The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1892-03-10
MENTAL TELEGRAPHY.
A Strange Experience Related by
Mark Twain.
lie and II Friend Three Thousand Miles
Away Are Possessed of Exactly
the Same Idea at the
Same Time.

Now come to the oldest thing that
ever happened to me, says Mark Twain
in Harpers Magazine. Two or three
years ago was lying in bed. idly mus
ing, one morning-it was the Cd nf
March--whcn suddenly red-hot new
idea came whistling down into my camp.
and exploded with such comprehensive
effectiveness as to sweep the vicinity
clean of rubbishy reflections and Gil the
air with their dust and flying fragments.
This idea, stated in simple phrase, was,
that the time was ripe and the market
ready for certain book; a book Which
ought to be written at once; book
which must command attention and be
of peculiar interest-to-wit: n book
about the Nevada silver mines. The
,"Great bonanza" was new wonder
then, and everybody was talking about
it. 1t seemed to me that the person
best qualified to write this book was
William II. Wright, a journalist of Vir-
! ginia, New, by whose side had
scribbled many months when
was reporter there ten or
twelve years before. He might be
alive still--he might be dead; could
not tell, but would write him, anyway.
l began by merely and modestly sug-
gesting that he make such book, but
my interest grew as l went on, and ]
ventured to map out what | thought
ought to be the plan of the work, he
being an old friend and not given to
taking good intentions for i'll. | even
dealt with details, and suggested the
order and sequence which they should
follow. ! was about to put the manu-
script in an envelope, when the thought
occurred to me that if his book should
be written at my suggestion, and then
no publisher happen to want it, should
feel uncomfortable; so I concluded to
keep my letter back until should have
secured publisher. pigeon-holed my
document and dropped note to my
own publisher, asking him to name
day for a business consultation. He
was out of town on q far journey. My
note remained unanswered, and at the
end of three or four days the whole
matter had passed out of my mind. On
the 9th Of March the postman brought
three or four letters, and among them a
thick one whose superscription was in a
hand which seemed dimly familiar to
me. could not ''place" it at first, but
presently succeeded Then said to a
visiting relative who was present:
"Now will do miracle. will tell
you everything this letter contains
date, signature, and all-without
breaking the SEAL 1t is from Mr..
Wright, of Virginia, New, and is dated
the I'd of March-seven days ago. Mr..
Wright proposes to make book about
the silver mines and the Great Bonan-
Ia, and asks what l, as friend, think
of the idea. He says his subjects are
to be so and so, their order and sequence
SO and so, and he will close with a his
the Great Bonanza"
I opened the letter and showed that
had stated the date and the contents
correctly. Mr.. Wright's letter simply
contained what my own letter, written
on the same date, contained, and mine
still lay in the pigeon-hole, where it had
been lying during the seven days since
it was written. There was no clair
voyance about this, if ! rightly COM
prehend what clairvoyance is. l think
the clairvoyant processes actually to
see concealed writing and read it word
for word. This was not my case.
only seemed to know, and to know alb.
solutely, the contents of the letter in
detail and due order, but had to word
them myself. l translated them, so to
speak, out of Wrights language into my
own. Wright's letter and the one | had
l.. l>,,x -,
substance the same.
Necessarily this could not come by
accident; such elaborate accidents can
not happen. Chance might have dupli
Gated one or two of the details, but she
would have broken down on the rest.
could not doubt-there was no tenable
reason for doubting-that Mr.. Wright's
mind and mine had been in close ant
cryStal-clear communication with each
other across three thousand miles OF
mountain and desert on the morning o1
the I'd of March. | did not consider
that both minds originated that sue
cession of ideas, but that one man orig
mated them, and simply telegraphet
them to the other. | was curious tt
know which brain was the telegraphel
|
and asked for particulars. Mr.
Wright's reply showed that his minC
had done the originating and telegraph
ing and mine the receiving. Mark
, that significant thing now; consider fol
, moment how many splendid orig
inal" idea has been unconsciously
stolen from man three thousand mile
away. If one should question that thi'
, is SO let him look into the cyclopedi;
, and con once more that curious thing
in the history of inventions which ha
puzzled every one so much-that is, th'
| frequency with which the same ma
chine or other contrivance has been in
? vented at the same time by several per
: sons in different quarters of the globe
"Seven Fingers"
In an article on ''Great Speeches b.