are in it without knowing it_."

There was an air of authority that impressed the hearer with the
conviction of the speaker. This was not theory; it was the result of
experience. There was a difference as vast as the night from the day.
"I suppose, when I am dead, I shall know these things too," said Paul
meditatively.

"No," answered Ah Ben, "not when you are dead, but when you have been
born--when you have come into life."

"Pardon me," answered Paul, pondering on the man's strange assertion;
"but this knowledge of yours is in demand more than all other
knowledge. Positive information about the other world is what men
have sought through all the ages; why do you not impart it to them?"

"Impart it!" exclaimed Ah Ben. "Can you explain to one who has been
born blind what it is to see? Can you impart to such a man any true
conception of the world in which he has always lived? But _couch_ his
eyes, remove the worthless film that has covered them, and for the
first time he realizes the glorious world surrounding him. Likewise
_couch_ the body, remove the shell that covers the spirit, and it is
born."

"I perceive, then, that it is only through death that most of us can
hope to gain this knowledge."

"Death, if you prefer the word," said Ah Ben. "Yes, it is the death
of the film over the eye that reveals the world to the blind; but I
should hardly say that the man was dead because he had so entered