The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-06-17

From the Journal OF Commerce.

"os.eiH euibor WrlbeS an article lend
my haif-support to the vulgar supersti-
iorewarnings of danger. It is the proper
office of an intelligent press to discourage.
anu not to- aid in, the spread of such ab.
surait,es: His argument is based on a re-
ported incident in connection with the
nntson calamity. One OF the victims of
snaC ulsasler. while at breakfast on the
ornlng ot tue fatal day, was strongly i'm
pressed with the idea of impending mis-
l9Itune 10, TO him II he went TO work. He
done so, we should have been sure to hear
OF 1t In the story-but she saw from his
manner that some strange presentiment
oppressed him. He fingered after the
morning bell, as if 10th to leave finally
started for the mine with reluctant stems: !:
then came back and took second parting
from his wife aud little ones; when al the
mouth Of the pit, which was in sight of his
cottage, waved his hand for 4 last adieu-
and the next that was seen of him he was
brought home insensible and dying. Tales
of this sort never lose anything in telling.
The probability is that half Of it is fiction,
and that the basis Of the rest is nothing
more tl.an dsinclination of the unlucky
miner to 90 down into the dismal hole on
that particular day. Perhaps he was not
very well. More likely he was sick of his hard
life, and speculatiDg whether it was worth
having on such conditions. That he did
not mention. his apprehensions OF the
death that awaited him shows that, If he
felt any, they were light, such rs he would
have laughed off if any one had charged
him with them, and if he had not done so
the wife of his bosom wOllld-food and
clothing being much wanted in the family
at that time, owing to the long strike. We
give the substance of'this little story, not
because it is Of any interest or significance
of itself, but to show on how slight Il founda-
ton a person weak enough to believe
in presentments may erect his theory.
There are few persons, and no nervous
md timid ones, who have not at times
had presentiments Of coming evil. Some
people are. always having them. They
never ride on railway train With
out experiencing strong convictions that
it. will run off bridge or into another
train and kill them. 1t they are passengers
OH an ocean steamer, or sound boat, or
even ferry boat, they are subject to acute
fears (about the moment OF starting, If not
the whole trip Of boiler explosions, COLI
sions, or fire. This is nervousness, unrea-
son, or rcowardce-not preseDtiment wor-
thy the philosophers attention. For a
may have these yaporous fears, and none OF
them be realized but if at last a railway
train does run off the track, or steamer
does blow up or take fire, and they are
aboard and survive the catastrophe. they
rush into print with faDcful eXaggcrations
of their presentiments." Or. if they are
killed, some relative pours into the shudder-
ing ear of a reporter the parting words oftho
predestined victims, conveying their mystic
rious dread that something direful was
going to happen to them. A common form
of corroborating this childish idea is the let
ter or statement Of some person who did
not take passage in a vessel that was lost,
or on Il train that was burned up or buried
in creek, being deferred therefrom by an
Overwhelming presentiment Of danger"
This kind of evidence is always very posi-
tive and circumStantial, and much relied on
by people who cherish these idle flnces,
or course it Is not worth our while gravely
to refute j proposition so manifestly alb.
surd as that any human being can look
into the future. Yet this is the impossl'
billty that the believers in rresentiments
easily skip over. Whether there are per.
sons gifted with so-callCd clairv0yant pow
ers by which they can read what Is IN an
others mind, or be cognizant of events
occurring at the passing moment at any
place, however distaut, is another question
The world of science almost unitedly be.
lieves such facts impossible, accounting
for the seeming wonders of clairvoyart;
OH the easy grounds of fraud, or collu
| sion, or prior knOwlcdges: though many
people of real intelligence do give credenc(
TO such marvels, and can relate astonish
ing stories which they say they know to
be true. But to believe with them is bu
Il small tax on the credulity compared to
pinning faith on presentimentS, which i'm
ply 4 knowledge not of the present., but o
| the unacted future.