The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-11-20
MOULDING THE DEAD.


| siOns of Mnicrfalized Hands and Faces.
| From the New York Mercury.
A new marvel has been developed
in our midst. The ghosts of the de
parted not only talk with the friend.
as heretofore, and afford bright Gimp
ses of themselves by naturalization
but they now make preservable like
ness in-plaster. Thus the spirits that
surround lis may be turned into mantle
ornaments, or set up in the inches pre-
served in our houses for less interesting
statuary. So say the unbelievers, at
least; and the phenomena attending
this "new departure" in their philoso.
ply is greatly agitating the Spiritual.
lists of this city. A Mercury reporter
found medium-a Mrs. Harrison, OF
Boston, now staying at the New Eng
land hotel-who is developing" in
the fresh wonder.
At the seance given to the reporter
by this lady, the arrangements were
simple but included the dark space
usually required as Il laboratory" for
the spirits to work in. A table was
provided with thick curtain reaching
from its edges to the floor, and the
floor was already covered with a car
pet that seemed to preclude the use of
traps. Seven persons sat with their
hands on the table, the medium among
the number, and the gas in the room
was left burning.
"Will the spirits try to give us the
cast of hands and faces ?" asked the
medium. eyes" was spelled out
alphabetically, in the usual way.
A quantity of white wax had been
put into a pail of boiling water, and
by this time was melted on the surface.
The pail with its contents was set I'M
der the table, the investigators were
allowed to examine the inclosed space
to see that it contained nothing else,
and then the thick, heavy curtain was
dropped and pinned carefully together.
The medium said it was necessary to
exclude every ray of light from the
laboratory" The rest of the room,
however, was left Illuminated by three
gas jets. Then there was singing dur
ing a tedious wait of nearly an hour,
enlivened only by occasional sounds
underneath the table, like raps and
splashing of hands in the pail.
At the end of that time there was a
heavy thump, and the medium asked,
Have you succeeded" Three raps,
meaning yes, was the immediate an
swer. The curtain was-rather leis-
urely, the reporter thought-drawn
aside. On the floor lay bunch of the
wax, and in one of its sides was the
deep imprint of little hand. 1t was
as though a quantity of the warm wax
had been collected from the pail and
put in pile on the floor, and the back
of hand was pressed intoe the soft
substance. The mould thus made was
allowed to cool, and was then removed
from the carpet, to which it stuck, and
critically examined. 1t represented
baby's chubby hand, perfect in outline
and detail. A message was spelled
out by raps, saying that the hand was
that of dead child of lady present.
The Mercury reporter was told by
well-known Spiritualist of terrifying
result of seance held a few days ago.
A man desired to test a new phase of
investigation, and arranged seance.
The usual conditions of dark space
beneath the table and pail of melted
wax were complied with. He was a
skeptic, and consequently unprepared
for the dramatic result. When the
signal came for the lifting of the cur
tain, an entire face was found i'm
printed in the wax. Its features, of
course, could not be accurately dis
cerned, as they were inverted in the
mould. A cast was at once made, in
plaster, and the investigator was
among the most eager to investigate
the image. Instantly the expression
of his face changed to CHASTITY terror,
his eyes stared, and his color blanched.
The Others. looked, too, and saw in the
base-relief the face of the investigators
brother as it had appeared in his dy
ing moments. The wasted features
were distorted with anguish, the eyes
were wide open, and the lips were
parted. The sight WAS CHASTITY, the
more so from the white color of the
image. The brother was greatly agi-
tated, but the strange reproduction of
a aforementioned face seemed to have
a fascination for him, and he contin-
ued to gaze upon it until his friends
led him away. The image was de-
stroyed by his friends, contrary to his
request.
The Good and Evil of Novel Reading.