The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-05-08
A VICTIM OF SPlRITlSM
A True Story.

Nloly SSdlo oSo L "oo oilCSIo1 VI q
boys sodality. There was among it's
members an interesting lad, about
sixteen years of age, a son Of a high
ly respected family. | used to notice
his thoughtful mien, as he stood in the
college yard during recreation hours,
never joining in the games of his fell
loW-students. On questioning him
about the amusements that interested
him, | learned that he spent hours
every day at his home practicing
sleight-of-hand, in which he had be-
come remarkably skillful. So l in
duced him n day to give an enter
tainment of this kind to his fellow
students; and, young as he was, he
really amused them for an hour or two
with brilliant success.
1t was certainly in itself a harmless
accomplishment, yet it became for
him an occasion Of serious danger.
For after leaving college, he was SO
enraptured with this amusement that
he undertook to travel to distant
cities and there give exhibitions of
his skill upon the public stage. This
brought him into contact with other
shoWmen, who enticed him to eX-
change his white magic for black and
become a real spiritist. Of course,
under these circumstances he could
not practice his holy religion, which
absolutely forbids all dealings with
the powers of darkness. But he was
i'll at ease; for, besides his own
qualms of conscience, his pious moth
er, when he returned home, was quick
to discover the sad change that had
come over her son, who was then no
longer the pious youth he had former
ly been. Probably she did not sus-
pect to what depths he had fallen,
but she knew he no longer went to
confession, and she did not desist
from her lectures to him on the sub
ject. He was not fully convinced
himself that spiritism was deviltry;
it was the spirits of the dead he
meant to c~onjure up and not the de-
mons of hell. True, Holy Writ Dor
bids all such practices; for the Lord
told the Jews through His servant,
Moses: Neither let there be among
you any one. that consulteth sOoth-
sayers or observeth dreams or omens:
neither let there be any wizard or
charmer, nor any n that %consulteth
pythOnic spirits or fortune-tellers,
nor that seeketh the truth from the
dead. For the Lord abhorreth all
these things, and for these abomina-
tions He will destroy them at thy
coming."-Deut. XVIII, 1922
Meanwhile Mr.. Mum, for | will call
him so hereafter, had made the ac-
quaintance of a number of spiritists,
men and women, and had become a
frequent attendant at their canoes
where his superior education and his
refined manners made him a general
favorite. But he became more and
more convinced that the spirits con-
jured up by himself and others were
depraved and lying beings, and be-
gan to suspect that they might well be
very demons. One night, as he after
wards told me with a shudder, he con-
Jured up before himself alone, the soul
of his departed father, but the spirit
that answered the call showed himself
to be SO depraved that Mr.. Mum was
perfectly convinced this could not be
his fathers soul, but verify an imp of
Satan.
I was away from that city for some
years, and when I returned on a brief
visit, | learned, through his good
mother, that her boy had totally .aban-
doned the Catholic faith, so l deter
[ could do to bring him back. | had
gone but a couple of squares when |
met him, as he was coming to pay me
a visit, probably urged to do so by his
mothers suasion. Our meeting was
very cordial. He told me everything
that | have so far narrated, and added
that, after understanding the devilish
character of spiritism, he had invited
all his spiritist friends to a meeting
n afternoon in his mothers capa-
cious parlor, had told them there of his
thorough conviction of the diabolical
nature of their practices, SO that all of
them left the place in a high dudgeon.
L Coo1Iy luuCCu Hill ~ ~ Will LIE
to a religious house, where he made a
devout retreat of five days, and thence
returned home a reformed and a hap.
py man. He felt so grateful that he
was eager to render me some serv.
ice. For this purpose he came to the
distant college where l was then re-
siding, and gave an entertainment to
the students on two successive nights,
performing at the first a great variety
of tricks of straightforward, and at the
second explaining how each of them
had been managed. Then he made a
feeling address to the boys, caution
ing them against the dangers attend,
ing spiritism, of which he said he had
had a sad experience.
Unfortunately, he did not ~perseyere,