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

A coNVocAT;ON OF EVIL
AGENCIES.
The council meeting had barely
dissolved on the night of the 18th,
| when the room was suddenly peopled
with most gruesome aggregation of
spirits, They bad come IN to sit in
judgment upon the actions of the
wise body of city fathers, all Of
whom had departed to rest in their
beds in sweet peace These spirits
represented many phases of life and
experience There was Hermes
Phlismegistur and Diogenes with bis
lantern, Aldeboran from the realm of
shades, St Patrick, Plutarcb. Aladdin,
Don Qaixote and Sancho Panza, to-
gether with emissaries representing
variety of enterprises.
For time, they sat in silence, as
if too t,rnid to give utterance to their
minds, and 1t fell to st Patrick to rap
on the floor with his staff, and ex
claim
"If any mon have wur r-rd to
spake, why do ye hould yer
mouths 7"
Hermes made answer, "Devout
spirits of the air, we have come
upon great occasion. We sit in
the high hall of the city fathers.
They have left their smell behind
them. It is a mixture of rose leaf
and cinnamon
"What perplexes me-" said the
venerable Plutarch. "is the fact that
wise men can be go uDwise. They
are about to precipitate row upon
the people. A great waste of money
from the pockets of the people will
bring down the wrath of the commu-
nifty 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 neighboripg city
of Florence. 1t seems that one city
in the State is to be taken as an
example for all the rest +"
The good father was going on with
his oration, when be was suddenly
stopped by knock at the door. He
asked
"Who is there ?''
"Anotber kindred spirit was the
answer, and in walked two chests
one of them the ghost of the dry
well in the rear of the Masonic
temple, aud the other the ghost of
the telephone exchange dry well
eve are the evil agencies which
have precipitated this row." they
exclaimed in unison. "It does rot
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 innocen. suffering fer the
guilty. and we have come to make
confession !"
"Out with you," cried Aladdin,
swinging his mystical lamp. You
blockbeads cannot tell joke when
you see 1t in the road. Our city
fathers are joking. Within two
month, they met in these same classic
halls, and passed 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 SO manfully condemned,
aad the evidence goes to show that
they are still guilty and uDrepentant.
This new move of theirs is but a
large joke, and they perpetrate it
simply to let the dear people see the
hand of master mechanic in the
law-making business. /"
At this Diogenes came to the front.
BE was q rotund little fellow, with a
long coas and very short vest. His
pants clung closely to his chubby
legs, and be had all the seeming Of a
veri,able philosopher. Clear me, "
he cried lit 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 Do
we not recall the fact that at the
instance of the honorable council
men. meeting of the citizens was
called to consider grave question
connected with bygienic economy ?
The citizens met, the citizens spoke,
and said they deferred to the will of
the conncil. and assembled because