News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1882-11-16
THE OWNING ROD.
AN OLD SUPERSTITION REVIVED Il
ENGLAND.
The Story Tod Regarding its strang,
Manifestations During n Search
for Water.

The London st. Jgn1es'S Gazette says
If we may believe Mr.. Vaughan Jen.
kins, of Cheltenham, the divining-rod
is capable of making its proofs even in
these days. Mr.. Jenkins had bought
two acres of hillside land on which to
build house. To live in the house il
was necessary to sink we'll. The we'll
s1nkers went to work, sank themselves
to depth of fifty-one feet, and then de-
clared that ''from the nature of the
strata, etc., it would be perfectly useless
to proceed further" And that was not
the worst. At consultation of what
we should now call experts it was de-
cided that, owing to the dip of the land
and for various other reasons, "there
was not the least possible chance OF
water being obtained on the plot of land
anywhere" Then up spoke the FORE
man of the masons-a native of Devon
or Cornwall-and said he, "Why don't
you try the divining-rod?" ?" Now, the
mason had not only this suggestion to
make, he had little boy properly quail
fed to carry 1t out. This child was said
to have the gift in remarkable degree !;
and the father declared that ''if water
was to be obtained on the plot, he would
pledge his character that the boy would
find it." The trial was made. The boy
was sent for, and this is what happened:
'He Immediately repaired to neigh
boring hedge, and returned with rod
of blackthorn or hazel think the
former about two feet three inches in
length, and of the thickness of telegraph
wire. Then placing the ends of the rod
between the thumb and forefnger of
each hand, bending it slightly and hold
ing it before him at short distance
from the ground, he started on his ex-
pedition; 1 and others following him
and watching every movement closely.
After going up and down, crossing and
recrossing the ground several times, but
never on the same lines, the lad stopped,
and to our great surprise we saw the
rod exhibit signs of motion, the fingers
and thumbs being perfectly motionless.
The motion or trembling of the rod in
creasing, 1t slowly began to revolve,
then at an accelerated pace, fairly twist
ing itself to such an extent that the lad,
although he tried his best to retain it,
was obliged to let it go, and it fed to
some distance" These phenomena were
80 striking that-"coupled with the re-
spectability of the parents, members ot
religious body"-they persuaded Mr..
Jenkins to call his well-sinkers together
again to dig on the spot indicated. And
10 and behold ''on reaching the depti
of weight feet, they had the gratifi
cation of striking strong spring O
pure and beautiful water, coming in 81
fast as to cause them to make hurried
exit, and in few hours the we'll con
tanned depth of ten feet of water, rising
since occasionally to fifteen feet, and 81
it now continues" Mr.. Jenkins is con
vinced that there was no deceit or collu
sion, which we may the more readily
believe since ''no fee or reward wal
asked for or expected" Since this story
will probably set many divining-ro
in operation, we had better add that the
boy seemed very honest and innocent
boy; and that though his father pos.
sessed the same power in his childhood,
he lost it on attaining the age OF six
teen. Now, it used to be we'll known
that the working of charm often de-
pended upon the innocence of the
cbarmer. None but the most spotless
of virgins were of use in some divina-
tions,