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The Wingham Times, 1893-08-11, Page 6ULD YOU TA:'ee? 1. ----a-- heck to the tori e of the read, ranee you Imre merledemir load, . piece where you batt to decide, ay or that t hrone% your life to (abide, to the tiorru%v, bales; to t let core. to the wave where the future was fair. rckware there nos, a a3oeision to make, to id t,tt •row, which raged would you ►t POtate- 41 traveled the other longtraeh, wee/el . : Retain to the forks you went bacltr tee {o•e;.,tinethatitsoromisL. Pair wee ere a t'.•1ta.ion tett lett tea tL sriaxe, Ott the ra ,i tlatt you first traveled with tittle eel] utu•eet, 1t +t ,•Mry and reui h, was. Meet greet-met1y 1a: •st, ' stet team tar each bhuiec• and a charm foe eue h pilgrim of gewgaw, which road would you take: t3,LI: AI.AI1INTA BACK, By James E, Connolly. "The Lord gave, and the Lord taketh Way-; Blessed be the name of the Lord." ee parson's unctuous glibness, in utter- ice of the pious platitude, seemed to x. I31od;;ett—chief mourner—animated r personal approval of the Lord's final ;tion in the premises. Would there We licensuch a tinge of satisfaction in. si resignation if the dead woman had ?eih his own wife? Was it quite cer- ,in that the Lord had concerned him - If at all about either the giving or the h,hg of Mrs. Araminta Blodgett? '• Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty roil,'' etc., etc., went on the flow of for- eil'blandiloquence. Why had it pleased n? wondered John Blodgett. What erect could he have had in the matter? certainly had not pleased Araminta, 'ao was seriously misunderstood if her -expressed desire•to "enter into the aveuly rest" had been taken in earnest, °Id so far from pleasing her husband, .ad much annoyed him—to state the e mildly. Araminta had some "try - ways," doubtless, but probably not re than other women have, and John, thirty years of married life, had got el to them. he poor old widower, riding by self in the slow-moving carriage be- d theliearse, felt very sad and lonely. ugh by no means an imaginative the fancy grew upon him that his was a cable, a great strand of which Parted. when Araminta died, weak - g what was left. At the receiving It he looked on silently, while the at - ants filed Araminta away in a stone on -hole and slid its heavy iron door mace with a bang. He made no ttacular display of grief, for his ere was not demonstrative, and at -five one does not care enough about t people think to prompt the simu- iu of emotion. t when he got back into his car- j te again, all alone, as he preferred to . ars eyes were inoist and he thought e gravely upon what had happened i raminta; what was going to happen ne in the few years he had yet to go, • anionless, down the hill of life: and nth better it would have been if d. have been if they could have fin- + the course together. Decidedly, ` fleeted, the Lord's way of pleasing elf occasioned great inconvenience ers. Mr. Blodgett meant no irrev• - in so thinking, he had merely— igh much hearing of prayers and ' ns -got into a habit of almost so- , aamiliarity with God's personality. {e way was long, and, though the trotted briskly on the return from ' metery, the short winter day had i by the time the widotiver had ' d his home. He sighed, as he let If in with his latch -key, at the i usly suggestive darkness of the i Ly yawningbefore him. It looked enlargement of the pigeon -hole' ch they had deposited Araminta. ' before had he found it unlighted. ways saw to that. He turned into ' k parlor and barked one of his 1 pon something that stood directly way, whicb, upon examination, t to be one of. the trestles used to t Arahninta's coffin. It belonged • house, so had not been carried off • undertaker, and nobody had et of removingitwhen its tetnpor- t vice here was ended. The sudden : tion of what it was gave M. tt quite a shock, for it brought t back to his mental vision her hold and white and still, in the terror of the costly casket, as he t seen it, just at that spot. uddered and imagined that he fir: faint sigh somewhere near him. tg his breath and listening so in- Ithat he thought he could. hear t beat, he stood perfectly still my strove to pierce the intense es with Inc sight. A little thrill ness seemed to rnn over his skin, 0, a moment he had an impression ,ere was near him some one he was :more likely to see then than .t1cl be if he had a light. The it -or whatever it was—seemed telt his elbow, just behind his fir, and he felt an almost irresis- npulse to, instead of looking jump to the door and make his Then he pulled his scattered n together with the reflection: ense! 1 didn't imagine there ugh superstition in me to make think of such a thing! And, it should be Araminta, why be afraid of her now—when t talking?" himself again, he turned on his d deliberately out to the hall oa to the dining -room, where warmth, light, comfort, and Miss Artemisia Hodson, an stet', and Mrs. Ellice Mer - ..."friends of the corpse" as styled themselves when as- authority .. had temporarily ie reins of control, fortunate. may going of the household hen all other friends went cemetery, or shopping, or after the services its the two good ladies marched r. Blodgett's house, an- tnselvea and took possession, dieeteseittteleat of I,itrya- le htl:tiet--wlheh fh;lct :lust :weenie Mier eel in runlaging hes' late rhhistress's .rirean drawers, and the infinite disgust of the cook, who had just commenced to get drunk. Miss Hodson re;icued Ara- iuiute'a Itey's, Melted up her room, and "'mud work fol- Lucy in setting the din• iag table. Mrs. Merwin clirectetl affairs in the kitchen. Rebellion against two each enclgetie, experienced women was clearly impossible, and when John carne home the (limner awaiting him was one that Araminta herself never excelled. "Though it does seem like a waste of good victuals, to set such a meal before amen stricken with geed and naturally without any appetite when fn sorrow, most likely, commenters the spinster, who had strange ways of giving undue prominence to her ignorance of men. ''Humph !" sniffed the wiser hers. Mer- \r'ihh, "lien ate critters you must feed under all circeinstances. I've read in novels a heap about love and grief spoil - int; their appetites, but never saw any- thing of the sort, and don't believe it. Why, a man will eat a hearty breakfast white the Sheriff is waiting to hang him when the gets through. I've read of them doing it. From the cradle to the grave the one thing they live for is—to eat. All the events of their lives are ,imply incidents that happen between meals. They tell us that in the New Jerusalem 'there shall bceneither marry- hng nor giving in marriage' (Miss Hod- son sighed), but I take notice they specu- late on 'rivers of milk and honey,' welch is figurative, of course, like most of scripture, for naturally where you get milk you have beef critters—but milk is more poetic—and what would be the Me of so much honey if you weren't to have any bread to spread it on?" "Don't you think, sister Merwin," suggested the spinster, timidly, "that you take the words of the promises a little too literally?" "No. You can't be too literal for a man when you come to talk about feed, either here or in the hereafter." Mr. Blodgett's appetite hardly did jus- tice to the widow's expectations. He missed the face he had so long been ac- customed to see opposite him at every meal; the setting of the table was novel to him : Miss Hodson innocently put milk iu his tea; Mrs. Merwin had not known that he loathed mutton; altogether it seemed to hire as if he were dining out, and that Araminta might at any minute come in to say: "John it is time for us to be going." It was a great relief for him when the announcement of a visitor, Mr. Elnathan Flitters—who came to of- fer his condolences—afforded excuse for escape from the table, Mr. Flitters was a nice, well meaning man, good rather than bright, of whose society it was . not difficult to get an elegent sufficiency in a short time when he mounted his one hobby—spiritualism. The "Summer -land" was known to him as Paris ox Oshkosh may be to other persons. All departed greatness was, so to speak, "kept on tap" for him, and its communications literally "drawn from the wood" by his mediums for his benefit. One had only to know the gems of thought freely bestowed upon flim by the intellectual giants, "on the other shore" to recognize how different they were from the crude mental products of earth life. There, for in- stance, was that sweet assurance by Carlyle: "My friend, it is good to be good, not for the good there is in good- ness, but for the goodness • of being good." Of course Carlyle never could have said anything like that when he was alive. Probably he would rather have been kicked than have done so. But, being dead, that was his style. And Mr. Flitters could quote such things to you all night, a fact which minimized eagerness for his companionship among those who knew him. To have the gen- uineness of those communications ques- tioned by sceptics and scoffers saddened but did not anger him. He earnestly pitied the doubters. "That which I know—I know," he would reply calmly. "I've called for thousands of those who have gone be- fore, •tll the great names in history, sacred and profane, from Adam down, and none have failed to respond. Would von reject their multitudinous testi- nony? I hope not. Why, it was but the other night that Marc Antony came to us; did not wait to he called for. but ust dropped in, and at nay request re- peated his great speech over Cesar's body, commencing: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I cornu to bury Cesar, not to praise him." "The medium wrote it all down, just as he delivered it, and it is word for word as reported by Shakespeare. Could you doubt such evidence as that? I hope not." Mr. Flitter's present mission was not the mere offering of empty condolence. It was his habit to call wherever he was acquainted, as soon as possible after an invasion by Death in a domestic circle, and urge upon the survivors the practi- cability* and advisability of opening up communications at once with the dear departed. The sooner this was alone, he averred, before the spirit strayed away on excursions into infinite space. to which it would find itself impelled by natural curiosity, the easier it would be of accomplishment, Mr. Blodgett, he said, had hats only, to say the word in order to have hie wishes gratified, if he desired to speak with his wife again or even to see her. The widower's mental vision beheld again that white, still face in the casket, so real, yet so horribly unlike the wo- man who had walked by his side through more than a quarter of a century of life, and he shuddered. "I don't know," he replied, hesitating- ly, "about bothering Araminta—before she gets sort of settled down in her new surroundings anyway. Everythii4 over there meet be strange to her yet—if it is at aLll like what you saay. She never could bear to be pestered when she had ,anything on her nand; just wanted to bo let alone until she had bad her think nut. I guess we'd better lot her be fur the present." "But,"avert Mr. Flitters, "this is the vary time When site will be Most grate- ful for recall. Ietvely .as the summer - land is,. she is a stranger, and may not yet have run across any friends. 1e her lonesomeness she will be glad to (snow she is cherished in remembrance by friends there. And site cannot return uninvited. west think that in silence' she stretches out her appealing hands to you from the golden shore. She only awaits yeller call to return and be your guardian angel. Ahs! do not repulse the angel visitor, Mr. Blodgett. Call her belt." The ladies joined their solicitations to those of Mr. Flitters, not that positive Mrs. Merwin "really believed anything would come of et, but at least there would, be no harm in trying. eventu- ally Mr. Blodgett succumbed to the pressure of the trio. ,•Well," he assented, "I agree. Ara- minta is welcome to come battle if it seams fittiu' to her to do so. But how do you propose to fetch her?" "Ah!" eiaculated Mr. Flitters, tri- umphantly, "leave that to me—to me and Mrs. Husslewell, I should say, A wonderful woman Mrs. Husslowell is, sir; gifted with miraculous power. I will bring her here to -morrow night, and you shall see for yourself. Yes, sir. You shall see—what you shall see." When Mr. Blodgett went up to his room that night his surroundings there painfully accentuated his sense of be- reavement, He and Araminta were old- fashioned folks, who had occupied the same apartment, in common, all their marred lives and naturally the traces of her presence' were, to those of his, in the proportion of ten to one. Every- thing of which his senses took cogniz- ance reminded hint of "the touch of the vanished hand and the sound of a voice that was still." The air was still heavy with the perfume she used; her toilet appliances were scattered over the top of the bureau; an open door showed a closet hung full of her dresses; ono of her wrappers was draped over a rock- ing chair, a%if she had just thrown it off; a withered bunch of flowers, the last she saw with mortal sight, stood upon a stand by the bed ; on the mantel was a book she had been reading, with her scissors stuck between the leaves to inark where she left orf; as he groped under the bed for his slippers his fingers first came in contact with hers, and as he sat down to take off his shoes the "tidy" on the back of the chair, pulled loose by his shoulders, slipped down, and one of its pins jabbed hint cruelly in the small of the back. It was perhaps the thousandth time that had happened to him, and as he tore the thing loose from its moorings near his spine and hurled it, with a half -smothered execra- tion, across the room, he vowed that would never occur again. He always had hated "'tidies," but Araminta possessed a mania for them, and conse- quently they were on every chair in the • house—let him who could find one of them after tomorrow. • Stirring the fire and putting his slip. ! leered feet on the fender before it, he sank into reverie. Naturally that which was uppermost ihnhis thoughts ;vas the calling back of Araminta. How might it affect her chances of participation in the general resurrection. If she broke the programme, which. according to the preacher, was that she should sleep until then? But. then, the preacher had said some queer and probably untrue things, and his information about the resurrection scheme might be unreli- able. He said that damnation had been the common lot of all who lived prior to the coming of Christ, and that proposi- tion did not commend itself to auy fair- minded man. How about Moses, and David, and Elias, and Jonah, and Lot, and lots more of the Biblical worthies? Were they all damned? And the re- peated assurance that "the blood of Christ washeth away all sin" surely had not a leg to stand on, logically, nor was admissible upon any hypothesis that would be creatable to God. Mr. Blodgett, it will be perceived, was little, if any, better than a heathen, for he had the audacity to reason about these things—to which his attention was now, for the first time, seriously drawn—in- stead of accepting. everything by faith, as the preacher said he should. His cogitations, or Mrs, Hodson's strong tea, made him nervous, so he knew there was no use in going to bed, and thought he would like to smoke a cigar. He had already started for his "steely," the lit- tle den, which was the only place in all that big house where Araminta had . al- lowed him to barn tobacco, when he suddenly remembered that there was nobody now to object to his smoking wherever he pleased, nobody to care whether "the smell got into the cur- tains " or not. So he lightedthefragrant roll and sat down again, with a sigh that was not Wholly regretful pain, It did seem to him that there was a trem- ulous movement in the air as if of a groan that was almost audible, but of course that was only his nerves, he said to himself, and he went on with his musings and smoking. When he had finished his cigar he tossed its butt into the grate and went to bed. Never before 'had he realized how big that bed was, Its wideness made him feel lonesome. After a time he dropped into a doze, from which he waked suddenly, with a violent start and a thrill of 'l horror. His arm was thrown over something that lay beside him, a tangible, bodily form, round and cold. The fire had died down, and the room was dark. Ile leaped out of bed, :lighted the gas and•looked. The form teas still there. It was the spare pillow, With a snort of disgust he said to him. self: "I wouldn't have been such a fool if ' that old maid had not given me such 'confoundedly strong tea and insisted Upon lily taking two ru is of it." He felt that it would to useless to try again to sleep Without taking something to gniet Inc nerves, and remembered that a little closet ,in his den coutained to soother which Would be likely to meet the emergency. Lighting a candle, he e went to get it, walking oautieusly on tip -toe, though if he had stopped to think he would haete remembered there 'Wee now nobody asleep In that pars of they shouse. When he entered the. den he bulled down the window blind, bolted the door, and then opened a little closet concealed in the wall. The medieino was before hint in a decanter bearing the mysterious initials S.U,P, Ile was just About pouring some of it into a glass and taking it "straight," when the happy thought occurred to him that it would be much more palatible, perhaps even more enjoyable, with the addition of hot water and sugar; also that it might be more efficacious if sip• ped slowly, while he smoked a cigar be. fore his bedroom fire, Well, wily should he not take it as the pleased? Araminta could not put her veto on the proceed. Mg's now. With a newly born sense of g independence thrilling$un, he marched back to his room, carrying the decanter along, and walking upon his heels even louder than was necessary. Araminta was always. lenient to her own little weaknesses, first of which was tea -drinking in her room at all odd hours, and kept handy a very com- plete apparatus for brewing her fre- quent cups of cheer. In her silver kettle, over the alcohol stamp, John boiled some water; in her cut -glass bowl he found lumps of loaf sugar; and when the had compounded the medicine he suit=ed its fragrant steam with hearty satisfaction. Then the lighted another cigar, took a sip of the toddy and smiled. Again he fancied near shim a faint atmos- pheric disturbance, suggestive of it groan, audible only to the mind, rather more distinct than before. But the grateful warmth of the beverage spread a glow of comfort through his frame: he sipped again, smacking his lips; a feeling of emancipation animated him and ho said: "Lot her groan. This suits me :But if Flitters brings her back, as he has promised, the way she will declare her- self will be a lesson to the meek in spirit. And how much more of that can I stand? Maybe it might prove a good deal easier to start than to stop. Is it prudent to turn Araminta loose on a congenial theme when she is quiet? Is it kind to her to disturb her? Doubtless she is, as Flitters says, a stranger in the the Sum- mer -land, but she is olcl enongh to take care of herself, wherever sheis, and will find some way of getting into good so cicty before long. Ten chances to ono she has run -across Mrs. Danforth al. ready, and has advance points on all the coming Easter styles in robes and halos. What's the use of bringing her back to be unhappy with the knowledge that 1 ain slaking myself comfortable?" When at length Mr. Blodgett returned to his bed, his nerves bard been effective. ly soothed and he slept sweetly, but his last waking thought was a doubt of tho advisability of calling Araminta back. Among the letters laid by the widow- er's plate at breakfast, the next morning, was one from an old and valued friend in the West, who addressed him at home instead of the store, because kinder considerations than those im- pelled by a counting -house atmosphere were wanted for the sad news he had to convey. Joe Brunton, the writer of the letter, Chad failed in business through a succession of misfortunes, which the detailed at length, and the very con- siderable sum he owed to Mr. Blodgett would probably be an entire loss, at least until some time in the indefinite future, when his run of ill -luck should have changed. John Blodgett's fortune was so ample that the loss of the money was nothing of serious moment to hem, he knew that Joe was a thorough honest man, and his only, feeling xf • the matter was one of sincere sympathy but—what would Araminta say? So deeply had he been engrossed in' the letter that for the moment he forgot recent events of moment in his own affairs. During thirty years Araminta had never ceased viewing his letters with suspicion, and claimed the right to read all of them that calve to the house. Of course, she could not extend her scrutiny to those he received at his store—among which she figured to her- self infinite possibilities of evil—but the hope had, seemingly, never loft her that some day she would surprise a misdirected missive, one diverted by fate to her hands, to reveal the double life she was convinced all men led. And if she had seen the unhappy bankrupt's letter •she would have said something like this: "So 1 You've been a fool again, and have to suffer for it, of course. If you'd had common business sense you would have known Joe. Brunton was a swin- dler, using your friendship to cheat you. Soft as you are, it's a wonder you are not in the poorhouse already. It is only a question of time when you will be. Bei I give you fair warning, when you have to make an assignment your cred- itors shall touch nothing of what I have compelled you to put in my name. Ruin yourself if you please, but you shall not ruin me. What's that you say? 'Joe Brunton an unfortunate, but honest man?' Oh, yes; bankrupts always claim to be that. I've no patience with them. 'His family?' What have I got to do with his family/ Let him pay his debts." 11Zr. Blodgett knew just as well what she would have said as if he were actu- ally hearing her ; so why bring her back to say it? Bankruptcies doubtless would not worry her "in the Summer -land," and if she were not called belt she world be spared the exasporation of knowing that he had resolved to do what lay in his power to set Joo Brunton on his foot again. When he started out to business, at the very foot of his front steps he en- countered Mrs. Poppotts. a charming little 'uuidowwho greeted hien with un- wonted cordiality, proportionate to her desire to sell him a couple of • high. s. Iriced tickets for a charity ball of which ite was one of the lady managers. She had burst upon hint so suddenly, while his mind was still full of Joe Brunton's trouble, that his first instinctive thought was one of alarm, for their meeting was in fell view trete the parlor windows, and Aratniuta-bs'eet, psliawl What was he bothering himself about? Araminta' had 'eloiinitcdr.ceased interestin• g herself in Ms bearinrg towards *lames. I3y th way, would it be prudent to call ller bac that slto might resume her guardian. shiS>. Would the buy a nouplo? Yes, of course, half a dozen; teat for his own use since a very recent sad. bereavement would preclude the possibility of hie ap• peering at a ball for somotihne to come, but so worthy an object should not suf• for on that account. Then he had to explain his bereavement to Mrs, Pop- petts, wiio had not before heard of it— or, at least, said she had, not—and was quite sympathetic, and perhaps just a httle mare gracious in her manner. That afternoon the collector. of the "Christian Zoological Mission and Cats' Home" called as Mr, Blodgett's store to got the check for which Araminta, as one of her latest acts in life, had made her husband responsible. He got it, of course, but when ho expressed the hope that be might bo permitted to substitute the honored name of Mr. John Blodgett instead of that of his sainted wife in the list of patrons of that noble institution, the old merchant said emphatically: "No, sir. Inscribe upon your ledger, under the entry of the check I have ;just given you, 'vein worked out,' The mon- ey I can spare for charity hereafter will go to relieve human misery, not to breed cats." He wouid never have dared to talk so while Araminta was alive, even though Ile hail always been of that way of thinking, and he knew it. Would it be well to call Araminta back and revive her excessive interest in cats? • His lawyer, whom he haci sent for on some business, came in soon after the "Cats' Home" collector departed, and when the subject inatter of his call had been disposed of, Mr. Blodgett said: • "I have something else to consult you about, Mr. Drummond; something on which I want your advice. It is not a legal matter, but it is your business to supply advice, and I may say, without meaning to flatter you, that yours is the only advice I solicit. .It is as a man rather than as a lawyer that I want you to consider what I am about to lay be- fo.o yon." "I do not think my advice is worth much outside my profession," replied. ht[r. Drummond smilingly.. "At all events it has no market value beyond that limit; but the best I have to offer is certainly at the service of my old. • friend, and so, go ahead and state your case." Thereupon Mr. Blodgett told all about Mr. Flitters's idea of called Araminta i back from the Summer -land, his con- sent—already half -regretted — thereto, fuel in conclusion said: "Anel now o I want ant +ole to tell me first, whether you think it practicable to re- call Araminta; second, if from your point of view you would deem it right to try to do so; third, if on general principles you imagine it would be a judicious thing." "Replying categorically, I should say, first, it is not practicable; second• the attempt would be wrong and harmful in proportion to its semblance of success; thins, since it is impracticable, its judi- chonsuoss is not a question for consider- ation. I do not doubt the sincerity of seely who profess belief in return of the cli.,etuboelied soul to earth -life, at the summons of a 'ine'lium.' They are kind-hearted, emotional persons whose affection is stronger than their reason. Suffering under the cruel severance death makes in earthly ties, their wishes lead them to hope, and hope, to belief, that they may re-establish communica- tion with their loved and lost. That the purposeful direction of their desire anti will does enable a certain breaking - down of the barrier between the seen and the unseen worlds is undeniable. They unquestionably succeed in putting themselves in communication with con- scious and intelligent entities upon an- other plane of existence. But those en- tities are not, as they believe, the spirits of the dead, but elemental beings who fill the astral world about us. They are incognizable to us under ordinary con- ditions, just as the electric fluid in the charged Leyden jar is imperceptible to our senses until we establish the proper conditions for receiving its shock. The medium's sensitive nervous organiza- tion and passive will are the wire that brings about connection between hu- manity and the elemental forces in the Leyden jar of the astral plane. Of course lam speaking now of genuine 'mediums,' not of the charlatans and clever trick- sters who masquerade as such, and are vastly in the majority, or of those who are simply hypnotees unconsciously in- fluenced by stronger wills and honestly self-deluded as to their connection with the unseen world. "The character of the elemontals is colored by the human influences with which they aeebrought in contact. The astral element they inhabit is the treas- ury in which is stored the infallible record of every thought, word, and deed of humanity since mundane time began, and the character impressed by such influence can scarcely be expected to be angelic. In point of fact, the ele- ments are—as a rule-- cunning, treach- erous, and malicious, truly 'evil spirits.' From the ample knowledge at their command they readily personate any one caned fol from the imaginary ;Sum• mer -land,' and delight in such masquer- ading. They may confine themselves to demonstrating knowledge of the habits, antecedents, interests, friends, etc„ of the dead, all, in short, that to the non - analytic mind would be ample proof of identity short of visible manifestation; or, where the mediums astral personal- ity is susceptible of being drawn upon for the purpose, may even materialize to sight and touch. In no caro, however, is the 'angelic visitor from the Summer. land' anything but a masquerading ele- mental, except in rare instances where there has been sudden and violent pri- vation of mundane existence, or, per- haps, purposeful antagonism—ata oer- tein moment—of an abnormally strong Will against the change of Condition wo call death. Those exeeptional cases need not, however be discussed novel as they are apal t from the present Gaga," 0" k "it (toes not seem to me, Drummond,. that I have ever heard those views put forth in Christian.teaohinrs." "No; they are tlteosoplhie," "Ohl Ah! Theosophy, eh? I read an editorial about thtat in the Daily Record the other day declaring there wasnothingin it, Did yen sea the arti- ole "Yes, It was simply the hydroceph- alic child of anincestuous connection be. tween bigotry and ignorance. I have seen many such. They are alas writ- ten by men who do not know the first principles of the philosophy they Ire- eume to condemn, and who deem it their interest to pander to the hate Christi- anity cultivates in its devotees towards all religion based upon reason rather than faith." "Well, what would you advise me to do? Flitters is to bring around to -night his medium, a Mrs, Husslewell," "I have hoard of her. My impression is that she is an honest woman, com- pletely under the control of the ele- mentals, and also very easily hypnot- ized. She is said to be an epileptic, and probably is, as epileptics make the best mediums. I think I can help you," Before the lawyer took his departure, Mr. Blodgett's line of action had been clearly laid out for hint, and, his com- bativeness having been awakened, ho was even eager to -have "a round with the summerlanders." On the way home he bought a couple of canary birds, war- ranted loud singers. His wife had never allowed any birds in the shouse, as their singing made her nervouee, and he,• though he liked to hear then, did not feel that it was worth while opposing her. "But now," the said to himself, "I can clo as I please, and when 1 hear their voices it will remind ins she is not around, for—Araminta's not going to be called back." At so late an hour that Mr. Blodgett, Miss Hodson and Mrs. Merwin had al - inost abandoned hope of their comi• Mr, Flitters arrived with Mrs. Huss' •- well and a couple of faithful followers. • a man and a woman—whose duty it wa. as it subsequently • appeared, to dolor- ously sing lugubrious songs and hymns for tho invoking of the spirits. The medium was a short, fat woman, who walked waddlingly, and over whose flabby tissues a pale, watery-lookieg skin seemed to be stretched tightly. Her manners were shy, and an expres- sion of weariness, mingled with a little anxiety, appeared en her soft brown oyes. A circle was formed under Mr. Flitter's direction about a large table in the parlor, and. Mr• Drummond, who arrived at this juncture, was given•a place among the others. Lights were turned out, and the two singers struck up a spiritualistic hymn tune so depres- sing that it needed nothing but an accordion accompaniment to have been too much for human endurance. Miss Hodson and Mr:. Flitters made little ineffective vocal clutches now and then after the thread of saddening sound. But the spirits came around with an alacrity betokening a liking for that sort of thing. "Spirit hands" adminis- tered gentle taps and pinches; books flew to the table from distant parts of the room, and minute sparks of light ap- peared. A gruff -voiced spirit, saluting the company with •' •How!" and announ- cing himself as Deja-non-da-wa-ha, Or' some such name, said he was once + a bigwarrior, tookscalps and loved fire- water, but had learned to .like the pale- faces, of whom he had met many in the Sumner -land. Then a spirit, speaking in a female voice, talked sentimentally of the sweetness and beauty of life in the Summer -land, and, being asked who she was, replied that ,she was known on earth as Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VIII. of England. Mr. Blodgett, who was much astonished, wanted to converse with her a little, but she was shoved aside by a spirit who called him- self "Sam bo," chattered a nonsense in a negro dialect, and laughed loudly, emu:Ir o". Mr. Herman Hicks Of Rochester, N. Y. Deaf for a Year Caused by Catarrh in the Head Catarrh is a CONSTITUTIONAL. disease, and requires a CONSTITUTIONAL RItMrret like' Hood's Sarsaparilla to cure it. Read t "'Three years ago, as a result of catarrh, I etitirolylost my hearing and was deaf for More ban ayear. I tried various things to euro it, tnQ had severer], pitysiolans attempt it, but ne lnprovement was apparent. I could digitin ogee e no Mound. I was intending putting •nyself under the care of a specialist when tante one suggested that possibly Hood's Sar- lat larllla wotlykd do ale south goal, I began. inking it II/intent the expectation Of any lagn� Vhells. to my�+ underlie mull orient joy I fotulit H'ben I ltad taken three bottles that lily bent. iag rvns returningI kept on till 1 had taken three snore. It is now over a year and I tan hour perfectly well. I ala troubled but Very little with the catarrh. I consider this a romarlcnbl+e cavo,. and cordially recohnlend Hood's Sarsa parilea to all who havo enema:: lir nritnir II/Ons,30 • Barter street, Rochester, N. Y. BOOtt'S leILLS aro purely vegetable, and der •iaOR lir ssith4tgtlpet. &Idbytoldn *gg1stt,