The age-herald., 1900-12-12
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

longer his own and other peoples conductor. Some day I hope the company will put mo- tormen on these cars. As 1t is, all the new men are broken in on this line, and the cars start and stop with spddenness which re- calls memories of the days when cable cars were in use.
 Tt illustrates the pace at which we live ! nowadays to think of the cable car being obsolete. It was comparatively few years ago that these cars were put in use in the : large cities. Great things were expected of them, the ease with which they went up hill and the rapidity at which they moved promised to make them popular. But they were a failure. It was impossible to start them gradually; the snow and the ice would interfere with the cable, and runaway car ever now and then would play the mischief with the whole system. So the underground trolley took their place and the cable being oead, was, contrary to custom, taken above ground and used somewhere else"
 
 Very few Southern cities have any pub lie parks" said an old resident the other day, and those that have them do not seem to care about their appearance. In taking a stroll last Sunday I came upon Capitol park. While this park is small, it could be made one of the sights of the city You might say 1t is sight now. but in a different sense from.what I mean. On entering the park the first thing I noticed was an inhospitable invitation to keep off the grass There was not blade of grass where the sign'was, and l looked carefully around to see what grass I must keep off of. There was very little and none that Il ;t IT was not soft and velvety, but hard and dry. I next came across a sign which said it would cost you $1O to pick any flowers. I am sure there was not a flower in the park. It would look better if this sign went into winter quarters. I continued my stroll through the park. It was beautiful, bright, sunshiny day. but there were no children at play, not even the fountain was playing. It was not a case of all work and no play making the park dull place, for there were no signs of any work being done. It was a case of no work and no play, and the ab- sence of both made the place dreary. There was one man sitting on a bench. 1 think the park would have looked better If ht had not been there. On the western sidt the park has a very unfinished look There are two wooden gate posts and gate standing on the side and strewn on the ground are the remains of fence which look as if they been there for months wait ing for the slow disintegration of time to remove them.
 "In all the parks throughout the United States you see the same inhospitable warn ing to keep off the grass. It is almost our national motto believe in New York they did allow Father Kneipp and his disciples to Walk on the grass barefooted. I suppose in other parks they would let you take or your shoes and stockings and walk on the grass, but few persons are this anxious for the privilege. The great majority keep on their shoes, and not only keep off the grass but out of the park. In Europe It is different. People enjoy the parks and are allowed to walk on the grass. Possibly this is the reason Americans avoid parks An American dislikes to go to any place where he cant do as he pleases.'
 Now that spiritualism, spooks and psychical research are occupying proml- nent place in public interest" said man yesterday who is interested in such mat ters, "a new book the subject which has recently appeared entitled From India to the Planet Mars written by M Flour nov. Professor of Psychology in Geneva, Switzerland, will be read with interest. It is an account of some spirituaistic per formances of lady whom he refers to as Mile. Smith. This woman would go into frances when what claimed to be the splrlts of Joseph Balsamo, Marie Antoinette, Hindu princess and an inhabitant of the planet Mars would communicate through her The inhabitant of Mars purported tG speak in the language of that planet, ana described the houses trees, etc., that exist ed there, The author concluded that spirits had nothing to do with the phenomena, but attributed 1t all to the unconscious production of Mile. Smiths mind while she was in a trance. The language animals and plants described by the inhabitant from Mars he thought was only product of Mile. Smiths imagination. He explains the impersonation of Marie Antolpette and Joseph Balsamo as sub-conscious mental action based on things the medium hao read at some time about those characters. He ascribes the representation or the Hindu princess to the same causes, but ao- mits being somewhat astontshed, as IL Is very improbable the medium had ever read anything about the grammatical construc- tion of the language or the history or the country.
 'sThe author disbelieves in spiritualism' but does believe in telepathy or thought transference, and seems inclined to believe in telekinesis, or the movement of physical objects without contact. This is most re- markabe, and when man of his learning and science does not positively deny such a preposterous claim, 1t opens up world of mystery whose possibilities are fascinat- ing to think of."