The Washington times., 1904-05-08

wiSe-aDOut year ago Dy an
episode which connected with seance
of spiritualists the name Of the Rev.
Isaac Funk, D. D., Methodist clergy
man. editor OF the Standard Dictionary,
founder OF The Voice" and THE Lite
rary Digest" president Of the Funk
& Wagnalls Publishing Company, ETC.
etc.
That episode consisted OF the discoy-
cry OF a valuable com. an authentic
widows Mite" lent to DR.. Funk by
Prof Charles E. West. of Brooklyn, to
be used for illustration purposes in the
dictionary. According to Information
which reached the newspapers ana
which was supposedly authentic this
coin, worth several hundreds OF dollars,
had been discovered and returned by
DR.. Funk through the help or a spirit-
ualist
The matter was regarded rather Jocu-
larly. Most OF the newspapers dwelt
on DR.. Funk's failure to return the
coin. a few considered the report THAI
he had mixed" with spiritualists. and
none received seriously the statement
that the coin had really been found
through the initiative of a spirit" AS
II
published until a full investigation
might be made, and ne promised that
when the investigation was ended "a
true version of the story would be given
TO the public"
A Voluminous Answer.
In fulhHment of that promise the
Funk & Wagnalls Company has now is
sued a volume Of about $40 pages. The
title is THE Widows Mite. and Other
Psychic Phenomena" And while the
entire work may be said to hang on
the incident of the lost coin, its In
terest Is vastly broader. Instead Of an
elucidation OF that one event it is the
record of a broad and earnest study of
decentralization. by mind neither
committed against spirituaiism nor for
il. which must inevitably make the
thoughtful reader more thoughtful still
II is worth any mans attention
To read detailed narratives Of spiri-
tualistic seances from an entirely re-
liable source.
To discover that such eminent scien-
lists as Sir william Crookes. the late
DIR. Frederic Myers. Lord Kelvin, Al
fred Russell Wallace. and Prof. William
James, OF Harvard. have found it easier
TO believe in spirit communication than
TO explain the recorded phenomena on
any materialstic basis.
To read that not all spirits are good.
that-on the contrary-many are evil.
and that many investigators seriously
regard spiritualism as the strongest
field of a personal devil.
To know that gorty-two eminent stu
dents passed upon the widows mite"
episode and left IT. with all their wis
dom and science. still unsolved-
To be told that telepathy or thought
transference IS established beyond ''rea-
sonable doubt"
To be let into the methods OF fraudu-
lent mediums.
And TO read OF Instance after instance
which exist beyond the domain Of fraud
and the possibility Of coincidence.
DR.. Funk has planned his book like a
student He has cleared away all the
mist OF indefinite terms. earlier investi-
cation and conflicting theories before he
has reached the hard facts. He would
have done better 10 tell the story Of
the now famous widows mite at the
outset. When ne does get to it. how
ever. II is in the following form:
What Really Occurred.
IN the early part of February, 1903,
having heard OF a woman In Brooklyn
who every Wednesday evening gave
spirituaIstic 'sittings 70 her family and
a few invited guests. I requested mu-
tual friends of the family and myself
Irving S. Roney. a gentleman who has
long been in the employment of Funk &
Wagnalls Company. and who has the
confidence Of us all, to secure for me
an invitation 10 attend several Of these
meetings.
Il found the family plain, intelligent
folks. in humble circumstances; the me-
dunn a delicate lady Of sixty-eight years,
OF little school education. refined in man
ners The family IS composed OF this
lady. a son OF thirty-fve years Of age,
and brother Of fifty-eight years. The
woman is a widow. and the brother a
widower whose three children died many
years ago.
The controls (spirits which assist in
seances) report themselves 20 be three
in number: a daughter of this brother
by the name OF Mamie. who died at the
age Of seven. and a friend OF one in the
circle by the name OF George Carroll,
and a son of the medium by the name
OF Amos.
Even Indians and Negroes
The sittings are a kind of prayer
meeting, a weekly reunion Of the family
living and dead and have so been held
I am told. every Wednesday for over
four years No charge OF any sort what
ever IS made, nor is there any collection
taken.
THE communications are believed 70
be BY direct or independent speech and
by raps. with lights occasionally appear
ing on the curtains. The medium SAYS
that she knows nothing whatever OF
what takes place during the sittings, be-
ing lost IN trance.
The voices are Of a great variety: /
counted IN a single evening as many as
twenty-some apparently the voices OF
children, and others OF middle-aged per
sons and Of old men and women; a few
OF these are the voices Of Indians, and
lone Of jolly, typical. Yirginian negro.
'On my third visit / was quite tired
and sat rather quietly during the entire
evening listening 10 the talk between
tbs cabinet and the sitters-of the sit
tiers there were fewer than a dozen.
About II o'clock the control named
George. in his usual strong masculine
voice, abruptly asked
Has anyone here got anything that