The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1883-12-28
MASIFEsTiTI0yS OF MIND.
''Can Won Su,amOE Spirits from ;he Vastly
Deep

/
teuil at Liberty hall last evening and saw
the clever doings of c. II. and Orilla
Read. Without any particular reference
to the performance which was good of
the kind, ii started a train of thought
in the aforesaid reporters mind.
II a grand causeway could be construc-
ted between the earth and the far of un-
known country called 1.-The Better Land. .
! what shoals of people would he forever
travelling up and down on tours of in
spection. human nature. lacking such 0
bridge, insists on n fruitleSs search after
| means of communication with the super
natural. For good or for evil. for selfish
or for unselfsh reasons. myriads of men
and women find an awful fascination
in trying to solve the great mystery.
One man investigates because he is an
unbeliever in Immortality and wishes to
believe. Another that he may become a
medium and make money. A third be-
cause he longs 10 speak with a much
loved daughter or wife who has gone be-
fore. And SO II goes on. And so year
after year clairyoyants, fortune. tellers.
spiritual mediums. all find clients and
followers in all places. That these peo-
| pie die and suffer misfortunes, poverty
| and disease themselves which thay are
| totally unable 10 avert does not GiscOn-
cert the people who fock 10 them. be-
lieying in their ability To forewarn and
forearm others against coming diff
culties and sorrow. There Is no eStima-
| ting the influence physical. mental and
moral. eyerted by some of these sooth-
sayers. Speaking some time ago of one
of hls patients, 4 woman of highly sensi-
tive imaginative organization. a phys
clan said: She is diving by inches, from
! the effects Of a single interview with a
clairvoyant." The individual whom she
consulted went into trance and in the
midst of horrible contortions and spasms
told her that he saw a snake writh-
ing and twisting In Der stomach.
Her ill-health dates from this in
terview. and from being q healthy person
she has become confirmed invalid. She
fancies she feels distinctly the motions of
this reptile. She Is constantly nauseated
and has become dangerously nervous.
Neither arguments nor ralllery affect her
belief in the least. This man succeeded
in one interview in making her have faith
IN him. What many good man might
have failed TO command from her after
working for wears. he compassed in one
fatal half hour. The power of such men
and ms confreres Is due in a great meas
ure to the influence of a stronger will
over weaker one. Many of them have
a certain measure of dramatic talents by
the help Of which they can make imposSi-
bilities seem possible. Among these in
our memory is pretty little woman who
goes into frances and calls herself a clair
voyant, although she admits quite frankly
that she does not know what she is.
Years ago. when little child. she recol-
lects clasping her arms around a swing
and looking dreamily into space until il
seemed to her as If her soul was dissey-
cred from her body and she had visions.
They were not Of her own future, but of
the future of others and when she
awakened from this dream or trance
only the latter part of the closing chapter
was remembered. Her father, a stern.
old Puritan. was al loss to know how TO
eXorcise this devil. for whippings and
punis,fmeLts were of no avail. She
sei1aJ every opportunity 10 tes- this
power. As sne ~raw older. however and
yyeu' 10 scuOol. ,he CI.l; .fer shamed
her ont Of what gh-y called '1sTch nCn-
sense" AteigAteen, having a heart ike
other women, she fell in love, married
and became the mother of two little
children. With busy hands and happy
life the old perGiciOus tendency towards
dreams aud visions WIS well nigh
forgotten. No trance warned her of
the approach Of that Jnre.enting
visitor. death, tie came rs D. tine most
ordinary moTtals. uneXpectcI and unan-
nounced. One 20rnjnG,, -F4iific sna stood
on the porch OF her little holse, with ne.
baby Growing IL her arms. four men ap
preached with . horrible burden, the in
animate form Of her husband manCied
by machinery. Then came sickness, pov
erty, debt, and despair. Her children
were looking az her with hungry ewes
She grew wild and unlike hersalf-anC
was beset anew by visions and dreams
She saw visions of the future happiness
of her friends and neighbors, until final
| ly she told q credulous woman one daN
her fortune. Then another came and an.
other, and presently the desolate widow
became known as a clairvoyant-aw woman
with power TO divine the future. She
went TO sleep with rigid muscles and star
ing eyes and saw peoples lives unrolleC
before her as an immense panorama. She
told her visitors how friends processing
to love them, really were implacable enc
mics. She told of coming sickness, OF
good fortune for those who invested
money in such and such manner. And
all this was given forth with such burn.
ing and rapid intensity that she never
failed TO convince. 1t is not too much
to say that whole lives have been ordered
and altered upon this woman's words
Friends have been separated and brought
together; wives and husbands have beer
rendered happy or miserable; money
made or lost; residences changed: bust
ness put aside: Journeys taken from one
part of the country 10 another. The
| woman herself. meanwhile. made money
educated her children, set up her son IL
a lucrative business, and owned her firsi
little home for rest and recreation. But
while she had been busy averting the mis-
| fortunes of Others, had she kept her Owl
sky free from cloudsl All. no. The light
of her life went out. Her beautiful, ac
complished, cherished daughter died
Neither trance, nor vision, nor spell, mol
dream warned her, and vet it was no i'll
ness, but an accident which. could i
have been foreseen, might easily have
been prevented. The girl went to ride
the horse took fright. and she died Of in
ternal injuries. If spirits come to hel
mother and tell her of the destiny o
others. are they not cruel devils which
hover around and leave her powerless tC
protect her own
All there is TO IL is that she is q highly
strung, overwrought woman. who need
treatment by competent specialist il
her own case. She calls the people who
come to see her, appropriately enough
''her patients" One lady has been to SCI
her once a week for eleven years. Sht
limits herself to three frances a day anC
she charges s. for each trance. TheI
she tells fortunes by cards, and, in on,
way and another makes from SIS to 81
a day. Even her own sorrOwful expert
ences, which she relates quite unre
servedly and pathetically. do not dete
the people who consult her from return
ing again and again. Reason is not th'
strong point with those who find il posi-