Life — October 9, 1919 — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“LIP E* A Guide to Ghost Seeing LONG-FELT has been supplied by the publication of a “ Prac- tical Handbook” (E. P. Dutton & Co.), used in communicating with spirits. Not that) we have lacked literature on this inspiring theme. Lire itself has called at- tention to the extent and want to be (re variety of our informa- But the anonymous author of “How to Speak with the Dead” has process that it is within easy reach of all. A pad and utomatic writing, a tum- in case the ghostly visit- With this inexpensive equipment any man or woman may hold an “expectancy sitting” in the privacy of home—the hours between midnight and two A. M. being best adapted to this form of social intercourse. tion so simplified the a pencil for Der and a key, ant prefers to call in the dark. Larger gatherings are not, however, discountenanced. On the contrary, an “expectancy circle” which comes to- ether regularly and punctually, which provides a table for rapping, and seeks the cordial “co-operation” of the dead, may develop into a “ progressive and hold meet- .” which spirits will cheerfully tend. There are some weak mortals circle “committee who cherish a hope that when they are done with life they will also be done with committees ; but this is a lethargic frame of mind. Virile and vigorous spirits will bustle throughout eternity. “Wherever Macaulay may be, a British satirist, “I am sure he is talk- ing hard, or writing earnestly, for the instruction of his companions.” Every department of spiritism is carefully handled in this painstaking little manual, and much useful advice muses We are warned against ask- ing “test questions, which are, given. most part, a waste time, besides wing annoying to a well-bred spirit. Only when great historic figures ap- pear at a séance may we suspect—not a lying medium, but a jest on the part of the merry dead. “ There is probably Every Man His Own Medium some amusement to be extracted from personating Julius Czesar, Luther, Na- poleon, Disraeli or Gladstone, and in- both sitters to with pompous ducing mediums and accept reverence the utterances of ridiculous banaliti Heaven knows we do not begrudge the spirits their little jokes. The un- utterable futility of their existence (which may perhaps be our existence) lends a sting to death, and victory to the grave. ing thought that we may one day be dreariness and he paralyz- lifting table legs, rattling keys or writ- ing misspelled, unpunctuated humiliates our souls. letters The crux of the whole agitating business is expressed in the brief sentence which concludes the “Handbook”: “Let us speak to the dead, and let us add their knowl- and And to what end? edge counsel to the common Ward Politician: store.” So far neither knowledge nor counsel has been of much value to the living world. Saul was apparently the only man whom the dead ever enlight- ened. He at least got a plain answer to a plain question. lamentable decline in mediums, spirits and controls since the Witch of Endor died. There has been a Agnes Repplier, An Expensive Bulge AVING detected a walls of the gold vaults in Washington, the Treasury Department has asked Congress for one million five hundred thousand dol- lars to make repairs. Wouldn't it be cheaper to turn the job over to the bulge in the government profiteers who make a specialty of tak- ing the bulge out of pockethooks for nothing ? THIS HERE EDDICATIN’ THE MASSES 15 POOR STUFF. FIRST THING WE KNOW, THEY'LL BE VOTIN’ TO SUIT THEIRSELVES comicbooks.comm