Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-10-11

a circle, but generally in rows of nine
cards each. Nine is mystical num-
Der, and has domination over all
charms:
"Thr!ce to thine, and thrice to mine,
And thrice again. to make up nine,
Peace The charms wound up"
Every nine consecutive cards forms
a new and different combination, and
every card is in sympathy with the
ninth card from it, After the general
fortune is completed, a separate
manipulation of the cards is made, to
learn if the client will obtain his or her
wish, and from the position in the
pack of the nine of hearts, which is the
''wish card" the required answer is
adduced. Sometimes the wish card is
made to represent the person of the in
dividual consulting the oracle, and
whatever fortune is cut and dealt out
to this is regarded as the same as hav-
ing been dealt to the suit of the indi-
vidual.
So much for the system of fortune
telling by cards. 1t is all humbug
from beginning to end. There is
no law against it, and if there was it
is extremely doubtful if the practice
could ever be suppressed. The world
is full of dupes, they bristle upon every
corner. and it is much to be believed
that man is never so perfectly happy
as when he is being fooled the most.
What says the old song?
"Quach quack, nothing like quackery
Quacking my friend of the day is the order"
and we have it practised in our very
midst to the fullest extent.
The following anecdote is related Of
fortune teller of the past century:
Isaac Tarrat was a man of some liter
airy attachments in London, and was a
contributor to the Ladies' Diary and
the Gentiensan's Magazine. He was
originally linen draper, and thriv-
ing one, but from various causes he
proved. unfortunate, and in his seven
tieth year knew not where to turn in
order to provide his bread. In this
extremity he was reduced to be-
come a fortune teller. In a mean
street near the Middlesex Hospi-
tai there was an obscure shop
kept by an elderly woman who had
long made a livelihood by means Of
oracle maintained on the premises. II
now became the Office of Mr.. Tarrat to sit
in the upper room in a fur cap, white
beard and flowing worsted damasl
nightgown, and by the cards tell the
fortunes of all who might apply, re
ceiving for his labors shilling day
and his meals. The woman sat in the
front shop and received the company
and their money. Tarrat admitted
that his mistress treated him kindly
always giving him a small bowl o
punch after supper; there was no grea
discomfort in his situation, beyond tn,
constant distress of mind he suffered
from rejecting upon the infamous
character of his occupation. He haC
occasion to remark with surprise tina
. many of the customers were of les
mean and illiterate appearance THAI
might have been expected, At length
after having scraped together suffi
Gent amount of cash, Tarrat gave VI
the place, and, as it appears, just il
the nick of time, as his successor ha,
not been q month in Office when he wa
taken up as an impostor. Tara
found a retreat in the Charter house
, where he lived till his eighty-eightl
, year, dying in 1889.
r Cup reading does not obtain to tn
extent of divination by cards, an
D from inquiries made by the writer tn
r only information he has been enable
' to obtain leads him to believe that
: is practised only to limited extent
5 But where two or three old crones ar
: gathered together for the purpose c
? taking tea, be sure that one of them q
least will endeavor to steal look int
: futurity by aid of the grounds left
/. her teacup. An old writer says: "Of
n the bright conceit, that our horiscop
n should be revealed to us in a cup, an
n our fate be prefigured in the hier'
|, glyphical writings OF coffee GROUND
n and tea leaves, or shuffled out to us
s the oracular demonstrations Of tt
> four suits. The practice of paganis
n long survived its belief, so h;
h that of divination, unless "
L are to suppose that the your
f persons of the fair sex, and the o
g women of both, are serious proselyt,
n to its efficacy, when they interpret Il
|. cabalistic writing of coffee or tie
Q grounds in a cup, or determine the
+ destiny by the casual upturning of Il
o cards" Perhaps all of us are mo
II or less tinctured by superstition, and
IF faith in divination will never wa
4. converts so long as it affords us
d scapegoat for our follies, and it m;
$ be. our crimes. II we meet with su
o cess in our undertakings we assign &
re merit OF that success 10 our own pr
e. dence and forethought, and If we ia
ID our bad luck bears all the blame of o.
Of failure. King Lear says: This is Z
D. excellent foppery of the world, tn
5. when we are sick in fortune, often {
w surfeits of our own behavior, we ma
K guilty of our disasters the sun, mo-
n. and stars, as if we were villains
g. necessity, liars by divine thrusting G
'. adulterers and drunkards by an 6
d. forced obedience to planetary inf
e ence."
At Lord, what fools these mortais be-"
is Fortune-telling is all humbug,
of perhaps an excuse may be found for