DEATH AND TWO FRIENDS

_A DIALOGUE_

(_To the Memory of J.S. and T.C.L._)

PERSONS: SCRIPTOR AND LECTOR.

[This dialogue was written originally as a rejoinder to certain
criticisms on a book of mine entitled, _The Religion of a Literary
Man_--_Religio Scriptoris_--hence the names given to the two 'persons.'
It was written in March 1894, before an event in the writer's life to
which, erroneously, some have supposed it to refer.]


LECTOR. But do you really mean, Scriptor, that you have no desire for
the life after death?

SCRIPTOR. I never said quite that, Lector, though perhaps I might almost
have gone so far. What I did say was that we have been accustomed to
exaggerate its importance to us here and now, that it really matters
less to us than we imagine.

LECTOR. I see. But you must speak for yourself, Scriptor. I am sure that
it matters much to many, to most of us. It does, I know, to me.