The Republican journal., 1875-03-18
Written for the journal.
Sermons from Various Texts.

| Be thy intents wicked, or charitable,
| Thou comst in such questionable shape,
| That will speak to thee.
Hamlet, Act l. scene v.
In the good old days when ghosts were ghosts,
| it was thought to be so unsafe to address one
of those visitants from another world, that it
would be equivalent to making compact with
the evil one himself to give a ghost the power
| and advantage over an earthly mortal which a
spoken word would afford it. Thus it was
made awkward for both parties, the poor ghost
being inhibited by the conditions Of its permit
ted visit, TO make any communication to mortal
unless invited to do So and the trembling NOR
| tai, firm in the belief that the smallest uttered
| squeak would bring an embrace from the ap-
| partition, could only gaze with staring eye-balls
till he could endure no more, then plunge his
head beneath the bed-clothes and indulge in
| liberal perspiration. l never have had an
| opportunity of disobeying the injunction of nv
childhood, "neyer to speak to ghost,' for
never have seen one; but my settled conviction
is that / should have disobeyed, if I had ever
had the chance, for my heart has always been
moved to pity the shiverng, unclohed spirit
standing in enforced silence, waiting for word
| of recognition from the friend to see whom it
| has come SO far. | have tried to put myself in
| Its place and realize the cruel disappointment
| and yearnng of this unwelcomed visitor, as it
| perceiyes the fear and aversion awakened in its
| friend by its approach. When we stand at the
| bar of heaven to give our final account, among
the act. of injustice for which we must answer
will be found, standing prominently forth, our
/ e I,1.li
| Ghosts.
| But i'll these modern days, when ghosts are
| maerialized spirits, we have changed all that.
| We have emanclpated and enfranchised the
| negro, and invited him to the opera; we have
| furnished the gentle savage with the best ap
| proved shooting-rons and sent out soldiers for
! him to shoot and we have become quite pleas
ant and sociable with the ghosts We are in
| part indebted to William Shakespeare, greatest
| Of poets, for the initiatory step which has re-
suited in this great social change respecting the
| condition of disemboded spirits heretofore so
much feared. When lie made Hamlet receive
| his fathers ghost as loving son should greet
| his respected sire, he began the pulling down
| of the barriers which terrified mortals had from
| time immemoral erected against the unwel
come return OF their departed friends. Hamlet
| follows the reckoning of the ghost, goes with il
| to retired spot. gives it opportunity to unbur-
der its mind, listens, sympatbizes with it,
| promises obedience TO its injunctiOns, and con-
duets himself in all respects like devoted son.
And it is but justice to the ghost to say that it
| behaved like gentleman, and made no more
| Stern requirements of Hamlet than he might
| hal-n no J,a caI
| no more Than Hamlet would have willinglv per-
| formed; The unfortunate circumstance being
| that the latter was not made of the stuff of
| which heroes are composed and although he
did finally perform all that the departed king
| had enloned it was after much yacillation and
! beng nearly borne down by the weight of the
! imposed burden. The mortal dread Of re-
| turned spirit, which was universally in force
at that time, is shown by the lively anxiety of
Horatio and Marcellus, lest, by permitting
| Hamlet to follow the dead king, they should be
delivering him over to malign influences, and
to be dealt with by the ghost with unfair ad-
| vantage.
| In this age Of universal doubt, or skepticsm,
| when the scientists and materasts, scientific
| materialists and m2terialistic scientists, are
teaching us all manner of irreverence, prompt
ing us to speak diSrespectfully OF the Equator
and to d-n the North Pole, when vet other
lmage-breakers are undermining our faith in
Shakespeare himself requiring us to pull down
our idol from the niche of fame and substitute
| therefor the counterfeit presentment of Francis
Bacon, my lord Nerulam; and when Darwin
| mas almost made US ashamed of our forefathers
| there is imminent prospect that the poor ghosts
| Will be relegated to their former condition of
neglect, and we be again taught not to speak to
them, not from any fear of what they may do to
| us, but because familiarity will have bred con
tempt OF them. The truth is we are having too
| much and too many Of them. The maerialized
| spirit, Katie King, who bewitched Robert Dale
owen and DR.. Childs, at Philadelphia, where
: She appeared often, was the daughter of IL
pirate, bold John King, who sailed the seas
| over, some two hundred years ago, accomplish
ing some blood-curdling bad Jobs like Robert
Kidd, ''as he sailed" But Katie was young and
| pretty piquant and Saucy; she had plump arms
which she graciously permitted Mr.. Owen ana
DR., thilds to feel. She was materialized She
had beautiful brown hair in curling masses,
winch She gave, with what was almost oban-
don, to the caressing fingers of Mr.. Owen and
Dr. Childs, and they commented on its sickness
and perfect naturalization. She was lust a
little ungrammatica, and had Il pretty way OF
saying ''you stoopid' to her questioners, when
sue answered them, She was very engaging,
anu everybody came to see her, but zone day"
scoundrelly Jenkins of newspaper reporter
got so near her that he "smelt something" and
the coleeblooded materialist instead of attribu-
ing the unpleasant odor to the hypothetical
TACT that some part was not thoroughly mater-
allzed and was beginning to mortify, immedi-
atelV set up theory in his mind about bad
breath from ''precarous teeth" like old lady
Partington's and watched for her in the street
every day, recovered the scent, got on her track.
run her down, interviewed her, found she was
poor little widow, with child and a mother
to support, who was turning an honest penny
in harmless way, and the poor little thing had
TO confess, with the tears falling down her ma
terialized cheeks Robert Dale Owen made an
apology to the public through the press, admit
ting that he had been deceived.
The old-time ghosts were entitled to respect
for their due observance of the rules of deco
rum in all their interviews with the dwelIers
on earth This new race of spirits are no re-
specters OF seasons, places, or persons: they
knock at all hours Of the day or night, and if
you do not give immediate heed to their pres
ence, there is possibility that they may lift
you III your chair, or deposit a marble-top
centre-table in your lap, as reminder that
your attention is required. The gentleman-ike
anu lady~like ghosts of the old school, in the
prmness and propriety of pig-tais, knee
breeches, and polished shoe buckles stiff
hooped farthingales, Elizabethan rufus and high
heeled slippers, never intruded upon one when
| he, or she, was in any manner engaged, but
always deferred their visits till the still hours
| when the business of the day was over and had
been banished from the mind, and then came in
With such quiet, polite air, that it was almost
pleasure to meet him. They seemed to be
conscious of the fact that there must ever exist
GOODNESS between them and their earthly
friends, and, respecting this prejudice, made