The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-06-12
The Real Side Of War
Bah Speaks Her Mind Freely in Regard to TIA Dip into
the Future and What it Revealed

bvs bnt now-well, NOW somebody
heart aches, and the great big murderous
she's have. been fired with directness
that killed some of our t,rave men.
hone we wilI(win, but / do not believe in
war. | am firm believer III that simple
but old story which was probably sung
in your grandmother childhood of
"Jeannette and Jeannot," and consid-
or that Jeanette solved all the diplomat
ic questions of the day when she said in
that slightly mournftul ditty:
IF were Queen O France or better,
Pope of Rome,
I'd have no fighting men abroad, no
weeping maids ut home.
All the world should be ut peace, and If
kings must show their might
Let those who make the quarrels be the
only ones to fight-
That line is the height of diplomacy
and wisdom. and following it, peace and
happiness will result, and 1t took Wo-
man to think it all out.
One business has gained great num-
her of customers because of the war.
| do not mean the manufacturing of sol
diers' clothes. although / suppose there
has been an increase in that, nor do l
mean the blowing of glass bottles into
flask shapes. though unless there was a
good stock on hand there was probably
considerable done in that line, but what
I do mean is the fancy for fortune tell
ers. Naturally if your young mans gone
to the war you want to know what hls
fate's going to be and whether he is TO
he made a general or admiral or II the
unfortunate fate of Danny Deever is to
be his or, if one hasn't young man
who has gone to fight, then it is inter
esfing to know if one is likely to get
one in time to do battle. In these days
of excitement the average woman is
great on paying visits to the fortune
teller.
Talk about the divinity that doth
hedge about kingr' 1t is nothing to
that which surrounds the lady who can
look into the future. The house in which
the fortune-telling young lady doth abide
has not an air of elegance. The window
shades look as if they had been closed
for years, and the dust of centuries rests
upon them. The door was opened in an
swer to a timid ring of the bell, for
confess to having been frightened out of
my senses by what in the South is COM
monty called "a moke''-that is very
light darky girl. This one was arrayed
in purple yelyeteen. cut low in the neck,
and around her coffee colored throat she
wore necklace that looked as if it were
composed of the teeth of small babies.
Her hands were manicured to such de-
gree that the nails glittered in a way that
drew your eyes to them, whether you
wanted it or not. She was a dignifed
'.moke." She said, when had the cour-
age to inquire as to the lady who peeped
int he fufF that taHp madam will
receive you alls presently"
We 'talls'' went into parlor that was
cold as vault and which had a Brus
sells carpet of the vintage of the early
ffties. when two roses covered an entire
ROOM The marble topped center table
was made to look lively by a coffin-like
arrangement in black ebony, sacred to
the memory of somebody and encircied
by those diabolical things, wax lilies.
The pictures on the walls were evidently
ancestors, and if / were to drop dead
this very minute / should be willing to
declare that one old ancestor, a rather
forbidding looking gentleman, winked at
me, as much as to say: "Ha, ha! We
have got you!" Then the ''moke" en-
tered and cheerfully said: You ais fol-
low me-" and we followed in Indian file.
BY every law of suitability the fortune
teller should have been tall and grace
fnl and stately; yet, grievous as it
sounds. she was not merely inclined to
embon-point," but was fat, distinctly
fat. She wore a black velvet gown. cut
low in the neck, and long gold chain
that hung over what the dressmaker
calls the corsage, and on it depended
and swayed to and fro by 2 orna-
ment that was. / think. a very young
o11r Of hnp
the room was hung in black cloth. with
white muslin skulls and crossbones as a
sort of frieze. 1t gave me the creeps
We stood in fear and trembling. The
@child Of destiny" for that was what
she called herself, wriggled into n large
armchair that was on a dais. with a
pack of cards in one hand and a wand
in the other She waved it in the air
and said in a lovely theatrical manner:
Approach. fair maiden!" As two of us
were married and two of us were wild
owS. the invitation was a little difficult
to understand, but the brayest of the lot
approached her and didn't get much for
freshness, as she was told that she
would marry a dark man who would
beat her and that she would have one
child, son, who would wear a crown;
that the aforesaid brutal husband would
be hung, making her a lovely widow be-
fore she was %. AS she was % on her
last birthday and has been Il widow six
years, her future did not seem to fit
quite as well as one might have pre-
ferred, but then she had paid her money,
and she had got crowned son. The
fortune teller said, as does the hero in
a melodrama on the Bowery, "Alas, tits
true" and No. / backed out.
The next dip into the future was takHn
by young married woman who owns
two of the loveliest twins that ever cried
for woolly dog, and she heard that she
would never marry, but would lead a
life devoted to charity and leave large
fortune to be utilized by ladies who had
seen better days. In a grewsome way
the "ehild of destiny" told me that q
handsome husband was coming over the
sea to me. that his wealth would be
great and that / would be the joyful
mother of thirteen sons, each genius in
his way.
That Sin his way" struck me as very
funny for out of the thirteen in prospect
one might have genius for picking