The herald., 1896-04-05
SPRING Street NOTEBOOK
BY 5. B. ROSS

Unless all signs fail Los Angeles is
acquiring q reputation as an American
llscca Of occultism, astrology, NEGRO.
NANCY, second sight, and other aber-
ruted conditions. which is attracting to
ito gates the priests and pilgrims OF
the shrine of these abstruse sciences
from all parts Of the country. and un-
less the vox populi is soon heard in an
emphatic manner, there is danger that
the fame of the city, earned by long
years of patient suffering, as the Eden
Of sidewalk and gutter evangelism, will
soon be in the rear end of the process
sion.
Take the word of your uncle, it does
not require the perception Of Bea-
ccpsfleld nor the penetrating powers
OF I, cathode ray to discover that the
study of the black arts and their varie-
rated progeny is being pursued with
much 'vigor-and financial profit, too,
in this hospitsble and happily situated
city. The most verdant Jonathan
happening to stroll through the down.
town residence sections of Los Angeles
would experience the chill of the un-
real and supernatural presence
down the locality of his
spinal, column, If he happened to take
note OF the numerous signs displayed
ON all sides. The ''spook" priests and
priestesses are many in evidence at
every turn, and if one is on the eve OF
IN important financial venture, con-
tsmplated matrimony, sea voyage or
ether hazardous enterprise, it will
only cost him dollar or SO to settle
all doubts, and exchange for the crys-
tallized reality the confusing and scat
tered materials of which it is COM
posed. thereby making certainty of
what Was before an experiment-all by
simply consulting one of these second
sight seers.
Of course, it is trifie questionable
Why these futurity manipulators do
not themselves take advantage of their
prophetic vision and turn it into the
channel of their own financial better
ment. in just such undertakings az
their clients are in; but that is an af-
fair of q personal nature, and may be
Q remarkable instance of the unself-
ishness which pervaded that golden
age Of remote contemplation, best
known to the poet and romancist.
Now, there are few of US mortals who
do not have our hobbies. Meerschaum
pipes, postage stamps, verdegrised
coins, string instruments below the
bulk of q piano, ct cetera. are some of
the common instances of this queer
greed for the possession of otherwise
worthless articles-an instinct alto
gether based upon sentiment and ro-
mantle inclinations. Men are usually
the victims of these absurd, but never
theless powerful and absorbing fam
ciee.
But fortune telling, the unwilling of
the future, that is where woman claims
the prerogative of monopoly. She may
have her penchant for cracked china,
scorched almonds, sour pickles, salted
crackers, oyster cocktails and Chinese
missionary work, even the historical
and time-honored slab of wedding cake
prepared for it's nocturnal resting place
and surrounded with full court of as
sociations. but they all fall fat when
in the race with the fortune teller,
though their persuasive features are
not to be ridiculed, for their potential
energy in the endeayor to reach first
place in the ranks of favoritism is very
large. But the pathway to the door of
the fortune teller is the most beaten of
all the tracks which lead to the hobby
dom of womankind.
This impulse is of respectable anti
Quity-a natural desire to ascertain at
. safe anterior period the facial charac-
teristics, disposition and financial
status of problematic life partner, or
else to assure herself of the number of
times she will experiment with the
double-edged tools of love, and which
Of the four OF five husbands the con-
siderate sugur prophesies shall be her
marital allotment, she will love the
most. The susceptible girl usually re-
ceives an abundance of information on
these interesting points, and while she
may "pshaw" and nonsense" it all
when retailing her experience to her
girl friends, yet it is noticeable that she
ID decidedly interested if the cavalier
drawn from the land of fancy by the
woman of mystery corresponds in any
way with some individual of the mas.
outline persuasion she may know, and
who possesses a sufficient amount of
agreeable traits upon which to formu-
late theory, involving the application
Of the ''old story"
But without certain amount of su-
perstition, what would woman seem
like. anyway? 1t is eminently proper
that she should endeavor to pass
through the Introductory ceremonial
with the new moon over her right
shoulder and spring wish upon the
abashed lunar arrival, stand in awe of
that feathered paradox, a growing hen.
gloomy wedding days, and other Cir
cumstances of ill-omen, on through the
catalogue of fateful signs.
The headlines under which these
supernatural powers are grouped, &C.
cording to the understanding of the
brotherhood in Los Angeles at any
rate, reads something like "the unseen
power which controls all things" i. e.,
. definition which is somewhat elastic
and delusive when placed under close
scrutiny. This "unseen power" opens
Z wide field of speculation to the "der-
wish" who pretends to outline it with
sufficient materiality to make it per-
ceptible to human vision. These "pro-
fessors" scar through the realms Of
lofty Imagination with the confidence
of . pigeon-hawk in quest of solid re-
1reshments, and as the average mind
under certain grewsome conditions is
- prone to the reception of supersti-
tion o. street cur is to attach himself
to the fetlocks of bicycle rider, the
s'professor" or medium" has clear
field to himself. His audiences devcur
the sentiments of his harangue and de-
part each time from the encounter
with different ideas Of the shsdowy
~something" the professor" was try