The Russellville Democrat., 1877-06-21


 comes for the nonce dressing-room. Possibly the medium is woman. The doleful. sounds without may strike on her ears. but the fair being needs them not. Like Jezebel, she is tiring her head. pocket-handkerchief, or simple stripe of muslin, bound around the face, alters it so as to render recognition almost lm- possible in the dim light which is religi- ously preserved.
 if the spirit form displayed be masculine, some hair on the face is, of course. desirable. And whiskers and mustaches may be cunnipgly concealed. One person confessed to me that he had carried them fastened in the hollow under his arm. So with other parapher- nalia of smaterialization.' The exceed
 ipgly fine India-rubber masks employed when it is desired to exhibit variety ot faces, females may hide in the gathers of their dresses, or even in thelr nair: ln-
 deed, should the audience be sufficiently enthusiastic, and dcountenancesonly on tae
 programme, those countenances may be
 furnished by so simple means as few
 engravings. Though the likeness held
 up to the cabinet aperture be that oi Wellington, one excited beholder Will
 recognize in it his much-loved grand
 mother, and another dispute the claim
 by pronouncing it the face of her equally yenerated aunt. have witnessed these
 sad exhibitions, and know, therefore, Of
 what I speak"
 Concerning the bringing of fruits and
 flowers, he narrates these experiences:
 "I recall an instance in which about
 half a pint of gooseberries were thrown
 on the table in the dark. There cried
 the medium, { is not that beautiful
 manifestation A burst of indignation
 ensued when the other two persons pres
 ent scould find nothing astonishing in it. sWhat!' said the wonder. you
 think had the berries in my pocket, do
 YOU {? And. to prove the honesty of all this wrath, the said pocket was turned inside out. Alas for the result! The
 medium Q had forgotten those little
 withered ends (the botanical name es-
 capes mel which adhere to the gooseberry. At least dozen of these were entombed
 from the depths of that pocket"
 A gentleman known to me arrived
 one evening too late for admittance to the
 mystic chamber, where wall or windows
 were being dematerialized to allow of the passage of flowers and leaves. The circle terminated-the floral trophies } were triumphantly exhibited-and the
 dear medium was complimented in most honeyed terms. An aunt of the
 gentleman I have mentioned gave him , one of the little spirit-brought' branches to examine. Just at that mo- ment the dear medium turned to some one As she did so the attention of the , gentleman was drawn to a leaf hanging : from the lower part of the red opera.
 cloak she wore. It corresponded exactly , with the leaves on the twig he held in his hand. He caught at it, held up the , cloak, and showed to all present that the spirit productions had been concealed in the lining. It was then remembered that the medium (no longer dear J 7 had, after being we'll searched, com plained of feeling chilly, and had re- quested permission to put on the red op- ! era-cloak which she had left (quite pro- } miscuously of course, in the hall" , The paraffine molds. of hands was fab ricated by similar device. Mir. Home quotes from the report of an investi- gatiug committee of spiritualists these facts:
 "A packet of parafiine designed for use at the evenings seance was received 7 by Mir. M. Taking it to an apothe- } cary near by, he had it accurately } weighed, and the weight, which was eleven pounds four ounces, avoidupois, marked on the wrapper. Mir. M. } and Mrs. S. kept this packet f sacredly until the evening, when it was shaved up in their pres ence, and before them Mir. M, r and others, was placed in pail and hot
 water poured upon it. The l lights were rendered SO low as to be of no t avail in the back parlor, at the extreme , rear of which sat the medium facing her audience. No one was allowed within B semi-circle of five or six feet from the table. The mold was soon declared fin- ished, and on being quickly examined (by 8 novice, as it happened), another l bit of dry cotton wool was found within ) the orifice of the wrist, which Mir. A g has, with the first, in his possession. Thirty-ive people were present. !" The paraffine in the pail was care 3 fully collected. MT. M took the a package, and had it weighed on the l same scales, when it balanced exactly at 9 eleven pounds and four ounces. He s also received the paraffine mold or glove 3 from Mrs. H. and Mrs. S-, and 5 found it's weight to be two and one-half , ounces, avoirdupois. The druggist per 5 formed the weighing in both instances ! Mrs. A was unaccountably an. } noyed by bits of cotton wool about her , carpets, while the medium and her bus band were with her.
 "Upon Sunday, the 18th, Mrs. A saw the mediums stockings, worn the previous evening at Mrs. -'s seance ' at about two inches below the toe they
 were cut across the sole and left open" , The means of producing spirit photo graphs is described at length, and also the way in which bells are rung, musical instruments played on, and the other
 manifestations obtained with which the public is familiar. On the top of all this Mir. Home wishes us to believe that
 the marvels he accomplishes are not the
 result of trickery, but the genuine work
 of departed spirits.
 The book concludes with extract
 from poem which Mir. Home professes
 to believe was dictated by the spirit of
 the poet Chatterton, and in which he
 finds great literary merit. It opens with
 these lines:
 One shadow still upon my life is east
 One fragment of the sorrows of the past
 l The hated chain of memory links mo vet