The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-02
THE CRYSTAL.

} Many years ago I was boarding in q
well known house at the lower end Of
Broadway, kept by a jolly, light eyed,
light haired, fat German lady, the wild
ow of a professor" Nine. Steinberg
As for myself, l was a quiet, old fash
Toned teacher of languages, and the
place suited me. Among my pupils was
the daughter of a rich widow lady, iv-
ing in Washington squire, which was the
height of fashionable aspiration in those
days. My department was instruction
in the German language, and in Ella
Cameron found a pupil so completely
and naturally imbued with the mysti-
cism deemed peculiar to the Germans
and the orientals that 1 found she
grasped the instinct of that grandly ex-
pressive language as an infant learning
its mother tongue. There was German
blood somewhere in the long pedigree
of Elias ancestors.
Ella Cameron had inherited sufficient
of the natural Scotch intellectual force
to give her balance without bunting
the subtle sensibilities of her mind.
One day there came to our house a
foreign gentleman to board. No one
knew his nationality, and to this day /
am ignorant of it. He spoke English
fuently and dramatically correct, but
with such an accent as he might have
learned by being educated abroad; yet
he was not an Englisnman, for he said
so. His German was perfection, his
French Partisan, his Italian and Spanish
amarvel. AS for his age, he might have
been thirty or he might have been fifty.
Naturally enough, with our assimila-
ting tastes, education and pursuits, and
through the kind Intervention of Nine.
Steinberg, Paul Stolberg and became
soon acquainted and then intimate.
Great men," he would say, "are but
the embodiment of an abstraction, and
as purely accidental as anything within
the meaning of the word"
These and similar enunciations he
would give utterance to, not in any dog
matte or self sufficient spirit, but simply
as stating the result of his study and ex-
perience.
Most cultivated and educated persons
l have met have possessed hobbies of
some sort, and Stalberg's hobby was the
collection of crystals. His collection,
however, was certainly the finest 1 ever
saw, containing specimens of quartz,
spar and other minerals, and even the
diamond in various forms. They were
arranged in his cabinet under glass, and
numbered several hundred. Besides
these, he had in another case a collection
of magnets, comprising about fifty, and
also of all sizes. Such curious con-
catenation of tastes surprised me. and
remarked upon it, asking why he had
selected two such diverse objects for col
lection.
''Not so diverse as you think, my dear
FRIEND" said he. ''f0r |, at least, think
that where two powers, apparently diff
ferent in form and character, produce
the same results, if exercised in the same
manner, there must be consequently
somewhere"
"The magnet attracts" said l, "'and
the crystal, excited by friction, will dc
the same, but SO will glass bottle or a
stick of sealing wax"
He smiled, and going to his crystal
cabinet selected from it one of the larger
ones; then he said. as he returned to my
side. ''Sit easily in your chair while |
show you something else the crystal will
do, and mark your sensations | took
an easy position, resting my hands on
the arms of the chair, and waited.
Seating himself directly in front of me,
he raised the crystal with both hands
and at about a distance of six inches
from my person, drew it slowly, perpen-
dicularly before me, from my head to my
feet. AS he did so | noticed a sensation
as Of light breeze blowing upon me.
The operation was repeated, and this
time felt pleasant drowsiness creep
over me, the cool wind still blew upon
me. and seemed TO see nothing but the
crystal, which assumed a larger appear
ance and became luminous at the angles.
A third pass, and it occurred 10 me that
/ would mention this luminous appear
ance, which was increasing; but on try
ing to do SO found could not speak or
move, and with dim fancy that was
rude to fall asleep under such circum-
stances l became insenSible.
When / became conscious the window
was open, and the cool October wind
blowing upon me; my forehead was wet,
and my chair had been wheeled In front
of the window. Stolberg sat by me,
and | observed that he looked paler than
usual and anxious.
"What is the matter" said |.
Nothing" he replied. Il do not care
to wait until you should come naturally
ont of your coma, so l used physical