Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-06-15
In Paris They Are Doing Very
Lively Business.
PROPHECIES THAT HAVE COME TRUE
Frenchmen Who Long for a
Glimpse of the Future.
CONSULTING THE CARDS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
PARIS, June 2, 1901.
The fact that Bon de Castellane was
told by the card reader of the Rue des
Martyrs that he would have appendicitis
five days before he fell i'll of that disease
does not make an unusual stir among the
believers of Paris. Perhaps a third of the
Paris population are believers in this kind
of divination, and resort to it in all the
complications of their daily life. Striking
examples of fulfilled predictions abound
When Castellane stepped out into the
street after having the bad news foretold
to him, they say he joked about 1t, and re-
fused to consult physician, though earn
estly urged thereto by more superstitious
friend. Nevertheless, he put off trip to
his chateau in the Champagne district
When the pains seized him and he took to
bed, he exclaimed resgnedly: Here it ISL
1t is in this way that the faithful are re-
cruited, cold facts being awkward things
to explain away
A gilded youth and close acquaintance of
the fashionable young deputy-he who
urged him to consult a physician-gives
this story of his own conversion. Two
winters ago, being at Monte Carlo, he went
with friends to consult the celebrated Nine.
Delphne, who says she is the only Surviv-
ing disciple of Nine. LIE Normand. Nine
Delphne is old, thin bony and infirm; she
wears her hair in a topknot of bygone
style; her long nose and chin nearly touch;
she wears heavy gold rings in her ears,
and never is seen without a heavy shawl
A decrepid tame crow, said to be hun
dred years old, Is her sole companion. She
is rich and her prices are high.
The high roller asked her to lay the cards
for his luck at the tables Three times
she laid them. Then she said: THE cards
have come the same three times, and your
number is % or 222.''
AS there is no number 90 on the roulette
layout and no obvious way of playing 1t
at rouge-et-noir, the young man put his
money on % 1t lost. Losing a second time
he quit the game and took his girl out
automobile riding. At exactly % kilo-
meters from Monte Carlo by the signpost
the automobile broke down, and had to be
hauled back behind a country cart.
He Won.
The indication was too clear. He re-
turned to the roulette. Evidently" 1t
struck him, the figure 222 means that 1
shall play No. % only after No. has
Won" He waited for No to come out
Then he put a 81 gold piece on No. %, He
won, Seven times that afternoon when No
came out whether winner or loser he
put his cash on No. %. Do you know what
seven wins on single numbers at roulette
may mean? He won the seven bets, get
ting thirty-fve times his stakes each time
He quit 81, 800 winner.
In high spirits he offered a fine dinner to
the friends who sWarmed around him. He
thought no more of play. because the luck
must have run out. What was his aston
ishment, therefore, to observe on that din
ner table, printed in large figures on
a white card, the number %. 1t was
the number of his table. to facilitate
clear to be ignored. mo. % is still good!"
he whispered to himself
That night at 10 o'clock just as he was
entering the gaming hall, he heard a crou-
pier calling: Two, black, even and man
que" He hurriedly slapped down a 100
franc note on No. % He won, and the
croupier paid him thirty-five of those TWEEN
he won close up to the maximum He quit
because he was tired of taking in the
money. 1t bulged out of his pockets too
much.
occasion he has consulted Nine Delphine
twice week. He says it is astonishing how
she foretells the future; she picks for him
winners for the races; she indicates his
valuable pointers for his amours: she keeps
him out of all kinds of trouble. It is this
latter that Is the most amusing. A dozen
times she has forbidden him to make this
or that trip. to keep this or that engage
ment. Invariably he has Obeyed. Invariably
he imagines he has been saved from ais
aster He never is at a loss for disaster
that might have happened.
Every One Consults the Oracle.
AS Balzac wrote more than half a century
ago, 1t is impossible to exaggerate the Gre
dence placed in these tireuses de cartes by
all classes Of Parisians. Cooks, shop girls,
workingmen, bourse spectators, middle
class matrons and even students of the uni
Versity-the whole of this Paris that lives
continually on hopes, being continually dis
satisfied because of the spectacle of luxury
around about it-run to consult the priv
LEGGED beings who have the inexplicable
power of looking into the future. Faith in
them has been inherited. Other occult SyS-
TENS rise and fall, but the card reader is a
unique Paris fixture.
An example from the Latin Quarter will
show how not even that stronghold of skep-
teal materialism is able to hold out against
the favorite credulity. In university circles
the tale is on every tongue.
Three students just before examination
time began to doubt the depth of their cru
dition, and cast about for some kind of ma
terial help. One of them persuaded the
others to consult the so-called Nine. Fon-
tame {although the real Fontaine has been
dead these fifty years.. After naming GER
tain cards and numbering others to meet
the eXigencies of this novel kind of inquiry
she laid the cards and gave the result. The
result was astounding. Indeed, the story
goes, 1T was too successful. For the ex-
animation in Greek she game them Thu
cyddes, book ". chapter 49, and Thu
cydides, book v, chapter a." The first
Gated on the blackboard the next morning.
Unhappily. however, the text of the exam
nation papers contained an omission
These three students, having got the cor
rect text almost by heart. unconsciously
supplied the omission, thus correcting the
examining professors. 1t was too strong!
The professors suspected an ordinary fraud
and. without saying anything, declared the
examination null.
The next day. when these students
trooped in to the re-examination, the three
clients Of Nine. Fontaine were still more
delighted to see that the next text was
Thucydides, book V, chapter IA. This time
the professors purposely had left an omis-
sion. Again the three unconsciously sup
piled it in their papers! There could no
longer be doubt. They were taxed with
the thing-and confessed. Then the quss-
ton arose what to do with them. The uni
versity has long ceased to credit judicial
astrology or any other kind Of divination
Where, then, was the fraud? The three
students finally were allowed to pass
and with the highest averages for Greek
known to examiners for years.
Why Do They Believer
When you ask the more learned dis
ciples Of these card readers how they can
put faith In the one particular system that
always has been declared the most vulgar