The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-23
THE MAGICAL MIRROR.
A Curious Glass Owned by n Wash
ington Man.
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
While all of us have heard in early child
hood of the tales of magical mirrors. in
which impossible heroes saw impossible
heroines in danger, from which said he
roes proceeded to resuce the fair maidens,
yet such things have been reiegatede by
most OF us to the region of the magma
ton. We regard such things as being
outside of the real world of to-day and be-
longing to the region of myth and fable.
Yet, in spite of our prosatc nineteenth cen
fury, IL Is nevertheless a fact that a Wash
ington gentleman is the possessor of an
article which might be classed as appro-
priately belonging to the time of Aladdin
and the wonderful lamp.
This strange acquisition is a mirror
which came from India, and in which one
can see the events which the future Will
bring forth. That such is its power is at
tested by some of the best known gentle
men of the city, who, for obvious reasons.
do not wish their names to be mentioned.
This mirror came into the possession first
of a Washington lady who was travelling
in India, and, being interested in the re-
ligion of the country, took trip to the
famous temple of Alora, which lies in a
rocky side of the foothills of the Himalaya
mountains This temple is now but a ruin
of Jagged rocks, jutUng out narshly into
the soft greensward that rolls smoothly
down into the valley below. Above tower
the vast mountains with their gHtterlng
caps of snow looking down on the peaceful
tropical scene where for ages the follow
ers of Brahma have performed their sa-
cred rites
The ruins of the temple stand open to
the weather and its ancient glory, whicn
shone in such splendor before the English
came to India, is now diminished. But
small band of Brahman monks still kept
the sacred secrets and ceremonies alive.
Few Europeans ever penetrate this section
Of the mountains, but the Washington lady
mounted and visited the monastery.
While there she managed to secure pos
session of one of the mirrors made by the
monks and reputed 20 possess wonderful
properties.
on her return to town, and at her death it
came into the possession Of Mr.. Lowder-
milk. From him il was bought by gem
s~,man who takes great interest in such
n9tters, but who would not like the fact
of the existence of the mirror in his
house to be known, as it would attract
thousands of seekers after the curious.
After paying quite a large sum for the
glass the mirror was brought home and
put to the test.
The mirror is oval in shape, about a
foot long and is surrounded by a wood
frame TWO lQCneS III WlulN ana painted
a dark green. The back of the glass is
coated with asphaltum and then covered
with dark linen, 50 that the whole had
the appearance of a lustrous opal. The
method of use is by sitting with the mir
ror in ones lap and holding the glass so
that there is no reflection of other objects
shining on the surface of the glass.
If the test is a success, there will APP
pear in about a quarter of an hour a thin,
cloudy mist, which will slowly float over
the surface, and then the images of future
events viii be mirrored in the seemingly
fathomless depth of the dark glass.
The gentleman who owns the mirror has
never been himself successful in seeing
anything, but friend of his a prominent
Judge and a thrty-thrd degree Mason,
had a remarkable experience. He placed
the mirror in his lap and, after half an
hour, mist fioated over the surface; then
he saw reflected in the glass a picture of
a coffin, within which was the STILL white
face of a dead man. At first glance the
features seemed those of the gazer but
on looking closely 1t was seen that they
represented exactly the brother of the gem
tleman--a man then in perfect heath In
a second the picture shifted and another
face-that of a friend-appeared within the
sides of the coffin. The gentleman in two
weeks afterward lost his brother and in a
short while his friend, whose face he had
also seen, passed to another world
"A son of the owner was one evening
looking into the mirror, when he saw
within a picture of a house In flames.
There were the servants 4eaping from the
porches; then returning to drag out the
furniture. The glare shone around on a
yard which the gazer recognized as that
of his own farmhouse down the Potomac.
BY the mail two days afterwards he re-
ceived from his housekeeper an account
Of fire which had destroyed his home.
4 ba int all
the picture seen in the mirror.
Another man. a gentleman employed in
the bureau Of ethnology and well known as
scientist and nnguist, has also seen
many pictures in the mirror-p.c cures OF
events In his life which were afterward
realized to the letter.