Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1888-01-26

Of profound conviction tha. Be thought
his ancestors thOrouehl1 deserved
their fate, and that theif <bndemna.
tion was the only oasis 81 sstice in q
desert of judicial infamy
From other sources. ho4rer, / dis.
covered that Angus MaeEhe was an
only son, whose parents hd both died
sOon after his birth, leafiag nothing
behind them but their chil' An un-
Gle, a rich Glasgow ma :hant. had
provided in no very laSi y way for
the boys education, and - supposed
to be intending to lesvs ~za large
share Of hia prepeFsr - II ]
gathered from those people who made
a point of knowing everything about
everybody, and there is no lack OF
them at universities.
Two striking peculiarities there
were about Macbane, which stood out
from the general oddity of the man.
The first was his fondness for cats, or,
to speak more accurately, the fondness
OF cats for him. He had always one
pet cat-generally a black one-in
his rooms, and sometimes more; and
when he had two they We're invaria-
bly, Jealous of each other. But he
| seemed to have al Irresistible attrac-
tion for cats in general; they would
come to him uncalled, and show the
greatest pleasure when he noticed or
carressed them. He did not stroke a
cat often, but when he did it was with
a certain delicate and sensitive action
of the hand that seemed to delight
the animal above everything. So
marked was the attraction he exercis-
ed that scientific acquaintance ac-
cused him of carrying valerian in his
pockets.
The other popularity was in his
books. He had picked up, in ways
only known to himself, very fine
collection of early works on Demon
ology and Witchcraft. A more COM
plete account, from all sides, of "Sa-
tan's invisible world" was seldom ac-
cumulated. There were books, PAM
phlets and broadsheets in Latin,
French, German, English, italian and
Spanish, and some old family manu-.
scripts relating to the arts or trials Of
warlocks and witches. There was
even an old Arabic manual Of sorcery,
though this l am sure he could not
read. Most of these works were
Of the sixteenth and seventeenth GEN.
turies, since which period, indeed,
civilization has ordained a "close
time" for witches; and any treatises
on the black art dated after that time
Macbane not only did not buy, but as
rule refused to accept as gifts.
early in the eighteenth century," he
once remarked, "men lost their faith
in tie devil and they have not as
yet recovered it sufficiently to produce
any witchcraft worthy of the name"
And indeed he had the greatest ab-
horrence and contempt for modern
Spiritualism, Mesmerism, esoteric
Buddhism, etc, and the only occasion
during his Cambridge life on which
saw him really lose his temper was
when mild youth, destined to holy
orders, called on him and asked him
to join society for investigating
ghostly and occult phenomena. He
turned on the intruder with some
thing like ferocity, saying that he did
not see why people wanted to be wiser
than their ancestors, and that the old
way Of selling oneself to the devil,
and getting the price duly. paid, was
far better both in its financial and
moral aspect than paying foreign i'm
posters to show the way to his place
Of business. Though what the devil
wants at all with such souls as yours"
he added meditatively, sis the one
( point in his character that | have
never been able to understand. 1t is
a weakness on his part-1 am afraid
it is a weakness The incipisnt Gu
rate turned and fed.
/ 4 few sayings of this kind, report
ed and distorted in many little social
circles, gave Angus Macbane an evil
reputation which be hardly deserved.
The college authorities looked askancs
on him, and some of them, l believe,
would have been thankful if his con.
duct had giveH them a pretext for
sending him down, whether for term
or forever. But no offense or glaring
irregularity could be even plausib!y
alleged against him. He attended
the college chapel frequently, and
neve, lost an opportunity Of hearing
the Athanasian Greed. when hear
all those worthy people mumbling