The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1897-02-24
THE MARVELLOUS.

We have all of us a streak of the
love Of the marvellous in US. Even
that hard-headed man, the First Ma
poleon, used to delight in ghost stories
that sent thrills down his back bone.
And ever since the infancy of our race
men have delighted to walk close to
the boundary Of the shadowy world
and listen to messages from the un-
known.
The French are leaders in this de-
partment of thought. We quote the
following from a recent Paris letter:
Meanwhile Sardous play is exciting
good deal Of attention in spiritual
ism apart from the drama, and good
many hair-raising stories are told.
One concerns Sardou, who has been
am using himself by making spiritual
iSt drawing, the spirits guiding his
hand in the designs.
One spirit objected that the sheet
Of paper Sardou had was too small.
AS a matter Of fact it was very large
and Sardou replied that his paper
dealer had nothing larger.
You must go to the Place St.
Andre DIES Arts said the spirit.
But there is no paper dealer
Jncre. replled SardOu.
Yes, go, was the spirits command,
SO Sardou after a long search, discov-
cred there dealer who had still
larger drawing paper He returned
and placed himself again under the
Influence" and the result was one of
his largest and finest spirit drawings.
A still better story is related in the
Echo du Merveilleux, the ghosts Or
gan Of Paris. A few days before the
marriage Of Mile. Jeanne Hugo and
Leon Daudet, the young lady Nine.
Daudet and Nine. LOcrOy were remOv-
ing some furniture from the apart
ment of the late Victor Hugo, when a
small hearth brush, on one side of the
fireplace, raised itself up and APPROACH
ed The ladies by successive jumps, as
though acted on by some interior
force, land fell at their feet.
The ladies screamed and NJ Locroy,
who was in the next room, rushed in
AS he did SO the hearth brush raised
itself and jupmed back to it's corner
The brush was the one used by Victor
Hugo to brush up the dust after polk
ing tie fire. The phenomenon was
never explained.
There are very few who doubt or
deny the existence Of a spiritual life.
All religions base their claims to &C
ceptance upon that foundation. II
there is no spiritual life it would
seem that here could be no Cod
nothing but brick-dust and mortar.
But the defect, with what is called
SDiritualism, is, that, after forty
years of invcs tigatiOn and experiment
tation, ii has never been reduced to
an exact science for practical use. II
me diumS' had been able to furnish
reliable information. as to things be-
yond the immediate reach of the
senses. they would long ago have be-
come formidable rivals or the post
office and the telegraph. But the
moral character of the spirits seems
to be bad and their reputation for
veracity of the worst. They talk be-
hind screen, and one cannot tell
whether they are devils grinning at
US, or simply inconsequentia darned
fools, such as we have in abundance
in this world.
1t would seem as if God had closed
the doors between the here and the
hereafter, and it is impossible to say
whether the whispers which come
through the key-hole are the utter
anceS of demons or cranks.
And yet the Unsuitable human mind
will insist on knowing all it can Of
this mysterious subject; and some day
it will find out great deal more than
we nOSSesS now