The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-17

were ready. In this state the swami
was said to be "out of the body" and
when he emerged from what was prob
ably a nap he would, with pretended re-
| luctance, entertain his audience with
wild tales of soul wanderings that
would have made him invaluable on
the staff of one of the metropolitan
Sunday newspapers.
Men seldom were found among the
followers of the swamis. Swamis were
despised and rejected by jealous men
/ possibly because they We're so warmly
accepted by the women. Probably the
record breaker among the swamis was
the young and good looking Viveka-
nanda. After being wined and dined
and raking in many rupees from ador-
ing feminine New York and Boston he
/ departed amid a storm of Indignation
Vivekananda had fairly been the idol
of clique of foolish women of means
and position and Of an age that should
have preserved them from such folly
Receptions, dinners and lUncheons were
prepared to do him honor, and the Hin
doc drank the high priced wines and
ate the delicate French viands the while
he smiled in a noncommittal way. At
his last lecture he dropped a veritable
bomb into the camp of the fiattering
women. He told them just what he
thought of them, and some of his re-
marks, it is said, would not bear publi-
cation. He sailed for India the next
day, and there doubtless he is at pres
ent, enjoying his rupees and reviling
the American women. Since then swa-
mis- have been very coolly received by
New York society.
Palmistry came in with Cheiro. who
is clever, picturesque fellow, with a
good knowledge of human nature and
stage effects. The women swarmed to
him at first and were as much taken
with his cleverly worded phrases and
oriental surroundings as by his read
ings of the hand. He gave readings for
the fashionables and charged for even
ing gatherings in the homes Of the -Four
Hundred prices that were appalling.
Next came a gypsy queen. who was
probably the worthiest and cleverest of
all the soothsayers. She was a Span
ish gypsy and always dressed in the
garments of her race. She spoke in
soft, broken English and made no pre-
tensions to supernatural or occult gifts
in reading palms. She explained her
art on scientific grounds and accepted
classes of fashionable young ladies for
instruction in palmistry. One of the
most fashionable mansions on Fifth av-
enue was thrown open for large after
noon reception in her honor. Her popu-
larity continued undated for two sea-
sons.
After that palmistry had various ex-
ponents, who divided the honors of pop
ulaBity. Then spiritualistic seances be-
came the fashion. 1t was the fad to
hold them in the drawing rooms of pri-
waite residences, the medium being en-
gagged at so much per afternoon or
evening. AS rule, the mediums object
ed to drawing room seances. There
was too much danger of exposure
Crystal gazing was the next fashion
able fad, and it is still popular. There
are professional crystal gazers the |
world over those of the orient being
the most wonderful. The crystals, if
they are genuine, are very expensive, |
one the size Of boys large glass mar |
BILE costing as much as 500 to 5000 if /
it is without flaw. A crystal three or
four inches in diameter, which is said 1
to have been for hundreds of years the I
oracle of a Japanese temple, was pur- 1
chased by an American gentleman I
travelling in Japan, and, although he /
has been offered $4,000 for it. he de-
clines to SELL The crystal is to all ap-
pearances a large glass globe. It is
clearer and harder than glass, however.
and in the light shows all sorts of iri-
descent colors. The globe was original
" piece Of rock crystal, polished into
a ball through the labor of painstaking
some of whom work for a
lifetime on a single crystal.
The gazer when he wishes to consult
the oracle unrolls the crystal from the
silk cloth in which he keeps it to pro-
tect it from the light. as the photogra-
pher does his camera. Then, without
allowing the hand 10 touch it. he bal
ances it on top of goblet in such g
way that it still does not come in con-
tact with the glass but with the silk.
Over the crystal is suspended a piece
Of the finest glass, shaped something
ike a fiat headed pestle. This glass is
,alled the reflector. An electric wire is
with the reflector. and the
who wants TO know the future
holds the lower end of the wire in the
hand. that the brain image may be tele-
yraphed along it and reflected in the
,rystaI. Both active images and long
orgotten ones buried in the subliminal
are alleged 10 be shown
n the crystal. II is said TO take some
persons time to learn to see images