The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-27


Groves might Side OF Nature, ana small
book called "Communications with the Unseen
Worldr (which / should judge, IRON internal
eyidence TO be written by the Rev. ]. M. Neaie),
are blimful of such stories. lt Is true that Ia
all of them we have to take the writer's Woid.
In an OF them tho original narrator may nave
departed little from The infexible exactness
which should mark such statements. The
writer in taking down the account may have
imparted to it some slight inaccuracies. And
The only means of detecting these slips is cross
examination, which Is he one thing denied us.
But allowing for all this, the stories are almost
m arvellous. If we grant that one OF them is
true, we have enough for our purpose. One is
sufficient to show that there is more IN heaven
and earth than is dreamt of in material philoso'
ply, and to make us think many times before
we bound the world by the evidence OF our
senses. ,-.-- --.f.... =,
1t would be superGuous to quote any of the
stories given by these two authors, except in
rare cases where l have anything to allege
against them. But it Is unfortunate that the
record of ,presentiments should be confined TO
books which profess to treat that class of SUBJ
jects alone, and that general history should fur
nsh so tew corroSSrations p9etry ggrsesn gSss as
ments is one OF the most curious points IN the
psychology OF his plays. There is somethln ing on
the subject in Schiliers WotIen%eel, ana words
worth has devoted to 1t one of his minor poems.
He talks of presentiments as heavenborn in
stincfs which shun the touch of vulgar sense:--
y ''The tear whose source could not guess,
The. .oeep sigh that seemed fatheIless"
Some busy foes to good, he says lurk near
them, and taint the health which they infuse
but faith proceeds from them, and bodings un-
sanctioned by the will, which teach us to be-
ware He talks of the bosom weight which no
philosophy can lift, and says their instruments
are t. .03t i.o5 -'3
"a rainbow, sunbeam lL.
subtle smell that Sprin4 unbinds
Dead pause abrupt OF midnight winds,
An echo or dream" 81, tf-.,s-ri
Wa f,l
good. One of them is the love of torturlng
every feeling into presentiment. Another is
the quack who. has his nostrum of spiritual
manifestations always at hand and who wavers
between occult science and open knayery. An
other Is the conviction that every one, who has
bad presentiment, and found it true, Is a sort
of seer or prophet TOR all time to come. The
man easily persuades himself that he is waited
on by mysterious agencies, and he forces him.
self into presentimenCs, as the man who has
once dreamed forces himself 10. go on
dreaming; The scene IN Wd1tenstein
Iwallenstein" was just the man to be impressed
by dreams or omens He was firm believer IN
the stars, and ''Seni" came 10 warn him OF i'm
had seen his best friends fall away from him,
had found that his new friends did not
trust him fully. Yet when the Countess"
his sister-in-law, tells him of her dreams
He says that her mind was occupied with the
subject, and therefore she dreamt about it, that
the toreboding was not spontaneous but pro-
duced by her own fears. She asks If he does
not believe ip such warning voices and he re-
plies, Yes there are such voices; there is no
doubt Of that. Yet would hardly call those
warming voices which only announce what is
inevitable. AS the appearance of the sun paints
itself on the atmosphere before it rises, so the
spirit OF great events strides on before them
and tomorrow walks in to-day. Ihave always
mad strange musings on what one reads about
the death of the Fourth Henry. He felt the
ghost OF the dagger in his breast long before
the murderer Ravaillac armed himself WITH it,
Rest fed from him, the thought seized on him
coronation feast of his consort sounded 10 him
like funeral; he heard with boding ear the
footsteps that sought him through the streets
Of Paris" DOES the inner boding voice say
he replies; 'be calm" And then the
Countess" tells or another dream, in which she
saw "Wallenstein" going before her through "a
long passage and never-ending halls, doors
slamming all the time, till at length cold hand
touched her, and on looking to see whose 1t
was, she found that it was "Walienstein's,"
while over them both red cover seemed to be
laid. That is the red carpet of my ROOM"
says "Wallensten," !" interrupting her. little
later and the doors are burst open by the mur-
derers, and "Walenstein's" body is carried across
the stage wrapped IN red carpet
Here we have the true law about PRESENT.
ments laid down by firm believer in them.
''Wallenstein" knew that neither he, nor any OF
his train, could be impartial at such a rAoment.
Auylulug Oi tue nhUuTe OI " WdrnluS muSC D6
suspected as springing from native apprehen-
sion. Though he bimselt was calm at the
thought OF quitting the Imperial service and
Joining the Swedes, his followers were full of
the regrets and possibilities which a man who
has resolved on great step generally dlsmisses
as idle, but which his friends feel strongly for
HIM, and urge upon him. But the man himself
may well feel nervous, and what Is easier than
TO interpret his nervousness as warning
Many of the presentiments we have in history
are tainted by this blemish. In the history Of
Luther we hear of Melancthon being i'll, and
having a ''presentment" that he would die;
Luther came and prayed at his bedside, and he
Evidently in this case the PRESENT..
ment was nothing but the natural fear of the
sick man; but If this had not yielded to the
stronger faith inspired by Luther's prayer, the
presentiment would probably have come true.
Again, when Luther lett his wife on his |
last Journey, she hal presentiment
that he would never return He never
preseLtlment was not woman's natural un-
easlness at seeing her husband start on a jour
ney, and was interpreted after his death into
pIesentment?
Mozart's presentiment of his approaching
death was OF the same class as Melancthon's
only, from not being properly combated, it came
true. lie was convinced that some one had given
him poison; he SAID he had the taste of death on
his tongue, and that he smelt the grave. There
can be little doubt that all this was occasioned
oy oVerwork, and an intensely nervous tenn
permanent. AS soon as the composers work
was taken away from him he began to get
pe,.ter, nut he returned to work too soon, and
tbis biSps1 wb Was the consequence. Compare with
nresont;nS neems the most genuine case OF
ptn'S ~ SV,n an event occurring to Car Paul
Iour OF hVe uays before his ASSASSINATION. He
G"o,,d iiOs, Me-. an" ne turned suddenly to his
f1a sfoeotea ne Horse, saying-'I felt
if j was going to die Won't t%n . IeIt as
meW The incident was related 10 tRa d. Pns "iisle