New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-01-19
i" Your servant sir. hope you are well, sir. If I
mistake not sir, Il have the pleasure Of addressing

mistake nG. sir have the pleasure of addressing
but you have somewhat the advantage Of me- / do
not remember to have ever seen you BEFORE
:" You never have, sir, answered Wadder with an
air of candor, " and have never before seen you,
sir. have not been in Saratoga an hour, but the
moment looked upon you, felt the mysterious in
dnaes OF the new light stealing over me, and was
impressed to address you by as one of the firm
believers in, and able promulgators of. and
glorious g, revelation Of the spirit spheres"
This is wonderful u exclaimed Mr. Rapit, who
was at once deeply interested.
cannot call it So" replied Waddler. To those
upon different plane, it may indeed appear wonder
ful, but to as whose interiors are OPEN it cannot
seem wonderful because it is perfectly natural Your
own experience must teach you this, for you have
these spirit impressions, of course"
Certainly, certainly" replied the old gentleman,
admiringlyr am constantly the recipient of most
truthful impressions, which know do come through
perfectly natural channel, and when ] used the
word wonderful used it in the sense in which it is
commonly received
Exactly so, rejoined waddler, but sit down. sir,
and let us converse a little.n
Thus invited, Mr.. Rapit drew up chair, and, seat
ing themselves, the twain were soon engaged in a
deeply interesting confab concerning the new
light The old gentleman related many OF the ex-
traordinary things which had happened in his expe-
rience, to all of which Waddler listened with appa
rently the most rapt attention, and when Mr. Rapit
had got through, his new found friend took up the
theme and related instances Of spiritpower coming
under his immediate observation, which fairly caused
the hair Of his listener to rise end. He told him
how on one occasion he had seen man taken from
the window of room in which circle was sitting,
passed up the roof Of the house, and returned
to the circle by way OF the chimney; how he had
frequently the same raise himself up by the
hair of his head and hold himself suspended in the
air for an hour and a half; how he had seen the
corpse of from which the utscera had been re.
moved during post norton examination, galvanized
into perfect life again by invisible hands, and thou
sand other equally wonderful things He then went
into clairvoyance, after a long dissertation upon
which subject, he took occasion to remark
Speaking of clairvoyance, Mr.. Rapit, have one
Of the most extraordinary subjects in the person of
negro servant ever came across. have had him
der control but short time, and yet perfect my
even when Icannot see him. will give you an evil
dence of this. He is within now, and will cause the
subtle fluid to close his eyes by an exercise Of the will
power, and then call him."
And after casting his eyes in the direction of the
door, and keeping them fixed there for short time,
Waddler loudly called outs
n Are you there, TonyT'
!" Yes, massa" was the immediate reply, and
emerged from the entrance door and walked towards
them.
Z There you see, sir, I have reached him almost
without an effort. His eyes fast closed. Now you
shall witness his wonderful clairvoyant powers. will
just touch his organ of tune" and as he spoke he
pressed his thumb the organ designated, but the
negro had forgotten his Instructions, and looked as
though he wished to sing, laugh and fight all at
1t is more than probable he would have done so had
not Waddler come to his rescue by saying:
He is not quite under the influence yet, but he
will sing directly, which opinion hardly out of
his mouth when the negro struck up in particularly
jolly tone of voice:
81 jumped abord de telemgTaf,
@# An Heated down de rber,
De lectric fluid magnitied
4s And killed five hundred niggers!i
g Now. said Waddler, q will touch his combat
yeness But stand ont Of the way, Mr. Rapit for he
Is very powerful fellow, and if he should hit you
might injure you seriously So he touched combat.
veness, and instantly did Tony square himself in the
most approved style of Fistianan struck ont right
and left, "cayorted' around awhile, and then broke
out with:
I'd like to see de darkey dat could STAN before
desc hammers-dese mawleys-dese two chuncks Of
smoke beef? Come an hit me, somebody, quick!
Who frow'd de las brick? Use farely dynf for
chance to spread myselfr'
Now said Wadd!er, "see how quickly I'll change
his rage to laughter-Tll touch his mirthfulness.'
And as he again laid his hand upon the negro's
head the latter broke ont into F" Yah yah yah y
that brought about dozen Of the boarders from the
hotel to see what was going on.
: My graciols!" suddenly exclaimed Waddler:
Eve are attracting too much attention! we max.
ing the affair oopubic Imust awaken the subject
And after few upward passes Tony opened his
eyes, and at the bidding Of Wadder reentered the
hotel. Wadder quickly followed him, and old Rapt
followed Waddler, and after they had got inside and
out of observation, the old gentleman said:
Mr.. Waddler, you have laid me under great ohli-
cations to you but you will increase my Indebtedness
if you will accompany me to my rooms summon
your servant, and give me some further tests
a My dear sir" answered Waddler, | should be
delighted to crafty you, but really the thing is i'm
possible at present propose leaving for New York
tomorrow. | was impressed to come here-no doubt
for the very purpose Of meeting you, and now am
impressed to return without operating further.
shall lawn Tpnx, harm 1yxbiIn md Of
some future time, if may be allowed to do so, will
give you further proof Of his power, when he is
further developed, in your own home
"Thanks-a thousand thanks y said the old gen
tleman in tone Of qualification, shall take
very early opportunity to ask for the performance of
your promise. But come you must at least be intro
duced to my wife and daughter
This was just what Waddler wanted and he accord
ingy followed the old gentleman up stairs was intro
duced to Mrs Martha Rapt and her daughter Agatha,
in due form, and after very delightful evening, he
bowed himself out took his way to bed, and was
shortly ndnlging in dreams of Agatha and her faith
ers" soap"
The next day he awoke refreshed and full of hope
His first move, after dressing was to seek an inter
view with Tony, whom he strictly charged to keep
clear of the old gentleman during his absence lest he
might by his awkwardness let the cat out of the bag
He then called upon the Rapits, and after affec
tionate farewell, took his departure, and was soon
again domiciled under the roof Of Mrs Stintem.
In about week Tony made his appearance, bear
Ill WHICH tIub SenIle
man announced his intention of departing for his
country seat on the Hudson forthwith, and begging
earnestly that Waddler should favor him with his
company as soon as possible.
Wuddler did So In less than three days he was on
his way to the Suburban Circle the name which
Mr. Rapit had given to his rural establishment
accompanied by Tony. He had some misgivings
to the reception he should meet with. He felt
of old Rapit and he had not much doubt concerning
his ability to make q favorable impression upon the
daughter but he had come to the settled conclusion,
from what little he had of Mrs. Rapit, that the
old lady was, to use an expression of his own,"
keener."
He reached the residence of Mr.. Rapit without ac-
cdent, and at once installed in room set apart
for him. He was received with open arms by the old
gentleman, and Miss Rapit was all smiles, bat the
countenancc OF Mrs Rapt wore an air OF dogged SCI
lenness which gave him mach unelsi"~~- olyel
within himself that she must he prop ..nenow
and he gave Tony particular Instruct do her
bidding in everything, and to watcl opporin-
nifty to crafty her, while he himself as Grtane
and polite as possible every time 20, himself in
he old lady's society.
All would not do, however toi his. Rapt had
taken deep-rooted dislike TO him. She was sure
she said, that he impnstor, aud she would
prove it before he left the house. How well she sue
ceeded will appear shortly.
Waddler had been in the house nearly week be.
fore the conditions were favorable for an oxhibi-
ton of rony's wonderful powers mejum." Old
Rapt was beginning to grow impatient, and it was
necessary that something should lie done speedily So
/