Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-02-03

The circle usually begins at 7:30 sharp.
AT that hour the door Is closed and a col
lection Is taken up for the benefit Of the
medium. The price is 25 cents. and I con-
tr1buted shining quarter, which fell with
ring among the many others that had
gone before. It was 7:45 exactly when
the door was closed and the medium, who
had been flirting with the spirits now for
some fifteen or twenty minutes and had
made all sorts of conversation for the bene-
Mt of gentleman near her, arose and left
the room.
She is going out into the cold air for the
purpose OF getting a rapid change Of TEN.
perature before going into a trance said
a lady near by in explanation of her dis
appearance. This was the signal for the
MEDIUMS daughter to hand around the lit
tie wicker basket which does duty as an
ornament when not pressed into service as
a collection basket. Everybody responded
willingly, and counted s725 in the treas
Ury.
Ten minutes perhaps elapsed before the
medium reappeared. She carried a long
red silk handkerchief in her hand and took
her seat in the corner opposite me. This
red silk handkerchief was the open sesame
to Spiritville. She drew the silk handker-
chlef, with a Delsarte movement, through
her fingers and closed her eyes. This hand
kerchief was almost a charm in itself and
she welded it and caressed it with such
loving care that 1t almost assumed NV
ing form.
The exercises opened with hymn 1t
was Rock of Ages, and 1 sang out if for no
other reason than to avert suspicion. One
verse was enough. The medium was al
ready doing business. big cat rubbed
itself against the medium and was rudely
pushed aside, the medium adding: 81 don't
like cats around me now" Puss was ruth
lessly elected. being passed along through
the crowd She got In the window few
moments later and sang awhile in derision.
The next time the door was opened puss
came back and for the remainder Of the
evening slept in blissful ignorance Of the
spirits that were crowding into the room.
Puss knew her business.
The medium closed her eyes a moment
snapped her fingers, threw her head to one
side and then commenced She selected tho
female representative of The Star to begin
with, and said she saw woman standing
over her. 1t was the form of her mother
she held in her hand and was saying: Child,
that Is your mothers picture in the lower
left-hand corner. 1t is not very clear /
Know, but am not strong spirit yet, and
cannot come to you in the form that I will
be able to after awhile I have brought
baby with me, too, but he has run away.
and you will recognize his dear little face
in the upper part of the picture. 1 am very
as the heroine does on the stage when she
exclaims, me che-ildr' Then she went en-
to tell about how another woman with gray
hair was also present and talking, and she
that everything would go right. 1t was
Mrs. Southworth. for she was her guiding
spirit She was to finish Mrs. Southworth's
life work on this earth.
Happy Spirits.
Then the female representative of The
Star asked If the present work she was
engaged in would be successful, and /
waited breathlessly for the answer.
1t came and it was beautiful the me-
dunn saying: THE work you are now en-
gagged in will enlighten the world, and the
and Rtr,tr boz, of
worth is guiding you" She had a great
many other things to say Among others
that the lady was from Brooklyn, when in
reality She Is from Michigan, and it doesn't
take very wise head to find out how Mrs.
Warneke learned that part of her history.
Then the medium started in on some
others and from her remarks it was evil
dent that she knew a great deal Of their
family history, and the way she aired the
family troubles and the disappointments
was enough to put any South Washington
gossip to shame. She had no hesitancy in
telling OF quarrel at breakfast because
the beefsteak was tough and another one
In the afternoon because the rolls We're
heavy. All of her spirits were laughing
spirits, and she would say in the begin
ming: Il see spirit coming and it is
laughing" or at is SO happy" And then
would go on to describe in general way
some form which might At anybody's case
and some one In the audience would recog-
nize 1t as spirit friend and then the
medium would ask a question or two of
the person intended and gain from the mods
or negatives whether she was right.
One case that night was especially sad. A
lady was present all dressed in black-it
evident that she was laboring under
a great sorrow. The medium made 1t
known in a little while that a little girl
was by her side wanting to talk to her.
The little girl was about eight years old,
and was calling the lady Mamma This
brought the tears from the mothers eyes,
and she listened to every word the medium
uttered. Once she interrupted her to say
that her daughter was only four years old,
but the medium, not to be caught in any
such trap as that, said ''Oh, they grow
and progress in the spirit world and what
might be four years here is eight years
there" But the mother said: My daugh-
ter has only been dead two weeks" and
the medium. caught at her own game, went
after another victim. She found 1t in a
by a much older woman, who was called
Sue. and Mrs. Warneke knew more about
their love affairs and family connections
than they did themselves. She told the
young lady in red all about her sweetheart
and that she would shortly receive a let
ter. She told her of holding communica-
ton with fellow named Jim in the spirit
world, and Jim was made responsible for
all manner of things, such as pulling corks
out of demijohns and leaving the window
up and making curious noises just to
frighten Sue.
The elderly lady sitting on the piano
stool was next brought into communication
with the spirit world, but she wasn't TO be
fooled. and held her peace, while the me-
dunn made suggestions and threw out little
bats to lead her on, but she simply shook
her head. and said, Il don't recognize any
of these people you say are around me-"
The medium was now getting around near
me- and l was wondering what sort of a
story Ia concoct in case she asked me any
thing or found any spirits lowering around
me. With eyes suffused with tears and
face that portrayed deep anguish, 1 sup
piled the information for the medium, and
she built around it a story that made the
daughter whisper to my confederate. HE
must have been good husband" Unlike
the other cases, the medium didn't begin
in my by telling me that a spirit was
lowering around, but branched off into
species of fortune-telling by saying that 1
was soon to make a change, and that it
would be for my good; that 1 would over
come the obstacles. 1 rubbed my eyes and
thought that once again 1 was before the
Lady Karna. who had built up just such
obstacles when 1 talked with her. ! per-
mitted Mrs. Warneke to go ahead for a
little while. and then asked if there wasn't
the form of woman near me, and she
grabbed the bait like hungry black bass
and ran with it. 1t was the beginning of
her undong, for l made her tell me things
that could possibly have no foundation,