Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1850-12-12
WHOLE. NO. 1867.

"spirituallknockers" had ia o, up their
occasional abode, or, rather, where they
made frequent visitations. Actuated by
curiosity, we went 10 tho house, not for
he purpose Of summoaing up from the
great deep Of futurity our particular
guardian spirit or TO invoke from the
realm of the 81 irit-world any one pro-
teciing deity TO watch over us. through
this life, in urpilgrimage Of joyand
sorrow. No, not for any Of these Wis.
ionary purposes did we make the visit
which we are now aboutito describe.
because we have no faith in guardian
angels, protecting SPIRITS, or any such
f,ncies we believe mans conscience
TO be his only guardian spirit, and thae
is quite sufficiently guide and watch,
for him, if he bu, listens to its whisper
ing adm onitions.
We are far from being creddlous or
superstitious and if we were little ro-.
mantle in LIES younger morning, be
tore the dream Of youth had been dis.
sipated, we have passed through too.
many stern realities since, 10 have any
! Of those fanciiul emotions. still alive in,
our heart. We have seen enough of
men, and We have become sufficiently
acquainted with life's varied events, to.
look at all things with calm eye, cool
reason and some whats matured iudg-.
ment. We make these preliminary re-
marks by way of preparing! the reader
for what rs TO come.
We'lound the young lady who ofilc.
ated as the medium" at small, plain,
house in the city J; she is apparently
about twenty years Of age, modest and
very becoming in her conducts; appar--
emily supplemented and innocent in all
her thoughts and feelings. From what
we know Of human nature, we nhould'
unhesitatingly say that she is incapable
ofanything like weighty deception; and
by this we mean that we do not be-
Iejve that site has tile capacity to, con-
eive Of a plan and carry il into sue
cesslul execution to such an extent as
to deceive those who have most
shrewiiy scrutinized all that appertaihs
to these "rappings," rs far as human,
observation can penetrate, andas for as.
mans ingenuity can be exercised.
Thus much for our opinion Of the
character of the medium" and her hu--
man agency in the matter. This is',
simply our unbiased opinion, and we are.
satisfied that any one else, no matter
how mnch they might be prejudiced
agninsttlie "rappings," or howmnchso,
ever they might be inclined to denouncc
them as a humbug Of some kind.
would inevitably come to the same CON-
cusion in regard to, the young lady in,
\ question.
A small round table was placed in,
the middle of the room VIC took this,
up and examined it most thoroughly,
and found il TO be a simple, plain table,.
about which there was no kind Of ma
chinery or traps, and no mystery what
ever, which it was possible to discover:
We took the carpet and examined
the floor, and feund nothing unusual
there, and no connection between the.
table and carpet and floor, cxcepu that
the former stood upon the latter. This
over, we sat down by the tnble, and
the young lady seated herself near IL
but did not touch IL IN any way rhatep-.
/, or. She sat silent for about five min,
utes, looking like soma one engaged in
deep thought; after this lapse Of time,
there was a slight scratching, appar-
e1tly under the TOP Of the table, which
very nearly resembled the noise made
by a death tick which is often heard in
the walls of old houses this continued
for few seconds, rather faintly,. when
il changed TO sound quite resembling
the noise made by striking the finger
nail forcibly upon table,. This lasted
for few minutes, when the young lady
enaured if are had guardian spirit,
and lift was present-thera was tick
ing sound, like that we have already
described, although the tone was differ
eni. She asked if it would converse
I wiah us !. there was decided rap.
She then told us to ask such questions
as we desired as tho spirit would ans
wcr us and con, erse by traps" After
some tune, it manifested Willingness
to disclose its name. We called the al
phnbes, and as we came to the letter
J, 1T raped we called again, and IL
raped at A sgaia. and il raped ATM
again, and we 20, Il again and we re-
! eeived S,-making the nnme James.
II then gave our surname rs its own
and claimed 10 be our cousin. IL said
that IL lcft this earth between four and
five years ago, and that Il had known
us on earth. But we were unable 10
obtain any response ss 10 whether we
knew il, or as to its own age, at the time
Of its departure from this material orb.
II thea kept up continual and loud