Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1911-06-29
hons cloth-enfolded chandelier; the

DOuS ClOLu-eulOluSu SAnAooAASA,
floor and furniture, all shrouded IN
summer covers Of grayish denim; and
the indefinite shade Of the walls
lightened here and there by the square
of picture turned back outward, and
darkened by the gloom OF the corners
and the blurred figures OF the dozen
people or so who sat about In twos
and threes talking in whispers and
mutterings. At the back OF the room
were large folding doors, now tightly
closed, In the corner on the side to-
ward the hall stood grand yiano. en-
ormous and bare under it's pale cover
ing: and the outer wall was broken
by marble chimney piece OF the
fifties whereupon stood Jumps of brio
a-brac tied up in bags. Most OF the
furniture was ranged rigidly
against the wall: but in the
center of the floor glimmered
DULY the uncovered mahogany
of heavy round table. In spite OF the
dark and the GOODNESS, the air was
close and stuffy. as II with the pres
ence OF multitude; and ! was a
trifie surprised to find that we were
actually 80 few.
what sort of crowd is this?' !
asked Maclean in an undertone. Il
can't make them out
Every sort. mean every sort that's
got the social drag or the prominence
in this business to get in with the
crowd. But inside Of that. you get EN-
all kinds, you see? The chap that let
us in is philosophy prof. an q
psychic researcher - Shelburgh. his
name is. That old gink over there
alone by himself is some pioneer o
modern thought. I've got to ind out
about him later. The rest are mostly
social lights, I guess. This Is the EN-
met Langdons' house, an they're here
somewhere. l can't see faces yet, can
you"
! shook my head. I'VE seem to be
in Sunday edition company, anyway"
"Sure. All head-liners. Faces on file
in every Office Hullo, here's the spook-
stress. They'e off in bunch"
A rather heavy woman In long
Grab dust-coat had come in, followed
BIZ Professor Shelburgh, who closed
the door behind them. gathered a
vague impression. only half visual,
that she was middle-aged and of that
plumply blonde type, which ages by i'm
perceptible degrees. She made me
think, somehow, of a mass Of molasses
candy after it has been pulled into
paleness and before it has hardened;
but could not tell whether this sug-
gestion came from her voice or from
her sleepily ELUSIVE manner or was
mere fancy about physical presence
which could not see. She took of her
= M soft
comfortable, pushing back her hair
and rubbing her hands over her race
as If to shake of drowsiness; while
the others. except Maclean and my
self and the gentleman in the corner.
drew up their seats in circle about
the table, and placed their hands upon
it. The professor counted the hands
aloud in perfunctory tone, and they
all leaned forward. hand touching
hand around the circle.
"Are we all right, Mrs. Mahl?" the
professor asked.
"All right-all right" cooed the
medium: conditions are good today
I can feel 'em comm already-sing to
me. somebody"
The old gentleman in the corner
made dull sound that might have
been snort or a suppressed cough.
One of the women began to sing
Suwanee River just above her breath,
and the others joined in. half-humming
half grooming It was like the singing
of children in it's toneless unison, In
it's dragged rhythms and slurring from
note to note; and the absurd resem-
.hlance to a game OF Jenkins-Up gave
the final touch of incongruity These
people. or some of them at least.
awaited the very presence OF the
dead: all were in quest Of the super
natural or the unknown. Here were
the dimness. the fragile tension, the
INCAPABLE weight Of mutually. the
atmosphere of coming crisis; and
this in the commonplace room, closed
up for the summer with the traffic
Of the avenue outside and the common
place people within, incongruous in
their ordinary clothes, sitting with
their hands upon a table and humming
a hackneyed melody little or the
kew There was an unreality about it
all. touch of theatrical tawdriness,
of mummery and tinsel gold and can
vas distances. an acuteness OF
that feeling which one always