Legend
< Spiritualism in United States (continued from page 8-178) >
this being the instrument she generally operates with. To appreciate her powers it is necessary to state that the pianos in ordinary use in this country are the old-fashioned square instruments, and are generally very heavy, weighing, in some instances, as much as half a ton. At one of these instruments Mrs. Youngs will sit in full light, and almost as soon as she commences playing the instrument will rise and continue to beat time with the front legs. It will do the same if I play it and she stands beside me. I have seen her stand in front of the instrument, and extending her hands above it, not in contact, tell it to come up, which it would then do. If it made a noise in going down, she would tell it to get up again and to descend softly, which order would be obeyed. At every seance the instrument is weighted by as many persons as can be seated on it, when the instrument will beat time to the music with the greatest facility, the additional weight making not the slightest difference.
The late President Lincoln, it is stated, took considerable interest in these manifestations, and was accustomed to lie at length on the piano and let the spirits give him “a ride,” as he called it. It was at this time that he received, through a young girl who was associated with Mrs. Youngs, directions relative to emancipation, and through her lips, it is averred, the proclamation was dictated.
The late Professor Henry, of the Smithsonian Institute at "Washington, I understand, made a great experiment with Mrs. Youngs in order to discover the nature of the force that was exhibited. What conclusion he came to I do not know, but I believe he expressed his conviction that it was not electricity, inasmuch as it was not governed by the same laws.
I should very much like Mrs. Youngs to exhibit her powers before the Royal Society savans. They could not very well dispute the fact, whatever theory they might advance to account for it. If any of the Carpenter stamp were blind or bigoted enough to dispute the fact, the words of Galileo, “still it moves,” might be appropriately applied.
I intended to have made a few remarks upon the controversy that exists here on the subject of fraudulent mediumship, but must reserve them until another time.
Boston, U.S.A., March 7th.
Dia Nand Saraswati
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Editor's notes
- ↑ Dia Nand Saraswati by unknown author, Quadruple Sheet, New York, Sunday, February 2, 1879