Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-06
MARK TWAIN AND TELEPATHY.
The Humorist Gives Another Illustration Sup
porting His Belief.

Several years ago / made a campaign
on the platform with Mr.. George w. Ca
BILE. In Montreal we were honored with
a reception. 1t began at o'clock in the
afternoon in long drawing room in the
Windsor hotel. Mr.. Gable and | stood at
one end of this room, and the ladies and
gentlemen entered it at the other end,
crossed it at that end, then came up the
long left-hand side, shook hands with US,
said a word or two, and passed on. in the
usual way. My sight is of the telescope
sort, and 1 presently recognized a famil-
lar face among the throng of strangers
drifting in at the distant door, and l said
to myself, with surprise and high gratifi-
cation: THAT rs Mrs. R.; had forgotten
that she was Canadian" She had been
great friend of mine in Carson City,
New, in the early days. | had not seen
her or heard of her for twenty years;
had not been thinking of her; there was
nothing to suggest her to me, nothing to
bring her to my mind; in fact, to me she
had long ago ceased to exist, and had dis
appeared from my consciousness. But L
knew her instantly; and l saw her so
clearly that l was able to note some of
the particulars of her dress, and did note
them, and they remained In my mind.
was impatient for her to come. In the
midst of the handshakings l snatched
glimpse Of her and noted her progress
with the slow-moving file across the end
of the room, then saw her start up the
side, and this gave me a full front view
of her face. ] saw her last when she was
within rs feet of me. For an.hour l kept
thinking she must still be in the room
somewhere and would come at last but
l was disappointed.
When l arrived In the lecture hall that
evening someone said: Come into the
q fr nf
there who wants to see you. You'll not
be introduced-you are to do the recog-
nizing without help, if you can"
l said to myself: ut. is Mrs. r.:
shan't have any trouble"
There were perhaps ten ladies present.
all seated. In the midst of them was Mrs.
r., as had expected. She was dressed
exactly as she was when l had seen her
In the afternoon. / went forward and
shook hands with her and called her by
name and said:
Il knew you the moment you appeared
at the reception this afternoon"
She looked surprised. and said: But
was not at the reception l have just
arrived from Quebec. and have not been
in town an hour"
1t was my turn to be surprised now l
said: II can't help 1t. 1 give you my
word of honor that it is as l say l saw
you at the reception, and you were dress
ed precisely as you are now. When they
told me a moment ago that should find
friend In this room, your image rose be-
fore me, dress and all, just as had seen
you at the reception" "a
Those are the facts. She was not at
the reception at all. or anywhere near it;
but l saw her there nevertheless, and
most clearly and Enthusiastically. To that
/ could make OATH How Is one to ex-
plain this?'~I was not thinking of her at
the time; had not thought of her for
years. But she had been thinking of me,
no doubt; did her thought fit through
leagues of air to me, and bring with it
that clear and pleasant vision of herself?
I think So That was and remains my
sole experience In the matter of appari-
toni mean apparitions that come when
one is (ostensibly) awake. l could have
been asleep for a moment: the appari-
ton could have been the creature of a
dream. Still, that is nothing to the point:
the feature of interest is the happening
of the thing just at that time. instead of
at an earlier or later time, wtisch is argu-
ment that it's origin lay in thought-trans-
ference.-Samuel l.. Clemens mark
Twain) in an article on Second Sight In
the September Harper's.