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ly the Master knows how long or
short it will be. Some that we thought would have to stay millions of years
underground have all gone on long ago. Others who bore the very odor of
sanctity are here yet. The Master has given every one a chance to save
himself, each after his kind. I could never understand, even when I was
officiating as bishop, how it was that such a comparatively small number
of persons were to be saved from perdition, and I could not feel that a
loving Father and our Creator could have left countless billions to die
unredeemed, and then send them to that terrible hell for not knowing
something which He had made it impossible for them to know. I used to
wonder then, I do not now."

"Will you tell me? I suppose you mean the Heathen."

"Yes; I mean the Heathen, at home and in far lands. Ah, my young friend,
we all try to find a short cut to heaven. I can only say love your neighbor,
tell the truth, think only pure thoughts, and trust the rest to the Master.
He created us all, the Jew and the Gentile, the Heathen and these calling
themselves Christians. They are all alike to Him.

"Do you not see that a merciful Father, loving his own creation could not
condemn them to everlasting tortures for not believing something that he
himself had made it impossible for them to know? You must follow the same
road, and work for your passport to the next place or phase of existence,
which we all hope will be better, but of which we are as ignorant as you."

At this moment there was a faint and tremulous sound, indescribably sweet,
and no one could have told from whence it came, but it grew in volume, and
in a few minutes it had swelled louder and began to throb with the strange
thrill that makes dance music so enlivening. As soon as the music was well
under way it seemed to be the signal for every one to begin to talk. The
noise was deafening, and the young man wondered how just ghosts could make
so much confusion. He noticed three men who had evidently found the buffet,
and they had evidently made the most of their find, for they would have
been considered drunk in any other place. They were inclined to be noisy
and quarrelsome, and the young visitor feared they would pick him out for
punishment, but they seemed to ignore his presence. The bishop who had been
talking to him said:

"You see that we are still full of the leaven of unrighteousness. Ah;
there goes the most unsociable ghost I ever saw. He will never get away
from here at that rate. He thinks he is just the biggest frog in the
pond. Nobody likes him. That tall man over near him is next to him the
most disagreeable ghost here. He is so swelled up with his own
importance that he is looking with a candle for insults to his dignity.
But, deary me! Here am I, a bishop too, gossiping like an old woman. I
could be in better business, but some folks think they are the whole
bunch. I heard that expression once-in fact, recently-and it struck me
as being so forcible that-ah, me; I am forced to admit that a bishop is
no more when he gets before the Master than any other man. And if he has
not been better than the most of them he gets the same treatment. I used
to think I was some value to the world, but bishops are nothing more or
less than men down here. It has taken over two hundred years to make me
admit that much. I used to stand among other men and take their
reverential words as my just due, and when we were at the banqueting
board I took the best of everything as my right indisputable and just.
Now I take what I can get and must be content, for, as I said, all that
has passed away. You see, we have outgrown preachers down here, and I
often wonder why we ever had them. To change the subject, what are your
impressions of what you see here to-night?

"It would be impossible to define them, for I see so much that put all
my preconceived notions to flight that it will take long before I can
really understand them myself. I am sure that I shall profit by your
discourse," answered the reporter, earnestly, for the bishop's
conversation did give him food for reflection.

Very opportunely one of the ghosts who had visited the buffet too often
got into a wrangle, and no one knew how it happened but the young
stranger, and he kept a discreet silence, for it was not his quarrel
anyhow, but he had heard one ghost say to another:

"I notice that your name is obliterated-"

He got no further, for the other doubled up his fists and cried
indignantly:

"You're a liar! My name is Jones, and don't you forget it."

The first speaker was ready for a fight, but the other ghosts surrounded
them and tried to persuade Jones that the offending word was intended
for a compliment, and begged him to overlook it, so finally they shook
hands and sat down in a corner and promptly went to sleep.

The music now struck up a grand march and the ghosts formed in couples
and marched to the music, and in perfect unison. The procession
appeared interminable. The ghosts floated rather than walked. It seemed
as if millions passed along.

The people in the procession were about as well assorted as one finds
them in all marches, some being tall with short partners, and vice
versa. Some walked smoothly and with a certain degree of dignity while
others tried to take fancy steps reminding him of a cake walk. Four
persons there were who did not join in the march, a young lady ghost, a
tall man, the Egyptian princess and the newspaper man.

The young lady referred to had a timid and bashful air, and the man a
gloomy bend of the head and a morose crossing of the arms over his bony
chest, while the Egyptian was so enveloped in her wrappings that she
would have found locomotion difficult. Besides she was seated to watch
the proceedings. She rather liked being set up there, as something more
and better than the rest, and she was not blind to the fact that all the
other women were as jealous of her as they could be.

The newspaper man resumed his interrupted journey toward her, keeping
carefully out of the way of the dancers, until he approached the
princess, and with a profound bow began a conversation with her. He was
not quite sure of the proper way to address her, as she was a princess,
of no one knew what dynasty. And, a ghost besides. So, he naturally felt
a little timid, but as she seemed to smile affably he began, at the same
time taking out his note book and pencil from force of habit. Then he
remembered where he was and hastily hid them again, and thanked his
stars that no one had seen them, and recklessly said:

"Oh, most noble and highly exalted princess," here he stuck fast and did
not know how to continue, but she deigned to smile on him. Indeed she
had to smile for the embalmer who had made a mummy of her had fixed that
charming smile on her lips with coal tar or whatever it was that they
used for the purpose. But, whatever it was it served its purpose, and
the princess smiled.

"Approach, young man" she said gently. He drew near and took hold of t

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