, 1877-01-06

thhI oFHlNGfIttD SEA4EE,
7sMt Editor Of The 7ffbmat. -
srRisorIELp, ILL.,, Jan. 4-1n your saturdatr
Issue Of tho 23d OF December appeared letter
OF which I was the subject. The letter borrT
large headlines which read as follows: "E1.'
posed-A spirtualIst Medium at Bprfpgde{d.
ILL.,, brought to Grtcf, and the Modus Opcrsndi
OF Performing the Tricks Erp1aiued.n Al tb<'
headings Indicate, tho letter pnrposte5i 10 tc an
e1poac OF certain medium who usa none otslet
than myself. The letter appeared to have been.
s o. Pfety wt po.tSsd IN The
matkablc adaptabil'ty to Tho business OF "tt-
porting" Or "iuteryfewing" as Ia carried on Al
the present =: day: Even though the report It
which / wish 10 cali attention, and correct nv
duced. ~
:, NJ ar.t objection to tho letter in question IL,
~ personality. care vcry little. 30 },r as an
concerned, for tho remark, s'that nj appeaf-
auce was not vcry prepussetsing." I can only
eaf that was not personally consulted In that
particular; but II would surely indicate that
ias he ts not Of the opinion Of my lady friends
10 far ~ reference to my mother, / think that
was ont ot PLACE. Fur curtain faults postcta
sns , y y not to blame; her teachings were good;
anu. J! not Possessed Of an abundant amount OF
worldly goods, she has qualities Of mind anu
hcaft which more than compensate.
.lo our corresponding y was mistaken in the nAme
o. .1s yobg ICY referred t9 .s having bsen en-
gazing IN thia pucrtlc farce were various: not
simply from tue love OF fun and frollc {althouah
DO not claim To be exempt from = love Of such
!hlnes); nor "a5 1t my acsfRn 10 deceive, mis-
Ing pf it.
The first (tocal1ed) Spiritual manifestations
ever witnessed conceived to be = deception Of
were dull that they could not Distinguish day
!foM nsght. or those who were determined to 10
fooled, but what would see clearly tho whole
state Of the case. II took long time to con-
nonsersc. purported As being dot,e By spirits Of
people who hail taken their departure from thIa
life. But such was not the case; men and
women who were in the primo Of intellectual
and uncotnpromtsinRlv proclaimed their Gllcf
10 The slupcndous folly. Had T. been simply
question Of belief, doubt II I should cycr
have have beson,e notorlous through the medium Of
awakcncd In me desire 10 knox nore about
this phenomenon {as It is callcdl; to learn what
1t tad developed, and Of what benefit 1t was to
mankind. ! had good opportunities to read and
yinced that there waa no substantial good In It,
but tho tendency rather bore to tho opposite
sIde.
What has sptrltualism dcyelopeds Nothing.
It has been tried to be ut1llzcdsin finding loss
cows and treasures; but a eoforcd boy on mule,
or q poor detective, even, have been found III
preferable, as fat ~ results arc concerned.
Entcrpttslnx mediums have among the woE-
neld, IN the show business. and in the practice
Of tricks and deceptfons Of various kinds, but
they havc, As a general thing, come to grief by
Tho principal inluccmcnt with me in entering
upon this work was to expose this class Of
vampires that arc deriving a support from tbs
cfe0ulous class Of people.
My chosen profession, even in Illinois. tho
tEfNi HtntC in $hr 1JnfnD In mint NJ -
greatness, Is not guarded in any way. Tbs law
tuterposcs no barrier to Ignorance and tncapac-
~. This contend is wrong to the protcs-
other eallIngs and professions 'i are proteetea' ]
that Of medicine ls not; hence the number fn Il
remarkable only for theis want Of Intelligence
md luck of capacity to rise above thcir present
eplsituallsm furnishes = largo show Of such
pretcndcts.--at least a largs share OF them.
claim to be spErtuallsts. can clearly SEQ that
humbug and deception would offer i shorter
potency, II pushcd with ytgor; hut don't think
such thines viii pot last. I don't believe ti,oro
is any real excellence without labor. It uny
spirits could make a good blacksmith Of my
friend Burchett, without the wnste Of scYtrai
long years of irksome,, unpaid labor in bis ap-
premiership, rs that theJ Gnu make good pro-
iessioual men out q such undiselPljned ma
terlal. Any reasonable person. would as snon
expect that .splrits would mako Z profound
scholar out of . b'ockhcad Is that they would
,n aks :s3s:f sood doctor Gs Of such TIL J. oas ot
tarlY crcdulo.is aud easily imposed upon. Soma
off ways Of these long g'halrcd and longer-earGd
Atd!trs amid their incantations, would cause an
lie was not tho greatest fool tn the world, and
would think so, too.
never tried TO extrrtso my healing povus IN
this absurd wey, because tl.luk It. woald be :