CHAPTER IX 



THE LIGHT IN A DARK CELL 



I HAVE never been shut up in a dark eel), 

 but I have talked with men who have been, 

 and I can readily understand why a prolon 

 gation of such punishment brings insanity with 

 it. The best of us, who have what we call in 

 ternal resources, break down at the sudden loss 

 of our environment. We lose our bearings. 

 The points of the compass disappear. Our re 

 lation to things is disturbed. We begin to grope 

 after an adjustment. We turn and devour our 

 selves. To be lost in one s own abyss is insanity. 

 Really, it is like the fabled act of the helpless 

 reptile that plunges its fangs into its own 

 body. Very few minds can stand the test of 

 being driven in on themselves. And yet it is in 

 those cloisters that we carry with us that we often- 

 est run across ourselves as we grope in the dark, 

 and then, mayhap, we sit down and become our 

 own father confessors. 



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