The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1919-12-04

answer. 1 was on the point OF
apologizing for my inquisitiveness
when she startled me by replying, "Tm
a clairvoyant."
I was thrown off my reserve still
more and couldn't help echoing, "a
clairvoyant" in actual establishment
she was so different from what I'd
have expected to find under the name,
She added quickly, 81 saw you didn't
approve Of-didn't believe in the oc-
cult the day we talked about your ring
and I've been at pains not to-not
to bore you with talking shop, there
are so many other interesting things
that we have In common"
didn't want her to feel uncOmfort-
able and laughed to reassure her, "Oh,
I'm not 'sot ag'in ito tell you the
truth, l don't know blessed thing
about it, except what one picks up in
the papers, and of course"
She fairly took the words out of my
mouth that was at the moment try
ing to keep in-"Of course one gets
prejudiced and looks on that sort of
thing as-all fraud" There were both
anger and twinkle in her eye, as
though she knew she'd caught me in
the act, and then she added: 'It's part
] ly what 1 went over for-to look up
some new mediums with view to hav-
| ing them come to New York and give
seances."
And from this she went on and de-
scribed some of the phenomena she'd
actually seen with her own eyes. For
instance, a little peasant boy in the
south of France-where, she left me to
guess, and fancied she didn't like to
trust me with the secret-Jacques Le-
rolls, whose phenomena were more
wonderful than Eurapia Palladino's.
He was q physical manifestation me-
dunn. He twas greater at ten years
of age than Slade."
Still even Jacques Lerolls wasn't so
wonderful as young girl in Paris
she brought stones covered with drip
ping ,seaweeds out Of the bottom of
the ocean, and she had once brought a
live bird into locked room during q
seance and had put it-after 1t had
fiuttered all about and everybody saw
it-into a closed cage-"dematerial
lied 1t twice in one evening"" said Mrs.
Delario. This girl had only just be-
gun to develop naturalization as one
Of her phases.
confess it struck me as Mrs. Della
rio talked and told me how she'd been
trying to make arrangements for one
of these persons to come over with her
that she was getting up new turns in
her own shows much as vaudeville
manager hunts up new performers FOR
his. She asked me to visit her in New
York, not professionally but as a
friend, and still, if I were interested
and would undertake some investiga-
tons, she'd be glad to help me, and
I couldn't refrain from saying, "That
is, you'll put me next to some first
class spooks?"
I think this rather hurt her, for she
answered little tartly, ''You may not
be interested now-but you will be.
The occult is coming into your life and
| you can't prevent it. You'll get mani
festatfons that will-at least that may
drive you almost insane if you're
not prepared for them and don't know
how to handle the forces that are
already at work about YOU" And with
that parting shot-that, of course, any.
body might fire into you in self-defense
or just to be little nasty-she went
away to Claire. And I'm going to con-
fess right here that in spite of my
skepticism / felt creepy.
1 also felt clearer in my own mind
on many little things I'd noticed about
Claire: her coming to my stateroom
that time; her constant hanging about
me, even when she must have seen it
was inconvenient for me to have her
and the way she seemed so much of
the latter part of the voyage to be
trying to keep away from Mrs. Della
rio. staying by herself in her state
room. Had there been manifestations
occurring in the stateroom? Or had
Mrs. Delario been telling Claire things
till she got the child so nervous the
doctor was really serious over her?
! Mrs. Delario was not at dinner that
night and Claire left the table after
the soup, and as was busy packing
/ saw neither of them until morning.
when all was hustle and excitement,
for we'd passed the Statue Of Liberty
and were steaming up the bay and
/ would be on dry land almost before we
knew it. And then we were hanging
over the rail and looking down at the
friends of the passengers on the dock,
and / heard Claire, in an agonized
voice: Mamma isn't meeting mel"
Claire began to cry, not boisterously
but in a dreadfully pathetic, lost-child
way. into very beautiful French eml
broidered handkerchief, and all the
customs inspectors gathered about her
and she asked them each in turn ii
he'd seen mamma and described nam.
ma, and he shook his head and told
her he'd help her look for mamma in a
minute as soon as he got the baggage
Inspected and Mrs. Delario and / got
our suitcases opened and made Claire
open her bags and her trunk and we
implored the inspectors to look at our
meager belongings in a hurry and the
| inspectors were all too busy asking
Claire what her mother looked like