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The Theosophist Vol. XXXI. No. 2 THE THEOSOPHIST. ON THE WATCH-TOWER. are in Grand Rapids at this moment of writing, on August WE 10th, 1909. Later advices from Buffalo state that over 2,000 people were turned away from the lecture on the 8th given in the small and uncomfortable hall to which we were condemned by the unfair breach of agreement on the part of the Scottish Rite Masons. It seems that the active agent in the matter is a ' ' political boss in the town, and that may explain the indifference to keeping faith ; but to make 2,000 of his fellow townsmen angry and indignant with him seems to show a lack of even political in sight. We left Buffalo early on the morning of the 9th for Detroit, and had the delight of seeing for a few minutes the tumbling glory of Niagara; hideous buildings are rising around the Falls and spoiling nature's wondrous handiwork, and for the sake of gaining a source of 'power' one of the wonders of the world is being marred. For thousands of years it was safe in the care of ' ' ' ' savages ; only civilised man recklessly spoils the beauties nature has taken ages to build. We ran through the fertile plains of Canada, after crossing the stream from the Falls, only return ing to the States at Detroit itself, which we reached at 1-30 p.m. Quite a crowd of members met us on the Canadian side and crossed with us. There was a very good gathering of members at 3-30, and at the close a photograph was taken. The lecture was given " in The Church of our Father," a fine building, and the attend ance was very large; as I went on to the platform the whole audience rose, as though we were in India—a sign of courtesy very rare in the West. * * Another half-day's travel carried us from Detroit to Grand Rapids, through the rich orchard lands of Michigan, and we arrived there soon after one o'clock. As usual we began with a Generated for Dannu Hutwohl (University of New Mexico) on 2016-01-06 23:02 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433087382390 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-us-google 162 THE THEOSOPHIST. [NOVEMBER member's meeting, and in the evening had a public lecture. Grand Rapids had one pretty peculiarity I had not seen elsewhere ; most Amercian towns are very brilliantly lighted, and shops and places of public entertainment have dazzling signs in electric lamps, as though it were a monarch's birthday ; but Grand Rapids "had rows of lights across its main street, like a festival of lanterns, and the effect was very good. * On Wednesday, the 11th August, we reached Chicago, and had the pleasure of greeting warmly the worthy General Secretary, Dr. Weller van Hook. I received there pleasant news from England ; Mrs. Sharpe wrote me that the Activities Bureau had voted £50 towards placing the Ancient Wisdom in 350 public libraries and were ready to help in making up to 100 the number of Theosophists given to public libraries. Theosophical books to the value of £20 are being bought to start new Lodges with book stalls, and the small Queen's Hall is taken for a course of lectures in November. A course of six lectures is being arranged at Bridlington. At the first lecture held by the new Folkestone Lodge there was an attendance of 80 —a very creditable first meeting. Captain Matthews has been the moving spirit there, and now that he has to leave for Nigeria, Mr. Hamilton will guide. Headquarters seems to be very busy and to be becoming a centre of life; it is satisfactory that its rent for a year has been covered by letting the Lecture Hall for use by the T. S. Order of Service and the Blavatsky and H. P. B. Lodges. * * * We had a very full meeting of members at Chicago on the ovening of the 11th, and an E. S. gathering on the morning of the 12th. There was the usual rush of reporters, the Tribune, as on my last visit, being peculiarly untruthful ; its reporter described me as seated at luncheon before a lobster, claws and all ! This was described as seen through the crack of a door. To describe a dish of peas and two baked potatoes in this way seems to argue some imagination, but, as a non-corpse-eater of twenty years' standing, I should prefer not being charged with this particular vice. I saw " " a ghastly thing on a hotel menu to-day — a live lobster broiled. It seems incredible that any decent person could perform such a Generated for Dannu Hutwohl (University of New Mexico) on 2016-01-06 23:02 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433087382390 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-us-google 1909.] ON THE WATCH-TOWER. 163 brutal act as to broil a living thing, or that any one can be found to eat it. No wonder people wink at vivisection. * * * The public lecture in Chicago drew a large audience, intent from the opening to the closing words. We had to go straight from the hall to the railway station, to start at ten for Duluth, at the head of Lake Superior, and on we went through the night and till noon next day. We are in the lumber country, where great logs of wood are rolled down the banks into the river, and, chained together, closely packed, are drifted by the current to the point of shipping. Duluth has a splendid natural harbor, and from it is shipped the ore which at Pittsburg is changed into steel, and to it is shipped the coal from Pennsylvania ; into it pours the grain from the fertile western states, to be loaded into vessels that carry it to a hungry world. From here to Buffalo there is a clear water way through Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie, till the passage to Lake Ontario is barred by the Falls of Niagara. Lecturers have not found warm welcome at Duluth, which is more interested in lumber and in shipping than in philosophy ; nevertheless a body of Theosophists have gathered here, and there are two Lodges, one on each side of the dividing river which separates Superior and Duluth ; Mr. Jlnarajadiisa has been here lately, and attracted audiences of two hundred people —twice as large as one which gave scant welcome to a well-known Arctic explorer, who remark ed afterwards that he had gone nigh to the North Pole but had found nothing so frigid as Duluth. Mr. Jinarajadasa has become very popular in the States for his lucid and attractive exposition of Theosophical ideas, while his gentle courtesy and quiet reserve win him admiration and respect. However, Duluth, despite its reputation, treated us exceedingly well ; the hall, seating 500, was crowded, and the audience was interested and sympathetic, the very reverse of frigid. Doubtless Mr. Jlnarajadasa's work had paved the way for me. * * Dr. James, Dean of the College of Education in the University of Minnesota, met us at Duluth—by the way, our party was in creased from Chicago by my faithful friend, Dr. Weeks Burnett — and he kindly shepherded us to Minneapolis, where we found a Generated for Dannu Hutwohl (University of New Mexico) on 2016-01-06 23:02 GMT / http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433087382390 Public Domain in the United States, Google-digitized / http://www.hathitrust.org/access_use#pd-us-google 164 THE THE0SOPHI8T. [NOVEMBER pleasant resting place in the lovely home of Dr. Lee, one of the professors of the University. The house is on one of the high banks of the Mississippi, which curves round below, and for a moment I thought of beloved Ganga, only the bank opposite was tree-covered, instead of being faced with ghats and crowned with temples. Love sometimes sees resemblances which are but faint, and it may have been heart more than eyes that fancied Ganga where Mississippi rolled. * * * Duluth to Minneapolis gave us a run of 162 miles only, so ' we arrived at Minneapolis early. We drove to S. Paul, the twin- " city,' in the evening, and I lectured on The Power of Thought." On Sunday, August 15th, the members gathered at their Lodge room for a morning talk, and in the evening there was a very " large free meeting to listen to Brotherhood applied to Social " Conditions ; some 2,000 gathered to listen with intent interest. On the following day, we had an E. S. meeting and a third lecture, this time on "The Coming Race and the Coming Christ." Again a good audience gathered, and at the end we went to the train to begin a journey of 1 128 miles across the prairies and into the " " Rockies to Butte, the richest hill in the world. In the train I read in the Chicago Tribune with amusement —mingled with some amazement—that in teaching reincarnation I was trying to vivify an old doctrine of savages. Shades of Pythagoras and Plato, of Ovid and Virgil, of Origen and Josephus, of Goethe, Lessing, Fichte, Schelling, Hume, Max Miiller, to say nothing of the mighty figures of the Manu, of the Buddha, of the Christ, "with how " " " little wisdom may a great newspaper be governed ! There is something fascinating to the imagination in the thin line of rails flung across the prairies, and the wires that span the Rockies and knit together men in distant centres.
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