The San Francisco call., 1897-10-03
Madame Montague and Her Wonderful Psucho
metric Readings and Power Of Looking
Beuond the VEIL

fession; she has apparently mistaken even
my sex.
"But you have preserved the qualities
that made it suitable" continues the
thoughtful voice, 'you are
Then, in a fash of thought, l am taken
backward 20 the forgotten dreams OF
youth. The loDgings for profession which
circumstances never allowed me to enter,
the conviction that / should find therein
satisfying field of usefulness. Do brain
waves carry sleeping memories with them
Modesty forbids me to mention the said
qualities; vanity compels me to add that
l have had the same attributed to me by
fed with Madame.
But my satisfaction turns TO astorish-
ment wnen she makes explicit allusicn to
certain anxieties which perplex me. wind
ing up with the remark: "Your mental
question IS answered yes-you will have
news of that very soon. Whose is the
coin ?''
Mime" l answer, and fall into brown
study, while some who have had no ''reed-
ing'' allowed them stand up for mental
questions. My mental questions are all
about Madame. Does she really speak
under inspiration" ? Her last remark
might indeed have been the chance hit of
a fortune-teller, but there had been no
fortune-telling business in her analysis OF
character. Whatever she may be-tel-
epathist or psychomeirist-one thing she
assuredly is not-an imposior. / deter
mine to investigate further.
Madame's bright smile of welcome fad es
away in shy nervousness when she learns
the real object of my greeting. "Oh no,
please" she protests. 81 do not like that,
[ am SO afraid OF publication, SO fright
ened of newspaper"
l humbly point out that 1 am not a
newspaper, but woman, with consequent
sex sympathies.
"Cest vrai," says Madame thought
fully. Possibly the qualities she discov-
cred in me are vouchers for my good
faith: anyway, the smile steals back into
her eyes.
"Well. you will not judge me by to-
night?' she pleads, 81 am not well, l
have done but half my work. Come to
see me some evening when l am in San
Francisco. l may do better them
AS l come away l remember that my
sex and occupation are the only informa-
Ion she has acquired BY natural means
She does not even know my name.
The second experience is less poetic.
The San Francisco hall is large and cold
and half empty; the platform is flower
less; the audience has been de-magne-
tized by stereoscopic lecture and is in no
wise attuned TO the Introductory hymn.
Madame, as she stops on. is plainly con-
scious of the unsympathetic element and
makes pathetic little allusion TO the
difficulty of working under such condI-
tions. Her work tonight consists in an
swe ring written questions. From q table
hesped up with little slips of paper ques-
ton after question is drawn and read
aloud, while Madame, with strained ear
and nerves patiently quivering 10 the ex-
tended taper fnger-tips, listens, snatches.
tears up the paper almost ers the read er
has finished, uttering her yoIuble answer
without pause or hesitation. And if q
club of select idiots had com mblned to pro-
duce the evenings arrangements they
could not have prepared better list of
queries.
OF test in the ordinary sense there is
never vestige. You might as well look
for test questions in a page of Ollendorf
But one marked test there undou btedly
is-of Madame's extraordinary readiness.
command of language and capacity for
delivering an extempore harangue on the
most unpromising texts. Whether she be