Judge, 1920-02-07 · page 5 of 36
Judge — February 7, 1920 — page 5: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis This page contains a letter titled "To a Spiritualist," part of a series called "Letters to The New Rulers of the World" by Stephen Leacock. The accompanying illustration, captioned "The Suburbanite's Boots Also Can Be Used as Snow-shoes in a Blizzard," shows someone's oversized boots being used in snow. The satire appears to target spiritualism—a popular early 20th-century movement claiming contact with the dead. Leacock's letter sarcastically congratulates spiritualists on their "splendid work" while describing séance experiments involving table-lifting and supernatural phenomena. The joke seems to mock both spiritualism's earnest believers and the ridiculous, easily-explained "supernatural" occurrences (tables moving, people climbing walls) that spiritualists attributed to otherworldly forces, suggesting they're gullible or deluded.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Vrawe by NT. Mammen ‘Tne Suspursanite’s Boots Aiso Can Br Usep as SNow-snors in a Buizzarp! To a Spiritualist New Rulers of the World Leacock “ Behind th the Letters to The By onsense Novels,” Sixth ol STEPHEN Dear Friend and Brother in the Darkness SENT you last week a thought wave or move- ment of the ether. But it has apparently not 1 you. [willed it in your direction and it semed at the time to be moving towards you with gratifying rapidity. But I fear that it has gone clean past you. [am not, however, surprised or discouraged at this. In the little spiritualistic circle to which I belong we have already learned to take the f We sent last week a thought wave at Senator Lodge, but we have no reason to think that it hit him. The week before we had sent one, with especial force, at Mr. Gompers, and there is no sign that it struck him. Our medium, Miss Mutt, tells as that very often a thought wave becomes supercharged and loses touch with the etherial vibrations, and we all think this very likely. So I am not discouraged that my little message of congratulation and suggestion has gone astra If I only had you near me I could get the message into you in a moment by putting the tips of my fingers on your cranium and willing it into you But as I cannot do that I hope you will not mind if I have recourse to pen and ink. What I want to say to you first of all is to congratu- reache ires with successes. Bey ond,” ete on the splendid work that you have been Juring the last few years ) an things were getting into a dreadful condition. Belief in everything seemed to be dying out. All idea of a material hell had had to be abandoned and there seemed nothing left. But now all that has been completely changed and I am sure that the little circle to which I belong is only one among thousands that are bringing hope and light to a world that was growing dark. I am sure you will be glad to learn that in our little circle our experiments have been singularly successful. We began in the very simplest way, because Miss Mutt, our medium, said that it was better to begin with simple things so as to find out whether our members offered an easy mark to the ether waves sent from the other side. But they did. As our first experiment we all sat around a table with our fingers just barely touching it. We all had our eyes bandaged except Miss Mutt and we put the light out in the room to avoid the cross vibra- tions. We were all delighted to find that the table at once began lifting its legs in the air and making raps on the floor, and presently it ran right round the room and then climbed up the wall. Miss Mutt had to coax late you doing in the world your recent activities be u comicbooks.com