The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-08-21 00:00:00

OUR DOMESTIC DOMESTIC SUPERSTITIONS.

Tima

" Proselite" sends the following letter to 2
for publication :
In s.nir article of this day relative to the ill treatment of
Mr. Henry detickeo in the smith ot Spain, you ex..ress me d.
doubts of the power possessed by seine tersoutt, under extra-
ordinary eonditiona, of moving tables, ,tc teas always a
seep it until I was a witness, with several others, of the lob
lowing truths:—
In 1863 one of my sisters was visiting a lady who had a
niece possessed of woin,erful power. One moriong my sister
was seated mi a biros sofa, and the sullect *as innothiced.
she er,reered are .6 doube, i'it which the ',mug lady re-
quested my sister to ptace her hotel on the mahogany frame
of the sofa The you. g lady placed her hand on the omoalte
vim and immediately the into moved away front its positbn
and cattle violently in contact with the dining.tattie. My
sister *as frightened and got up and suhsetp lent') the young
1 tly tutted her to ge on the table. Thia she did, at d being
again lequested to place her hmd on it, the operator placed
hers el., and without a moment's delay the table moved
towards the bow WiloloW. My sister Jianped down and
look. d fearfully at the lady.
A few mom ha after my sister istated this to me. I was as
well acqualutell with the patties as she was. It happened
that hi the following year, 1864, 1 came with my family to
L inch., sod, among other visitors, tile aunt and niece called
one morning, while we were at lunch We me' hosed the
circ ttttt stancem which f have related; and on expretsing I ur
doubts the aunt said her niece did not like to filitor her power,
as she really felt frighteiod et it herself and her father
sir., gly tilde. ted to her displaylog it, hitt as we were such
old friends she would not mind showing us, provided auy
one lid the t fluence hems sary to assist tier.
My wife went to ahead > armchair, which is in my house at
thit Mmnent, aid lh imf lit 'other an excitable tetoter.olent
the lad) th..tight she might aid her poaer. The hands we, e
placed, my wife's on one side mill the lady's on the other.
The chair Matzoth moved several feet With my site oil it,
who got up is fright and futon shment. I saM, "To satisfy
me, will you try to move toe cabinet piano Y" which 810-41
against the wall. Toe two ladies placed their hands at the
extrenie or set the piano, which advanced out from the Wall
some diedanne.
At that moment a young man-servant was in the room
clearing away the lunch, and looking with surprise the lady
said, ' l wonder if George has any power 1" He wile re.
goestvd to place bi. band OD the dining.table. The lady
placed hers, and the tattle *Ph all the lunch things coil
made a dash towards the tire-plane. end the boy W. tined
against the wall. His fright can flatly be judged of by thous
*h. witnessed it.
A round table, mahogany, was standing in the bow win-
dow ; one of the c were was I -11 the young lady touched
it avoid-ntally at tire saute time that my wife's hand war On
it, lookt,g at the boy's wonderrer gaze. A 1 nine was
. heard coming from tile table which ultimately moved
----- hastily towel di the window. ami there it remained oboe to
On Tuesday the last party of emigrants d
which will the
i frame. All this occurred in niy ii the
casi
oom et id aids-
hll We w ere a tterssars told that on one ocon 111 her
be sent hilt to Canada this sewv In under the auspmes of own house the Beireole w o tett to move af. dir post bed, and,
Ii e iAritiah and Colonial Einigratia in Fund, left the nit i . ing aide, the housemaid said, t' LA. 1111 ads iiias 0—
V ictorta D.,..11 s, Lomita), tor NI mitreal, male Datta,,oni- to assist us." She came tip. and, telling the servant to tl,ce
mended by Captain DoWell, The eni;graMts W1.1.11..11314 • Moot upon the wooden post at the /dot, tile u young 1.4
8011115 ; but, these being an unusual number of chililten, placing tiers on, the other, the bed weed forward, ano.dtletOhll
abaavocid.proFreireedebt:i
reedwt,i;rit,,ttheml:t.liye wan, di
ill
take c
its
the actual statute number was put down only at 233 ; ~ i get back again to
so that the steamer-- the tonnage of which is between 0ri4;,•0 0,,,,,, b,ing krge ~,,d Ve,. y ,
1,400 and 1,500 tons— was by no means crowdef„ 1 give vim the names at font for private Information, to
The emigrants were almost all mechanics and their satisfy you of the truth of these very estraorainary circutn-
families, and were for the most part men who had been au...es.
employed in the neighbourhood of the docks, but who i
had been thrown out of employment by the stagnation
of trade.
At four o'clock they were mustered in a shed on the
quay, and inspected by the medical officer of the Emi-
gration Board, Dr. Iluinphreys, whose business it is
to see that none of them, and especially the children.
were guttering from any infectious disorder. As family
after family passed out they priweeded on board, and
at once COnillienCed to arrange their worldly goads in
their respective berths.
The date of the tide did not permit the vessel to
leave the docks until seven o'clock, by which hour a
large number of the friends alid is .quaintances of the
emigrants had aaomobled on the quays to give them a
parting cheer. They were received on boat Iby (' qtr.
Darke, of the firm of 'rernperley, Carter, and Dario-,
the charterer..; by Captain Dowell, and by Captain
Westbroke, the Government Emigration agent, who
during the day hod been indefatigable in his examina-
tion of the various licconimodations and stores, and
who seemed to be here, there, and evetywhero durin,3
the i niceHe of entbarkaVon.
'rite centre portion of the vessel hod heci ftted up
for the married couples and their families, tem! /afar at
once formed into messes, and allotted their particular
tables. The single men'm department was sep%rated
by • bulkhead from the net of the weasel, sad • few

In reply to the foregoing," A HartienedUnbelieVer"
thus writes to the some j•ntrned
Your cortespondent ° Proselyte" gave us on Tuesday a
long tale of wonders cutnected with the subject or table-
turning, of which I would be the last to oispute the authen-
ticity. Allow me, however, to cap his SSOII with something
infinitely more maivellons. He only talks of tables, sofas,
pianos, sod beds dancing swat a room: but what would he
say to a whole rails ay train moving without the aid of any
visible agency! I Was 111 one the other osy ; the engine had
Inuit removed; no horses had been but to ; we were pro-.
petted by no men ; we were Wit .10 at' incline : yet away We
glided smoothb , as if by magic, at the rate of live or six miles
an hocr. I ',motored the movement : everyhoily in the
trait, was aware of it; yet—what was the greatest wonder-
-1,00118 except a very young child, express d any astonish-
ment at the phenomehon, or even 11,414.0 it—simply for the
reasoit that 1). iliody, except the child it) the train anti ° Pro-
selyte." need be told What Valle ill mu*, instances should be
auk led to the evidetwe of our own eye'.
The schievcments it the " you.,g lody possessed of won-
derful power," which" Pniselyte" describes with such good
faith, are by no means new, and belong to the mere colon), rt-
pin cool mod:rn magic. Hot yang lady friend never pre.
stoned to iliac in the air half-way up to the ceiling. TIOT tO
TOO. a four-page, close.writtm), crws-lined letter with her
11..oalders, n.T , o summon the ghost of her own or of any-
uody else's grandm,dher 'from the vasty deep. She knew
nothing about the " yellow hands of Haute clasped together
on a green tablecloth," or of the "icy lips of death leaving
their mark on the damask rose at a lovely child's cheek."
Spiritualism has testi nusticating of lake; the Loudon noiass