States was felt in many smaller ones, and they also helped to swell the wave of the C.M. by joining the ranks. Quite a large percentage of that element in the big cities, who profited by pandering and catering to the depraved tastes of human nature, had left the city in which they carried on their places of business now that the C.I. was practised, and they had gone to the City of New York, thinking the element to which they belonged was too powerful in Gotham ever to be driven out by the C.M., and it was in this city where the greatest of all battles for reform thought was fought.

When Penloe and Stella with Barker and Brookes left Chicago, they went to the City of New York, staying in Boston a week on their way. They had now been in this city for over a year and had called together picked workers from many other States who were in the procession for reform. The opposition was the same as that encountered in Chicago, only ten times as strong.

When they had been in the city eighteen months, some few of the churches had helped forward the work, just as some churches did in other cities. Penloe decided that every church and every society of every kind that had for its basis of organization love and justice, should receive a special invitation to join in this great moral reform movement, and special work should be allotted them. Penloe and Stella made a personal visit to the leaders of the various sects, denominations and societies, and ably presented the case for their consideration, showing that the life of their organization depended upon their members being active living workers for truth, purity and justice. He put each society on record as to where they stood, whether its organization was merely that of a social club, or whether it was ready to stand and work for the principles it claimed to have for its foundation. Be it said to the credit of each society, sect and organization, they all responded heartily and co-operated with Penloe and Stella in helping forward the grand reform; for they saw it was useless to prate about love, purity, justice and freedom, with woman debarred by law from her legal and political rights and tolerating a social custom which excited the worst passions and bred prurient curiosity. It was a grand and glorious sight, such as the world had not witnessed before, to see Catholics, Unitarians, Methodists, Universalists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Theosophists, members of the Jewish Synagogue, representatives of the Vedanta, together with the Y.M.C.A. and Y.W.C.A., Christian Union, Christian Science and Socialists Societies, and all other such societies join in the work. The members of these various bodies coming in contact with those two great spiritual luminaries, seemed to receive such an influx of the Divine as purified their own organizations and made them what they should always be, a great power for good. With such concentrated efforts by such an army of workers, the enemy gave way and New York City became the beacon light to travelers from other nations; not as it had been a city of greed and lust, but a city where woman stood before the law the same as man, and where its citizens were beginning to walk a little more in the line of purity and freedom.

Just before the battle was won in the State of New York, the agitation which had been going on in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland for over two years culminated in a victory for the reform forces. Two years after the State of New York was won, the C.M. had carried every State in the Union, and also Canada. Australia and New Zealand not wishing to be behind in all that stood for advanced thought and freedom, fell in line with the other English-speaking countries.

Penloe and Stella did not consider the work finished yet, and they called for a congress of representative workers to meet in the Auditorium in Chicago at a suitable date, which would give all time to be present. Each State and country were to send two delegates, one man and one woman. Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada, and every State in the Union were all represented at the Congress.

When the Congress assembled, it was unanimously agreed that Stella should preside.

After the meeting had been opened and some preliminaries had been gone through, Penloe said: "In the call for this congress it was stated that its purpose was to consider how best to carry on this great work in foreign countries, but before doing so I think it would be best to change the name of the work. It seems necessary that some names, as well as races, should pass through the period of evolution. The reason why I will briefly state, as follows: In some countries where it is necessary to carry on this work, they are not in bondage, and the name C.I. would not convey the meaning of the full scope of our work; for while it is true they do not discriminate between the sexes, yet they are in bondage in many other different ways, and while the work originally started with the idea of freeing men and women from the shackles of sexual bondage with the name of 'Sex Reform Movement,' yet afterwards it was called the 'California Idea,' and the name included Woman's Suffrage, so as to make her free before the law, before man, and before the whole world. And as it grew its name changed to 'California Movement.' But now that the work has grown to such gigantic proportions, having about taken in all the English speaking countries, the work has also grown in its scope of usefulness and its object now is not only to free the mind from sexual bondage, not only to see that woman holds the same place as man in the eyes of the law of the land that she lives in, but still more, to FREE HUMANITY FROM ALL BONDAGES OF EVERY KIND OR CHARACTER. Therefore, I propose that the name to be given to the movement shall be 'Reform Forces,' for under this name and banner all can work."

After a little discussion the name given by Penloe was adopted unanimously.

The next business was to hear from some of the delegates in regard to plans for carrying on the work in foreign countries. After hearing many different plans proposed, and listening to various suggestions from many of the delegates, the plan mapped out by Penloe was finally carried unanimously.

It was something like this: That each country or State should have its special work. Europe was portioned off to England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. They were to divide the work among themselves. New York took Southern India, Pennsylvania took Northern India. The northern half of China was allotted to Illinois, the southern half, to Ohio. Mexico was given to Texas. The islands of the Pacific to California. South America was portioned off to other States. Massachusetts was given Japan, Egypt was given to Michigan. Persia to Indiana. Every State had a certain work of its own in some foreign country separate from that which was done by other States and countries. Each State or country was to send just four teachers to the country they had taken to enlighten. The teachers must be all round characters, with high intellectual attainments, and possessing at the same time rich spiritual gifts and free from family ties.

The line of work marked out for the teachers was as follows: First, to locate themselves in the largest city in the country to which they are sent.

To make themselves thoroughly familiar with the writings and teachings of the founders of the predominant religion of the country to which they are sent.

To find out all that is known of the leading saints and sages who have lived in their lives the prevailing religion of the country in which they lived.

To study thoroughly the habits, customs and bondages of the people of the country to which they are sent. Then to cultivate the acquaintance of the most intellectual and spiritually inclined native men and women and get them interested in the work of the Reform Forces. To appeal to them, and reach them through the teachings of the founders of their own religion, as well as by what has been written and said by their own saints and sages. Get the intelligent natives of both sexes to become the leaders and teachers to their people. Get the native teachers to work to strike at some of the bondages which they think the people are ready to free themselves from first, and when the people have thrown off one bondage then to work to get them to be free from other bondages.

After the teachers have got a group of intelligent native workers in the line of the Reform Forces in one city, they are to go to another city and do the same till the whole country has native workers in every part working along the line of the Reform Forces.

From Penloe's remarks before the Congress, concerning the religions of other nations, we will copy the following extract. "If any one will study the teachings of the saints and sages of other religions, he will find that the essence of spiritual thought contained in them all is about the same as that contained in Christianity. The mistake which has been made by missionaries and others lie in thinking that the ritual and practices of the masses represent the thoughts of the great spiritual luminaries of those religions. The masses of the Oriental countries no more represent the real thoughts of the great spiritual teachers of those countries than the commercial cannibalism of the West represents the teachings of Christ. In fact, the masses of the Oriental countries are in ignorance of the real spiritual thought of their own religion, as much as the masses of the Western World are of theirs, and the teachers who are sent out by the West would help forward the work of the Reform Forces by showing the natives that the ideas of the reform forces are in the line of thought of their own great saints and sages. There is not a delegate present who is not able to show that the work of the Reform Forces is in accordance with the teachings of Christianity. I can also clearly show to you from the teachings of the Zendavesta, of the Koran, of Buddha, of Krishna, of Lord Gauranga, of Seyed, Mohammed Ali, and of Rama Krishna, that the spiritual thought of the Reform Forces is in accordance with those teachings. Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Gauranga, and Rama Krishna, were all the manifestation of God in the flesh. They towered head and shoulders above all others in the manifestation of the Divine.