The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-14

New York, March 15.-There is probably
nothing so attractive as the unknown
The mysterious beckons to each and every
one of us, and we long to find out that
which is marvellous, or to become well
yersed in that which is magical Thou
sands of years ago, in Oriental countries,
the magician or Prophet, call him what
YOU will, occupied a position of trust, and
was respected and revered. Whether the
world grew more material, or whether 1t
grew wiser, who can say? But certain 1t
is that it grew very prosaic, and except
nt intervals, little interest seemed to be
taken in what might be called the I'M
known And yet, suppose you had toid
Marie Antoinette that message could De
sent from New France across the water
TO her home in Paris, the answer hashed
hack. and all within five hours-would
she have believed It? No. She would
have said it was the work of the devil. or
that YOU we're dreaming. To us there Is
no mystery in the telegraph or the cable
Suppose YOU had told your grandmother
even as late as thirty years ago, that you
could sit in your office in New York. ana
not only talk to your brother in Chicago
but hear him talk to you-what faith
would she have had in your story ANA
vet how well used we are to the tele-
phone. Suppose you had told your son
only ten years ago that there would De
not tricycles, not bicycles, but hansoms'
landeaus, cabs; in fact, any style OF car
riages. running without horses. And yet
to-day we see the hanson worked by
electricity, or what may be the motive
mower chosen, and we begin to think that
5here will be a heaven for the horses even
on earth. How, then, can we claim that
anything is impossible If God wills IL!
And yet, it was a Frenchman who took
the American idea of spiritualism and used
il as a basis for a play! play perform
ed by one of the most carefully collected
group of actors that were ever on stage
in New York And yet, in that audience OF
well-dressed intelligent-looking people
there were some VINO laughed az the situa-
tions they didn't comprehend, and others
who having no brains themselves, gigsled
at what they counted as nonsense, be-
cause they were too stupid to see why
certain types were introduced Here IN
New York city, play written by the fore
most play writer of the day, Sardou, was
given by every paper, with the exception
of one. the lightest and most frivolous sort
Of notices. l don't call them criticisms De
cause they were nothing of the sort. any
body can jeer at play, but 1t takes goou
critic to write a just criticism.
Possibly the play may not come TO YOU
and so / will tell you a little about II.
A man Of wealth, of brain, who mas stud
led much, becomes interested in spiritual
ism: he has a beautiful wife, and, whlie
he does not love his wife any the less, he
becomes 50 absorbed in his studies tnat ne
forgets 10 show her all the courtesles that
are due from a husband to a wife. She is
Young. handsome, ami a little blase. Like
many worse woman, finding that her
husband neglects her, she imagines her-
self in love with a man who affects a pas
sion for her because she is independently
rich. She is to go 10 visit woman irlehu'
Instead, she starts with her friend ana her
maid. only to let the maid and friend go on
the train while she flies to the house OF
her lover. The husband and
the remainder of the guests
concluded to try to evoke the spirits; they
do so. and, by the old method of tapping
out the letters, they are told TO open some
thing. Soon they find out that 1t Is the
window that is to be opened. Through II
they see a great fire raging Later on. we
know that a petroleum train has colhded
with the express Just at the station, and
that IL is believed that with others the
wife has been burned to death. Her nus
band, accompanied by his friends, goes 10
the house of her lover to find out IL ne
knows which train she took. Listening
hidden in another room, the faithless wlie
realizes the force of her husbands love
and his intense grief. When he goes away
q cousin of hers remains, and insists that
she is concealed in that house. lie
calls her TO come out from her hiding
place, and she appears. Horror-strlckeh
as she is at the situation, she tens MN
that she will remain dead. That IN thHt
way alone can she become mistress OF her-
tress and will she be able to keep from
her husband the story of her inhdelity'
Her cousin tells her he will not encourage
her in this scheme. The lover quickly
realizes that, dead, she cannot control
her fortune, and he urges her to declare
herself alive, get divorce ana marry
him. Then she comprehends Is her
snonev and not herself which he is after.
Scorning him, she agrees to go with her
cousin. and to confess all TO her husband.
During the time she waits for darkness
she sees her home draped in mourning FOR
her she hears the cries of those who loved
her. and she sees the body OF another wo-
man, as she says, IAN honest woman,
carried on a pier 10 neT own uoAiS dS
herself. The husband, grief-stricken, can
not stay in his own home, and goes TO a
small cottage where he had spent his
honeymood. Here the cousin brings the
wife. conceals her, and then talks to the
husband. that he may think out what to
do. Naturally, the conversation drifts to
his latest study-spiritualism He asks
him II he has ever called up the spirit
of his wife. The sorrowing man tells him
that he has done II again and again, but
without getting an answer. Then the hus-
band goes on to say that he is happy, be-
cause there appeared to him the spirit
of a young sister who, TO prove her iden-
tity, called him by a pet name, known
only to her, and assured him that on that
very night he would see his wife. He be-
lleved IL. The cousin realized his oppor-
tunity He leaves the expectant man alone
and later on, in the semi-darkened room.
the husband calls upon the wife TO APP
pear She enters, and he, believing IL
10 be her spirit, promises her he will not
touch her or come near her. Then she
tells her story. This story Of sin and re-
pentance. At first he is horrMed, then
angry. then forgiving, and then she puts
the awful Question-awful because It
means 50 much 10 her: you forgive the
dead. but what would you do II were
lfvtnp9W Aud answers. mould