The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-11
EpHRAIsr AND HIS IDOLS.

touch Of a vanished hand" Is responsible
absurd in everyday life. The avidlty
with which many persons suffering from
the bereavements Of a dear friend or
relative will listen to the tale of some
INSCRIPTIONS impostor, and remain blind
to the gross frauds he practices upon
them as he pretends to communicate with
and produce manifestations from the
spirit Of the departed one, is pathetic in
the extreme, and if effort is made to
open the eyes of the too credulous one 20
the 1mposture, the results are invariably
painful. The absurdity Of the situation
is only perceptible to the unsympathetic
observer, unless the imposter himself is
humorist, as is sometimes the case.
But just so long as human nature is
what 1t is, the charlatan will continue to
hunbug the credulous and the curious,
and his efforts will continue to receive
the support of certain owlish humbugs.
who, possessing some literary ability or
e1SSiociieeA CicNdllOu Ill SOCicty, VIII
gravely discuss the problems" of "spir-
| itisln" and 'tpsychieal science
These wiseacres will solemnly fnvestt-
gate the so-called phenomena present,
ed to them for inspection by shrewd
tricksters, and they will continue to
waste their time and energies in the
investigation of mysterious yarns pur-
veyed by open-eyed wonder-mongers.
| The loose imaginings Of ignorant victims
of self-deception will be carefully chron-
icled, and will form the bulk Of the
archives Of some Society of Gessips for
| the Dissemination Of BaIderdash Relat-
ing to the Unraveiing of Psychical Phe-
| nomena," and while these solemn per-
sons do their part, the impostor, the
charlatan, the humbug and the fraud
| will dwell in the midst Of plenty and, like
Puck, will say: What fools these NOR
| tails be-"
A wave OF this foolishness is now
| threatening the United States The germ
of eredulity is being warmed into life
and activity by certain Eastern news
| papers and some magazines. Ancient
! stories about apparitions of persons at
| the point of death appearing to friends
| at distant places are being revamped.
| The lurid imagination Of Camille Flam-
| marion runs riot over whole page Of
| the New York Herald In series Of abb
solutely ridiculous ghost stories of this
are simply untrue. but which this learned
astronomer narrates with the childish
earnestness of an irish peasant girl. His
| most soul-stirring incident is the drop
ping of appraised window, which he
says didn't drop, and could not have
dropped because of a jardiniere on the
window ledge. Then he tells of the usual
bangings and poundings and rappings,
| such as the ST. Paul Dispatch recently
dished out to its readers In fake story
from Houghton, Mich.
The Dispatch story was about a thir-
teen-year-old girl who not only admin
fstered electric shocks to persons who
touched her, but was the storm center of
rappings Of great violence The structure
| OF this narrative was not quite so roman
| tic as that employed by FYammarion, and
| was decidedly more commonplace and
| threadbare
Then there come stories of ghostly
visitants and Haunted houses at other.
places in Michigan and in Wisconsin, but
lot one Of the tales can compare with the
| fine old ghost story Of the vintage of
| 1910. which required for its development
| O ruined castle, eghostly skeleton In
phosphorescentsE-s hroud, which ratified
chains and clanked from room to room.
and up stairs and down stairs at mid
night. 81
AS Gilbert, the Hbrettist, says, the jul:
dicious admixture of ornate falsehood
| will do much toalend an air of verisimili-
tude to an otherwise bald and uninterest-
ing narrative, and the fervid romancist
Of 1910 SO far exceeded the prosafc ghost
art Of imparting verisimilitude, thrill and
flavor to the creations OF his troubled
brain, that nervous persons, after read
ing one Of his productions, have been
known to creep hastily into bed, pull the
blankets up over their heads, and lie
| awake for hours in an agony of terror.
Who, after reading the modern table
| rapping, understanding, seance-
dGctored psychieal stories, could possibly
feel constrained to act In that manner?
Why, these modern yarns not only fail
to impress PERSONS Judgment as be-
ing even worthy of investigation or even
consideration, but they fail to make any
impression on the fears or the magma
tien
The eeeentricities of the planchette, the
legerdemain of slate writing, the trick
cry of mind reading and the bogus mys-
teries of so-calIed spiritualist mediums
have ell been explained and exposed time
and time again, bat still there remain
| thousands of simple, coniding souls who
love to be deluded and who hug their de-
lusions to their besoms. and who listen
| awe-stricken to7thesEonsensical gabberish
| of a lecturer whose small spirit could
not possibly be- moFed by anything less
substantial thar dollar.
Well! Well! Ephrtsaim is given over to
his idols. Let him alone.