# Scene 1

*Hilary's office. Fittings not very modern. He is a manufacturer of sawn woodwork.*

*Secretary:*  
And e'en our good friends in St. George's Town  
Declare that they too are dissatisfied.

*Manager:*  
What? even they; it is deplorable.  
The self-same reasons too; 'tis plain to see  
With what regret and pain our friends announce  
That they can deal no more with Hilary.

*Secretary:*  
Complaints of our unpunctuality  
And of the value of our goods compared  
With those produced by our competitors  
Reach us by post; and on my business trips  
Our clients meet me with the same old tale.  
The good name of this house is vanishing,  
By Hilary's forefathers handed down  
To us intact that we might heighten it.  
And men begin to think that Hilary  
Is swayed by dreamers and strange fantasies,  
And, thus obsessed, no longer can bestow  
The earnest care which he was wont to give  
To all the operations of the firm,  
Whose products were world-famous and unique.  
So many as were our admirers then,  
So great is now the tale of those who blame.

*Manager:*  
It is notorious that Hilary  
Long since hath let himself be led astray  
By seekers after some strange spirit gifts.  
To such pursuits he ever was inclined  
But formerly he kept them separate  
From business and its workaday routine.

*(Enter Hilary.)*

*(To the Secretary):*  
It seems advisable for me to speak  
Alone with our employer for a while.

*(Exit Secretary.)*

Anxiety it is that bids me seek  
An interview and earnest speech with thee.

*Hilary:*  
Why then does my adviser feel concerned?

*Manager:*  
Things happen constantly which bring to light  
A serious diminution in demand  
For what we manufacture; nor do we  
Produce as large an output as we should.  
There is besides an increase of complaints  
About the lower standard of our work,  
And other houses step in front of us.  
So too our well-known promptness kath declined  
As many clients truthfully attest.  
Ere long the best friends that remain to us  
No more will be content with Hilary.

*Hilary:*  
Long have I been full well aware of this  
And yet indeed it leaves me unconcerned.  
But none the less I feel an urgent need  
To talk things over with thee; thou hast helped  
Not only as the servant of my house,  
But also as my dear and trusted friend.  
And so I shall speak plainly to thee now  
Of matters at which hitherto I've hinted.  
Whoever wills to introduce new things  
Must be content to let the old things die.  
Henceforth the business will be carried on  
In different ways from those it knew before.  
Production, that but stays in straitest bounds  
And without care doth offer up its fruits  
Upon the market of our earthly life  
Regardless of the uses they may find,  
Doth seem so trivial and of little worth,  
Since I have come to know the noble form  
Work can assume when shaped by spirit-men.  
From this time forth Thomasius shall be  
Directing artist in the workshops here,  
Which I shall build for him close to our works.  
So will the product made by our machines  
Be moulded by his will in artist-forms  
And thus supply for daily human need  
The useful with the exquisite combined;  
Art and production shall become one whole,  
And daily life by taste be beautified.  
So will I add to these dead forms of sense,—  
For thus do I regard our output now,—  
A soul, whereby they may be justified.

*Manager (after long reflection):*  
The plan to fabricate such wonder-wares  
Suits not the spirit of our present age.  
The aim of all production now must be  
Complete perfection in some narrow groove.  
The powers which work impersonally, and pour  
The part into the whole in active streams,  
Confer unthinkingly upon each link  
A worth that is by wisdom not bestowed.  
And were this obstacle not in thy path  
Yet would thy purpose none the less be vain.  
That thou shouldst find a man to realize  
The plan thou hast so charmingly conceived  
Passeth belief, at least it passeth mine.

*Hilary:*  
Thou knowest, friend, I do not dream vain dreams.  
How should I aim at such a lofty goal  
Had not kind fate already brought to me  
The man to realize what I propose?  
I am amazed that thine eyes cannot see  
That Strader is, in fact, this very man.  
And I who, knowing this man's inner self,  
And my own duty to humanity,  
Conceive one of my duties to be this;  
To find a field of work for such a man,—  
A dreamer is no proper name for him.

*Manager (surprised):*  
Am I to look on Strader as this man?  
In his case hath it not been manifest  
How easily deluded mortals are  
Who lack the power to know realities?  
That his contrivance owes to spirit-light  
Its origin doth not admit of doubt.  
And if it can sometime be perfected  
Those benefits will doubtless pour therefrom  
Which Strader thought he had already won.  
But a mere model it will long remain  
Seeing those forces are still undisclosed  
Whose power alone will give reality.  
I am distressed to find that thou dost hope  
Good will result from giving up thy plant  
Unto a man who came to grief himself  
With his own carefully contrived machine.  
'Tis true it led his spirit up to heights  
Which ever will entice the souls of men,  
But which will only then be scaled by him  
When he hath made the rightful powers his own.

*Hilary:*  
That thou must praise the spirit of this man  
And yet seek'st cause to overthrow his work  
Doth prove most clearly that his worth is great.  
The fault, thou sayest, did not lie in him,  
That failure rather than success was his.  
Among us therefore he will surely find  
His proper place; for here there will not be  
External hindrances to thwart his plans.

*Manager:*  
And if, despite what I have just now said,  
I were to strive within myself and try  
To tune my reason to thy mode of thought,  
Still one more point compels me to object.  
Who will in future value this thy work?  
Or show such comprehension of thine aims  
As to make use of what thou mayst have made?  
Thy property will all be swallowed up  
Before thy business hath been well begun,  
And then it can no more be carried on.

*Hilary:*  
I willingly admit my plans would show  
Themselves imperfect, if amongst mankind  
True comprehension were not first aroused  
For this new kind and style of handicraft.  
What Strader and Thomasius create  
Must be perfected in the Sanctuary  
Which I shall build for spirit knowledge here.  
What Benedictus, what Capesius  
And what Maria yonder shall impart  
Will show to man the path that he should tread  
And make him feel the need to penetrate  
His human senses with the spirit's light.

*Manager:*  
And so thou wouldst endow a little clique  
To live self-centred, from the world apart,  
And shut thyself from all true human life.  
Thou fain wouldst banish selfishness on earth  
Yet wilt thou cherish it in thy retreat.

*Hilary:*  
A dreamer, it would seem, thou thinkest me,  
Who thoughtlessly denies experience  
That life hath brought him. Thus should I appear  
Unto myself if, for one moment's space,  
I held this view thou hast about success.  
The cause that I hold dear may fail indeed,  
Yet even if, despised by all mankind  
It crumbles into dust and disappears,  
Yet was it once conceived by human souls  
And set up as a pattern on this earth.  
In spirit it will work its way in life  
Although it stay not in the world of sense.  
It will contribute part of that great power  
Which in the end will make it come to pass  
That earthly deeds are wed to spirit aims;  
This in the spirit-wisdom is foretold.

*Manager:*  
I am thy servant and have had my say  
As duty and conviction bade me speak;  
Yet now the attitude thou hast assumed  
Gives me the right to speak as friend to friend.  
In work together with thee I have felt  
Myself impelled for many a year to seek  
A personal knowledge of the things to which  
Thou giv'st thyself with such self-sacrifice;  
My only guides have been the written words  
Wherein the spirit-wisdom is revealed.—  
And though the worlds are hidden from my gaze  
To which those writings had directed me,  
Yet in imagination I can feel  
The mental state of men whose simple trust  
Leads them to seek such spirit-verities.  
I have found confirmation in myself  
Of what the experts in this lore describe,  
As being the possession of such souls  
As feel themselves at home in spirit realms.  
The all-important thing, it seems to me,  
Is that such souls, despite their utmost care,  
Cannot divide illusions from the Truth  
When they come down from out the spirit heights  
As come they must, back into earthly life.  
Then from the spirit world, so newly won,  
Visions descend upon them which prevent  
Their seeing clearly in the world of sense,  
And, thus misled, their judgment goes astray  
In things pertaining to this life on earth.

*Hilary:*  
What thou wouldst raise as hindrance to my work  
Doth but confirm my purpose; thou hast proved  
That in thyself I now have one friend more  
To stand beside me in my search for truth.  
How could I have conjectured up till now  
Thy knowledge of the nature of those souls  
Who fain would come and join me in my task?  
Thou know'st. the perils ever threat'ning them,  
So will their actions make it clear to thee  
That they know paths where they are kept from harm.  
Soon thou wilt doubtless know that this is so,  
And I shall find henceforth as in the past  
In thee a counsellor, who doth not fail.

*Manager:*  
I cannot lend my strength to fashion deeds  
Whose processes I do not understand.  
Those men whom thou didst trust still seem to me  
Misled by the illusion I have named:  
And others too, who listen to their words,  
Will victims to that same illusion fall  
Which doth o'erpower all thought that knows its goal.  
My help and counsel evermore shall be  
Thine to command as long as thou dost need  
Acts based upon experience on earth;  
But this new work of thine is not for me.

*Hilary:*  
By thy refusal thou dost jeopardize  
A work designed to further spirit-aims.  
For I am hampered lacking thine advice.  
Consider how imperious is the call  
Of duty when fate designs to make a sign,  
And such a sign I cannot but behold  
In these men being here at our behest.

*Manager:*  
The longer thou dost speak in such a strain  
More clearly dost thou prove thyself to me,  
The unconscious victim of illusion's spell.  
Thy purpose is to serve humanity,  
But in reality thou wilt but serve  
The group which, backed by thee, will have the means  
To carry on awhile its spirit-dream.  
Soon shall we here behold activities  
Ordained no doubt by spirit for these souls,  
But which will prove a mirage to ourselves  
And must destroy the harvest of our work.

*Hilary:*  
If thou wilt not befriend me with thine aid  
Drear doth the future stretch before my soul.

*(Enter Strader, left.)*

Dear Strader, I have long expected thee.  
As things are now it seems advisable  
To spend the present time in serious talk  
And later on, decide what we shall do.  
My dear old friend kath just confessed to me  
That he can not approve what we have planned.  
So let us now hear counsel from the man  
Who promises his spirit to our work.  
Much now depends upon how at this time  
Men recognize each other in their souls,  
Who each to each seem like a separate world  
And yet united could accomplish much.

*Strader:*  
And so the loyal friend of Hilary  
Will not join with us in the hopeful work  
Which our friend's wisdom hath made possible?  
Yet can our plan alone be carried out  
If his proved skill in life be wisely joined  
In compact with the aims of future days.

*Manager:*  
Not only will I hold myself aloof,  
But I would also make clear to my friend,  
That this design kath neither aim nor sense.

*Strader:*  
I do not wonder thou should'st hold that view  
Of any plan in which I am concerned.  
I saw a great inception come to grief  
Because to realise this true discovery  
The fuller forces still are hid to-day.  
'Tis known I drew from spirit-light the thought,  
Which, though proved true, yet had no life on earth.  
This fact doth witness 'gainst my power to judge  
And also kills belief that spirit hides  
The source of true creation on the earth.  
And 'twill be very difficult to prove  
That such experience hath giv'n me power  
Not to fall victim for the second time.  
I had to err this once that now I might  
With greater safety reach the land of truth.  
Yet 'tis but natural men should doubt my word.  
Thy spirit outlook most especially  
Must find our wisdom promise little gain.  
I hear thee praised for that keen sympathy  
Which goes out from thee to all spirit-life,  
And for the time and strength thou givest it.  
But it is also said that thou wouldst keep  
Thy work on earth severely separate  
From spirit-striving, which with its own powers  
Would work creatively in thy soul-life.  
To this pursuit thou wouldst devote alone  
Those hours which earthly labour doth not claim.  
The aim, however, of the spirit-tide  
Where I see clear life's evolution writ,  
Is to join spirit-work for spirit-ends  
To earthly labours in the world of sense.

*Manager:*  
So long as spirit but to spirit gives  
All it can do in free creative might,  
It raiseth souls in human dignity  
And gives them reason in their life on earth.  
But when it seeks to live out its own self  
And over others' selves to domineer  
It straightway Both draw nigh the realm in which  
Illusion often can endanger truth.  
This knowledge unto which I have attained  
By personal effort in the spirit lore  
Doth make me act as I do act to-day;  
It is not personal preference, as thou  
Misled by what is said of me, wouldst think.

*Strader:*  
An error 'tis in spirit-knowledge then  
That makes thee hostile to the views I hold.  
Through this will difficulties multiply.  
No doubt 'tis easy for the spirit-seer  
To work in partnership with other men  
Who have already let themselves be taught  
By life and nature what existence means.  
But when ideas which claim that they do spring  
From spirit sources join reluctantly  
With others flowing from the self-same source,  
One can but seldom hope for harmony.

*(After a period of quiet meditation.)*

Yet that which must will surely come to pass.  
Renewed examination of my plans ...  
Perhaps may make thee change the views, to which  
On first consideration thou dost cling.

*Curtain whilst all three are sunk in reflection*