THE "NOUKER'S" SPEAR.

323

gesture familiar only to the tribes of Kurdistan ; then, he suddenly held in his right hand the most curiouslooking weapon I ever saw. It was a spear with a staff that might have been a dozen feet in length (perhaps more, for the butt seemed to extend into the cabinet,) and a long steel head of peculiar shape, the base of which was surrounded with a ring of ostrich plumes. This weapon, Mme. de B. tells me, is always carried by the Khourdish horsemen, who acquire a wonderful dexterity in handling it. One instant before, his hand was empty; the next, he grasps this spear, with its glittering steel barb and its wavy plumes! Whence came it? From Chittenden township, master skeptic?

On the evening of the 20th, every one of the nine spirits appearing spoke to us; an unprecedented circumstance in my experience at Chittenden. Mrs. Pritchard's voice was clearer than usual; Maggie Brown managed to whisper a little; Mrs. Eddy spoke in very loud and clear tones, and advancing to the venerable and excellent Mr. Ralph, of Utica, N. Y., who sat upon the platform, knelt to him, kissed his hands and thanked him for his friendliness to her children-the scene being quite pathetic; old Mrs. Cleveland's mother, a very wrinkled, whitehaired dame, came to her daughter for the first time; a little child of a Mr. Whittier, of Massachusetts, a girl of about four years, I should judge, said "Papa! dear papa!" to him; and all seemed to conspire to assist the colloquial powers of the visitors from beyond the dark river.

I never saw Honto in better spirits than upon that evening. It seemed as if she could not do enough to rid herself of her superabundant vitality. Laying a

hand upon the banister-rail, she leaped clear over it to the room floor; and then resting a toe upon the platform edge, she leaped back again as lightly as an athlete. Running down the platform, and descending the steps, she caught Horatio by the hand and dragged him, unwilling, after her, up to the platform; then she caught at old Mrs. Cleveland, and placed her beside him; and then, off she went to the other end, for the amiable Mr. Ralph, and pulled him towards the others; and then all four, with joined hands, had a merry dance together.

If any fancy that Honto's face is but a mask covering William's features, let them consult Mr. Ralph, who has had opportunity enough to scan it, dear knows! Her affection for Aunty Cleveland seemed to overflow its bounds, for when the motherly old soul said how happy she felt to see her, the squaw threw her arms (this time materialized) about her and gave her a hearty hug. She materialized two of her shawls at once, pulling one after another out of the wall, and handing the two together to the unseen person within the cabinet. Then she made us a dozen more of all sizes; some of which appearing only as large as a towel, grew longer and wider as she walked back from Mrs. Cleveland, who held one end, until she had spun out of the air a fabric at least 16 feet in length and a yard and a half in width.

Old Mrs. Pritchard not only spoke to her son, but when that gentleman introduced her to Mr. Ralph, who sat beside him, she shook hands with him and addressed him some words of compliment. She did not even neglect Mrs. Cleveland, but called her over and greeted her also. With the three persons standing about her, she

MRS. PRITCHARD'S SPIRIT.

325 then turned to the audience, and told us that that was her son standing there, and she wanted us to know the fact. Mr. Ralph and Mrs. Cleveland, both of whom scrutinized her closely, told me that her face was that of an old lady, very much wrinkled, and that her son bears a strong resemblance to her.

They saw her lips move when she spoke, noticed the color of her eyes, the details of her dress and figure, and felt her hands bedewed with a cold sweat. These facts are noteworthy, inasmuch as William's moustache was well-grown at this time, and his face was rough with a week's beard stubble.

Old Mr. Brown came out strong that evening, and laid about him with his tongue in fine style, giving "reporters" in general, and myself, by innuendo, in particular, a famous dressing down. Mrs. Eaton, also, who had usually been quite friendly towards me, was viperish to a degree. I gave it up as a bad job, after that, concluding that it was useless to make any further attempts to put myself on good terms with the band directing these materializations, for the harder I tried to be kind to the mediums, and deferential and conciliatory to the spirits, the worse off I was. The Shaker Elder Evans seems to give a pretty clear idea of the situation, in his long communication to myself that will be found elsewhere. My influence must have stirred up the materializers, like a steamer's paddles the water.

T

CHAPTER XX.

THE DEAD ALIVE.

HE moon shone brightly the next evening, and everything out of doors favored a good circle.

The air was clear and cool; every undulation of the mountain crests came out sharply against the sapphire sky in the glorious light; the little stream in the distance threaded the meadows, like silver set in emeralds; and, far up the valley, a brilliant aurora-borealis shot its trembling spears of ruddy gold to the zenith, from behind the mountain barrier that shut in the horizon. A more peaceful scene I never viewed, and I turned from it with deep sadness to enter the gloomy circle-room, where, judging from what had been going on the few preceding nights, I had every reason to expect demonstrations of ill-temper and antagonism on the part of both the family and their spirit-guides.

Ten spirits appeared to us, among them a lady-a certain Mrs. Fullmer, who had only died the Friday previous. The relative to whom she came sat beside me, and was dreadfully agitated at the thought that one whom she had seen buried only a few days before, should so soon have