The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1900-03-02

to King Saul: Il know of a spiritual
medium down at the village of Endor."
"Do you" said the king. Night falls.
Saul, putting off his kingly robes and
putting on the dress of a plain citizen,
with two servants, goes out to hunt up
this medium.
Saul and his servants after awhile
reached the village. and they say: 81
wonder if this is the house, and they
lookin, and they see the haggard, weird
and shriveled up spiritual medium sit
ting by the light and on the table
s%culptnred images and divining rods
and poisonous herbs and bottles and
vases. They say: Yes, this must be
the place" One loud rap brings the
woman to the door, and as she stands
there, holding the candle orlamp above
her head and peering out into the
darkness, she says: 'NNho is herc?"
The tail king informs her that he has
come to have his fortune told. When
she hears that she tremblcs and al
most drops the light, for She knows
there is no chance for a fortune teller
or spiritual medium in all the land.
But Saul having sworn that no harm
shall come to her, she says: well.
who shall | bring up from the dead?"
Saul says: Bring up Samuel" That
was the prophet who had died a little
while before.
! see her waving q wand, or stirring
up some poisonous herbs in a caldron,
or hear her muttering over some mean.
t%ations, Of stamping with her foot as
she cries out to the realm of the dead:
Samuel, Samuel" Lo, the freezing
horror! The floor of the tenement
opens, and the gray hairs float up and
the forehead, the eyes, the lips, the
shoulders, the arms. the feet-the an
tire body of the dead Samuel-wrapped
in sepulchral robe, appearing to the
astonished group. who staggcr back
and hold fast and catch their breath
and SILVER with terror.
The dead prophet, white and awful
from the tomb, begins to move his
ashen lips, and he glares upon King
Saul and cries out: "What did you
bring me up for? What do you mean,
King Saul?" Saul. trying to compose
and control himself, makes this STAN
mering and a%ffrighted uttcrance as he
says to the dead prophet: "The Lord
is against me. and have come to you
for help. What shall ! do" The dead
prophet stretched forth his finger to
King Saul and said: "Die tomorrow,
Come with me into the sepulcher. lam
going now. Come. come with me-
And. 10, the floor again opens, and the
feet of the dead prophet disappear and
the arms and the shoulders and the
forehead. The floor closes. Oh, that
WAS an awful seancel
We are surrounded by mystery-be-
fore us, behind us, to the right OF US. TO
the left Of us, mystery. There is a vast
realm meXplored that science, ! have
no doubt, will yet map out. He who eN-
plores that realm will do the world
more service than ever did a Columbus
or an Amerigo Nespucci. There are so
many things that cannot be accounted
for, so many sounds and appearances
which defy acoustics and investigation,
so many things approXimating to the
spectral, so many effects which do not
seem to have a sufficient cause.
To unlatch the door between the
present state and the future state all
the fingers of superstition have been
busy. We have books entitled Foot
falls on the Boundaries of Other
Worlds" The Debatable Land Be
tween This World and the Next.""Re-
searches Into the Phenomena of Spirit
ualism' aud whole libraries of hocus
pocus, enough to deceive the very elect.
| shall not take time to rehearse the
history of divination, Delphic oracle,
sibyl or palmistry or the whole cen
turtles of imposture.
Modern spiritualism proposes to
the next and put us into communica-
ton with the dead. 1t has never yet
offered one reasonable credential.
When | find Saul in my text con-
sulting a familiar spirit, learn that
spiritualism is a very old religion.
Spiritualism in America was born in
the year 1s47, in Hydesville, Wayne
county. n. Y. when one night there
was a loud rap heard against the door
of Michael Weekman; a rap a second
time, a rap a third time. and all three
times, when the door was opened.
there was nothing found there, the
knocking having been made seeming
" by invisible knuckles. In that same
house there was a young woman who
had a cold hand passed over her face,
and, there being seemingly no arm at
tached to it, ghostly suspicious were
excited.
After awhile Mr.. Fox with his family
moved into that house, and then they
had bangings at the door every night. |
One night Mr.. Fox cried out: Are you
IA spirit?' Two raps-answer in the
affirmative. "Are you an injured
spirit" Two raps-answer in the af-
frnative. Then they knew right away |
that it was the spirit of a peddler who
had been murdered in that house years
before and who had been robbed Of his
$500. Whether the spirit ofthe peddler
came back to collect his $500 or his
bones l do not know.
The excitement spread. There was
a universal rumpus. Hon. Judge Ed
monds declared in a book that he had
actually seer a bell start from the
top shelf of u closet, heard it ring over