The rule seems to be that the dissemination of dangerous higher knowledge, before the masses of a people are ethically prepared to receive it, will always be prevented by the conservative instinct; and we have reason to suppose (allowing for individual exceptions) that the power to gain higher knowledge is developed only as the moral ability to profit by such knowledge is evolved.  I fancy that if the power of holding intellectual converse with other worlds could now serve us, we should presently obtain it.  But if, by some astonishing chance,—­as by the discovery, let us suppose, of some method of ether-telegraphy,—­this power were prematurely acquired, its exercise would in all probability be prohibited....  Imagine, for example, what would have happened during the Middle Ages to the person guilty of discovering means to communicate with the people of a neighboring planet!  Assuredly that inventor and his apparatus and his records would have been burned; every trace and memory of his labors would have been extirpated.  Even to-day the sudden discovery of truths unsupported by human experience, the sudden revelation of facts totally opposed to existing convictions, might evoke some frantic revival of superstitious terrors,—­some religious panic-fury that would strangle science, and replunge the world in mental darkness for a thousand years.

THE MIRROR MAIDEN

In the period of the Ashikaga Sh[=o]gunate the shrine of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin, at Minami-Is[’e], fell into decay; and the daimy[=o] of the district, the Lord Kitahatak[’e], found himself unable, by reason of war and other circumstances, to provide for the reparation of the building.  Then the Shint[=o] priest in charge, Matsumura Hy[=o]go, sought help at Ky[=o]to from the great daimy[=o] Hosokawa, who was known to have influence with the Sh[=o]gun.  The Lord Hosokawa received the priest kindly, and promised to speak to the Sh[=o]gun about the condition of Ogawachi-My[=o]jin.  But he said that, in any event, a grant for the restoration of the temple could not be made without due investigation and considerable delay; and he advised Matsumura to remain in the capital while the matter was being arranged.  Matsumura therefore brought his family to Ky[=o]to, and rented a house in the old Ky[=o]goku quarter.

This house, although handsome and spacious, had been long unoccupied.  It was said to be an unlucky house.  On the northeast side of it there was a well; and several former tenants had drowned themselves in that well, without any known cause.  But Matsumura, being a Shint[=o] priest, had no fear of evil spirits; and he soon made himself very comfortable in his new home.

* * * * *

In the summer of that year there was a great drought.  For months no rain had fallen in the Five Home-Provinces; the river-beds dried up, the wells failed; and even in the capital there was a dearth of water.  But the well in Matsumura’s garden remained nearly full; and the water—­which was very cold and clear, with a faint bluish tinge—­seemed to be supplied by a spring.  During the hot season many people came from all parts of the city to beg for water; and Matsumura allowed them to draw as much as they pleased.  Nevertheless the supply did not appear to be diminished.