The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-05-08

last state of that man was worse than
the first. A few years later l hap
pened to visit his city again. and
heard about his sad relapse. l called
on him at once, and was very cor
daily received. He told me the story
of his second fall.
"One day." he said, II took from a
public library a book that aroused my
curiosity, as it dealt with Hindu
magic. AS I left the building, l was
accosted by a stranger, who said he
was we'll pleased to have seer me Sc
lecting that volume for private read
ing. Our casual meeting led to fire.
quent visits to one another, at which
he excited by curiosity more and more,
promising me most wonderful revela-
tons. At last he took me to a soil
tary spot in a woody vale, and there
conjured up a large fire, and in the
midst of the flames a female form. A
few days later l met that young lady
at a ball, and at one fell in love with
her. She returned my affection, and
marriage with her was seriously con
templated. She was a spiritist, the
only daughter of a spiritist father and
mother, who lived in New York.
Mr.. Mum hen told me how her par
ents were informed by a friend that
their daughter was keeping company
with a Catholic gentleman, on which
they ordered her to come home imme-
diately. She suddenly departed for her
parents home, and when he heard of
it, he went ~post-haste after her, and a
short time after they were married be-
fore a squire. She "a not baptized,
and SO their matrimony was invalid.
When his mother learned it all, she
thought it best to ask them both to
come and live with her, in the hope
that she might procure their CONVEX
sion. He took me to see his wife and
their little child, a bright little girl,
but not baptized; and all l could OBJ
tain from him was that he would have
her baptized if ever she was in dan
ger of death.
That same night he called on me for
a longer conversation, as l had re-
quested him to do, in the hope that
I might bring him back to better sen
timents. But l was totally %disappoint-
ed. He was so deluded that he i'm
agined his soul at times left his body,
and travelled abroad, where he saw
most wonderful visions. He had even
become a contributor to an English
periodical called the Luciferian, and
he showed me some articles he had
published in it over his own signature.
l was so shocked by his blasphemous
talk that l deemed it my duty to eX-
press my deep indignation, and I dis
missed him from my presence.
Years passed. l lived in a far dis
tant city and had no hope of being
of any service in the matter. In fact,
though I had visited his town occa-
%sionally, 1 had not called on him again,
as he seemed to be obdurate and our
parting from each other had been
definite, as | thought.
Yet, a few years ago | began to re-
proach myself for my want of courage
and after recommending the matter to
our good Lord, l called upon him at
his office. To my surprise, he re-
CClNC lIC Will q "oIII ION VI Il1S
hand. He told me he had become en-
tirely disguised with spiritism. He
had been very prosperous in business,
had built a house for himself and his
little family, and that lear a church,
so that his pious mother could spend
a great part Of her time before the
altar. His child, when apparently in
| dc 1f Iooth bod honn ontizo1
he had sent her to a convent school;
she was now a grown up Catholic
young lady and had married a Cath
Ollie.
But he himself lived only for tenn
poral happiness. His marriage had
never been rectified and l could make
no impression on his conscience. AS
is said to be often the case with those
who have dealt with the evil spirits,
he had lost all faith and hope of flu
ture happiness.
A year or two later he came to see
me and we %conversed for a couple of
hours, but all to no purpose. He said
he vas absolutely determined to die
as he had lived. He had lately been
ISlCk duu udu UOuSut d lOL Ill CllS
graveyard, which he had gone to. see
unmoved, and firm in mind to refuse
all religious assistance at the moment
of death.
Only one paragraph more is needed
to complete this wretched story, and
it is the saddest of all. Not long after
our last interview a friend of mine
sent me a paper from MI. NUNS ma
tive city containing his photograph
and the full details of his suicide. He
had gone to the graveyard, and on the
way called in at a florist, ordering a
magnificent bouquet to be sent to his
wife, and had paid for it On the spot.
He went to sit on the lot which he
had bought for his burial. He then
drank poison; the bottle was found
lying by his side. To make sure Of
his devilish work, he shot himself in
the head; his pistol lay by him when
the body was discovered. Poor fell
low! And every word of this terrible
story is literally true; it is too clearly
imprinted on my mind for me to ever
forget its details.
-Charl.s coppsns. S. j., in The Messenger
ofhhs Scored Heart.