THE STAR OF THE NORTE
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VOLUME 7.
THE STAR OF THE NORTH
I* PUBLISHXI) XVIRT THURSDAY MORTFINO BT
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SPIRITUAL MAGNETISM.
BT B. XT. WEAVER.
It is a great pity that every ecientifie in
vestigation must be perverted by mounte
bank* and chicanery to a base and ignoble
purpose. But it ha* ever been so; and since
the discovery of tbe magnetic needle was
abused to serve superstition, quackery has
ever followed at the heels of science. All
truo philosophers feel how much there is
still left (or them to lestn after they, have
treasured up the fruits of all past ages; and
only he who knows less than nothing thinks
he knows all. Swedenborg was a true men
tal philosopher—perhaps a little too enthu
siastic, —but his modern imitators are Bar-
Dumsoflhe "woolly horse" species.
In no department of knowledge are we
more deficient than in that where there was
most to be learned— the science of the mind—
There are a thousand mental phenomena
that no mortal philosopher ctn explain, and
every new eolution of mystery only shows
. us more clearly bow much there is yet un
explained. Some years sg6 two ecientifiic
men (Messrs.Tbilorierand Lafontaine) con
ducted a series of experiments io which they
demonstrated that there exists in the human
nerves an imponderable fluid which may be
considered as intermediate between the elec
tric and magnetic. Like the latter, the in
terposition ol glass does not prevent its trans
mission, and like the former, it may be felt
at a distance through the medium of copper
wire. Upon this fact instantly sprang up a
■core of theories and a swarm of lecturers.
La Roy Sunderland called bis science of life
Pathetism. Dr. Dod called hie science Bi
ology. Another lectured on Psychology.—
Some one else attended to the part imagina
tion played in this jugglery, and went about
feeding people brandy,water, wine rnd lem
onade all out of the same glass with nothing
at all in it. And still another of these attend
ed to the clairvoyant department—took the
spirit out of the flesh, and led it off on a
journey of discovery. This latter teems to
be the toughest business, and its operators
sometimes run against very crooked custom
ers. One English Professor, to test the skill
of the clairvoyants, wrote out e line of
Sbakespear end locked it in a box, offering
a large sura of money to any clairvoyant
who would read it there. It has not yet been
taken. Since the world has become inter
ested in the fate of Sir Joho Franklin many
clairvoyants have told distinctly where be is,
bat we may as well remark that no two agree
in their report of him.
But e new philosophy arose in the wake
of all the old theories, and what I would
prefer to call mental magnetism was per
verted into the business and art of calling up |
the spirits of tbe dead to rap out messages
like an electric telegraph, or to lift about
tables and make chairs dance. Perhaps I
can furnish you nothing more interesting
upon the subject than a brief account of the
origen of spirit-rapping in ibis cobntry.
In 1846 there lived in a small house in the
town of Arcadia, New York, the family of
Mr. Michael YYcekman. One evening he
thought he beard a rapping on tbe outside
door but upon opening it found no one there.
Tbe rapping was soon after repeated, but
upon opening the door instantly there was
no one visible. Mr. Weekman said ha could
fee! the jar of the door very plainly when
the rapping was heard. It seems that Mr.
Weekman soon after moved away from the
house and nothing more was heard of the
rapping or other manifestations, till it was
occupied by the family of Mr. John D. Fox,
who have since become so conspicuous with
the advent of spirits. In March 1848 they
for the first time heard tbe mysterious sounds
which seemed to be like a slight knocking
in one of the bedrooms on the floor. It was
in the evening just after they had retired.—
At that time the whole family occupied one
room and all distinctly heard the rapping.—
They arose and searched with a light but
were unable to find the cause of the knock
ing. It continued that night until they all
fell asleep, which waa not until nearly or
quite midnight. From this time the noise
continued to be heard every night. After
having been disturbed and broken of their
rest for several nigbls, in a vain attempt to
discover from whence the sounds proceed
ed, they resolved one evening that this night
they would not be disturbed by it whatever
it might be. But Mr. Fox had not yet re
tired when tbe usual signs commenced.—
The girls who occupied another bed in the
same room heard the sounds and endeavoied
to imitate Ibera by enapping their fingers.—
The attempt was made by the youngest girl,
then about 12 years old. When she made the
noise with ber fingers the sounds were re
pealed just as she made them. When she
stopped snapping her fingers the sounda
stopped for a short time. One of tbe other
girle then laid in spglt, (for they were get-
BLOOMSBURG, COLUMBIA COUNTV, PA., THURSDAY, APRIL 19, 1855.
ting to be moie amused than alarmed,)—
"Now do what I do. Coont ore, two, throe,
foar, five. eix,&c." At the same lime striking
one hand in the otfter. The same number
of blows or sounds were repeated as in the
former case. Mrs. Fox then said " count
ten," and there were ten distinct strokes or
sound*. She then said, " will you tell the
age of Cathy," (one of ber children) and it
was given by the same number of raps that J
she was years ot age. In like manner the
age of her diflereot children was told cor
rectly by this unseen visiter. Mrs. Fox then
asked if it was a human being that made
the noise, to manifest it by making the same
noise. There was no answer to this request.
She then asked if it was n spirit; and if so
to manifest it by making two distinct raps.
Instantly she heard two raps as she desired.
She (hen proceeded to inquire if it was an
injured spirit, and if so, to answer in the
same way, and the rapping was repeated.—
In this way it answered her until she ascer
tained that it purported to be the spirit of a
man who wan murdered in that house by a
person that had occupied it some years be
fore—that he was a pedler—that he was
murdered for his money and buried in (he
cellar. To the question how old ho was,
there were 31 distinct raps. By tho same
means it was ascertained that he was a mar
ried man and had left a wife and live chil
dren—that bis wife had been dead two years.
On the following Saturday they dug in the
cellar for the body until they came to water
and then gave it up. From that time on the
daughters of Mr. Fox practised the evoca
tion ol the dead, and improved very fast in
their influence and control over the spirits.
Chairs, tables and beds moved up and down,
to and fro, or wera suspended at their bid
ding by tho unseen power. At Auburn, N.
Y., on one occasion sounds on the wall,
bureau, table, floor and other places were
heard as loud as the striking of a hammer.
The table was moved about the room, and
turned over and back. Two men in the
company undertook to hold a chair down
while at their request a spirit moved it, and
notwithstandinglheyexertedalllheirstrength,
the chair could not be held still by them—a
proof that spirits are far more strong and
powerful than men. On another occasion
the sounds proper to a carpenter shop were
heard, apparently proceeding from the wall
and table. Sawing, plaining and pounding
with a mallet were imitated to the life, say
tbe spiritualists.
But Austinburgh beats all this in its draft
on our simple credulity. It appears f.om
the history that a young woman's busbaud
bad gone to Califoroia and was killed, as
bia spirit write*, by " swallowiug an alliga
tor." The widow was directed by the spirit
of her mother to marry a pedlar. The spir
its wrote out their directions, and these doc
uments are sworn to and subscribed by two
witnesses as the band writing of ike medi
um. Tbe spirits were trying to bring Pa
into the faith and directed the mediums to
appear like idiots, talk sll that came in their
minds, baptize each other and Pa too. This
done, a large Japan server was filled by spir
it direction with spools, thimbles, scissors,
shells and other traps. A work-box was al
so filled with spirit ammunition. At the stri
king of the clock the spirit seized tbe medi
um and forced her to throw the server and
all its contents down the stairway, whioh
echoing and reverberating like so many
Chinese gongs, starts all to their feet. One
enters the stairway and down comes a box
of traps like Hail Columbia upon bis bead.
He went up stairs—every thing in the room
was in the wildest confusion. One young
medium stood in wild affright at the physi
cal demonstrations. The widow lay sprawl
ing on the floor, the ghosts giving her fits.—
Her hair disheveled, eyes rolling, mouth
drooling, arms akimbo and limbs awry.—
When the old man turned his back a brush,
a shoe or something else was hurled at his
head. It is needless to add that the widow
was married to the pedlar.
The following will give yon in idea of the
character ol the communicalior.s rapped out
by the spirits under the aspices of Miss Mar
garetta Fox. The first is from a very pro
found spirit who says—"Now lam ready
my friends. There will be great changes in
the nineteenth century. Things that look
dark and mysterious to you will be laid
plaiu before your sight. Mysteries are go
ing to be revealed. The world will be en
lightened. I sign my name Benjamin Frank
lin."
One of tbe communications from Sweden
borg informs us that the pious Melencthon
in the future state was sometimes in an ex
cavated stone chamber and at other times in
hell—that when in the chamber lie was
oovered with bear skins to protect bim
from the cold—and that he refuses to see
visitors from this world on account of the
fiithiness of his appartments. A female
clairvoyant at Cleveland reports an interview
with Tom Paine, who, she says, recants his
errois and is at present stopping with Gener
al Washington and Ethan Allen at a hotel
kept by John Bunyan.
In the New York Tribune Of February 28lh
1851 I find the prospectus of a journal to be
published at Auburn ''lo be dictated by
spirits out of the flesh, and by them edited,
superintended and controlled. It* object (I
quote from the paper) is the disclosure of
truth from Heaven guiding mankind into
open vision of paradise, and open communi
cation with redeemed spirits. The circle of
apostles and propbete are its condbotcs from
the iaterior, holding control over its columns,
and permitting noartiole to find place therein
nnless originated, dictated or admitted by
' them. 1 have also eeen advertisements of
Trail aid Right Gcfl aid ear Country.
" A
6B3 , a^aBIDnaK2riI3CE)mCB3-
spiritual letter paper and envelopes to en
close the same for those who wish to avail
themselves of an opportunity to write to
their deceased friends in the other spheres.
In the Spiritual Telegraph there are many
advertisements where mediums propose to
cure all diseases. One lady clairvoyant
gives public notice that her charges for every
examination of disease will be oue dollar,
and where a personal examination oan not
be had the subject sbail send a lock of hair
and the charge will be three dollars.
In the Shektnah and Spiritual Telegraph the
organs of the most ultra of the new philoso
phers I find the certificate of some people
in Springfield Massachusetts who say that
on one occasion the table around which they
were seated was moved by an invisible and
onkuown agency, with such irresistable
force that no one in the circle oould hold it.
Two men standing on opposite sides and
grasping it at the same time, and in such a
manner as to have the greatest possible ad
vantage—could not, by the utmost exercise
iof their powers, restrain its motion. In
spite of their exertions the table was moved
from ono to three feel. A medium inquired
I if the spirits could disengage or relax the
hold of a Mr. Foulds, whan suddenly—and
tn a manner whally unaccountable—3lr.
Foulds was seated on the floor at a distance
of several feet from the table, having been
moved so gently, and yet so instantaneously
as scarcely to be conscious of the fact. It
was proposed to further lest this invisible
power, and accordingly five men whose
united weight was 655 pounds stood on a ta
ble (without castots) and while the men
were on, it was repeatedly moved a distance
of from four to eight inches. That would
seem to have been quite a job for the spir
its.
In a neighboring county a Methodist cler
gyman of intelligence, character and correct
lite came to believe in the spirtual manifes
tations, and concluded that the spirit of Dr.
Fish called upon him to write a defence ol
the new faith. He did so, and was indefi
nitely suspended from the ministry for here
sy. I have now shown you what the spit-
I dualists claim.
But these new philosophers liks other
people have had their troubles. Mrs. Cul
ver, a member of the Fox family has recan
ted her new faith and published her version
of what she formerly called '■' phenomena."
As a part of the history of rappinge it is in
teresting.
Now as Mrs. Culver has never been chal
lenged by the Foxes to prove the genuine
noss of her toe-rapping it is somewhat diffi
cult to arbitrate between these ladies.
One case which has come to ray atten
tion is to be explained in a different manner.
A well dressed Professor of Spiritualism with
a wise look and face full of hair was work
ing wonders in a small village in New York.
He called up scores of ghosts and made them
tell the genealogical history of sll the old
families in the place. The credulous were
delighted and the skeptics staggered. The
ghosts brought back old reminiscenses until
the whole generations of the past were heard
from; and names and dates were given
with astonishing precision. The Professor
was a lion and the village was all in agita
tion. Finally it was discovered (for there
are always impertinent and meddlesome
people about) that the hostler at the hotel
had a quarrel with the Professor and refused
any longer to go out at night to copy inscrip
tions from the tombstones; and very soon
thereafter the Professor left the place in dis
gust.
Now some of these ghosts are spiritual in
a double sense,and do not seem to have sha
ken off all their bad habits of tha flesh. Lot
me give you a case from the spiritual books,
well authenticated. Kern bad engaged Habns
servant lo stay with him. One night, as
Kern lay in his bed. and this man was stand
ing near the glass door in conversation with
him, to his utter amazement, he beheld a
jug of bear whioh stood on a table in the
room, at some distance from him, slowly lif
ted to a height of about three feet, and the
contents poured into a glass that was stand
ing there also, the latter was half full.
The jug was then gently replaced and tbe
glass lifted and emptied as by some one
drinking, whilst John the servant exclaimed
in terrified surprise, "Lord—it swallows!"—
The glass was quietly replaced, and net a
drop of beer waa to be found on the floor.
After this, if your tea, sugar or brandy dis
appears in a mysterious manuer yen will
know where it has gone; snd if any thing is
wrong in the household your servant is not
to blame, for the spirits bave doubtless been
paying you a visit and enjoying your hospi
tality.
Many persons may think that no such de-
I have related have ever been
heard of before" this modern spiritualism
came in fashion. But auch are fur deficient
in their education upon mental philosophy
and the history of popular delusions. There
is no novelty in this spiritualism, and its as
sumed philosophy is very old. Homer tells
us ol walking tripods in his day. That the
Witch of*Eudor raised Samuel from the dead
)on are all taught to bolieve from your early
childhood. 1 have read the report of a trial
for sorcery which took place in London about
the close of the 17th century, in which twen
ty or thirty witnesses (all admitted by tho
court and the counsel on both sides to be en
titled to credit) declared upon oath that they
beheld certain prodigious occurrences which
we find to be analagous, in all respects, to
the phenomena of Modern Spiritualism.—
Then we have the era of the Salem Witch
craft ; and io all agaa lha oaparfliiious hare
been awed by unaccountable mental phe
nomena, and the credulous by arts of ma
gic.
At one' timo a sect arose amortg the
Welsch called the Jumpers, who were affect
ed by a magnetic epidemic, or mental illu
sion. In France a similar sect arose called
the Whippers, who sought religion by whip
ping each other. They were sad and gloomy,
and swelled to thousands. Multitudes of
ibem—prießts and cardinals—were often
seen in (he sheets with leathern thongs whip
ping each others naked backs.
In 1837 a eect of Dancers sprang up in
Flanders. They would all at once fall to
dancing in tbe most violent manner, and.
when exhausted by thß exercise would fall
down together in a trance, ha J visions, saw
spirits, and would finally awake from the
state. The sect was numerous,and Mosheirr.
tells us tbey were cured by music. He traces
them down to the present Shakers, who, it
seems, have had writing and speaking medi
ums for more than a century. In 1688 a sect
of Convnlsionists appeared in France. Five
or six hundred Protestants of both sexes re
garded themselves inspired by the Holy Ghost.
They in the main resembled the Jumpers.
Their number swelled to thousands, and they
were of all ages and sexes, but chiefly boys
and girls and persons of middle age. They
had strange fits, staggered and trampled, and
fell down as in a trance. They struck them
selves, fell on their backs and heaved their
breasts. They remained awhile io trances
and declared theysaw Heayen, Hell, Paradise
and angels. They had violent agitations of
the body, and the hills resounded with their
cries for mercy and imprecations against the
priests.
The earlier Mormons were frequently at
tended with twitching and convulsions, and
in one of their meetings which i attended I
saw the manifestations of minds that enthu
siasm had prepared for any distorted impres
sions.
The believers in Millerism record eome
phenomena as mysterious as any of the new
philosophers have seen, and give us about
equally good authority in proof, which we
may accept if we please. At a meeting of
the friends of Millerism held in Waltham in
1842, a lady was taken from her seat (they
say) by some unseen power, and catried up
to the ceiling of the room ; and she afterward
declared that it waa dooe without anv effort
on her part. Mora recently another lady of
the same place testifies that she has in a sim
ilar manner been taken from her seat in
ohurch and carried up above the tops of the
pews, and at times at the advent meetings
strar.ge noises have been beard. Houses al
so have been shaken, mirrors shattered to
pieces and furniture broken.
How much like this are tbe cases which
the Harmonial Philosophers furnish. Take
one by La Roy Sunderland, for be ia among
the highest authority; A clarivoyaut medi
um was taken to Cambridge for the purpose
of visiting a gentleman (who bad been con
fined by a spinal difficulty some ten years or
more. Tbe spirits gave beautiful response*
for his consolation, and in the sight of all
present the sick his bed were mo-
ved by spiritual bands alone. The tick man
and the bed whereon he lay were both mo
ved by alteuding rpirhs without any human
power. Alter this (he story of Mahommed'e
coffin can be believed.
Now it will occur to ue all that if tbe spirits
ot tbe dead are permitted to resist the earth
it will be for a wise and benevolent purpose
—for a design commensurate with the other
providences ol the Creator which we wit
ness and experience every day in the world
of the beautiful and the good around us. If
a sainted mother were allowed to return to
the earthly home of her children it would be
to hover over them and with her spirits wings
to shield them from danger. If she could
converse with them it would be in messages
of the most tender love and kindest admoni
tion. She would instil lessons of devotion
and duly ; and wonld guide and gnard the
•rringstep of youth, instead of breaking mir
rors and making chairs dance. She would
lead the mind upward to the contemplation of
a higher and holier existence hereafter, in
stead of suspending dumb matter in mid-air
as an object of mystery, astonishment or ter
ror.
If death does not sunder the lie that here
binds kindred minds in sweet communion,
their converse from sphere to sphere will be
such ssthat, when, in silence, soul answered
soul through mortal eyes that beamed with
a spirit, till each forgot the frailty of mankind
and the hollowness of entth. If spirits can
revisit those who were near and dear in the
flesh it will not be only to gratify idle curi
osity but to enlighten and instruct—to prepare
the earthly being for fit companionship
with tho beings ol a btghor and better exist
ence.
Some of the spirits we read of in the spir
itual publications bave worked conviction on
skeptics by such treatment as that at Auslin
bnrg, and in other cases by pounding and
blows. These must have been the spirits of
the old inquisitors, and some of us van only
regret that ttiey did not let us find them sub
jects.
The new philosophers prove lo us that the
spirits exercise a great degree of muscular
lorce ; and now it will occur strange to you,
as it often has to me, that if they are good
spirits this power should not be applied to
somepractical good purpose—as, for instance,
to stopping a lococomotive wher. it runs off
tho track —arresting children when about to
fall into' accident or mischief—restraining
tbe hand of crime— or chastening the offen
ders against divine and human laws The
Only practical purpose to which I have ygl
heard that the new power lias been applied
is the cure of nervous diseases in ladies ; and
after reading the case of Perkins' celebrated
metallic tractors and some other instances of
that kind, our faith may well be shaken ex
cept so far is electro-magnetism has cured
some cases of nervous disorder. But music
and light bave also been effectually used in
the core of diseases.
I believe there was a Bank started at Chi
cago under the auspices of the spirits, but as
it suspended payment and its vaults had to
be opened with crow-bars, of course those
spirits were not genuine but "bogus," and
the whole school must not be held responsi
ble for the actQ of one bad schnlar.
And let not Pennsylvanians be too vaih
glorious ol their fame for wisdom, it ie sol
emnly recorded that once upon a time an old
woman was put upon her trial for sorcery in
Philadelphia. Wm. Penn was the judge be
fore whom the proceedings look place and
he delivered a grave and learned charge to
the jury, who reported that the friends of the
old la.ly should go bail for her good behav
ior
Now the spiritual phenomena could not be
designed lo convince manhood of a future
state of existence, if reason and revelation
—if the instinct shown by the untutored sav
age when he prepares for his other hunting
ground beyond tho stream of Time—if the
design of rewards and punishments which is
manifested in all nature, antl yet often not
completed in this life—if all these are un
heeded by any mind, aud pass by as the idle
wind—that mind would not be convinced
though one arose from the dead' Indeed it
would do violence to the free moral respon
sibility of man to force conviction against
such stubbornness.
But let us do justice to the honest investi
gation of tnis and all other subjecte. It is
too late in the worldV history to dress out
any novel phenomenon with hoofs, horns and
tail, and thereupon forbid any one to go near
or look toward it. Thirty thousand pulpits
and twenty thousand presses have waged a
five years warfare against tho whole subject
of spiritualism, and yet in that rime it his
made one million of proselytes. The very
existence of a counterfeit and hypocrisy im
plies the preexistenoe of sincerity and reali
ty. And so too do juglery and imposture im
ply and demonstrate a preceding verity. If
we investigate honestly there is no risk that
we shall find anything supernatural or dan
gerous—not a whit more en, at least, than
electricity or some chemical phenomena
were once believed lo be. Scientific re
search will not show us any thing in the
world of spirits, but only a little more of
earth.
Now it has been demonstrated that one
person can, under certain ciroumatances, ex
ert and maintain an undefined power over
tho nerves, the motion, and over the percep
tions and will of another. There oertainly
is in the human organism an ocoult or la
tent power entirely traneoending the bounds
of every-day experience. Medical books of
observation written centuries ago record euob
phenomena as those of modern Clarivoyance
and Magnetism, and equally without the do-
main of vulgar probability. That sick par
sons, especially when near death, have often
exhibited a condition termed coma, trance,
or catalepsy; wherein tbe soul would seem
to bsve shaken off its carnal fetters, and ta
ken-cognizanon of whatever attracted its re
gard, in absolute defiance of physical imped
iments is as well established as any fact of
unusual occurrence.
There are'many mental phenomena in the
oases of persons mortally diseased, keenly
suffering or partially insane which no philoso
pher has yelexpluined,and yet which we must
admilexisf. And these should admonish usnol
to deny anything because we cannot under
stand it at once. Electricity is guilty of many
unaccountable pranks, and the manner in
which our impressions of external objects are
carried over our nerves to tbe mind is very
poorly understood. And yet, because some
strange things are real, it by no means fol
lows that we must admit every claim under
the mysterious.
The adventurers who call up the spirita of
Washingtoh and Franklin to beat a tat-too on
the table or teach the chairs a gig for a dol
lar from each of the audience, are not such
philosophers as nature generally aelects for
her ministers. From these you will learn
nothing to make you wiser or better. But
table rapping and the evocation of spirits is
not the substance of the new philosophy, and
so far as these go you will agree with me
that we might dismiss the subject. But
there are conditions of the human mind that
deserve our attention. There are lime9when
it builds a world of spirits within itself.—
Then again memory unites with the organs
or nerves of sight, and the past stands a re
ality before us tor a lime. Hope and imagi
nation join with the nerves of sight and the
world of tho luture is opened to our vision
until flesh and blood dispel the reverie. Im
pulse and energy then often aid to realize
the picture of the day dream.
Nicolai, a Prussian bookseller and a gen
tleman of intelligence, was want to amuse
himself by watching the phantoms that arose
before his vision when the action of his brain
became disordered. Sometimes he could
scarcely distinguish them from reality, for
they blended with the company into which
he entered in the most amazing and natural
manner. They appeared to him as distinct
ly as if they were olive, exhibiting different
shades of flesh color in the uncovered parts
and a great variety in the colors and fashions
of their dresses. He also imagined he heard
their voices when (hey seemed to be talking
to each other. He never pretended there
was any thing supernatural in the phenome
na but well knew that his iriiagination was
only taking a free sweep unrestrained by the
guide of his judgment and comparison.—
When he wi>bed to dispel the strange visi
tors he simply used the means to restore the
brain to a healthy stale. But Blake, the
painter, seems, according to Cunningham's
memoirs of him, to have possessed the pow
er ofcallingup such phantasms at will, though
still they sometimes so mastered his judg
ment that he confounded them with realities.
He was in the habit of conversing with an
gels, demons and heroes, snd taking their
likenesses, for at his request they in general
eat very patiently until he had transferred
them to paper. Yet no person ever saw any
thing supernatural in this. Andrew Jackson
Davis who is the head and front of Spiritual
ism, and has given it all the character It has,
confesses that he wrote hisfirsl and best book
as a Mesmerist and not as a Spiritual medi
um. By examination we will also find thftt
all the pretended communications from the
sphere of spirits partake of the character of
the mediums mind, and not ol that mind
from which it is pretended they come. This
■ lone should be enough to explode all claims
to lite pretension of the spiritual or supernal"
oral. tu
But there are connections between minds
that have never been defined by human ken.
There are instances where one mind reads
the thoughts of another before the words are
spoken, just as if each was a part of the oth
er. When soul answers soul as by a mag
netic thrill —when passion and sentiment are
inspired as if by magic—when mind moves
its fellow as if bound by a chain— or when
will communicates to mind as by an electric
touch —the natural phenomenon seems won
drous strange lo us. And yet we see those
things in such a way that though unaccount
able they are common occurrences. Wesee
them so often that by familiarity We cease
to feci the wonder and mystery there is in
them.
There is nothing supernafurat in one
mind becoming the type of another. The
skeptic can see a common illustration of it
if he will watch the power of trne affection
—filial, fraternal or one closer yet. He can
find cases where one mind moves the other
as by a magic thrill—where the thought ie
read belore it is uttered—where the same
thought, in fact, inspires two minds until
the very fsCes seem to grow mors like—aye
knit in kindred sympathy until even green
eyed efivy shrinks back appalled at the holi
nesupf the mystio charm, and only infamy
would loose the tie.
Or go see eloquence inspire tbe throng;
and when the fire flashes from the soul-lit
eye and bnrne oonviction on the unwilling
mind confess the mystery that moves the
will. It is not tbe smooth utteranee of hon
ied words in measured phrase and tone that
can calm the turbulent assemblage, or make
stout-hearted men weep like children, but
there is a will—a soul—an earnestness—a
magic power behind the doll, cold words
and voice.
Or watch the seductive influence of evil,
leading the honest and too simple heatt first
[Two Dollars per Annua
NUMBER 13.
by a little word, then a lew hint—bin lead
ing it moat without a word or hint, by what,
in common parlance, we call the "air,"
but wt.at in reality is the strange myrtieriou*
sympathy of mind? Watch ho* the dark
poison drop by drop works its way into the
deepest and holiest recesses of the heart, and
so tringes, colors, and finally blacken* and
corrupts the purest soul until heaven can no
more_find its own. Tne victim sees not how
the path of the new seductive prompter de
viates from rectitude; lor the variance is so
small and gradual that the charmer seems
not materially wrong, and so follows on,
straying little by little only, until the foible
ripens into crime, and at once the gulf of
shame and sin yawus ben3alh the frightful
precipice.
The spirit of remorso io iho mind of evil is
I more powerful and fearful than that which
makes strange noises and moves dutnb mat
ter. The phantoms that visit the short sleep
of crime—that come unbidden to 4jMract
and torture by their chiding and reproof—
the vision of sin that cannot be dispelled—
the scheme of evil that cnmes back again
and again, and will not be bid to go—until
very rest and sleep are tearlul and dreaded
things—these spirits are stronger and more
real than any you can voluntarily call from
the grave.
If yon study aright the bunk of life, yoa
can find many cases more like spirituralism
than those the rappers furnish you. If you
will watch a poor child of adversity and sor
row, struggling rind toiling against an inexo
rable fate to which mayhap his tied like the
convict ol old to a body of death—suffering
in sadness and Bilence—friendless and hope
less, so far as human ken can see—no faint
ray of earthly hope ever dawning into the
lite-long night of grief—and yet amid alt
this, patient resigned and strong under the
sweet and holy consciousness of rectitude
elate and cheeiful under the cousolation of
the better spirit that whispers comfort from
another sphere—happy in the companion
ship of the guardian angel whom ihe world
of guile has never seen, except lainily per
haps in Ihe bright beaming eye and sweet
smile of the pale, patient Christian.
If the popular doctrine of a higher state
of existence be correct that sphere is one
where there shall be exalted sensativenesa
and intelligence, and there is nothing unna
tural in the supposition that the purest and
beat minds ort earth in their transition state
approximate a little toward their future con
dition. Health ie the natural gift of correct
physical deportment. Contentment and
cheerfulness are the rewards of a proper and
prudent government of our passions and de
sires. Wisdom comes to him who woos her
with diligence, devotion and self-denial.—
And when all these unjte in one person
wo not look for some endowment and an or
ganization that shall coein exalted to the
narrowed mind of infirmity and guile?
I In a view like this there can be no tenden
cy to evil. The faith that teaches us we
shall beoome wiser and happier as we de
velops the better part of our nature—that
would wean us from trifles, and tnrn oar
minds to higher aud holler things and
thought is worthy of our study.
And when the brilliancy of reason's sun
; set yields to the advancing gloom there is an
indescribable beauty haunting the old man
still, if in youth and vigor his soul was truth
ful. And even when the chill of night is
upon him, his eye seems lo res' upon the
glories for a while departed, or ijoks off into
the star* and reads in them bis destiny with
a gladness as quiet and as holy as their light.
| When bis little day is folded op in shadows,
the darkness must bo deep indeed whioh
dees not reveal eternity by the rays of light
ttfcSt reach him from afar. But the soul that
can rise above the clouds of earth, can al
ways behold the infinity of Heaven, and per
haps evety rightly taught man, before God
takes him, ascends to a Pisgah of hiaown,
| from Whence to look farewell to the wilder
ness he has passed, and lo catch a gtinups of
| tba promised land lying in tbe everlasting
orient before bim. •
HOME —Let no man ever think of a happi
ness distinct fronfthat of home. The gay
est must have their sick and solitary hours.
The busiest must often relax their labor, and
there must be some retreat for them, where
they may seek refreshment for their ceres,
and collect the spirits that disappointments
so often depress. They who live most fof
the poblfc still live for the public but a small
part, and they are apt to find the public ser
vice a burthen, which gentler incitemenl
than that of strong ambition'roust furnish
the strength to support.
Rise from the table with art appetite, and
you will not be in danger of sitting down
without one.
Anger may continue with you for an hour,
but it ought not to repose With you for a
night;
Every second of lime throughout the busy
hours of the day, and during the silence of
night, an immortal aoul is passing from tima
into eternity.
HIGH PRICES.— At a publio sale IO Chester
county, last Saturday, potatoes brought SI 75
per bushel, and wheat 12 30.
He who would have his business wall
done must either do it himself or saw it dons.
He who finds a thing and does not restor#
it steals it.