Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-02-10

some confusion, Ida was standing in the door
way. 81 should judge that Herman had con-
f1ded in your she continued mischieyOusly.
The Night Side Of Nature.
From the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.
Shakespeare never revealed more clearly the
depth Of his genius than when he put into the
mouth Of Hamlet the words:
'There more things in heaven and earth Horatto
Than are dreamed OF in your philosophy"
It may be wise to affirm the subordination of
all things to the laws of nature, for that this is
universe of law will be equally admitted by
the devout thest and the naturalistic philoso-
pher. The question remains to be considered,
What are the laws of nature? 1t is the natural
law OF watch that its hands should traverse
the dial plate in q hours time, but it's owner
violates no law by turning the hand in q
minutes time. He only supersedes an Ordin-
airy law by an extraordinary and exceptional
one. Shall we deny the Ruler of all things, or
to evolutionary process, If the superstition be
more agreeable in this form, the shame replace
ment of the common by the special?
1t Is fact that, either with or without good
reason, the folk lore and history Of all nations
abound in marvellous instances of second
sight, Of apparitions. and other occurrences.
which those who believe that the natural pro-
cesses Of which they are cognizant account
| for everything dismiss as absurd "ghost sto-
ries." 1t by no means follows that if some OF
| many counterfeit pieces may be held to pre-
| suppose that OF the genuine coin-they must
be accepted as supernatural and as proving
all that spiritualists claim. The wiser course
is to regard them as the outcrOppng Of
some hitherto unknown law, and examine
each case on its intrinsic merits Certain
planetary disturbances led Leverrier to con-
lecture the existence of some heavenly body as
| yet unseen, and the telescope soon established
| the validity OF his hypothesis. The true philo-
10 fhA ind otir
hcient number Of facts has been gathered it Is
fair to generalize Professionally from them,
Should new phenomena appear, inconsistent
with what has been concluded. revision of
Judgment must be made Thus Newton kept
In allegiance his theory of gravitation for several
years because 1t did not seem to harmonic
| with certain lunar movements. Reconciliation
was finally attained. but should any discovery
be attained, even In our own day, wholly irrecon-
| cl!abie with gravitation, the hypothesis which
has become the ground work of all material
| philosophy would De shaken and perhaps incur
the fate which Judge Stallo in his Concepts"
has marked out for the atomic theory and other
| favOrite pOstulates Of physicists.
/ We do not think that enough is vet known Of
what we will call eXtra-natural phenomena for
the formulation of any fixed law. but we claim
| that the reality Of these phenomena has been
| established by many occurrences, whose truth
can not be denied unless we are prepared to
! affirm that testimony, credible regarding all
| other subjects, is pri0ri incredible regarding
this. Our attention has been turned in the pres
ent direction by the publication of the Heaphey
Ghost-story, which so interested the late Charles
Dickens. Mr.. Heaphy, an English artist OF high
personal and professional reputation. was en-
gagged in 1853 to paint the portraits of the
| family OF gentleman named Krkbeck. Mr.
and Mrs. Kirkbeck, who were strangers to him,
| visited him in his studio, and made the con-
| tract, leaving their card, but emitting their
address. Consequently he was at loss where
to find them This occurred in May. In the
! September following. while dining at q coun-
| try house. he seemed to hear the word Kirk
beck sounded in his ear. He had forgotten,
| until that moment, all about his visitors and
| the reminder OF their name led him to ask if
his entertainers knew any such persons. He
was told that they lived in another part Of the
| country and thereupon wrote to Mr.. Kirkbeck,
who replied by urging him to come to his house
On his way thither handsome young lady en-
tered the railway carriage and journeyed with
him until their routes separated she taking the
London train They talked good deal with
each other. and on separating she said they
might meet again. On arriving at the Kirk
becks he found the family out, but was sur
prsed on entering the drawing room to see his
fellow traveller. He could not guess how she
got there, and expressed his regret that he could
not have travelled in the same conveyance. THAT
would have been rather difficult" she reoned
She also asked him If he could paint her por-
trait. He was not introduced to her when the
| family returned, and conjectured that she might
be the governess. No one talked to her, but
she sat at the table eating and drinking quite
heartily. though we are not told who Helped her.
or why an extra chair was placed for her, pre-
Stunning her to be the apparitiOn she turned out
to be. Possibly these fixtures were as unreal as
her personality. In the evening he talked with
her in the drawing-room, but no one else spoke
to her. On going to his room at night. Mr.
Heaphey asked the servant about the young
lady. but the man only stared and knew of no
such person. On second visit to the house.
some weeks later. he was positively assured by
his host and hostess that there was no lady at
| the table besides Mrs. Kirkbeek.
| The artist wondered, but kept his secret to
himself. One day in November the mysterious
lady appeared in his studiO-the servant after
ward denied letting any one Inland again ask ed
| to have her portrait painted to oblige her father
| She had brought an engraving of lady of rank,
whom she closely resembed, as a help, and sat
while he made some preliminary sketches. When
she left she said 'goOd-bye' in very emphatic
way, and, as Mr.. Heaphey fancied, seemed
| rather to fade into the darkness than to pass
through it. Shortly after he was detained at
Lichfield while on journey, and finding it dull
at the inn, recOllected he had an old acouain-
lance In town. He sent him q note inviting him
to pass the evening with him. addressing him az
| Mr.. Lutte. The person bearing the name came
there was no other Lutte in the town-but ex-
pressed his surprise, as he did not know Mr..
Heaphey. The latter then remembered that
his friend was named Clyne, and wondered
AOW nc COulu nave uaQ0 Tue mistake. On his
apologiziDg for his blunder, Mr.. Lutte replied:
''There Ia no need Of apology. 1t happens that
! you are the very person most wished to see.
You are painter and want you to paint a
portrait of my daughter. Can you come to INV
house Immediately for the purpOse?" He ac-
cepted the invitation aud went to the hOuse
where he was introduced to his daughter
bright girl of fifteen years. She was quite com
municative, and said that ever since her sister
Caroline had died her father had been insane
was always seeing her. and was subject to tear
full delusions At present he was sick and had
retired to his room, The artist tried to make
sketches from the living sisters descriptions
but none Of them pleased the Invalid. The
young girl said she had had an enrrav.
ing Of lady, M: A., who was much
This recalled to Mt. Heaphey his mysterious
visitor. The engraving she had given him and
his rough sketches were in his portmanteau
He showed them to the girl, who asked him
with surprise where he got them The print
was her own copy, as it had on 1t certain marks
which she recognized. she carried the sketches
to the father. who approved them. and at once
began to grow better. He assured his visitor
| that, though deemed insane, he had not been 90
though by kind of second sight, he had beheld
his deceased daughter-she had died in the pre-
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