Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-02-14
AN INTELLECTUAL LULU.
Mental Feats Performed by


Woman.
A few people met at private house in
Park Avenue recently, says the New
York Times, and gazed with wonder at
an intellectual Lulu Hurst. The host
introduced to them young woman ap-
parently about 80 years old. with fresh,
rosy complexion, brown hair and eyes,
and rather diffident manners. He said
she was an intimate friend of his, Mrs.
Oil of Plainfield, n. J. For nearly three
years, he explained, this lady has been
controlled by some marvellous and pow
erful influence, which gave her a ready
command of the most difficult foreign
language, modern and dead, without any
study. She could not choose the Ian
guage she would speak at will sometimes
she would rattle of lot of Spanish,
sometimes talk French for an hour with
out stopping for breath, and again reel
off Greek, Hebrew, or even Arabic at
pace that the most accomplished scholar
found difficulty in following.
lie most extraordinary thing about it,
the host said in conclusion, was that
Mrs. Chi had never in her life studied
and foreign language, nor did she ever
speak a word in any tongue but English
until this spell came upon her.
Mrs. OhI's natural difiidence deepened
to almost schoolgirl bashfulness as she
rose before her new and critical
acquaintance, and stood upon a large
wolf skin rag. Without any delay she
smiled pleasantly upon all, and relied
her brown eyes toward the ceiling, and
Immediately began harangue with an
Imaginary street crowd in language
that no one present could even guess at
She talked as though thoroughly in earn.
est. Next she wandered off into a
pathetic lullaby, which a gentleman
present declared to be a Spanish love
song. After another monologue in an
lupknown language Mrs. Ohl sang tenor
solo, and alternately carried on a bassc
and soprano song-dialogue, doing al
with apparen: ease.
Then she rested a lew minutes, and
taking a pencil and paper in her hand
rolled her eyes skyward again. In al
Incredibly short space of time she ha(
filled foolscap page with curious look
ling characters that neither she nor any
body else in the room could read. /
looked like jumbleG mixture of phon
ography, Chinese and Arabic, yet certain
letters and sign characters were yer,
distinct.
Mrs. Oil said that the "spell,' as sh,
! called it, though calling for considerdbl,
, physical exertion, seemed to refres!
| her. She lived at Plainfield with hel
: mother (who was in the room at tn,
; time) and her husband, who was in tn
employ of Pierre Lorillard. She begal
? to have spells about three years age
, and had gradually got S. that she coul'
r command them at will. She had writer
r in Hebrew, and on one occasion she pu
down a lot of telegraphic character
Y which The village operator read at
/ glance, and which proved 10 be som
long desired information about missin
q will. Though she had never read Shakes
S peare's Julius Cesar" she once accurate
Iy recited the whole of it to her mother
Both she md her husband were sensitiv
about the matter, and would only eS
. hibit the strange powers to few az
ouaintances. Portuguese lady, wh
l. was among them. would not believe, s
J. Mrs. Oil said, that she had not acquire
o the Portuguese accent in Portugal. Sh
received like encomiums from gentleDe
Z familiar with the languages for he
n French, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Gree
e and Arabic accent.
vi Mrs. Oil said, in response to que'
: ton, that it made no difference to he
:, whether she sang soprano. baritone, Q
q tenor. The only peculiar sensation
n connected with the whole affair wer
o around her throat and chest. Her min
was clear all the time, she said, and SD
saw all the people about her, but he
attention was wholly occupied with tn
= strange characters in fantastic garbs, VIII
,fl came before her eyes, ard who SCENE
to speak through her. Another peculis
% feature of the strange Influence und'
j. which Mrs. Oil did all these rldicnio'
10 things, her mother said, was her wol
= derful influence over dumb animal
She would ride fearlessly an untame
colt. and successfully capture an angl
)t bull. which had chased a scared ma
across a ten acre lot. She was afraid
4 nothing but spiders. Rats and mi,
were her pets. Mrs. Oil offered u
rs guests no explanation of her phenom
IT nal powers.
,r