New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-09-11
THE rEy1ISS4NCE or UITcHcRAFr

Las; week which Progress marked with the COM
pletion Of the Northern Pacific anti-ProgreSs cee-
brated by a revival of wi. chcraft 1t is Reading.
tho lourishing capital of Berks County in the en-
ligatened Common wealth of Peunsrlydnia. that has
achieved the bad emiuence of having this uncanny,
not TO say diabolical, renaissance occur within
her borders. THR TRIBUNE has already gwen some
account Of the Reading witches Mrs. Balthazer. OF
that c,ty does not hesitate 10 declare that her
has become a victim 10 their horrd wiles. He has
got "wItch-mark" on his leg below the knee.
That scttlesit Does any one suppose that Mrs.
Balthazcr does not know witch mari" when
she sees in To-day finds tue boy under the care of
witch doctor: that is. doctor who feels able To
cope with witches. Mrs. Ebling also of that city,
goes to tho length Of charging thai u witch is
responsible for the death OF ono of her children.
Accordingly shc has brought suit against the person
whom she regards tho murdarOus witch, one
Mira SNYDER. We nav remark, In passing. that
SNYDER doc, not happy name for really
gifted witch It lacks impressiyeness. In tho same
boat with Meslsmes Balthazer and Ebling is young
Mr. Gilbert another Readingite. His health has
not been up 10 the Gilbert standard of late so he
has had a witch summoned before Alderman Long
meaning that he accuses her Of being a witcn.
Her namo is Mrs Smeck, and young Gilbert blames
her for his decline. tSmeck is another name that
visiting card.l
Now had all this happened at Salem. over in
Massachusetts, there might not hayi been unre-
strained wonder. The advent of a witch at Salem
possby would create no more excitement than
usually attends the return Of old citizen
alter prOtIacted absence. But why
should such pestiierous psrsonages dis
appear at Salem only TO reappear
two centuries later at Roadingl Or why, indeed.
should they reappear at all in case tho world Is
good deal better today-and who shall say It is
not 9--than it when the Boston authorities in
1855 hung a witch for bewtchng four children; or
when Salem. little later, made similar drastic
disposition of no less than fourteen members of the
dreadful siserhoodi In one of his Spectator papers
Addison writes that there is nothing SO inconsId-
crate which NAV not appear dreadful TO an lmagln-
alton that is ii led with omens and prognostIcs."
Very true 70 such an imagination a mark on a
bows leg which to the ordinary observer would
seem as innocent as a strawberry mark GU the boys
arm readily becomes "witch-mark." But how IS
the presence of nsand prognostcs 10 the Reading
imagination to be accounted fort What is there Pc
cuiar about the Reading air, the Reading environ
ment the Reading traditonsf Ii certainly will not
do 10 refer the renaissance the simple fact that
'Pennsylyanla Dutch IL largely spoken IN Reading
An EXCESSIVE use of that awful tongue worry likely
tends 10 deaden the finer sensiblies and of course.
destroy. An ear for music But, in the absence of
data we hesitate to believe that it ever transformed
a Reading woman into Reading witch. Nor Will
II quito answer to argue that tbs return OF tho
witches il curious but perfectly legitimate response
TO the passo demand of our age in America for
choice specimens of the antiqus. The line has got
to be drawn some where and no collector of clocks,
china spinnn 2 wheels and the like ever was known
TO sigh for a live witch to add to his bric-a-b rac.
Mummes are another matter. for they uniformly
behave themselves. Thev never mark the legs of
small boys, nor hill children. nor throw young men
into a decline.
There is one man who. wero he still aliye, could
confidently DO depended upon to solve this mystery
to explain why the witches have reappeared, and
why the Keys ono State. rather than any part of
New-England, ~ the scene Of their fell labors That
man is Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was on intimate
terms with witches elves. fairies and cognate crea'
lures he may be said to have been familiar with
the law of their being aud with their manners aud
customs. He could have interpreted between these
Reading witches and the general public. In his
absence, tho majority OF people la tins country
people whose imaginatiOns being in healthy con-
dition are not filed with omens aud prognostics"
will most likely dispose of the now witches by dis
believing in them; aud dispose OF Balthazer, Ebling