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


on IL as waste of breath or censure 1t even
more as leading to rash conclusions. Many men,
az we too often see, insist on making up their
mind on everything, and will have consistent
theory for every subject under the sun. The
result of this is that they waver backwards ana
forwards with every new fact that Is. produced
on one side or the other. If they could De con-
tent to suspend their judgment TIL all the iacts
were known, TO accept each new TACT as having
certain relation to the whole aspect OF the
case and not as settling the whole, they would
have 10 forego the satisfaction OF laying down
the law. but when they established a law 1t
would be more generally received 1t cannot
be pleasant to feel that you are always contra
dieting yourself, that your great enemy OF to-day
whom you crush with such vehement sarcasm
is yourself of yesterday. And though the con-
fession of ignorance or indeoision seems humili-
atiDg at first, it comes with peculiar grace from
those who really endeavor to learn and to form
their Judgment A Halam can say that he
has not read some book, when other critics of
not half his learning and not tenth of his
ability would never dream OF such an ayowal.
1t is true that rash conclusions are more often
formed in regard 70 subjects which lie partly out
of the world and which we can only know in
part than in regard to those that may be de-
cided. But Is this any reason for not discussing
them? Or is it waste of breath to accumulate
all we can know, in order to guess at or infer
what lies out of the sphere of knowledge2 II 1t
be, am afraid many other kinds OF discussion
are to be classed with it. Some Slight link fails
us in many a, chain OF causes and I'LL, we get
this link our chain must needs be imperfect.
But we make the best OF it. The link may be
faulty when 1t comes, or it may supportour rea-
Boning. All we can do Is to make the rest as
strong as we can, and allow for the possibility
of correction.
have not the slightest wish TO form theory
on the subject have placed at the head of this
paper. If attempted it, should probably
sum up my conclusions in the line which Milton
applies TO Socrates:- 3 Ht
"To know this only, that he nothing knew"
What can we know for certain about PRESENT.
ments? We have some evidence that they do
exist and we have proof that great many
know how far the evidence we have is
Trustworthy and we do know that the
people who believe in presentiments very
seldom act on their belief When some
thing has been done or lett undone, you often
hear it said, 'Well, now, / had presentment
that ought to do or not 10 do this thing and
the result shows that ought to have acted on
evidence, and, moreover, 1t is after the event.
It would be of some value if it had been told
before. 1t would be of more value still If the
presentiment had been obeyed, and the result |
had been satisfactory. But II none of these
three tests have been applied, or none of them |
have answered, the value OF that presentiment |
is small indeed. - .-- .
Thackeray Gays, s'Surely some of the PRESENT.
ments some people are always having must |
come true" They can hardly fail to come true |
pretty often If they are er post focto If all your
voice OF nature--if on leaving dear friend or |
relation you make up your mind that the grief |
Of parting torebodes your never meet |
times come rpe thoasS @sy they sQms %efe
really no presentments at all. But it is this |
habit which makes all evidence on these SUBJ |
jects so unsafe and insufficient. All the evi.
denee we have on them has been suggested by
the event. and there is often ground to fear that
1t has been inspired by the event. We hear of |
all the presentiments that bear fruit, but do we
ever Il mean in the cases where people are |
always having them) hear of those that bear |
none Yet if these are not taken into account,
and the value OF all presentiments diminished |
by them, the evidence is onesided. On the |
whole, therefore, it is best to leave the people |
who are always having presentiments out OF the |
question, and conhne ourselves to the more |
authenticated instances which may to some |
extent bear out theory.
We may safely lay it down as a rule that the |
essence of true presentiment is that it shall be
spontaneous. 1t must come at time when you |
have no reason to look for it, when you are not |
under the influence of any fear or anxiety from |
known causes, when perhaps you have some |
difficulty in its Interpretation. You must not be |
Ill, and think you have presentiment that you |
VIII not recover. You must not be away from |
nome, and have presentiment that some |
calamity has happened there Yoa must not |
know that friend is in danger, and have a |
presentiment of his death. You must not have |
reason TO suspect man, and have a PRESENT. |
ment that he will cheat you. And why? Be- |
cause IN all these instances there is O simple |
natural cause for fear or uneasiness. In all |
matters where there is a natural cause we give |
more weight to 1t than to another, which may |
be the real cause, but is beyond the bounds OF |
prooaoiilty. II map who suffers from heart
dlsease is found dead on a roadside or in his |
Ded, we at once attribute his death to his COM
plant, though 1t may afterwards appear that he
was murdered. But If the man was perfectly
healthy, and was known to have an inolacable
enemy, we should be more apt to think of mur-
der. And SO it is with presentiments. If they
can De accounted for in any natural way, we
must hesitate to receive them. Even where
9 natural solution covers some of the
laets, 1t does not. always cover them
the main points OF the story, there is Just so
much lelt that we are forced to say, whether
the presenument be genuine or not, this is
ssSmeGhlhg tnat no science can explain" Call
nem py What name you will-presentiments,
comcldences, or anything ese-there are MANY
cases which you can settle to a certain noint
out no further. Many of these are admitted
INTO the class OF presentiments because thev are
too strange to be explained by natural laws
thougn they are not really presentiments AS
an instance OF these, l would take the storv of
the Jamaica planter who was ordered to Enc o.
land Tor his health, but was 10th to Lease ~
dellcacies of the West Indies At last he took a
passage in brig, but showed great uneasiness
about sailing in her, telling friend that ne
was convinced he would be thrown overheard.
After he had sailed, all the negroes on his
estate came one day in body to this
friend, and SAID, '"rhe brig has been lost
Mr.. - is drowned" They had no reason
to give. for their impression, but sure
enough the prlg was not heard of and every
body concluded that she had been lost. Some
time alter one of her men was discovered, and
he confessed that Mr.. - had been thrown over.
board, at the very time when the negroes were