But
if this old ghost be fading away in what we regard as the dawn of a
better day, we may console ourselves by thinking that perhaps, after all,
we are not so _much_ wiser than our ancestors. The rappings, the trance
mediums, the visions of hands without bodies, the sounding of musical
instruments without visible fingers, the miraculous inscriptions on the
naked flesh, the enlivenment of furniture,--we have invented none of
them, they are all heirlooms. There is surely room for yet another
schoolmaster, when a score of seers advertise themselves in Boston
newspapers. And if the metaphysicians can never rest till they have taken
their watch to pieces and have arrived at a happy positivism as to its
structure, though at the risk of bringing it to a no-go, we may be sure
that the majority will always take more satisfaction in seeing its hands
mysteriously move on, even if they should err a little as to the precise
time of day established by the astronomical observatories.
Footnotes:
[98] Salem Witchcraft, with an Account of Salem Village, and a
History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects. By Charles W.
Upham. Boston: Wiggin and Lunt. 1867. 2 vols.
Ioannis Wieri de praestigiis daemonum, et incantationibus ac
veneficiis libri sex, postrema editione sexta aucti et recogniti.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216