The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-04-01
Mental Precedence.

Many years ago there was lady who
had q most intense dislike to cats, so
much so that were there one in the room
when she entered, she would be obliged
to leave Immediately, such an effect had
it upon hernervous system. On one occa-
sion, she was invited to dine with the mar
rator's family in the country, but she de-
clned, because she knew that there were
cats on the premises; but on the promise
that the cats should be strictly incarcer
ated she consented to come, and the three
cats belonging to the house We're duly
shut up. During the dinner she was
seen to be very uncomfortable, and to
look very pale, and on being asked the
matter, she said that she was sure there
was q cat in the room. Assurances that
this could not possibly be the case were
of no avail, and on search being made, a
cat was found actually sitting under her
chair She rose Immediately and left the
table; and passing down the dining-room
toward the door she also passed across a
small cupboard door opening in the wall,
through which the dinner was served
directly from the kitchen. As she passed
this the second cat of the establishment
jumped through it into the dining-room.
A scream of horror burst from the poor
lady and she was led away fainting in
the drawing-room. The time of year
was such that the window of the draw
ing-room was open, and it, was so made
that it reached nearly down to the floor,
and not much above the lawn outside the
house. While the poor lady was being
attended to by aid of scent-bottles and
such-like restoratives, the third of the
cat establishment jumped in at the Win
dow. This was too much to be borne
by such peculiarly constituted nervous
system, and she begged to leave the house
Immediately. ..- a .. IL.
ID In 1851, as | was walking down the
centre of the Great Exhibition, carelessly
looking about me, was struck with a
sudden thought as to whether should
meet a clergyman there with whom ]
had lived some ten years before, and had
not seen for many years, and so far as |
remember, had hardly thought of since.
Pondering on so strange a turn to my
thoughts, i suddenly turned round and
retraced my steps, and before | had gone
thirty yards met face to face the very
gentleman whom had but just contem-
plated the possibility of meeting.
Another and a different sort of mental
prescience occurred few years since. |
was dressing one morning, when sud-
denly thought: What became of my
brothers old signet-ring that l used to
wear? (This brother had died some
thirty years before.) l began to think
over it; but found l had lost all recollec-
ton of its fate, and it passed from my
mind. About five or six days afterward
my niece came to stay with me. She
had come from my old home, some
twenty miles distant, where | had been
born, and she said she had brought over
ring for me, as my sisters thought it
must belong to me, and that it had been
found by one of the gardeners in the
mold in the garden. And by inquiry |
found that it had been picked up on the
very morning that | had thought of it
when | was dressing. Here, then, was
the long-lost ring and these various cir
cumstances connecting themselves to-
gether; and then remembered that |
had lost the ring in that very spot in the
garden belonging to my old home where
it had been found; and being a signet-
ring, and useful for sealing letters with,
lhad bought another to supply its place.
On referring tony old accounts, | further
found that this newer signet-ring had
been purchased nearly twenty years be,
], e, so that the lost ring had been lying
in the garden mold some twenty years
before it was recovered in the vicinity OF
the spot where l had lost it. Chambers
Journal