Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug 1911-Jan 1912)

102 THE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE Waters started, and sighed heavily. "It is very beautiful," observed Morgan, "and it leads to a restful feature of General Barney's house, a library of unusual comfort, but " "I cannot explain," the engineer sighed. ' ' Let us say that some architectural feature is reminiscent. I have a bad habit, acquired in solitude, of trying clearly to reproduce faint images conjured up by this or that suggestive detail encountered. Would it be out of accord with your plans if we were to enter that library instead of following in the train of other guests?" "We might as well go directly to our ultimate destination," said the banker, passing his hand under the other's arm. "General Barney is world-weary so far as these functions are concerned. He cares only for men, and particularly for those who use their brains to some purpose. He may, in fact, be waiting for us now. ' ' No one was in the chamber when they entered. They sank into enveloping leather chairs, but one man after another, on similar errand bent, followed their example. These were presented, until an animated group surrounded the prominent banker and the justly celebrated engineer, while conversation turned by mere accident to questions of abnormal psychology. Waters had been somewhat distracted in manner while replying to questions pertaining to the great engineering work in progress at Panama, when his mind flamed out at a thought apparently kindled by Morgan's reference to his absent-minded air. "We are all groping," the engineer suddenly remarked, his eyes aglow and his tones ringing out with the virile emphasis of one speaking under conviction based on knowledge. "While the profoundest researches of philosophy and the deepest instincts of humanity point to the mind as the only source of power, it is beyond any of us to state why that power comes uncalled and leaves us in spite of any effort of the will we may exert. Is the mind an individual possession, or is it but a part of some force as indeter minate as electricity, operating in varied forms thruout the limitless universe? One day a man is in full possession of what we call his faculties ; the next a trivial accident occurs, an emotional shock, for example, and his mental machinery is so completely disorganized that he becomes of little more value than a congenital idiot. It is easy to conceive of the brain of an engine, driven by universal force and perfected by training and experiment until it runs smoothly, but where does volitional control come in? All men who have difficult problems to solve, sleep on them — so to speak. Consciousness is not an essential of brain activity — so it looks to me as tho we only start the machinery, and, even then, we depend upon suggestion for initiative. ' ' No one of those present who watched the famous engineer during his animated discourse could fail to perceive that his own mind was under high tension. Whether or not that condition was habitual when he was aroused was not determinable. Men of his profession are more intellectual than they are emotional, yet his excited manner was impressed on all who beheld him. It particularly affected a soldierly-looking man, who had entered unperceived by the others, and who stood studying the speaker with a form of reciprocal agitation. The newcomer was none other than General Barney, their host; he filled the pause with an interrogatory observation. "I chanced to note," he said, "that Mr. Waters closely studied the door of this room before entering, as if there was suggestion to be found in one or more of its architectural peculiarities. ' ' ' ■ There was, ' ' Waters assented, rising. He was then presented to the owner of the house, and continued: "The very sight of it rendered me comparatively unconscious of my situation. It pulled the trigger of a set of new ideas. It seemed to me for an indefinite length of time that I was some other personality than the one with which I am familiar, and I strug