University of California Los Angeles - Bruin Life / Southern Campus Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

Page 23 text:

being- caug-ht in the fastening- of the casement, and of hang- ing there forever, a melancholy example of the fate which should overtake all who pry into the secrets of black art. But if such dang-er be successfully avoided, then the earth spreads itself out to view in a smiling- effort to supplement the scenes of mid air. The roofs with smoking- chimneys that adorned the previous picture are here fitted out with basements and lower stories. The tree-tops are now seen to come from sturdy trunks and far-reaching- roots. The roots are wide-spreading- at the base, and crowded with clustering- houses. This lower view gives an unequalled opportunity for un- interrupted gazing- at mankind. They hasten in long- pro- cession beneath the window — men, women, children, all un- conscious of the scrutiny under which they are passing. For once, the aristocrat forgets himself, and allows his manner a momentary lapse into naturalness. The old beau who has strug-gled painfully for more years than even his friends imag-ine, to disg-uise his rheumatism by a jaunty, indolent stroll, covertly g-lances about, and relieved by the sig-ht of a deserted pathway, permits himself to limp a few times ever so slig-htly before he meets a chance passer in w liose presence the painful semblance of youthful health and spirits must be resumed. People do unexpected little acts of kindness or small secret charities sometimes as they pass by here, that seem to be the natural impulse of their natures, and all be- cause they imagine they are for an instant freed from the necessity of posing- before an audience. Only the dogs and horses that wander through the lane are quite as they are in other places. To be sure, a bird sometimes flutters down and skims along above the dust of the way, or a fresh little breeze raises tiny, ineffectual cyclones as it passes by ; but aside from these occasional visitors, the travelers below the window re those who must be watched and taken unawares before the} are betraj-ed into forg-etting their chosen attitude in the eyes of the world. But, of course, all this is quite ordinary, and mig-ht be seen from any upstairs window if only the blinds were closed and the observer took pains to keep hidden. The glass has not displayed its claims as yet. To see the fullness of the mystery, then, one needs only

Page 22 text:

The IVlagic of a Window Pane. g)| KTER all, there is small mag-ic in it, apart from the mA, m3 ' stic a enc} ' of a somewhat inferior g-lass, and the happ3 ' accident of the wa} ' in which the window has been hung-. The accumulated dust of ag es — rather, to be more exact, of some six months — in which the rains have made strang-e zig-zag paths, and scattering- uncanny blotches, adorns the outer surface of the pane, and adds its portion to the weird effect of this would-be mag-ic g-lass. It is all easily enoug-h explained, and proved to be the natural result of the plans of the architect, together with the neg-lect of the house- keeper, and so reduced from the region of m3 sterious interest ot the level of ordinar} ' events. Perhaps it mig-ht be possible to find somewhere a ver} small and ig-norant child, to whom the revelations of the g-lass would seem to be the working-s of gnome or sprite, but even the infants of this degenerate age are so hopelessl}- well educated that the possibility is ex- tremely slight. The g-ood old da3 s of sorcerers who could read men ' s histories in a drop of ink, when such a thing might have been appreciated, are past ; and there is nothing to be done but to explain away the mystery- and to enjoy to the best of our sophisticated abilit} ' the poor little remnants of a curiosity that we have left. In plain fact, the window owes its peculiar properties to its situation. It is in an upper stor} ' , and, being hung after the fashion of a transom, w4th a pivot in the center of either side, it can be revolved to suit the pleasure of the inmates of the house. And therein lies the secret. For, on being opened, so that the pane exact!} divides the opening in which it is set into two equal parts, the curious observer then has before him all the resources of which this belated successor to the magician ' s drop of ink can boast. Above the glass is the sk}-, with its blue all flecked with hurrying clouds. From this part of the window, too, one sees hill-tops and tree-tops and roofs of houses with misty blue lines of smoke wavering away from their chimney ' s. Birds flit athwart this realm of vision amid all the light and stir of the upper air. But the other half of the world is to be seen only by ducking one ' s head under the jianc, at the imminent risk of

Page 24 text:

to look upward, remembering- the fastening- which hang-s over- head, like the sword of Damocles, threatening- momentary destruction. Whereupon, a transformation is effected which certainl} ' savors of the unusual and unnatural. The small dog that persued his way so sedateh ' a moment since across the ground below — lo ! there he is in the pane above you, scamp- ering head downward, with his feet pointing- upward, and to all appearances traveling- over a firmament of green grass and dusty road, in which the roots of trees spread out amaz- ing-ly, and A-arious other strang-e phenomena occur that were surely never seen in the heavens befor.e ! A motley company of dog-s follow this first, all with tong-ues lolling, not down but up, and with waving tails erected with a vast show of happiness, not up but down ! Close on the heels of the wrong- headed animals, comes a man in haste, treading this strange, unearthl3 ' -looking road, which is undoubtedly above his head. The puzzle of the ancient wise men who disputed the assertion that the earth was round, for the reason that, in such case, the dwellers on the lower side must walk head downward and with their feet in the air, now shows itself yet the more unan- swerable when the marvel is really seen in operation. The strangeness of the procedure is not lessened, but vastly increas- ed when it is actually brought from theory to observation. But there is scarcel} ' time for wonderment over the first ap- parition of dangling heads and upraised feet, when, in the far regions of the glass, there appears a strange medley of detached members. Arms in pairs and singly-, but no bodies, heads and feet, mingled in most unwarrantable and bodiless fashion, now begin a journey across the mysterious road, gradually losing their detached appearance, and seeking their proper places as they proceed. To be sure, this horrible separation of nature ' s handiwork into disconnected fragments is nothing but the trick of a defective glass, and the turning of the world tops -- turvy is a yet more simple matter. But the very simplicit} ' of the whole maneuver is its most appalling feature. Is it for such an undoing b} ' the most transparent of frauds that man- kind carefully cherishes dignity and cultivates an impressive appearance ? Just notice the being with a cane down 3 ' onder. If you give him the advantage of his natural sphere, was there ever a man better created to excite admiration ? He and all the