Saturday Evening Mail, Volume 8, Number 39, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 9 March 1878 — Page 1

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Vol. 8.---N0. 39.

THE MAIL

A PAPER FOR TIIF. PEOPLE.'

SECOND EDITION

Town-Talk.

BUILDING frRBS.

It takes a fool or a philosopher to build a fire." A fool or a philosopher, indeed! The fact la, extremes meet, and what people call fools, some of them, are not so far from being philosophers as they might be. Fools, as well as philosophers, stupids as well as geniuses, often succeed in other matters besides fire building better than the common herd who sneer at fools and gape in admiration at philosophers. The fact is that It is painstaking that gives a great share of sucoess in this life. A few, a very few, by means of wonderful intellectual endowments, vault easily into success. But most of the bucoessful people in the world astonish those who knew them in youth. They were not remarkably bright, were, indeed, remarkably stupid. Did you ever attempt to manage a wood flre It is the easiest thing in the world to put it out when trying to build it, or have it sizzling and sputtering when you want it blazing and warming. Pile on—or if it be a stove, stuff in the wood. That is all many people seem to think is needful to build fire. Your common people, who think themselves very bright, often attempt to build the fire from the top, or halfway up, or with the coals at the back side of the stove or fire-place, or with wood packed close together, and then, because it does not burn, blame the wood, the stove, the chimney, or anything else but their own soggy brains. Your fool or philosopher begins at the bottom, carefully brings together the coals at the front, puts the smaller aud dryer sticks first, and puts the larger and greener slicks above them* crosswise, so as to secure draughts of air between them, and at once has a good fire. No swearing aljout the chimney, stove, wood or draught, but instead, a little oommon-aense painstaking, that's all. The philosopher knows instinctively how to do it, and the fool learns bow to do it, and both succeed. But no amount of teaching, or experience, or shivering, will give the careless, the indolent, or the oonoeited, skill at kindling or caring for fires. Aud so it Is the world ov«r. People are trying to build fires from the top, with big sticks packed close, with green wood, wUh coals scattered and where they are useless, and blaming anything and everything but their own stupidity for the failure. They are trying to succeed hi life without carefully observing the laws of success, and without painstaking obedience to theui. And thou because other people, who are naturally no brighter than themselves, succeed, they wonder bow it is that fools in youth make such smart men. The fools were philosophers enough to begin at the bottom, and carefully build their Area according to natural laws. They succeed because they deeerve succe**, be cause they have earned it. The others fail, and shiver without fires, because they deserve failure, because they have earned it by their care leagues*. No matter how big a wood pile there is, bow well seasoned it is, nor bow good the draught, if a man la not fool or philosopher enough to use tbeee in the right way, be will fail. No matter how favorable be one's circumstances, what influenced he can command, how much money he has, or how bright Intellectually, If be is not fool or philosopher enough to take advantage of these eircu ma lances, and ready to do so with painstaking care, be wilt foil. T. T. knows a young fellow whose chum need to

him an old newspaper and

a stick of green wood and he will build a fire." There was some exaggeration In this assertion, and yet T. T. has seen that fellow sit down before a few sticks of very ordinary end not very fine wood, aud patiently tearing the paper Into small bits, put It on, a piece at a time thus keeping a continual hlax* under the wood until a good fire was kindled. His chum would have put the whole paper under at onoe, and it would have biased up and gone out. It was sense end paiufttekltig that made the differ­

ence between the two, end the one rao ceeded with the very same materiel with which the other failed. It is really wonderful with how little some people sucoeed, and with how much others Ml. And when one opens bis eyes, it is wonderful how easy it is to discover the cause of both the success and the failure. Take pains and use to the beet advantage poedble the means st commend, and success will generally come. Without the pains, failure will generally come. Learn bow to build flies snd build tbemin-that way, and it will make little difference whether yon be a fo 1 er a pbiloeopber.

Busks and Nubbins.

No. 291. &BL*-

'i 't* f'"**' hf MEDICAL QUACK KB

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Dr. domlngor, in his address at the recent annual commencement of the Indiana Medical College, said that "it is a lamentable feet that qnack nostrums constitute about one-half the stock-in-trade of all the drugstores throughout the oountry. The proprietors place them on the market for the sole purpose of giin, knowing, as the purchaser should know, that they possess no intrlnsia worth or merit tbey cure no one who would not reoover more speedily and perhaps more certainly had they been left on the druggists' shelves or in the manufacturers' tanks they have nothing to commend them but the false*boods published in the almanacs and secular and religious periodicals. The medical ropostor either forges or oxtorts from the deluded invalids certificates ot cures that were never made, and palms them off on the credulous for genuine evidences of marvelous cures/' He protested against the indiscriminate use of medicines snd said that too much stress was placed upon the curative powers of drugs. And well might he and every intelligent physician protest and lift the voice of warning against this crying evil. We have had crusaders against whisky but perhaps there is greater need for one against noxious dru*s. The extent to which patent medicines are sold is almost incredible. The successful quack who has compounded some villainous mixture and given it a high-sounding name and advertised it at small cost in all the "patent outsldes" in the country, soon finds hioaself in receipt of an annual income larger than that of the President of the United States. A "magic salve" or a "bitters," or a -'pain killer," has raised marble palaces as if by the enchanter's wand. One quack falls and another rises, and the damnable work still goes on. Never was there anything more fiendish than the ingenious devioes resorted to by these conscienceless rascals to extort money from their unfortunate victims. First the victim is informed that if he will send a three cent postage stamp he will receive a pamphlet that will instruct him how to cure himself. He thinks be oan afford to try the experiment and does. In due time the pamphlet arrives and he seises upon it with avidity. It ia so skillfully composed that by the time be gets through reading It he it thoroughly convinced, not only that he has the disease he feared, but that be has a most malignant and chronic type of it, and that it ia curiously dovetailed in with a dosen or two. of other maladies any one of which will send him to an early grave, unless he checks himself in his mad career. True, be doesn't see much in the pamphlet about bow to cure himscJ/ but it is a great satisfaction to know just bow bad a condition be Is In snd he cheerfu.ly puts his case in the hands of the "good Samaritan" who has a magnificent hospital way off in Boston or New York. It is needless to sdd that be buys postal orders with ever Increasing frequency and becomes a regular visitor at the Express office, carrying away bottles and boxes of villainous oompounds wherewith to sink himself lower and lower In disease and death.'

Some people buy and consume patent medicines with the seme regularity that tbey do flour aud auger. They never tire of experimenting with these quack medicines. They try each' new kind that ia recommended with,iadmirable impartiality. They go upon the theory that if It does no good it will at least do no harm. Tbey could aot make a more grievous mistake. No drug can be taken Into the system without exerting some influence on It, either for good or for evil, and most frequently it Is for the letter. As Dr. Oonringor well observed, medicines are not essentially curative but merely aid in correcting the deficiencies of the system. Henoe they ought to be ttken only by the advice of a competent physician. The human body iaa wonderful end delicate piece of machinery, liable to be thrown sadly out of gear by the Introduction of improper elements. None but him who has studied it#long and thoroughly Is prepared to say what its deficiencies are at any moment or what the proper agents to connect tbem. We may do our best to keep well hot when we have failed to do that the best thing Is to send for the doctor.

There is net..* putWe^of doubt,

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though, but that at leastjtwo-thirds of the sickness which oonsumes so mueh money and medicine oould be wholly avoided If proper attention were given to taking care of the health. Regular habita, not in one or a few particulars, but in every particular, is the first great rule for keeping well and It goes so far that hardly any other rules ere neoeesary. It is important, too, to study one's own System—to find out what ia good for it and what ia harmful—what simple remedies will correct Its slight disorders end to epply these st the very incipiency of the trouble. If anyone with an average constitution will spend little time in studying the organs of the body snd their fu notions, and will faithfully observe the simple snd elementary principles of hygiene, he will hsve nothing to do with patent nostrums and will very seldom require the services of a physician.

DONTS FOR OLD MAIDS. Don't get soured with the whole world because some of the brothers didn't take you in out of the cold maybe it was your fault.

Don't think, when you look back through the vista of years and see yourself, in Imagination, leaning over the garden gate with that fellow on the other side, that you made a narrow escape. He might have only been fooling with you.

Don't think if you bad it all to do over again yon would do differently and better. The probabilities are you would be about as much of a goose as you were tben.

Don't try to make the whole world believe that you are in downright earnest and wouldn't marry the best man on top of the groHnd if you could, for you know you would.

Don't say that all women are simpletons who marry, for that is not complimentary to your mother.

Don't thank goodness, when yon see half a dozen urchins making it lively for your neighboring sisters, that they ain't yours. You don't know how much fun it is to be walloping them with a slipper or dosing tbem with paregoric.

Don't swear off from human society and take all your stock in poodles or pet cats. Tbey ar« just as mean as men when you refuse to gratify their caprices.

Don't think the world don't put a

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roper estimate upon your value. It Mothers are constantly pointing to you as examples for their frisky daughters.

Don't thiulc you ought to.Bmile the less because you haven't any one in jarticular to smile for. Smile for spite, for nothing else, just to make men sorry that tbey left such a bunoh of anmimated sunshine go vncaptured.

Don't tbink you ought to be staid and somber. That's a mistake. You have so few of the responsibilities of life that you ought to te as merry as a bird all the time.

Don't think Eve made a mistake when she concluded not to live an old maid, for neighbors were so far apart tben that she would have been very lonely.

Don't while away the dull hours by becoming a gossip monger. If you want an occupation start a base ball club.

Don't wear a long face and look as if yon dieted yourself on crab apples. It is just as easy to look bright, sweet and pleasant. One of the brightest mortals in our acquaintance never acknowledged allegiance to any of the lords of creation. looks as merry as a June morning, and everybody likes her.

Don't retire like a recluse and grope through lite in solitude. The one who is confined to his or her own society alone, has generally very uninteresting company.

Doa't think there is something radically defective about the world because it don't run exactly according to your notion. There are thousands of people who do think so, and yet they fail to make it any better.

Don't get worried with the littlo fellows because tbey romp and yell, aud raise the mischief generally. That's a way tbey bave of letting folks know tbey sre about.

Don't cemplain at the world you live in, but make the best of it while jou are here, trip through it lightly, merrily as you can, and at tbe end vou will find that while you have bad some of Its trials, you bave also escaped many, and enjoyed an average share oi blessings.

TWENTY IMPOLITE\THINGS. 1. Loud and boisterous lausbing. 2. Heading when others are talking. 3. Talking when others are reading. 4. Cutting fingernails in company. 5. Joking others in oompany. 6. Gazing rudely at strangers. 7. Leaving a stranger without a seat. 8. Making yourself hero of your own story. 9. Reading aloud in company without being asked. 10. Spitting abontthe hoase,smoking, or chewing. 11. Leaving church before worship is closed. 12. Wbisperirtp er laughing in the house of God. 13. A want of reverence snd respect for seniors. 14. Correcting older persons than yourself, especially parent*. 15. Receiving a present without an expression of gratitude. 16. Not liatening to what one is saying in company. 17. Commencing eat as soon as you get to tbe table. 18. Answering questions that have been pat to others. 19. Commencing talking before others have finished speaking. 30. Laughing at the mistakes of others.

HOW MANSON ELECTIONEERS. fl*f*jrette Courier.] He rode three miles through the mod last fail to get tbe old lady to knit him a pair of yarn socks "long and warm/' for which he afterwards pud her fifty cents, and carried them off in triumph. He stopped at two places on bis way home to show them. Now the fact and tbe point is he never wore a pair of yarn socks in his life, but he understands his butiness and has reduced electioneering to a science.

TERRE HAUTE, IND., SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1878. Price Five Cents

THE SPIRITS!

MRS. STEWART S WORK

The Doings of Laura Morgan.

A 8PICY LETTER FROM A LADY INVESTIGATOR.

Week before lsst, In our personal items, we mentioned the fact that a gentleman and his wife, residents or the faraway Buenos Ayres, South America, were in tbe city several daya, attracted by the fame of Mrs. Stewart, the Pence's Hall medium. Tbey are oat on a year's pleasure travel, and will spend tbe summer in Europe. We had the pleasure of making their acquaintance, and found them people of culture and refinement. Soon after their arrival in thia country tbey became interested in spiritual manifestations, snd resolved to.spend some time in visiting the noted mediums throughout the oountry. At our request, tbe lsdy—(whose name and address will be given to sny one Interested)—promised to give Tbe Mail a statement in detsil of her impressions of the manifestations here. In fulfillment of that promise, we give below her letter. It is a little rough on our friends down on Second street, but while the "truth must be told, though the hesvens fall," we are told that "truth crushed to earth will risesgain." So here is

HBR IJBTTKR. Chicago, March 6.

Editor Saturday Evening Mall: We send this letter with the earnest request that you publish it, snd we will take sll tbe responsibility of its very decided assertions. We have no other motive in writing it than tbe desire to prevent others from being disappointed aud disgusted as we have been ourselves. We can imagine no baser, meaner fraud than that which imposes upon yearning and sorrowing hearts, which are seeking anxiously for some palpable proof that their loved, lost ones live •vith the "blessed immortals," snd sometimes reach out tender, trembling hands from that great nnknown, and assure tbem tbst the grsve hath no victory and death hatb no sting! No imposture seems so cruel as that which deceives our finest and tenderest sensibilities, and we tbink it tbe duty of every one wbo discovers such deceit to publish it abroad, withqut fear or favor.

We came west for the especisl purpose of investigating tbe truth of tbe manifestations of spirits, and c&me to Terre Haute for tbe especial purpose of seeing Mrs. Stewart, the medium. Some time ago we became very much interested in tbe subject of Spiritualiam, through some wonderful phenomena that we saw through that charming lady snd most reliable medium, Mrs. MaudE. Lord, and whatever doubts may assail us, or sadness damp our ardor when we see tbe deceit and fraud that seem inevitably connected with most mediums and tbeir manifestations, we always reserve gratitude and respect for, the goodness and truthjwesawin that lovely lady. As we bave been spending time snd money upon this subject lately, almost to tbe exclusion of business or pleasure, snd desire from the depths of our sot/Is te be convinced of the truth of this philosophy, that seems to us the most beautiful and satisfying of sll tbst bave been evolved from tbe mind of man, or inspired by the angels, we naturally have not investigated any of these mediums In alight and frivolous manner, nor brought to bear upon their manifestations sny bitter or sneering observation. Having seen some most marvelous materialisations through Mrs. Pickering, of Rochester, New Hampshire, snd fsiling, with repeated opportunity and the strictest and best conditions, to detect any fraud in connection with tbe manifestations, we were induced to make this journey west to see the same phenomena as given through Mrs. Stewart, of this city, Mr. Mott, of Memphis, Mo., and several other mediums of note In this part of tbe oountry. We came to Terre Saute with the intention of remaining a week st least, of observing quietly and calmly, and reserving our judgment nntll we had seen and heard fairly. We only found it necessary to remain five days. Upon arriving on Sanday afternoon, we

WHirr TO 8KB DR. PKKCK,

who hid tbe management of affairs for Mrs. Stewart, and found there was to be a seance in the evening—which we attendedhfith some thirty other inquirers after tru&. We went np a dark staircase, through a long dark hall, snd were ushered into a small dose room, furnished wiih plain wooden benches pieced before a small raised platform at one end of tbe room. Upon tills plat-* form was a cabinet about eight feet wide three feet deep and sight feet high, which hsd two doors opening inward and latching on tbe inside. In one of the doors was a small aperture covered by a black curtain. The windows of tbe room were covered by dark heavy cor tains that fell to tbe floor. There wss am ingenious arrangement of strings at­

tached to the gaslight, hanging near the seat of Dr. Pence, ao he oould lower or raise tbe light without leaving hia ssak In front of tbe Dootor, upon the platform, was a large music box that was usually wound np and, always went rigorously at tbe Intervals when no spirit was materialised and outside of the cabinet. The moat careful scrutiny of the cabinet disoerned nothing of a suspicious nature. There is a very high becked old fsshioned chair In the cabinet for the medium to sit upon, whose use we descried later on. Tbe performance commenced by the Doetor asking the audience not to leave their seats unless called to the cabinet, and to RKFRAIX FROM "PROMISCUOUS OOWVKRSAt. TIOH," as he phrssed it. He then lowered the light to a semi-darkness and as our «yea became accustomed to this change lowered It again, and continued to lower it before the appearanoe of every figure. This gradual lowering of the light was practiced every evening, and everything is done by Mrs. Stewart in less light tbsn by any other medium. Fortunate" lylhave very sharp'eyes and can soe better in a dim light than nine out of ten. I was not so much troubled ss were others who asked for abetter light without getting it. No one examined tbe medjuin before entering the cabinet, and as no one else spoke of it we did not exact It as we were sure they would be less guarded with us and more likely to expose themselves if we showed no suspicions. Only the dress of the medium seemed very bulky for her size snd the prevailing mode, and she had a large shawl over ber shoulders which oertalnly was not needed in that small room, beatsd by a large stove that nearly roasted us every night. However we never saw the medium without this bnlkiness as to apparel and this shawl over her shoulders. After she enters tbe cabinet she is'supposed to fsll into a deep sleep snd is there controlled by a young Indian girl called Minnie, who talks nonsense most of the time, ests candy and relieves the sombreness of the occasion by making you laugh while your respected grandmother prepares to step out of tbe cabinet and give you a band from the darkness of the tomb. You wait a long time before Minnie speaks and though the music box plays as loudly as possible you hear strange noises and movements in the cabinet and every night during every long and tedious interval that you wait for the appearance of a figure, you hear the same noises in the cabinet.

From the first night's quiet observation we lesrned a variety of things and every succeeding seance strengthened our conclusion and added new facts to prove that Mrs. Stewart was a shrewd woman and a most unmitigated humbug. The conversation of Minnie is very common snd coarse, though sometimes amusing. Every night it waa interlarded with references to the medium's inebriate husband and she and Dr. Pence seemed to take tbe greatest delight in relating his pecadillos for tbe benefit of tbe audience."

FIR8T FIGUR*,

that came out was a certain spirit Belle, that materialized nearly every evening for the benefit of the faithful. She was dreeied in a rather short dress, wore ber hsir flowing, had some white fleecy stuff over her arms, and looked exaotly like Mrs. Stewart. Minnie talks all the time till a figure comes out, and tben she never spesks again until the figure re-enters the cabinet. On no occasion did she speak while a figure wss out in sight of the audience. The spirit Belle stepped out into tbe very dim light, and then back again, tben shyly out and then back, and I noticed this coquettish shyness in sll the spirits of sll kinds and degrees. After overcoming this natural timidity, and getting Dr. Pence to lower tbe light still more, Belle came out and stood in tbe middle of tbe platform and told us tbst she would now show us tbe medium and herself at the same time. I said to my heart—Away! all base and doubting fears now are we to be convinced! After many attempts, Belle, who talked now In a very different voice from Minnie, succeeded in

opening

tbe door

snd showing a figure standing in tbe doorway, wbieh she claimed wss the medium. Tbe light wss very dim, indeed, but I succeeded in seeing that this figure was very angular and consider' ably taller than Mrs. Stewart wss when she went in, though she may have grown in tbe meantime, as tbe intervals were very long. The figure had on the dress and thawl that robed the medium when she went in, and waa supposed to have a bell in her band, to ring every few minutes to show she really was the live body of the medium, controlled by tbe spirit ef jlinnie, while Belle wss outside. New bad "the conditions" been better, and this figure gotten up so that it would not have appeared so much taller than tbe medium, and bad I not wea Jhe limp, empty sleeve of tbe figure *#ith the bell snd string attached, which the so-called Belle kept in her hand and pulled every now and tben when passing by the figure, with he? hand hidden, I should have been more impressed.

SIX DXFFJMKMT FIGURES

appeared that night all of which could bave been represented by the medium with slight ohsnge of olothing, and the Intervals were very long and tnere wss moving about in the cabinet before the figures sppeared. A oouple of spirits came and claimed us but as we did not recognize tbem they did not linger. Fanatics who were acsustomed to go thero went up aud enthuslsstioally greeted their friends. And without exception, every stranger that we saw at the several seances we attended, when called upon to reoogniza some figure, asked st onoe "Is this Aunt Mary or "Is this my brother Joe, or Jim Ac. In every instance the name first, and the figure nodding yes. For all the spirits nod and whisper, with the exoeption of Belle, and the medium's brother George, for Mrs. Stewart is too wise to try to change her voioe too many timee. At the close of the first performance Dr. Pence recommended Miss Laura Morgan as a reliable materialising medium who lived very near.his)plaoe, and we went away feeling that we had seen as cool and audacious a fraud Ja»' it had ever been our lot to witness. But firmly intending to see enough of.it to leave not a shadow of doubt in our minds as to its imposition. The next day at 3 o'olock we itent to see

MISS LAURA MORGAN,

as recommended by the Drfotor, and though I might possibly believe that the Dootor was the dupe of Mrs. Stewart, and not in collusion with ber deceptions, I cannot believe that he is deceived by the dirty Laura and give him credit for ordinary sense and observation. We found this medium for the manifeetatians of angels to earthly eyes below, living with her father and mother in the ^dirtiest shoemaker'% shop it was ever my misfortune to enter. The air was vile with the smell of leather and salt fish, and dirt. I thought—the Christ was born in a stable and 'probably its odors were net sweet—Truth waa found at the bottom of a well and it msy have been a very dirty well for aught I know and I will not let a few aromas not "from Arsby the blest" and a few people dressed in olotbes reeking with grease and filth prevent me from reaching out firmly and grasping barely after Truth, wherever found. So we went up stairs over tbe shop, accompanied by the fair Laura (a girl of about seventeen or eigbteen years of age) her father, her mother, and a pair of youthful twins. After a little conversation in the odorous fsmily room we were taken into a little baok room where tbe only window was sealed up and covered with black and tbe cabinet placed against it. This was about tbe same as Mrs. Stewart's only that it stood on legs and had no platform in front. There were besides a few chairs, a small table for tbe shaded lamp, and nothing more. No one was present but my husband, myself, and a fanatical Frenchman, and the seance commenced by the father tying a rope around the waist of the medium, who bad her sleeves taoked behind by a little pink thread. I noticed these sleeves and the pink thread particularly tben I imprinted tbe medium's featuree and the shape of her hands carefully upon my memory. Her father let us exsmlne In tbe cabinet but not tbe medium and tben he passed tbe ends of tbe rope tbst were around her waist through two holes In the side of tbe csbinet, and tied tbem on the outside. Then tbe door was shut and tbe mother of tbe medium began to sing the "Sweet By and By" in tbe most horrible and ear splittllng manner and continued to murder that and various other songs all through tbe performance. After a long delay a figure sppeared and cslled for me and we both went up and reoognized Miss Laura Morgan. Tbe disguise was so bare, tbe deceit ao transparent that we oould scarcely control our disgust snd contempt. The little idiot bad stuck ons black mustache and beard, and arranging them in tbe dark bad left a great bare space of ber girlish face between the two, and that with tbe fact that we could see tbe sleeves of ber soiled calioo dress—as sbe bsd only put on a rest with a shirt bosom fastened in made her a figure too abeurb for anything but ridicule. However, we controlled ourselves only saying quietly that we could not recognize the individual that claimed to be my cousin. Either through self confidence or carelessness tbe light was very, goodj aad we obtained long looks at the figure by not showing the slightest sign of our real feelings* Miss Laura attempts no elaborate personification. She only comes to tbe aperture fh tbe door, pulls aside the curtain, to show her face and body, and raps or nods for replies. In all her representations that afternoon we could bee the dirty calico dress the sleeves, or some part of it and her features were unmistakable every time. After the usual waiting between acts sbe called in ber natural voioe and tbe door was epened and she was found tl-sd In her chair but very different from tbe way she was tied in tbe first place, and it was explained to our ignorant minds that tbe controlling spirit bad tied her. We [Cbntinuod on Fourth Page\

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