Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-04-08

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identical ship herselfmade her appearance,
rising over the convex waters. This was
the ghost Of ship, and the tale has prob
ably been narrated, with exaggerations of
terror, 10 thousands of seamen.
Another case. somewhat similar we
somewhere have met with, though we
cannot now recollect in what work, which
shows how incidents, at first apparently
supernatural, may be explained by known
principles. On a calm day, the sailors on
board a ship, many hundred miles from
land, and with no other sail in sight, had
their attention arrested by the distinct
ringing of a bell. They ascended the top
mast, but far as the eye could extend along
she unobstructed horizon, nothing could be
seen. From whence could this sound
proceed! No bell By the common con-
veyance Of sound, could be heard the dis
tance that they could see. To the sailors
this apparently unearhly ringing, seemed
10 be the ships funeral knell. The mourn
full monotony of those mysterious tones,
sent paleness into the cheek of many a
hardy tar. Anil surely, it was strange to
hear such sound in the solitude Of the
ocean. They thought it must come from
the world of spirits, amonition Of their ruin.
Scientific men on board accounted for it at
once, upon the well understood principle
Of an acoustic tube. As the report of a
gun discharged upon some Alpine summit,
is thrown in laundering reverberations
from cliff TO cliff, so in the present case,
the clouds reflected the sound of the bell
Of distant ship into the focus, in which
they were placed. In the tongueIess
voices Of every echo, there is Just as much
Of supernatural agency. The next day
they met the ship, whose bell they had
heard, and found by inquiry, that at the
hour they heard the sound, the crew had
been violently ringing for their ainuse.
meut. How many of the apparently un.
natural sounds which are heard, are capa,
BILE Of an equally simple explanation.
2. We hear of many extraordinary ap-
pearances, which cannot be accounted for
from any known laws Of matter, but which
may be easily explained from the known
principles of the mind. The wonderful
power which imagination has to transform
ordinary things, and to call into existence,
things which are not, is fully known. A
man who is thoroughly frightened. can i'm
agine almost any thing. The whislling of
the wind, sounds in his ears like the cry
Of dying men. As he walks along trem-
bling in the dark, the friendly guide-post
is giant; the tree gently waving in the
wind is ghost; and every COW he chances
to meet is some fearful apparition from the
land of hobgoblins. Who is there that
cannot testify from personal experience,
OF some such freaks of imagination. How
often does one wake up in the night and
find the clothes upon the chair, or some
article of furniture in the room, assuming
distinctly defined form, altogether differ
ent from that which it in reality possesses.
There is in imagination, potency far
exceeding the tabled power of Aladdin's
lamp. How often does one sit in wintry
evening musings, and trace in the glowing
embers, the features of an absent friend.
Imagination with its magic wand, will
there build the city with its countless spires
--or marshal conlending arm;es-or drive
the tempest shattered ship upon the ocean.
The following story related by Scott, af-
fords good illustration of this principle.
Not long after the death of late illus
trious poet, who had filled while living,
great station in the eye of the public. lit
erary friend, 10 whom the deceased had
been well known, was engaged during the
darkning twilight of an autumn evening,
in perusing one Of the publications, which
professed to detail the habits and opinions
Of the distinguished individual. who was
now no more AS the reader had enjoyed
she intimacy ofthe deceased to a consider
able degree, he was deeply interested in the
publication, which contained some partic-
uIsrs relating 20 himself and other friends.
A visiter was sitting In the apartment, who
was also engaged in the reading. Their
sitting room opened into an entrance hall
rather fantastically fitted up with armor
skins Of wild animals and the like. II was
when laying down his book and passing
into this hall, through which the moon was
beginning to shine, that the individual of
whom ] speak, saw right before him, in a
standing posture, the exact representation
>offis departed friend, whose recollection
had been SO strongly brought to his mag
ination. He stopped for single moment,
so as to notice the wonderful accuracy with
which fancy had impressed upon the bodi-
ly eye, the peculiarilies of dress, and posi-.
sion ofthe illustrious poet. Sensible, how
ever, of the delusion, he felt no sentiment,
save that of wonder, at the extraordinary
accuracy Of the resemblance, and stepped
onward towards the figure, which resolved
itself as he approached into the various
materials Of which it was composed
These were merely screen Occupied by
great coats, shawls, plaids, and such other
articles as are usually found in country
entrance hall. The spectator returned to