News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-12-20
A PECULIAR FACULTY,
A Statesman who Might Have Been n First-
Class Medium.

''Talking about peculiarities of mems
minds, [ heard Senator Beck tell a
queer story the other day" said a GEN
tleman to some friends the other night
eve were all discussing the same sub
ject that is up now, when Senator Beck
remarked that he thought a peculiaritv
of his brain had done him a great deal
of harm in his life.
g L first noticed it, said the Senator
when was a boy going to school in
Scotland. I had strict old preacher
for tutor and, with a number of other
boys, went to the parsonage to be edu-
Gated. One night [ was very sleepy, and
still had long Latin lesson to get off.
l tried hard to learn it; but almost be-
! fore L was aware | would be doing. At
! length read the exercise through in a
haIf-dreaming condition, and with the
Latin all tumble in my head, [ went
| to sleep. | awoke the next morning
with my brain thoroughly clear. and,
strange to say, all the antiquities of my
difficult lesson were made plain, and I
read the Latin lesson without a balk.
| The same thing happened a second
time, and [ again found that when I
went to sleep with a confused idea of
my lesson, learning it while half doing,
L awoke with all the knitted points I'M
raveled. 1t became my custom after
| that to read my tasks over inst before
| gong to bed, and [ never failed to have
them III the morning.
" My strict old tutor saw that Inever
studied, and thought one Of the other
boys was helping me. At length he
! gave me page of Livy to translate, and
| told me If [ did not have it for him the
next morning he would fog me- He then
forbid any of the boys to come near me
and watched my actions. [ read the
lines as usual before going to sleep, and
sure enough the next day [ had them
pat as you please. He never troubled
me after that. Well, the year passed
by, and | found my faculty still clinging
to me, till [ began to put too much faith
in 1t and depended almost entirely upon
my mysterious helper. Some time ago
Il phrenOlOgist came to examine my
famlly's heads, and they all went wild
over him. I paid no attention to their
talk, though my wife urged me to give
the man a trial. One day, however,
he met me and was so persistent that /
at length sat down to him. He said that
he would examine my head for 50, and
give me a chart for s.. [ told him So
was all I would throw away, and he
began to name my characteristics. At
length he said: ''You have one fac
ulty that is fully developed. Tt is spir-
ituality. You have the faculty devel-
oped to marked degree. You would
have made a fine medium. Your mind
is capable of working separate from
your body-that is, it can perform men
tai labor while your body is at rest and
knows nothing about it. You sometimes
solve difficult problems while you are
asleep, and wake up in the morning
without knowing that you have been at
work. ''Here is So said I; "a man
who knows as much as you do deserves
it." My strange faculty. continued
Senator Beck, whether it is spirituality
or not, is growing weaker. I can hardly
explain the action of my mind during
these abnormal spells. [ see the Lines
and words before my minds eye, and
without knowing the process, or, in
deed, being aware of any process, I work
on the problem
"YOu remember John Sherman's anec-
dote of Beck?" continued the gentle
man. "Beck was working day and night
on the Tariff bill, when a member Won
dered how he got any rest. oh, said
Senator Sherman, who was present,
Beck rests himself when he makes a
speech a man who can work when he
could rest himself may be pardOned if he
rests when he should work. "-LouiS-
UWe Courier. TOUfUQL