THE WHITE MAHATMA. WHAT PROF. BALDWIN DISCOV- ERED CONCERNING EAST- ERN MAGIC. By the Use of Natural Laws and Some Humbug He Mystified and Fright- ened Adepts in the Mystic Art. And what is a Mahatma? Prof. Baldwin explzins it etymologically as meaning ‘‘a great soul,”’ In its tech- nical sense in India and Thibet it designates a person who can do won- derful things that border upon the supernatural, and who is looked upon as an expert or adept in the occult sciences. It is not an official title, but is bestowed by general acclaim. In this a Mahatma differs from a Yogi, who is a priest by profession. A fakir is a lower order of religious mendi- eants, who impose on the public by mere sleight of hand. How did the Professor become a Mahatma? Startingin life as a pub- lic exposer of the frauds of spiritual- ism and the tricks of conjurers, he gradually became interested in mes- merism, hypnotism, telepathy and all kindred subjects. While he em- phatically repudiates any belief in the supernatural, he yet holds that there are unseen forces in nature which can be utilized in a manner that seems supernatural to the yul- gar, and are not within the mental powers of the race to explain on any known scientific basis, That that basis exists he holds to be incontro- | vértible: that with the growth of the | human intelli it will be el to be within the limits of rational | explanation, he holds as a matter of | positive faith. He himself has found | in his wife a clairvoyant of extraor-| dinary powers. who, when she passes | into the hypnotic state, can and does perform marvels of mind reading and of apparent vaticination. ron ee gence Naturally | his mind yearned toward the dim and mysterious East, where the occult] sciences are believed to hae reached | their highest development. He wished | to pursue his studies into the region of the unknown. He held his mind open to accept it as the unknowable if it so appeared to him after exam- ination. At last the opportunity came. With his wife he went into the very home of mystery and magic. He met the Yogis and the Mahatmas face to face, and beat them on their own ground. He drew large audiences, and the rajahs and mabarajahs who were familiar with the feats of the best native mystery men confessed themselves amazed and baffled by his performances. It was then that a native paper hailed him as the White Mahatma, andthe Maharajah Jotun- dra Motundra Tegoa of Calcutta said to him: “You must become one of} us.”” and so introduced him to the higher circles of the Brahmins, to eir- | cles where Mme. Blavatsky had never been able to penetrate, for Mme. Bla- vatsky was a woman, and woman in India is looked on as an inferior, and is denied admittance to the esoteric mys series of the adepts. And after he had witnessed many of the performances of the Yogis he said to the Maharajah : “I see nothing wonderful in all these things. I can do them ail my- self.” Then the Maharajah replied: “There are men who are greater than these. I will colleet a number of the most famous Yogis in the city and The private scarce was given. The Yogis did their best to eclipse all the former brethren. whom the White Mahatma had seen. Some of their exploits were undoubtedly marvelous. Still the Professor refused to see any- thing in them save the operation of natural laws. He leaned over to the Maharajah and said: “I can seatter all these men witha mere wave of my hand.”’ “Do it,”” replied the Maharajah, with an incredulous smile. The Professor bade his interpreter address the Yogis as follows: “How dare you come before me, who am the king of all supernatural workers, with #uch transparent tricks | as these? With a wave of my hand, | I ean summon fire from heaven to | burn you.”’ And then he brought his hands to- | 3 invite you to a special seance. You will then be convinced.”’ aah i RR A SR nissan ep — Postal Card Failures. The “retum’’ postal card—that is, the double one with the prepared at- tachment for the answer—is a fail ure, asthe postoffice authorities pre- dicted that it would be, and although only 12,000,000 of them were printed, several years ago, the demand has been so small that the greater part still remain on hand, and 12,000,000 is a small edition. The total number of postal cards used last year was 530,605,606, and 18,889,000 of these were the foreign or intervational cards bearing a 2-cent stamp. There was a pressure for the double card certain agitators who thought business interests demanded it, but it is o flat failure. The officials at the Postoffice Department think the reason is that the return card gether and justantly flames burst forth from the linen garments that they wore around their loins and | their back. Shrieking, they snatched and fled from the scene. i This exploit earned him a great | reputation, Ever after when any Yogis or fakirs met him on the street they would flee from the presence of the man who had hell fire at his command. The Professor explains that this is one of his own inventions in the way | of conjuring tricks. Indeed, he ac- | knowledges that in all his connection | with the Hindoos he mixed up triek-* PROF. BALDWIN. ery and chicanery with honest work und that he always found they were more interested in the chizziery. ““No,”! continued the Professor, “there is a coal of fire in all this oc- cult business, but it is clouded over with an immense amount of smoke and rubbish. I have learned some- thing in India, mostly in the way of thought reading and trance revels tion. I am convinced that the Ma hatmas possess secrets as to certain forces of nature which the unitiated for to pay one cent for a new aud clean one. The ‘dude card’’ is also a failure, The ‘‘dude ecard’ is the familiar name which the authorities have given to the little postal card which is made of fine paper and printed with blue ink. [It was made especially for the use of the ladies and costs more to manufacture than the large one, but the ladies, as well as everyone else, seem to prefer the latter, prob. ably for the reason that they get more for their money .~—{ Washington Let. ter. - YStreteh!” Your vioroughbrod base ball crank is one of the most genial and accom. Me loves his led Curing mails i tter than a of the broad spirit of hi know nothing of. They can establish , telepathic communication better than | any people on earth, TI have studied { their methods. 1 am satisfied that {under certain conditions of health | and environment 1 can communicate | with my wife half a mile off. Nay, when I am to be a hundred miles away from her, I simply agree that at a given hour every day we shall { both shut up ourselves alone in a { dark room, and I know that if any accident or harm befall her I shall | pression. But in other respects | even the best work of the Yogis has | been greatly exaggerated. It is the | old story of the three crows. BStories pass from mouth to mouth, and are exaggerated at each successive repe- tition. Nay, even eye witnesses of unimpeachable character cannot be trusted. I met a fellow-countryman | in India who was a firm believer. | Among other wonderful things which { he related was the following: A cer- | tain Mahatma, in his presence and | that of numerous others, had thrown a ball of thin rope into the air, i after attaching one end of the rope to the ground. The ball soared upward until finally it disappeared rope was held taut. child ran up the rope and a peared into space, where ma shortly followed h child and Mahatma solid ground. 1 st lieve this unless 1 of my own 11 up into space eves 2 Mahatma we travelled a lon where the “Accordingly distance to lived, | i hs A seore of people ind the Maha*ma while he performed thetrick. For mysell I had a theory that he merely mes. merised the entire crowd and made them believe what he chose. 1 there. thirty feet away, | fluence of hypnotic in= | fluence, While the others were | straining their necks to look upward, and were admiration, did my produced saw it. “When all was my came back to me triumphant. “ Now.’ he said, ‘do you believe ?’ i “No,” I replied, ‘I saw nothing.’ “In vain I appealed to my assist. ants. In vain I pointed to the neg- atives that 1 had taken. My friend turned upon me furiously and said ‘I think you are not telling the truth. I think you area knave.’ “‘He turned on his heel and never gpoke to me again.” Professor Baldwin emphatically disbelieves in the current stories of fakirs who bury themselves alive for months at a time, and are then re- guscitated by their followers. He holds there is a trick here. faker is buried, undoubtedly. Un- prejudiced watchers are placed over 4 his grave until the allotted time has expired. But in the interim the fakir has made his way through a subterranean passage to the outer air and does not return till the time when he is to be resurrected. Ag mementoes of his visit to India Professor Baldwin has a marvellous collection of jewelry—-rubies from Burmah, green rubies, rose diamonds, sparkling amethysts, opals and moonstones—as well as photographs of places and scenes, and of the Ra- jahs, Maharajahs and Sultans who entertained him and presented him with royal gifts.—~[New York Re- corder. ca kept some with wonder and | nothing. Neither | The camera re- scene exactly as shouting I saw assistants, the we | friend over which throbs and pulsates through his bosom may be seen any day at the grand ste.nd at the ball ground Yet 1 have never seen it noted before, It is clear to anybody who knows the fine points of the game that if people kept popping up and down in orders to take the creaks out of their jointas and unlimber themselves generally, they would be howled down as public nuisances. Therefore, the old spec tators have cultivated a subtle sym. pathy which teaches them when the majority of them want to stretch. Some man will discover this by in. spiration and eall out: “Stretoh!™’ Then the whole audience will rise slowly, strelch its collective limbs, inflate its regated lungs, and then slowly ae don the on banclios ry t's with a lon a 5 ne Ho ‘ork Press, SOMEWHAT STRANGE. INTERESTING NOTESAND MAT. TERS OF MOMENT. Queer Facts and Thrilling Adventures Which Show that Truth is Stranger Than Fiction. A scnooL district in Grant county, Kansas, coutains only one family The father, mother and eldest have elected themselves trustees nnd appointed the eldest daughter, nt $85 a month, to teach the younger children. SON A Kextveky calf, oneday old, per- formed the wonderful féeat of jump- i distance of 500 t, without rump- ling a hair. The calf was taken down the river aad hauled home in a wagon safe and sound. fod Tue Indians of Guiana have a curious numeration, They count by the hand and its four fingers. Thus, when they reach five, instead of say- ing so, they call it a‘ hand.’ Bix is therefore, a ‘hand and first finger,” twenty, ] I which is called ’ man. A he family of Dave Myler, of Johnson vy. Mo. As twoof the legs were for FOUR-LEGGED chicken came into and the othertwo lways insisted on walking backward, found it world and : aespair. unfortunate chicken iit to advance in the » up the effort in A CROW wi and t trapper in Cartwright fin made a which was ¢ foot. This becat % Ox gireet of a d Ie the Ceres The wh ¢ catches peats them with w He has master 18 now practicing aie which hi noticed rnity are not is kn and in the descriptions in the possessi thi be pen A VERY curious temperance society exists in the Siberian village of Ash- Every year, in September, the meet in the church, solemn promise 10 a = te th wiedge, detectives eannot 4 ied upon. alway ' 0 ana a abstain year. They also sign an agreement that any person breaking the pledge shall pay a fine of twenty-five rubles upon by hig more continent fellows The most peculiar fonture of the whole however, is that the mem- bers on the day of the year when the the few hours the ensuing year is made. most faithful but that Oxe of Uncle Sam's servants, in Maine, draws no salary, lives at the Port land Head Lighthouse. This is a large, gray parrot, brought from Af. rica some time ago and presented to the keeper of the light. The soon noticed that when the fog began to blow in from the ocean, somebody would ery out, ‘‘Fog coming in; blow the horn!’ One day the fog suddenly began to come in thick, and one Poll noticed this and croaked “Fog coming in; blow busy. out, to ceptible, Poll never (fails warning. give Epwannp Britt and John Merkert cated in the swamp near Abbett ave- nue, Morristown, N. J. Merkert was the marksman, and, after partly de- stroying the nest with a load of shot, turbed hornets. and, between the attack made upon him by the combined forces of hor- in very warm quarters. and both eyes were closed. Ture French papers have been no ting the curious way in which the career of President Carnot was con- nected with the figure 7." born in 1887, was admitted to the Ecole Polytechnique in 1857, was elected by virtue of Article 7 of the Constitution to the office of President of the Republic in 1887, was assas- sinated at the age of fifty-seven years, in the seventh year of his presidency, in a carriage containing seven per. sons (four inside and three outside, os coanchman and two footmen), on the scventh day of the week, by an Italian (a of seven letters). Fi. $ i sin-Puschkin, Commander-in-Chief of | the Southern Province of Russia, was reviewing the troops at Nicolaieff. | | There was a park of forty guns on | the field, and their simultaneous dis- charge startled the General's charger, which bolted at a terrific speed to- ward the railway just as a train was approaching. An aide-de-camp vainly endeavored to overtake the animal when Lieutenant Daniloff, 8 mounted military officer, placed himself di- rectly across the path of the runa- way. The was terrific. Both men and he ere bowled over in a scrambling heap, and or two were hidden in a cious dust. Fortunately, h the mander-in-Ch impact IrSes WwW for a minute hot ef and the escaped with some severe the former having one of sprained. 1 } Tur Savannah (Ga.) News tells this remarkable story Near ldlew Park, Thursday, while John J. Bur rus farmer engaged in paring ground for sweet potatoes discovered a chicken snake feet long, which he killed. that it was of unusual siz tion to its length, he cut make a post-mortem and found that the tained two large-sized opal egos, Mr. Burrus says that boy was visiting a lived near Tallanhasse by the Wells Hamlin, and whi setting | had been iarge chic g £ i was 3 + abou he 1 i! hen driven } nest Her Less The by a was soon BOARS i by ViPORST iis presen 3 for one of t! Eho eter hia I% ganisgiant wv » venture again The affair creat nto the because of the high and of the humiliatis ment dealt out to him physician ing cases « to be found have had a severe ills i mu of the wy are to V diseas: ore mmon fi OO, 18 the forgettin of ow a wm dent of the past save morbid mind never « A very pathetic kind is recorded in Bec) Jurisprudence It is young clergyman who one the harp ase of the Medical that of « Was = tally sl 10t in the forehead days before his marriage was taken place. For a long time was despaired of. He rec nis mental faculties had beco paired He remembered not! the idea of the approachir 1 Everything was absorbed in that « recoll reinted event overed his whole conversation pre} for the He would never speak on any other subject; it was always within two days of his wedding. Years went on, youth passed away, and in a couple of days more his marriage would take place. In this condition the unfortunate man reach- ed his eightieth year, and no doubt sank into the grave with the one life. long idea as the last thought of his mind. ection; to the aration still A meal infant phenomenon keeps all the medical men and pedagogues of the good oid town of Brunswick, The little son of a local butcher, a baby just two years old, can read with perfect ease anything written or printed in German or Lat- i. characters. A few weeks ago three troduced to them at the house «f one | of the learned gentlemen. The first) thing the little one did when into the consulting | room was to stand on his toes at wherefore of tlis uncanny accom. plishment is that, when the baby was mother took him out, he always im- mediately caught sight of the inserip- tions over shops, and asked about them as only a small child can ask, till he had fathomed the meaning of the letters. It was the same at home; books and newspapers had greater fascinations than lollipops and toys, and whatever the parents playfully told him he remembered, Nith the result that at the age of two years, he reads with perfect ease. Apart from his accomplishment in reading, She boy's development is quite nore mal. Ax inhabitant of Voro, in Finland, named Sellquist, who for a long time past has been living on bad terms with his wits, bad y Pa escape from poisoned or. Bie allel at w oorinwa, and asked suspicions aroused, and gave the On second thoughts he decided to mention the matter to the husband, and requested him to say nothing about it to his wife. In the evening, us she was preparing the porridge, the man kept a watchful eye on her movements, and noticed that she scattered something out of a paper into the saucepan. When the por- ridge was ready he sat down to the table and began to eat. After a while he got up in great excitement, paced up and down the room and at last 11 fainting on the floor, This was the woman expected. She now yulled down a rope through a hole in i ling with noose, which she round husband's neck, rior a her yn she ran up stairs into the in order to pull up ang her husband in that fon. Meantime the husband got and tied a to the The wife did not return to as shie dreaded the few chairs t hie but an als hushand had hb " he i neight there ibsence, a host of ¥ mn } y n her eyes * LEAs iting at the SAT ON THE HOT RAILS. A Band of Apaches Given a Surprise on & Train. fi and He to climb up on a ride. The scheme, and as ome fun. e Indians all cars and bh in the Indians were upon the backed his engine with a could ride a bucking i unstead- new to Ro as #1 t y condition of ion was i the entire party sat down on the raiis “Well ms was shattered i Tryin as INoR # a of Indian stoieism There were shrieks new notes to the regula. tion war whoop, and the Apaches left that train and started off across the hot sands in a way that would have turned all gray if they had been oming toward us instead of ranning away. They undoubtedly to this minute remember that as the hottest day they ever knew.'—{ Chicago Tri- bune. ii ‘ 3 that added us What Soda Will Do. In washing dish towels, brushes, the sink and other utensils, dissolved soda will be found most useful, cleaning and sweetening all that it touches. It should be kept in a large olive bottle and should be la~ bellied “washing soda.’’ To prepare it put one pint of the dry soda in a saucepan kept for this purpose, and add to it three quarts of boiling water. Let this mixtare stand upon the stove, stirring it fre- quently, until the soda is dissolved. When cold put into bottles. This agent for cleaning and sweetening the plumbing in the house. Pour a pint of the hot liquid into cach bowl, basin and sink about once a fort night. As the liquid unites with free of greasy deposits. It is well to buy this soda by the quarter barrel, It is extremely cheap when bought by the quantity.—{New York World. Ee ori Cost of Growing Wheat. The Department of Agsiculture has issued a summary ¢ from esti. mates of 25,000 farmers of the West and Northwest, and of 4,000 experts of the department on the cost of growing wheat. The a o cost Jor acre for the region covered is §11.- , while the average for Wisconsin is more than a dollar higher, or $12.« 98. Ground rent is the heaviest sin oy item, and re iad ab nearly per acre. cipal items of cost have remained about normal du ring the four or five years, being slightly higher where any change is noted, owing to the increase of labor during the from 1890 to riod, however, the
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers