Litchfield enquirer., 1874-08-13
PROFESSOR FARGO.

twenty five miles, which the primitive con tetlon of the road makes trial to tho flesh, and the dnllness of thelanlscape | Weariness to the spirit. It was therefore not balm to my bruises, physical or intel iectual, to find, on my arrival, that the gentleman for whose sake I had under taken the journey had just posted off ill g light buggy for three days holiday. Af ter venting my disappointment ill varie y of profitless explosives. I decided thai the only course worthy of the elastic phi losophy of q commercial traveller was to take n room at the local tavern and await his return P-was obviously not an exhilarating place of residence, but had outweathered darker hours, and l reflect. ed that having, AS the phrase is, bone tC pick with my correspondent, little ac. cumulated irritation would arm me for the combat. Moreover, l had been rattlinp abont for three months by rail; I was mortally tired, and the prospect of spend ing few days beyond earshot of the steam whistle was not unwelcome. A cer tain audiable, rural hush seemed to hana over the little town, and there was noth- ing apparently to prevent my giving it the whole of my attention. lounged awhile in the tavern porch, but my presence seemed only to deepen the spell of silence on that customary group of iaundiced ruminants who were tilting their chairs hard by. I measured thrice, i'll it's length. the dusty plank sidewalk of the main street, counted the hollyhocks in the front yards, and read the names on the little glass door plates; and finally, in despair, 1 visited the cemetery. Although we were at the end of September, the day was hot, and this youthful institution boasted but scanty growth of funereal umbrage. No weeping willow, or dusky cypress offered friendly shelter to the meditative visitor. The yellow grass and the white tomb stones glared in the hot light, and though l felt very little merrier than q graveyard ghost, staid hardly longer than one who should mistaken his hour. But am fond of reading country epitaphs, and prom ised myself to come back when the sun was lower. On my way back to the inn I found myself, on a lately opened cross street, face to face with the town hall, and pausing approached it's threshold with hopes of entertainment scarcely hess ar- dent than those which, during a journey abroad, had guided my steps toward somo old civic palace of Franco or Italy. There
 
 my advance, and made my way unchal- lenged into the large, bare room which occupied the edifce. It was the accus- toned theatre of town meetings, eau cuses, and other solemn services, but 1t seemed just now to have been claimed for profalner uses. An itinerant lecturer, of a boisterous type, was unpacking his bud get and preparing his mise e,a scenc This seemed to consist simply of small table and chairs in row, and of dingy speci- men of our national standard, to whose awkward festoons, suspended against the blank wall at the rear of the platform. the orator in person was endeavoring to i'm part more artistic grace. Another per sonage on the floor was engaged in scrawl- ing the date of the performance, i'll red chalk, upon number of printed hand hills. He silently thrust one of these doc ufi1eaAt., at me aS I p~sood, and T caw with some eiatiOn that had a resource for my evening. The latter half of the page con- sisted of extracts from village newspapers, setting forth the merits of the entertain ments. The headings alone, as I remem- Der them, ran somewhat in this fashion:
 A MESSAGE FROM THE SPIRIT WORLD. TIE HIGHER MATHEMATICS MADE EASY TO
 LADIES AND CHILDREN.
 A NEW REVELATION A NEW SCIENCE GREAT MORAL AND SCIENTIFIC CoMB1NA-
 TION.
 PROFESSOR FARGO, THE INFALLIBLE WAX
 NC MEDIUM AND MAGICIAN, CLAIR
 yOYANT, PROPHET, AND SEER
 COLONEL CLIFFORD, THE FAMOUS LIGHTNING
 CALCULATOR AND MATHEMATICAL Re
 FORMER
 This was the substance of the program me, but there were a great many incident al fOritu,'e which have forgotten. By the time I had mastered them, however. for the occasion, the individual who was the tattered flag, turned round, perceived me, and showed me counten- ance which could belong only to an ''in- falliblc waking medium.' It was not. in deed, that Professor Fargo had the ab- stracted and emaciatcd aspect which tradi- ton attributes to prophets and visionaries. On the contrary, the heshly element in hls composition seemed, superfcially, to enjoy luxurious preponderance over the spiritual, He was tall and corpulent, and wore an air of aggressive robustness. A mass of reddish hair was tossed back from his forehead ill a leoninc fashion, and a
  placently over an expansive but no means immaculate shirt front. He was dressed Ill a black evening suit, of q tarnished ele- eance, and 1t was i'll keeping with the fstal pattern of his garments, that on the nght forefinger of large, fat hand, he should wear an immense turquoise ring. His intimaae connection with the coniur- ing class was stamped upon his whole per I>,,kk ko sol l. lave seemed representative of it's gross CT accomplishments. You could have fincied him, in spangled feshings, look ng down the lions mouth, or cracking the ringmaster's 8 whip at the circus, while Nile. Josephine jumped through the hoops. It was his eyes, when you fairly net them, that proved him an artist on a higher line. They were eyes which had Peeped into stranger places than even lions mouths. Their pretension, know, vas to pierce the veil of futurity; but if 1hfs was founded, I could only say that the vision of Ezekiel and Jeremiah was but another name for consummate Yan- kee shrewdness. They were, in Q single word, the most impudent pair of eyes I ever beheld, and it was the especial sign of their impudent that they seemed some- how to undertake to persuade you of their benevolence. Being of fine reddish brown color, it was probable that several young women that evening would pronounce them magnificent. Per ceiving, apparently, that had not the rustic physiognomy of q citizen of P, Professor Fargo deemed my patronage worth securing. He advanced to the cope of the platform with his hands in his pock- cts, and gave me familiar nod.
 ''Mind you come tonight, young man!'' he said, jocosely imperious.
 ''Very likely I shall,' I answered. Anything in the world to help me through an evening at P-.''
 ''Oh, you won't. want your money back" the Professor rejoined .s.Mine is a first class entertainment; none of your shuffiing break-downs. We are perfect, my friends and ], in our respective parts. If you are fond of a good, stiff, intellectual prob- leam, we II give y0u something to think about The Professor spoke very slowly and benlgnantly, and his full, sonorous voice rolled away through the empty hall. He evidently liked to hear it himself: he balanced himself on his toes and survey ed the scene of his impending exploits. I IrN~r NrN