Toward the Gulf Part 23

For last night the phantom of the old soldier Appeared to her again-- It followed her to the house of her friend, And appeared again.

But more than ever was it her husband, With the iris of his eyes so black, And the white of his eyes so china-blue.

And while she thinks of it, And wonders what is about to happen, She hears laughter, And looking up, beholds her daughter And the forbidden lover.

And then the daughter and her husband Come to the porch and the daughter says "We have just been married in the village, mother; Will you forgive us?

This is your son; you must kiss your son."

And Widow La Rue from her chair arises And calmly takes her child in her arms, And clasps his hand.

And after gazing upon him Imperturbably as Clytemnestra looked Upon returning Agamemnon, With a light in her eyes which neither fathomed, She kissed him, And in a calm voice blessed them.

Then sent her daughter, singing, On an errand back to the village To market for dinner, saying: "We'll talk over plans, my dear."

V

And the young husband Rocks on the porch without a thought Of the lightning about to strike.

And like Clytemnestra, Widow La Rue Enters the house.

And while he is rocking, with all his spirit in a rythmic rapture, The Widow La Rue takes a seat in the room By a window back of the chair where he rocks, And drawing the shade She speaks:

"These two nights past I have seen the phantom of the old soldier Who haunts the midnights Of this summer loneliness.

And I knew that a doom was at hand. ...

You have married my daughter, and this is the doom. ...

O, G.o.d in heaven!"

Then a horror as of a writhing whiteness Winds out of the July glare And stops the flow of his blood, As he hears from the re-echoing room The voice of Widow La Rue Moving darkly between banks Of delirious fear and woe!

"Be calm till you hear me through. ...

Do not move, or enter here, I am hiding my face from you. ...

Hear me through, and then fly.

I warned her against you, but how could I tell her Why you were not for her?

But tell me now, have you come together?

No? Thank G.o.d for that. ...

For you must not come together. ...

Now listen while I whisper to you: My daughter was born of a lawless love For a man I loved before I married, And when, for five years, no child came I went to this man And begged him to give me a child. ...

Well then ... the child was born, your wife as it seems. ...

And when my husband saw her, And saw the likeness of this man in her face He went out of the house, where they found him later By the entrance gate With the iris of his eyes so black, And the white of his eyes so china-blue, And specks of blood on his face, Like a wall specked by a shake of a brush.

And something like blubber or pinkish wax Hiding the gash in his throat-- The serum and blood blown up by the breath From emptied lungs. Yes, there by the gate, O G.o.d!

Quit rocking your chair! Don't you understand?

Quit rocking your chair! Go! Go!

Leap from the bluff to the rocks on the sh.o.r.e!

Take down the sickle and end yourself!

You don't care, you say, for all I've told you?

Well, then, you see, you're older than Flora. ...

And her father died when she was a baby. ...

And you were four when your father died. ...

And her father died on the very day That your father died, At the verv same moment. ...

On the very same bed. ...

Don't you understand?"

VI

He ceases to rock. He reels from the porch, He runs and stumbles to reach the road.

He yells and curses and tears his hair.

He staggers and falls and rises and runs.

And Widow La Rue With the eyes of Clytemnestra Stands at the window and watches him Running and tearing his hair.

VII

She seems so calm when the daughter returns.

She only says: "He has gone to the meadow, He will soon be back. ..."

But he never came back.

And the years went on till the daughter's hair Was white as her mother's there in the grave.

She was known as the bride whom the bridegroom left And didn't say good-bye.

DR. SCUDDER'S CLINICAL LECTURE

I lectured last upon the morbus sacer, Or falling sickness, epilepsy, of old In Palestine and Greece so much ascribed To deities or devils. To resume We find it caused by morphological Changes of the cortex cells. Sometimes, More times, indeed, the anatomical Basis, if one be, escapes detection.

For many functions of the cortex are Unknown, as I have said.

And now remember Mercier's a.n.a.lysis of heredity: Besides direct transmission of unstable Nervous systems, there remains the law Hereditary of sanguinity.

Then here's another matter: Parents may Have normal nervous systems, yet produce Children of abnormal nerves and minds, Caused by unsuitable s.e.xual germs.

Let me repeat before I leave the matter The factors in a perfect organization: First quality in the germ producing matter; Then quality in the sperm producing force, And lastly relative fitness of the two.

We are but plants, however high we rise, Whatever thoughts we have, or dreams we dream We are but plants, and all we are and do Depends upon the seed and on the soil.

What Mendel found in raising peas may lead To perfect knowledge of the human mind.

There is one law for men and peas, the law Makes peas of certain matter, and makes men And mind of certain matter, all depends Not on a varying law, but on a law Varied in its course by matter, as The arm, which is a lever and which works By lever principle cannot make use And form cement with trowel to the forms It makes of paint or marble.

To resume: A child may take the qualities of one parent In some respects, and of the other parent In some respects. A child may have the traits Of father at one period of his life, The mother at one period of his life.

And if the parents' traits are similar Their traits may be prepotent in a child, Thus giving rise to qualities convergent.

So if you take a circle and draw off A line which would become another circle If drawn enough, completed, but is left Half drawn or less, that ill.u.s.trates a mind Of c.u.mulative heredity. Take John, My gardener, John, within his sphere is perfect, John has a mind which is a perfect circle.

A perfect circle can be small, you know.

And so John has good sense within his sphere.

But if some force began to work like yeast In brain cells, and his mind shot forth a line To make a larger thinking circle, say About a great invention, heaven or G.o.d, Then John would be abnormal, till this line Shot round and joined, became a larger circle.

This is the secret of eccentric genius, The man is half a sphere, sticks out in s.p.a.ce Does not enclose co-ordinated thought.

He's like a plant mutating, half himself Half something new and greater. If we looked To John's heredity we'd find this change Was manifest in mother or in father About the self-same period of life, Most likely in his father. Attributes Of fathers are inherited by sons, Of mothers by the daughters.

Now this morning I take up paranoia. Paranoics Are often noted for great gifts of mind.

Mahomet, Swedenborg were paranoics, Joan of Arc, and Ossawatomie Brown, Cellini, many others. All who think Themselves inspired of G.o.d, and all who see Themselves appointed to a work, the subjects Of prophecies are paranoics. All Who visions have of G.o.d or archangels, Hear voices or celestial music, these Are paranoics. And whether it be they rise Enough above the earth to look along A longer arc and see realities, Or see strange things through atmospheric strata Which build up or distort the things they see Remains the question. Let us wait the proof.

Last week I told you I would have to-day The skull and brain of Jacob Groesbell here, And lecture on his case. Here is the brain: Weight sixteen hundred grammes. Students may look After the lecture at the brain and skull.

There's nothing anatomical at fault With this fine brain, so far as I can find.

You'll note how deep the convolutions are, Arrangement quite symmetrical. The skull Is well formed too. The jaws are long you'll note, The palate roof somewhat asymmetrical.

But this is scarce significant. Let me tell How Jacob Groesbell looked:

The man was tall, Had shapely hands and feet, but awkward limbs.

His hair was brown and fine, his forehead high, And ran back at an angle, temples full.