Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1888-12-20
LORD TENNYsoy
a Le''ef which Shows That he Pos.
clairyoyant Powers. assessed

A'N-N-
a ie''er winch shows That he Pos.
'iair'oyant Powers.
1t is well known that anon.
soaeh'in' circles of England, spjritnS; aef
niaao ie" years ago rapid ana rar --'ash
"oie prog ress. Wallace, the co.disc-aaA
er wIh Darwin of the prino,nl Lo'ef
natural selection; Prof. Crookes 81
eminent chemist on whom the P,an .ue
Academic des Sciences conferrsd 'en l;a
medal with an honordrium OF oGo gold
TOT MS discoveries in molecular rb ASnos
oefgt. Cox, the noted phychist ana Ips li
Huxley himself, a sceptic az s,,a1.. Ioi'
we're concerned in series =; :. Puos,
ments, chiefly with the Medinr, u u peri
which attracted wide attention. De'
time. None of the scientists cou's 'ue
PLAIN the phenomenon prodpce5
medium, and the report mad -. 'ne
Crookes is held by the professnrs - i t
spiritual belief an overwhelp,;n., ene
mony of its genGiness. The Rame ~ 80,
poet TennysOn has never bafo,o IS we
connected with spiritualism. ~, oH
written by him has come into t,a ~
session of the Tribune, which sbouo roa
he holds the conviction that eorac;o,,1
ness may pass from the BODY ana bols
communion with the dead. This il az
sentiaily spirituslism, but in Tennyson,.
case at least, SO far as the letter ma;
Gated, he Is his own medium. The stata
msnt he makes ia curious.
The letter is in the poets handwr;tir,
II is dated Harrington Freshwatar ~
of Wight, May II, 1874. It was vr;ttos
to a gentleman who communicated 10
him certain strange experiences he had
mad when passing from under the effect
of ana5ihetics.
Tennyson writes: 81 have nevor bsa
any revelations through au@stheties Int
kind of waking trance (this for lack Of
better name) have frequently had
quite up from boyhood, when have beep
all alone. This has often come upon ma
by repeating my own name to myself
silently, till all at once, as it were. out of
the intensity OF the consciousness NJ
individuality the individuality it,elf ssem.
ed dissolved and fade away into bound.
less being, and this not confnsed state
bat the cleareet OF the clearest, the sursst
uf the surest, utterly beyond words
whence death was an almost ia. ghabls
imPossibility, the loss of personality df
SO 1t were) seeming no extinction, but Che
only sure life"
AS ii conscious OF the increlibl signif
canoe of the statement thus compacted
he adds: II em ashamed of my feeble 5es.
soription: Have not said the state i,
utterly beyond words?"
This is not Vulgar taole-ttpping spirit
ualism. 1t is the most emphatie deear.
OF tbot No rfN 90 :
capable of transferring itself into another
existence, is not only real, clear and simple
but chat it is also infinite in vision and
eternal in duration. For, he continues,
that when he comes back to "sanity" he
is "readyn to fight for the truth of mis-
experience, and that he holds 1.-THE
spirit whose separate existence, he thus
repeatedly tests-''well last for cons and
eous."
II is pointed by Prof. Th0rsas David
son who has soeu the latter, that the same
conviction, if not the same experience,
only with another, is described in "En
Memoriam," xcv. The stanzas are gvner-
ally passed over as referring to mere
poetic frenzy OF grief. But reading them
in the light of the calmly penned prose
puts an entirely different aspect on the
Incident contained in the lines.
And in the house light after light
Went out aud was all alone.
Ahung6r seized my heart read
OF that glad year which once had been
In those fa.ln leaves which kept their
The noble letters of the dead.
And strangely on the silence broke
The silent speaking WORKS and strange
Was loves dumb cry defying change
TO test his worth, and strangely spoke.
The faith the vigor. bold to dwell,
On doubts that drive The coward back;
And keen through wordy SHARES to track
Suggestion to her Utmost cell.
So word by word and line by line
Tie dead man touched me from the past,
And all at once it seemed, at last,
His living soul was fashc on mine.
And mine in his was bound aud whirled
About empyreal heighths of thought,
And came on that with is, and caught.
The deep pulsations Of the world.
Eonan music measured out,
The steps Of tims-the shocks OF chance
The blows Of death.
The idea Of the actuality IS conveyed IN
the letter in terms which correspond
nearly to those in the rhythmic expression.
The "1hich is" is certainly confirms.
tion of the state, "surest of the surest
and the lasting "for eOus upon cons
finds it's countsrpart il "Eonian music
If Tenuy son has never been connected IN
any way with phyaohic science or spirit
ualism, the letter, not 10 mention the nov
clearer reading Of the poem, will create
not little surprise.
Habits and Long Life