The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-07-28

call up spirits from under the ground. The
! principal of these was Cornelius Agrippa's
work. Either he or his editor was honest
enough to warn his readers of their danger for
| the titlepage contained the distich--
Read me, but practice me not,
Or hell Will be your fin loI ="
There was also impression that to read
| the book through would incur the penalty Of
damnation, as well as to practice it. To evade
tins terrible consequence, those who had the
hardihood to consult the work began at the last
page, and read it towards the beginning. To
prevent the imps from gathering round man
while he was reading, it was safest to go to
place where three roads met, and there, making
a circle with sword stand in the inside of the
circle while he read. The sale of such books
was prohibited by law, but an old man used to
go round and'sell straws, and give book into
the bargain. One time, this old man dropped
book OF his, and two boys, going to school,
found it. They opened it, and peeped into it.
One of Them, glancing round, saw the devil
airexny half way out OF the ground. They
dropped the book, and made for school AS
fast they conld run. There they told the
news, and the old man, being somewhere near,
| soon heard it. He went back for his book, and
| sent old CloOtz down to his own hot home.
Many in the present day imagine that all such
| stories were pure inventions. Such, however,
was far from being the case. Those who pro
| fessed to have seen such sights mostly
sincere. In this case the warlock, when he
professed to have laid the devil, of course knew
| that he was lying but the boy, looking round,
did really think he saw him.
| One of our neighbors returned late from
| market one night, all beaten and bruised. He
had met the devil, he asserted, and, after long
| fight, had worsted him. They tried to persuade
| him that it was a human foe, but he told them
| there was no doubt about the matter; that he
came first in his natural shape, all black, COW
| cred with hair, and wearing horns and hoofs !;
| that he had broken off his scales with blow of
his stick, and then he had turned into the shape
| of man, and fought him, first with a stick, and
then with his fists. Now, this was all literally
true. He was known as the greatest fighter in
the neighborhood, with either stick or fists
Another great fighter, who had been away at
sea, and had just come back, was DESTROYS of
| trying a fight with him, but was somewhat
afraid. So he thought he would try his courage
first by meeting him in haunted place, in the
guise of the devil. But he knew that if the
other should attack him, the cowhide and the
horns would cucumber him, SO that he would
be taken at disadvantage. For this reason,
he had put wooden dish on his head to break
the first blow. 1t turned out as he anticipated,
and it was the breaking of the wooden dish that
|
scale.
very intelligent New England lady once
told ne a story of the appearance Of an angel.
A congregation were worshipping on the Sab
bath, when an old man, with long, flowing
beard, and hair as white as that of the ancient
of days, described in Daniel, appeared among
| them. heavenly light animated his eye and
irradiated his whole countenance, and he car
red cleaning sword in his hand. He warned
the people that they would be attacked by say
ages. Scarcely had the people got hold of their
arms, when the Indians rushed out of the woods
with the warwhoop. The stranger led them on
| TO the fight, and the red men were soon scat
tered. When the congregation returned to the
church to give thanks, he was gone His won
dertul actions in the fight, as well as his super
natural appearance, convinced the most ncredu-
lous that he was a heavenly messenger. 1t was
! LongSafter .ha. that read of one of the frgi-
| cides of Charles j, who, being prescribed after
the Restoration and a price set on his head,
concealed himself in the garnet of friend in
| New England. None but the family knew that
| such man was in the land of the living. From
his garnet, he perceived the Indians slipping
through the wood, and, with the experience of
a veteran, knew their designs against the con
gregation. Without waiting to cover his gray
head, he rushed down to warn the worshippers.
The sight of the enemy kindled his old military
| ard0r, and the sight of the church awakened
pheasant recollecti0ns of youthful devotion. \ o
wonder they fancied that he had a heavenly
radiance in his conntenance. To such real but
unusual incidents these may be referred
many of the old Irish stories, which some as
cribe to fiction.
Speaking of Indians brings to my recollec-
ton An anecdote about spiritual suggestion,
which may not be foreign to our purpose. The
l.. II. e.
certain bed room, and during all that time had
not, as far he remembered, looked out at
the back window. At length, one morning, as
he got up, the thought struck him that he might
see an Indian ont OF it. lie looked ont, and
saw the black head of q savage rising behind
o log, and sinking. There was a gun in the
room he raised the wndOw--and the next
time the head rose, he put ball through it.
The Indian had come from a long distance, to
revenge the death of a relative, whom he had
killed long before, in battle The man thought
that the idea of looking out of the back win
window was the suggestion of some spirit:
The fact that there was a gun in his bedroom,
that his hand was ready in the of it, and
that his aim was so sure, proves that he was
thoroughly experienced in the perlops border
warfare. His trained eye would catch the very
shadow of an enemy at a GLANCE. Men who
could load their gun while running, and shoot
a man at a hundred yards distance, almost
without stopping, might be expected 70 have
the eye of lynx. In this instance, no doubt
the shadow Of the Indian through the window
made an ndistnct image on the retina of his
eye, not strong enough to produce perceptinn,
yet enough to produce sensation. This would
naturally suggest thought of Indians, although
the impression were so slight that it would
seem more like a spiritual suggestion than a
natural sensation.
A tailor, named Robin Mccullough, who
often worked in our house, was greatly addicted
to card playing. One night, after gambling
till late hour, he got fright on his way
home. He would never tell what it was, but
he threw his cards away, and never played
again. James PATTERSON, o patiye Of county
Donegal, got SUCH fright, too; but he vas
less secretiye, and told it. 1t was dark night,
as he was returning, near midnight, from q
tavern, where he had been gambling and drink
ing. A man on horseback overlook him, and
invited him to ride behind him. He accepted
the invitation, and already had his hand on
the horses back, when, suspecting that there
was something wrong, he blessed himself, and
horse and rider both went off in a fash of fire.
That, however, was not warning enough. He
went at it again. One Saturday night, after
playing late, he put his cards in his pocket
and vent hoIae. The next morning, he Went I'd
church with the same clothes, without thinking
to remove the cards. AS he sat in church,
they came out of his pocket, and began to
shuttle themselves on the floor. 1t was not till
he had made several efforts that he could
catch them. From that time he never touched
card again. So he told the story and what
ever bis other faults might be, he was not q
man given to lying. Put whether be was pull