New-York tribune., 1921-02-27

I oarWlnfsm or the discovery of grayita-
ton seem like puny Incidental dis
suroances. But that is precisely what
Mr.. McCabe. for one, will not grant.
he begins with the little French peas
ent girl who was charged with an
amazing electric 6uid' that sent
emanations OF power from her-and
comments admiringlv on the strong leg
muscles with which little Angel:aue
made the table go through its 'ecculss
movements.
From France he carries US TO Hydes-
! lille, N, Y, in the year 1s4Y. when
/ shoemaker Andrew Jackson Davis was
told by the spirit of Swedenborg of the
! "Summerland" beyond life and the in.
! teresting Fox family began getting
revelations. How little Katie Fox,
+welve years old, and her sister Mag
gie, fifteen, began getting mysterious
rappings from the spirit world; how.
the shuddering and delighted village
gathered to hear the spirit of mur-
dered peddIer tell, through the girls,
bow he came TO be slain; how their
married sister, Leah Fish, was sin,i-
larly inspired and set up in Rochester
as the first OF professional mediums;
how they gained entry into the home
of Horace Greeley and gained Judge
! F.dmonds, of the New York Supreme
Court. as G. convert; how they called
forth disembodied brickbats, and tur-
Iups, with hieroglyphics carved on
them, and whirling umbrellas, and "hg-
mes of angelic beauty" for their fas-
c'nated observers, piling sensational
success upon success-all this makes
compelling human story.
And now the patient chronicler waits
until 1883, when the sisters Fox have
grown to be elderly ladies. There Is
a quarrel in the family Cover question
Of drink, says our historian). Sister
Margaret makes damaging revelations.
Kate follows with the news that cit
was all hunbuggerys every bit Of it,"
In the mean time there was a swarm
Of new prodigies, and Mr.. McCabe tells
US bit about each Of them. We who
think Daisy Ashford did fairly we'll for
youngsser might we'll marvel st the
poetry of cosnic beauty and the am
brosial music that these spirit-guided
children called forth. But Mr.. McCabe
rises to ask why the heavenly poems
fell SO fiat in transcription and Why
the music inprovised by the spirits of
Mozart, Weber and Beethoven never
gave serious competition to live, but
lesser, composers. Then there was the
Spencer colony OF 1866 in Kansas,
worthy of remembrance, If only for
this sophisticated hymn:
The car Of life Is passing by,
They call for GIL tDho soilI, to come
And take a scot c1d ride sUith us,
Who are bound for Heapsr's smmorte!
shore,
The fare Is ehecp aud food Is plain,
/ For goi9 cor cot as goa ride along;
For there is no grease 90 spois xo3y
clothes,
No bone 20 pick, or scales OF feb TO
interfere.
Mr.. McCabc tells how American COL
leges, stimulated by the vida popular
interest in Spiritualism, twice tried the
mediums and found thew wanting
Harvard in 1857 and the University Of
Pennsylvania in 1884.
Treating of such eminent converts
to spiritualism rs Robert Owen and
Sir W. Crookes, Mr.. McCabe tells how
the former received from a boy medium
a spirit command 60 present the boy
with e gun for shooting rabbits, and
finds the latter an easy dupe IN his
experiments. Coming to DR.. Hyslop
and Sir Oliver lodge, he hnds che
fundamental flaw in s!l theiS findings
that they are all based on the truth
fulness Of improved statements.
At the time of the birth Of Spiritual
ism, just as with it's recent revival.
the world was in state OF upheaval
after devastating wars. Mr.. McCabe
implies that in it's ebb and flow during
all these years, from thu Foxes 10
I Palladino, from the credulous villagers
( TO Sir Oliver LODGE it's teachings have
always been promulgated by irrespon-
sibfe and unscrupulous people eager
fer the gains Of the successful medium,
and accepted by thoss whose heart
hungriness obscured their better judg-
ment.
But II Spirituallsa as definite cult
began precisely In 1s4s, there can be
little doubt that as human manifes-
tation it goes back to the dawn OF the
wcrld. Do you remember Walter
Eaters story of how they caught the
god Apollo in the Middle Ages, and. in
spite of the piteous music he made,
slew him; how the music afterward
made many women fall i'll and die. 80
thae at was decided 20 dig open the
grave OF the god, and drive stake
through the body; and how, when they
dug they found the grave empty? The
old gods still rsmbIe the world fsssly.
VIII tha spirIts ever be driven cut?