Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1834-12-03

is an intelligent woman OF small stature =
rather taciturE, though agreeable in con.
versation. Before an audience of strah-
gers, on her first appearance in this city,
she was obviously considerably embarrass-
Ied-which might easily be accounted for,
even in person who has often been before
such an assembly, by the fact that she is
now encientc. Her faculty of memory we
were informed by Mr.. Harrington is quite
as remarkable as anything hereafter to be
related, enabling her to repeat long poems,
biblical readings, sc. without the slightest
effort, after having once read them. We
noticed, however. no chronological indica-
tions of such a memory--her eyes by no
means being more prominent than they
should be to harmonic effectually with the
rest of her fair features. .--..
Withou. further introduction, we shall
briefly relate what we saw and heard at
her first public exhibition, not pretending
to give an opinion upon the subject. Mrs.
H. having taken chair in the centre of a
spacious hall, her husband would place his
finger on articles Of wearing apparel of
spectator at the extremetry of the room.
she would not only designate the article in
stantly, but its color also Whether bon
net, riticule, ribbon, watch guard, or
head Of hair, it made no difference, as she
always gave prompt and correct answer
A gentleman asked Of what metal his spec
tacles were made, and, when answered, he
further desired her to tell the company how
many glasses the bows contained. She
said. four. This was at first thought by
the spectators to be incorrect; but on ex
animation there were to be actually four
distinct glasses--the two upper ones being
for distant objects, and the lower ones for
nearer views--givlng an appearance, on
close inspection, Of horizontal seam thro'
the centre of each eye. When any partic-
ular figure on watch dial was designated,
she told the number-and moreover gave
the exact hour and minute of time, at any
distance from her chair.
A box was handed around, into which
whatever article WIS dropped, was quick
ly named. A professional gentleman We
ry secretly plased in the bottom of q small
cake OF iquorice paste. Mrs. Harrington
saip it was cake. This was called mis-
take. "Well," said the lady, sit is some
thing black"-and after moments rehec
ton, said it was iquorice. In a similar
adroit manner, the doctor put in bit of pa
per, on which ne had written something.
and which the oracle correctly pronounced
to be the word "rhubarb" On depesting
our own shagreen lancet case, she immed-
ately remarked that it was case contain
ing tlco lancets. We were not certain how
many there were, till the top was opened to
ascertain the number, which was found to
be as she had said. She certainly never
before saw it, nor had it been in any other
place that day but side pocket, from
whence it was drawn, in clenched hand.
to be secretly deposited in the paper box
These are only few of the many perform
ances, OF similar order, that might be re-
lated in illustration of the manner Of con
Quoting the exhibition.
Another class of mysteries consisted in
dlvlning what any one might whisper in
I her husbands ear. 1t should be remem-
bered, however, that the name Of some an
+ lmal food, Or drink, must invariably be Civ
en-, or she mode NO attempt at solution
The names Of various edible fishes, some
OF which are certainly peculiar to the
place, and therefore wholly new to her,
were unhesitatingly pronounced as readily
as though she were repeating after mas
ter. So it was in relation to the cognomen
: OF wines and liquors, by no means familiar
!, to all the company
Occasionally, as if for the express pur-
pose Of bewildering the spectators with
/; something vastly beyond the reach of or.
dinarily CONSTRUCTED theories, a stranger
: was permitted to whisper in another stran.
] gers ear, and Mrs. Harrington repeated The
. words whispered instanter This particu
Il lar circumstance initiates, essentially, a.
gainst the supposed confederacy betwneu
herself and husband in this part, a, least
:, OF these singular performances.
+ Various explanatory suggestions have
been made by gentlemen of close observa
q tons, but mono Of them are perfectly free
! from objections. One of the most common
! opinions seems to be that Mr.. Harrington
is first rate venlriloquist who absolutely
gives all the responses, and the mysterious
lady therefore in fact does nothing but dis
tract the attention Of the astonshed by
ISLANDERS by flirts of beautiful Chimes,
:, fan. For ourselves, we discovered nothing
l. that bore the least affinity to the actions O
e a ventriloquist. Moreover, his back wa
# as often towards the lady as otherwise
, VentrilOuuists have bean On ;nd,I,a,. 49,,