138
HOHBY HORSES AND THEIR RIDERS
Till- WKST SHORK.
r i. ..nIwanciiAiic nrnhlptnc nf u-liik it
nizcd factor in (lie solution ol occuit, ur r--- - "
Concerning psychological questions, which, next to " single tax," form a
theme commanding, perhaps, a greater share of public attention just now,
outside of tlie ordinarily accepted channels of popular thought and action,
than any other of the moot matters pertaining to humanity's transitory pe
riod of existance, I now propose to say something, not that I hope to lie
original, for there is nothing new under the sun, but because, like my tradi
tional and much-misrepresented Mother Eve, I like to investigate that which
is to be desired to make one wise.
The day has gone by for the popular acceptance of the negative side of
all occult questions, as well as the contemptuous silence of press and pulpit,
to which everything not too ancient to lie capable of proof was systematically
relegated for centuries. Leading minds among the clergy can no longer be
kept silent by the bitted bridles of conservatism, with the authority of the
dead past clutching the check reins of thought with the bigoted dogmas of
gone eras. The individual of either sex who complacently disclaims any
interest in problems that encroach umn the environs of what has long been
designated us the unknowable, is eillier the victim of a mistaken fancy or the
subject of intelligent commiseration. Surely ever)' erson is by this time
aware that there is in existence a society for psychical research, unpopularl)'
known for a number of years as the Seybert commission so named after its
founder, a spiritualistic plutocrat who determined to apply the accretions of
his posthumous financial plethora to the scientific elucidation of psychic phe
nomena. It was for a time quite the fashion to berate the Seybert commis
sion. Its members were scientific men, most of whom' were naturally preju
diced at the outset of their investigations against the existence of occult phe
nomena of any mental sort, and many of them so remain to this day, not
withstanding the ingenuous admission of all that many of the manifestations
they liave witnessed under strictest conditions are inexplainable upon any
known or generally accepted hypothesis. On the other hand, there were
spiritualists by thousands, or, (icrhaps it would be nearer the truth to say tens
of thousands, who opposed the commission from its inception, and who, from
the potent fact of their own credulity, were unable to endure the crucial
methods of coldly-intellectual investigation with the least degree of patience.
I'uur Henry Seybert, if, after his tr.ms)orlation from terrestrial existence to the
real or imaginary land of shades, he is indeed conscious of anything that is
going on Uxin the earth he has li lt behind, must for a long time have suf
fered intense agony of spirit over the two-fold system of fault finding which
kept his munificent bequest in the condition of the traditional Issacher who is
drscrilied in holy writ ns " crouching between two burdens." Lately, how
ever, it has become fashionable to extol the SeylM'rt commission, and the So
ciety for Psychical Resrarch is rapidly becoming a recognized factor in the
elucidation of phenomena ertainiiig to that ever-living question propounded
by a thinker who was not more interested than ourselves: " If a man die,
shall he live again?" This society, totally unmindful, as far as human judg
ment could discern, of all the adverse criticism of all shades of accepted be
lief, has gone faithfully forwanl, conscientiously earning its money and fear
lessly presenting (lie public such evidence as comes before it. And this evi
dence is generally of such a i liaracter as no coterie of devout believers in the
modern liejeweled and bediicncd " medium " could afford to oiler the in
credulous public at their seances, where the price of admission to a darkened
r.Him, redolent often of onions, always of tobacco, and not infrequently of
whisky, is plated at one dollar x'r head. The calm itclilicrations with which
the psychical society ha received the testimony placed before it, and the can
did, impartial way in which it lias presented thai evidence to the people, have
wrought a change in public opinion which is little short of marvelous. "Tel
culhy" is the new synonym applied to "spirit rapping," and the phenom
ena of these, thus newly christened, seem already to have furnished a basis
for scientific interpretation of much that formerly passed current among the
stiienlilious and ignorant as witchcraft, and among the learned and bigoted
metabolism. "I'plo the present time," says the well-known savant, Pro
fessor Wallace, in a ment valuable contribution to the press, "the only ex
planation of the various clasvs of apparitions suggested by the more promi
nent wotking members of the society is tlut they are hallucinations due to
the lclcMlhic action of one mind upon another." Ami yet the frank admis
sion of the fact that one mind may at1 un another in a "telepathic" or any
way in which to induce "spirit raings" and "table tappings," or project
" apparitions," points to further investigations in llie near future, by which a
more satisfactory solution of the " ghost " question can Ik reached tlian ever
would have been possible had only the known adherents to the faith, or creed,
of spiritualism lieen permitted to handle the Scjlx-rt fund. One of the latest
indications tlut the psychical society has come to stay as a popularly recog-
is dogged obstinacy to longer deny the existence, is the fact that a sub-society
of national and international reputation has lately been formed for the inde
pendent pursuit of painstaking investigation along the lines of psychical re
search in which the well-known, names of such leading thinkers as Rev. M. J.
Savage and Man- A. Livermore, of Boston, and Rev. Dr. Thomas and Fran
ces E Willard, of Chicago, are members. Robert Dale Owen, whose soul,
if his belief be true, like John Brown's, of Harper's Ferry fame, "goes
marching on," Jiad to wait a good while after leaving the body to witness the
scientific recognition of his work, " The Debatable Land," but posterity, at
least, has been paid for his waiting by the publication of the proceedings of
the Society for Psychical Research, which has given due prominence to his pa
tient investigation of facts so rigidly tabooed at the time of their original pub
lication that the literary world fell constrained to pat its vaunted conservatism
on the back when the renowned " Katie King exposure " for a time turned
the brain of the fearless thinker from its equilibrium, and furnished press and
pulpit with themes for criticism during a quarter of a century.
" The world is going to financial ruin because of extravagance," said a
a pessimistic friend in my hearing a few days ago. I had been saying that
never before in the history of this American nation were the common people
so well oft as now. Never were so many cosy homes built and owned by
mechanics and artisans of all grades, and never before were opportunities so
good for wage earners to become their own landlords.
" It is the extravagance of the farmers that lies at the bottom of all
this, and leads everything to disaster," he continued, with a deprecatory shrug
of the shoulder. " Half the farmers in my neighborhood have sold or mort
gaged valuable lands to get money to build and furnish fine houses," he add
ed, after an ominous silence.
" (ikid to hear it," I answered, heartily. " The unproductive lands they
held so long in idleness, keeping themselves poor and their neighbors poorer,
being sold or mortgaged to pay for building comfortable homes for their fam
ilies will be a blessing to humanity in many ways. The money thus put into
circulation gives employment to the day laborer and the mechanic, enabling
them to buy village lots or suburban acres upon which to erect homes of their
own. The prospect of becoming a home owner encourages thrift and econ
omy among the ptxirer classes and enables them to supply themselves with
all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, thus stimulating trade,
which, in its turn, stimulates manufacturing and commerce, enabling avenues
of business to multiply themselves in geometrical proportion. But, to go
back to your neighbor fanners, the good houses they build, the furniture they
buy and the comforts and luxuries they thus enjoy will make the farm attract
ive to the wives and children, who will learn to extol rural life ; whereas, under
the old scrimping, pinching style of self denial, the boys and girls, as you
know, deserted the farm as soon as they were old enough to attempt it. Sup
Mse some penurious old land grabber does have to part with some of his
mortgaged acres to make the rest more attractive, what of it? Isn't he cast
ing bread upon the waters? Suppose now and then some fanner even loses
his home because he overreached his calculations to build it, must all the rest
of the agricultural community, as well as the artisan, the manufacturer and
and the mechanic remain at a standstill to prevent such a possibility? No,
friend. The greatest good to the greatest number is gained only through the
improvement of the land, which means, first of all, the building and adorn
ment of beautiful homes, followed by the cultivation of orchards, flowers and
guldens, the display of grassy lawns, and above all, the health and content
ment of husbands and wives, and the consequent well-being of happy chil
dren." Beautify your homes, fanners, even if you must wrestle for a few years
with a mortgage. The interest will come back to you and your neighbors in
a thousand diversified ways, and you ran pay the principal at maturity by sell
ing off your surplus acres to somebody else who wants a home, for which he
is willing to pay an increased price that he may enjoy the honor of being the
neighbor of a nun who thinks more of his family than of broad acres of un
m l',ml' AmiiAii. Scott Duniwav.
Hie attention of certain gentlemen who s)ent a lew weeks in Salem os
tensibly as representatives of the citizens of Multnomah county, but in reality
as henchmen of one or the other of Portland's feudal lords, is called to the
words of Job :
Ik shall ,, , . , lwuM, ,.,., sM wmt) knw