with an account of my strange experience while visiting San Francisco, Cal., in company with Olé Bull, the violinist, in 1870.

"I cheerfully give the facts as they occurred, and it seems eminently proper that the incident which I am about to relate should occupy a place in your forthcoming book, when we recollect that the problem involved was solved through your marvellous mediumistic powers.

"My father-in-law, Mr. Samuel Parsons, formerly an old and revered citizen of Gloucester, Mass., and who passed to the life beyond in 1865, had for many years been noted for his remarkable prophecies as to the coming of future events, as well as a strict regard for honesty and truth. We frequently talked of the change called death, and as we were both somewhat materialistic in our views as to a future state of existence, we mutually agreed that the one who should be first called to pay the debt of nature, would, if there was a possibility of Spirit return, with sufficient power to tangibly manifest his presence, surely do so; and in order that there could be no mistaking the individual identity, he would seize the one still in earth-life by the hair of his head and forcibly pull him from his bed to the floor.

"Laughable, and even ridiculous, as it may seem, this promise was at various times renewed, and frequently in the presence of mutual friends, who are still living. This agreement was made as a sort of harmless joke, neither Mr. Parsons nor myself having, up to this time, investigated the philosophy of Modern Spiritualism in any form.

"During my visit to San Francisco, Cal., while managing the Olé Bull Concert Combination,' I had occasion to employ a number of persons, one of whom, having been proved glaringly dishonest, I was obliged to discharge.

"This individual, not being satisfied with my leniency

in letting him off without legal punishment, vowed vengeance upon me, saying to several persons that I should 'never leave California alive! As 'barking dogs seldom bite,' I paid little attention to his threats. One evening, after the conclusion of our concert, I was accompanied to my hotel by J. Heneage Carter, Esq., an old-time friend, and the originator of the once famous Carter Zouave Troupe.' After depositing the receipts of the evening with Mr. Ridgeway, clerk of the Lick House,' where our company were stopping, I retired to my room with my friend Carter. A brief chat ensued, no allusion whatever being made as to the threats of the discharged employee. Mr. Carter bade me a cheerful good-night and took his departure. I had no special anxiety upon my mind, had eaten no hearty supper, taken no beverage in the shape of wine or liquor of any description; in fact, I have scrupulously avoided dissipation in any form up to the present moment of my life; consequently there was nothing in my stomach calculated to induce nightmare or unpleasant dreams.

"Upon retiring I immediately fell into a tranquil sleep, from which I was unceremoniously awakened, without the slightest warning, by being suddenly and vigorously grasped, apparently by a strong hand, by the hair of my head and jerked with tremendous force from my bed, landing sprawling upon the floor. Immediately gaining my feet, I prepared to face a demon in the flesh of some sort, and groped about the room to find a friendly chair with which to defend myself, if need be. No further demonstration being made, however, I proceeded to strike a light, nor for a moment did I lose my self-control, although constantly expecting to be attacked by some unseen foe. Upon carefully examining my room there was not the slightest sign of any being, human or otherwise, with

the exception of myself. Everything was still and as usual. I looked at my watch and found the time to be 5.40 A.M. My scalp smarted intensely, as it naturally would after such harsh treatment, and had I been near an Indian camp I could readily have believed that I had lost that important apppendage, and without any great stretch of the imagination either.

"As there is no effect without a cause, and vice versa, I soon seated myself and endeavored to solve the meaning of the remarkable phenomenon just experienced. In a moment a terrible thought flashed upon my mind. Perhaps some member of my family or near relative had died suddenly. Hastily making my toilet I proceeded to the nearest telegraph station and impatiently awaited the arrival of the operator. My despatch was directed to my sister in New York, with whom my family were stopping at the time, and simply read, 'How are you all? Answer?' The reply,' All well,' caused me to breathe more freely, but the mystery was yet unexplained. I told the story to my friend Olé Bull, who became intensely interested, and often during our stay in California expressed a great deal of solicitude in the matter.

"I would here state en passant, that the agreement made by my wife's father and myself did not recur to my mind. To be sure, Mr. Parsons had been dead more than five years, yet it seems to me quite remarkable that our old compact had not at once presented itself; but I felt convinced that this singular demonstration meant something. Upon my return to New York I visited you in company with Olé Bull, and you kindly gave us a private sitting. The alphabet being called for, the following was rapped out: John, the man whom you discharged in San Francisco, was on the veranda of the hotel, and determined to execute his terrible threat. I thought it a good time to

redeem my promise, and pulled you out of bed by your hair. I was obliged to do this roughly in order to thoroughly awaken you.-SAMUEL PARSONS.'

"With great respect I am

"Your sincere friend,

"BEVERLY, ESSEX COUNTY, MASS."

"J. JAY WATSON.

CHAPTER XXIX.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON MEDIUMSHIP.

MYSTERIES OF MEDIUMSHIP-TO PROVE THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL-PASSIVITY AND HARMONY AT SÉANCES-HONEST AND CANDID SCEPTICISM-IMAGINARY AND SELF-INDUCED MEDIUMSHIP-DECEPTIVE COMMUNICATIONS - CAUTIONS- RAPPINGSSPIRITS MADE VISIBLE-BEWARE OF FRAUDULENT MEDIUMS-NOT ALL SPIRITS RELIABLE-CABINETS.

MEDIUMSHIP is a great mystery. Some persons are found to possess the gift (often from ancestral derivation, as in the case of the "second-sight" in the Scotch Highlands), while others are totally devoid of it. There are also many varieties both in the forms and phases of it, and in the degrees in which different persons possess the strange-I may say, abnormal-gift. There seem to be also great variations of degree in which it is possessed by different persons, constituting differences of mediumistic power.

I am satisfied that there are few families in which some one or other of its members does not possess it, at least in latent condition, more or less developed or undeveloped; and that, if they will sit patiently and passively (without anxiety or eagerness) round a table, without being discouraged and exhausted of patience by weeks or even months of failure, the manifestations will generally at last come, whether in the form of rappings, or that of tilting of the table, or in other phenomena inexplicable on the ground of the ordinary laws of physical nature, and compelling the recognition of the presence of extra-natural beings or forces-i.e., "Spirits "-as the only explanation of the manifest and incontestable facts.