The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-01-20

when 1t attacks a woman who has
/! a tinge CT romance about her. it
scoops her up and claims her for its
own. The assertion has been made
that the fortune telling infection
fastens itself most firmly upon girls
in theil "teenS, ''but an impartial can-
vass among womankind lin general
VIII reveal the interesting fact that
there are many elderly matrons who
squander large sums of their hus.
bands hard earnings upon a dys-
peptic gypsy simply to crafty a
morbid curiosity to ascertain if
"what the old thing say 8 comes true.
But perhaps in no other class CT the
feminine queendom is the desire to
delve intO futur.ty so msnifest,
so deep-!oo ed, so intensely
uugovernable, as in the
romantic single lady of uncertain
age. There is no baim on earth so
soothing TO the yearnirg so:-l of a
mlddle-a9ed, unmarried girl, as the
statement that there is an ord crOne
living in hut at the foot Of hill
hard by, who is prepared to reveal
the hidden mysteries of the future.
She will endure any hardship to get
there; she will answer any question
that may be put to her; believe
everything that is told her, and
comply with the outrageous behests
of the subtle sorceress as implicitly
as ever a Russian serf obeyed the
manda es of tyrannicsl master.
That the ladies Of Salt Lake are
not a general exception to the rule
is evidenced by the throngs of Gre
dulOus maids and NATIONS who
visit the various gypsy encamp
ments In the citysand it's environs
during the summer months, and the
apparent prosperity which attends
the followers Of the magic pro,es-
sion throughout this part of the
country. But at no time in the
past has the mania been so uni
versal as it seems to be at present.
The existing excitement, however,
| is not purely confined to the telling
of fortunes by gypsiea, of whom
there are quite a number in the
city, but it may be more particularly
ascribed to the startling reveIa-
tions which have recently been
made by a woman in the
Twelfth Ward, through the agency,
IS she claims, of a small,
round pebble, which she calls her
"peepstone." She has resided here
for many years, and during the most
Of the time has been the possessor
of this stone, but it was not until
recently that she attempted through
its medium, to see anything more
than a lost cow or define the where
abouts of missing mule. Latterly,
however, perhaps since the estab-
lishment OF that asylum for lost
animals, better known as the city
estray pound, with true business in
Stinct, she has enlarged the
scope of her visionary powers
and assumes to answer any
and all questions that may be
asked her in seriousness-she will
not abide levity - whether they
pertain to the past, the present or
future; and it is here that gullible
damseis ranging in years from six
teen to forty repair to receive that
balm, which the mystic woman, by
the aid of her precious stone, is en-
abled to dole out to them at the
paltry pittance Of so cents each per
balm. 1t is said that she can tell
how many brothers or sisters you
have, and if they are away from
home, the direction they are in and
what they are doing. She will ap-
prOximate the success of business
ventures, foretell the state of the
weather, describe the manner
in which missing articles
of jewelry were misplaced,
lost or stolen and where they now
are; tell if a suspicious person is
your friend or enemy or whether
you should encourage certain asso-
Citations or not. She will estimate the
number Of years you will live and
state what the cause OF your death
will be. In short, by the aid of her
peepstone che claims that her know
ledge Is all comprehensive, though
the gift of sight which she enjoys
will not always operate. For i'm
stance, if she has reason to believe
that the visitation of q patron was
induced only by curiosity and not
for the purpose of aecertainiDg
knowledge, or II she thinks she is
being imposed upon by duplicity or
given incorrect answers to her
interrogatories she simply dis
misses the victim with
the remark that "the stone is
cIouded and she cannot see to day."
There is a conflict of opinion
amongst the ladies who have
Visited her concerning the truths
fitness Of what she has to say, but
upon one point they are all agreed,
viz: that she is a most remarkable
woman. The experience of one of
the ladies who recently consulted
her will be food for an article here
after.
A DILEMMA.
To write, OF not to write, that is the quessi
ton.
Whether tits nobler in the mind to suffer
The reputation of being asked By
A young lady to write in her autograph
album,
And having kept the book two years,
more er less,
ND tbon MT Writfan in it