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{{Style P-Title|THE “HIRAF” CLUB AND ITS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND}}

{{Style P-Title|THE “HIRAF” CLUB AND ITS HISTORICAL BACKGROUND}}

Mention has already been made of the names of William M. Ivins and William S. Fales, two attorneys at law who represented H.P.B. in her court-case at Riverhead, Long Island, N. Y. As these two individuals, together with several of their friends, played an important part in H.P.B.’s literary activity at its very inception, the following excerpt from the work of Charles R. Flint, Memories of an Active Life, from which we already had occasion to quote, will be of interest to the reader. Mr. Flint writes:

[Mention has already been made of the names of William M. Ivins and William S. Fales, two attorneys at law who represented H.P.B. in her court-case at Riverhead, Long Island, N. Y. As these two individuals, together with several of their friends, played an important part in H.P.B.’s literary activity at its very inception, the following excerpt from the work of Charles R. Flint, Memories of an Active Life, from which we already had occasion to quote, will be of interest to the reader. Mr. Flint writes:

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“But despite his gifts, Fales lacked purpose and the will for sustained effort. He was conscious that he could surpass most men if he cared to exert himself. This circumstance, as in the case of the hare and the tortoise, frequently caused his failure, a duller competitor securing the victory.

“But despite his gifts, Fales lacked purpose and the will for sustained effort. He was conscious that he could surpass most men if he cared to exert himself. This circumstance, as in the case of the hare and the tortoise, frequently caused his failure, a duller competitor securing the victory.

“He often said that life was a joke and he generally appeared to make this epigram the maxim of his career. Thus, while he was recognized by his fellows in the Columbia School of Mines, as the most brilliant mathematician that school had ever had, and as a student who in less time than any other could accomplish a given task, after leading his class in the first year he fell to the middle in the second year, and failed of graduation in the third. An enraged father sent him to Brazil to follow a business career. Tiring of that after a year’s absence, he returned to New York and to Columbia, where he passed his examinations and received his degree after a very {{Page aside|97}} brief period of study. From the School of Mines he went to the School of Law. Indeed, there is little that he did not attempt.

“He often said that life was a joke and he generally appeared to make this epigram the maxim of his career. Thus, while he was recognized by his fellows in the Columbia School of Mines, as the most brilliant mathematician that school had ever had, and as a student who in less time than any other could accomplish a given task, after leading his class in the first year he fell to the middle in the second year, and failed of graduation in the third. An enraged father sent him to Brazil to follow a business career. Tiring of that after a year’s absence, he returned to New York and to Columbia, where he passed his examinations and received his degree after a very  

 

 

 

 

 

{{Page aside|97}} {{Style P-No indent|brief period of study. From the School of Mines he went to the School of Law. Indeed, there is little that he did not attempt.}}

“For a while he taught 8 class of small boys at a Sunday School, and he filled their pockets with—cigars. He challenged a missionary to compete with him in a petition to Heaven. He lacked reverence, absolutely.

“For a while he taught 8 class of small boys at a Sunday School, and he filled their pockets with—cigars. He challenged a missionary to compete with him in a petition to Heaven. He lacked reverence, absolutely.

“. . . . The writers of the ‘Hiraf’ article are William M. Ivins, William E. S. Fales and myself. There were two others of our number who took a lively interest in our philosophic and theological discussions,—but they contributed little or nothing to the production. One was Charles F. Adams,—the other James Robinson. Of the group of five, all are dead but myself. The name ‘Hiraf’ was made up of the initial letters of our five names. I always thought that Adams had contributed some portion of the essay,—but, shortly before his death, in reading over the article with me, he said that he could not recognize that any part of it was his. All of us were young lawyers at the time, or students of the law, with exception of Robinson, who was a clerk in a commercial concern. Fales received the fragments prepared by Ivins and myself and, together with his own contribution, welded the three into one. Fales, Ivins and I wrote without consultation with one another on such topics as suggested themselves to us, after we separated one evening. We five often met at the house of Fales (a many-sided genius) to read, to discuss literature, especially philosophic literature, and cognate matters . . . .

“. . . . The writers of the ‘Hiraf’ article are William M. Ivins, William E. S. Fales and myself. There were two others of our number who took a lively interest in our philosophic and theological discussions,—but they contributed little or nothing to the production. One was Charles F. Adams,—the other James Robinson. Of the group of five, all are dead but myself. The name ‘Hiraf’ was made up of the initial letters of our five names. I always thought that Adams had contributed some portion of the essay,—but, shortly before his death, in reading over the article with me, he said that he could not recognize that any part of it was his. All of us were young lawyers at the time, or students of the law, with exception of Robinson, who was a clerk in a commercial concern. Fales received the fragments prepared by Ivins and myself and, together with his own contribution, welded the three into one. Fales, Ivins and I wrote without consultation with one another on such topics as suggested themselves to us, after we separated one evening. We five often met at the house of Fales (a many-sided genius) to read, to discuss literature, especially philosophic literature, and cognate matters . . . .

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“. . . . We young men had little reverence, some learning and some power of expression, and, at the meeting referred to, jocularly suggested to one another the writing of a mystic article on Theosophy, esoteric science and what not. I had been reading Zanoni, a book on Rosicrucianism, and the life of Paracelsus,—so that I wrote, especially, along those lines. The Madame [H.P.B.] claimed to be a Rosicrucian and, when Fales received my contribution and Ivins’ contribution (this latter on recent phases of philosophical thought), he (Fales), without any consultation with either Ivins or myself, dubbed the article, which he compounded out of our three or four separate unrelated contributions—‘Rosicrucianism.’ Fales also created the acrostic ‘Hiraf’ out of our initials, and added five stars, probably suggested by three stars appended to an article which has previously appeared in the Madame’s paper. We all laughed heartily over the compounded article and sent it to the Madame in Boston. She published it in two numbers of her periodical, as I recall it, and wrote two very flattering editorials on ‘Hiraf.’ Our production provoked considerable comment, and called forth some correspondence from different widely separated quarters, some of which correspondence appeared in the Madame’s paper.

“. . . . We young men had little reverence, some learning and some power of expression, and, at the meeting referred to, jocularly suggested to one another the writing of a mystic article on Theosophy, esoteric science and what not. I had been reading Zanoni, a book on Rosicrucianism, and the life of Paracelsus,—so that I wrote, especially, along those lines. The Madame [H.P.B.] claimed to be a Rosicrucian and, when Fales received my contribution and Ivins’ contribution (this latter on recent phases of philosophical thought), he (Fales), without any consultation with either Ivins or myself, dubbed the article, which he compounded out of our three or four separate unrelated contributions—‘Rosicrucianism.’ Fales also created the acrostic ‘Hiraf’ out of our initials, and added five stars, probably suggested by three stars appended to an article which has previously appeared in the Madame’s paper. We all laughed heartily over the compounded article and sent it to the Madame in Boston. She published it in two numbers of her periodical, as I recall it, and wrote two very flattering editorials on ‘Hiraf.’ Our production provoked considerable comment, and called forth some correspondence from different widely separated quarters, some of which correspondence appeared in the Madame’s paper.

A brief item from the pen of Colonel Olcott introduced the “young author” to the reading public in rather laudable terms, and promised a reply from “a most competent hand.”

A brief item from the pen of Colonel Olcott introduced the “young author” to the reading public in rather laudable terms, and promised a reply from “a most competent hand.”

The article drew from H.P.B. an immediate reply which was her first major contribution on the subject of Occultism, a literary production which she herself called “My first Occult Shot.” The text of this reply, in the words of Col. Olcott (Old Diary Leaves. I, 103), “laid open the whole field of thought since ploughed up by the members, friends, and adversaries of the Theosophical Society.”

The article drew from H.P.B. an immediate reply which was her first major contribution on the subject of Occultism, a literary production which she herself called “My first Occult Shot.” The text of this reply, in the words of Col. Olcott (Old Diary Leaves. I, 103), “laid open the whole field of thought since ploughed up by the members, friends, and adversaries of the Theosophical Society.” —Compiler.]

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