This is innocent enough, surely and without any great poetic pretensions. But it must be admitted that this method of dictating is rather difficult.[11] Some one spoke of human plans. The table dictated as follows:[12] "When the shining sun scatters the stars, know ye, O mortal men, whether ye will see the evening of that day? And, when the sombre curtains of night are let fall from the sky, can you tell whether you will see the dawn of another morn?" Another person asked, "What is faith?" "Faith? 'Tis a blessed field that breeds a superb harvest, and every laborer may therein reap and garner to his heart's content, and carry home his sheaves." Here are three prose dictations: "Science is a forest where some are laying out roads, where many lose their way, and where all see the bounds of the forest recede as fast as they go forward." "God does not illuminate the world with the lightning and the meteors. He guides peacefully in their courses the stars of the night, which fill the sky with their light. So the divine revelations succeed one another in order, reason, and harmony." "Religion and Friendship are twin companions, who aid us to traverse the painful path of life." I cannot forego the pleasure of inserting here, at the close of this chapter, a fable, dictated like the others by table-rappings, and sent to me by M. Joubert, vice-president of the civil tribunal of Carcassonne.[13] The sentiment of it may be queried by some; but is not the central principle applicable to all epochs and to all governments: Do not the "_arrivistes_"[14] belong to all times? THE KING AND THE PEASANT