The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-06-07

l"Aa''Nh toi tho NhiSuBc ihNo' -ONeaih1
shall have to begin at the beginning
In a pleasant company, one evening, som
one asked, "Whcre Of all places woul,
you rather spend the holidays?" | care
iessly replied, "In Heaven" After thu
laugh that followed, gentleman said
"You can hear from there if you please
You mentioned that you are to be il
southern New York soon. Now, take my
advice and 60 to Moravia. saw my
mother, who had been dead for years
there" 1 looked at him in establishment
| saw that he was in earnest. pitted hi.
delusion, but | courteously accepted the
addresses and directions which he FASTENED
to write, commenting, however, mentally
81 have no time to waste upon such
nonsense" for in common with all wiser
people Imuttered "humbug."
might have known | would go, because
| always had a mania for venturing upon
what others termed dangerous ground.
Upon arriving found that | should be
detained four days in New York. Why
should l remain in Auburn paying four
dollars per day when had been assured
that at Moravia / need pay but one ? No
curiosity, my friend; nothing of the kind.
NlCiOly a IuCoIlOli vi SOOuOuI1s WeUIs
stayed there five days. Attended nine sean
ces-if you know what that means--had a
pleasant parlor and bedroom with fire the
whole time, landry work done. numerous
errands attended to. for all of which was
presented the enormous bill of ten dollars,
found Moravia to be pretty little vii.
lage twenty miles south of Auburn. 1t
has some substantial and elegant residences.
Two of these belong to the presiding go.
MUS Of mordern mysticism, Mrs. Mary A.
Andrews. One is the clearinghouse for
her guests, the other is her home, and
contains the mysterious room. Mrs. An
drews is good-looking lady, about 20
years of age, and has sincere, innocent,
but carewoIn expression. felt o sympa.
thy for her, sort Of faith that she was not
knowingly an impostor, but was deter
mined that feeling should not allow me to
be deceived, SO l went to work with the rest
Of them and examined the room and the
cabinet. We found the windows fastened
and stuffed, and shaded with black, so
that not ray of light could come from the
outside. The cabinet was built of boards,
but painted to resemble brick wall. This
gave it the appearance of a brick vault with
door at the end and two windows at the
front. These windows were little more
than foot square. each supplied with
black curtain, hung upon the inside and
securing perfect darkness to the interior Of
the cabinet. One window was two and
the other five feet from the floor.
But what did you see? There, l knew
you couldn't wait. I'll wager that your
morbid curiosity has gallopcd over my
well-turned periods to delve in the mystic
teries beyond. Now behold how superior
am to you! waited q whole day
before asking to be conducted to the
mystic realm, and then consumed ever SO
much time in searching and overturnng
things generally. The medium, silent and
patient, accompanied us with light
the careful examination. Then
we locked the tightly-fitting door and were
seated fully satisfied that there was no one
in the room besides ourselves and the medi-
UNI, and no chance for any one to get in.
ourselves" consisted of minister
and his wife, an old lady land myself.
We sat before the cabinet, joining hands. |
The medium sat opposite, eight feet dis
tant, at the corner of the cabinet. She |
turned down the light and the performance
began. We were requested to repeat the |
Lords Prayer and sing dear old hymns and
songs. This we did with a
zest and harmony that proved US equal to
the emergency. While we were singing
The first hymn | was softly patted upon
the head. The others all mentioned like
experience. The floor continually vibrated
md trembled under our feet, sometimes
80 violently that windows, cabinet and
,hairs ratified; sometimes only the
;abinet shook.
In verse beginning rsa.
1--WE shall see the Heavenly hight"
he black space before us and above us
instantly disclosed numerous small points
Of light. These might be compared to q
swarm of tiredies, except that they were
visible a little longer than the latter's gleam-
ng. Some of the lights remained station
lry for moment and then separated into
bright particles, streaming downward as
hey disappeared. In the second hymn
voice clear, full and strong joined in the
'lnglng. 1t was heavy, masculine voice,
md its volume Tor time almost silenced
Us. In the last line it supplied Eyes,"
saying, .sf Id Il E...f go ss-e4a
Eyes. we'll meet each other there"
Suddenly a deep, bass, husky voice said,
please strike light. - The medium
ighted the lamp, went into the dark room
,r cabinet. closed the door, and we, sit
ing there in well-lighted room, contin-
led singing, pausing to converse occasion
'lly, and carefully watching the little black
curtains at the windows Of the cabinet.
Very soon the curtain at the upper aper-
ure appeared to be illuminated with
bright clouds that came and went rapidly.
This is popularity that | did not observe
n any subsequent seance. Shortly after
his strange illumination the curtain slowly
rose, and the face of man ap-
reared. He tried to speak, but we he ard
'nly whispered sound. His lips moved,
We saw his teeth, he smiled and bowed
md moved his head toward us, and dis
ppeared. Immediately after three raps
dgnfied that the seance was closed. The
econd seance was similar, so far as the
lark circle was concerned that is lights,
'attings and tremblings of the floor were
requent. The voices sang parts Of several
lymns with us. One in the tune of "John
5rown" seemed particularly pleasing.
they Sang the chorus with heartiness
md sweetness that surprised us, and sub.
tituted the words II
"As We draw near to you'' y sia5
"As we go marching on" go s-isil
The faces from the cabinet this time were
Inherent. Several faces of men appeared,
mo- Of IL ,,E Lofo ~ : | I