The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1900-11-21
SPIRIT RAPPINGS.
CONVOCATiON OF EVIL
AGENCIES.

The council meeting had barely
dissolved on the night of the 18th,
when the room was suddenly peopled
with q most gruesome aggregation of
spirits, They had come In to sit in
judgment upon the actions of the
wise body of city fathers, all of
whom bad departed to rest in their
beds in sweet peace These spirits
represented many phases of life and
experience There was Hermes
PhIismegistur and Diogenes with his
lantern, Aldeboran from the realm of
shades. st Patrick, Plutarch. Aladdin,
Don Quixote and Sancho Panzs. to-
gether with emissaries representing
variety of enterprises.
For a time. they sat 10 silence. az
ii too t,mid to give uttersnce to their
minds, and 1t fell to st Patrick to rap
on the floor with his staff, and ex.
claim
"If any mon have a wur r.rd to
spske. Why do ye hould yer
mouths ="
Hermes made answer, "Devout
spirits of the air. We have come
upon q great occasion. We sit in
the high hall of the city fathers.
They have left their smell behind
them. It is q mixture of rose leaf
and cinnamon
"What perpIexes me-" said the
venerable Plutsrch, "is the fact that
wise men can be so unwise. They
are about to precipitste q row upon
the people. A great waste of money
from the pockets of the people will
bring down the wrath of the commu.
nity upon their heads A law is to
be promulgated, requiring the men
who have elegant homes to tear up
the fixtures they have added with
infinite labor and cost, in order to
give way to opinions which have
come to us from our neighboriug city
Of Florence. 1t seems that one CITY
10 the State is to be taken as an
example for ell the rest"
The good father was going on with
bis oration, when be wss suddenly
stopped by knock at the door. He
asked:
"Who is there 2"
"Another kindred spirit" was the
answer, and in walked two ghosts
one of them the ghost of the dry
we'll in the rear of the Masonic
temple. aud the other the ghost of
the telephone exchange dry well
1--WE are the evil agencies which
have precipitated this row." they
exclaimed in. unison. "It does not
seem to have suggested itself to any
of the city fathers that we could be
abolished without abolishing our
whole family. This is but another
case of the innocent suffering for the
guilty. and we have come to make
confession"
"Out with you," cried Aladdin,
swinging his mystical lamp you
blockheads cannot tell a joke when
you see 1t in the road. Our city
fathers are joking. Within a two.
month, they met in these same classic
halls, and passed q vote. along with
all the wisdom that the Board OF
Health could add to theirs, abolishing
certain imaginary nuisances, and
forever prohibiting the emptying OF
slops into the drains. At the very
time of this action, several of the
said members were guilty of the
crimes they 60 maufully condemned.
AID the evidence goes to show that
they are still guilty and uurepentaut.
This new move of theirs is but q
large joke. and they perpetrate il
simply to let tho dear people see the
hand OF . master mechanic in the
law w-msking business.
At this Diogenes came to the front.
BE was q rotund little fellow, with q
long coat and very short vest. His
pants clung closely to his chubby
legs. and he had all the seeming of a
veritsble philosopher. "Hear me, !"
he cried 1t has become our solemn
duty, as spirits of wisdom and prog
ress among men, to visit the bed
chambers of the city fathers, and
haunt them into righteousness 10
we not recall the fact that at the
instance of the honorable council.
men. meeting of the citizens was
called to consider a grave question
connected with hygienic economy
The citizens met, the citizens spoke,
and said they deferred to the will OF
the council, and assembled because
the said council had asked them to
come. They also decreed that these
law making fathers should take Ger.
tain steps with reference to q sewer.
age system. The fathers sat and
listened. Not one of them raised an