The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-04-17


seeing these movements were e8hausting
her, 1 asked Ter1tission to try quieting
her myself. IN FIVE minutes she was
herself sgain. As result of this incident
8 conversation began. in which the lady
gave me her peculiar ex experiences, and
asked nay opinion, which unhesitstingly
gave-that the whole thing wss a hum
bug ss regards spiritualism, but that I
had reason to believe that such q power
as mind TeadiTg exists. o; course this
brought The guns oi bvth mother snd sun
to bear upon ne, not 50 much on account
OF my own skepticism, as because l
seemtd likely to snatch from them S
wealthy snd more than halisconyeTted
patron, who wanted only a lew sharp,
sensible words to carry her bsck into un>
belief and reason. Inci6enta " the man
| aid. pointirg to ne:
There is a person whom l could
never il fuence-the nature is too posi-
tive"
Apparently piqued, the lady said i:
g You could not have ntrolled me had
] not been willing"
" think I could I think my will is
| sttOnger than e t1rs. Before had ex>
erted it upon you five minutes yot were
| perfectly submissive"
Then, sir" I remarked, "yod exeri
cised win power Z"
"I did"
That is not spiritualism, it is mes
merisn, animal magnetism"
Thoroughly vexed with himself and
annoyed with me, he snarled out: /" I
claim that to certain degree they are
| alice"
"And l clsiza tbat spiritualism' and
| mesmerism ar , no means iden ical.
The one suppoza- a human agency, the
other q super-human."
" Prof. Carpenter employs Virtusliy
| the same means that I take. He address
ses his hearers, interests and guiets them,
aud then begins to operate upon his
subjects"
." I agree with you, and precisely to
| tie same end. But Prof. Carpenter
honestly calls himself a mesmerist- you
claim to be controlled by spirit infu-
ence.'
Has my wife not told you many
truths to-day ?'
Sne has. Your wife is an excellent
mind-reader."
Did she not go beyond mind
reading7 Has she rot told you, as well
as Others, facts which only the spirits
| know ?''
No, she hiss told me many things do
not know, but l have not verified them
| yet. They are in the iuture."
| " You then absolutely deny that my
wife has made or can make spiritual
communication to your
" dO-tO me or anybody else. l do
not believe that the dead friends of
myself or any other person are coming
/ to talk to me through your vile at one
dollar a visit. I hold that sf they bad
anything to say to me they would come
10 lue directly"
| "If one sends 6 telegram he sends
| by hired operator, does he not p
| he cannot attend to the work himself" +"
! " The cases are not parellel. We start
| ed from q spiritual standpoint, snd you
| have wandered into the physical proper
! ties OF matter. But right here let me
/ ask you 3 question. L your wife wishes
10 tell me trough the spirits, or through
| her. something about an absent friend,
/ why does she wish to hold in her hand q
| lock of that PERSONS hair or letter
/ written by him? Do spirits need a
| tangible connection with our world p
| We must work by established meth
/ ods, You admit that the lock of hair
and the letter assist the communication
! 'I admit that your Wife's talk is more
/ rapid under those conditions, but have
my own theory on the subjecG. I deny
! IN toto the yu b!iahed theory Of spiritists d"
" How will you explain my wife's
| telling the tbings you acknowledge to be
| 70 ?''
/ . caIl II mind-reading."
' What, when it touches the Thoughts
and actions OF your absent friends 2''
| &" Yea"
81 came from a state of infdelity into
| a fuIl and perfect faith in SpiTitualism. L
I lose that faith [ shall go back to infdel-
| ity. Why should we profess this if we
! do not believe it?'
"The business pays"
81 You call it mind reading-how do
you Explain the process ?"
''I DO not pretend to explain the most
/ ordinary workings of the human mind,
/ nor cen anYbody else How, then. can
YOU expect me to demonstrate to you
| the action OF mind IN an abnormal con
dition p
"Haw do you satisfy yourself, then.
tgiat it is not SpiTitualIsm Do you
deny there is such thing as true clair
II 90 not deny tha., but I claim that
clairvoya ice is not spiritualism. l hold
thst vCur vile, or anb0dy elss success
fuI in the business, as well as many in
| private lie, has, beyond the majority,
the faculty of rendering her mind
utterly NEGATIVE, so to speak. The essen
tiai thing, at the stgrt, is quiet, passive
condition on both sides, especially on the
part of the medium, The darkness and
the silence contribute to this result, as
the attention is not drawn of by outside
objects. The mind of the medium being
thus obedient, for I claim she csn pro
ducs this e set upon herself by mere
effort Of viii, or rather a nOn-exer5io0 II
will, she is, for the time being, mef lily
| subordinate and her mind IS virtually
the ssrvsnt of the Othsr. How this is
done I do not pretend TO say. I further
believe that, using her sitter as a means
of communication as we'll as guide, she
can put herself IN partial connection
with absent minds. That this has about
it something material as well, is Illus
trated by the fact tn At she wants some
| thing which the ais Mt one has handled.
She may or may not be unconscious all
this time there are differences. You
claimed this lady was unconscious during
the entire time she was under yOpT lu-
fuence. She ssid she wss not uncOn-
ecious FOR an instant but was pOwerless
to speak. Everybody knows that We sre
affected in different ways by the society
of different people This is only another
leaf out o. the same book which we are
discussing, but nobady sres anything
supernatural ia it. 1. ls my belisf III ~,
as this mind absorbing power is much
more common than we once believed,
and is largely a matter of temperament
and 5ensibility, existing to as great g
degree snoHg those who do not practice
it fer gain, and who utterly repudiate
! eli thu - ~ s~irifEIsIisr1 in COnuectiou