The Fatalist's Terrible Test.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1961, 31 January 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Fatalist's Terrible Test.

Tm world is full o£ fatalists. It is an easy and coraforUblo belief. I bave been told » peculiar anecdote on the subject. At a frontier post tho oflioerR 1 mean was engaged in an ardent discussion. Wine had been freely partaken of, aifd, with one of tho strange caprices of intoxioation, there wm pbiloaophy at the bottom of the glasses. The Mahomtnedan religion was the Bnbjeot of argument. Mussulmans believe in fate. For them a man's destiny is written above, the time of his death ih set, and nothing can advance it. Every ono had something to advance or relate m pro or con argument. In answer to one of the officers, who demanded to know of what oho and to what purpose was reason and its controlling power if we were born with the t&% of onr destiny attached, another — a new comer — aro3e and said : " frentlamen, what is tho use of discussion ? Make a practical test of the question. Take me as the subject. Can a man wilfully dispose of his life, or is the fatal momont chosen by a higher power? Try the question on me. Who will conduct the experiment ?" No one answered. Then some one proposed a wftßor. " Done," was the answer. The subject drew a pistol, showed that it was loaded, and held it to his temple. " Twenty dollars, I believe? Wiio will pay if I lose?" lie pulled the trigger, and the pistol missed fire. " A joke," cried the crowd. The fatalist trailed. He recocked the pistol, and with a steady hand aimed at a clock on the wall. He fired, and the bullet went right through the centre of the dial. 11 Apologise now," said he, " I have won the bet. I always did believe in fate." — San !• rancinco Ncws-Lcttfr.