Spiritual vampirism
page: (TitlePage) [View Page (TitlePage) ]YIEG 'S CABINET SPIRITUAL VAMPIRE THE HISTORY op ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN 95 AND 3I~r friruh of tIrr "3%tm tigJ. BY C W. WEBBER AUTHOR OF OQLD HIKS THE GUIDE," "CHARLES WINTERFIELD PAPERS," "THE HUNTErNATU TALES OF THE SOUTHERN BORDER " ETC. A heavy, bell-like paleness loads her cheeks, Unknown to a clear heaven. Jo0N MARSTON. 0 vulturewitch, hat never heard of mercy? ENDYMION. P HIL ADE LP HIA: C LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & Co. 1853. t SM: BRAIBT' page: 0-3[View Page 0-3] Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by LIPPINCOTT, GRAMBO & CO., in the -Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BY J. PAGAN. T. K. AND P. G. COLLINS, PRINTERS. A INTRODUCTION. ON page 392 of the concluding sketch of.a late series, the "Tales of the Southern Border," occurs the following pas- sage:- "~THE ESCRITOIRE. "THE author, being a resident of New York during the period of the leading incidents narrated; as occurring in that city, had formed the acquaintance of the principal personage. Himself a Southerner, he had, from the natural affinities of origin, inev- itably been attracted toward Carter. The intercourse between them, at first reserved,,chad imperceptibly warmed into a degree of, intimacy, which, however, had by no means been sucb as to render him at all- cognisant. beyond the merest generalities, of the progress of his, private -affiairs. He was not a little surprised, therefore, at finding, one day, an elegant escritoire ,r cabinet, of dark, rich wood, heavily banded;in. the old-fashioned style with silver, which ha been. place4Y in his absence, on the .table of his sanctum.. A-note, in a sealed envelope, lay upon it. He instantly recognised the handwriting of the address as that of Mr. Carter, and broke the seal. (3) f~ q-, . %'i .i X1r 7~i sak . _ a ^', 4 _ page: 4-5[View Page 4-5] 4 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. "It was evidently written in great haste, but without any siga of trepidation. It ran thus.:- "MY DEAR FRIEND : "I have no time for explanations, as I am in the midst of hurried preparations for an unexpected yacht-voyage -upon wh Iset sail in a few'minutes. I send you an escritoire, which was left in my charge by a highly valued friend. He was an extraordinary man; and its contents will be, I doubt not, of great value to the world. "It was ,given me, with the injunction that it should not be opened until six months after his death. The six months were up some weeks since, but I have lately been too much otherwise absorbed to think of making use of the privilege of the key. I now therefore transfer to you this bequest in full, with the proviso that you will not open it for six months. - If at the end of that time I have not been heard from, please open, and with- out reserve make what use of it your excellent sense may justify' Please take charge of whatever correspondence may arrive to my address for the same length of time, at the expiration of which you will also please to consider yourself as my ex- ecutor-open my correspondence and proceed as .you may think best. Pardon this unceremonious intrusion of responsi- bilities upon an intimacy, the terms of which I hardly feel would strictly justify me ; but the plea that I know no one else whom I can trust, and have no time for further explanation, gill I am, sure justify me in the eyes of a brother Southron. "Yours truly, "tFRANK CARTER. INTRODUCTION. 6 "Six months having elapsed, and still no news of my singular friend Carter, the fulfilment, of the important duties of executor, thus unexpectedly devolved upon him, were deferred by the narrator as long as his sense of duty would possibly admit. At last, when longer delay would have seemed to assume almost the aspect of criminality, the duty of opening the cabinet was unwillingly entered upon." On my next meeting with my friend Carter, who proved still to be in the land of the living, I spoke to him of the cabinet and its remarkable contents, which had so unexpectedly been left in my charge ; offering to resign to him my trusteeship. To this, however, he would by no means consent, but continued to insist, as in his original letter, that I should without reserve make what use of it my sense of propriety might dictate. I was finally overruled into undertaking the mere arrangement and editorship of its contents-for the revelations there made are in many. respects so strangely horrifying and unusual, that I fear the world will be, little disposed to pardon my agency in giving them publicity. However, as I believe them to be, in every respect, genuine life-experiences, I have determined to make the venture, come what will of it.. We shall therefore give, as proper introduction to the singular' narrative which we have selected from beneath the blood-stained seals of The cabinet it has been our fate to open, the following singular paper, which we -found lying separately above the folds of the MS. which constitutes the History of Etherial Softdown. 1* page: 6-7[View Page 6-7] 6 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. THE PIIILOSOPHY OF MESMERIC IMPOSITION. TO E READ BY PHILOSOPHERS ONLY.* THE existence of what may be called the nervous or odic luiid--the sympathetic element-has been partially known to all ages. The knowledge of this powerful secret, in moving and controlling mankind, has been professionally and almost exclu- sively confined to the adepts of all sects, religions, and periods; though it has occasionally, in various ways, leaked out of the penetralia, principally through its forms, accompanied with little or no apprehension. of their vital - meaning. It is in this way that a series of scientific"phenomena, the discovery of which probably originated with a remote priestcraft, and had been made to subserve exclusive' ends, has gradually been fragmented among the people, and in many imperfect, ignorant, and vitiated forms has now become the comnion property of science. When it is understood that this nervous fluid is nothing more nor less than that force-whether electrical, magnetic, odic, or otherwise named-- which, lubricating the nervous system in man,- produces all vital phenormena -is, in a word, the vital force -the active principle of life -it will not be difficult to comprehend' how important a knowledge of its laws may be rendered to even those relations of life not exclusively physical. Mesmer promulgated, under his own name, as a new and Lstounding discovery in science, something of the sympathetic laws to which this nervous or Odic fluid is- subject, and by * The Story begins at Chapter I.-En. which the vital 'and spiritual relations of man to the external universe are in a great measure modified, and even controlled. This was no discovery of his, but had been the mainly exclusive secret of the ancient priesthood; employed alike in the ceremonies. of the novitiate in the Thibetian temples of Buddha, in the Egyptian Initiation, and in Grecian Pythisin. But, the particular reason why his announcements caused such prodigious excitement, in 1784, .as to run all Paris mad, even including the court of the wary Louis XVL, and stillbcontinue to excite and madden mankind, is, that, as the sympathetic ecstacies and furors, superinduced by the mummeries of :his famous "vat," were- called by a-new name, the people failed to recognise them, although they had been famiiarised with, and even acting habitually under their influence, while surrounded by accessories of, a more" sacred character. The immediate success, of Mesmer's experiments amazed men. He, in fact, little knew what he was doing himself; the effects he, under- stood how to produce, because accident had furnished him with the formulas. Having gone through these, which, though most grotesque and preposterous, later experience has shown, really included all the "passes" and other conditions necessary to establish sympathy through the nervous fluid with the victims of his delusion, he proceeded to produce -.exhibitions the most extraordinary the world ever saw, except in the hideous and frantic orgies of some wild, barbaric creed, and the parallels- to which, in this country, are to be found in the shrieks and bel- lowings of a fanatic camp-meeting, Miller ascension.tent, Mor- mon rite, -or hard-cider political mass-meeting. Beginning with the, postulate that "Nature abhors a vacuum" itf does not seem difficult. to understand something, at least, of INTRODUCTION: 7 page: 8-9[View Page 8-9] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. the-rationale- of this sympathetic influence of one man over another. The laws of the 'distribution of this Odic force seem to bear a somewhat general affinity to those of electricity. The surcharged cloud discharges its superfluous fluid into the cloud more negatively charged. The man holding a. superfluous amount of vital or-Odic force, can - dismiss a portion. of this- along the course of its properxlightning-rods, or conveyers,.the nerves:-into- the organisation -of -a being more negatively charged, or, in other words, of a weaker man. As electricity can only.. act upon inert matter through its proper media, the elements, so the Odic fluid can only-- act upon organised matter normally throughits proemedium, the nerves, of vitality. mmu i of the odic fluid, by'which. sympathy be- tween'the two beings has been established, can be, to a certain degree, .regulated -.and controlled by manipultioenswhich bring the thur~bs and fingers of the hand, ,which are properly Odic poles, in contact with certain great nerves, or centres of nerves, alongwhiicli"idifluenc can be readilyommuncated. These manipulations, the vital and original meanings of which these lfesmer agitators have betrayed, maybe -traced vexjcilearly through the most important ceremonies of.religion, and the secret orders of fraternisation in the world. From this point of view, how significant the "la ing-on.of hands" in ordination, thet"joinu ofhands" in the marriage ceremony &c. Here let us. remark, that we would'no more be understood as accusing .a Christian' Priesthood, in modern times, of having made, an, improper use,, either inside or out of their- profession, of 'the manipulations mentioned above, than we would think of accusing them of having, as a class, any special knowledge of their significance beyond that of ceremonial forms, set down in IN R0I)UOilN., the discipline. It has been to the Heathen Priesthood that.we have consistently attributed a knowledge of tie ps Toolical mepanigHofthese. ceremonials, which have descended through the Hebrew and Christian churcheswasvowed detfo a significance, and intended; in their arbitrary exaction, as, toa certain degree, ordained tests of Christian faith and obedience.- But it isby no, means indispensable to tLe exhibition of the Odie phenomena, that the processes of manipulation should have been literally gone through with in all cases--nor, indeed, in the majority even--for some of the most apparently inexpli- cable and extraordinary of them all are brought about without such intervention. Take, as comparatively "modern instances," such effects as those produced by-the preaching of Peter the Hermit, when not only vast armies of men were moved like flights of locusts toward the Desert,' on the breeze of' his fiery breath, to disappear,.too, as they, within its bosom, and never be heard from again, but even great armies of children 'rushed in migratory hordes to the sea-ports, to ship for the Holy Land! --and those produced by the crusade of Father Mathewasist intemperance, in our time, when, all Ireland- lay wailing at his feet. These great jurors were precisely -identical with those already enumerated, so tar as the -sympathetic or motive power went. So with the story of the rise of Mahbmet, Joe Smith, -Miller; and all such agitators.- They are usually men of pro- digious vital power, and of course surcharged with the Odic fluid, who begin these great movements; and they possess, be- side, vast patience and endurance.- They begin by filling the individuals in immediate contact with them, as 1Vahomet did his own family, with the superfluity of the Odic force in them' selves, and having thus obtained .a single medium by this imme- Pf f,{ B w page: 10-11[View Page 10-11] 10 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. diate contact-which, although it may not imply the formal )Manipukations with preconceived design;implies the accidental equivalents .-the circle gradually enlarges- through each fresh accession, in much the same way that it began, until, after a few patient years of unshaken endurance, the apostle finds himself -surrounded by thousands and thousands of human beings, whose volition is swayed through this Odic force -this sympa- thetic medium by his own central, resolute, and self-poised will, as if they were bat one man. His moveless volition has been, from the beginning, the base and axis of the vast sympa- thetic movement going on around him, and upon he single strength of the Odic - force within him, all depends, until, through- a thorough organisation of ceremonial laws and obser- rances, the system of which he was the vital centre assumes a corporate existence, and can stand alone. This is about the method in which all such organizations, radiating from the one man power or centre, widen their clues to an extreme circumference, until the force of the pebble'thrown into the, great lake is'exhausted. So it is with all sympathetic excitements-from the Dancing Dervishes, the Shaking Quakers, or the Barking-Brothers, to the vast Empire of France, led fren- zied over the world in the willio'-the-wisp chase of univer- sal sovereignty, by the fantastic will ,of a 'Napoleon. These are some of the general phenomena of sympathy, and there are many quite as extraordinary, if not as broad in what are called atmospheric Or epidemic conditions, which go'to prove the uni- versality of this sympathetic law.- The distinctions between Od and Heat, Od and Electricity, as well as Od and Magnetism, have been so c jearl demon- Vated by the investigations of Baron Reichenbach as to leave, INTRODUCTION.' at present no. choice between. the terms. Od expresses that force which, differing in many essential properties from the other two, can alone through its phenomena be recondiled.with what we knowof the Sympathetic or Nervous .Fluid.. It is therefore used as a synonym of this mysterious agency, and as conveying a far higher definition - and significance than either- the -term Electricity or Mesmerism. The 'worst and the best that the agitation, begun by Mesmer has accomplished, is, to have stripped old Necromancy of its mysterious spells, by revealing something of the rationale of them, While at the same time, in unveiling its. processes to the sharp eyes of modern knaves, they have been enabled to appro- priate and practise them again with even more than the old success, under the new christening of "scientific experiment.", It is, I think, easily enough shown, bya minute and circum- stantial comparison of the cotemporary history of the dark age of black art ascendancy in Europe, which was literally the- dark age of chivalry, with that of Cotton Mather witch-burning en- lightenment in New England, that the. arts practised by the accused in both these countries, and at all other such pe- riods in all other countries, were nearly identical with each other; and those familiarised to us through the doings of mes- meric manipulation, revelation, clairvoyance, spiritual knockings, &c., &c. are generally the very same, though assuming slight shades of difference, indicating some progressive development. A partial knowledge of psychological laws, which was formerly, and with great plausibility, considered altogether too dangerous pabulum for the vulgar mind, has been sown broadcast, by the empiricism of this mesmeric movement, the principal oracles and expounders of which have been clearly as ignorant of the page: 12-13[View Page 12-13] 12 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. causes with 'which they agitated, as ever wrinkled crone of peat- smoked hovel was of the true -laws, of that occult palmistry, through the practice, or vague traditions of which, she finally prophesied herself into the martyrdom of- the " red-hot plough. shares," or the warm resting-place of the pot of boiling pitch. They only know that' certain formulas produce certain results, and as they are blundering entirely in the dark, they mix those- which have a basis in science with the crude and meaningless forms which ignorance, with its abject cunning, easy supplies. From such amalgamations have arisen the mummeries of conju- ration inwhatever form,,and by the imprudent use of which, the credulous, simple and superstitious, are so easily "-fright- ened from their propriety," and thus made easy victims of more dangerous arts. But it is a study of the fearful uses which have been made by the evil-disposed, of this partial knowledge of the laws of rela- tion of soul to the body, that is more-interesting now than these olden disguises of the same evil in more helpless forms; as now,. through the mesmeric agitation, it has really attained ;to some gleam of causes-has now something of scientific illumination to steady and give direction to its reckless and deadly- aim. In the radius of its hurtful circumference, the vicious power ofthe witch, fortune-teller or conjuror, was as much more circum- scribed than that of the semi-scientific charlatan of clairvoyance, as the vision of the mole is-less than that of the viper, which, at least, 'looks out into the sunshine though every cloud may impede its malignant gaze. The' relative degrees in which-the Odic or sympathetic fluid, may be found exhibited in the different individuals of our race, have been previously remarked in general terms. In the sexes, INTRODUOTION.-,.13 we most usuaJly find the.positive pole i1 man, who gives out, and the negative in woman, who receives and absorbs from him, the dispenser.. 'Though this be the general rule so far as the sexes.are concerned,.it is by no- means the universal rule for the race---since there are among men but few positive poles,- or fwed °ceutres of Odic radiation; and where such are found, they are observed to possess much of what we commonly call "influ- ence" with or upon others. All the. parties; therefore, within the circle of thissympathetic radiation, or" magnetic attraction," as it is popularly termed, must necessarily.'be,-relatively to .this positive pole,negative poles, without regard to sex--while each of these comparatively negative poles may in turn be a positive pole, or Odic centre, to those below or of weaker nature than himself. Those men who have been known to-allhumanity as prophets, poets, law-givers, discoverers, reformers, &c., are, and have been, what we mean by. positive Odic poles; for -while they have seemed.to'stand in immediate an4 direct communion with the spiritual source of all wisdom,they have at the same time given out the impulse thus granted, to the people byewhom they are surrounded, thus acting as the chosen media "of divine reve lation, and from the cloudy summits of Sinais handing down the tables of the law to all the tribes. Now there-is a mighty, radiation of the Odic force from these men, through which; the love, wisdom, or rather will in or sent through them -s nade operative upon the great masses of makind; and' this same radiatiii,in the greater.or less de- grees, is found emanating from a-thousand different sources. at the same time, affecting man for evil as well as for good ,. for, when we comprehend that this Odic or sympathetic forces the _sole mfedimi' f communiation'with 'the spiritual .and invisible page: 14-15[View Page 14-15] I '4: SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. world; as well -as with the }visible and material world, it cn then be easily understood howwhat are -called " evil ' and "good 'spirits''-hould through it affect mankind. This will be fully'illustrated when we observe the common condi- tions of health anid disuse: Health is 'good and disease is evil; andithese are the two-eternally antagonisti chemical forces inethe universe. Health is that normal condition of the body which enablestit to-resist evil and maintain the proper balance of'the spiritual anid material' elements. - Disease is that abnor- mal condition of.the 'body in which'the integrity of the spiritual .nd organic functions has been destroyed 'through, the sympa- thetic fthedia by 'evil, and good overcome.- - In eitiier-case, the balance is. destroyed, and the immediate consequence may be, in'the one, sudden paroxysms of fearful insanity,-or in the other, sudden -death,. asin common apoplexy. 'Thus the popular fallacy, that all 'things having a -source in the spiritual, oa-rather the invisible must of necessity be good, is in a very sixnple wa exposed. We see there may be what are called eyt, as -*ell'as 'good spirits,:which hold coinmunion with us; and the safest -and only true general rule with regard to such matters is,-that, while the good spirits are those propitious chemicalforees which make themselves known to us in love, and joy, and peace, through the unbounded happiness of the normal conditions'. of health, the evil spirits are those-'vicious chemical forces, morbid delusions, and malign -revelations, which are made known to us through all other -diseased conditions as well as that of Olairvoyance.. Reniember that no such being has yet beenkJnown throughout the wholerange.of Mesmeric experiment as a healthy Clairvoyant, ora "subject"'who has attained to the super-eminence of Clairvoyance, who was not what they fanci- fl TROITfJCTI'ON. 15 fully term:"-delicate"-'that is, liable' to those diseases which are- well known to. supervene upon nervous weakriess, exhaus- tion,' or emasculation.' This ,condition of nervous' exhaustion renders them, of course,'the very-negation of the negative pole of sympathy, and the first. person approaching thenwho pos sesses the ordinary Odic conditions of health, is clutched hold of by their famine-struck vitality, in the agonised plei- for life! life! "Give !, give!" is still the' insatiable cry. -They must have the Odic fluid restored,'and that, in takiu from our enoughh" they exhaust and undermine the holy purposes of your life to make up that deficit in their own -which' loathsonie' ice has brought about-the "hideous selfishness of weakness"_rather rejoices. ,The syinpathetic rapporte beingonce established they can at least, through :this-.dangerous medium, live- in - 'the integrities of your life, and enjoy, both physically and irit-J ualry, a ""r o" ' ah slly, a rintitoiyaltwhichwhile' it reflects thepre- vailing phenomena of Tyour own mind and spiritual being,;has, in addition1 some approximation even to the physical exaltationf of your higher health. These human vampires ormsponges raay be, therefore, as well absorbtiitr'espiitual as animal-vitality. Their parsitical roots riay. strike, iito the very ceitres-of _life, and 'their hungry suckers remorselessly draw away-the virilityof manho6d -or 'the .spiritual strength. They seem to be mainly' divided into two classes, one off which, born,:seemingly, with but-a rudimentary soul, attains to its apparent spiritual though merely: mental development,by absorption of the spiritual life in 'others, through the Odin medium. ,Another class, 'born with -a 'predominating - spiritual .ity based upon a- feeble physique,: is ravenous of ,animal a ,r 'V page: 16-17[View Page 16-17] 10 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. strength, and can only liveby its sympathetic absorption of the sanmed;from. 'others, through the same per'ading medium.' Of thetto, the first is the evil type;'for, born in the-gross sphere of tb. passio is with a vigorous orgnsation,'but family ilu- iimated at the beginig with.that golden light of love which Is spiritual life, the' fierce half-monkey being is propelled 'on- wards, and even'upwards, by the basest of the purely animal instincts,"appetites, and lusts. If 'such beings strive towards the light of the harmonious and the beautiful, it is' not because they yearn' for either the holylor the good, but because it lends a lurid charm to appetite and glorifies a lust. The other 'character, in whom the spiritual predominates, whether from., a natal inequality, as is'very frequently the case, or froin the sheer exhaustion of the physical powers, through emasculating vices, is yet, in itself, good, so far as its morbid conditions lave it an unaccountable being; but, as, its 'evela- tions and utterings depend 'entirely upon -the Odic characters' apd will of those from whovit.s strength may be derived, it can only be regarded,.whether used for evil or good,: as a rmedifam. This character is the common Clairvoyant, to whom we are indebted for those, strangely-mingled gleams of remote truth, with errors the most grave and injurious, .which have so tended to confuse the judgment of mankind in= regard to the pheno. mena of Clairvoyance.' Such persons can be. made as readily the -nedium. of,-any' falsehood which the knavish passions of their "Mesmerisers "'may' dictate,'as 'they' 'can 'be caused to ar notnep, by a will as strong, but 'soul 'more 'pure' theydiscon- netted tnyths of science and of history, which have' ,so sur- prised the ' orld in what are called the "'Revelations" of 'Andrew- Jackson Davis. 'This man belongs -to our second INTRODUCTION.. class, and is purely " a medium-" .of the sympathetic ~fluid. His organisation is most sensibly sympathetic and -delicately responsive,.but. is too .feeble to balance.his spiritual develop- ment. His' case stands, therefore, as the most remarkable modern instance of what the- ancients termed "atiination; but as has heen the case with other false prophets, his "gifts" have proved of no value, except to knaves. 'He'das undoubt. edly practised upon "by a choice set of such characters; and, now that he has found in marriage a sympathetic restoration, through the physical,.of its needed balance ,with the spiritual, he has lost his "lying gift" of prophecy. We have examined this man carefully, and are convinced that the whole{-mystery of his revelations' and character may' be contained in a nut-shell. He is to the sphere of intellectual and spiritual sympathy, and in a lower sense, precisely -an analogous case with that of Mozart, in the sphere of the musical and spiritual. When the great soul of humanity has been long say one generation-in travail with a great thought in art, science, music, or mechanics, there-is sure to be somebody born in the succeeding generation who is physically, mentally, and spiritually, the impersonation and' embodiment of this thought, of which the age 'is in labor, and who must of necessity be- come, solely and singly, the expression and embodiment thereof. Thus Mozart,'the infant prodigy in music; who at five years old was the pet of monarchs and the miracle of his age, continued, with no signs of precociousness, a steady and-consistent' devel- opment, which showed him to be indeed the embodimentof the musical inspirations of his age. His' revelations in music were just. as prodigious as even the rabid worshippers of the Davis 2* page: 18-19[View Page 18-19] 18 e.-SRITU4L VAMPIRISM. revelations would imagine thoseto be ;yet there are some most essential differences between-the.results of the two. Dpvis, born amidst the travail. of:this new Mesmieric agita- tion, became the most sensitive organ of the -sympathetic -fluid- in intellect, as the other had been in music ; but asj in the case of Mozart, the -exciting cause came from Nature, and consti- tuted" her .purest and .most sacred inspirations, so the in- spiration of Davis ,came from man, with all his ,inperfect - tions iand=subjective tendencies: The sequel,has been, the inspirations of Mozart are considered now by mankind as only second to the f Divine, while those- of Davis are justly regarded as morbid; fragmentary, incomplete, and worthless. The organisation of Mozart was equally sympathetic with that of Davis but it was of that healthy tone -which could-only respond to nature and the natural; while the organisation of -Davis-belongs to that mich inferior type, whichfrom its mor- bid and unbalanced conditions, can respond only to the human as"the representative of nature. Such persons receive nothing direct from nature, but only through its representative, man:. . It would seem as if thle world were absolutely divided into two elapses--the radiating and the absorbing; the first receiving from nature, and the second from ,man. In the first, are. the holy brotherhood of prophets and the poets, an'd in the, second, the poor slaves of sympathy-the knaves and fools'--the impos- tors who play upon its, well-known laws, and, deceiving them- selves aswell as-others, may well be said to'know not what they4do." We. are- convinced that no man, who has kept -himself is, formed of the psychological history and progress of his race,' can by any meanis fail to recognise- at once, in the -pretended INTRODU0TION. 19 " Revelations"' of Davis, the -mere disjecta mem- aof thesys* teams so extensively promulgated by Fourier nd wdenborg. When you come to compare this fact -itl- the additional one, that Davis, 'during the whole period of his utteringss," was surrounded by groups, consisting. of the disciples of Fourier and Swedenborg; .as, for instance, the leading Fourierite of America was, for:a. time,. a constant- attendant upon those mys- terious 'meetings, at which the -myths of innocent Davis: were formally announced from the condition of Clairvoyance% and transcribed by his keper 'for the press,- while the.chief exponent and minister, of Swedenborgianism in New York was often seated side by side with him. -. Can it be' possible that these men failed to comprehend, as thought after thought, principle after principle, was enunciated in their presence, which they-had previously supposed to belong exclusively to . their own schools, that the "revelation" was merely a sympathetic 'reflex of their own :derived systems? It was no accident; for, as often as Fourierism predominated . in "the evening lecture;" it'was -sure that-the prime representative of Courier was present; and when the peculiar views of Swe- denborg prevailed, it was equally certain that he was forcibly represented in the conclave. 'Sometimes both -schools were present; and on- that identical occasion we have a composite metaphysics promulgated, which exhibited, most consistently, doctrines of Swedenborg and Fourier, jumbled in 'liberal and extraordinary confusion. This is, 'in epitome, about the whole history of such 'agitations. The weak Clairvoyant falls naturally into-the hands of knaves who are superior to him in physical vitality. He becomes, first, the medium. of theit vague and feeble- intellection ; and then,- as attention is at- page: 20-21[View Page 20-21] 20, SPIRITUAL -V4AMPIRISM traced by the notoriety they know well how to produce,:the "medium"becomes gradually surrounded, by the enthusiasts- of veryy school; and aa he7 'is brought into their'various- Odic spheres,.he sprgnounces the 'creed of. each in .his morbidly illu- minated'language, and it sounds to the mob like inspiration. There is no greater nonsense; men are inspired through- natural laws. But this comparatively innocuous character, which'we have thus far stepped aside-to indicate, is nothdig compared to. the first specimen of this Clairvoyant. type which we have classified. This, it will be remembered, is'the animal born with feeble spirituality, but vigorous physique; which is, at the same time, intensely sympathetic. These, as we, have said, are the infernal natures; for, possessing no life outside the lo4ei animal passions, self is to them the close, centre of all being, and their Odic sensitiveness a, vampireabsorption, the horrible .craving of which, not'fontent with the mere -exhaustion of the animal life of the victim, by wanton provocations,. drinks up soul and mind, to fill the beastly void of their own. These wgree than ghouls, that live, upon the dying rather than the- dead, possess some ..fearflly dangerous - and extraordinary powers. :Vampirism, as a superstition, prevailed, not -many years, ago, like .eneral pestilence, throughout the countries of Servia and Wallachia. ,Whole districts, infected by'this horrible disease, were desolated; people grew. wiId with terror, and, in their savage ignorance, comniitted monstrous sacrilege uon, the' sanctities of burial. Bodies that had rested quietly, in.-their graves for ten,.}twenty, and even 'eighty days, were dragged forth, to .have stakes; driven through their chests; 'and if. any blood was, found, they were burned to ashea X T1RQDUO TION. 21 The, belief was, that the deceased, when 'living, had been' bitten by a human vampire, which, coming forth. froa'i its grave by night, had sunk its white teeth in.his throat, and -drunk his blood, thereby-causing a lingering death; in which 'he was also doomed to the hideous fate of becoming a vampire, after his burial. The bodies of vampires, when dug up, presented a perfectly' natural appearance; and,'even in those ses where -the scarf- skin peeledoff, 'a 'new slin was found underneath, 'and new nails formed on. the fingers. The vital blood was found 'iM the heart,' lungs, and viscera, exhibiting the conditions of perfect health. How the "vampire got out 'of his' grave, without scratching a hole, does not appear.' Thus we find, in modern vampirism, a strange compound of ancient superstition with. well-known scientific truths. -The vampire is the counterpart of the ancient ghoul, with the simupfe transfer ;of the habits of the vampire-bat to its identity. These are then connected with the 'fact, well known to the medical profession, that persons have been buried, supposed to be dead, who, in reality) had only fallen into what is called the death- trance; and who, 'had they been left above ground for a su$- cient period, would have probably resuscitated of"thentselves. That they have done so after burial, is a familiar fact; since 'bodies - "e. exhumted, long after; have'been found to have changed their position in the coffin. How long bodies, thus indonsider- ately buried, retain a resemblapeto the normal conditions of life, has=not been fully ascertained. We have here the historical origin of whatdialled vam- pism; ut there are certain phenomena of this fearfi4 infec- j , i page: 22-23[View Page 22-23] SPIRITUAL VAMPRISM- 'tion, closely resembling -those which we have attributed to the Spiritual Vampire... Vampirism is' clearly a disease of the nervous system; i being first excited though thie imagination of ignorance and superstition. The nerves, then affected.through ,the %dic me- dium, lose their balance, and the -mind constantly playing wi ,in-the circle of-the one thought of horror, a rapid and pre- mature decline-is the mediate consequence., The infection of which the, victimdied remaining still :within. the odic medium of the sphere it occupied, passes into the nerves 'of others, who, die also; and thus thedisease spreads like, any other epdemi.. .But mark-whencethe-true origin of this superstition-of the .ghoul and the, vampire, so universal in the world-? Is it not that mankind, everywhere, ,as felt, with, an unconscious shuddering, the presence of the spiritual vampire? The instincts of the masses have, in their superstitious, fore- shadowed, all the great discoveries of science. Ias it not been, that they have felt the hideous incubus always; but not being able, through any connected series of observations, to discover the real' cause ,of their dread and suffring, have, ven its nearly idei"tical attributes a -local habitation and a name" among their superstitions ? What we have' termed' the Spirital Vampire, is a scientific fact- we believe as much so asthe bat-vampire and' that it feeds, not alone upon the living, but upon the spiritually dead ; that original, 'so far as ,its spiritual entity is concerned, it too comes forth from its sensual charnal to feed'upon the soul- blood of mankind. This may seem a horrible picture, but we cannot consent to withdraw it. These records were made under- a sense of duty to mankind; anid if they 'should 'ever see the INTRODUCTION. 23 light, it must be as they have been written. We dare not reveal all that we kpow of this thing-we can oily venture to say enough to arouse men in amazement, at the realisation of what they. have always known and. felt to exist, without having ex- pressed it, No mortal mind could have conceived such possi- bilities, even in hell, much less in actual, life. Amidst the profound securities of the, best-ordered house- holds in the world, unless a strict eye be had to such facts and phenomena as we have adverted to and shall describe, the most insidious and fatal corruptions of the bodies and souls of your children, your wives, and your sisters, may creep in,' while there is' no dream of wrong or danger. . If we shock you, it is to put you somewhat upon your guard against the many evils, concealed under the apparent harmless approaches of the viciously-purposed manipulator, or the covert practiserr upon the odic or sympathetic vitality of the pure and 'unsuspecting.- We will abide the issue. Milton clearly had vampirism in his thought when he.wrote- " Clotted by contagion, Imbodied and imbruited, till quite lost The divine' property of their first being Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp, oft seen, in charnal-vaults and sepulchres, Lingering and sitting by a new-made grave." page: 24-25[View Page 24-25] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM; 01R, THE HISTORY OF ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. CHAPTER I. THE GIRLHOOD OF ETHEREAL. "Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damned?" IN a mean and sterile district of Vermont, which shall be nameless, but which exhibits on every side stretches of bare land, with here and there the variety of clumps of gnarled and stunted oaks, EtherialSoftdown was born. If mountains give birth to heroes,, what ought to have been the product of a low- lying land like this, on whose dreary basins the summer's'sun wilted the feeble vegetation, and the bleak winds of'winter wrestled fiercely with the scrubby oaks, whose crooked and claw-like limbs seemed talons of some hideous, gaunt and reptile growth'. On the edge of one of the most desolate of these stretches, and beneath the shelter of the most ugly ~of these deinonised oaks, were scattered the storm-blackened sheds of a miserable hamlet, in one of which, for there were no degrees in their comfortless dilapidation, the family of our heroine, the Softdowns, resided, and another yet smaller and at some distance apart from the rest, was occupied by her father, who was a shoemaker, as 3 (26) page: 26-27[View Page 26-27] 26 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. a workshop. This was one of those strange, out-of-the-way, starved and dismal looking places that you sometimes stumble upon in our prosperous land'- which ought long since to have been deserted with the vanished cause of-the temporary pros- perity which had given it birth- butin which the people seem to be petrified into a morbid serenity of endurance, and look as if under the spell of some great Enchanter they awaited his awakening touch. The child, which was the birth of a- coarsely organised mother, was as drolly deformed with its squint eye and stoop- ing shoulders as fancy could-depict the elfin genius of such a scene. Dirty, bedraggled and neglected, with unkempt locks tangled and writhing like snakesabout her face, and sharp, gray animal eyes. gleaming from beneath, the ill-conditioned creature darted impishly, hither- and yon amidst the hamlet hovels, or peering from some thicket, of weird oaks, started the stolid neighbors with the dread that apparitions.bring. Indeed,'so wilful, unexpected and-eccentric were her move-, ments, that the people, in addition to regarding the oaf-like child with a half feeling of dread, gave her the credit of being half- witted as well. There was a hungry sharpness in her eye that made them shrink; a furious, raging, craving lust for something, they-could not understand what,, which startled them beyond measure; for, as in their -stagnant lives, they had never been much troubled with souls themselves, they could not understand this soul-famine that so whetted those fierce eager eyes. The' father, Softdown, who appears to have been something more developed than the mother, and to have possessed a gro- tesque and rugged wit, more'-remarkable for its directness than its delicacy, became the 'sole instructor and companion of the distraught child, who' readily acquired from him an uncouth method of enouncing trite truisms unexpectedly, which was to constitute in after life one of her-chief, because most successful weapons. Etherial early displayed a passion for 'acquiring not know- ledge, but :a facility of. gibberish, which proved exhausting enough, to the shallow-receptacles around her, specially as her mode of getting at the names and properties -of thing&so closely resembled the monkey's method of studying physical laws. She had first to burn her fingers before she-could be made to comprehend- that fire was .hot, but that was enough about fire for this wise child; she remembered it ever after as a physical sensation, and therefore it had ever after a name for her; and so with all other experiences, they were to her sensational, not spi- ritual or intellectual. The nameof a truth could come to her with great vividness through a blow or pain of whatever cha- racter,that might be purely physical, but through no higher senses, for these she did not yet 'possess. Of a moral sense she seemed now to develope no more consciousness than any other wild animal, but in her the memory of sensation took the place of mind and soul. Thus passed the girlhood of our slattern oaf-shy and sullen -avoiding others herself, and gladly avoided by them, ,with the single exception-of her father, from whom her strong imita- tive or sympathetic faculty was daily acquiring a rough, keen readiness of repartee, in.the -use. of which she' found abundant home-practice in defending herself against the smarting malig- nity of the matron.Softdown, who charmingly combined in her person and habits all and singly the cleanly graces of the fish- wife. . At sixteen, with no advance in personal loveliness, with pas- sions fiercely developed, a mind nearly utterly blank, a taste for tawdry finery quite as drolly crude as that displayed by the plantation negresses of the South, and manners so: fantastically awkward and eccentric as to leave the general impression that she was underwitted, Etherial suddenly married a lusty and good-looking young Quaker, threw off her bedraggled pkumes, and became a member of that prim order. Now her career commences in earnest, for this Was the first great' step in her life in which she seems to have attained 'to ETHEAIAL SOFTDOWN.I,"f page: 28-29[View Page 28-29] 28- SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. some gleams of the knowledge /of that extraordinary power of Odic irradiation and absorption which was afterwards to be ex- ercised' with such remarkable results. She did not make her great discovery without comprehending its meaning quickly. She first perceived that, day by day, she grew more comely to look upon-,-that her figure was becoming erect; and losing its harsh angularities -the pitiless obliquity of her features growing more reconciled to harmonious lines and last, and most astounding, that-the immediate result of the contact of marriage had been a rapid increase of her own spi- ritual and mental illumination, accompanied as well by a cor- responding .decline on the part of the husband in both these ~ ~e s e c ts .~ Here was a secret for you with a vengeance! Like. an. electric flash, a new light burst upon Etherial; and, as there was only one feeling of which her being was capable towards man, she ehnckled over the delicious secret which now opened out before her with a terrible gloating. Glorious discovery! Hah ! the spiritual vampire might feed on his strength night grow strong on this cannibalismof b. soul! 'and what of him if she dragged him down into idiocy? erved him right! Did Etherial care that his spiritual death must be her life ? She laughed and, screamed with the joy of unutterable ferocity! .Eureka! Eureka! They shall all be my slaves ! They taunt me with being born without a soul, with beingr underwitted ! I shall devour souls hereafter by the hun- dreds! I shall grow fat upon them! We shall see who has the wit! -Their thoughts shall be my thoughts, their brains shall work for me, their spirits shall inform my frame! Ah, glorious ! glorious! I shall live on souls hereafter-! I shall go up and down in the .land, seeking whom I pny devour! Delicious'! Deleftable Etherial!. CHAPTER II- SCENES IN THE GOTHAM CARAVANSARIE. And all around her, shapes, wizard, and brute, Laughing and wailing, grovelling, serpentine, Showing tooth, tusk, and' venom-lag, and sting! 0, such deformities! ENDYMION. IN Barclay Street, New York, years ago, flourished, at No. 63, that famous caravansarie of all the most rabid wild animals on the Continent, who styled themselves Reformers and New-light People, Come-outers, Vegetarians, Abolitionists, Amalgama- tionists, &c. &c., well known to fame as the "Graham House." Here, any fine morning, at the breakfast-table, you might meet a dozen or so of the most 'boisterous of the then existing or embryo Reform notdrieties of the day. Mark, we say notorie- ties, for that is the word. From the Meglatherium' Oracle, whose monstrous head, co- vered -with a mouldy excrescence, answering for hair, which gave it most the: seeming of a huge swamp-born fungus of a night-who-sat bolting his hard-boiled eggs by the dozen, with bran-bread in proportion, washing them down' with pints of diluted parched-corn coffee-even 'to the most;meagre, hungry- eyed, and talon-fingered of the soul-starved World-Reformers, that stooped forward amidst the- babble, and, between huge gulps of hot meal mush, croaked forth his orphic words -they were all one and alike -the mutterers of myths made yet more misty by their parrot-mouthings of them! Here every crude; ungainly crotchet that ever possessed igno- rant and presumptuous brains; here every wild and-unbroken hobby that ever driveller or madman rode, was urged together, pell-mell, in a loud-voiced gabbling chaos. Here, the negro squared his uncouth and musky-ebon personalities beside the 3* ETHEREAL SOFTDOWN.- page: 30-31[View Page 30-31] 80 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. fair, frail form of some lean, rectangular-figured spinster-devotee of amalgamation from New England. ' Here the hollow-eyed' bony spectre of an old bran-bread dis- ciple stared, in the grim ecstacy of anticipation, at the ruddy cheeks of the new convert opposite, whose lymphatic, well- conditioned corporation shivered with affright, as he met those ravin-lit eyes, and a vague sense of their awful meaning first possessed him, as his furtive glance took in the sterile "spread" upon 'the table, to which he had been ostentatiously summoned for "a feast." Hereesome Come-outer Quaker, with what had been, at best, cropped hair, might be seen with the crop now shaven yet more close to his, bullet-head, in sign of his greater accession in spi- ritual strength beyond the :heathen he had left behind, sitting side. by, side with some New-light or Phalanxterian- apostle, with his long, sandy, carroty, or rather golden locks, as he chooses to style"-them, cultivated- down -his back in a ludicrously impious emulation of the revered " Christ Head" of the old Italian painters.- Here the blustering peace-man, and professed non-resistant, railed with a noisy insolence, rendered more insufferably insult- ing in the precise ratio of exemption from personal accountability- claimed by his pusillanimous doctrines. Here too, a notorious Abolitionist, with his tallow-skinned, and -generally-disgusting' face, roared through grQss lips his vulgar anathemas against the. South, which had foolishly canonised'this -soulless and meddle- some non-resistant rulian, in' expressing their readiness to hang him, should he be caught within their territory.. Here the weak and puling secretary of some milk-and-water creedrolled up his rheumy eyes amidst the din, and sighed for horror of a " sad, wicked world."J Here the sharp animal eyes, the cool effrontery and bard-faced impudence of ignoramus Pro- fessors of all sorts of occult sciences, ologies, and isms, met you,-with hungry glances'that seemed searching for "the green " in your eye ; and mingled with .the whole, a sufficiently spicy ETHERIAL SOFTDOWit - 31 sprinkle of feminine'" Professors," of the same class, whose bold looks and sensual faces were quite sufficient offsets to the extreme etherialisation of their spiritualized doctrines. Here, in a word, the blank and ever-shocking glare of harm- less and positive idiocy absolutely would escape notice at, all, or be mistaken for the solid repose of common sense, in contrast with the unnatural sultry wildness of the prevailing and predo- miinating expression ! But this menagerie of mad people held caged, in one of its upper rooms, the object of'immediate interest. On entering the apartment, which was an ordinary boarding-house bed- chamber, a scene at once shocking and startling was presented. A female, seemingly about thirty-three, was stretched upon a low cot-bed, near the middle of the floor, while on the. bed and upon the floor were scattered, napkins, which appeared deeply saturated with blood, with which.the- pillow-case and sheet were also stained. A napkin was pressed with a convulsive clutch of the hands to her mouth, into which, with a low, .suffocating cough, which now and then broke the silence, she seemed to be throwing up quantities of blood from what appeared an alarm- ing hemorrhage. A gentleman, whose neat apparel and fresh benevolent face somehow spoke "physician !" leaned over the wonian, with an expression of anxiety, which appeared to be subdued by great effort of a trained will. He bent lower, and in an almost whis- pered voice, said: " My dear madam, you must restrain yourself. Tishemor- rhage continues beyond the reach of any remedies,,so long -as you permit this violent excite ent of your maternal feelings to continue. - Let me exhort you to patience -to bear the neces- sary evils of.your unfortunate condition with more patience!" The only answer was a slow despairing shake of, the head, accompanied by a deep hysterical groan, which seemed to flood the napkin at her mouth with a fresh .effusion.of blood, which now trickled between her fingers and down upon her breast. page: 32-33[View Page 32-33] 32 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. The humane physician turned, with an'uncontrollable expression of horrified-sympathy and alarm upon his face, and snatching a clean napkin from the table, gently removed the saturated cloth from the clutching pressure of her fingers, and tenderly wiping- the blood from her mouth and person, left the clean one in her grasp._ "Be calm ! be calm I pray you! you must some day escape his persecutions. You have-friends ; they will assist you to obtain a divorce yet, and rescue your chird from his clutches. Do, pray ,now, be calm !" The voice of the good man trembled with emotion while he spoke, and the perspiration started from his forehead.. At this instant the door was suddenly thrown open, and a' tall, gaunt man, with a very small round head, leaden eyes, and a wide ungainly mouth, with a.projecting under jaw, singularly expressive of animal stolidity, paused on the threshold and coolly looked around .the -room. The woman, sprang forward at the sight, as if to rise, while a fresh gush of blood poured from her mouth, bedabbling her fingers and the sheet. The physician instinctively seized her to prevent her rising, but, re- sisting the pressure by which he gently strove to restore her head to the pillow, she retained her half-erect position, and with eyes that had suddenly become strangely distorted, orawry in their sockets, she glared towards the intruder for:an instant, and then slowly raising her flickering hand, which dripped with her own blood, she pointed at him, and muttered, in-a sepulchral voice, that, besides, seemed choking: " That is he! 'see-him! see him'! There stands 'the monster who would rob me of my babe, as he daily robs me of money."- Here the blood gushed up again, and she was for a moment suffocated into- silence, as the, object of her denunciation stood perfectly unmoved, while a cold' smile half lit his leaden eyes. This seemed to fill the apparently dying woman with renewed and hysterical life.. She raised herself yet more erect, and still pointing with her bloody, quivering finger, while -her ETHEREAL SO TDOWN. 8 head tossed to and fro,,and the distorted eyes glared staringly out before her, she spoke in a gasping, uncertain way, as if communing with herself. "The- wretch taunts me! my mur- derer dares to sneer! 0 God ! must this, always continue ? must that brute always follow me up and down in the land, to rob me of the money that I earn - to be my tyrant, my jailor! He will not give me money to pay postage even, out of that I earn abundantly, while he is earning nothing. He will not give me clothes to keep me decent, while I earn enough. He will not give my child shoes to wear, though he is trying to take her from me !" " That is a lie, Etherial! you know I 'gave the child a new pair yesterday !" gruffly interposed the man at this stage of the deeply tragic soliloquy, while he stepped forward towards the bed: A choking scream followed, and the blood was spattered over the spread as she fell back screaming- " Take him away ! take him away ! He is killing me with his brutality !" and then her head sank in sudden collapse upon the pillow, and the face, which had heretofore looked singularly natural in color, for one in, such a dreadful strait from hemor- rhage, turned livid pale, while the blood continued to pour upon the pillow from the corners of the relaxed 'mouth. The poor physician, whose frame had been shivering with intense excitement during this interview, sprang erect, as the form of what he-Ssupposed to be a' corpse fell heavily-from his arms, and with the natural indignation of a feeling man, fully roused at what he considered the murderous brutality of the. hus- band, rushed forward, and seizing him furiously by the collar, shook and choked him in a'perfect ecstacy of rage, shouting, at the same time- "Unnatural .beast ! monster ! You have. killed that poor child at last ! murdered your own wife, whon you swore -to nourish and protect! Infernal villain! you' ought to be drawn and quartered -hanging is too good for you! You saw the terrible condition of the poor victim of your brutalities when you came, yet you persisted ! In the name of humanity, I send page: 34-35[View Page 34-35] 84 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. you hence ! Death is toolight punishment for you !"- and he hurled the unresisting wretch who, by this time, had grown perfectly, black in the face under the rough handling of this- roused and indeed infuriate humanity-staggering out of the door -M-=and :ching it upon him, he proceeded .to apply such restoratives asen an- examination - the real condition' of the patient suggested. A short and anxious investigation proved it to he -rather a state of syneope-than. actual death; and, with a full return of all his professional cauti n3yskill.and coolness, he applied him- self to the restoration of hj patient, with a heart greatly re- lieved by the discpvery that the result he so much dreaded was not yet, and liuggingto this kindly breast the consolation "while there is: life, there is hope,!". He paid no attention to clamorous knocks for. admissionsand lau d-talking excitement,- which the, violence of the preceding scene had no doubt caused in alarming-the house. In a kaitisnenthe good doctor cau- tiously -anbolted the door and came forth from the room, tread- ing as though on egg-shells. 'After leaving careful -instructions with the landlady that his patient) who now, slept, should under no pretence be disturbed, most especially by the husband, until his return, as her present repose might prove a -matter of life and. death,.he left the house, promising to call again in two hours. For one- hour the woman lay calm and motionless on her gory bed, as if in catalepsy, when- to -a low,' peculiar kndok. at the door, she sprang up, wideawake, and in the apparent full pos- session of -her faculties. "Who ?" she asked in a quick, firm tone, as she -threw the hair back from her eyes. Tolthe low response, " I, love!'.she stepped quickly from the bed and- snatched a shawl from the back of a chair, and, by several rapid;sideway movements of her feet at the same. time, thrust the -bloody -rapkins which strewed the floor beneath the bedr where ihey would be out of sight, and by a movement ETHERML SOFTDOWN. 85 almost as swift, threw a clean "spread'-over the -blood-stained pillows and sheet, then drawing her large shawl closely over the stained dressing-gown in which she had.'risen,' she rushed first to the glass,:andsmoothed her hair with an activity that was positively amazing, and then to the door, which sheun- bolted on the inside-showing that she niust have risen to bolt it immediately as the-doctor passed out-and- admitted a-man who was in waiting. " Ah, my. soul's sister ! my Heaven-bride! how is thy spiritual strength this evening?" and at the same. time, as =her yielding form sank into his outspread.arms, he pressed her lips with his, adding, "I- salute thy chaste .spirit!" "- "Brother of.my soul, I was weary,,but now I am at rest. - I was wounded and fainting by the way, but the good Samaritan has come !" and she turned her eyes upward to his with a melting expression of confiding abandon. "Angel!" accompanied by a closer and convulsive clasp, was the response. z " What do- they say -of poor me'again, to-day, those cruel wicked people outside ?" she asked, with eyes still reverentially upraised to his, as-they moved slowly with clasped arms towards the cot, on the side of which they ,sat, she still leaning against his bosom. "My good sister, they say what evil spirits, always- prompt men to say of-the good, who, like the Prophets, -are sent to be stoned and persecuted on earth. You should not regard such. There are those who know you in the spirit,,to wham. it has been revealed through the spiritual sense, that you are good and true, as well- as iethe right, and through such, you will find strength of the Father." " Oh, you are so strong in spiritual mightiness that you do not sympathise with the weaknesses of we humbler mortals! I wonder, indeed, how you can forgive them ?" and her downcast eyes were furtively raised to his. - The man wore his hair thrown back over his head and behind his ears. H drew himself up page: 36-37[View Page 36-37] 8 SPIRITUAiT VAMPIRISM. slightly atthis, and stroked back his looks, then placing his hand with patriarchal solemnity upon-her bowed head, proceeded in: a somewhat louder tone. "My simple child-my soul-sister, I should say, you are hardly upon the. threshold of the true wis- dom- Your knowledge. of the law' of'spiritual correspondence is yet too incomplete for you to understand how entirely good has been mistaken for evil, and evil confounded with good in the world. For instance -it is called evil by the ignorant world, for a brother -man to caress thee in the spirit as Ihave caressed thee but now. The. imaginations of a world that lieth in evil are impure. 'Evil to him who evil thinks !' The great doctrine of correspondence teaches that there are two lives-the spiritual and the animal. The passions of the animal are in the fleshly lusts; those of the spiritual are in no wise such, they are in the Heavenly-sphere,. they are of love .and wisdom. Thus, my caress in this Heavenly sphere is of no sin to thee, for by and through it I. convey to you, my spiritual sister, the strength of love and wisdom for which your heart yearns., Thus-"- As-he stooped his head to renew the unresisted caress, the door flew open again,.and the man with. the wide mouth, the hideous chin and the leaden eye, stood again-upon the threshold, and as the affrighted pair looked up they saw he was backed by,- the curious faces of half-a-dozen chambermaids, jealous of the honor of the house, flanked by the indignant landlady and a score of prying, curious, sharp-eyed faces, which -might be recognised at a glance as belonging.to those pickled seraphs of reform,' known as " free-spoken" spinsters in New England. "There, they are at it !" shouted the man with the gaping mouth. "I told you so ! I told you that Professor was always kissing her !" "Yes!" "There they are, sure 'enough!" "I always thought. so !"_ 'cThe honor of my house !" bristled the landlady, striding forward. " I did not expect this of you, Professor!" " Madam !" said the gentleman with his hair behind his ears, .striding forward as he released the suddenly collapse ai d seemingly lifeless form he had just held within his embrace, and which fell back now heavily upon the pillow-spread, which was instantly discolored by a new gush of'blood from the mouth. " I was.administering, with all my zeal, spiritual comfort to this poor, sick and dying sister, when you burst in! See her, con- dition now!" He. waved his hand towards the tragic figure. " The 'Pro- fessor" occupied a parlor on the first floor, beside two bed-rooms adjoining this, and being on the palmy heights of his renown and plenitude of purse, it was not convenient for the landlady to quarrel with him at present. " Ah, if that is the case, Pro- fessor, I beg you to pardon us. The husband of this woman has misrepresented you and your beneficent motives, and accuses you of' all sorts of improprieties. We came up, at his urgency, to see for ourselves, and the shocking condition, in which we -find her now, proves that the ravings of the husband are, as she has always represented them, insane." " I've seen you kissing her before !" roared the husband, advancing threateningly upon the Professor, who, however spiritual in 'creed, did not now alpear particularly spirited, as he turned very pale, retreated backwards, and holding up his two trembling hands imploringly, exclaimedi-" Hold!,hold! my dear brother! It. was a spiritual kiss! I meant you no harm, nor that angel who lies there dying ! Our kiss' was pure and holy as the new snow.- Hold him! hold him-! Don't let him hurt me ! I am a non-resistant ! I am for peace !" "You holy kisses!' I don't believe in your holy kisses " gnashed the enraged husband, still following himup with war- like demonstrations; but here the easily appeased landlady interposed once more, to save the honor of her house in pre- venting a fight. "No blows in my house !" she shrieked, as she threw her- self between the parties. "The Professor is a man of God, 4 BTHERIAL SOFTDOWld. 3 j' page: 38-39[View Page 38-39] 88 SPIRITUAL VAMPSRISM. and shallknot be abused here ; shame on you, Aminadab, with your poor, persecuted wife there, dying before your face ! Every- body will believe what she says about your persecutions now!"1 "Bah, you don't know that woman ! she's no more dying fhan you -are!" grunted the fellow, whose wrath fortunately seemed to be of that kind that a straw might turfy it aside, All the women rolled up their eyes and lifted their two hands at this speech. "What a brute!" "'The horrid, murdering' wretch! and she bleeding at the mouth, and from the lungs, too1" 'Lord save the poor woman's soul, with a husband like that!" And other speeches of like character were ejaculated by all the women present. At this -inoment a fresh effusion of blood, accompanied by a low groan, from the mouth of the suffering patient, flooded the elean spread with its purple current, and the horrified females rushed from the room, screaming -- He's killed her at last, poor thing !" "Where'% the doctor ?" "She's dyig of his brutality--run for the doctor At this moment, with a hasty and-heavy step, that gentleman was heard advancing along the passage,-followed by a crowd of pale, frightened4ooking Women. He strode into the room., "What now?'--what's to pay?" and his eye fell on the trem- bling foam of the brutal husband, who had by no means-for- gotten the rough handling he had received, and now skulked and quailed like a whipped cur, as his eye saw: the instant thunder darken on the brow of the doughty doctor. "You here again--you brutal fellow ? I shall instantly bind yoA over to keep the peace toward this unfortunate woman, whose life you are daily endangering by your brutalities. Take yourself off, sir !" Aminadab waited for no second invitation, but availed himself of the open doorway. - ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. Without noticing the spiritual professor, wko had drawn him- self into as small space as possible in one corner, the good man advanced to the side of his patient with an anxious, flurried manner. "What can that besottedwretch have been doing to her again ?" and he gently placed his fingers upon her pulse, and shook his head gravely as he did so. "Very low ! very low, indeed!-nearly absolute syncope again! This is horrible! How sorry I am that I was com- pded to leave her for a moment." "Is she really in danger, doctor?" asked the spiritual pro- fessor, advancing with recovered assurance. " Who are you, sir ?" he said, looking up sharply. " One of these officious fools, I suppose ?" Then glancing his eye around at the crowded doorway, he straightened himself-hastily, and exclaimed -s "Leave the room,, all of you-she must be quiet-I wish to be alone with my patient ! Leave the room, sir, I say!" in a sterner voice, as the spiritual professor hesitated on his back- ward retreat. " I-I--I p-pro-test against the impropriety !" he stammered forth, looking back at the women, with a very pale face, -as he accelerated his backward movement before the steady stride of the resolute doctor. -.- "Out with you, sir-T-I will answer for the proprieties in this case!" The door was slammed-in-the ashy face of the spiritual pro- fessor, and securely doubled-locked before the doctor returned to the bedside of his patient. The bleeding from the 'mouth 'had now ceased. All the usual remedies in such cases having so far entirely failed, the puzzled doctor had come to the final conclusion that the hemor- rhage--.be its seat where it might-was only to be subdued by a restoration of the patient to the most perfect repose. Sleep, calm, unbroken sleep, to his sagacious judgment and sensibili2 I- page: 40-41[View Page 40-41] 40 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. ties, seemed to offer the sole alternative to death. He. had been impressed by his patient that her constitutional tendencies were, by a sad inheritance, towards consumption, and the loss from the lungs, of such quantities of blood as he had witnessed, was well calculated to fill his professional 'mind with horror and dread. The case had thus appeared to him a fearfully uncertain and delicate .ne; and this sense may fully account for the stern and unusual procedure of turning even the husband.out of the room on the two occasions we have mentioned. As her physician, he felt himself boundto protect his helpless patient against those moral causes of irritation which he had been led to believe existed, not only from her reluctant disclo- sures, but from what he had himself witnessed. Believing that her- beastly husband was the chief and immediate cause of this fatal irritation; he had felt himself justified in his rough course towards him, and was now fully and resolutely determined to protect what he considered a death-bed-providentially thrown into his charge-inviolate from farther annoyance, from what- ever quarter, at least so long as he held the professional respon- sibility. In this resolute -feeling, and as the. day was warm, he threw off his coat, raised' all the windows,.and sat himself quietly down beside his patient to watch for results. The eyes of the kind man very 'naturally rested upon the object of his solicitude, and after the first excitement of anx- iety was over, and he had settled calmly into a contemplative mood, he. first 'became conscious that there 'was something strangely fascinating in the. position of the nearly inanimate' figure. .He had never before thought of the being before him as other than a very plain, but much-afflicted woman, by.whose evident physical calamities, no less than her private sufferings, he had been strongly interested..' She had told him her own story, and. he had believed her, thinking he* daw confirmation enough in the conduct' of those she accused of ill-treatment; but the idea of regarding her as' attractive in any material sense, had never for an instant crossed ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 41 his pure soul. Now there was an indescribable something in her attitude, so expressive of passion,- that, in the pulseless silence, he felt'himself blush to have recognized it. Her arms, which he now remembered to have been bare in all his late interviews with her, were exquisitely.rounded and beautifully white, and he could not but wonder that he had not before observed the strange contrast between them and the plain weather-beaten face. They looked startlingly voluptuous now, contrasted with the pallid cheek which rested on them, and- the glossy folds of'dark hair in which they were entangled. So strikingly indeed -as this expression conveyed, that even the purple stains of blood upon the spread beneath' would not divest him of the dangerous illusion. Thegood doctor felt the blood mount to his forehead in the shame of deep humiliation as he recognisedin himself this wandering of thought. What! could it be that one so habitually pure in feeling as he, could permit-the intrusion at -such an hour of impure associa- tions ? Such things were unknown to his life, so disinterested, so spotless, so humane. What could it be that had caused such feelings- to possess him thus unusually? -It could _not ' be possible :she was conscious of the position in which her body was thrown. Was there some strange spell about this woman -some mysterious power of'sphere emanating from that still form, that crept into his blood and brain with the evil glow of these unnatural fires? The poor doctor shuddered as he turned aside from the bed and, with a soft step, glided to the window, and there seating himself, strove to recover the 'command of his thoughts by dis- tracting them with other objects in the busy street. The good man was on grievous terms with himself, as he continued to beat the devil's tattoo on the window-sill with his heavy fingers. He felt alarmed, nay, even guilty. He knew not why. We shall see! 4* page: 42-43[View Page 42-43] 42 SPIRIrTAL VAMPI1ISM. CHAPTER III. TILE SYREN AND THE MOB. And after all the raskal many ran, Heaped together in rude rabblement.- SPENSER. ' What intricate impeach is this ?--' I think you all have drunk of Circe's cup I, SHAKSPEARE. TNiE woman continued, with calm, regular breathings, to sleep for several hours. The dusk of evening had now closed in, and yet her patient guardian sat silentlywatching her motion-. less figure. A long and serene self-communion had gradually- restored the excellent doctorto his ordinary equaiimity, and he now, with untiring vigilance, awaited the changes that might supervene in the, condition of thepatient. After all his-thinking on the, subject, he found himself now no nearer comprehending the cause of the late unwonted'di-s- t rbance of his habitual serenity than at 'the beginning.,- He had dealt harshly with himself, in endeavoring to account for it, and never dreamed of reproaching the feeble and wretched being before 'him, as in any degree the conscious agent of what he considered a weakness unpardonable in himself. ' With the natural proclivity of generous souls towards the ex- tremes, he had, in the plenitude of his seff-re roach, proceeded to exalt the sleeping woman into an earth-visiting angel with wounded wings, the spotless purity of which the breath of his darkened thought had soiled. The poor,' good-hearted doctor! The silence of the room was now broken by a low exclama- tion of fright, accompanied by a slight movement of the patient. The doctor sprang forward softly to the bed-side. "Who ?-what ?-where am I? What has been happening?" asked the woman, with an expression of bewilderment and alarm. "Nothing ! nothing, my dear madam! I am here-you are safe -but you must not talk." "Where is. he? is he gone ?" she persisted in a wild, terrified manner. "Yes, he is gone. He shall not come back to disturb you again. You must be quiet now, and get well. Please be calm, and trust inime." " Trust in thee ?" said the patient, in a voice which had in- stantly lost its vague tone. "Trust in thee, thou minister of light, who hast come to my darkened pillow, to my bloody ,death-bed, to console ne !". and" here she- clutched his hand. " Trust thee -I would trust thee as I' trust God!" and she pressed his hand to her heart. "You must be silent, madam,".urged the physician, endeavor- ing to extricate his imprisoned hand, for he- felt strange tin- glings along his veins, which 'alarmed his now penitent and vigilant spirit. She only shook her head, and clung with yet greater tenacity to his hand, and then, first raising it to her lips with a reverential kiss, she placed "it upon the top of her head, with the palm outstretched, and- signified her .desire that he should keep it there, with a smile of entire beatitude. The doctor barely knew enough of 'mesmeric manipulations; to un- derstand that this laying-on of hands was commonly resorted to among the believers in the science, as a remedy for nervous headache. He could see no harm in the innocent formula, if it assisted the imagination in throwing off pain, and he very willingly huniore4 his poor patient, in .permitting his hand to remain there. In a moment or two a singular change -came over the face and general physical expression of the woman, and-the doctor, who had witnessed something of mesmeric phenomena, instantly.re- cognised this-as clearly presenting all the symptoms of ~such a case. He had-mesmerised her by a touch, and it was not with- -ETHERIAL' SOFTDOWR. 43 page: 44-45[View Page 44-45] 44 SPIRITUAL-VAMPIRISM. out a thrill of vague wonder that he awaited further develop- ments. There was a' perfect silence of ten minutes' duration, when the -mesmerised patient began moving her lips as if in the effort to articulate. The curiosity °of the doctor -was" now fully aroused-his will became concentrated-he desired to hear her speak; in his unconscious eagerness, he willed that she should do so with all the energy of his firm nature; and speak she did- Happy! happy ! Ah, I, am content in .this pure sphere ! Iy soul can rest here !" a long pause, then suddenly a shudder vibrated through her frame, and she shrank back as one appajled by some spectral horror. 2 "Ha ! it is all dark now ! I see,! I-see ! his hand is red! red! red ! red ! There is murder on this soul !" The doctor sprang up and back as if he had been shot.- His face grew livid pale, and he trembled in every joint, while with- chattering teeth he stammered- "Woman! Woman, how know you this ?" " I see' it there -that huge 'red hand ! Now all is red ! There ! there ! I felt it must be so !, The pale and golders light breaks through! It spreads! It fills. and covers everything! His heart did no murder-A--it was, his hand! He can be rdeemed ! This soul is pure !" The poor doctor sank upon his chair and groaned heavily, while he covered his face with his hands. He spoke, in a few moments, in an almost inaudible tone, to himself, while the woo- man, who had suddenly opened her eyes, turned her head slightly, and watched him with a sharp attention., " AlasI! alas! how came this strange being in possession of thefatal secret of my life ?- - I believed it buried in the oblivion of thirty years My life of-dedication to humanity, since, I thought -might have atoned'. for that quick sad- deed ! Yes! I struck him !, 0, my. God-I struck him! but the provocation was most fearful!- Woman, who and what are you, that you should know this thing ?" and with a vehement gesture he jerked his hands from before his eyes, and turning swiftly upon her, he met the keen, still glance of those watchful eyes, which shone through the subdued' light of the room, steadily upon him. The doctor was astounded ! He sprang' to his feet again, ex- claiming angrily- "What shallow trick is this? You seemed but now in the mesmeric sleep, and mouthed to me concerning my past hfe, and here you are, wide awake-! How came-you with the secrets of my life ?" The woman answered feebly, and with a sob that at once touched the gentle-hearted doctor, and turned aside his wrath- " You took your hand away-you would not let me speak. Place your hand upon my head again, an'd I will tell you all." The troubled doctor re-seated himself with a shuddering reluctance, and renewed the manipulation. In a few moments she appeared again to have sank into the sleep, ;nd commenced in that slow, fragmentary manner supposed to be peculiar-to such conditions: " I see ! The dark shadow is on this soul again ! It is of anger and suspicion-they are both evil spirits ! They strive to make it wrong the innocent ! It is too holy and pure- to yield!, I see the golden light fill all again!- The bloody hand is gone. No stain -of crime remains upon this'soul. It will be pardoned of .God. - This soul needs only human love. Through love it can be made free before God ! All the past will be forgiven then-the red stains will fade! A sudden 'anger made, it sin.' Love can only intercede for this sin. Love will intercede! It will be saved !" Here her voice became 'subdued into indistinct mutterings, and the doctor drew a long breath as he withdrew his hand- "Singular woman! How could all this have been revealed to her'? She must comunine with spirits in this state. My story is not known to any here. I never saw or heard of her, until sent for as a physician, to visit her in this. house. Strange that this fearfully passionate and repented deed should thus rise up in my ETHEItIAL 60FTDOWN. 45 page: 46-47[View Page 46-47] SP RITUAL VAMPIUISM. path, thousands of miles away, amidst strangers, who can know nothing of ie ! Oh, my God! my God ! Thou .art indeed vengeful and just !" and the miserable man clasped his hands before his' eyes and moaned. "Jt was my first draught of love and life. He dashed it! -I was delirious in my joy, while the beams rained from her eyes into my hungry soul-hungry of beauty and of bliss, He dashed it all, and in the hot blood of my darkened uiadness- I slew him!. Oh,. I slew him ! His shadow, that can never be appeased, though I have: given body, and soul, and substance,'to relieving the sufferings of my race, since that unhappy hour-it rises here again ! It haunts .me"! Yes! yes! I feel that love alone can-make me strong once more, to bear such tortures! But have I not denied myself such dreams? Have I not with dedicated heart walked humbly since in, self- denying ways? Have I not' clothed the orphan, fed the poor and nursed the sick ? Have I not ministered amidst pestilence, and held my life as of none account that I might bring good to others.? Can I be'forgiven ? No!' no ! The Pharisee recounts his holy deeds and thanks.God that his life is not sinful as an- other man!. I am not to be forgiven! I shall never know those dreams of 1ove~"' The strong man .bowed his frame and shook with agony. Could he but have looked up, a keen, quick 'gleam from the eyes whichh had been so steadily fixed, upon him during this painful soliloquy, would have struck him as.conveying the ecstacy of a sainted spirit over a soul repentant - or of some other feeling :quite as exultant. This curious scene was, however, most unexpectedly inter- rupted at- this-moment, by 'a loud yelling from the street below. The clamor.was 'so sudden, and yet so angrily harsh, that both parties 'sprang forward in the alarm it -cause4-the woman,. springing up into a sitting posture on the bed, and the doctor to go 'to 'the window. "What is it?" she exclaimed wildly, as she tossed back her hair.- " What do these cruel people want to do to me now ?", ETHEBIAL SOFTDOWN. 47 The doctor, who saw at a glance the- meaning of what was going on below, and the necessity of keeping -his patient cool, turned to her, with a very quiet expression-- "Do not be alarmed, madam. It is merely some disorderly gathering of rowdies, in the street below. There is no dange to you-only do not get excited, or you will bleed again. I am here to protect you." " Then I am safe !" was the fervid response, which, however, was followed by a roar so sullen and portentous, from the infu- riated mob underneath, as to leave some dohubtof its truth even upon the mind of the doctor. " Down with the anialgaitation den !" " Down with the saw-dust palace!" "Tear it down!" "Let's lynch the wretches !" The response to speeches of this sort, from single voices, would be a simultaneous burst of approbation from the great crowd, and a trampling and rush to get nearer the building., It seemed a formidable sight, indeed, to the doctor, as he looked down upon this living mass of men, surging like huge waves tossed against some cliff, while the torches, that many of them bore,. glared -fitfully upon the upturned, angry faces. A powerful voice, which rose above all the tumult, exclaimed with a hoarse oath, as the speaker turned for an instant'toward the crowd, from the top of the front steps- "Let us burst open the door and lynch -every white person found with a negro. Here goes for the door !" and he threw himself furiously against it, while a perfect thunder-crash of, roars attested the approbation of the dangerous mob. The door resisted for a moment, when there was a sudden yell from the outside of the mob, nearly a square distant- " Here ! here 's what'll do it ! pass 'em on-!"-and the alarmed doctor saw immediately the portentous gleam of fre-axes, which were being passed over the heads of the' crowd towai-ds the door, and in another instant the crash of the' cutting would page: 48-49[View Page 48-49] 48 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. commence. The doctor, as we have seen, was a very prompt man. He thrust his head out of the window, and in a loud, commanding voice, shouted- "Stop !" The man at the door, who had just received the axe, and was in the act of wielding it, paused for an .instant, to look up, while the whole sea of faces was raised toward the window, amidst a moment's silence, of which the doctor instantly availed himself--- "Gentlemen, do you war upon women? I have a female patient here, in this room, at the point of death ! If you pro- ceed, you will kill her !" "Who is she ?" shouted some. one, while another voice, in a derisive tone, yelled'out amidst screams of laughter-- " Is she 'Rose? Rose? de coal-brack Rose ? I wish I may be shot if I don't lub Rose !"- Amidst the thunders which followed, some one shouted from. a distant part 'of the mob, to the man with the axe- "Go on, Jim! It's all pretence with their sick women!" ".Down with the door-they don't escape us that way ! Look out for your bones, old covey, when we catch you !" The axe was again swung back, but the doughty doctor still persisted-- "Stop !" he shouted again, in a tone so startling for energy of command, that the axe was again lowered. " Are you.Americans ? Have you mothers and sisters ?" 'Yes, but they ain't black gals!" gibed one of the mob, and set the rest into a roar once again.- "I -appeal to you as men-as brothers and fathers, do not murder my poor patient!" " Who is that noisy fellow ?" bellowed a brutal voice below. "I am a physician ! I have nothing to do with this house or its principles ; I only beg to be permitted to save my patient !" " What, is your name, I say ?" bellowed the hoarse man again. "Out with it! We''11 know you-some of us!" The'name was ,mentioned. There was a momentary pause, M1 ETHEREALL. SOFTOWN.. 49 and a low murmur ran through the crowd ; then shoutafter shout of applauding huzzas. " We know you! "Just like him.!" "Noble fellow!" ." The good doctor! 'Huzza-! huzza!", And soothe cry went up on all sides, for the, doctor's reputa- tion for benevolence was as wide as that of John Jacob Astor for the opposite trait. There seemed to be a vehement consultation. among what appeared the leaders of the mob, which lasted but for a moment or two, when one who, stood upoi the top step looked up, and in a firm,, respectful voice, said to the doctor-- - " It's all right, sir, about You! We shall let the women pass out!' But you must clear the house of Ahem !" .. " But it is" dangerous to move my patient." " We cannot help that, doctor ; we do this for your sake, not theirs, for they ought every one of them to be. burned, and we are determined .to- abatethe nuisance.of this house. So hurry them along here quick,for the boys-will- not keep quiet l9ng." " Yes, hurry them women along; we'll let them: go. this time." " All but that lecturing lady (?), who says that, she would as soon marry a negro asa white ma !" " Yes, all but her; we want to e rid of sch creatures; let's duck her in the Hudson." "No, boys, we will make no distinction. We have pro- 'mised -- let the woman go.'?.'sj "Down with the lecturing women and their black lovers !" " Duck.the hag ! we'll:wash off the scent for her !" 'Cries such as these' convinced the doctor that indeed no time was to he lost, particularly as .:the sound of the axe, was now heard below in good earnest. Approaching the bed "hastily, he took the 'shivering form of the, panic-stricken woman, who had heard distinctly these last -omirious cries, into his arms. 5 page: 50-51[View Page 50-51] sPIRiAL. VAMPIRISM. She -lutched him with a desperate-grip, vhilehehurried down' the stairs. On the-way, he met the Spiritual Professor in the passage, surrounded by the women of the house, who were custered about hn, in the seemingly vain hope of obtaining from him something of that ethereal consolation and strenigth, of which hewas the so mucly vaunted Professor.-Indeed, he-himself now seemed the most woful,. of all the whimpering, terrified group, in: want of any kind of-strength, whether spiritual or otherwise; and his teeth literally 'chattered; as he clutched, at the doctor's passing arm. aWh -wh-- what shallwe do ? They mean to burn the house} don't'they?" .' "iBo ? said the doctor, sternly, shaking off hiss grasp. CC Try and be' a 'man, if you've got it in you! Get, these women out of the house, and take yourself off on your spiritual legs as fast as you can, or you may make some ugly acquaint- ern es ", ,: The Professor stillbclung to his skirts.- ""Oh -Lordi the doctrine of correspondences does not sanc- "Go to the devil, with your correspondence, or I shall kick youout of my path!" roared the angry doctor, while the snivel- ling Piofessor, more alarmed than everiyslunk aside. to let him pass. MThe crash and clatterfrom below now announced that the mob -had effected an entrance from the street, and leaving the women, all screaming at the top of their Jungs, around their doughty spiritual guide, he rushed on with his burden towards the front entrancewhich had thus been taken by sterm, and was now rapidlyifilling with excited rnen. Some were seig the 'furniture, which they began to demolish, while others hur-h Tied forward to intercept aiim. "It is the sick womari. , Remember your promise; let me, pass.?'- 'Yes, that's the good doctor; let him pass, boys." ETHEREAL sOTDOW. 1 "'No, not yet!" roared a burly-looking ruffian, pressing through the throng. "We, must see who it is he has got there. Who is she ?" and he roughly dragged,-aside the shawl that par- tially covered her face. "Monster!?, shouted- the excited doctor, "the. woman is dying! Make ',ay! Let me pass !" "Not so fast!" said the ruffian, resisting his forward rush. "I shall see! I' shall see ! Boys, here she 'is! .By G-d, this is she, that lecture-woman; shewants to marry a nigger, hah!1 We won't let her go." "But you will!" said the doctor, releasing one' arm, with which he struck .the ruffian directly in the mouth, and with a force that sent him reeling backwards. ":Good! good !" shouted:twenty voices; "served him right, doctor." The 'fellow had rallied instantly, and was ru hing, like a wild bull, headlong upon the doctor, when several powerful -men threw themselves between the two, seizing the ruffian at the same time. "No, Jim, you stand back!" said one df them, brandishing a heavy axe before his eyes. "You touch that gentleman again, and I'll brain you!" "It's a shame !" interposed others: "It's the good doctor who nurses the poor for-nothing. Doubt if he gets a ceilt for that creature." "Yes,'if she was the devil's dam herself, we promised 'the good man to let her go. Stand back, boys, and let the ' doctor pass." An opening was accordingly formed, through which the doctor hastened to make his way. When he made his appear- ance at the door, he was greeted With three wild, hearty cheers for himself, and as many groans and hisses for the character of the woman whom he' bore, the news of- the identification of whom had instantly found its way to the outside. Regardless of all this,-and only congratulating -him elf upon '\ N!- 51 page: 52-53[View Page 52-53] 52 SPIRITUAL AMPIRISM. -the prospect of getting his patient off- alive, he pressed rapidly through the. crowd, with the purpose of bearing her to the sheler of his own bachelor home., The mob- now instantly occupied the building, which was .gutted by them, and the shattered contents, along with its' oceu- pants, men and women, roughly hurled into the street. Some of the former were very severely handled, and among the rest, the Spiritual 'Professor had his share of material chastening. The: mob found him under a cot-bed, with three ors four femi,. nine disciples of'his spiritual correspondences .piled over him, or clinging distractedly to=his nerveless limbs. 1ey dragged-him out by the heels, with his squalling cor- tege trailing after him, and finding that the occult professor of spiritualities had gone-into. a& state of obliviousness, or rather fainted, they proceeded, in their solicitude: for his recovery, to deluge his person with.sundry convenient slops,,which-'shall "be nameless, and 'afterward's kicked him headlong into the street below, where the dreaming boys' pelted him with gutter-mud and rotten eggs,-until, finding his spiritual legs,' as he had been advised - it is.to be supposed-- of a sudden, he made himself scarce, down Barclay Street, in an inappreciable twinkle.. In a word, the people., in this instance, as in many others, when they have found-it necessary to take -the laws of decency and .comrnon sense 'into their own sovereign hands, did the work of ridding themselves of-this most detestable nuisance effect- ually.. :The 'Graham.House- was broken up, and although the pestilent -nestof .knaves 'and fools who most delighted there to congregate,. have, endeavored, in subsequent years, to reas, semble;' and, renew the ancient character of the place as their head-piarters; yet the attempt has only been attended with par-' tial successs The blow was -too decisive' on this night ; forzalthough the walls weie,left 'standing,: the proprietor was given clearly to understand, that the unnatural orgies 'of amalgamation would "not be 'tolerated 'agaiih 'y th~e 'community, under the 'decisive 1 !S 4; ['. .{ «' e . ' t .} 1 e= ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 58 penalty of no. one stone.' left standing upon the other,'of the building., He took the hint, and it was about time ! It has been fairly conjectured ,by this time, from the glimpses we have takes of the interior, that the house was; the scene of other vices -than those implied in amalgamation merely. It will be seen in yet other words and years how much there was of real danger to the well-being of society, in the doctrines taught and practised within its unhallowed walls. No,.one lesson could -ever -prove suffi- cient for these people; they enjoy a fatal impunity even now, and we ,shall endeavor that inen shall know them as they are ! CHAPTER IV. . BOANERGES PHOSPHER, THE SPIRITUAL PROFESSOR. He strikes no coin, 'tis true, but coins new phrases, And vends them forth as knaves vend gilded counters, Which wise men scorn, and fools accept in payment. *B, isrnsA . None of these rogues and cowards, but Ajar is their fool! en. THAT the world has, dealt. hardly by its heroes, is a truism we need not. insist upon at this late day. But whether the world knows who its heroes are, is another question,'and one more open to controversy: "Now I insist that the world does, not know, or else Boanerges Phospher, the Spiritual Professor, would long singe have been stoned and persecuted into one of the holy company'oft saints and martyrs! There are several kinds of heroism heretofore known among men. There is the fierce, aggressive heroism of the soldier and conqueror.- there is the" glib and oily" heroism of' the polite 5* page: 54-55[View Page 54-55] SPIRITUAL VAMMIRI$M. cian*-thecalm, during heroism of-the saint--the lofty, death- defying heroism of the patriot; but it remains for moderntimies to record the brazen heroism of impudence. npicdence too, has it grades arid.degrees -its ancient 'types and its more' mo- derin ones -but as they all veiltitheir brdssy splendors, merging their separate rays in the 'central efflgenee of our spiritual-Co- locsus, -we- shall ,waive their particular enumeration in favor of the individualised impersonationof them all. Ah, verily--and this ishe-!-our Spiritual Professor! .Born n:Yankee-land,:of course, the earliest feat of -Boanerges Phos- pher-iterally, aciorging to his own account of it---was to pry up a liuge stoneupon one- of the- sterile pernal acres: for what purpose, would you suppose? -To -place his feet upon the soil beneath,'because the foot 'bf no other man could have pressed'it! A laudable ambition, truly,. but one which, somehow, un- luckily,'-suggests that- "Fools may walk where angels fear to tread I" It was- a necessary.seucence to the career of this modern Co- lumbus of untrodden discovery, that we find his "first appear- ance upon 'any stage" toihave been, while;so pitiably ignorant as to be barely-able to read his own language by spelling the words, and write'Lhis own name execrably, as 1(ROFESsOR or. EL9CPUTION! Admirable! admirable ! Why make two bites of_ a cherry ? Why- not-step at once -where no foot of such Man:ever trod before?- + ^ - w ' - A, Shade, of Blair!-- Look ye not askance at this daring intruder upony9ur -classic company ! He intends yo -no harm; he- only means-.to re-Muse his briss back into. copper s! ,In lecturing on Eloution, our PoTfessor, of necessity, gra- dually learned to read- -withfluency, we meani-.-iltath is, he could. " talk right ,out 'f like the head boy-in a class, though it -was in nasalngmgsongy more remarkable for its pietistic intonation than- its rhgthr- "thia was, nio -doubt, in a-great measure owing ETHERrAL SOFTDOWN. 55 to the facility of whining he had acquired, in his more juvenile experience, -as a preacher of some:three or. four different liberal sects.;- We class these as -mere experiments, as purely preliini- nary trials of strength, before he entered the true arena of his professorship. The professorship to be 'stre, was self-institited --self- ordained a- nd why not self-asserted?, There'.ere professors of hair-invigorating oils, professors-of dancing, professrof rats catching, professors of hair-eradication, professors of cough-. candy, -professors of commercial- book-keeping and running- hand writing, , professors of flea-powder -and bug-extermination -and why not a professor of elocution?-- The very igutter-mud germinites professors in this free country.f They grow like fungi out of wallowing reptiles''heads.; and who need be sur- prised, in America,. at receiving the card of his boot-black, inscribed Professor Brush ; his chimney-sweep, Professor SootI or be appalled by the bloody apparition of a rmissive -from his butcher, emblazoned, " Professor Keyser, Killer ! ' No disrespect, mark you, is intended to be either understood or implied, for the gentlemen of the various professions above enumerated, for they are all respectable in their way,' and to be respected,- outside of their professorships. ~ But- that is rather a serious name, as we understand it-one that the world has been accustomed to look up to with veneration -proportioned, until these"' modern instances," to the vast 'and profound learning which had made it, in. the old World, the synonyme of almost patriarchal inspiration - the grand, firm, and stable'bulwark of human progress, and its-lofty. future; of infinite' science,- and its clear, glorious myths !,. This -thing -of learning.,seems so easy, that your starveling Yankee perceives. no difieulties-in the- way, ar d glides -into its penetralia -"like a book,"'-only that he never reads it! -e is at once at-home -in all topography, as much as "if he were in Kamtschatka, orthe t"Tropic Isles."" Frred cloaks-or 'biead- fruit leaves are all the same to- him; he was born- knowing, and- I page: 56-57[View Page 56-57] SPrIU4, V:APIRISM. of' course could,,ot do less than know a great deal more about Kamtschatka pd the" Tropic Isles" that theirfurred and fig- 3eaied deifern& Brass is the Yankee's capital, andno wonder they ade the. grea4liscoveries of copper on Lake,,Superior, so extensively patronised by.New-liglht sages. It is the fset to Califoxnia =old; .fbr, while one promises an ininite supply of the, substantial basis of commerce and all trade,. the other pro- nr es to furnish, in perpetuity, the :crude material-of impudence. We mean no insinuation in regard to the Spiritual Professor,- however much;h. hmayhave had .to do, 'ty "spherical influ- ence," in precipitating the discovery of this r great mine of the niwtalso much in favor with the'sages ,above mentioned-arnd the remainder ,f the sect to which the Professor. belonged--the motto of,which'is, that, "Out of the youths of babes and, suck- lings shall ye, be eopfounded." Yet- we can, freely venture to assert, that he had Rno 'connection whatever with those unfor+ tunate commerciall results, which, in the first place, nearly, if not entirely, swamped the great Patron of the- enterprise. The miid of our Professor was necessarily not of that vast reach and ge eralising comprehension, which could lead to the Behe- moth stride and wizard calculation of results, which had enabled. his master thus confidently to 'speculate in so subtle a material. The operations of our Professor were essentially minified ;, that is, their sphere and scope had been particularly narrow. He was. heroic enough, Heaven knows; but then his heroism was f that.dashing character which only required a patron to lustrate and make it known. Having published a book upon this- occult (in his hands) science of' elodttioi, which was, of course, written for him by another. - arty, he suddenly,'felt himself inspired with a new nspiration. He had already taught; men how to talk, and it now became 'necessary; and ind ed spiritually incumbent upon him, to teach' then how to :live; 'He oeordingly announced himself, forth-' with, as Revelator'inPChief of th~e spiritual-mysteries of the uni- E THERIAL SOFTDOWN. ' verse. Every reader will probably-remember thoseflaining pro- grammes of lectures which appeared, by the half column, in a New York paper, for a long period, daily, between '43 and 146. Mendacious impudence never. vaulted higher ! Our Spi- ritual Professor was in his glory now. An illustrious man lived once in Sweden. He was humble, pure and firm., 'His astonishing works on seientiic subjects left the 'mind of his period ffar behind him, utterly confounded by his direct' and stringent-:lucidation- of the most' subtle of the purely physical l.aws. 'It seemed a miracle to.them; they found their professional accuracy so faf surpassed, thatthey durst nrot do more than wonder. Work after work of this amazing intel- lect came forth, dressed in i language, while handling such themes, common to the world of science Then came a sudden change, and this vast mind, which here- tofore had dealt in simple demonstriationwith 'mankind, threw down its"compass and its squares, :and, in the language of hu- milty,' proclaimed itself a Medium' The' God of Jacob.and humanity had revealed hirpself tohin,' not-in the burning bush of mystery, but in the lustrous quiet of a calm repose.' He had talked scieiific truth before, "but now:-he spoke -of spiritual things-a chosen Medium between God and man'! His theme was far beyond all science. We-have nothingto. do withhis wide postulate; his name was too. sublime and venerable-among the patriarchs of 'mankind, for 'me to speak of it, otherwise- in this connection, than in disgust and loathing of the profanation to which it has been' subjected, in our country,' by monkeyisii and parrot-tongued -ignoramuses. Our learned and sagacious Professor of' Elocution, happening to stumble upon .soie of the earlier translations of the worksof Swedenborg, seized upon them with great. avidity, ard,'as he' had now learned to rad without spelling the words out loud, he managed t6 get them- byheartWith most surprising facility,-and; to the astonishment of Jew and Gentile, suddenly proclaixed himself arn apostle of the' new church. page: 58-59[View Page 58-59] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM To be sure, wlYen ne :considers this undertakingin the- ab- st40t, it ,was rather a serious one; .one indeed that would have applied_ most meiniash the works of $wedenborg really con- sist ed of some forty-add' huge volumes, writte in 'Latin, not a line of which the Professorcould translate,; -nd the-hand-books' he had faller- porn =ere merely translations ff .intoductory compends -What though the field .as one of the most pidi- gious inhuman- learning-what though the themes-were the highest that aould occupy morta' .contetnplation ---what though the patient diligence of an oordinary lifetime would scarce suffice intelligent-#persons for the studiouscomprehension of the:'truths taught by tns wnderfulman ?4 it was all the"same to the Pro- fessorn; i;' indeed, instead. of being discouraged, he was rather'encouraged, by the i agnitude'-of the :undertaking ! An e ponent of Swedenborg'!' Well, why'got? He. could-spell words in three syllables! igwit h'he prodigious discovery of his o n capabilities and the new mine 6f doctrinal science,'the learned Professor rushed precipitated 'into 'the 'ever-extended armns of his 'Pat'ron saint, the 'nourisher} and cherisher:of empirics'and empiricism. And why should he iot be-so,, forsooth? It was -cheap, not "too much leariiing," that. had made-himnmad:"aswell! letoo had fonnd it to ;his account to1 scorn the decencies of a thorough education, and from a printer's devil, with a mind that had 'fed upon 'scraps .nd paragraphs, had doggedly risenfrthrough' the help 4 the familiar demon of labor, which-possessed-him, into this position of Patron: to all new-corners--oprovided they bore' "new-lights" and coppers!f It mattered ;litl&to this self-constituted and unscrupulous dig- nitarygwheth erthe theme was ,et 'to the wdord, pr only to him- self;- the, latter was most likely:to -be the case with one who had 'prabably'ne er read a'dozen books' coisecutively through in dis life, and 1'who, from.=gros :physique, dress, habits, and mental idiosyncrasies, was necessarily' incapacitated for coipre- hending the fine arid subtle relations of truth; who, even with ETEBRIAL - SOFTDOW1. - 5l the sovereign aid :of the 2new-light Panacea, bi-anbread, had seemed toy be capable of digesting bud a fragnent oftruth at' a time, and that fragment, too,.gobbled'without the sightest regard for its relations toother truths. Here was a happy appreciation 'with a vengeance !-was it knave of fool, or fool of kba-'which? The cjuestien is in- teresting' At all events,-the results were the same, so far as' the public were concerned;. It was forthwith announced that the Patron Saint, like some patient andVfatchf l' atronomner, sweep- ing the-blue abyss of"heaven-with ever-constantglass, had dud- denly discovered a-new luminary-it-certainlyhadia fiery tail, but whether it was going to prove a genuine' comet or not, let the following announcement bear witness: "Professor Joanerges Phospher lectures to-night in*the Taber- nacle, which it is thought may possibly contain some small por- tion, at leas,of the enormous crwd ljich will of course assemble to hear his profound and luminous expovsition of the mysteries of-the universe. 'The doctrine of correspondences- as pro- pounded by the learned Pi-ofessor; reveals the true solution of all problems which affbet the relations of mankind to the spirit- ual world. Indeed,, his enoirnious research and unappreciable profundity have at length enabled him to solve the groblei of the universe, which he, with the- tost luminous demonstrations, will educate even the infant mind to-comprehend with sufficient clearness, in 'fiye easy lessons, or lectures. on every other night, at one dollar each. 'The whole subject of mnan, in' his eternal. relations to"God, to the spiritual word, and-to the earr, 'will be mathematically expounded to the full comprehension-ofall.' Herefollows the programme: "-Professor Boanerges Phospher 'undertakes to show in the lecture of to-night, That in-the universe there are these three things: end, 'cause; and effect ; that infinite things in the infinite are'one- that they-constitute a triune eistene-they are three in one; that the universe is a-work eohe ng from 'firsts to lasts. " That Good is from a twofold origin,' and thence adfititious. __:'' F page: 60-61[View Page 60-61] 901V SPIRITUAL VARPIRISM. That celestial g od is good in essence, rd spiritual good is' ~6o5d in'for' That the goo~d of tlie -inmost Heaven is called celetiaI;' of the middlJe He"re, ospi'rtuaf;iad1o;the ultimate Heaven, spiritual, natural..-That good is called lord, and- truth' servant, befo-theyjare conjoined, but aftervards-they are called brethren. That he'who isgood isr in the faculty of.seeing truth, which flows frengeral truths, and this in a.continual series. Thatgodds.actually spiritual fire, from yhich spiritual heat, which makes alone, i& derived.; That al'Evil habits rise frm ithe sensual principle, and also from the scientific There is an. evil derived from thefalse,"and a false froi evil. . . . " That gold sig the good of love.. Whentwice-mertioned, sig. the good of lol e, and the goodof faith originating in love. "That.influx from the Lord'is through the internal into the ernal' *Spiritual influx is founded on the nature of things, which i spirit acting on.matter. ( "That iphysical.ingiuxor natural, originates from the fallacy ofAhelsenses that thebody.adts on spirit. " That harmoriious influx is founded on _afalse. coielusion, .viz .: that the soul acts jointly and at.the -same-instant with the, body. :That ;there is.a common ifux ;and this influx passes intothe life-of'animals, and alsointo'the.subjects of the 'vege- tabie. kingdom. JThat-influx. passes from the Lord to man through the forehead-far the-forehead corresponds to love,'nd theface to the interior of the mind." . To befolioged lby questions itthe corrsspodenses by any of the audigie whe may choose to ask them;,,stuch 'as, To what" does, "-horse" correspond ?-,"-Towhat:doesitable,,""chair,"orl 'oap-stone" correspond ?-Towhat does "hog," " goose;" buttermilk, ' o "jackass"' zeorrespond-? &. &c TO all of whidhrquestions the learned lecturer:will give' edifying answers, rom;thestand. 3dmittance,'one dollar--Children, half-price. This isalong-programme, to" be 1iure,.and-somewhat over- vwhelnijg to i-e ,common people, Nho have b-een in the habit ETHERIAL. SOFTDOWN. " , ., , ; E E ,' , 61 of regarding certain subjects with the profoundest -veneration, and our modest and capable teachers with reverence. But the very length of this programme, and the enormous stretch of the themes, only go, I suppose, to illustrate the hardihood of our " admirable Crichton," the professor of the- occult-and the genial and the generous-to call it by its lightest name-gulli- bility, of his gaping audience. Forth went these flaming announcements day by day, on thousand hot-pressed sheets, until.New York became all agog, and the great mass conceived that they had found a new prophet. All its spectacled and thin-bearded women forthwith were in arms; the Professor wore his hair .behind his ears, and, of course, was the soft and honey-sucking seraph of their, dreams. He could be indeed nothing short of seraphim-revealed, for he discoursed with them in winning tones of mists and mysteries. He told them bald tales of angels with whom he had been on terms of intimacy; for he sagaciously kept his master, Sweden- borg, mainly in the background throughout. Representing himself, as the - individual recipient of these revelations, from the spherical ladies who wear wings, and who are habitually designated as. angels by both the sexes, on our little clod of earth, our champion became, of course, the hero of all such semi-whiskered maidens or matrons, who, though essentially "pard-like spirits," were 'yet, to reverse the words of Shelley, more "swift," alias "fast," than " beautiful!" It is, of course, to be comprehended that beauty is comparative as well as wit, and we would no more be understood as insinuating that these thinly-hirsute virgins and dames, who at once con- stituted the principal audience of the mighty Professor, were themselves in any degree deficient in sympathy either with the man and his profound doctrines, or the man per se, than that we would assert they understood one word of what he mouthed to them, with his hair behind his ears. Boanerges Phospher, the Spiritual Professor, Was successful, and never was there anything so professionally brilliant as the 6 page: 62-63[View Page 62-63] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. crowded houses that he nightly drew. -The immense Tabernacle seemed a mere nut-shell; he could have filled half-a-dozen such houses nightly. The mob had grown excited by the novelty. The paper of the Patron Saint, at so -many pennies aline, day by day, continued to.prostitute its columns to this vulgar trap of silly-servant-maids ad profound clerks, The Professor's lectures were attended by countless swarms of inquirers after truth, who, as they were willing to accept a -'spoken for a written language of which they knew nothing, per- mitted him to stumble through propositions, which, in them- selves, were so ridiculously absurd as even to disarm contempt in the wise, and make denunciation ?harmless as superfluous. CHAPTER V-. BOANERGES AND THE YOUNG MATHEMATICIAN. Famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression stareth in thy eyes, Upon thy back hangar ragged misery. SHAKSPEARE. There's no -ore Mercy in him than there's milk in the male tiger. .Idem. THE bowels of:-Boanetges Phospher, the Spiritual Professor, were possessed of such extraordinary capacity for yearning over the fallen and lost condition of his brothers of mankind, that, not content with saving them by wholesale, and nightly, in those marvellously spiritualized lectures, his indomitable energies took. up the trade of "saving" men idividually and;by detail., This, let it be understood, wasdone between times, by way of recreation, just to keep his hand in. Let us follow him on one of these eriads of mercy. a ; i 3 o .j ' . 1 ETHERtAL sOTDOWN. . In a poor garret of Ann Street, New York, might have been seen, about these days, a young man, seated in a Tickety chair, beside, a: dirty pine table, which was plentifully strewn with manuscripts covered with many a tedious column of figures and mysterious-looking diagrams. You saw at once, from the disproportionate size of the broad, white,.bulging brow, which brooded heavily over large moirn- ful eyes, and thin, emaciated features, that he was a mathema- tician; possessing one of those precocious and enormous de- velopments of the organs of calculation, which are so apt, when not diverted by other occupations -and excitements, to consume rapidly the feeble fuel of life in their consecrated fires. A wretched cot-bed occupied one corner of the room, which was likewise. strewn with papers and books on mathematical subjects, while on the. mantel lay scattered little heaps of dri~d cheese and crusts, which seemed so hardened, that no tooth of predatory mouse had left its mark thereon. - The young- man was dressed in entire conformity with the, miserable appearance. of the room.: His thin and. silky hair hung in lank, clammy locks about his shockingly pallid features, as he leaned forward on his elbow, his -forehead resting heavily on his thin hand, as he pored overthe papers before him. " Ah me,"- muttered he, "this horrid poverty !" and he threw down his pen and sank back with a faint, despairing movement. " My brain is giddy with this :dizzy round of figures, figures. My weary calculation is nearly done, but my over-tasked, brain sickens. Ah, but for just one good meal, to strengthen me for a few hours, and I could finish it -finish my glorious work!" At this moment a rapid. step was heard ascending the creak- ing stairs ; the door flew open rudely, and, without any' an- nouncement, the Spiritual Professor, .with. his hair all nice behind his ears, came bustling forward toward the table, beside the fainting young-student. Rubbing his hands at the same time in prodigious glee of anticipation, he exclaimed - page: 64-65[View Page 64-65] 64 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. "Ha! my son! my spiritual child! how is it with you? Have you finished ? Is-it done ?" The poor student shook his .head slightly, and muttered feebly -. "No, no; I cannot finish it." The eager face of the Professor turned suddenly very blank and very white at the same time, as, straightening himself, he stammered out "Wh-what ! c-cannot finish it'! You must finish it! you shall finish it!" and then continuing with greater vehemence, without apparently noticing that the weary head of the poor being before him was slowly droopingyet lower.- "Here's a pretty business, to be sure!. This is the reward I- am to get for all I have done for you-for all my efforts to ad- vance you in the world for all the heavy expenses I have incurred in bringing you on from Cincinnati, and supporting yob here ! The evil. spirits must have re-entered the boy! Have I not striven for these six months faithfully, with all my spiritual strength, to.drive them forth, that I might save him? The boy:must be born again-he must be regenerated once more. Cannot finish it! He. must. be chastened, to rebuke this evil spirit in him; he must be reduced to bread and water. I must .recall my liberal allowance for his food; he has been living too high. The .evil demon has probably. entered him through a meal of fat pork !" and the spiritually outraged Pro- fessor :sniffed with an indignant and eager sniffle, that he might detect the presence of the.forbidden food. The poor youth,-in the -mean time, had been slowly sliding from his chair, and, as the' Professor turned aside with the air of an injured cherub, the body lost its balance, and the faint- ing youth fell to the floor. "-Ha!. what-now ?" shouted our cherub with the hair behind his ears, springing into the air with a nervous agility, as if he in reality .wore wings. He placed himself on. the opposite'side of the room in a twinkling, and then turning his face, ghastly with fright, exclaimed, "I thought the house was coming down!" and seeing the prostrate body, he walked around it as cautiously as a cat crouches, and, with a stealthy inspection, peered into the half-open eyelids, at the upturned eyes, but without"touching the body. " Wh-why, the fellow's gone and died! There goes my great speculation!" and springing back suddenly, he rushed towards the table, and seizing convulsively the papers, ran his eye eagerly over them, while his hands trembled violently; and his lips turned as ashy blue as those of the poor victim at his feet, while, with an expression of despair, too unutterable for words to paint, he groaned out in frantic exclamations "No, no, no, it is not finished ;- nobody else can do it but him I'm ruined ! I'm rained'! Oh, my money's\gone -my money's gone ! To think that he should die, after.all I've done for him. -after all my liberality! 0! 0! O! boob! boobh! hoo!" At this melting crisis, a slight noise caused him to. turn "his head ; the apparent corpse was 'drawing up one foot, and mak- ing some other feeble movements,-which showed that life was not entirely extinct. At this sight the eyes of Boanerges flew open as wide iri a stare of ecstacy, as they had before' been stretched in horror, until their suffusion "with the briny," as Mr. Richard Swiveller would say; had caused them to momentarily wink. ".Why, he ain't dead yet ! my .speculation is safe. Some water ! Where's some water? Get some water!" and he ran peering and dodging around the room with an uncertain air, as if the new influx of joy had bewildered his seraphic, mind. After some little delay he found the pitcher, which had. been standing alt'the time in full view, within three feet of him; he wildly dashed more than half the contents into the face of the victim, who instantly drew a lqng sobbing breath, and in a mo- ment or two opened his eyes. This so increased the ecstacy of the Professor, that he now ventured to kneel beside him, and, in his eagerness, forgetting 6* ETHERTAL S4FTDOWN. - Q page: 66-67[View Page 66-67] PETHERIAL SOFTD0WN. 76'j to use the tumbler that was standing near, he nearly crushed the poor student's teeth down his throat, in his awkward endeavors to administer drink tohim from the heavy pitcher--exclaiming, during the process,. ".Drink! drink! my son. Don't die, for Heaven's sake ! Remember, my liberality-my generous sacri- fices to advance you in the world. Remember our almanac - your great work, that is to make your fortune.- Remember how you have been saved !"S " Starved, you mean," feebly whispered the young man, whom a few draughts of the precious fluid had rapidly revived.- y"-St-a-a-r-r-ved! does he -say ?" yelled Boanerges, shrinking back as if horrified, and nearly dropping the body he was sup- porting from his arms. Then, suddenly releasing one arm, he smoothed back his hair gently; that radiant, angelic expression of sweet humility, for which it was so famous among the female pag of ,his select and nightly audiences, overcame his face as ia halo, and leaning down,-so as to look into the eyes of his -ictimi he asked, in a liquid voice,- " My son, have I-have I.- thy spiritual- father, starved thee ?" and then tenderly he gazed into his eyes. With, a look of assured self-satisfaction that those siren tones had done the business, he silently awaited the answer to the gentle and rebukeful question. But no an- swercame to the. sweet, lingering look ; -the young man only closed his eyes heavily, and shuddered. . "My. son, my son !" continued the Professor, in yet more grieved and -meek, and dulcet tones. "fVIy spiritual son, have I starved the-? have I not been generous to a fault, and even to, wronging',the beloved 'child of my own loins? This room,' these writing materials, this tumbler, this pitcher, that delightful bed, are they not all my .free-will gifts to thee for thy own ad- ancement, to enable thee to glorify God in thy works? Have I Dot. rather saved thee from starving? KYou had nothing when I took you ap, to patronise your genius, and. bring you before- the world ; and now you have plenty! See, see, your mantel , ; ti ; .t ; , , E is even now crowded with bread and cheese, that you .re wasting here in the midst of such superlative abundance.' The young man, at the mention -of the bread' and cheese, turned his head aside with an expression of bitter loathing and disgust. " Pah!" he muttered; "the very name of it makes me sick; I have tasted nothing else for the last six months. That is what is killing me ; my stoniach can retain it no longer! Who can keep body and soul together on thirty cents a week ?" " Horror !" exclaimed the Professor, rolling up his eyes meekly. "To think of such frantic extravagance!' Andbe- sides, my son, your spiritual strength should. have sustained you -the success of your great work, the prospect of future glory! A man starve on bread and cheese ! Why, who ever heard of such a thing? -Why, when I was a boy of ten years of age, I started alone, on foot, to, cross the Alleghanies,,to make my way to the North to school. My father had moved West when I was very young. I started with only one loaf of white bread in my bundle, when the whole country was wild and full of bears and wolves. The:wolves chased me, and I climbed a tree; they surrounded it, barking and gnashing their teeth, to get at me; there were five hundred-wolves at least, but I in my faith kept my strength, and remained cool as Daniel in the lion's den, until at last they kept me' there so long, I fell asleep, when the limb broke, and I fell down into the midst of them; the wolves were so frightened, that they all took to their heels and ran away, leaving me safe. There is 'a specirien of the spiritual strength that faith gives,-and should encourage you never to give up and faint by the way. Had you possessed more of such faith, my ,son, you would -never have been stretched here, upon this floor, in such a: condition, and talking about starving on bread and cheese. It is the soul, my songthe regenerate soul, that sustains the heroic man on earth, as I have so often endeavored to teach you." "Yes," groaned the poor youth, with a gesture of impatience. 66 SPIRITUAL YAMPIRISDS. page: 68-69[View Page 68-69] OS SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. "The body must live too, and life.cannot be sustained so long upon unyaried food." If Listen, my son !" said 'the patient saint at his head- 'listen) and you shall hear what I accomplished on that single loaf of bread. I travelled on 'with my little-bundle on my shoulder, containing the home-spun suit I was to wear when I arrived at schoolgand my loaf of bread. I travelled on till-my clothes were all worn out, and .my shoes full of holes, and my feet were so sore and swollen that I was afraid to pull ofl my shoes, for fear I should not be able "to get them on again. So I waded across all the brooks and mountain streams with my clothes on, until,-at last,, one afternoon, when high up in. the mountains, my strength gave out, and I laid me down in the howling wilderness, thinking I must die. The weather was Very cold,: and my clothes, all wet from crossing the streams, freezing, and the dreaded sleepiness was coming over me, en a good wido* woman,swho lived, with her children on the mountains, and was out gathering wood, accidentally found me. She took me up in her arms, and carried me to her hut, and laid me on her bed, where I slept all night. In the morning, when I opened my eyes, I. saw her breaking the hot Indian-corn bread, and ,giving it to .her children. I toldher if she would give' me :some of her corn bread, I would divide my loaf of white bread' with her and her children. She eagerly ac- cepted the offer, for such a luxury as white bread had been long 'unknown to them, and_ that was my first speculation! While they ravenously devoured my loaf, I feasted upon her rich hot bread. My soul overflowed with delight as I witnessed their- intense enjoyment of the meal I had been thus instru- mental' in bringing them, 'and I felt as if the Lord had thus enabled, me to fully repay them for their kindness. I rose to depart, and the good woman, filling my bundle with a large' piece of her hot bread, sent me, with her blessing, on' my way rejoicing. Thus, you see, my dear son, how, through the-spi- ritual strength which fa-th imparts, and which you so much need, . ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. ' ', " .l t} ,ys i , a c; a "i .; c ti a ; _-A { 4 7 i 5 I was enabled to cross the Alleghany mountains alone, at ten years of age, with nothing but my loaf of white bread, and with- out so much as a bit ofA cheese,,or a cent in my pocket, and attained to the great goal of my ambition, the school; and from whence, by the aid of selling an occasional button from my jacket, I have been able to rise to my present position as pro- fessor and patron of struggling genius.* " Ah !" said the young man, " words, words.! Give me to eat -I am starving!" and his head sank back once more. The Professor again- deluged him with water, and,'profoundly surprised and alarmed that the honeyed eloquence of his saga- cious narrative had'proved unavailing in convincing-his victim that he could and ought'to live upon faith, came to the desperate resolution of being guilty of the extravagance; for once, of a small bowl of soup to resuscitate his victim, and depositing his' head upon some books, though the pillow was equally cote- nient, he hurried off to the nearest eating-house, with hishnds upon his pockets, which were overflowing with gold, as he Was then in the, meridian height of his prosperity. The sequel to this particular story is a short one. The young -g man revived with the change of a single nutritious neal, and with it returned the courage of even the trodden worm; for he now stoutly told the Spiritual Professor that, unless he furnished him with ample means to support life, he would :not touch an- *Incredible as it may seem, we pledge our personal veracity that this bald and silly narration, which appears to be merely a foolish' bur- lesque, is a bona fide, et literatim, et punctuatim, transcript, as close as it is possible for memory to furnish, 'of stories that were, at least as often as five days out of the seven, related at the dinner-table at which Boanerges presided, to long double lines of gaping women, who, obe- dient to the irresistible spell he bore; had-followed up this maudlin Proteus of Professors, as disciples of water-cure, through his latest meta morphoses, into physician of such an establishment in Boston. It was thus he exhorted them to faith, and encouraged his backsliders. page: 70-71[View Page 70-71] SPXRITUAL VAMPItISM. othefigure of the immense and complicated calculations on. which he had been so long engaged. The Professor, of course,:resisted to the last, and quoted the correspondences upon him, with desperate fluency. But when the young man coolly seized the manuscript on the table before him, and -held it overthe flickering flame of the miserable dip candle, which had now been of necessity lighted, the Professor, sprang forward to arrest his hand, shrieking -- "I will! I will! .for God's sake, stop.!-how much do you want?" "Five dollars a week !" was the cold response, as the flame caught the edges of the paper. I'll give it! I 'll give it! What fearful extravagance ! My God! put it out!" "Pay me five dollars at once," said the other. .Here it is-here it is!" and he jerked, in his excitement, from"his pocket, a dozen gold-pieces of that value, and dashed them upon the table. " Take your fivedollars! put it out !"; The young man quietly swept the pieces within his reach into a drawer, which he at the same moment opened; and, extin- guishing the.margin of the manuscript,:which had burned slowly from its'thickness, he replied deliberately to the Professor, who had shrieked .out - "Do you mean to rob me ?" "No, sir ! but I mean to keep this money, and if you ap- prgach me,,.I shall destroy this manuscript if it cost me my life. You have-starved and outraged me long enough; you expect to make- a fortune off my labors, and kill me with famine just as my work is done. But with all my humility, abstraction and patience, this is too much ! I am roused at last, in self-defence, and you shall find it so!" The Professor sank into a chair as if fainting; and for some moments continued to mutter, with more than the magnanimity of a sick kitten --- a a; 3 t t s ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 71 " To think ! Robbed ! All my -generosity ! The, ruffian ! Here, to my very face ! What have. I gained by saving him?" } This last expression was gasped'out, as if the vital breath of the speaker was passing in the final spasm. The scene need not be prolonged. The valorous Professor crept away, cowed beneath the cold, firm, lustrous eye of the now aggressive victim, Whose enthusiasm for science and earnest self-dedication, had 'heretofore .kept himn blinded to a full reali- sation of all the, monstrous iniquity which had so long been practised upon his abstracted, meek, and uncomplaining nature. He now determined to take his life into his own hands, ,and saw clearly through all the shallow and ridiculous pretence.of patr9n- age and "saving," by which his single-hearted fervor had been beguiled. In a few days it was announced to the Professor, whose-faith and spiritual strength-the same that had scared off the wolves when he fell among them-had in the interval been, restored to their equilibrium, that the great work was now con pleted, and the announcement was accompanied by a proposition on the part of the young mathematician to sell out to him entire his copyright share in the whole enterprise, at a price so compara- tively insignificant, when the rofessor's own florid anticipations of future results were consi ered, that he sprang at the offer eagerly, and thus possessed himself at once of- the "golden goose.- The young mathematician disappeared, and the Professor was left exulting in the sole possession of what seemed to him, in vision, the nearest representative of the gold of'Ophir,' not to speak of California. The idea of the young mathematician was, in itself; a prae- tical one, and seemed rationally conceived. We have used the word almanac, by which it was designated, but in reality it very poorly conveys the subtle and singular combinations which were here brought to bear upon a circular; page: 72-73[View Page 72-73] 72' SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. rotary surface, the aim of which was, to so far simplify the cal- culations of - interest, wages, discounts, and.a hundred other tedious and.difficult problems occurring in complicated business affairs, that the merchant or banker had only to glance his eye down a line of figures, to ascertain in a moment results which would take him, by all the ordinary aids and processes, a long calculation to arrive at. It was a brilliant conception, which must prove ultimately a most successful discovery;'of the young mathematician, and one which had cost him many years of careful analysis and profound observation. But as he handed over the perfected copyright to our astute Professor, who had just enough of button-trading cun- uning to perceive the immense practical results of the enterprise, without the slightest knowledge.of the processes by which it had been perfected, there might have been noticed upon. the face of his former victim, as he pocketed his paltry bonus, a slight sneer, which would have alarmed any one less gifted with occa- sionalshort-sightedness than our Professor has shown himself to be., He made off with the documents in an ecstacy of triumph, and forthwith began making round purchases of paper, paste- board, and other mechanical appliances necessary to his success, to the amount of thousands of his easily-got gains ; and then as heavy-sums were as rapidly expended upon the costly and diffi- cult copper-plate engraving, which was to set forth in full the triumph, the undivided honors of which he now claimed, to the world. There are few of the main printing-offices in the country that had not, or have not, that famous circular almanac hanging upon their walls. Unfortunately the Professor had been too eager to promulgate his triumph, and powerfully illustrated in this experiment the truth of the old aphorism, "The greater haste. the less speed;" for it turned out, upon a close examina- tion of the long and intricate series of calculations, by scientific men, that the fatal error of a single numeral ran throughout its ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. - I3 complex demonstration, and rendered, its !hole results utterly futile, without the-enormous expense of cancelling the costly copper-plate," and- the tremendous edition which had. been alreadyTssued.Tle inorrigible igntorande"of the Spiritual Professor -hadrenideied hiin incapable of detecting the error himself, and he had thereby swamped. effedtually=dotrily his magnanimousspeculation in this particular case, but thoroughly dissipated the abundantpro ceeds of his more suiceful lation in the spiritual correspondences. This little accident -threw him upon his shifts; but we shell surely find him upon his-feet again hereafter Had not his starving victimsn subtly worked out a sublime revenge, in spite of the fact that he had- been over and- o.ver again so thoroughly saved? So much for Boan rges and the young mathematician. C H A P TER VI. 'THE NEW "sAVING GRACE. Thou hast thews Immortal, for thou .art of heavenly race; But such a love is mine, that here I ehase Eternally away from thee all bloom Of youth, and destine thee towards a tomb. E'NDYMION. Fierce, wan, And tyrranizing was the ,lady's look. Idem. A YEARS in the life o man, is a long time. As what changes may it not bring about to any, the strongest of us, the most 'secure --those weary, dragging twelve months Such a period has elapsed in the chronology of our narrative sino the :scenes described as occurring it the Graham House. page: 74-75[View Page 74-75] SPIRITUAL VAMPII$M,' It is latef on a dark stormy evening, and we will look 'into thwell-stocked half libraryand half'office of a handsome pri- vateresidence in Beekgan Street, New York. Theushioned appliances of the most fastidious luxury of repose were strewed about theroom in the strangest disorder of heaped cushions,,fallen chairs. and 6ot-ofsplace lounges while books, surgical instruments, vials, dusty,. crusty, broken; and corkless, all mingled in the 'desolate confusion which seemed to have usurped the place.r {A shaded' lamp stood upon the table in the -centre oftthis chaos, and threw itsalight upon a large decanter of brandy and ar glass- :eneath. A deep-drawn meaning sigh -disturbs the deathlike 'silence of the -room ; 'and a broad, stout figure,'which had leaned 'back within' the shadow of a huge= cushioned chair beside the table, reached suddenly forward 'and chitched the brandy-bottle convulsively. He dashed a great gulp into the glass, and then, with treinbling hand, attempted to carry it to his lips. After two or three efforts, which proved unavailing from his excessive nervouiness, he replaced the glass, muttering, " Curse this nervousness!' It-will not even let me, drink my poison any more !" ' He shuddered' as.he turned his head away. " No wonder! how horribly the hell-broth smells!" 'He fell back into the-deep chair again' and was silent-for some time, when, uttering from- the depths of his chest that strange moan, he sprang to his feet. "I mustdrink!" he gnashed,- as, seizing the decanter again, he filled the tumbler to overflowing, splashing the dark fluid over everything' on the table I shall die if I do not drink ! T shall:go crazy:! I will not be baffled!" Without' attempting to raise it again to his lips, he bowed them. to the brimsing- glass,iand' as the beast drinks, so drank he. Oh, fearful degradation!. Where now is the strong man? - that powerful frame would speak. After leaning the tumbler with his lips and trembling hands in'a long, deep diraught, he' ETHERIAL SOFTDOW. ' S straightened himself with an expression.,of loathing that distorted his face hideously. " Paugh ! Hell should mix more nectar with its chiefest physic ! This"stuff is loathsome, and my revolting nerves seem with a separate life to shudder as the new babe- does to, hear the asp hiss amidst' the flowers where it sports! Paugh! infernal! that it should come to me in this short time, even as a second nature, to learn to feed on poisons! It -was not so once,; nature was sufficient, aye, sufficient, when the skies 'rained glory 'out of day, and the stars came .dowti in beamy strength through night !, But then!-but then! Ahyyes ! it had not beco ne ne- cessary then, -that I should be s-a-v-esd 'by human love !" and his features writhed as he' prolonged the word;-"S-a-e-d! no! no ! no heavenly guise of horrid lust to s-a-v-e me ! The chaste and blushing spring came to the early winter'-of my ste- rile life that bloomed beneath its radiant warmth, and gladdened to grow green and odor-breathed and soft, and then! oh, horror! horror. .I am strong enough to -drink again. -'My nerves are numbed now; they dare not tremble." He seized' the decanter once mre, and then, with unshaking hand, conveyed the brimming glass to his lips, and after a aleep draught threw,himself upon the chair again, and drawing. at the same time a glittering object from his' breast, 'he leaned forward within 'the circle of the lamp-light toregard it as it lay open upon the. table before him. This is- the first timewe have seen that face clearly-that haggard, pallid face. Ha! can it be ? T1Lhose sunken, bloated cheeks! Those dimmed, hollow eyes, with leaden, drooping' lids ! -0, can it be ? Have we.known that face before ? -God help us-!, The good Doctor ! and only one year! But see the change ! His, eye has rested upon, that face before him. A, miniature, beautifully executed. ' In it a charmed art has presided at.a miracle! an arch seraphic brow all usunnied o'er' by the golder'eflex from-its'tangled curls, broken in beam and shadow, gracefully glanced a gay defiance in" his eyes,-from '[5 page: 76-77[View Page 76-77] SPIRITUA'- VAMPIUI$M. eye-so iutrous innocent! You dare not say they could be less than all divine, but that the sweet mouth spoke of earth, and eve .weakness of it, early. " ee how theace of that sad and broken man is changing ! thpse shrunk and heavy features are re-lit with life, as some dead waste'with sunshine, suddenly; The .bright,the tender past; the; meliwed mournful past, ha mounted to the eyes and flushed those massive features.once again. He seems as one transfigured for a moment, while he gazes.. The glory of old ini ocenca has' compassed him about,:alas! but for a moment! 'he fears pbur flooding from his eyes, and-hlot the facewhereon he gazes. A sob-that wild an d'piteous moan again-and the palsied wreck of the strong man falle back once mere into his cushioned chair. A horrid, stertorous breathing, most like that of a dying man, -flls the gloomy air of that dim room, and with' ashyolips and ffglen jaw, he sleeps! Ah, that seems a fearful sleep ,with the tears, warnr tears, still pouring, pouring down the rigid cheek! The shaded lamp 'burns on,:and fitfully the chaos of that room, heregard, there, is, touched by its faint light. A slight sund, a rtstling tread is heard, and in a moment, a woman- dressed in black,iwith a black veil about her face, and he um- brella which had protected he~r from the -storm in~ her hand, stood beside the sleeper.. She. evidently had a passJkey,' for she walked forward as one, accustomed to, use it at all- hours and confidently. {The beast !- Drunk,. dead drunk -again !" she muttered. "I shan't get. the money I wanted to-night, that is plain! Curse his obstinacy !. After all 'my trouble -to save him, this is my reward! Worse and worse!"r She sprang forward eagerly as her eye fell upon the jewelled miniature that 'lay before:him 'on the table, and. snatched it up. "Ha ! this will save me some trouble!" She' turned it eagerly over in her hands, 'throwing back her veil' at the same time, to examine the valuable case with vivid glistening eyes, that did ETHJRI4X ODW , '' 77 I not seem to notice in the least 'degree the, exquisite painting within. " Ah, yes, this is great! Wonder the fool never let me know of- it before!' I should have had it in Chatham Street' before this ! Never mind, 'never too late,' I see ! It saves me the trouble of e'ploring his pockets and table-drawers to-night, for what is getting to be a scarce commodity. Bah! what silly school-girl face is this? 'He is falling back to':whine about the past. 0, that's all right. -P11fil lhis decanter for him! He has done enough.- He has fed me for a year, I'll let the poor wretch off! Yes, I've saved him! I 7ave feasted on him!" And she drew herself erect with a triumphant -swelling of the whole frame, which seemed to emit, for the moment, from its outline, a keen quick exhalation most like-the heat-lightning of ,a sultry summer sky. - She fills the decanter rapidly from a demijohn she drags from a closet in the roomandplaces it by his side..She pushes the water-pitcher far beyond his reach, and then steps forward for a moment into the light.' Have we ever seen that face before ? -No.! no! It might have been-there is some resemblance-but this form and face are too full of arrogant abounding strength to be the same faint bleeding victim of. ruthless persecution that we saw at first ! No!, no !- It cannot be she! Ha! 'as she thrusts that jewelled miniature into her fosom and turns to' glide away, I can detect that infernal obliquity of the left eye ! 0, dainty Etherial! 7 * page: 78-79[View Page 78-79] SPIRITUAL VAMPfIlIM. CHAPTER V-II. THE. CoNVENTICLE OF TIE. sTRONG-MIND9D.. Her strong toils of grace. , KSHAKSPEARE. TAKE we a glimpse now of another interior scene in -the strange,. mingled lifeof the great metropolis. In a bare and inanly-furnished- but roomy parlor of a house in Tenth St-eet, near Tompkins Square, we find assembled; on one' summer's afterrioon, a group of females. There are perhaps- ten of thenn irl a: 'he characteristicwhich'first strikes the eye, on glancing aroi nd this group, is the strange angulaity of lines presenteI eveyWhere, in faces, figures and attitudes, except when con. trasted with an uncouth and s uabby embonpoint, which seemed equally at variance with tfie physical harmonies, supposed to be characteristic of the sex. What' sl 'tis meant, you could not comprehend at first' glance '; but the impression was, of something "out of joint.' Where or what, it was impossible to conjecture. Some sat-with their'bonnets on,which had a Quakerish cut about them, though not strictly orthodox. "Some,- donsciou. of fine' hair iad tossed their: bonnets hn the floor or chairs; as.the case might be. There-was, in a word, a prevail- ing atmosphere of steadfast and devil.-nay-care belligerence --- a seeing, on brow, in hand ,andsfoot, that, demurely restrained, as it',certainly was, unconsciously led you to- feel 'that a slow and simtltaneous -unbuttoning of the cuffs of sleeves, a del- berate rolling up' of the same, and a dazzling' development'of lean, taut tendons, corrugated muscles, and swollen veins, would be, the' most natural - movement conceivable. Not that this bellicose sentiment, by any means, seemed to have found its proper antagonism in the forms and personalities then and" 1. ; E'IIERIAL SOFTDOWN. 79 there presented; but that you felt, in the vacant reach.. and per- sistent abstraction of the expression, that the' foe, at whom they gazed through the infinite of space, was not an yIdividuality, but an Esence, - a world-devouring element' of Evil, with which they warred. "' "-f And warriors indeed they seemed-we should sag Amazons-- wielding,; not the weapons .of carnal strife, but those mightier arms with which the Spirit doth, at times, endow our race. As for the war they waged,. whatever might be the power with whom they were engaged, it seemed to. have been a protracted and a: desperate one; for, verily,,judging from, the harsh lines that seamed the faces of those present, one would imaginethern to be " richpanly in large hurts" . There were .young ,women present who were clearly under twenty; whose foreheads, when they elevated their eyebrows, were wrinkled and parchment-like as any. "Painful warrior famoused for fight." Why this unnatural 'wilting'? would be the-certain question of the cool observer. What'fearful wrongs have these women suffered? What- "contagious blastments ?" Is the wicked world arraigned against -them for no just cause ? Has it doin- bined its respirimig 'masses nto one -large, simultaneous breath of volcanic cursngs, to be wreaked upon their uneffendig heads alone ? To be sure; " Some innocents capee not the thunderbolt -" and can it be that these, too, are "innocents ?" It-is' true, phy siology teaches that, when women wither prematurely, acquire an unnatural sharpness of feature, become "Beated and chapped with tanned antiquity," before they have seen years enough for the bloom of. the life of true maturity to have freshened on their cheeks and foreheads- there must be' some cause for it. Common. sense teaches, too, that that cause is most likely to -be, originally, ratliera physical . .. K - _ J Yt i page: 80-81[View Page 80-81] ETHEREAL SOFTDOWN. 81 than a spiritual one-that mental aberration, dogged and sullen maoeds,"'oneddeaed abstractiQns,: a general peevishness and fret- fulvdiseoritent,' a suspicious -unbelief in the warm'blooded geni-' alities,, and much enduring 'syrmpathies of those around them, whose lives are intact-or, in other words, who have held them-, selves, ikrhealth, through- nature, near to God - must have its source in some evil not'entirely foreign to themselves. Ask the wise 5Physician why are these things so 'He will answer, God has 'so ordered this material universe, that, while we live in'it, we must conform to its laws; that, however pow- erful our; spiritual entity, our relations to this life must, to be happy,.be' normal. But this is posing. It mjiay,,or it may not, account, in part, for the combative and generally corrugated aspect of this con- ventiQee oft the "strong-minded," to which 'we have been intro- duced. Now let us listen!; She to whom the place of presiding Pythoness seemed to have' been, by general understanding, assigned, ow solemnly arose, amidst a sudden pause of shrill-tongued clatter. ,iShe was',very tall- nearly six feet Her straight-figure'would have seemed vgluptuously rounded, but that the loose-folded, and wilted oval of her face suggested that the plump bust, with its close, manly jacket of black velvet, buttoned down in front, might owe something of -its elastic seeming roundness to those conventionalities, a la modiste; and otherwise, against which her principles most vehemently'protested. Her, flaxen hair emulated the. classic tie of any Venus of-them all, onthe back cart ofthe head; while the effulgenceof sunny curls flooded, the very crow's-feet in the corners of her g'eat, cold, dead, grey eyes. She shook her, curls slightly, and spoke: - "hy sisters, we have cometogether this afternoon, not to talk' about abstractions of right and wrong to out sex; for, upon all these -elementary subjects, our ninds are, fully made up -all those inductive. processes of which the human intellect is capable, our minds have already passed through. Qur opinions are irrevo, cably formed, our conclusions absolute! -Woman is oppressed by man. She is denied her just rights. She is taxed, yet ;de- nied the privilege of representation. She is a slave, without the privileges of slavery;! for, in -the old slave-states, the pos- session of twenty, or thirty, or forty slaves gives to their master the faintly-representative privilege of an additional vote, while to' our tyrants, though each may hold,yin reality,-_a dozen wives, the law grants nothing! Leaving us, in ,fact,, not even the 'shadow of a shade' of a social or civil existence!t We. are thus reduced to a condition of insignificanee, in relation to . the active affairs of life and the world, that we have determined to. be, both incongruous and insufferable. "IMan, our time-out-of-mind despot, 'has determined to reduce us to, and hold us within, the sphere of mere wet-nurses to his insolent, and bifurcate progeny ;- we must,' forsooth, spawn for him, and then- dedicate ourlives to educating his pro- creative vices, into what he calls inanhood!- We are wearied with the dull, stale, commonplace - of nursery-slops, and of the fractious squallings of our embryo tyrants! Man must learn to nurse his own monsters,; and.we will nurse ours ! We have de- clared our .independence of his 'tyranny;A our great object is to displace him from his seat of.power! For six thousand years he has been our despot-our ruthless and unscrupulous tyrant ! We have ,therefore a settlement, to make with him-a long arrearage of accounts to be.rendered. "JBut we are weak, while he is strong ! lIe. possesses' the physicalforce,;and all the- guarantees of precedence since- time began _rhile we' have only our 'own' weaknesses to fall back upon -;wsht ,they, in their suxrfeited rythm, style 'witching graces,' and aeless charms!F "Well, we must' use these against .ese foe as best we may.. We must clip the clap's -anc1' teetr of the lion, at any rate ; and, in consideration. that the whole World of- Pastyand Present is arraigned against -us, we mult accept as our motto, I page: 82-83[View Page 82-83] 82 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. that of the only. man who: ever deserved to be a woman; Loyola, the founder of, the Jesuits,1 The end justifies the means. A small noise--a} scarcely sensible ."teetering of pedal ex- tremities upon the thin carpet, followed this " stern" demnonstra- tion" of "womari's rights," from the accepted Priestess'of -the conventicle; when various exclamations arose from different parts of the room,.such as- "Right;! right! End justifies the means, in dealing with the brutes.! "'They.give us no quarter, and-we will give them none !" "Nurse their brats, forsooth" P "We must circumvent them as we can; to obtain our rights!'"' "Yes! yes! All stratagems are fair'in love and war !"' Suddenly sprang to her feet a very emphatic Stouttwoman, straight and thick-set, with soiled cap, coarse, stubby, grayish hair, sparse, silvery bristles on her chin, gray, savage eyes, and large fists, which she brought down with a, crash'iipon the; frail chair-back which constituted the bulwark of her position. In a voice of creaking'bass; she exclaimed- "Te' sister is right -they are our oppressors ; but it is be- cause we have been cowards- enough to yield 'them the suprem- acy; .it is nothing but our own .cowardice that is to blame. Manknows,,as well as any other animal, on which side his bread is buttered; ;we have only got to learn him whatand where his Place is, and he willkeep it.- When I first married,!I had some trouble with my Jonas;. but I soon taught him that he had better be back again in the whale's belly, than employed in trenching upon my ' woman's rights ! (A general disposition to laugh," which was, however, frowned down by the dignified Priestess.) " It is- truemy sisters; we.have only to,. assert our rights, and stake thea, Man will never dare to rebel,-if we are reso- lute. Oferwhelm hinm with our strength - make him feel his I' ETHERIAL. SOFTDOWN. 88 littleness beside us, and he will slink into any hole to hide. , I am myself in creed. a non-resistant-(suppressed laughter.) I do not believe 'in pummelling truth into man ' forced; conver- sions do not last; and should not.. But I will teF you what sort of' conversions I do believe in ; they are spiritual.:Bow, bend, aye, break his spirit -to your will, and then he is yours; instead of being slave to. him, he is your slave. This is what we want. When he can be reduced to obedience, then he will be happy; for when he has accepted us as his spiritual guides, and no longer dreams of lifting his thoughts in rebellion, then will he always go 'right. They then eves are for ever confess- ing, that without us, as mothers, theywould'never-the greatest of them-arrive at any thing; that' they owe it all to us -all their greatness, all their goodness. Let us take the hint, and hold the spiritual birch over them always, and they will ever remain obedient, for their'own good." This speech was received with very general approbation; though, that all did 'not 'recognise it as orthodox, became imme- diately^ apparent. A tall, thin, cadaverous-looking lady, with excessively'black hair; aid eyes that literally glistered as she rose --the, huge ear-rings and multifarious trinkets about her person quivering, with excitement --exclaimed, in a 'shrill voice- '' "It' is false ! it is not true that we desire to make slaves of man. We are opposed to slavery--.to slavery of all sorts; and, although mnan deserves, on account of his oppressions of the poor negro, to'be made a slave of, if human' slavery were to be tolerated, yet we desire rather 'to return good for evil; and all we ask is equality in the Senate, in the Presidential chair, on the bench of justice, in the countirg-house and work-shop. We want our rights; our right to marriage as a mere civil contract our right to choose with whom we shall enter itito-That con- tract, whether colored orwhite man, and our right toanul that contract when it pleases us. What kind of freedom is it, When, if I choose to marry a mai of color, o matter~ how noble he page: 84-85[View Page 84-85] S IRITtJAL 'VAMPIRISM. may be, I am to be-mobbed-and driven out of the society of my' race; while, if I am so- unfortunate as to marry a white man, who turns.out tob'e a brute and tyrant, as he is most like to do, and attempt to rid myself of the horrid incubus,, by-leaving him, or by suing him for a divorce, I: am equally mobbed by the hue-and-cry, and, banished -from society as an. outlaW? We want our rights in marriage -we want equality. I can Here the speaker was interrupted by -a voice marvellously flute-like and lingering in itrintonationsy - "'At which, like 44colts, they prjoked their ears, - Advanced their 4 ifted up their noses, As they smiell e And cold shoulders wre simultaneously turned upon the, dark-- haired and be-jewelled orator-of amalgamation. The dulcet-toned interrogator, who, to the surprise of all eyes, appeared a squabby, cottony, pale-eyed, thick-lipped, lymphati.-ooking personage, who wore a wig clumsily, and had no vestige of hair upon brow or violet eyelids, proceeded, in mneliuous.phrase "(We did not come here to talk about private grievances. The, sister who, speaks so fiercely of our rights, in regard to marriage, had better have had a little experience on the subject. She is,.1vshould judge, considerably the rise of forty, and has never yet been married; not even to one of the. darkbrowed children of Ham, towards whom she .exhibits so decided a lean- ing. - Now, I have been murried.six times already-(great sen- sation,) --and to white men, and gentlemen, at that; and con- sider myself, therefore, qualified to speak of marriage. Mar- riage is a great blessing; let herdry it when she gets a chance, and he-will find it so :(much bustling and fidgeting, the dark- hairedwoman looking daggers.) It isn't marriage that.is the great evl, ag ihst which we; have to fight Mnor it isn't the slavery of the colored race, either. It is the slavery of our own -race,of our owl kith and kin, of our own blood- and complex- I ion. Jt is the emancipation of our own fathers, sons, and bro- thers, frotn, the barbarous -penalties. of the penal. code. Our erring fathers,.sons, and, brothers; it is their cause, my -sisters, it is their- cause we are called upon to vindicate. According to our brutal laws, one- little frailty, to which we all miay be sub- ject,'-one little slip, which-any, the purest of us may yake subjects man to solitary incarceration for life, in which he is cut off from all loving communion .with our sex; or to the horrible penalty of death by the rope ! -This, my beloved: sisters,-is the crying evil of the day ; and ma man, is in favor of such inflictions. We -mustsofteni'hi sp * -art, through our charms. It 'is our duty, it is our rnision,41 eftct amelioation in favor of theterring classes. We are all erring; and in how much are we better than they;?--except, that through our- cunning, and - in ou cowardice, we have as yet escaped penalties which, under the safe measure of justice, might as well have been visited upon us. I have visited the penitentiaries and prisons of many States, that I might carry~consolation to the shorn and manacled children of oppression.. J tell you that I have seen among them gods, whose shattered-armor gleamed in..light! I -have seen Apollo, with. his winged heel chained to a round-shot ! I- have witnessed moi gforioa effulg- "Hiss-s-s-s !" "Nonsense ! "It was. Mercury, the god of thieves, 'you saw with the round-shot at his heels !"said an oily voice; and, as all eyes turned in' that direction, the forehead of the- speaker flushed crimson while she proceeded-- " It is nototnan at all; it is we who shut ourselves up. in tight frocks, who make hooks-and-eyes our jailers, and ribs of whale- bone our. strait-jackets! -Let us first free ourselves physicaly, give our-lungs and hearts room to play,-an4then we may talk about open battle with mran- for our rights But, as it is, t6 speak thus, is -nonsense. We areweak, while man is strong we must fight him-with other weapons than open force. While he laughs at our pretensions, let us, too, laugh at his- foibles, and govern 8 zels",au# ;V, * 85- - . --Ql %rx ETHEEI4L SOFTDOWNL page: 86-87[View Page 86-87] ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 86- SPIRITUAL a.-VAMRIM hinb roighlhem. It was to consult, as to some consistent and. uriforunb system by which we should. be enabled to. accomplish this _result'that wer came together this afternoon. It -has been well said, that our' motto should be, 'The end justifies the neans.' To 'the weak and the _deterniiined, this is a-sacred creed,'and we should go forth with it in our hearts, and act upon it in all our relations towards. men. It should be our business to get possession of them, body-and soul. We need their influence, to advance our views, to obtain our rights. We should be all things to all men;- should believe in the Bible, in Fourier, in Swedenborg, in-Joe Stith, or Mahomet, if neces- sary, so that the influence be gained. We must seek out every- where men who hold places of power-and public influence, and win them-not to ours oause, for that would be hopeless but to ourselves ; and through ourselves to our cause. We must not scruple as to the means; for 'the end justilie sthe means.' We must find, by whatever stratagem,=art, or intrigue, that may be available,,the assailable points in the characters" of those who may be of use to us, and secure them, at whatever risk'of reputation; for, as we'will secretly sustain each otherr' we will at once dignify ourselves and our cause into the position of martyrdom, and be able to take shelter behind the omnipotent cry of persecution. There we are safe." iGood!"' "Good!" "Right!"- "Right!" 'Just the thing!" burst from' ill sides of the room; while the weather- beaten face, ,--that is, the forehead, .2-of the lithe, glib speaker flushed with momentary exultation, while she continued, with still greater emphasis " Thus banded, my sisters,- if -we are firm, faithful, and en- during, we"'may-conquer the world. There is never a period when there is' more then a dozen men who wield its destinies. There are nearly a dozen of us here present, and there are Other spirits that I know, resolute and strong enough, to be our asso- ciates;' let us resolve, then, to-govern those who govern; and the' romantic fragments of the life of a Lola Montes will have been firmly conjoined in the fact of a governing dynasty, the sceptre of which shall be upheld by woman." Storms of applause,,during which the' plain, Quakerish-looking speaker subsided into her seat. As she did so, there might have been observed, under the flush of exultation which man- tied her brow, a singular obliquity of the. left eye! -'Ha! Etherial ! , _ , 4. _ 1 1 8' page: 88-89[View Page 88-89] 88- Mrrl-xVAIL VAMPTISime CHAPTER VII. N'1flUs:UN. 'Tis he?" I ken the manner of his gait-. He rises on the toe; 'that spirit of his In aspiration lifts'him from the earth. SHAKSFEARE. A barren-spirited fellow!1 one that feeds On objects, arts, and imitations. Idem= Thjs is a slight, unmeritable man, Meet to be sent on errands. Idem. WE will now enter one of the upper rooms of the notorious Graham House, with the interior of which we have before been familiarised; and, which had' been reopened, on a 'modified basis. A single glance at the confused piles of manuscripts, books, and papers, scattered about the 'room and on the table, mingled with stumps -of pens and cigars, ,and a' long-tubed meerschaum, showed, that it could "be no other than the charac- teristic den of a literary bachelor, who, with chair: and table drawn close to the stove, sat there to show for himself,'ear- nestly, engaged in what seemed to be the business of his life - writing. You ,saw in a moment that this- was not a Northern 'man, for. in addition to the long,.black, and wavy hair; the dark, bronzed, and vaulting features indicated clearly.a Southern origin. He was' evidently young-certainly- not more than twenty-seven, -judging, as one instinctively does, by.contour of person. and features, and not by the expression of these face. -But that ex- pression, when you sawit; as,-he.lifted his head, at once,left you in doubt whether 'it could possibly belong to so immature a ETHERIAL. SOFTDOWN.- 89 period of life. Although the brow was broad, and mild as that, of a child, yet there was a solemn and unnatural fixedness in the whole face, which, united with the cold stillness of'the great- gray, hollow eyes, told at once a dreary tale of suffering, which sent an involuntary shudder through your soul. Where the ex- pression rested most, it was impossible for you to, tell; but the feeling it conveyed was one of absolute horror. T'Ihat-a face, which seemed so young, should be .one tihat' nver smiled! - And could the.story that it told be true ? : Could-it be that for years that face had never smiled.? A light tap was heard at the door, and, with a momentary frown of vexation at the interruption,-he turned his head, and a young man entered the room, with, somewhat hesitating step, which showed that he was by no ,means certain of .his ground. He was slight and thin something below the average height, with even a darker complexion than that of the 'face we have just described;xhis black hair,.-and preternaturally black ,and vivid eyes, glitteredbeneath straight, heavy brows, whichrnearly met. '.'His nose was prominent and partly arched ;.and there was, in the whole bowed 'bearing and cat-like gait of this per- son, an inexplicably strange and foreign look, which, alike in all countries, characterises that fated race which is yet an out- cast among the nations. His greeting was singularly expressive of eager:ap reciation, while that of his host to him was cold, distant,' and merely polite. Pushing aside his writing materials, as he handed him a chair, Manton-for such was the name of our young writer- - turned upon his visiter a 'frigid look of:inquiry, and said, with a formality almost drawling Doctor E. Willamot Weasel, Ihope it is well with youi this evening?" His visiter, in rather ,a confused -manner, commenced- "Ye-es, yes-I--.I fear I am intruding on'-yout seclusion ; but p-pardon n, I cannot bear any longer to see you thus seclude yourself from all the amenities of social life.' You need relaxa 8* page: 90-91[View Page 90-91] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. tion: our Esteri isolation here-vith tle pen, and pen alone, is laying wild work with your fine faculties. Pardon me, if I in ist upon it; that you must and should accept the, sympathies 'ofthe men arid'women around you. In the doctrine of unity in divesity,TFourier demonstrates that there is .nothing more fatal to consistent"development of both body and mind, than entire pre-ocdupation in a single object orpursuit." Detecting a shade of vexation, at this juncture, crossing the open"'brow of Manton, Doctor Ebenezer Willamot Weazel hast- ily" reiterated his apologies. I-beg of you not to mistake my zeal for impertinence. I have already received much ,good and- many valuable truths frorxi eouversationwith you, and I conceive 'myself under strong personal obligations of gratitude todyou, that I hope may plead for me in extenuation of what your no doubt,."considef an im- pertinent iintrusion." Im'would, as some measure of acknowledg-s ment for such obligation, beg to be -permitted 'to protest with you against this' dangerous_ and' obstinate' isolation 'from all human sympathies; in which your life, dedicated to 'literary ambition,' seems to be'here fixed."' "My good friend, Doctor Weasel, :ny life is my Qwn, and nay purposes areUixed. I need' no sympathisers, since 'I' am sufficient unto myself. They would only distract and minify the :higber:aims ' of '. My life. 'You may call it literary ambition, but I callit a'settled and 'sacred purpose to achieve good in' my day ad generatiort. I am content, sir!- "To not attempt to "disturb thabetatentmnent" P "This1 reply wad somewhat curtly delivered, and seemed to dis- compose 'theDoctor, who, however, hesitatingly persisted- ~ Ah! ah'! ahlfes! I-expected to hear something of the sort from you, of course, but I beg you to consider that, underithe harmonic law of reciprocation or mutual' support and benefits, discovered by Fourier,'and which lies at the base of all true or- ganisation, you, have rio~ more right, as an individual, to hold' youtself aloof, intellectually and socially, fromn the- great body B HERIAL SOFTDOWN. 91 of mankind who are working'for your benefit as well as' for 'their own, than a rich man has to lock- up his hoards of gold, and bury it where future generations may not reach it! The social state can only exist by individual concessions in. favour of the whole." ' =f'' "Your argument," was the-cold response, "like all genes ralising postulates aimed at particularcases,overIeaps its mark. I consider that I shall effect more earnest good 'by persisting in 'this isolation against which you 'protest. For as Ido-'not-ask or- require the' individual sympathies of my race, but rather -choose the still-life of "undisturbed sympathy and 'com'munion with nature, I feelthat' I shall accomplish more, far more, for humanity, in thus: dedicating myself to her interpretation. 'Through -me, as a medium, my fellow men may thus learn far loftier truths than they themselves .might ever impart reciprocally amidst the babble of what you 'call -social intercourse." 0' "But you do not exclude women, surely? That would be unnatural; for you kno* that the life of ran cannot be com pletely balanced, withoutthe ameliorating presence and-'ub duing contact of woman. .He becomes asavage without 'her; his passions are bruftalised, and the man is spiritually andsocially degraded. '-' ""' "An admirable truism, Doctor! 'I honor and revere woman; in her high place-she is to us, eniphatically --angel' But this very reverence in which 1 hold' her, prompts nie to avoid cod. tacts.that may 'despoil me of my ideal. I am prepared to wor- ship her, but not-to' degrade or look Upon her degrded. There is nothing, in'the range of human possibilities, so hideous to me as such contat--for I would hold my mothers 'image' always uncontaminated. I any a.strager, sir. 'I mdke no female an- quaintances at present' here." "Sorry," 'said the Doctor, "very sorry, sir ; fori my. special niission'in this case-was'to persuade 'you to give ip your'isola tion; in favor of an acquaintance with a most noble and charm ing woman, a friend of mine, who, having inet with your papers page: 92-93[View Page 92-93] 92' SPIRITUAL ;AMPiRIsM. in thejournal you arenow editing,. is exceedingly anxious for anintr dnetion, which :, in plain terms, have come to request. Sis-a woman of masculine and .daring mind, and is taking the ir itiaT in- -most :of the reform movements of the day, and particularly The most important of then all, the science of phy- siojogy as applicableto her -own sex. She has taken the: lead as the first lecturer on such subjects, and is acc&rmplishing a vast amount of god. I am- sure you will be mugh struck withP her, and I never ;met'two-people whom.I was .more anxious to see brought together. You will appreciate each other, as physiology isone:of your favorite subjects." "Ba!-a leetureewoman ! But :I don't mean to be disre- spectfulDoctor. You could have told me .nothing that would have nore firmly fixedemy resolution; neither to' be introduced to or know the person of wher'aYou speak, on any terms what, ever!.Your manly-minded women are both' my disgust and abhorrence Y- as what they choose to call, manliness is most usually a coarse and sensual impudence, based on inherent immo:de ty,which renders them incapable of recognizing 'the delie"a unities of propriety, either in thought or deed. i fully concede a woman capacity for displaying the great and even loftier processes of intellection;, but the moment she unsexes herself, she andhnr thoughts become vulgarised. :Such people are uniyersally-adyenturesses, and of the most unscrupulotns sort' ,I, as .a stranger here,., ish' to run no. risk ,of "becoming entangled. in their plausibilities 'amtworking for, a ,full, free and frank recognition, by the social wold, of my righto, chose the place, the social circle rather, that I shall enter and become aptr ofI I'o not wish to be dragged into such contacts,,but to command them at my willt" 'But, sir," persisted the Doctor, "she. admires your papers so fervently, and pities the cruel and selfinfilicted isolation in' which you live, with such ardent, disinterested and motherly warmth, tht you can scarcely in your heart, be so obdurate as to reject her genial overture-the sole object of which is, to ETlRIAL SONTDQW . '9 draw you forth into some participatioiwith the milder humani- ties-to make you feel that New York is not really the savage, base and flowerless'waste which- we are 1e4 to presume you consider it, from the attitude you have assumed toward its social conditions. -You are killing yourselfhere-with ftobcco, wine and labour,' while she would show that even self-immolated genius may find- a warm place to nestle, in distant lands, and near the matronly bosom, in spite of cold and sullen self reliance!" "c The fact of her beinga-matron," frigidly responded Manton, considerably modifies the general character ofthe proposition which she has done rpe the honor, through you, to communicate. But, Doctor, I must finally and definitively state to you that I do not, at present, wish to cultivate any female acquaintance whatever in the city 'of New York. I propose to wait until I can select instead of being selected." And rising at the-same time with an impatient movement, which might or might not, be mistaken for a ,desire to be left 'alone, Mr.' Manton politely. showed Doctor E. Willamot Weasel, who had now taken the hint, to the door. Almost the same moment after- his discomfited visiter left, Manton. hastily gathered, up the scattered leaves of manuscript on his table, and muttering, as he thrust the roll into his} pocket, "Curse the intrusion! this ought to have been in the printers' hands an hour ago, and yet it is not finished !" and snatching up his cap, he passed from the room, and left the house.. Not long after; there' came a sharp ring at the door of, the Graham House, and the female servant,-who hurriedly hastened to open it,,was quite as sharply interrogated by a woman on the outside, who was closely veiled, and wore a sort of Quaker garb - "Is Mr. Manton in ?" "No, ma'am, he has just gone out." page: 94-95[View Page 94-95] SPIDITUA YAMPflSIM, 1Whereis his room? Ilhave a letter for him, which I wish t de 4tsn a s pace with' myown hands. What is the hepr1of his room. he asked, i an imperativemanner. Maa'm, t'he gentleman is out. 'an t-youleave the letter. with me or the =mistress ? We will give it to him when he co1 No ,I choose to place it 'myself. What is his numbers" A ;..d as'he e, she slightly unveiled herself The servant seemed to recognse hr face even through the dusk, and-said, though rather sullenly, as she gave way for her to pass,- "Yes, ma'an, walk, ir= His room is:No.26, 'on thethird flor," The female glided rapidly'past, and as the servant at- 'tempted to fllow her exclaiming, "Ma'am,.Iwill show you _ e numberr" she-answered hastily, ".Never mind, I know where the roan is'nowa!" nd darted up the. stairs.. The servant routtered some:"droll commentaries on this proce" dure,:whicl& itlis notnegessary to repeat, an4 seeming to be afraid to co 1i-to her syperiors, dragged herself surlily back towardsisubterrarean home\ In the meantime our lightfooted and uneremonious caller had 'reached the'third-floor, and walked straightforward to the door of the room' just left by Manton. She troubled herself with no idle cerem ony of knoking, but walked confidently in. L ETHE AL SOFTDOWN. CHAPTER IX BESIEGED. Such forces net not, nor ao wide a camp, When Agrican, with all his northern powers, Besieged Albracca, s ,romances tell. PAiRADISE RGA~IED. AN hour afterthe last scene, Mantori returned to his room, and, seeming greatly hurried, lit his lamp, aid- throwing him- self into a-chair, seized his mupen,Mttering 'between =his teeth' " It -ufust, he finished tonight ! a, an has no right to be tired !" He was drawing his writing materials towards him, to proceed with his work, when a something of' strange disorder among his papers 'caught his quick eye. "Ah whq has been:disturbing my papers ?"and as a flash of suspicion 'shot-through him, he sprang to his flet, exclaiming,. " my trunks, no doubt, have shared the inquisition!" and, step- ping quickly to them, he threw up the lids. - "By Heaven, it is'so! what-accursed carelessness this is 'of mine, leaving everything unlocked in this fashion!" His first glance had shown 'himl that the trunks had beentlis- turbed, and a cautious effortbeen made to replace the contents as they were before. Uttering some energetic. expletives_ of wrath, he knelt beside one to ascertain how far the-examination had been carried, when, reaching.-he packages of letters and papers:at the:bottom,'he saw-there, too, unmistakable evidence of a pretty thorough' examination having been held of- their contents. If he had been enraged before, this illed himgith 'uncon- trollable fury. He stamped his foot heavily upon the foor, and his whole frame -shook.violently;-while with, gnashing teeth -he called don a fearful imprecntion upon the head of this wretched y 4 .- page: 96-97[View Page 96-97] /' 9 SPIRITUAL VAMi' RISM. violator, whoever -itrnight be, of the sad and mournful secrets of his past life, which he ha~d held sealed in his own bosom, so' sternly, so long, and, alas! sosvainly. Those letters revealed all. 'Some paying reptile had thus slimed the holy penetralia of his proud'life! The very thought was horror-loatping'! A shudsler of un- utterable -disgust cr'ept through him; an- uncontrollable fury blazed through his-soul; his eye's glittered with almost demoniac fire; hisface turned; deathly.white, and his teeth ground and plattered.:like the clamp of a wild .boat's tusks, and yet he ade ro tragic start; he stood still, with his arnms chitching each other across his breast, and his eyes looking out into the lank diatpace, through which their concentrated light. seemed to pierce to some far object. He at length pronounced slowly-. Ye, my curse"shall follow you; be you man or woman, it shall overtake you in teror ! I feel the prophecy in me! The wretch who has thus contaminated those chaste and loved ne- rentoes, shall yet feel my curse ! My consciousness is filled with itn! I know not how,- or when, or where'! my curse shall reach and blast the author of this sacrilege ! bah !" and'his, face writhed into the devilish mockery of a smile; "it is almost sufficient vengeance, one ~would think, that the wretch fouindno money " Starting suddenly forward,.he'commenced pacing to and fro with long strides; with knitted 'brows, compressed lips, and eyes bent upon the floor.-For 'more than an ,hour he ,thus silently communed with himself, without, the changeof a muscle in expression, when drawing a long sigh, he threw off this' frigid look in a degree, 'merely .saying -in a low voice,' "My curse s good !" and returned to the table to resume his seat and his labors: ' As he' did so, his eye fell upon a note directed to himself,' which, as it had been placed in no very conspicuous position areong t1e 'objects pan the table,had, till now, escaped his atten- tia. He reached it, and the dainty crow-quilled band of the BTHERI.-SOFT OWN. 97 superscription,' the snowy en elope, and the pure white seal, diselpsed at once the woman.--He regarded it for a moment; coldly,,and without any expression. of interest or surprise; ana with., a slight sneer upon his face, broke the seal, when out. slipped a gilt-edged note,.which he opened and read aloud with a jeering tone: FRIENn-May I not claim to be' th.y friend in; comnion with the whole world, "who have learned to love thee, through thy beautiful thoughts ?" Stricken, sad, and suicidal child of genius, nay I not steal into the tiger's lair of thy-savage isolation, to bring one single ray of, blessing, to tell thee how, at least, one human soul has throbbed to the seraphic eloquence' of powers, that,, alas!-I appeal to your inmost consciousness!-are being rapidly destroyed by your obstinate-.seclusion in labor, and by the vices of.wine and 'tobacco,,fwhich are its necessaryatten- dants. You have it in you to be saved; your. soul is tall and strong as an archangel; -your' vices are the withes - of grass that bind you; and love, social love, the calm and genial recip- rocation-of domestic sympathies, can alone redeem you. You are proud -4 know it'! but pride will yield to.gentleness, and in a distant land. among strangers, the tearless, motherless boy, will-not reject a mother's proffer of a mother's yearnings. You naughty, haughty child, we must save you from yourself; in spite of yourself! Yours spiritually, MARE. Manton, whose face had, during this reading, writhed with almost every conceivable expression, tossed theI letter from' him as, he finished it, with the -exclamation-"Pah! this'. must be Doctor E. Willamot Weasel's lecture-woman!" Impudent '.ad- venturess in every line, as I expected !" And he' resumed his, pen, and his labors, continuing in a low voice, as he commenced his -writing--"Unfortunate allusion, by the way, tothe withes of grass -we cannot help being reminded' of a' certain Mr Samson, and, a Miss or. Mrs. Delilah. curse her ! how came 9 z page: 98-99[View Page 98-99] sPIRIToAI VAMPIRISM.T she to speak of my mother ?" and grinding his teeth heavily, he proceededwith the work before him, without paying anyfurther' attention'to the. circumstance. The greater portion of the'night was spent in intense labor; but, when, after a very late bath and breakfast, the next -mrn- ing, Manton went out to theoffice of the Journal for an hour,, end returned,11e was snot a little surprised to find another missive, asreatand-snowyas the first, awaiting' im, on the table.- He thought it must surely bethe first, that he had in some unconscious- mood, re enclosed in the envelope; but glancing around, 'he. saw it lying open, where he had tossed it.' tramercy!-but she fires fast!" he said, with a droll look passing -across his features, ashe stooped down, his hands cau- tiously clasped behind his back, to survey more closely the-deli cate superscriptionn -- Mr. Stewart Manton, Graham House Present. "Present!:present! but this sounds rather ominous! Can it be, that A3y spiritual correspondent of last night is an inmate too? My:correspondent is evidently both in earnest and in a hurry! What- shill I do? .yl3'myfaithI have a great mind to thr6w it.upon the centre-table of the common parlor below, and let this benevolent lady reclaim her own, or- else'leave it to the irresistible access of curiosity, 'common to the sex, and pe- culiar.to.-'this queer-house, to explore its unclaimed sweets. -T-e-firsitaste 'has quite sickened .me. I= have something-other to do tha iilisten to such inane, twattle," He continued for some moments to gaze upon the letter, while a half-sneering smile played 'upon his, grave and melan- cholyfeatures."' Well, but this must be- a quaint specimen of a feminine,;to: say the least of it! I have heard of-these spi- ritual ladies. before ! The character must be worth studying, though it seems -to be transparent enough,,toq. Well! we'll. see what she hits 'to say this ,i.tne; at any-rate'! It can hardly be richer than the frst! -Here it is!" FRIEND - I know your heart. That proud heart of yours is at this moment filled 'with saorn for my poor words and humble proffers. - Butit does, not affect re mtch,for well I know that this pride:is-the evil which ever strives in the -unregenerate soul, to fence against- the approaches of good. # As -yet this -demon possesses thee, and; until conquered and humbled by love, you can never -:be saved. Thy physical life- is poisoned --is: poi- soned with tobacco = and it is through 'such poisons that. this evil spirit of pride enters into thy, soul. -Thyspiritual vision is thus obscured, that, you may not perceive the truth. I shall pray for you. My- spirit shall wrestle with thine when 'you know it not, and God will help his humble ntrument. May He soon move that obdurate heart of thine, proud boy! 1A-RIE "Well! but this is cool! decidedly refreshing! This perti- nacious- creature is surely some mad- woman confessed, as she certainly- is a most raging- and impertinent fanatic'! .Boy,'for- sooth! j'atronising. I' should almost be provoked, were not the thing so egregiously ludicrous! 'Well, well"it is consoling, at least, that I have 'found my. good Samaritan at last: .I shall preserve these precious epistles, as decidedly curious memoranda of this original.type of the Yankee -adventuress, for Yankee 'she must be, who has set out thus boldly on a speculation in the spiritualities. - I think I 'have had enough- of this -trash now, as I 'intend to take no.notice either of it or of the writer. I should suppose she might kget discouraged.": The letters were thrown carelessly into 'a drawer, and Man- ton sat down to his work. -, The next morning, when' Manton returned from the office, at the usual hour, what, should meet his eye, the first-thing on en- tering the room, but athird snowy-missive, placed now more conspicuously, on the very centre 'of the table. The poor man stopped, frowned, then gradually his eyes distended into a wild 99 98 ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. page: 100-101[View Page 100-101] 100 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. stre;, and lifig. his- hands at the-same moment, he, shouted out- "Good God! 'What, another;?" and- then, with a sudden revutsion of, feeling, he burst into a loud, unnatural laugh. This is patiice for you! By heaven! she dies game to the last'! Well! let's see what Row for I in beginning to be charmed with the progress of this thing. There's an absolute fascination in such-daring." ie snatched- up the note, and opening it, read it sotto voce, with an indescribable intonation of contempt: FAnIT--Ah, glorious soul, that Imight call thee so indeed! I have just read your poem'in the Journal. Read it, did. I say? My soul has devoured it! Again and again have I returned'to the feast unsated. Ah me, that mighty rhythm ! It has-filled me with new strengthsn4 light!' Qn its harmonious -flow the uni- verse of beauty, love -and life has-been brought closer to me- has been'revealed in splendor and unntterable music, until I have sobbed fr joyr thereof,,'and prayed and wrestled for thee, with my Father: above, that thou mightest be saved. 'It is ter- able to think that a soul so godlike as ;thine. should= be unre- generate. I bless thee,! I bless thee, my son! I pray, for thee! I am praying for thee! I shall pray for thee always, until thou art saved! f MARIE. ((Good!- I am in a fair way for. salvation now, one would think! ,This seems a strange character -- such a mixture ol fanaticistm, cant,- and, withal, appreciation! That poem of mine was certainly an extraordinary one. I hardly expected to find any a one that would appreciate it at' first. B1ut see ! .she has already' caught itssubtle ;reach ;and meaning. Pooh! what a foTl I am! This is perfectly on a par with all the other iyste- nral cant-which I have received from this person. The proba- bility is, if the lines had .been written by'Mr. Julian Augustus Maximilian Dieaway, upon whose soft sconce she desired to ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 101 make an- impression (in the-way of' speculation), the same ex- travagant tropes and metaphors wold have found' their way to the, snowy surface of this gilt-edged paer, through. the' deli- cately-handled crow-quill! Curse it! I' shall order the cham- bermaid to stop the nuisance of these missives !" This letter was impatiently tossed into the drawer 'with' the others, and Manton threw himself into, his chair ; when, after sitting with his head leaning on hishands, moody and motion- less, for some time, hesuddenly straightened himself, and drew from the heap of magazines and books before-him a fresh-look- ing copy of the --Journal. Turning o'er its leaves eagerly to that which contained his pew poem, he perused it and re- perused it over and over again, with an expression of restless- ness and intense inquiry in his manner 'during the time. At last he drew a long breath, and threw the book 'back upon the table, exclaiming' in a..firm voice, "No! I am satisfied. This is no namby-pamby die-away rhyming - there is genuine stuff there ; that is true poetry, or I have it not in my nature to produce it. That cursed meddlesome woman has made me distrust myself for the moment ; by her extravagant praises- has made me doubt the genuineness of my own inspiration.' Her letter is so- evidently disjointed ranting, that it has shaken my self-reliance to have even read it. Curse her silly and imperti- nent legends, I shall read no more of them!" Poor Manton was, evidently troubled now, at length ; and can the reader conjecture why this last letter had so excited him? Had a subtle arrow found 'its mark ? , Was there any, thing in the poem really to justify the high-flown and ecstatic panegyrics of missive No. 3, in the snow-white envelope ?. You shall see- you shall judge.. Here is a frue copy of the poem: - NO REST. 0 soul, dream not of rest on earth!. -On!I forth on!l it, is thy doom!i Too stern for pain, too high for mirth, On ! thou must, through light and gloom. 9* page: 102-103[View Page 102-103] $PI ISTUAL VAMPIRISM. Would'st thou rest wheu thou hast sti-ength_ = . , Mated witiethe seraphiam.? Time-outlabbing, allU whose length Fades, witllin thin ages, dim. o strong tr vellec, ean'at thQu tire,' When, but touching at the grave, hy orn fee, re-shod,.aspire, Winged to cleave as U'riel* cla e? Rest! ah, rest then be alone - God the Worker, thou the Drone!I Soon yon atom, swiftly driving Past thee, in tIeupward race, Braveryfor the perfect striving, Shall assume the Jighbr place. God, the Worker, knows no rest Pause, and beo oim unblest. Lol how by.thee'all is fyingI Even matter oitspeeds thee ! Stronger thou, yet thou seeii'st dying Fading down immensity. 4 Rousethe quickened life-to' know I God works subtly, work thou so! -TThen art subtler than the wind, Than the waters,.than. the light, Than old Chaos,-whomthese bind, Beautiful,-on axle bright. Yet :thou steepest, while they speed-f God, of sleepers has no need! Waiteth cloud, or stream, or flower,. Robing meadq s and the wood?, Waiteth swallow past its hour, Chasingspringbeyond the flood ? * -Yet 'thou Waitest, Weak, untrue - God rebketh sloth in you r",Thither catne g thigg the evsn." P41Aamse' LOST.' 108 THEAL SQFTDOWN.- Sing the stars wearily. Old though and gray? Spin they not cheerily Cycles to-day ? took they like failing, Pause they for -wailing, Since none may stay? Systems'are falling- Autumns have they.; Stars yet are calling Life fr decay. Dead worlds but gild them Dusted in light; Dead times have filled them Fuller of might Brightening, still brightening, Round, round, they go Eternity lightening The way and the wo I DE NoTo. CHAPTER X. ONCE MORE, TO THE BREACH. Once more to the breach, my friends ! Once more!1 OLD PLAY. Poop, Manton was not permitted to remain in peace at his labors long. On the' afternoon-'of the same day,'Doctor F. Willamot Weasel, scarcely taking time to announce himself by a sharp knook, bolted into the room, exclaim g- 1Ah ! my 'dear friend, pardon me; bqt the lady concerning whom I spoke to you, is now in the parlor below, and requests the pleasure'of an interview." page: 104-105[View Page 104-105] W4 SPRITUAL VAMPIRIS-M. A frown instantly darkened the brow of Marton, and he an- swered angrily- "Sir'you will remember tlhat I expressed to you, most dis- tinctly, a 'disinclination for'such an introduction. I told-you I did not wish to know this woman, then, and :I feel still less inclination -to.know her now." "But, a-ah ! mf dear sir, yqu would not surely be' unkind enough to refuse to .see tbe lady now, when she waits in the. parlor, in moinentary expectation of.,seeing you --for the ser- vantitold her you were in ? It certainly can do you no harm to be courteous." " That's 'a.strong appeal to make to a Southerner, Doctor Weasel, it must be confessed."' "Yes,"- said he, rubbing his hands, "I thought you could not disregard it. I ain so anxious to' bring you together ! Do come. I shall be "delighted. Come! pray c+me! she is waiting.". "Doctor Weasel, I do this thing with great eluietance," said Manton, rising. "t suppose I must go; but rest assured, I do not feel particularly obliged to you for forcingmrent6 this posi- tion." This was said in a very cold, measured tone ; but the Doctor's delight at the prospect of accomplishing his favorite and benevo- lent scheme, was so greate-sthat' his excitement prevented him from observing it., "Nevernind, come along; you will thank me for it,' on the contrary, as lohg as you live.' - Manton left the room with him, and when they reached the parlor,she was rapidly introduced to Mrs. Orne ad.l her daugh- ter, who sat.upon a lounge awaiting him. The Doctor instantly darted.out of the roo'nm; and Manton was left'vis-a-vis with his ecstatic correspondent. _ As the woman. rose to meet:him,.the blood mounted to her . very plain face; _ind square, compact, masculine forehead The child, Which was an ugly, impish-looking girl, 'with a mean fore-.' RTUERIAL SOFTDOWN. ,'105. head, wide mouth and projecting .chin,.nevertheless arrested the eye of Manton, as he sat down, by a mournful expression of suffering in her 'light gray eye.. The woman-was evidently:embarrassed for a moinent) by the studied coldness- of Manton's manner, whose eye continued to' dwell upon the. half-quaker, and' half-tawdry dress, rather than upon the face that Lhad at the first. glance -impressed him so disagreeably.' " I have found you out, at last !" said the lady visiter, in a low, pleasing voice. ":Nw have ventured into the tiger's den, I hope he vildiotat me !" 'You are perfectlysafe, imadan!" was the stiffresponse to this sally. "But toAwhat may I owe the hanor of this visit? Is there anything ean do for you ?" The blood mounted quickly to the woman's forehead as she answered hastily, "Yes, I wanted to know if you. can furnish me with -a copy of ally your works! I' have admired with 'so much intensity what I have, seen-but I am afraid you are very much of a naughty boy -you look so cold 'and cross! I am almost afraid to ask you !" "I am very sorry, madam, I have witten no works, as you are pleased to call them. What I have done is entirely frag- mentary, and I:have noi collected those fragments even for' ny- self," was the-unbending reply. " Oh, yes, you have ! I have seen many of them, and you need not be ashamed to own them,.,for there is 'nothing of the kind in literature'to surpass them. Why, there 's -----," and she ran on with a ready list of what she termed works, not a little to the 'surprise Qf Manton, who only listened with a cold stare, and bowed profoundly, as she concdaed with a high- wrought panegyric. "I am sorry I have no such works in my possession, nor can I tell you' where they can be obtained!" The woman grew very red in the face .again, and bit her lips in vexation, while Manton remained silent. ,She soon rallied, page: 106-107[View Page 106-107] 106 SINTU L' VAMPIRISM. however and commenced a conversation upon the -general lite"- rature 'of ,the day; i: which Manton, in spite of himself, was gradually interested, by a certain -sharp epigrammatic method of uttering heresies" and bold paradoxes; which seemed -to be peculiar to hermind, and which could not: but proie refreshing to one, who, like "Manton, most 'eartily detested commonplace. 'He, however, did not unbead in the slightestgand the woman, who finally, in despair ofr" getting at hirm," rose to depart; said, yet persereringly, with-wining badinage "I1finiwyou in .a naughty humor-to-day. You are as cold as* an iceberg, and sharp as a nor'wester. When you get to be a good boy, you may come and'see me !"' "WhenIdos madam, I-shall surely corn'e !" was the response, accompanied by a very low bow; and delivered in a tone that would have frost-bitten the'ear of a polar bear. f . The discoirfited 'woman hurried from the parlor with the' blood almost, bursting froi her face, while Manton, turning on his heel, mufteed - s"tWell! if' that does not freeze her of!; she ought to be canonised! CHAPTER XI. RRIED BY STORM. You call it an ill angel -it may be so; -jut sure am I, tsmong'the ranks that fell Tis the firstfend e'er counselledman to rise ! ANON. MANTON had reckoned without'his host, in supposing that his self-constituted pattoness had any idea whatever of being frozen off: on the contrary , her benevolent ardor had been only warmed tiIl more, as te had -yabundant evidence when, on returning ETHERIAL SOFtDOWN. 1Q7 from his office next morning, he found yet anothersnowy missive crowning the centre of his table. " Monsieur Tonson, come again !" he exclaimed, as he seized. the note, and opened it this time without hesitation," what can- the incredible woman have to say now? Well, here it is!". MY FRIEND --You heaped ice upon my heart rdestray. To-day, I feel' chilled and stiffened, as if my very soul-wings had been frosted through your lips! Why did you do so? It. was not magnanimous in'you. ou;are proud, and beautiful, and strong,';while I am plain, and weaktand lowly. Was-it worthy of a noble soul to treat with such harsh and cutting cold- ness a poor,'feeble, and wayworn.daughter of sorrow like my- self, who had come merely in the- meek and matronly overflow of tenderness and appreciation for a poisoned;sick and erring child of genius, to offer him her sympathy in his dreary and unrelieved immolation of glorious powers at the. unholy. altar of ambition? Was it not unkind of you? Can you suppose that had' you not been poisoned, body and 'soul, the' denon pride would have thus overruled your better and your angel nature to such harsh' rejection of the comforter, the Father had sent you in his mercy ? What have'I asked of, you, butthat you should unbend this fatal pride, and accept of mortal geialities? That you should spare yourself from yourself, and give something to others. Ah ! you will not always thus repulse the sympathies of your race -naughty, naughty boy! hasten to begood and core to see me! MARIE. " Well! well! by heaven, the audacity of this thirig=soars to the sublime ! and yet there is some trutiras Well is patlos in it, too ! Now, I come to think of it,.-it was unmanly of me to treat- the poor woman so, just as if I expected she ca ried.stilettoes or revolvers under her petticoats, or wore aromatic poison in 'her bosom, with a foul and treacherous design upon my life! The fact is, I have' made a bugbear of this creature in- my itnagina- lion, when she 'is. nothing, in fact, but-fool andfanatic coinbin- page: 108-109[View Page 108-109] ed, with a4jttle disjointed mother-wi1. Curse the whole afair ! Iwishshe and her endless letters were in the bottom of the sea! S.Bthesepersistent impertinences she disturbs Ime in. my work; -these, distractions :ire unendurable! I wish she, were crly- safe in heaven. r- it is useless to give al.the letter which poor Manton received, within A=theext1fur or fve days bunt it is suffcient to say that at last, in a fit ofveritable desperation sleen and huior, he answere4-one f 4Iie.last in a tone of hyperbolical exaggeration tha would have put to shame, not lYercutio only, but the veri- table Bombastes'Fuoiosohimself., The effect was coldly studied1 and behol&the result.'-_ Thenext m6rnifig servant informed him that a lady desired to-see him in the parlor.m 'errr-strioken by the announcement, he nevertheless knew, in Is conscience, that hhad brought down the judgment upon his own headI. Hetherefore felt it to be his' duty to abide the consequences of ls own imprudence, and went down to wait upon his caller; who, of course, was no other than- his cor- respondent.. She'recewed him with a flushing face, as seemed, to be usual to her shrikin nature. She was this, time without her daughter. There were other persons in the parlor, and this seeded to disconcert-her somewhat, for she had evidently come 1Fll of some "importnt;-disclosure. Although it was the latter part of winter, and a heavy snow had just commenced breaking : up, Which rendered-the streets of New York almost impassable, she neverthelessproposed that they. should go out for a iong alk. 'Manton looked through the window into the sloppy street, op eie4 his eyes a little, and assented. There was something wonderfully rare in the-idea of a wo- zjan 'sop(loposing a long walk on such aAday, and Manton rekl.hed the hardiness anid originality'of the thing. - K Well saidad hE to' himself~ I like her spunk, anyhow ! tSheahda shown-herself in every wvay to be- in earnest in 'what 'she r I i,, undertakes.. Phew! I shall"enjoy it ! a 'm in iloxngpeti- coats, wading a mile or two througfa cold slush .Mteh as this![ After thi , what is' it 4hat Madame Wvon tdo ? I'h lead her something of a round;.at -any iate, before she-gets back." These thoughts passed through'his 'mind as he ran. up-stairs for his cap. She met him as he came down, in the passage-way, and they passed out at the 'front door.h- ,'aYou are a droll{person,'1 said Manton, ani they reached the street. " a Why?" asked she, with h covert learn in her eye. "'Why?; because few women would 'have thought of choos- big such a-day as this for-a walk. "I care nothing foItrifles! Misfortune has taught me to dis- regard tHein. Suffering makes us hardy." Manton looked down at her with surprise.; for, of all things on earth, the most disagreeable' to him, was that commonplace timidity and shrinkig' from trifles, which is so ludicrousy cha- racteristic of American women. He did4 not wish to seewoman unsexed, but contemnied her puerile and unnecessary cowerdice His companion now proceeded with, great aniimation to follow up the favorable openingthus effected, with a rapid andpathetic sketch, in outline, of her sad and suffersg life.. She had bieen married by hei parents to a. sordid lout of a Quaker, in- New England, whose horrid- barbarities and -perse- cutions had finally compelled the weak and hitherto unresisting woman to seek a separation, the scandal of which had roused against her the relentless animosity of the whole -body-of New England Quakers,who finally carried their--brutal perseution to the extreme of assisting her yet more brutal husband, in rob bing her of her.dear and only child, under the plea that she was neither a suitable nor capable person to have chargeof it. That after a long period, spent by the- distracted.mjther jn roamig up-and down the lanA,-in search of aid andemfort, she had at length succeeded in enlisting. some noble and benevolent soulh 10 - 'XTH9RL SODQWWT page: 110-111[View Page 110-111] 1104 sPIRflUAL VAMPIRISM. in her cause, who finally rescued' the child, by strategy or force, and restored' it. to its weeping mother's arms. "in addition to this sad tale of suffering connected with her private history, which was most skilfully and artistically worked up,'she,'had.another, of public martyrdom,-which'was, to Man- ton-, far more ipipressive. Through obscurity and poverty, this resolute- and daring wo- man ,haddedicated herself to 'the amelioration of.the physical evils of her he less sex.- She had, with unflagging ardor, stu- 'died the -books of anatonuical science, the diseases 'of. her sex, and the wisest means of cure. And thus, in addition to having been the first woman in New England to publicly assert that there is no trae marriage but in love, she had also led the way in announcin-to women their sanitary duties to themselves; that they mistlearn to heal their bodies, and leave the other sex to .take care of their own diseases; that delicacy as well as utility promoted this course. This idea atl once met the approbation of Manton, to whom its assertion was comparatively novel but who had always. deeply felt the lamentable helplessness of 'woman, and the un- natural relation of the male members of the profession to them. The brave and hearty manner in which this singular woman had evidently breasted alone the popular prejudice, in a cause which he saw, at a glance, to -be so just and 'nobly utilita. rian, for the first time moved' his sympathies somewhat in her favor; in spite of his contempt and disgust for -women who ven- tared beyond their sphere. The vocation of a learned nurse to diseased persons .f her' own sex, was clearly to him not beyond the' proper sphere of woman, but a most important, legitimate, and-however little recognised,J conventionally - the' mosthonorable and useful. He' c o but respect theWoman, whatever her-eccentricitids mightbe,'who could be brave and true enough to assert effect- ively to her -sex the natural' and inevitable mandate," Know thyself! ETIHRJAL SOFTDOWN. 11 There was something chivalrous in the thought-,a generous daring, a martyr spirit, that could not fail to- arrest a nature in itself, rashly, scornful of all that was merely conventional, and whose untamed, half-savge soul rejoiced in all, novelties that expressed to him a higher utility than mere forms conveyed. The walk was continued for hours ; and still further to try her nerves, during this long conversation, Manton 'turned' through many intricacies into the most darkened labyrinths' of the vice- profaned metropolis. The woman never flinched ; nothing seemed' to appal her, and, as they threaded rapidly the dingy alleys of the -"Five Points," she had an acute theory or-'a daring speculation for each evil' the external form of which they successively en- countered. There was a 'vigor and. originality in all this, as coming from a woman, that interested Manton in spite: of himself. Plain, uncouth, and eccentric aswas this scorned "lecture-woman," he could not but confess to himself, as they returned mud-be- draggled and tired enough from that long wal , that his respect for her had very much increased. " - "Z page: 112-113[View Page 112-113] s8IITUAL 'VAMaPIRIM.' C H- APT ER X II. SPIRITUAL CONFIbENiEs.' And uiider fair pretence of fri idly ends, - 'An4d well placed words ofygloing courtesy, Baited with reasons not unplausib1e, Wind me into-easy-hearted man, And hugihim into snares. M e r i KO UMUs. WE shall followsthe bedraggled heroine-of the last chapter, begging leave 6f the.readerto "see' her home." Mark With what an elate and vigorous step -she trips it up Barlay Street into .Broadway, after taking leave of 'Manton at the door of the Graham 'House. One would think that she should' s urely'be tired, after that tremendous mornirig's work, trudging and splashing through the dirtiest mire of three-fourths' of the great city. But.- no--slie spring in her gaitand her strange,animal eye,. 'glitters fairly with a devilish obiquity, which has for the 'moment usurped its expression. She does not mind that people turn and stare after her' dragging and be- spattered skirts-not she !-.her very soul is possessed with th'e pre-occupation of an ecstatic gloating over some great conquest achieved,. or closely perceived already in the prospective future Mato, which she. glares. We shall see what we. shall see-only follow, still follow. She has turned p 'Broadway, and threads the great throng 'there tlrapid glide, as street after street-is passed. Ah, now we lave-it! She, crosses-this 'is Eighth Street L There, in Broad- way, near the coriar, stands a great house, with wide-open door; ;the 'smeared und dirty lintels, the greasy latch,. the wide, incarpeted hall of which,. at once reveals it to be one Qf those miscellaneous and incomprehensible. edifices, which' are not *- E-THEAIA L SQFTDOWN.: 118 t t" $u unfrequently met with on the great.thoroughfare, aid the uses of 'which are not generally- more -specificalgr known, than that they are fashionable boarding4iouses. Into this ever-gaping entrance she-wheeled, and darted up the broad, uncarpeted stairway, Which- she continued to ascend with almost incredible ease and swiftness, to'the fifth storf. When near the end of a long' and- narrow passage, she paused before one of-the doors, and tapping it slightly, entered without 'farther ceremony A handsome nd v-dressed woinan, who was engaged in writing -at a small escritoire looked up indifferently as she entered, but the moment ,she caught the expression of the new- comer's face, she sprang to her feet, thro'ving-doWn the pen, and with a strangely 'shrill and unmusical laugh,screamed out in'a most inconceivably voluble 'style- "Why, I' declare! Marie, what's the matter'? Your eyes are almost bursting out of your head! You look as if you had found a bag of gold, and meant to give me half! Why, bless the woman, how she looks ! Have you .caught him at 'last ? Well, we're in luck! I've caught, my man for sure'! He's been here all the inorning,( he's just left!. Why, how the ,woman looks! She keeps staring so ! You haven't gone crazy for joy, have you? Now, do tell! how have you managed to catch that insolent baby, you seemed to have set your heart on so'? Why, how' muddy the woman is !" she shrieked, looking down at the condition of her dress. 4 Ia! ha! ha! ha! . o tell, what sort of a game have you been playing? Did you have 'to hunt him through a'pig-sty ?" The \woman had been standing motionless, in the meantime, with distended eyes and compressed mouth, stretched in a rigid smile of supernaturally savage exultation. She gazed towards' the face of the speaker, but did not seem to listen to, her, or see her features. She looked the .abstracted,, einbp6diment o. triumphing evil. 'Very soon her 'stiffened lips quiveredjslightly 10* Ki page: 114-115[View Page 114-115] a 1; .SPIRITUAL' VAMPIflU$M. while the voluble lady stepping forward, shook her sharply by the shoulder, shrilling out again- SDo loogkat the woman!'.Why, what can be the matter ? p'f you talk? 'The cat's got the woman's tongue surely ! I ddnot think gau were so mach in earnest about that green boy! Why; I could twvist" him about my finger like a tow-string! I have achieved something in conquering my lae !"' ""Y-3y trman'!" said the. woman slwly, interruptin'-her. But these words were accoinpanied by a loQk of such strange and tauntirig ignificaice, that the other turned instantly pale and sprang back, as- if she had received an electric shock from those singular ejes, that fell 'upon her for a moment with their evil o'bliquity 'and then returned instantly to their naturalaxpression." " Wi-why, what do you mnepn ?" stamnmered'the other angrily. hThe woman only, answered with a -pleasant smile--" Now don't be a jealous fool, Jeannette Shrewell-I shall never'inter- fore with your schemes if you don't with mine."' Yes! but because you, knew Edmond long ago," continued the other in a fierce and'shrewish voice, '!you dare to insinuate, to me that'he too has passed throng your hands!" The woman broke out'into', aloud laugh " Why, what a child you are!. You- know what my relationsto; Edmond are,, perfectly. Spiritopl-purely and spotlessly spiritual. I should. no mpiie think of him'than of my grandfather." "Spiritual! ' shrieked ethe 6the springing forward;""do ou darej to use 'that stupid cant to- ne?- Reep it for the sap- headed boys'and.iile drivellers that you decoy with'such bait,, to pluider You shan't\insult mue'to.n r teeth with it." The speaker, whose physical energies.,vere far more veheiient and orhbearing than the'other, seenied to have 'entirely awed E. She ' ack amekly into a chair, turned vey pale, and lift- ing her: eye'with anTumuble look,she 'said, in'a'low imploring voice, "NowJeannette;please don't 'be so iol I did nt miean to taunt or insult youi t ou ha altogethe mistaken me, deaf friend;' WNow,.-please' b'e 'calm." K ERIAL soy a rL 115 But the other, whose; long black durls still writhed and q veered, like the snakes of the Gorgon 'head; with rage, stood towering before the suppliant, as if she meant-to crush her; ;and as she -thu stopd,. she really looked superb. Her profile vs delicately chisellesi and Roman, withlarge, dark -gray eyes, thin lips, and fine chin ; and '6oW that every feature was inspired with'anger, the e.ye ceasedto be ofended by their'habitual expression-of selfish, cold,:aid sharp.intellec- tion. She continued, quite as veheiently- You have sown the wind, and you mut reap. I have heard this vile insinuation before of something between you and Edmond at 4" "Jeannette' Jeannette! it is false\ every word of it. It i a vile slander of my enemies. Ask Edmond himself-.-he will tell you it is so.'" "Yes! jes ! I know it is fale.B' ut who gave irculation-to these reports ?- Hey ? Your enemies, were they?:KYour'ene- mies- must have a great deal,:to do, that they keepthetnselves busy with these manifold stories of you advepturesj Whowas it aspired to the- eclat of any -affaiwith thre- rich generous, learned, and travelled Edmond,?- Who was it dragged Iim, through his unsuspecting recklessness of conventionall usages; into conditionsvWhich rendered him liable to 'such aruimp uta- tion ?. Who boasted of' itand attempted to place;him in the same category with the dupes and gulls ard foels she had already ruined and plundered? ' Hey? Who was it? Marie I know you" ad she stretched herself t6'her full height ; but, had her vision rot been blinded by passiri, sher might-havej pereived a cold and searcey perceptible smile of scornful in- credulity pass over the, face at 'which 'shd pointed her 'sbarp~ finger' aI know you, wc ran!- BvwareI-beware -1dw you cross my track with Edinond'! Youhad better :rouse the sleep ingtigress with hr ybunge ingo'ir aIs r Hefshll be mine 1 'have sworjn it! iOneyear ago,'when I heard of his return fromr Europe, and left everything, foother, sisters. riende, and came page: 116-117[View Page 116-117] SP Rf JUAL iY"Al I R R1M. onto this ity,}a.thousand miles, alone and unprotected,-that I might throy self ir; his way, I sore that he should:be mine. had watcheddhis. career for years, from a distance, and he shad grown to be my ideal. 'When helbeane, first the pupil and then the: expounder dofthenew philosophy in France, Itoo be- cameits. stirdent;- with unwearied lahor I mastered its rodi- "ious cienc, forI divined the purpose of the man. I knew he dust return to. his .own ,country, and become its exponent here,,and that then my time would -come. "I studied'the Gerkhan, the rench, and the Italian;- with all which languages'I knewhiim tp be familiar.' I acuainted my- self with the literature of each, that I might be able always'to speal with him in he tongues and of the themes of which' his long residence in :Europe -had made the, associations 'most pleasant. Armed. thus. cap-a-pie, ' have met hii, at. last,: as I feltitas my destiny to do.' "Iha ve a ttetedhim, - I .have all but conquered him.' That mane shall be my lover! Ay,.woman, he. shall be' my lawful husband!l Cross my track finanyway, if you d-a a-r-e! I know your' arts; I, will-render'them for ever' unaailing to. yo -I will' explain them,and expose. them. Cross my track then, if you d--a-a-r-e" end, as-she. hissed out the word between her teeth, she stopped foraaid and shook her finger in the face of the now actually trembling woman . "Remember! our compact is, you let me alone, and I willlet you alone; you help me,-P'lhlp yu; cross me, destroy you 4" ' "Is that all. ? murmured eL'oman, in a soft vice, open- ing her'-eyes,twhieh 'had been closed during the greater.part of this' tirdewhile;at the same time, the. old obhquity became for a moment apparent" ':;' Jeanntte, I never, dreamed of any thing else. I would -soorter cat off myrightwhan dthanintefere withyouin any respect. Our two cQurses are. entirely different, You have one ohjectand one'spe es ofgame to hunt down; whiledI have another. We shall not elash'-and seeing the features of the 1d other relax from exhausted passion, she leaned forward with a pleasing sinile. " Just; tothink you stormy child! I had hastened home to tell yoto my good fortune, and you- so overpower 'me as to make: me forget all I had to tell. You have- frightened me saAly, Jeannette, and all about nothing: But Pye got him- I think he's booked at last "* . "Pooh !".said the other, sinking into f chair "Well, I asked you ever so long ago; ;how did you manage it? You seemto have had a great deal more trouble this time than usual. He does not seem to haye beeu very civil toyou heretofore, I should think:" "No "said the other--in a-low, Hoarsened tone,-while the blood anointedd in crimson flush to her foheheadl, rot to her cheeks. 'This nice discrimination is very necessary to a"true apprehension of such a ,character. "No, he has acted 'like a sullen cub, .heretofore ..a perfect young white bear, with his in- solent pride, and clumsyrhiughtiness t iHeis the most insulting and impracticable boor I ever took hold pf " Ah! I perceive you are splenetic!" "No! It is simply annoying, that the insufferable fellow should give me so, much trouble. Why only think, he posi- tively refused to be introduced to me--said I was a shg1low ad- venturess, and that he. did not wish' to know tue--even when our Doctor Weasel went to him, with -specal request on my part for such animtroduction "Oh, yes! but our Doctor is proverbially awkward in such matters. No doubt he boiled it all in the manner of the request," "Well, but you know, if the Doctor is' awkward, he's got money, and 6s long ,as he believes 'in Four1er and Swedenborg as devotedly as he does now, we can use his purse. 'But, to proceed: That sullen Southerner not only refused to ,be inro- diuced to me in the most insult igtermAinut When I waote him three,1 or four of: ny most irresistible billet-doii that Snever page: 118-119[View Page 118-119] aied beforehe treatdeitthe it)hat I uppose he meant to be silent contempt, for he did not answer one ,of Athern, though Shad takethe pain to place hem allupon his tablewith y vwa hands, during his absence, and find out- 41couidd concern g him'at the same time.. found the key-ote,:however;the boy loved his mother, and has beeu playing hyena with the rest of the world ever since she. disd, and been endeavoring to imagine himself a mis- anthropy with a life dedicated since solely to the. ambition' of. achevingn i her name, good fo? makind. '.This discovery, private made, put me fully in possession4 of all 1 ,wanted to know of his weakness., I saw he was earnest and chivalrods, as his ife ipes, and proudly secretive, so far as the privacies of his life were oncerned. So I at once felt that this incrusta- tion of reserve with which head .fenced about his lifefcould onlyse broken down by a coup de main. - "I detenined to come down upon him, bysurprise; in.spite, of erything ..[Jcalled pn him; and sent.our trusty Ioctor up' =to him to.the parlor per'fose. The ruse succeeded so fa o effect- an introduction' but, to tell you the truth," and herorehadtairly baed while sb6ispoke, "I never was treated with such insolentand frozen hauteur "n my life before! I wert away with .my ears tingling and blood on fire, but'I cursed him. in myvery heart, 'iand swore to -have a woran's, vengeance'! You reiembe. How.ick I was that night h ,God! such furie as tortured me ! I scarcely slept ; but a. happy thought cane to -me just about morning. "He was a,popet-his brow revealedthat-1 t with' charg- terstic sternness he had yet published nothing hich could be accounted the highest expressionn of his in'ost life. lie had made ais wy jnlite ratufe'rapidy and brilliantly through aovel cnphatior of stylg, in which the essential elements. ofprose and-poetry pe e ecoibined'; but.had:never yet ventured to asso iate is' proper ane with anything baking theforms of potry'. ow pthe Doctor had told e tht the po, d the soubriquet of) 'De Noto,' i. the hat number of theJournal, was his and it at-once flashed across rfe-appreciation! appre- ciation! 'The young poet has 'stolen timidly forth, under disguise, with' this myth 'clear from his"soul! f-Ile 'does. not expect to be understood at once, and any prompt appreciation will overwhelm him from the very suddenness of the thing ; and in his delighted suirise he would yearn towards. the :aoknow- ledged-devil himself' I sent him another note expressing that: intense appreciation foi which X knew he was craving. Hetreated it with the neglect that he had the others; but I somehow felt that I had made my mark. . I caled this morning, and as I knew~his contempt.for mere conventional forms, I ventured upon a.dashin , ruse de gtterre. gue challenged him, for I knew his own personal-hardiness, to take a'longwalk through all the slop of the thaw. With °a stare of surprise he accepted it. I felt" even'then that my point wa half gained,' There-were people in -the .parlor, and -xy oh _et was to get him "alone with. myself. I felt that I had y touched one weakness,, and''myobject now was to arrests chivalrous sympathies in behalf of" 'my' forlorn and' unprotected martyrdom' to the' cause of 'woman in her resistance: to 'the brutalities of the niarital law, 'and her- iight-'f .proclaiming to hers sisterhood .the- sanitary laws of health, in which they have been kept in.pr~found ignorance by the 'profession. " At first, I arrested his attention by the 'daring of thepositon which I had assumed, and then arouse ihis sympathies by a fervent .relation of the wrongs inflicted oni' me by my brutal husband. rthe story was old'-butI managed to throw into it a great deal of feeling, for there is nothing like a tale of persecu- tionto arrest chi'valrous minds all over the world. We under, stand all these propositions as- scientific!' When Iparted. with him he smiled upon me, for the first time, genially.' '1am sire of I ithoW!" ,' ' " I should think you might bie!" , y page: 120-121[View Page 120-121] RMA V4MPM.E AW 0 .CH APTSR; XII "0-,rNTEA OY REVEAAT 0NS4 'E ' 'What see io there, That has so cowardedand chased your blood' Ot of appearance ? -IA go dsized, eatly-furnished apartment, of a large house in Bond Street, al*3'ut two weeks.Fafter the incidentswhichw related in -thylast chapters, .a'-groupwas assembled about nine o'clockin the evening; which consise d of Manton, the wian de'riaOnefher daughter, ind.DrEWilainot Weasel; 'f homawe have before'-pphken. . ' ', i,'.)- Te dark eye of doctor Weasel, glistened "vith benevolent eight as'be'azed upon the group ,froma whichhesat some- apat Manton' seated"on ahhair near t goingg sire,:with the xmother on a;low stool on one side of him, and the aighter kreeliig on the therm while both with upturned reve- retial eyes 'dank-in eagerly each-word that fell from his lips. They seenid to be enchained, 'erihanted while he spoke'; and .he.mother in the almost total speechlesness of her rapt appre ciationecould only venture to trust her, tremblig voice in -low, whispered exclamations;hilethe sad eyes of the impish look- ;ng dughter imita ig]y stared uutterable things. The wonian's subtle suggestiveness had roused the brain of ate,' and fully dr iw'him out on 'his favorite nies; whlat- 'ever'finatur# loquenehesessed, and he possessed much, to e, smnoothlynow, for,' ii spite of hiiiself,s hifrozen heart a begn arm edIbythe' unwearying deference whichie "met thromt3iese peol' "1 ...' The lam ps rrbned brightly, the. . earth glowed, and'tie eyes of all were bent upon him. with genialwarith aid admring earnestness. The north wind howled cold without, to remind him. of the long, harsh " winter of his discontent," which had for ten weary years been unrelieved by any approximation to a scene thus flushed with the sanctities of domestic quiet. Manton always idealised woman!-he idealised everything. . He was a poet. The very presence of woman was hallowed to his imag- ination. There was a thrill of sweet fancies and gentle memo- ries conveyed to him, in the very rustle of a silken gown. He adored, he worshipped woman, as she lived in his memory- the holy attributes with which he invested her, penetrated and held him enchained in peaceful awe. He could not, he dare not. believe evil of her, if she bore the semblance of good, in thought, or deed, or life. He had shrunk thus long from contact with her, not because this interval of self-inflicted separation had been other than a weary penance of yearning, but'that his fastidious nature dreaded the .common contact, which might degrade or mar that ideal of love, which woman personated to him, and in the -wor- ship of which he had found the strength for brave deeds.. It was the weakness, the petty flippancy, the commonplace- isms of woman, from which he shrank. He believed that .her spiritual strength should equalise her with man's physical strength in disregarding common fears, paltry conventionalities, and con- temptible topics. The miserable skeleton of soul and body, which the world calls "woman of society," was more horrible to him, by far, than the actual contact with her dry bones in a prepared skeleton would have been-for where one was a com- paratively pleasing object to his eye as a philosopher, the other was but the painted, dim-eyed, ghastly spectre of a living death. There was in this woman, at least so far as he could judge, a total abandon to her natural impulses, which seemed to utterly repudiate those restrictions which are merelycommonplace. This was refreshing to him, from its novelty, at any rate, in contrast with the insipidities he so much dreaded, although his taste had from the first been constantly offended. 11 ETHERTgL SOFTDOWN. I2 .. page: 122-123[View Page 122-123] 122 SPIRITUAL. VAMPIRISM. Yet she seemed'-so utterly lawless and quietly defiant of what the world, that works in harness, might say, he could not help krspecting her for it. It was a new thing in his life, to meet with a woman, sufficiently heroic, to face the martyrdom that she was daring, for so elevated and noble an aim as the emanci- pation of her own sex from the conditions of utter helplessness, into which their ignorance, of the laws of life had sunk them. Besides, she had shown so much earnest patience with his rude pride, had followed up its aberrations with such a matronly tenderness, exhorting him only, and unceasingly, to be at rest -a rest, the need of which his proud and fainting soul had con-- fessed so often to his inward consciousness. And then this fihe appreciation - ah, where is the young poet who can withstand appreciation ? And then such delicate deference in, trifles.!' He had spoken incidentally of his taste in dress ; and now the mother and daughter were dressed in the most graceful and faultless simplicity! The heart of Manton was touched. He, felt grateful and pleased with these strange Samaritans to him m a strange land. - On a slight pause in the conversation, the woman, still gazing up timidly into the face of Manton,.changed the theme sudden- ly, by asking him, " What do you think of Clairvoyance ?" " The world is not old enough yet, by twenty years, I think, to answer that, question." "TMy reason for asking the question, was, that I have some strange premonitions myself, which I cannot explain. You will, no doubt, .be able to explain the mystery at once --"Y Yes!" interrupted Doctor Weasel, eagerly, " do let us have you examine the matter! Facts have come within my own knowledge, concerning revelations which have been made by her, that, are the most extraordinary I ever knew. For instance, when she has been brought into' clairvoyant rapport with indi- viduals whom she has never seen er heard of before, she has revealed to therm the whole history of their lives." ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 128 " This unexpected enunciation of their life-secrets to men, must of course be productive- of1strange scenes occasionally," said Manton, in a tone which had.suddenly become cold. "Oh, very curious and interesting ! very curious !" exclaimed the Doctor, quickly. "Marie, do relate to him that incident of the bloody hand, that you have so often told me." " ell," said she, "it has been some years since that a number of my friends, who knew of this giftof mine, were in the habit of inviting me to their respective houses, to meet friends of distinction, who were curious to observe the experi- ments, either upon themselves or upon others. " On one occasion I was invited to meet a celebrated physi- cian of this city; whose reputation for purity of character and life was very high. There were, no parties present but my friend, this physician, and myself. Such an arrangement, I afterwards understood, had been made at the particular request of the physician himself, who desired that there should be no other person present but his host at the interview. " When the physician placed his- hand upon my head, as is the necessary formula to bring me into spiritual communion with my interrogator, I relapsed almost immediately into the syncope of the clairvoyant' state, and of course became entirely unconscious of what Iuttered in that condition. But our host, who was his most intimate friend, has given me many times the following explanation of the scene :- " He says that when the physician placed his hand upon my head, I first said from the sleep, ' I am content ! All is pure here-this is a holy soul-one that is regenerate and will be saved!' and' then that while I was recounting his many deeds of kindness to the poor and friendless, and the' rich, I suddenly shrank back, exclaiming, 'Blood! blood! blood! There is-blood upon this hand!' This soul is darkened now'with blood ! Here is some fearful crime!. Murder has been committed by this hand ; everything seenis red beneath it!' My friend says -the doctor staggered back as if he had been shot, on hearing this, 11 page: 124-125[View Page 124-125] 124 SPIRITUAL VAMPI1lISM. turned pale as death, and swooned -on the floor; and after' he recovered, acknowledged that he had committed murder and fled from th& consequences; the name by' which he was now known was an assumed one, and he implored his host not to expose him to the penalty. of the gallows by revealing these terrible facts. "My friend, of course, did everything he could to relieve, him' on that point, and assured him that he would never breathe the fact where it 'could injure him; that the purity of his life for so many years had cancelled the enormity of the crime, so far as society was concerned. "But in spite of all this, the wretched and guilty man left the house in overwhelming despair, and the last I have heard of him was that he had locked himself in .his own house, and was killing himself with the most unheard-of excesses in drinking brandy, to which vice he never before had been addicted.- "When I realised the tragic results of this fearful insight, with which I seem to have been mysteriously endowed, my very soul was shaken with sorrow ; and since that time my spirit has wrestled in agonies of prayer with God, that this poor child of crime and headlong vices might be 'saved!"' As the woman uttered these last words, Manton recognised, 'for the first time, rand with a' shudder, a peculiar obliquity of the left eye. His soul was chilled within him; and for the mo- ment, the light of the glowing room was darkened as if the shadow of drear winter had passed over and through it. Doctor Weasel exclaimed gaily, "Is not that extraordinary? I assure you, I have myself witnessed things in connection with this power of hers, quite as inexplicable, though happily not so' tragic." "-It sounds strangely enough," said Manton,. shortly. "I assure you I have no means of accounting for these things,".said the woman in a meek, deprecatory tone. "Suppose you demonstrate. it, madam, in my case ;" and a slight' sneer, which crossed the face 'of Manton,' whose manner ETHERIAL $OFTDOWN. - 12 had :entirely changed, did not, escape the hawk-like quickness of the woman's eye. "My life, I am willing torsubmit to the scrutiny of your inscrutable sense." " Oh, by all means !" exclaimed Doctor Weasel, springing to his feet in a paroxysm -of delight. " Let us, have the experi- ment, by all means ! Do please place your hand on the top of her head!" Manton turned, and with a bow most studiously deferential, seemed to ask of the lady her permission to do-so. '' Oh, yes, yes," and her head was bowed forward to meet his upraised hand ; while the daughter, who seemed to under- stand the thing,'either from previous experience, or from some private signal, rose from her clinging position about 'his knee, and stepped back,.leaving the two-alone, without other contact. In a few moments after the hand of Manton had rested upon the meek, submissive head of the woman before him, she- com- menced exhibiting' the common and preliminary attitudes, muscular retchings of the throa, nervous twitchings of the lips and limbs, accompanied by thle apparently palpable, organic changes, which are recognised to be symptomatic with well- known conditions of the mesmeric sleep. Manton watched all these phenomena with the sharpest atten- tion, and then, as the lips began to -move as if in inarticulate enunciation, he leant forward over her, and asked - "What can you tell us of the soul, with which you are now in communication ?" After several preluding and spasmodic efforts to articulate sounds, the Clairvoyant at length said, in a voice only distinct above a whisper - "I see light! all light!-pure, holy light. It fills the universe with a mild radiance! I can see no blurs,'no -clouds in the fore- ground. I can see only angels, 'seraphs, and seraphim, and-all forms of light revolving in the sphere of this mighty soul !" " Is there no evil there ?'" said Manton. "No, I see none ; I see only white light.~ 11* page: 126-127[View Page 126-127] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. "But look close --perhaps you might find somethingdark Look long and steadily into the world you visit-see if there be not clouds there." There was .a pause. The lips moved without articulation again ; and again Manton asked -" What do you see now ?" "I see, I see, the light is parting on either side ; out in the far distance, between those walls of light, a giant form uprears itself in shadow. - Down the long vista stands this darkened giant. He is fierce and stern, and wears a cold, hard front, with fla'ming eyes,. that scare the ministering angels all away. He strikes around him with the imperious sway of his huge, knotted club, and all, the bright forms flee. He seems the savage Her- cules of pride !' There is a pause ; and after a stillness of some moments, Manton asked again- "What now is the vision, to your sense ?-is the giant gone ?" "No, he is humbled but not subdued ; and from afar behind him, down this darkened vista, a light has grown up, like a- rising star. It advances slowly, rising over his head. The splendor increases as it comes. Now, thedark and wrathful giant has fallen on his knees--the-flood of glory overcomes him. His'club: is dropped. His eyes, upturned in awe, seem dimmed by the sadden glory of an angel's presence. Ha! I see ! the .features of that. angel are like his whose soul I see! The giant issubdued! His pride has bowed its forehead in the dust, before the angel, radiance of a visiting mother !" Manton felt his flesh creep as this was 'spoken, and as the Clairvoyant paused for some moments, he asked: "What does this spirit of the mother say ?" The slow answer-was --r "She seems to ,rebuke this pride even more with her efful- gence, and to say,-My son, I am -with thee in the spirit, but I cannot be with thee through the medium of the flesh which thou hast so poisoned .and corrupted, since I passed from thee into this higher sphere. Make thy body clean and purify thy life, and I shall be always with thee present, in the spirit. It is necessary for your usefulness in your present life that you should accept of human sympathies. It is only through such that you can .establish a true community with the material world of which you form a part. Accept human 'love- accept a moral repre- sentative of myself- believe in the possibility of its chasteness as well as utility, and you will yet be strong, powerful of good, and happy." Here Manton, who had become intensely excited during the progress of this scene, removed his hand with a vehement ges- ture from the head of the woman, and springing to his feet, seized his cap, and with scarce the ordinary adieus, hastily left the room. He rushed hurriedly through the dark storm, which careered along the street, muttering as he went: " Eternal curses on this infernal woman ! What can it mean ? She dares to speak of my mother again. Hah.! does n'ot this account for the inexplicable disturbance. of my papers in my trunk? Is it possible 'that this can be the accursed and despi- cable wretch who has stolen into the privacies of my life? But think, think! I may have been hasty. This whole subject of Clairvoyance-is an impenetrable mystery. That strange story of the bloody hand has impressed me. Foy all we know, as yet, suchthings may be within the possibilities of Clairvoyance. That myth she uttered as if she were in a dream, was strangely significant to me -"supposing her to be ignorant of all my past life ; and then she seemed so patient, so disinterested, so.gentle and so kind, so matronly, so tender, and so heroic, too. I can- not altogether distrust ier, nor can I believe ; I can only wait, I must see 'more ; I must know more ; I must comprehend the whole. There is a something here I cannot understand-a something betwixt heaven and hell, which I must bide my time to fathom. -Curses on all mysteries !" and, rushing onward through the storm, like one hag-ridden, or pursued by stern, accusing ghosts, the bewildered Manton soon reached his cheer- less room, all storm-drenched and depressed. 126,. 127 ,ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. page: 128-129[View Page 128-129] 128 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. CHAPTER XIV. THE PROUD AN BOWED. Dim burns the once bright star of Avenel; There is an influence sorrowful and fearful, That dogs its downward course, SCOTT., TRANSPARENT as is the meaning of the foregoing scene, it conveyed to' Manton, who knew none of these things which have been revealed to the reader, a tremendous shock. Mind and soul were thrown into chaotic convulsions; 'he knew not what to think, or which way to turn for truth. Had the incident occurred 'but a short time previous, before his nature had begun to be moved by generous sympathy and honest respect for this loyal, persecuted, and indomitable wo- man; 'had it occurred before that eventful walk through the slush of New York, he would have at once turned upon her in freezing ,wrath, with the deliberate accusation of having entered his room in his absence, and searched his private papers, or else have merely' sneered at it, as the accidental hit of a reckless adventuress.. But he had admitted her to his respect as a' noble and unpro- tected devotee. In- a word,'he had, as was usual with him wherever women were concerned, idealised her into a heroine. qould he suspect her after this? He rejected the weakness of such suspicion almost with terror. Had he known any thing of New York'life ; had he formed any' relations except those of a strictly business character ; had he 'cultivated acquaintances at all, who belonged to the city, and knew it, a few inquiries might have settled all his doubts.. But, alas! pride,,pride, that fatal pride ! He knew nobody, he cared not for what any one said of another. He had heard this woman violently abused at the dinner- table below, to be sure ; but then the character of the persons who had joined in this cowardly vituperation was, to his mind, evidently such as to prejudice him in her favor; for he had a proud way with him, which never permitted him to judge of-the absent by what was said of them, but-by who said it. Taking these things together, he would have felt ashamed to have asked any questions concerning the woman, of those whose opinion and opportunities of knowledge he respected. If she had thrown herself upon him, it had been with perfect frankness, and without any attempt at concealments. She had told him how she was persecuted and slandered by ignorant women, because she had been bold enough to tell them the truth about themselves. He had already heard something of this, and the stories told were of precisely such character as.envious, vul- gar, and malignant gossip circulates about females who make themselves conspicuous by their virtues or their ,talents. Be- sides, had he not, before he knew more of her, been violently prejudiced, too? What more natural than that others should be so, including these ignorant women ? And then this wonderful Clairvoyance ! Whocan dare to say that he believes nothing of its claims ? 'He held its marvels and miracles in great contempt, and firmly .believed, that whatever of truth there was would soon be unveiled of its apparent mys- tery by the close analysis of science, and shown to proceed from purely natural laws, the exact relations of which had not been heretofore understood. And then it might, have been accident. Ah ! and then, it might have been-what his thought had long struggled with as the solution of all such phenomena-it might have been sympa- thetic ! a mere result of the unconscious projection of his stronger vitality through a magnetic or odic medium of sympa- thy, which had been instantly established through the contact 1~ :ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 129 page: 130-131[View Page 130-131] ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 13j, 180 SPIRITUfAL VAMPIRISM. of his hand with the thin 'and sensitive region on the top of her head. She might thus have been made to feel him intellectually, if not spiritually ; to see, through this sympathetic sense, those images with which his brain was most full, and thus express this startling outline of his life. Be those things as they may, he was restless and excited ; his imagination was aroused, his memory profoundly stirred. He was thus fast hurried past the point where a cool analysis could well avail to rescue him. - Tossed to and fro by doubts and dark suspicions, which a generous confidence 'strove hard to banish with. its magnanimous suggestions, backed by self-reliant pride ; confounded with the fear of acting with injustice towards a helpless female; with the fear, too, of the soft pluckings at his, heart, from those tender memories which she had thus aroused by her offers of maternal sympathy -together with the penetrating light and warmth of that genial and unlucky{ evening spent with her, amidst the quiet of domestic surroundings-he could form no conclusions, discriminate no clearly definite purpose -could only wander to and fro, restless, in troubled, sad irresolution. A vague dread of evil in advance afforded apprehension of he: knew not what, that always, when the gloaming darkened most, seemed' parted to a tremulous, dim light, like summer coming through the morn, and made his pulse go quicker, while those yearning memories faintly glimmered, as if within a shaded reflex of the glowing day. He kept himself strictly secluded ; yet, day by day, those dainty missives crept in upon -him by some mysterious agency. At first they were read mechanically, and, amidst his troubled doubts, produced no apparent effect; but, by an'd by, they grew, more chaste, more delicately' worded, and more sweetly toned. Was tit that they were really advanced upon the blundering specimens we have seen ? or could it be that his fancy had be- come excited with regard to them-that he was merely idealising unconsciously? or was it that those awkward first attempts at' producing imitations of the -rhapsodical style peculiar to himself, which had so excited his contempt, as obviously taken. from the study of his writings, had now been cunningly improved upon, since personal intercourse had afforded his correspondent a closer insight of his purer and more simple forms of expres- Sion? Had his haughty egotism been touched at last, by a skilful reflex of himself, thrown shrewdly into his eyes, from the daz- zling surface of this snowy crow-quilled page ? We shall see, perhaps. Here is the last that he received from her: " MY PooR FRiEND My heart yearns over you; I am op- pressed with your suffering, for I feel how you suffer yet-how you are struggling, by day and by night, with those twin fiends of Doubt and Pride. I know my letters soothe you, though they cannot heal. . Had you not informed me so, in your note I should yet have been conscious of it. Had you never written to me again, I should yet have known that the great deep of your soul had been stirred at last, and that, though pride had triumphed in the struggle, love, genial, human love, had yet found, beneath the dark shadow of his wing, a warm resting- place once more beside thy heart. No human aid can save thee now-that stiff neck must be bowed-you must be humbled! Then will come the full influx of the light from heaven., Then you will iknow joy and peace again-the pure raptures of a holy rest will calm this dark, be- wildering struggle. I pray for you without ceasing-weary the throne with supplication that you may be humbled ! Your little sister sends you her tearful greetings-she weeps, for you with me always-for she dearly loves her tiger-brother. She says that, like all, terrible creatures, he is so .beautiful-oh, that he were only. good! MARIE." This letter strangely thrilled upon the already over-wrought sensibilities of Manton, whose nervous organisation had been page: 132-133[View Page 132-133] 182 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. rendered intensely susceptible by the protracted excitement under which he had been laboring. He read it over and over again, with increasing agitation, until it seemed, while his eyes suffused, as if the accusing angel of his own conscience spoke to him jn mild rebuke. Long he moaned and tossed-the, dim moisture struggling all the while to brim over thoseparched lids, that for years before had never known a freshening. Those tearless lids-how rigid they had been ! how bleak ! Like some oasis-fountain where the hot simoon had drank !-Dry_! dry !. Suddenly, with a deep groan, the young man bowed his head upon his hands, while the tears gushed between his fingers in a flood, that seemed the more violent from its long restraint. His body shook and rocked, while he gasped aloud- " It is true ! It is true!, This woman tells what is true !. This sullen pride has been the cause of all-I feel its crushing judg- ment on my shoulders now ! Great God! deliver us from this thraldom!' Let me but know my race once more ! let me but weep when others weep, and smile when others smile, and it will be to me for a sign that thou hast received the outcast into the family of thy love, once more ! Forgive,% oh, forgive me, that have so long held thy goodly gifts of earthly consolation in despite! The.worm's presumptuous arrogance has but moved thy pity, oh, thou Infinite One! Forgive! forgive! oh,-let me feel that countenance reconciled once more! Give back to my weary soul the holy-communion of thy creatures! Pity! Pity! Pity ! Ah, there is a paradise somewhere on the earth, for the most wayworn of her darkened children-a rift in the sunless sky, ,a glittering point above the darkened waters! Men are not all and totally accursed by their defiant passions. Pity sends star- beams through the port-holes of the dungeon. Mercy comes down on.holy light of visions, where stars cannot, get in. Oh, love,. Infinite Love! Thou art so -powerful of penetration- come tome now!",-' For a long time he sat thus, while his frame shivered in voiceless throes; when suddenly straightening himself, with a ETHEREAL SOFTDOWN. . 128 powerful effort, and while the -tears yet rained like an April shower, he drew towards him his paper, and wrote-- WOMAN-I know not what to tall you-you~ have strangely moved me ! In my most desperate and sullen pride have I not struggled. long with this great blessing, which thou.hast brought me ! I would have driven the good "angel from me in wrath end scorn-but it would not be offended. In patience and long suffering it has abided-near, hovering-on white wings, until now, at last, the fountain has been troubled. Ah! woman, its depths have. been broken up, indeed-and- the dark, long, unnatural winter of my life, has felt the glowing breath of spring; and in one mighty crash,, the 'hideous ice-crusts that. had gathered, heaping-over it,'have burst away'before the flashing leap of un- chained waters. Once more my soul is' free--once more I smile back love for love into the sunlight, and-weep for joy-- that God is good. Once more I feel as if the earth were a holy earth, and its flowers, too, might grow for me. Thou hast con- quered! . Thou hast conquered, woman ! Thy pure and chas- tened sympathies, thygentle and unwearied pleadings, thy meek compassion for the harsh and:wayward boy, have conquered. The stiff neck is bowed even now before God, and thee, his minister of good. Ah! forgive and pity me! My eyes are raining so, I can scarcely see to-write. 'I am shaken as in a. great tempest, body and soul. I could weep at your feet in penitence, and pray to be forgiven'and for pity! Ah,;that, I know you have ! I am blinded with these tears---I know not what I say ! -'Oh, be to me what I have lost.! I faint by the wayside ; my soul dies within me for that holy rest that I have lost--for the sweet, calm and tender peace, all the holy memories your loving gentleness has thus recalled: Ah, be to me all that you-have thus filled me with, anew! Receive me as your adopted child, that I may rest my throbbing head once more in peace and joy, upon a sacred bosom. Be to me, forever, "Marie, mother!" MAN oN. 12 e page: 134-135[View Page 134-135] VMTHERIAL S@OTDOWN. 135 CHAPTER XV.- DELECTABLE GLIMPSES BEHIND THE' CURTAIN. Now, with a bitter smile, whose light did shine Lik,'a fiend's hope upon.her-lips and eyne. SHELLEY TURN we now to that large and mysterious house, to which we haye ,before -referred, near the corner of Broadway and Eighth Street. We will pass the greasy lintels, into the wide and, dirty entry, climb those five flights of stairs, turn down the long,. dark passage, and pause before a door, just one beyond that which we have had occasion to renrember in the course of this nartative. .- "- We will take the liberty to'enter. The, scene presents the woman, Marie,-reclining, on a lounge, holding a note in her hand, which she seems to' have read and re-read with a peculiar look 'of' puzzled inquiry. The impish-looking daughter, to whom we have before re- ferred, was seated.in a chair, behind the'woman's head, and out of her sight., The creature seemed to have much ado to keep from laughing outright, for her face was screwed into all sorts of contortions in the effort to subdue, it, as she peeped over her 'mother's shoulder, and watched her puzzled looks and be- wildered gestures. " Well!" said the mother, as if speaking to herself, "if one could only comprehend how he came to write this to me' -it seems to contain a great deal. Upon my word, it appears a beautiful snatch of rhyme, and to convey quite a confession - only I don't understand -it reads as if it were an answer to something that had gone{ before." She reads.--- Angels a subtler name may know, But not a subtler thought of joy Could thrilling through a seraph go,- Than that your presence brought to cloy And weigh my life down into calms With ai unutterable sense- Like music perfumed with the balm Of dews star-she -- all too intenseI " Most too high-strung, for my, purposes, it must be confessed! He never expresses any flesh and blood in his correspondence. Ah, well, I'll soon bring him out of that! But this really does puzzle me ! This is allthe note contains." She turns the note to examine' it. "It is certainly in his hand, yet he makes no explanation." Here the child, whose blood seemed ready to burst through her face in the' continued effort to restrain her laughter,,.tittered aloud. The mother sprang erect, and, turning upon her with an expression of rage and surprise upon her face -- " What ! Why, what are you laughing about ?, ,What busi- ness is this of yours, pray ?" The child, although evidently a little frightened, had so ens tirely lost her self-control as to be unable to restrain the bursts of laughter which now followed each other, peal upon peal, as she danced about, the room in a perfect ecstacy of glee. The mother's face turned first pale and then .red, as she fol- lowed the motions of the child with her eye, until at last, with the expression of an infuriate tigress, she sprang to seize.her. The child was too quick for her, and with the agility of a mon- key, darted from beneath her grasp; and still shrieking with laughter, was pursued around the room -leaping the furniture with an airiness that defied pursuit -- which her strange, wild laugh yet taunted. The woman, after exhausting herself in vain' attempts at catch- ing her, sank upon the lounge-and at once, in a whining, fret- ful'voice, commenced to pour upon the head of the child, the 8l'i-MITUAL VAMPIRISM: page: 136-137[View Page 136-137] 186 SIITUAL VAMPIRISM. most inconceivable and galling epithets. So long as this tone. was held, the. child held out in defiant spirit, either of sulking obstinacy, or of -harsh and irritating laughter,, and tb every reit- erated question frpm the angry mother--" What are you laugh- ing at? What.do you mean ?"-"she only clapped her hands and danced more wildly to her elfin mirth. The mother now changed her tone of a sudden, in seeming hopelessness of carrying her point by storm. She began to sob violently, and turning with streaming eyes towards the child -- "You -you tre-treat your poor mother very cruelly to-day; I am dying to know what it is you mean ; but you will not tell- me!. Please, dear, come and .tell poor mother why you laugh, vhat it is you mean, and what' you know about this letter ?- for I am sure you know something -- do tell poor mother, and she will'forgive you all!- Come, dear child!" and she reached out her hand as if to clasp her to her bosom. The child, who seemed to 'have no intellectual comprehension of the meaning- of all this, but to have taken a purely impish delight in watching the'confusion and puzzle of hermother, in regard to the letter at first, and then instantly, when she flew into a. rage, to' have answered in a monkeyish and -hysterical rage, on her own part ; now at once, with equal promptness, and with the common instinct of young animals, responded to the, tender infeetians of the maternal voice. Dropping her whole previous manner, she instantly sprang forward and ,knelt at her mother'sside. The mother did not speak for some moments, but silently caressed her, placing her hand frequently on her'head, the top of which she 'fondly stroked with a 'tenderness that seemed to linger there. She drew the child's face to hers too ; and although she seemed to kiss it fre- quently, it might have been observed that' she breathed deep and heavy exhalations upon different portions of it, which- she only touched 'with her lips. The effect was magical beyond any power of expression,. The hard, ugly, animal lines' of that child's face, which had ETHERIAL SOFTDOWT 1"t been writhed and curled but a few moments before, 'in every conceivable expression of most ignoble passions, at once sub- sided into the meek and suppliant confiding of that inexpli- cable and most tender of all the relations' known to the animal world, mother and child! " Dear, why did you not tell me what you knew about this letter before ?" said the mother, in a tone as musically reproach- fur as if she dallied with her suckling babe. The child buried her head in her 'mother's5bosom, and after ,a silence of some time, during which her mother industriously stroked the top of her head, she looked up, and in a sly, bashful tone exclaimed- "I did it just for fun,'to try how-writing love-letters went- I copied the verses from a book, in your han,, and sent 'them to him as yours !" Scarcely were these words uttered, than the languishing and tender-seeming mother hurled the child from her, backwards, upon the floor, with a violence that left her stunned and prostrate,"and springing to her feet, raged round and round the room, as only 'a feminine demon infuriate could be imagined to do, spurning now and then' with her foot, as she passed, the still senseless form of her own child! Hell might find an equal to this whole scene, but hell has always been too civil! It is enough ! This is jealousy! That woman is jealous of her own child ! and she only thirteen years old! How long she might have raged and raved, and to what con- sequences it might have led, heaven can only judge. Provi- dentially, perhaps, a knock at her door announced 'thie postman. She clutched the ,letter she received convulsively, and tearing it open, the instant he closed the door, read - what ? The letter of Manton, which we saw in the last chapter! She read it through,- standing where she had received.it-her eyes 'dilating, and her whole 'form changing. She literally screamed with joy as she finished the letter, and clapped her hands like one bewildered with a sudden triumph. 12* page: 138-139[View Page 138-139] SPIRITUAL- VAMPIRISM. "Ah,, ha! I have him! ,I have him!. He is mine hence- forth!: He cannot escape me now!" -and her oblique eyes fell upon the motionless child upon the floor. " The little fool!- she catches my arts too soon-she is not hurt-but I must.help her."" She proved towards the child, but the demoniac triumph which possessed her-seemed irrepressible. ' She bounded sud- denly into the air, and almost shrieking aloud as she did soI-h- "I have conquered- I have conquered him at last !" came down' like a statuesque Apollyon transfixed in, exultation.. It was a horrible glimpse of unnatural triumph! It lasted but for a moment; for, with a sudden drooping of the usually stooped shoulders, as she turned towards the letter again, she said, thoughtfully, " This will not do-he perseveres even here in talking about mother ! mother ! and chaste ! and holy! 'and all that sort of thing. The.,foolish boy is 'too much in earnest. I have used this stuff about long enough. -I must find the means of bring". ing him gradually around. Such a relation as the silly -fellow - desires wont -do between us-we are both too full of life! Oh, I'll write him a note at once that will' prepare the way - will break up the ice, as'he callsit, still more about his 'life !" She raised the-child, which had been stunned by the fall, and sprinkling some water upon her face, which caused the first long breathing of recovery, she laid her upon the lounge, muttering, as she did so, " The meddlesome little' fool! She' must do everything she sees me do! She must imagine herself in.love with everyone, whom slbe sees me pretend to-love.: She must 'write love-letters when she sees.me write them, and heaven only knows what she wont do' next 'with her monkeyish imitation,! But I can't be crossed by a child so; if she is my own. Lie there until you get over the sulks -you are ,not much hurt !" She turned away from the child and seated herself at the table, exclaiming, as she seized her pen, "Ah! this letter! I 'feel that 'I shall need all my skill and wit to word this properly, so as not to alarm him.. In his.present excited 'and hysterical mood, the veriest trifle would have the effect of-driving him off, at a tangent, forever beyond my reach. And yet it will not do to let things go on in this way; for I see that that idea of the motherly relation, if once' permitted to become settled in his mind now, will remain a fixed barrier, which I shall never be able to pass on earth. I must see him to-night, and take ad- vantage of his present over-wrought, ecstatic, and bewildered condition, to break down this boyish dream of his! Bah'! to think that he should have taken. me to be so much in earnest in all that first twattle about motherly- relations, which I found neces- sary to use in order to get at him at all!- Pity my correspond- ence hasn't warmed him up a, little by this time! I've tried hard enough, to be sure, but the queer fellow will persist in etherealising everything !" During this soliloquy, the child, who hadentirely recovered, lay. perfectly still, with sharpened attention, catching every word that was spoken. There was an eagerness in her eye which showed her to be, if not an aptscholar of such teachings, at least a very attentive one. The woman wrote "'Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name! thy kingdom come, thy. will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!' My soul is deeply moved for thee in this thy.time of trial. The good God chasteneth thee now-now is the hour of thy great tribulation come; now thy life-denons wrestle in thee, with the- love, the good the Father has sent to redeem thee. ' Be strong! Ah, be strong even now, thou child of many sorrows, and thpu shalt yet find .grace and peace in acceptance with Him. Meanwhile I can but pray for thee and with thee. :I weary Heaven with supplications, that out of this travail a great and glorious soul may be born inthe humility of love, for light, eternal light. "Come to me this evening, that I may take that throbbing heart upon my bosom. I may soothe and calm youbut I cannot give you rest-rest comes only from the Father! .You psk me 109 188 ETHEREAL SOFTD©WN. page: 140-141[View Page 140-141] 140 SPIRIITAletVAMPIRISM. to be 'for you, forever, Marie, mother!'- I can be to you, forever, yourfriend Man " "Ah! ha! that will do it!" she said 'in a low chuckling tone, as she rapidly folded and.directed the letter ; " though he might take tbe alarm at .this if he were cool, yet there's' no danger now ! It will no doubt shock him a-little, but he has learned to believe in me, andin his ,present excited state he has deified rie aimostlint an object of worship; and any suspicion he might feel he would only blame himself for. Ah! this will do! it shall go instantly!: Here!" she said, turning sharply to the child, " Here! get up there, put on your bonnet; and take this letter! 'You 'know how to deliver it, and where! Come,-*up with you!" "But, mother," said the child, as she slowly lifted herself half-erect, " I don't feel like it-I'm'not well! You hurt nie !" Nonsense !",said the mother, harshly; "go take a bath, and do it quickly'too! . You'll feel well enough ! This letter must go, and shall go !- Get along, I say, and'do what I tell you!" The-child dragged herself slowly out of the room. "tThat little wretch will torment me to death !" The letter was despatched and reached its destination. Manton, whose 'excitement 'had -continued, without -'the slightest diminution, to return upon him, in paroxysm after paroxysm, seized upon' this last letter with the famishing eager-. ness of a man:who looks for strength-for spiritual consoling. He read it with suffused and, swollen eyes; he scarcely saw what he read, so much -had his vision been dizzied, and obscured-, by weeping... But those last words did indeed shock and thrill him. He' was strangely startled; and, for a moment they seemed to open to him an appalling and terrific gulf of falsehood,;more hideous than yawning hell. We say, it was but for a moment ; but in that little space the blackness- of darkness overcame his soul. A shuddering of dread, of doubt, of fear, and all that horrid brood, the birth of ETEIAL SOFDOWN. 1:41 rayless and unutterable gloom, passed over him convulsively, and then the whole was gone. He had been too intensely wrought upon by the ecstacies of Faith. He shook off, by.one great throe, the giant shadow of its natural enemy, this Doubt, which he now conceived had so long made his life accursed ; and the rebound, by a necessary law, carried him to a yet greater aid more unreasoning 'extreme of trust, and ..unquestioning confi- dence in this woman, as under God the instrument.and medium for restoring him once more to life and-the world. He at once determined to visit her, and prove to his own soul the falsehood of these dark suspicions of the being who had thus moved and spoken his inmost life for good. CHAPTER XVI. REM OR SE. THE evening, was closing .in when Manton made his way through a heavy, drifting snow-storm, to the number of the new address, near the.corner of Broadway and Eighth Street, which had appeared upon the last notes of his correspondent. He was only made aware, thereby, that, she had- changed her residence from the rooms where he had visited her in Bond Street, and had thought no more about the matter ; for it would have somewhat damped his enthusiasm, or rather have made him furiously-in- dignant, to have been told that the woman he was visiting;, with such sublimated sentiment, usually found means to adapt her rooms to the purpose and business in hand. He was too much excited and pre-occupied to notice the sig., nificant appearance of the entry, further .than to feel its dreari- ness, as he rang the bell and waited an unreasonable time for admission. 'The door was wide enough open to be sure, but he was not sufficiently initiated-into the mystery of such places to , . ' ', _ fti page: 142-143[View Page 142-143] understand the meaning of this exactly, even if it had been possible.fr it to.have'excitd his attention, in the then absorbed. s ndfabstracted condition'of his 'whole faculties. Aero ervant at length made his appearance, and approach- = 'l ; osely, answered his inquiries in ;a tone so insolently nidetf that uider othei'circumstances he would surely have been danger a a flooring at the hads of Manton, who, how-, te, oly passed on: up the stairs with a feeling of annoyance, the cause of which he made no attempt. at apprehending. He as- i.rended three steps at a bound; and in a moment tapped ,. htly at te~door. - A .oft voice;" "ome !" was the response. The door flew open.r. . Yes:! yes!. I come! A, Marie, mother, it must be so !" And 'dropping his cloak and' hat upon the floor, he sprang for- ward to.the woman, who, with her pale face beaming with un- -natural light, was seated upon a lounge, where she seemed to have been awaiting'him. "My podr friend!" and she stretched forth her arms towards him. Ie laid his head'upon her bosom, while his whole frame shivered'violently, and he sobbed forth.-.- aAh, blessed mother, let me rest here! !My brain is bursting ! I am become as :a'little child again! Ah, I am so weak ! A wisp of straw Would bind ine!" My own vaunted strength is gone-all gone ! .I have no pride, no scorn, nodefiance now ! My lips are in the dust ! Ah, I am humble, humble, humble, now ! Dthou, incarnation of that angel mother who has passed rog earth, udopt me for' thine own ! Thine own, poor, lost; bewildered; panting dhild!" ",ly poor friend, be calm ",'-and she caressed his wet cheek lightly with her. fingers. 'Only be. calm, and God will give you strength 'to pass through this valley and shadow of trial." "Gode"gave me 'strength!" said he, with a sharp ar1d sudden ange" of tone, raising his head slightly to' look in her face. "Woman, he gave me strength when he gave me life ! I have T~HB iA 1-4,1 strength enough, as men call it, to move the-world, aye to wiel Fate itself. It was: not. for-such streigthIcame ,to=yu. r was not for such:strength I would condescend to plead a .r} It is for that soft and beautiful preseice-that livetovin in dt. freshness, the spring4lower of the heartreneaththou outstretched wing of Faith., Faith' in 'ourowankind what is true and chaste in the purposesand h' ries whih widely separate 'froin the sensuous and the passionate, cdnstute all the blest amenities of intercourse - between the' sete.-Tia not th I, would ask you to be all mymother, for that could R , be Aft that you should impersonate to. me that calm joyha serenity of repose .in which I lived so long, upon, a troubled earth, through her. It was she to whom I turned when the world buffeted and baffled rue, to renew upon her bosom my faith in my fellows, and it was upon that sacred restingplace that. I alone found soothing. She reconciled me to endure. She subdued my rebellious heart. ' She saved. me from actal madness;.aye, front the strait-waistcoat .and. the chain, whea my brain was like- to burst fromthrobbings that soundedlike a thousand wild' steeds thundering frantic over echoing plains; for the conflict was most fearful, when my young soul first arose to grappler with the 'world and its huge 'evils. Ina my impotent wrath I should have dashed myself to atoms against its moveless battlements of 'wrong, but that a low, sweet voice would quell and hold me back.'I' " Lwas the child of much travail, and' years of weary andy desponding watchfulness. I alone, of all-her children,'bore her features-she loved me unutterablyand- shielded me always; it was not like the common love of mother, for 'her: child. .I all things concerning me she seemed 'to be filled with a strange prescience-she read' my inmost thought as if it were hetown as if it were a scroll made legible~by illuminated letters. "She seldom' asked ine questions, butt simply told.me what -had hap- pened. It was useless to attempt disguises with her; minister- ing 'in the flesh, she was my present 'angel, reconciliing m'e to page: 144-145[View Page 144-145] 144: SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. life; and when she passed from me and the-world, I first real- ised what darkness, death, and separation meant. I was delirious I know not how long--for they seemed slowly tearing my heart out by the roots, chord by chord, with a heavy drag, until thelast one snapped, and then I went into deep oblivion, from which I awoke a man of stone,' so far as sensa- tion went ; and if stone couldwalk, with no more heart than it--. or rather if you can imagine this walking statue moulded of the red lava, and only cooled upon the surface, you can better con- ceive the smouldering, heart-devouring chaos in which my life now moved among my fellow. I did not stop to curse and battle'°with mold foes, I only hated them with'a liquid flame ofscorn thatffound its- level in me and was still. I would not harm them--no, not I-I wanted them to live for companion- ship in suffering. I gloried in their perversions--they filled me with ecstasy. I could not but add to them,.and in ferocious delight threw myself into all-the excesses and extremes that de- monise the world." "But ambition .came to rescue my dignity at last, and of its iron despotism you have seen the worst. From' its hard and meagre thraldom you have released me for the time, but it re- mains with you to hold me, free, The wings that have borne me thus far 'on this biold upward flight must feel the soft freshen- ing of 'the breeze, and the glad welcoming of sunlight, to the purer realm they, try, or flagging soon of the unwonted effort, they will sink again to seek the old accustomed sullen perch. The strength I need now is a subtler. thing than any power of will within myself-purerihan the breath of angels, it is 'chaste and mild, as star-beams. "If is you who have filled me with these yearnings-..'tis to you that I look for their realisation, and yet you have not ac- cepted that pure and holy relation conveyed in the ' Marie, mother,' I have named you, and plead with you to recognise." During all-this.time the-face of the woman had been, bowed so close to that of Manton that she seemed almost to touch with ETEERIAL 8OPTDOWN. her lips, first-his temples and then his cheek. A close observer would have perceived, in her long ard deep inspirations, her slightly~parted lips and the slow creeping movement of the head, that she was steadily- breathing upon certain well-known 'and highly -sensitive nerves. The brain of Manton was. too full to 'notice this. strange manoeuvre; but while he -talked, that hot breath had been sending soft thrillings through his frame which, at first unobserved, had' gradually grown more palpably'deli- cious, until, as he ceased to 'speak, he found his whole'frame literally quivering with passion. He was -silent for a moment, that he might fully realise the sensation, and then, with a shudder of horror, sprang away from contact with the woman, exclaimiing-- " My God ! what is 'this'? What an unnatural monster am I! or"-as a sudden gleam of suspicion shot through his brain -" Woman, is it'you who have done this?" His face darkened in an expression of rage and ferocity which was absolutely hideous, as his eye glanced coldly on her. "I' ask you, woman, was it some inferna} art, of yours.? Answer me!-for, by the Eternal God, you shall never thus- tamper with the,"sacrednesses of a true man's heart again !" and, grinding his teeth, he approached her menacingly, as if, in his blind rage, he would rend her to atoms. The woman had taken but one glimpse of the terrible face before her, and then shrunk bowed and crouching into the corner of the lounge. Her neck and forehead flushed crimson, spasmodic retchings of the throat commenced, and whet Manton stretched forth his hands, as if to. clutch her, there was a deep suffocating cough, and the red, warm blood gushed in an ap- palling current from her mouth, bedabbling his fingers and her clothing. The man was startled from his rage into immeasurable terror, as he shrank back with upraised hands-' "My 'God! I have killed-I have killed her by my brutal violence! .I am accursed ! I .am accursed for ever!' I have. 13 145 page: 146-147[View Page 146-147] 146 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. slain the white dove of peace-they sent to me from Heaven-!" Snatchinga towel, he was on his knees by her side in an in- . sant;. and 'lacing it within her bloody hands, which were clutched upon her mouth, as if to stay the fatal tide, he burst into an agony of tears, praying in frantic accents to be forgiven; for he could see nothing but immediate death :in a hemorrhage so violent, as this seemed, and he-. remembered now, but too vividly, hgw ofteR she had told him of her. melancholy predis- position to such: attacks from. the;lung, -by.which she was kept constantly- in expectation of being carried offE Ah, with what fierce remorse, what agonised penitence, all these things came up to him now, as. gush after. gush of crimson saturated thetowel In answer to -his 'prayers for forgiveness, she at last reached. one cold, bloody hand to- his, pressing it gently. -r -y-,: And now his self-possession was immediately restored. His only thought, at first, had. been forgiveness before she died; now he thought alone how to save her. Strange,:he did not once. thinkHof giving the alarm, and sending for medical aid ; for he instantly felt the case was one beyond-"the reach of ordinary. remedies, and ne in which the most perfect restoration of both the moral and physical natures to abablute repose could alone avail. . - - He -eached another towel frpm the toilet-table, on which he found, by the way, abundant supply, which, innocently enough, seemed'4to. hii remarkably apropos; then,- seating himself by her side, he endeavored, 'by the use of all tender epithets which could be applied, to soothe and-calm her. .She suddenly seized- his right hand and placed it upon the top of her head, and from that moment he thought he .could 'faintly perceive an increase of his cqiitrol over the more violent symptoms of the case. - More than half an hour of harrowing suspense had passed, before the paroxysm of bleeding had so far subsided as to enable himto. breathe more freely; but even when the bleeding had at length entirely ceased, a long period of coma, or death-like sleep, ETHERIAL SOrTDOWN. 147 - induced by' exhaustion, and suspended sensation, supervened, during which he continued -to watch her with the most painful anxiety, still holding his right hand upon her head, while, with the other, he clasped the fingers of her left hand as she had requested. As she immediately showed signs of restlessness on his attempting to remove either hand, he felt himself-compeled to sit thus, without change of position, for several hours, awaiting whatever might occur. And, finally, after a slight stirring of the limbs, she suddenly opened her eyes upon his, and smiled with a clear, sweet smile, rather of pity and, affeetionthan of forgiveness or reproach. He felt his heart bound, within him, and he -could oily utter, in a low tone, "The good God be blessed.! I have not killed you! Oh, I will never be ugly and cruel again! I will be your good boy now, always!" "Yes, yes," she said in a clear,,firm voice, ' you were very naughty; but -I ai strong again now. You will never speak harshly to me-again, will you? Lean here, my beautiful tiger ; let me feel that fierce cheek upon my bosom once more. You have suffered, too; I must soothe you." Manton, who,h'by this time, had become thoroughly exhausted, bowed his head lightly towards her, in obedience; but he leaned it rather upon the cushion than her person. It was now near twelve o'clock, and the man was lite- rally worn -out by the lng and violent- excitements which we have traced. Body, soul, and sense, utterly collapsed, the mo- ment his head found a resting-place, into-a deep sleep. The lamp burnt low; there was not another sound to disturb the dimmed silence of that room, but the heavy breathings of Manton. But even that murky light was, sufficient to disclose the figure of the woman stooping, as before, close to- the face of the- sleeper. Slowly her lips crept over, without touching it, lingering here and there, while her chest heaved with deep' inspirations. You could not see, had -you been a looker-on, the slight parting of the lips, nor could you have felt the-heated 4 page: 148-149[View Page 148-149] bMSPTUAtLr VAMPflISMT0 W furnace of here breath play along the helpless surface of those prostrate&nerves; but you might -have seen an eager, oblique glitter- in her eye; that grew the stronger while the darkness thickened, as ghouls look sharper'out-of graves, they have un- covered. 'But then, had you been patient, you would have seen, as the hours went by, a gradual twitching-of the nerves, possess that .d'eathlike frame.--a restless' motion, a moan, an all- unconscious smile of ecstatic delight ; and-then if your sense was not frightened and appalled: by 'the fierce, swift blaze from those still. eyes above, a fiend's'triumph would be all:familiar to, you. Alas! alas! will that young man wake sane ? The owr er of those glittering eyes seems to know; for hark ! in her exceed- ing joyshe whispers aloud,-"HIle is mine now! Seeshow his nerves vibrate. I was right in choosing this time of great pros- tration. 'I am scudding along'those nerved like a seabird on currents of the 'sea; 'all that is animal in him is mine now. { He is mine at last-the insolent tyro ! I shall drag him down from his vaulting self-esteem;-[ shall humble -him ; I shall 'degrade him. Ah,.ha ! I shall feed upon him !"; There may be retribution on eaith or in 'heaven. We will let that dark night's history rest!! I CHAPTER XVII. IT would be' well for sinners were there no to-morrow. At least it would be well for them so far as impunity in the enjoy- ment of sin was concerned., But it may not be ; the inevitable time of reaction must follow that of excess, the wages of which are remorse. The effect of that to-morrow upon' poor Manton was fearfully crushing. At 'first he dared not think -the horrid realisation would have slain him. -He dared not look up, lest he should see the great height from which he had fallen. He ,dared not hear the voices within him, or above him, lest they should blast his sense. He shrank from the sunlight, as though each ray were a fiery arrow, to cleave hissing through his brain. - He dared not look his fellow-man in the face, lest he should see the mark upon his brow, call him accursed, and spit upon him. The innocent eye of childhood was the most dreaded basilisk to him; and the face of a pure woman nade him shrink and shudder in 'aifrighted awe. His shadow seemed a speciral mockery to him, for it no longer glided with him, straight and firm, but was bowed, and crept sneaking after.' The burden of a hundred years had fallen upon the young man's shoulders in one fatal night-a ghastly, loathsome burthen of self-contempt -his face had grown old; his eyes lost their proud fire ; his lips, their firm expression ; there was no longer any " aspiration in his heel." The haughty, bounding self- reliance, the unflinching, upward look, were gone! gone ! Man- ton had lost his self-respect. Ah, fearful,:fearful loss, that it js! . There was a leaden des- peration in the man's whole air that was shocking, even to those who had never seen him before.. There was no bravado in it- -13* I' 149. 148 EPUERIAL S01'TDOWWN. page: 150-151[View Page 150-151] S1IRITUALVA4MPIRI5M. it was sultry, slow and self-consuming -shrank from observa- tion,' and burned -inward. .He neither sought Dor found any palliation for himself. He blamed no one else; his'pride would not permit him to confess to himself that he had been unduly.influenced, or that any un-_ fair advantage had or could have been taken of him. No, it was-his own fall._ His own grossness had profaned those asso- ciations which he had stupidly deluded himself, for years, into -supposingto be really sacred things in his life. He had ren- dered himself,'thereby, unfit for Heaven, unworthy Earth, too base for even Hell. His first sullen =recourse was -to the winescup, that he)might numb the unendurable agonies. He drank to monstrous excess; but, no, it would not do; that cold burning,.as of, an ice-bolt t'Gough his heart and brain, lay there still,-in the two -centres. He sought and found' men- like himself, with great thoughts and stricken hearts; like -himself, brain-workers; and in the fiercest orgies. of .desperation, hours= and hours were spent with- out attaining to, one moment of the-coveted'oblivion. The evening had long set in among such scenes, when a note was suddenly thrust into his-hand from behind, and as he turned his head, he saw a boy hastily making his Way, through the thronged room. This movement had not been observed by, his noisy companions --;heihastily concealed the rcote. He had recognised the superscription with a feeling of deathly, sickness, for which he cduld not clearly account. It 'was as if the fresh wdunds-were all to betorn open again. He soon after found an opportunity to withdraw beyond observation, and opened the: note, which, contained only these words: Z.. - My FRIEND :-why have you left me all day? come to me-I am-dying.t:- MARIE. The sheet was' bespattered with blood. Manton nearly fainted. 'Recovering himself in a moment, he muttered, "In- fernal brute that I am! to have neglected the poor, frail creature thu--after last night, too ! May God forgive me, for I shall never forgive myself!" He hurried from, the room. The scene, on 'reaching her apartment, was, as may by this time "be expected, ghastly enough. But as -we have seen a little more of these horrid bleeding scenes than Manton has, we will refrain from, another description of one, since we have found that they3only differed in the intensity of effect and de- gree in the precise ratio of -the results to be, attained. In' this instance she had not reckoned without her host. Manton, who never dreamed of suspecting her, and had been fully impressed with the belief that these attacks were fearfully dangerous, and that the magnetism- of his-.touch, whether ima- ginary or otherwise- could alone suffice to' restore her to the calmness necessary for -the arrest of the hemorrhage, felt as if an awful responsibility had been suddenly -devolved upon him; as he thus apparently held 'the -very life of this singular woman in his own hands.: This inmpression had been consummately-fixed upon the mind of Manton by her obstinate refusal to permit the-presence, at their interviews, of'any third person, not -even that of her own child. She could .thus, through his generous humanity, most eflectually draw him toher side; -and, when once in her, reach, he was again in the power of those fearful arts, of which we have - seen something. The life of Manton became'now a succession of the:"to- morrows" of remorse: Each new sun arose upon its succeed- ing scene of wilful, self-degrading excess, such as, we have wit- nessed. He never permitted himself to grow afully- sober, but drank incessantly --morning,:noon and night.' But that the wines he chose were comparatively light, and lees rapidly fatal than the-heavier and more dangerous drinks of our country, he must have,'undoubtedly, destroyed his life, as he did his busi- ness reputation, I h dw 15. ETHMUAL - SQETDOWN page: 152-153[View Page 152-153] 152 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. He still wrote brilliantly-nay, even with a fierce and poetic dazzle of style that surprised men greatly, and added rouch to the notoriety,if not to the solidity of his reputation. But every- thing went wrong with him. His purse was regularly drained by a remorseless hand; his wardrobe fell into neglect, and the marks of excess upon his fine, proud features, were at once rendered conspicuous by their association with almost seedy ha- biliments. Before one year had passed he had begun to exhibit himself before: men, in the pitiable light of one who had more pride left than self-respect. In a word, he had fallen fully into the toils of the hellish Jezabel. Remember, in judging of poor Manton, that while he-is hood- winked, through mtich that is most noble in him, we .see this woman through the strong light of day. He looks upon her as a devotee of science, in the holy cause of human progress and social amelioration.. A poetand enthusiast, his life' is dedicate to both. He regards her as a frail being, whose life hangs by a thread, and that thread -held in his own hand -= degraded into a false relation- to himself-a relation which he, loathes, to be sure, and which he feels to he heavily and'swiftly dragging him downward, every instant, while it lasts,, but' which he dare not utterly break, for/the fearthat that frail thread of life, of which he has s, strangely become the' holder, should be snapped. He has only seen her, through her representations of herself; and therefore,, all that is chivalrous and tender in him -has been aroused in her defence, as the white roe, hunted into his strong protection for ;defence against the demon hounds' of New Eng- land' bigotry, jealousy, 'and fear. Apart. from all other con- siderations,.these were sufficient to compel an utter negation of self, in .all that .related to her, as well as a hasty dismissal of those 'suspicions that might thrustthemselves upon him. A house, in the meantime, had been taken for her in Tenth Street, for the rent of which. Manton,-and the benevolent Doctor Weaselwere to become jointly responsible. But the woman 'ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. ' 158 was far too astute to permit any such entanglements as might lead, prospectively, to mutual explanations between her victims. The Doctor alone ultimately became her endorser for the rent. She had other designs upon the less plethoric purse of Manton. In entering upon this 'arrangement, Manton had been induced to believe, by'her own representations, that for ten years before the name of Preissnitz had been heard of on thi' continent, this woman had been practising wa'ter-cure among her women pa- tients. Manton had been sufficiently educated in the profession, to understand that.its general pretensions were essentially empi- rical.= He was too much an Indian,.,indeed,' and'had lived'too much among Indians, to regard anything beyond the simplest natural agents as efficiently curative. 'He therefore recognized what Preissnitz had discovered, as simply confirmatory of his experience of the usages of savage life, and his own observation so- far as it went. It contained not to him ,any Pre than any other pathy, the essential vis medicatrix of nature'; but it seemed good to him, because it was new to the popular sense, and wash well worthy to be urged upon its recognition, and thus 'to find its proper place among the other systems. He entered upon the project with the fullest enthusiasm, for this woman seemed to him, from her personal habits and untir- ing energy, to be specially set apart to preach the crusade of physical cleanliness to her sex. "The house was therefore occu- pied by her as proprietress and female physician, while Manton, Doctor Weasel, the fiery Jeannette, and victimised Edmond, of. a former scene, occupied respective chambers 'as boarders, and patrons of the new enterprise.' ' Iy page: 154-155[View Page 154-155] -tir :;" :r' ' ' 154 BUT even in the black'abysses of the hell down which he had fallen, a flowercould grow to the eye of Manton. It was the strange birth of a wizard evil place ; yet, as it spread beneath his nourishing eye and hand, it daily grew more beautiful to him. It may havebeen the unconscious contrast of a something young, living, and blooming in an unnatural sphere like this, where he, with the sudden weight of centuries upon him, breathed with, such heavy gasping. He could not tell what it was that thick- ened this drear air; he only felt the oppression on his lungs, and shuddered when sleep had partly sobered him, and he could realise it for the hour. His sympathies had been first touched for that ugly, impish, persecuted child, to which we have fre- quently referred, because he, saw, at once, that the mother's querulous jealousy was forever subjecting it to a species of covert torture, which kept it always haggard and wretched. Had it been. a sick and neglected kitten, on the hearth, he would have felt for it the'same kind ofisympathy. He accordingly noticed and caressed the child, and endeavoured to rouse its low, igno- ble frontal region into activity. . The response of a hungry and vivid animalityy, surprised him with its aptitude of apparent in- telligence. -He did not understand that marvellousfaculty of imitation which, in all the animal tribes approximating man, or which, in other words,' are born with embryo souls, assumes the external semblances of intelligent expression. The faculty of musicis below man, and common both to bird and beast; and SRUAL E RVAMPIuSM.. CHAPTER XVIII. A DIVERSION. Never did =ooi so ebb, or seas so wane,; But they left Hope-seed to fill up again. I' HERRICK. 155 he had yet to learn, to his heavy cost, how a perception and de- tection of the physical harmonies of sound may be utterly distinct from the spiritual comprehension of their meaning. .He had yet to fearfully realise how this insensate aptitude of harmony, which enables the monkey of the organ-grinder,-to dance in perfect time the most wild and rapid strathspey that ever Highland pi= broch rung, or a stupid parrot to whistle the divinest strains of Mozart; could yet bestow upon the combined parrot and monkey of our own race that segnblant mockery of the "gift of tongues," the use of the'soul's higher language. In a word, he would have been greatly shocked to hear the affiliated Poll and Jocko talk down Shelley in his own etherealisms, and appal Byron with the mad bravado of forgotten linys from his own reckless and, besotted misanthropy. Poll and Jocko are easy enough to detect through all the hu- man disguises'of their combined powers, if the man of common sense and society meets the itnpersonation for the first time, when developed, or in most of the latter stages of development. But it was a very different thing with poor Manton, who only saw an undeveloped, abject animal, from which he expected little but the gratitude of the brute for protection, and from which anything like a vivid response was as surprising as it was un- consciously gratifying to his egotism, for the reason that all. that was really pleasurable in it was owing to the fact of its consti- tuting a close reflection of'his own mind. Gradually the feeling took possession of him, a he observed in her an excessive sensibility, that could weep _it a moment's warning, and laugh like April through the glistening storm in the next instant,cthat he would make amends for the great sin of his life, in working upon this sensitive organisation for good.. The line delicate chords of this frail instrument might be made to respond to the divinest dotes; and this creature, with devel- oped brain and expanding soul, become a Medium of the lofliest intelligence-aye, be even to him the-consoler of after years. 'E1 HERIAL SOETEOWN. page: 156-157[View Page 156-157] 56sPI1ITALVAMPIRISM. The idea was a strange one, but it suited the intellectual auda- city of Manton for that very reason. It .seme dohis darkened hopelessness, that here, through the innoence ofchildhood, he~ iight renew that broken chain of iviig light which helddimin communion with the upper world, until its blackene4, spvered links, falling about hin, had left his manacled soul is hopeless bondage, He dreamed that if he guarded-it with holy zeali his prayers might-rise upon the first odora That went, up from this strange young flower to Heaven, and bring its light down too, in forgiveness,'to him. He did not know--for he'had fed.on poisons until it had be- come a 'kindof second nature to him; asto that old'Pontiac king -that the pure light of spheres could never reach him through this lurid glare, which he had now come to think the natural day - that the odor of no flower could rise through its thickened air to meet the keen, grey stars. The man became bewildered with thegorgeou& dream he nourished; and, day by 'day, without knowingwhy, he threw himself between the child and the bale- ful shadow of its" mother. He spread his hands above her in blessing ; he watched' that he niight shield her: From the moment when his attention had been- first attracted to her, she seemed to become illumiated; her ungainly body appeared assuring the lines of beauty ; her mean,.harsh features, softened, as the gnarled- shrub assumes, in slow~unfolding, the graceful mellowed drapery of spring. The. coarse, elfin locks, - grew tamed and. smooth;- a dark blue, in soft and gradual dis- placement, entered the sharp, greenish, animal eyes. The low,, ape-like forehead, swelled above neekly'curved brows that had lost their hirsute squareness. Indeed, so rapidf was .the' expan- sion of the frontal region, that it absolutely startled and afright-- ed the devout experinentei, when he placed his hand upon it, and felt it almost lifted by.the wild throbbings beneath. The work was. progressing too fast ; he feared that the general health of the subject might fail; but.,how to check and remedy this powerful 'reaction, so as to control it from fatal results, now so I ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 157 fully-occupied the spiritual subtilty of the man, as to leave him little time to think of himself. The loathsome contact of the reptile mother daily grew more abhorrent to him; and her characteristic cunning soon disco- .-. -. yered that she had no real hold upon him herself, and at once encouraged this growing interest in the daughter, with the same assiduous art that she had before displayed, in tormenting her with jealous gibes. Through this help she:hoped he might be held within her reach. 'She had already, by her malapert, silly, malignant interference, so far completed his ruin as to have brought about a desperate, and finally fatal collision, between himself and his business associate in the Journal, which his genius had built up; and-now he was thrown again to struggle. hap-hazard with"the world, he had become' more reckless and 'desperate: than before, -so that she .feared he might, at any time- break away-from'his bondage, and that, too, while he was still of use to her, and before she had gloated fully upon his ruin. She had studiously taught the child the process of those infernal arts, of which we have seen something; and, although the crea- ture understood nothing of the rationale involved, yet her imi- tative cunning made her a most sharp pupil and practitioner. By saying that the child did not understand, we mean to con- vey, that she could not have explained to herself, or to others what effect certain manipulations would produce specifically; yet she had a feeling-of them, a vicious intuition, that answered with her all the purposes of intellection. To look at her through the eyes of Manton, the uncouth and grotesque girl had become a fond and graceful plaything, that clung about him in soft caresses; that kept his heart warmed towards her, and caused him to regard the mother even with a modified sense of the growing disgust which was possessing him, and of which her shrewd insight made her fully aware. Her child had become necessary as a bait-.-and"her child let it be-f or, in her hideous creed, nothing was sacred. She was filled towards her victim with fierce yearnings, and, had she 14 page: 158-159[View Page 158-159] 15 4S IRITUAL VAMPIRISM. possessed the actual entity of soul, would have loved him madly- but no, she hated him, as the slave hates the despotic master.to whom he hourly' cringes for each favor. In aword, she ad him as a man-or in his double capacity of. a spiritual being,-rather,; and, as'even her hate was secondary, her appe- tites towards him were those of the weir-wolf for mankind- She would devour him body and soul, but she meant to feast alone. s Fearing .lest the. tenderness, of his nature might be too strongly moved towards the, child, if not diverted in other di- rections, she- at once set her subtle wits to work to furnish her' "Tiger," as she called him, with sufficient toys of the same kind to 'keep.him quiet, and avert the chances of his leaning more .towards one than another. Some letters were. hastily despatched to New England, and the result was the appearance of. a fair and gentle child, about the age.of her own. Elna and the stranger;Moions, sprang into each other's arms when they Wet, as if their very heart were one... They were fast friends, it seemed, and. a thousand times had Elna said how dearly she loved the gentle Moione; and so jealous were the children of their first, meeting, that Manton saw little of either for several days.. Glance at the bread, serene brow, great, clear ;eyes, and delicate mouth, of the new-comer, :filled him with a strange, inexplicable -sense of confidence, and even. relief; which he could not well explain, to be sure, because it was too undefined to himself. - He could only wonder how that white-browed creature. came in such .. place. It seemed as though it were a promise, answering t his prayer for the. elfish, Elna, that this calm spirit should have descended in their midst. The vehement arid headstrong. petulance .of her nature pro- mised to find here a balance that would, sober it within the, bounds of reason; and strangely,-although he sa w ,hope for her, and for bis own yet.undefined purpose in her development, he saw:.nothipg definitely in the stranger, but a good angel sent to aid him. His soul went out to greet her,,but was it-'yet his heart? 5T11]flUAL SoFTDOwN. 159 These children were both dedicate to art; and Manton found it now by -far the most pleasing occupation, to watch and give direction-to the rapid unfolding of this- instinct for the creative. The newly-aroused intellect of Elna here displayed' man yFhapish and brilliant characteristics- of the imitative faculty, that might easily have been mistaken, by a less partial observer than Man- ton, for genius. These peculiarities were strikiiigly contrasted with the placid, but vigorous style of Moione, to'-a degree that one formed the exact offset to the other, not alone in art, but in all physical and mental, as Well as spiritual idiosyncrasies. As these. children grew upon him, there seemed something strangely familiar in them to Manton. He often tried to ac- count for this to himself. Had he seen them before in dreams? Had he known them in some different world, and-ina) previous stage of 'being? Why was it that the vehement-.eccentricities of temper, the elfin wildness of motion, and light, mocking spirit of this child Elna, all seemed to him so familiar ? Why was it that the coming of the fair-browed Moione had surprised him so little ? There was that in her 'pure, calm face to startle most observers; yet, from the first,, he had looked upon it as a matter of course, and as if he had unconsciously waited for her to arrive. Why was it that he had felt comforted since she- came? What was it, in that name of hers, that sounded to him so much like a half-forgotten music-note? - So he had-questioned himself a thousand times, becoming each day more puzzled than the last, until accident furnished him with the curious solution of this mystery. One, day, in looking over a pile of old manuscripts, he found one, upon whidh he seized, with an unaccountable thrill. In .an instant the whole thing flashed upon him- "I have it! I have it!, - Here the mystery is solved at last! Strange, that I should so utterly have forgotten this manuscript! Two years ago, before I ever saw these people, this strange foreshadowing ,f what seems now a reality in my life, came to me in a summer's day-dreamn; and I 'wrote it 6ff,-to be thrown "i page: 160-161[View Page 160-161] 160 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. aside and forgotten until this moment. . It seems the most won- derful coincidence. I am no believer in.miracles, but this ap- pears a marvellous reach of. the soul into the future; I was 'con- scious of,nothing when I wrote, but the pleasure of embodying in words what seemed to me, a beautiful -thought; strange, it should have benthus thrown. aside and so utterly forgotten, until,,themncreasingcoincidences of my present relation have gradually forced me back to And it! What blind ._instinct, struggling in me, sent me hereto look through these old manu- scripts,. with no definite purpose? What vague struggle of consciousness; and memory is this, that has been moving me for weeks to understand why it is those children seem so familiar to me? Strange! strange! strange!" Manton now proceeded to read this curious manuscript, the contents of which we shall alsoplace before you:-- THlE LEGEND OF THE MOCKING-BIRD. Friend, do you know the Mocking Bird ? I warrant, if he is_ a familiar:of your childhood, you have a thousand times won- dered at the strange malignant intelligence which characterises his tyrannical supremacy over all the feathered singers. Not' only is he "accepted king of song," but he is the pest and terror. of- the groves and meadows. 'Spiteful and subtle, he conquers in battle, or by manoeuvre, all in reach of him; and you may easily. detect 'his favourite-haunts, by the incessant din and clatter of wrath. and fear he keeps up by his malicious mockery:among his neighbors. From my earliest childhood, I can remember having been singularly impressed by the-weird and curious humors of this creature. Since those, times ,of in- nocent wonder, I have been a wide wanderer. The preposses- sions of my fancy were irresistibly attracted by the wild -legend- I gie below.v' It was told me by an old Wako warrior. On a hill-side, above an ancient village of his tribe, while we were stretched upon the grass beneath a moss-hung live-oal he 1 ETIERIAL' SOFTD&WN. 161 related it; The moon was- out, gilding with silver alchemy the shrub-crowded crests of prairie undulations-piled, as we may conceive the wavest of the ocean would be-stayed by a word from heaven, while on the leap before a tempest. It -was a fitting scene for such a story. Out from- the dark-gorges on every side ascended the night-song-of the mocking-bird. The old man had listened tothe rapid gushing- symphonies for some time in silence, then drawing, a long breath he remarked-" That is an evil bird !" I begged him for an explanation, and he pro- ceeded. Those peculiarities, indeed, of the Indian's phraseology- those broken-pointed expressions, so condensed and meaning, and eked out continually by significant gestures, I could hardly hope to convey, were I fully able to remember them. The wild and fanciful methods of the Indian mind, believing what it dwells upon, yet half conscious that it is dreaming, are diffi- cult to remember or repeat. We can only do the best we 'may to preserve the idiosyncracies. "Yahshan, the Sun," said the, old chief, pausing reverently as he uttered the name, "in his great wigwam beyond 'the big waters, made the' first Wako! He laid him in his fire-canoe and oared his way up through the thick mists that hungevery- where. When his arm tired of pulling,' he took him out and stretched him upon his back on a wide dark bank,' and then rowed on his path andieft him. The Wako lay like the stem of an oak, still and cold. -Before Yahshan entered his night- lodge in the west, a dim hazy light had hung{ over 'the figure, but this only made its' broad couch look blacker-for nothing that' had form 'could be seen. Yahshau, the Moon--the- pale bride of Yahshan-came forth when he had gone in, and rowed her silver bark through the- ugly shadows above the -Wako, to watch lest the spirits that hated Yahshan should do harm to his work, which it had taken hin many long. "ages to finish. .,He was very proud of it, and the evil 'spirits'hated him that he had made a thing so goodly to look upon ; and they drifted hideoun" " P , page: 162-163[View Page 162-163] 162 'SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. phantom shapes, across the way of Yahshau, and tried to over- whelm her light canoe, but-its keen shining prow cut through them all, and left them torn and ragged, behind her. At last they ned, for when her eye was'on' the mute:form of the Wako, they feared to do it any harm. When all were gone, and nothingqthat looked'like mischief was to 'be seen, she too went in. And.then they flocked out from the. deep places where theyhad been hid, and-gathered with hot fingers and red eyes -,;about the quiet'Wako. He did not stirfor his senses had riot yet been waked; Quick they pried open his clenched teeth, and poured a green smoking fluid down his throat. Just then the prow of the fire-canoe appeared parting the eastern mists, and they all fled. "Yahshan came on, He looked upon his work and smiled -for he did not know that evil had been wrought-and came now in glory, riding on golden billows, scattering the chill mists that clung-around the icy form,. for it was time to waken it up, with life. He rolled the yellow flood, upon it, and the figure shivered ; again the glowing waves pass over it-.Athe figure was convulsed-tossed.itslimbs about, and rocked to and fro. Its eyes were open, but it saw not; its ears were open, but it heard not;,it was tasteless and dumb ; it smelt not, nor did it feel., Life had gone into, it, and the heart beat, the, pulses throbbed,, the blood coursed fast, and it was monstrous =strong. But what was 'this ? Being, self-fed .and self-consumed, hung upon the void of 'midnight, hurried and driven 'from its own still gather- ing impulse '-through a chaos of ,crude matter., That green liquid of the evil one now rushed in burning currents through the veins, and it dashed away, crawling, leaping, tumbling, like a mad torrent, over piled-up rocks across" the dark plains, striking'against hard, formless things, and rebounding to rush on more swiftly, till it had left the fire-canoe and Yahshan all astounded, far behind, and the terror of darkness was beneath and above it But what was this to it? On ! on ! the green' fire still burned' within, and it m~ust. go---chasms'and cliffs, with ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. ' 168 jagged rocks--into them, over them all. What were rough points and bruises,'and crashing down steeps, 'and midnight to it ? There was no feeling, yet the 'heart leaped, the blood careered, .the limbs must follow.- Motion, blind motion-no control, no, guide-but through and over everything,-move it must. " The bad spirits thronged after it, grating and clanging their scaly pinions against each' other, and creaking their pleasant gibes, vhen suddenly there was, no footing, and the headlong form pitched down, downward, whirling through 'the empty gloom, while all the herd of ill things.laughed and flapped them- selves in the prone wake behind it. " At once, with a sigh 'of wings, like a sharp moan of tree- harps,, a shape of light shot arrowy down amidst them. They scattered, howling with affright. It bore up the filling Wako r on strong, shining vans an instant, then stretching' them out, subsided slowly, and laid it on a soft, dark couch again. This was Ah-i-wee-o, the soul of harmonies, the good spirit of sweet sounds. She is the great. queen of spirit-land. Yahshan and Yahshauare her slaves; and all the lesser fire-canoes that skim in Yahshau's train obey her, She gives tall life its outer being.; to know and feel beyond itself-without her, life is only motion. There is no form, no law, no existence beside, for'.she holds and grants them each sense,. and in' them reveals all these. Yahshan could give life-but not content with this, he was- am- bitious. . The formless chaos his fire-canoe sailed over must be a world of beauty! A soul dwelt in.it, but that world was pas- sionless and barrei.- Yahshan had given life. to many shapes, but the cold spirit had scorned them all; and yet she must be wooed to wed herself to life, that,,out of the glow of that em- brace, might spring the eternal round of thoughts made vital, clothed out of shapeless 'matter with symmetry. He planned an impious scheme. He would not pray the good'Ah-i-wee-o for aid, but would act. alone, and be the great 'Medicine Spirit. He would frame a creature from out the subtlest elements within ,. . page: 164-165[View Page 164-165] 164 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. this chaos, so exquisite .that, when it cane to live, confusion. would be harmonised in it, and the order of its being go forth their law of beauty and of form to all. Then that coy spirit of desolation would be won at last, and passing into- its life, a royal lineage would spring forth, and procreation wake insensate matter in myriad living things, gorgeous ideals, harinoniously wrought, -and' self-greducing forever. All these would be his subjects, and 'he would rule, with Yahshau, this most excellent show himself! So he labored on, in the deep chambers of his night-lodge, through many cycles. The work was finished. It lay in state, within his golden wigwam at the east, that Yahshau and her 'glittering train might look upon it and wonder. Then he carried it forth; but evil spirits are wise,'and, though it was a nijghty work, they knew that it was too daring, and that Aha i-wee-o' would punish' its presumption, and would not let the senses wake with life ; so they poured that fearful fluid in, that fires the blood, and makes life slay itself. They say the* white man has dealt with them, has learned from them the spell of that' bad magic, and makes his " fire-water" by it. So when Yahshan waked up life,.its power waked too; for he knew not of the craft,'and, it tore the glorious work from out' his hands, While they flew behind and mocked him.. "Ah-i-wee-o bent ,over the swooning Wako; for the life that had been soi tumultuous scarcely now'stirred his, pulse. She was a thing of beams, silvery' and clear ; a warm, lustrous light clung around-her limbs and showed their delicate outline.' She floated on the'air,'her wings and figure waving with its eddies, like -the shadows of a Lee-kaloo bird'upon the sea. Her eyes; deep.as'the fathomless blue 'heaven,, looked down on him with' pity and unutterable' gentleness. It was a marvellous work the- overdaring Yahshan had accomplished. Beautiful, exceedingly, was that 'mute form, and; rarely exquisiteRits finish. Must that glorious' mechanism be destroyed,: and till the noble purpose of, its framing be lost?, No! She moves her 'tiny, flower-like hand abve it,.and every blotch and all the bruises disappear, ETERIAL SoPTDOWN. 165 and it was fair,to view, and perfect as -when Yahshan bad given it the last touch. Now she stooped beside and touched him,. white sparks 'flew up, and she sang a low song. At the first note, the dark, formless masses round them quivered and rocked: the Wako smiled; .for feeling now first thrilled along his nerves. The song rose ; the 'dumb things shook and stirred the more. She touched his nostrils and his lips; the sparks played between her small fingers and danced up. Yet a louder note swelled out, and 'the thick mists swayed. and curled, and a cool wind rushed through them, and dashed a stream of odor on -his, face. He drew long breaths, and sighed with the burden of delight, and moved.his lips to inarticulate joy; and-now that wondrous song pealed out clear,=ringing bursts that shook the blue arch and swung the fire-boats, cadent with its gushes-; and through the dim' mists great shapes, like rocks and trees, leaped to the measure, marshalling inlines and order. Now she pressed his eyelids with her fingers; the silver. sparks sprung in exulting showers, snapping and bursting with sweet smells. 'Once more, pealing triumphant, a keen, shining flood,:that symphony poured wilder forth ; his eyes fly open, and that heavy mist, like a great curtain, slowly rises. First the green grass and, the flowers, bending beneath the gentle breeze, turn their deep eyes and spotted cups towards him in salutation, and all the creeping things and birds, that love the low herbs, dew-besprent, are there: and as the mist goes, up, majestically slow, other forms of bird and beast are seen, and dark trunks of trees, and great stems beside them, looking like-trees, until his eyes have traced them up 'to the great moose, the big-horned stag, the grizzly bear, and the vast-moving mammoth. But then it has drunk the harmony of grades; for all are there. And,.side by side, he marks how, from the crawler, every step ascends, in beauti- ful gradation'; the last linked to the first in one all-perfect chain. Then came the knotted limbs, with all their burden of green leaves;' and, underneath, the round, yellow fruits, or purple flushing of rich clusters and gay forms, that flutter through them 1 page: 166-167[View Page 166-167] ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 1/47 on wings of amethyst, or fame, or gold, their every movement a music-note, _although all was .dumb to him as yet. Still higher the Wnist-curtain goes; 'and the 'grey cliffs, with shining peaks, and a proud, fierce-eyed bird perched on them; nieet his gaze ; and then the mists goat far away, and scatter into clouds, and all the "splendor aiid the pomp of the thronged earth is spread, a gorgeous, but voiceless, revelation to his new being. With 'every touch 'of the enchantress, Ah-i-wee-o, thesoul of chaos- had passed.into a sense; and all the pleasant harmonies the Wako felt, and all the scented harmonies the Wako tasted and inhaled-all the thoughts of harmony in grarid orgraceful forms the Wako saw ':that blissful interpenetration gave con- ception to, and the magic 'of that powerful song -brought" forth. One more act, and his high marriage to eternity is consum-, mated': ecstacy has found a voice, and all these harmonies ar- ticulation, yet his ears were sealed-; and though music flowed in through. every other sense, 'his dumb' lips strove in.vain to wake its language.. "But this was the supremest gift of all. This was the charm- that had drawn beauty out -of chaos -- the -magic by which Ah- i-wee-o ruled in spirit-land,. and chained the powers of evil. It were death to spirits less than 'she, to hear the fierce crashing of those awful symphonies'-she knew.' His nature could not bear the revelation. Besides, what'had he to do with that celestial 'minstrelsy which led the heaven-fires on their rounds ? '''here was ambition, full enough, up there; and Yahshan had been playing' far too rashly on those burning -keys. She would-not curse this perfect being'with a gift too high, ,and add another. daring rebel to her realm! -No-! he must be ruler here, as 'she 'ruled everything. From all those harmonies he must extract the tone, and on it weave his 'song of power to lead them cap- tive. This divine music is the voice of all the beautiful, the- higher language 'of every sense;. and 'not "until the -soul is brimmed to overflowing with sparkling thoughts of it, drank in through each of them, will the beamy currentrun, as streams do in 'the skies. He must lead the choir of all this being-yet, this infinite sense would overbear his nature, if suddenly revealed;. it can only wake in other creatures, as its birth matures, in him -andhe shall go forth into silence-every living thing shall be mute-and from the'low preluding of. the-waters and the winds the first notes of his exulting powers shall be learned, and they shall learn of him-.until all the air is one harmony-all breath. takes music on, and echoes bear the'twice-told glee--until faint- er, more faint, it is gone! "She touched his ears--the sparks leaped up-she pressed his lips with one entrancing kiss and sprang away. The quick moan of her pinions cleaving the air isthe first -sound that steals on the new sense, and stirs the dead vast.of silence that weighs upon his being. And now myriad soft wavelets of the infinite ocean follow-breaking gently:over him-the whisper of quiver- ing leaves to the .caressing zephyr, the low trenible of the forest- chords, and the deep booming of great waves afar off; the'-ring and dash of cascades nearer, the tinkling of clear drops in caves, the gush and ripple.of cold springs, the beat of pulses, the purr of breathing, and the hum of wings, in gentlest ravishment pos- sess his soul-for now is the bridal of his immortality consum- mate in a delirium of bliss, and lulled upon his couch he sweetly sinks into the first sleep. "'The Wako is roused next morning by a' warm flood from the fire-canoe-for Yahshan had come forth right roj~ally, and though Ah-i-wee-o had humbled his presumption and.would not 'permit him to be 'sole lord as he had hoped, yet all he, had dared at- tempt had been accomplished, and he believed if to be-in full his own work, and thus wore all his panoply of splendor in honor of his glorious creation. The Wako rose, ai d lo-! around him as far as the eye could reach, a mighty multitude of all the ani- mals of the earth were rising 'too. They waited for their king, and it was he. They came flocking around him to caress him in obeisance-- a gentle, eager throng! " The panther stroked his sleekglossy fur against'his legs and ss SPIRITUAL VAMPIRIS . page: 168-169[View Page 168-169] 18 S RITUAL VAMPIRISM. rolled ard gambolled like kitten at his feet. The great bear of the north rubbed his jaws against his hand and begged to be caressed. Big iountam (the mammoth) thrust his huge tusks i for a touch; and the white-horned'moose bowed his 'smooth- bristled neckland plead-with meek black eyes for notice. All. the huge grotesque things pressed around, and the .smaller creatures, pied, flecked, and dotted, crowded beneath their heavy limbs, unhturt-=all, fulf of confidence and love, gracefully sporting-rto win one glance. "Above him the air was thick with wings, and the whirr and wirinowing of soft plumes made pleasant music, and the play of brilliant hues was -like' a thousand rainbows arched and wav- ing over him; and the little flame-like things would. flutter near his face, and gleam their sharp brown eyes intohis, and 'strive, in vain; to warble out their joy, for their sweet pipes were not yet tuned.' "All were there, great and 'small; and the wide-winged6agle came fromiIts high. perch and circled. rou nd his. head, and brushed its strong plumes with light caressing, through his hair. He went with them into the forest burdened with rich fruits, and ate, then shook the heavy clusters down for them. Then he passed forth to look upon tire land, the first shepherd, with that countless flock thronging about his steps. "It was, indeed, a lovely land ! Here a rolling meadow, there a heavy wyood; -the -tees ill bearing fruits, or hung with vines and bloom. A still, deep river, doubled sky and trees in its, clear niirror, and he gazed, in a half.waking wonder, when the ripples the swan-trains made, shivered it to glancing fragments. "But wander:which way he might, he came to tail gray cliffs, with small streams,sthat pitched from theirtcloudy sutumits, and bounding.off from the rough crags below, filled all the valley with cool spray. "' He found his lovely world was fenced about with square, towering rocks, that nothing without wings could scale. But " _' E 'r. x i t {i" d 7 i ,I s i ETHERTAL SOFTDOWN. ' there was room enough for all, and profuse plenty the 'fritf l eart4 supplie.w At-noon, he went beneath a grove f syclinots here a great stream gishe' 6ut, ahd laid him down beside its briik, while his subjects stretched and perched around hin4 .i the shade, to rest. His sleep vfas broken by strange new melodies that crept in. He opened his eyes'; near 'him were two maidens and all the birds and beasts were'gather'ed around them, and they were singing gay, deicious -airs, teaching the birds t warble. "One of ;them was fair-white as the milk.white fawn that licked her hand and gazed up ,at her musical tips; -but her hair was dark and a strong light, gleamed in her small black eye, This-was' Ki-ke-wee. She surig and laughed and kissed the song-bird that perched upon her 'finger, and when it tried to follow her wild carol, she mocked its blunders aid stamped her tiny foot, and frownedI and laughed and warbled yet a wilder symphony to puzzle it'the more. "The other- waS a darker maiden with larger gentle eyes. This was_ nemoia; her voice was soft and low-aind she rsang sweet songs and looked full of love and patience., The Wako half rose in joy= and'., wonder. They bounded towers him-- sang .a rapturous roundelaf to a giddy, whirling dance fhen threw theirrms about his neck and kissed lim, 'They became; his squaws, and Yahshau smiled upon'them as she sailed by that night. ' The Wako wais very happy and Ki-ke-wee was his favorite. She, grew very. lovely and full of curious whims- that each day became more odd. She loved 'the blue jay most 'among the birds, and taught him ill his antics; pdtlxe magpie was a and thepassionate, briht humnuer lived abojt heplips. "As yet nothing buf soundi and scenes of love -were in that little world; and the strong terrible brufes knew notghat they had fierce passibns or the taste for~hlood; but Ki-kwee ewuld stand before tlie grizzly bear and pluck "his ja~s'andswitch his" 15 page: 170-171[View Page 170-171] T&V SPIRITAL 'yAMPIRISM. fierce eyeballs until he learned to' growl with. pain,. and then she would mock him; and when he growled louder she -would mock phim still until at last he roared with rage and sprang upon hepanther--for he feared Ki-ke-wee's eye !-.and' the- panther tasted blood and 'sprang to the -battle fiercely. And now the tempest-broke, and everything with clawsand fangs howled. in the savage discord. Ki-ke-wee clapped her hands and laughed.' Mnemoia rised:the 'nchantment, of her'song above it all,' and it was stilled,. Then -i-ke-wee .wouldctease the eagle and mock him till he screamed and' dashed.at the great vulture in his rage; and she _o ld dance and shot for joy; and Mnemoia would quell it; then go aside and weep.; "The Wako loved ythe beautiful -witch,'and when he plead with her she would 'mock even him,'and every -day and every hour this knocking elf stirred some.new passion, until' at, last even Mnemoia's song had lost its charm, and. the, bear skulked in the 'deep n'thikets and. 'shook them with his growl, and the father moaned from out the, forest, and the' gaunt' wolves snapped their white teeth and howled,' antd all the timid things fled away from these fierce voices;, and battle, and blood, and death, were rife where love and peace had been. The birds scattered in affgihtand sing their newsongs'in snatches only; and hateful sound of' deadly passions, and the screams and wailsHof -fear, resounded everywhere. "Ki-ke-wee: made a bow and poisoned the barbed arrow, and mocked the death-bleat of the nilk-white fawn when the Wako shot it ,at her tempting. 'This was too' much ! Ah-i-wee-o cursed her and she fell. The Wako knelt' over her and wept; and when the dissolving spasm seemed upon her, he co ered his face' with his hands and wailed "aloud. A voice just above him' wailedtoo! He looked np surprised ; a strange bird with graceful form and sharp black spiteful eyes was mocking hiri!. He ipoked down-Kike-wee was gone'; 'and 'te strange bird a ped its legi bilhissingl at him; and'when it spread its wings. EITHER; L SOPTDOWN.ii tobound 'up from the twig in an 'ecstacy of passion, he knew by the broad white"stripes across them that it was Ki'ke-wee! ".He found 'the neglected Mnemoia weeping in tii' forest ; and soon after they scaled the cliffs and fled from that fair land to hide 'from Ki-ke-wee. But she 'has followed them and mocks. their'children -yet,,and we dare not slay her, for the wise isen- think she was the daughter of the Evil Spirit that poured' tfie green fluid -down the Wako's throat, and that the same bad fire burns yet in ,our veins. our hunters chasing the' tnountain-goat sometimes look from the bluffs into that lovely vale 'that lies in the bosom of the Rocky Mountain chain, but they never venture to'go down!" s CHAPTER XIX. SOME SELECT SCENES. SOME short glimpses of daily scenes may convey,' perhaps, a clearer idea of how life sped now with Manton, amidst the new charms which it had gained. The whole man was rapidly changed'; his habits of excess in wire-drikig were, in a great measure, thrown aside, and the hours he. had thus,.wasted in stupifying madness, were given to the society 'and 'develop- ment of these fair children, that had thus come to him in bless- ing. lie now knew no difference in his thought-of them; they had grown to be twin-flowers to him, transfused with a most tender light of spring-dawn in his darkened heart. Yes, there it was - that little spot-of light' h e felt it warm, and slowly spread and waken in soft'beams, 'trerhulous and faint alo he ice-bound chaos where the life-floods met' within him. His brow would grow serene and" Iose its painful tension, as, hour by hour, he watched beside them, guiding their wayward 171 page: 172-173[View Page 172-173] *$PIRITUAI VAtPIRJ$M. ppncils with his, sure eye, to teach their yet irresolute wills and una cestome4 fngrs to act together with that consciousness that always triumphs; ,and then, with the long eyenings, came lessons1 botany, or the eloquent discourse, half poetical, hal rhsoica, and all ;inspircdwhich led "their young spirts forth, amidst the mysteries and: beauties of the other kingdoms of the natural world. Or, when the stars: came ,out, and their calm, inspiration slid into his schl,- he communed with, them of higher themes -of aspirations holy, wise,;and pure -ofthe heroic souls,of ark:-of their pale, uimoved dedication, through dark,.saddened years of neglect, obloquy, and want-6f their glorious' triumphs, their immortal bays, that time can never wither-until, with trembling lips and glistening eyes, they hung upon his words. It was wonderful to see how quickly Etna:wept, like.an April, shower, at any tender word or thought; but the great eyes of Molone only trembled like dark violets brimming with heavy. dew. All the truth, the religion of Manton's soul, was poured out at such times. The' door would ' sha pn Thedoor wouldharply, open -' Elna ! Moione ! go to oed !" This would -be spoken in' a low tone,' evidently half- choked with- rage, bybthe woman. Eer bent form looming within the-eshadow of the entry, looks ghastly enough in her white gown, loose dark hair, and the greenish glitter of her obligne- eye:.-Thepoorchildren rise, with a deep sigh from Mbio a over her broken drealih, and . a quick exclamation of petulant wrath from Elna -while Manton mutters an involun- tary curse orbithe unwelcoine intruder ; and, as the light for ns of the children'. recede before his vision and disappear in the dark passage, be shudders; unconsciously, 'a if a ghoul had disturbed 'him at a feast with' angels.. -Now, again, had he fallen back to -hell. With a fierce out- break of jealous fury, she would spring into the room, as if literally. to devour him with talons and teeth ; and, when ta few paces o11 catching his .eold, concentrated eye, - ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 178 she would stagger' backwards, as ifshot through the heart, toss her white arms wildly into.the airr and, with head thrown back, utter, in a strange, choking, guttural screech - "Auh! 'auh! auh !-yaughk-you kill!-yon kill me!"' and pitch forward convulsively, withthe blood bursting 'in torrents from her nouth. Then 'came the long, harrowing,' and 'oft- described scene of terror, remorse; pity, on the part of Manton, and the plea -for forgiveness, the slow recovery, and -- and so on. Or else, ith some modification of tactics, the lioness changed to the lamb, the Gorgon-head to that-of Circe, she.would throw herself upon him, with tender expostulations, call him "che- rubim," and stroke his. "hyacinthian curls;" and,"when that failed, cling about his knees, and weep and pray, andethen, as the desperate resort, suddenly swoon, with a tremendous crash, upon the floor, and lie there for an hour, if need be, in a con- dition of syncope, so absolute, that Manton-who had.now wit- nessed this comparatively-harmless phenomenon so many times, as to be relieved from any apprehensions ofimmediate results- had lately felt the curiosity of'the philosopher 'irresistibly aroused in him, and would frequently leave her for a considerable length of time, in order to watch the symptoms, before' he proceeded to apply the very simple reniedy for recalling her to conscious- ness, with which, by the way,. she had furnished him long ago, in advance, through certain adroit hints and indirections. ~'When he had satisfied his more analytical moods, in this way, he would proceed with the restorative process, as per prescription. This mysterious operation consisted ii placing the pillowsof the sofa, or -the rounds of a chair, under" her feet, so as' to ele- vate them atf a. slight anglehigher than the head. As he- was led to understand the result, the-blood,.by-the laws of capillary attraction, was instantly carried up, from, her head to. her feet, thereby relieving the oppression 'of the brain; when Jo! to this new "opet sesame,'" the rigid, lids flew wide apart, disclosing eyes as vivid with life as ever., 15 * 0 page: 174-175[View Page 174-175] Vt4 SPIRITUAL VAMPI aSM. The strangesf part ofthis scene consisted in the fact,,That while the fit lasted, it was impossible to perceive the slightest symptoms of-breathing or pulsation, any more than in the most broadly-defined, c se of catalepsy; or of absolute death itself. It was, therefore, clear ,enough to his mind, that such conditions could not be entirely counterfeit; though -the. suggestion had now become -frequnt, that they might, after long training, be- come, in a great measure, voluntary. Another scene. The mother reclines apon her bed, anV the child 'ia by.,hertside, with arms around her neck and face against- her bosom. Moione stands leaningover the foot-board, with 'folded arms, her pale face expressing mingled grief, anger, and pain, while she looks with a cold, steadfast glanceinto the oblique eye of the woman, :who addresses her rapidly, in bitter tones -- 4 You lovethat bad man, Moione ?" "Ye;rI -do'!" said the young girl, curtI and coldly. "Ha!' you acknowledge it, do you, ungrateful girl? Ac- knowledge that, 'at your age, you love a profligate wretch like this? a an utterly 'without principle, where our sex is con- cerned. A villain) who has already, attempted The ruin of my own daughter, under my very eyes!" Moione turned paler still at this, and looked. inquiringly to- wards her friend-Elna,,rwho, however, gave. no, sign, either by word or movement, of dissent to this vile insinuation. In-. stantly the blood. mounted- to Moione's brow, and her gentle eye shot lre, her thin lips curled with scorn - It is false-! Itis false! You know it to beso ! "He'has taught us nothing but-what' is' pure and high!' He never breathed a.thought of evil to either of us, and Elna dares not say so! I love him as .our lofty, noble brother, and shall con- tinue to- do- 'so so long as he; shows himself only to me, and to, her, as he has done! .Pray, madam, why do you permit him to remain in 'the house, if he be so wicked?. You tell me' you TFRIAL'SOFTDOWN. 175 have the power to turn him out at any minute. Whyiiot do it ? Why do you -trust your. child with him, at all hours, and under all circumstances?- Why do you so constantly-seek his society yourself? If he were. the fiend you represented, one would think you would have reason to fear for yourself, if not for Elna. What he. has done once he rill do again! How do you recon'- cile all this?" The flashing look and withering tone 'in which this unex- pected outburst of indignation, on the part of the usually quiet Moione, had been delivered, cowed the craven nature to which it was addressed. It was but for an instant, thoughJ; her 'subtle cunning returned to the charge, in a lower tone, andion another tack. She reached-out her hand, affectionately, towards her - " Come, Moione, dear! come, kiss me !" The child did not move, but merely answered in a low; con" temptuous "No!" The. woman continued, in a wheedling tone, "Hear! my naughty Moione ! She will not come to kiss me, yhenI love her so! Moione does not understand everything she sees, or she would not haye spoken thus sharply to her friend. ,She does not understand that I am striving to save this poor youth from his frightful Vices! his wine-drinking, his .tobacco, his meat- eating, and all those ugly sins which so deface, what I hope one day to see a beautiful spirit ! She does not know I must endure this evil that good may come'! She does not 'realise how- mdch pain it costs me to have the purity of mj household thus 'dese- crated by his poisoned sphere ! She: does not reineiber that God has placed us here, on this earth, to bear and forbear to- wards his erring children ; that they may,.tbrough us, become regenerate and redeemed! I know his eloquence, I know his subtlety, therefore I have warned you against him; he cannot be dealt with as other men,.for he is but a foolish, headstrong boy, with a great soul, if he were only free; but while his vices hold him in bondage, he is. not to be- trusted. Though I have lifted him out of the very gutters of debasement -given him a page: 176-177[View Page 176-177] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. home in my house- I have o confidence; at this moment, that he -would, not deliberately ruin either you or Elna to-morrow, if he could ! You should, therefore, rather pity me than be angry with2 me, dearest Molone !" " So;I peceive !' said the young girl with a cold sneer, as she turned and walked haughtily from the room, Slamming the door emphatically behind her. The woman sprang to her feet, witi an expression of ungovernale fury in here face. The insolent, ungrateful wretch! This is what I get for all' my trouble to make something out of her-to render her of some value to me! To sa-a-ve her!" and she hissed out the words with a horrible writhingHof her- features, while the pupl of her oblique' eye was wrung aside, until- nothing but the white, ghastly blank of the ball-was to -be seen.- "Yes Ill save you! I'll use you; you insolent beggar! I have not brought you- here, alone, as the ant carries' off the aphide, to give spiritual milk to my--own offspring ! I brought, you to.usetoo, and use you I will! I will coin you into profit ! I'll 'humble your insolent airs! I've got a market. for you already, and a bidder! Dare to cross, my path, ha ?-with your supercilious insolence - I'll bow that. white forehead! I'll fill those blue eyes with ashes! until, blearedd and rheumy with premature decay, you crawl tokis my foot for favors !" -During this horrid apostrophe, the woman had stood stiffened where she had first planted her feet --upon the carpet, staring blankly at the, door through which the young girl had passed, and throwing her.,arms out in wild gesticulations after her. The girl Elna lay, in the meantime, with her face half con- cealed -in the- pillow, closely watching, with one sharp eye uncovered, the whole scene. The woman, who had forgotten- herself in her fury, turned suddenly and saw her. Her manner -istaptly: changed.. She threw--herself by her side, took her caressingly into her arms, drew her face close to tiers, breathed upon it long and steadily, and then commenced in low, confi- I I i ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. I7 dential tones, a conversation between them, the purport ofd which we must leave to conjecture. ,A ., Another scene. About this time, Manton had effected the advantageous sale of a new work, which placed -him suddenly in the possession of a larger sum of money than he had been able to cominmand, at one time, for a long. period. ' His, first thought was for lhis young proteges, ands although his own ward- robe was- sufficiently dilapidated, he expended a portion of the sum for their comfort and gratification before he thought .at all of his own necessities. Unluckily for him, however, it was evening when the money was received, and the purchases in- tended to surprise them were the only ones made on'the way to the house. In almost boyish eagerness, and all breathless with the de- light4 of giving joy to -these gentle ones he loved so much, he hastened home and threw his presents down before them, to be greeted- with rapturous expressions :and gleeful- merriment, the silvery and most musical clamoring of which, soon brought the woman, Marie, to the scene., Her eyes danced. and glistened as she saw them; her infallible instinct scented the money in an instant., " Beautiful! beautiful !" she- exclaimed, clapping her hands with childlike-artlessness. 6 "How lovely! How sweet! How noble !' How generous of you to think of these.dear girls first, when you need so much yourself!" and she looked up with be,. witching candor into the face of Manton, though it might have been noticed by more careful observers that one eye- turned ob- liquely towards his pockets. - She -sprang suddenly to his side, and lent affectionately against-his arm, which she clasped with both her hands.. "Ah,-my gentle Tiger ! How shall I ever thank you for;your unwearying kindness to these my tender blossoms ? My precious ' Monies!l' Youi are too good! We shall never know how to thank you.enough-l" I page: 178-179[View Page 178-179] 18, SPIRITUAL rAMPIRISM. And leaning still- closer and in a 'more confidential.manner towards his ear, while her 'forehead flushed ,and. her voice sank, "You sold the book," did you ?" For how much ?" "The feeeipts in my pocket will show !" "Ah, let us see them then !''said she playfully, as she thrust her hand into his pocket. "I want to see if those' evil and stupid publishers' have understood the' value -of the precious genius they were purchasing !.- Oh, dear, why what a treasure ! Here are' fifties, twentties, ever so many!" while-she, with eager and trembling- hands, fumbled the notes that she had snatched from the vest-pocket where.he had,. with his. characteristic are- lessness of money, thrust them loosely. '" Ah, I must take time to count' all this treasure for you, for I do n't believe you know how much you 'ye got; you careless boy!". And as she said this she hastily deposited the, money in the bottom of her pocket. Manton looked at her a moment with a very' hard, cold glance, while a-flush of indignation gleamed across .his brow ; for he had a sure presentiment that he -should never see 'this money again. The great'misfortune of his'organisation Wasrhis recklessness in regard to money, and the absolute inability of his nature to, comprehend the sterile meannesses of its abject wor- shippers. - For' the first time the impulse to strike thisswoman to the earth came across hir, but in an instant this 'angry feeling was dissipated amidst the gay and laughing caresses of his petted favorites. When, on the next day, Manton demanded of the woman, an account-of the money, she turned pale and red, looked upwards and downwards, and finally askance, while she faintly told him that she had spent the whole ; but, for his good, as well as that of.the dear' girls' and herself, "for," she said, "you know you are so. 'careless, about money, so generous, so liberal, that you. would .have thrown it all away without accomplishing any of the good you so much desire.- Pray, forgive me, for my anxiety to EfIERIAL SOFTDOWN. TT9 do the best for us all !" and as she saw the brow of Manton, who had not-uttered a word, settling, darker and darker above his cold dilated eyes, she sank upon her knees at his feet, and clasping his in her arms, she plaintively plead -. "Ah, forgive me! forgive me! I acted for the best ! For God's sake do not look so, you will kill me !" He spurned her contemptuously from him with his foot, and retreating, as she. crawled abjectly back again, he ,said in a measured, deliberate tone - '.Keep away from me, woman! You may, retain your ill= gotten plunder once more, but, mark you, if ever you dare to put your hands into my pockets again I will strike you to the earth, woman as you are, and trample you beneath my feet, as I would another reptile ! I have had enough of this remorseless fleecing!" And spurning yet more contemptuously her persistent attempts to clutch his knees .again, he left her swooning upon the floor. He went forth with the scales falling from his eyes regarding this woman, in some particulars at least. The sequel to the last scene is too rich to be passed over. Since that wholesale and- impudent robbery, Manten had main- tained his ground firmly, in regard to money. 'All her-arts were brought to bear,"in vain; he steadily and sternly refused to be plundered any farther; until finally, his feminine 'tsaviour" being driven to the extreme verge of desperation, tried-,a new and dashing game. She had just been reading Zschokke's charming tale, " Illumi- nation, or the Sleep-Walker." The'reader will reniember how the ,-Sleep- Walker, the heroine of the tale, instructs:Emanuel; while in the clairvoyant state, as to how he"should proceed in her own case, which 'he had -been elected to restore to health again, through the nervous, or sympathetic medium, by re-es- tablishing the balance of the lost physical with thespiritual life. That, in. addition, the Sleep-Walker revealed to him" 'the thoughts of his own soul, and counselled him as an angel would page: 180-181[View Page 180-181] 18 SPIRITUAL VA]PIRI$M hate done, against the evil she saw in him-tells him too, that, he must not regard her weakness, or' the petulance of her words owards him in her waking state.. Well, our clairvoyant, after reading 'this book herself, exhib- ited an unsual degree of restlessness to have it read by Man- ton, too ; nothing would content hfler until he had fairly com- menced it, -when she know there was no probability of his pausing until he got through. She watched him during the reading, with great curiosity, frequently interrupting him to draw out his opinion as, he progressed. Everybody knows the fascination of the tale, and 'confesses the fine skill with which its wonderful details are wrought up. Manton could do no les ; he was charmed, of corse, as mi- ions of other readers have been. A few hours after finishing the book, while sitting at his table, engaged in writing, the door, which was vnbolted, flew open wide, and there stood Madame, dressed in pure white-the eyes nearly closed, and features pale and rigid, the outstretched hands reaching vaguely forward, after the manner of the somnambulist. She paused- for;a moment thus--while the whole meaning of the scene flashed through the mind of Manton in an instant ; 'and, although he felt a very great inclination to laugh, he restrained himself, and determined to encourage the thing, and -see how f4r it would go. The new Sleep-Walker now advanced slowly towards him; and as she crossed the room, a slight movement 9f her fingers beat-the 'air before her, a. if through the guidance of these magnetic poles her soul sought its centre of attraction ;. with a slow, gliding mQvement she thus approached, until within- a few inches of him,-when her hand leaped, as the magnet does " to' the stone, to meet his, and then a 'certain painful rigidity that had marked her brow at first, was -displaced and gave way to a serene expression of content, as if she had now found rest., 'That peculiar action of the muscles of-the throat, as if in the effort to swallow, now followed immediately, and was sufficient I '. ETHE IAL $OFTD0WN. 1281j* intimation to Manton that she desired to speak. lHe accordingly asked her, solemnly-- "Why are you here ?" But there was-evidently something of mockery in the tome in which this question zwas asked, for 'the Sleep-Walker only frowned and shook her head impatiently. Manton now changed his voice, and with real curiosity, proceeded. "Speak: why have you come to me thus? What would you say to, me. After some four or'five efforts to, produce sound,' she articu- lated- "For your good." " Tell me then, what is for my good ?" She again frowned and shook her head and muttered- " You are ,naughty." " Why ?" "You have no faith." "Faith in what ?" "Faith in me-in my mission-in my truth." "I have faith in you-tell me what is for my.good. - " You must be more humble ; your pride and your suspicion will never let you be saved. -You must have some hard lessons yet to bring you down-to humiliate you-to purify." Here there was a long pause, when Manton, growing' impa- tient, finally asked-- "Is this all you have to say to me? Is this all you see now-?" 'No." "Well, what is it?" After considerable hesitation, she at length said, "You do not treat me right !--you hold my life in your- hands-yet you are cold--you do not come near' me-you are leaving me to die !" Here then was another long pause. "What more is there ?" at length asked Manton; "this is not all." 16 page: 182-183[View Page 182-183] 182 SPIRITUAL -VAMPIRISM. This time the choking and hesitation, before pronouncing the words,. seemed greater than ever. At length, however, out they came. "They complain of you in Heaven, that you let me suffer-- that you do not care for my necessities-that--that you do. not --not--give me money now:" This'was too much-Manton literally roared with scornful laughter, as he spurned. her from him-' " Ha! ha! ha ! here is illumination for yoiq with a vengeance ! Alas! poor Zschokke! 'to what base uses do. we come!' The divine inspiration of the Sleep-Walker raising the wind! '-Vive la bagatelle'! Hurrah ! hurrah !" He fairly danced -about' the floor, in an ecstacy of enjoyment---the scene seemed to him so irresistibly ludicrous. - During this time, the woman, who had staggered, towards the bed, and fallen across it, lay perfectly immovable and white, without the change of a muscle, or the quiver of. a nerve. Manton, however, paid no attention to her, and half an hour afterwards, taking his'hat, left the room, .without again approach- ing her. But what was his astonishment on, returning, two hours afterwards, to meet the- sobbing Elna, and the pale, troubled face of Moione; in the passage. Elna, at the sight of him, seemed wild with grief, and sprang, with her arms about his neck, screaming- ".Oh, mother is dead! mother is dead ! My dear mother is dead!" " Why,' Moione," said Manton quickly, taking her hand, as he shook Elna off, " what is-the matter? what is all this ?" " She seems to be in 'a fit of some 'sort. We missed her, and after looking all over the 'house' found her lying on they bed in your room, without motion-or breath. We have not been able to wake her since, and did not know what to do until you came." " Oh, come!,do come !" screamed the horrified Elna. "Save my -poor mother!. save her! .save her! You must save her ! I shall die!" ETIERIAL SOFTDOWN.' 183 Manton, who immediately felt his conscience sting him, assured the girls that it was merely a mesmeric sleep, from which he would relieve her in a few minutes. He then rushed up- stairs, accompanied by them, and found her, indeed, in pre- cisely the same attitude and'apparent condition in which he had left her. After a few of the usual reverse passes for removing the magnetic influence, she -slowly opened her eyes, while the blood returned to her face. - Starting up and staring about with a bewildered look, she uttered merely an exclamation of surprise, and, then, after rubbing her eyes, quickly asked the poor child, Elna, who had thrown herself sobbing -wildly on her breast--- "Why, you foolish girl, what's the matter now ?" "Mother, dear mother, we thought you were dead !" And now came an explanation, so far as the thoroughly re- pentant Manton.was disposed to make it, of the scene we have just described'; the amount of which was, that she--had come into his room in a clairvoyant state, and, being called out-sud- denly, he had left it for an hour or two, forgetting to' make any explanation to" the family, and without having relieved "her, as he should have done, before going, by using the necessary reverse passes. The- incredulity of Manton had never before received -so severe a shock; and it was a long time before his conscience would forgive him, for what now seemed his brutal suspicion. Alas, poor Manton! had he only possessed, for a little while after he left that, room, the invisible cap of the ." Devil on two sticks," he would have been most essentially enlightened as to something of the art and mystery of clairvoyance. As soon as the front-door had slamnied behind him, he would have seen that woman spring to her feet,-and, with lips and whole frame quivering with rage, glide .from the room, mutter2 ing to herself; and when she entered her own room, which could be reached through an empty bath-room, he would have heard several low, peculiar raps upon the partition-wall which separated her own from the room of her daughter. These raps 4u page: 184-185[View Page 184-185] ETHEREALL SOFTDOWN. SPIRITUAL. VAMPIRISM. were repeated, at intervals, natil a single tap at her door re- sponded, and in another moment the girl Elna glided in on tip- toe. The conference between them was' carried on in a low, rapid, business-like-tone, while every half-minutesthe girl thrust her head from the window, to watch' as for some one' coming. After a few moments'thus spent, the child left 'the room, with an intelligent nod, in answer to the repeated injunction not to leave the window of herown room until she saw him.coming, far up the street.-- and then-! tAfter this, he would have seen the woman quietly seat herself at the table, after locking her door, and, write a long letter; when, on, hearing three low'taps in succession, she sprang to her feet, rushed'tirough the bath-room into- the room of Man- ton, and threw herself across the bed, in the precise position in which he left -herand, after three or four violent retchings of the whole muscular system, her face collapsed-grew ashen-white-- her lids drooped---her 'muscles became rigid, and she exhibited all the outward resemblances of suspended vitality. ;'hen the wild Elna rushed in, accompanied by the deluded Moione,"and, the moment she looked at the condition of the mother, burst into- the most extravagant demonstrations of helpless grief; while-Moione, with perfect presence of mind, sprinkled water upon the face and, endeavored to restore animation. Soon the street door-bell rings with a' peculiar energetic pull, and the frantic Elna at once exclaims, "Manton! dear Manton! he can save my mother; let us run for him." She seizes the hand of Mo one, and--we know the rest Shocking, ludicrous, and monstrous as all this may appear to the reader, 'from his point of view, its only effect upon Manton was necessarily to rebuke-the feeling.of harsh incredulity which was beginning to become so strong in him, with regard to this inexplicable wonan. He was now more troubled and con- founded than he had ever been ; for it was impossible that a nature like his could ever have voluntarily suspected the un-' imaginable trickery e nd collusion which we have traced 'in this' scene; while his common sense was too strong to be in any degree shaken by what was simply unexplained. His 'magna- nimity would not permit him to suspect the full degree of knavery, or his conscientiousness to run such risks, again, of doing grievous injustice,'as it now seemed to.him he had clearly done in'thiscase. He felt it utterly impossible.to treat these phe- nomena with entire disrespect hereafter, however little influence he might permit them to exert upon his fixed purposes and will. CHAPT R XX. SELECT SCENES CONTINUED.' WE have lost sight of the other characters in our narrative, and it is now time that 'we return to them. 'The reader will re- member, in the dark-eyed, sharp-tongued Jeannette of a past scene, the contrasted type - of. another class of adventuress, whose schemes seemed to have been rapidly culminating. Her success, indeed;, seemed now to be absolutely assured; 'the coveted conquest had been achieved -Edmond was daily at her feet. They were, as it was understood, soon to be publicly married. In the meanwhile, she occupied the best room in the house, and became daily more and more imperious andoyer- bearing towards the woman Marie, as she believed the time to be approaching when she would no longer need her services. In common with her type the world over, she was credibly selfish and ungrateful, where she had once fawned and cringed. This little weakness of arrogance she had begun to make some slight exhibitions of, even towards Edmond himself; while, as for the woman Marie, she hectored her on all occasions with the pitiless volubility of. a most caustic wit. In this, however, she made a most fatal mistake ; she little dreamed of the dark and 16 * ' V 185 X84 page: 186-187[View Page 186-187] 188 SPIflTUAL VAMPIRISM. terrible subtlety-of the reptile she thus hourly trampled with her ruthless scorn. 'She,'too, was doomed to 'feel the fearful pois m of the hidden sting she carried, and writhe beneath its hideous; tortures. There had been 'a more than usually bitter scene between them, in which 'Jeannette- had loftily taunted her with the ab- jectness of the. game she was now playing, in putting forward her own 'daughter, as the attraction, by which to hold Manton any longer near her. It was not.that Madame Jeannette was so much shocked' at any villany in the act itself, but that her lofty pride was revolted at the inconceivable meanness it displayed ; for, as among thieves and robbers, there is among adventuresses a certain esprit du corps,-and the haughty Jeannette aspired to' be a sort of banditti chieftainess in sentiment, and was really a person of refined cultivation, so far as mere intellect was con- cerned,--it is little wonder, that at such a time of unbounded confidence in the security of her own position, and independ- ence, as she"supposed, of any fai-ther aid from the woman, that she should have given way to a natural feeling.of disgust and abhorrence, in a' moment of irritation. But that taunt proved to-her the most, deadly error of her life. ' The woman, who feared her presence mortally, left the room hurriedlyand in silence, shivering in an ague-fit of rage. 'In1 another moment she left the house, without,'speaking a'word to any one. Indeed, she seemed incapable of speaking. Her eyes looked bloodshot and hideously awry; the veins; of her face swollen as if to bursting, and the 'skinabsolutely livid. It was: a long walk .she had set out upon, and gradually the headlong rapidity of her gait subsided into a more measured tread. Her face became pale, as it had before suffused, and a sort:of ghastly calmness succeeded. At length, in White Street, she rang the bell of an old-fashioned, but respectable-looking mansion, and shot past the servant in the passage,ivhen, instead of turning into the parlor, she hurried up-stairs to the chamber of the lady., It ETHERIAL, SO]TDOWN. 187 A somewhat masculine voice answered her tap, and she passed in. A woman of stout symmetrical figure, imperious- bearing, whose somewhat coarse features were relieved by the animal splendor of her large black eyes; the luxuriance of her jetty hair, and voluptuous embonpoint of person, greeted herin a short, abruptstyle, as she looked up with a cold glance from some lace- work over which she was bending. " What is it, Marie? , You look flurried." " No, no," said she, throwing off her bonnet and sinking into a chair. "I'm only tired ! It/s a long walk from my place here ; and then it is very hot to-day. But, Eugenie," she said abruptly, changing her tone, " I came this morning to tell you about Edmond." " What of him ?".said the other sharply, turning full upon her. "Dear Eugenie,. the fact is, I could not restrain' myself longer-I should not be acting truly by you or him, if I did so. You know you love him still." The face of the French-woman flushed slightly; her head was thrown back with a haughty 'curve of the neck. " Ah, no," said the woman, interrupting her quickly as she was about to' speak. "No nonsense, Eugenie; you remember that proud as you are, you loved him well enough to risk the loss of your social position for him. You never loved any one- as well since, and' never will again ; and I know that he loves you, and you only, to this hour. It was your pride caused the separation, it is your pride that has reduced him so low as to become,.in sheer de- spair, the victim of such a sapless,. bodiless, dry and sharp- set speculator, as this Jeannette C Why, would you believe it, she has tormented him at last into -apromise to marry her!" "What!" said the other, springing to. her feet; ".what ! marry that starvling!-' Edmond marry that pauper adventuress, after having loved me ! Pshaw ! Marie, you are mistaken. He only tells her this to get rid of her importunities. He's trifling with page: 188-189[View Page 188-189] 188 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. her: he's not in earnest-he can't be--he's too proud: and be- sides, his father would--disinherit him !" "Sit down and'keep cool, Eugenie. I am not mistaken; so, far from it, that every day he comes to me, grievously bewailing his hard fate, in:having so far committed himself to Jeannette, whomhe curses, while he mournsover this obdurate pride of yours; in refuse to see him again. He says if he could only see you once more he would be strong enough to break with Jeannette forever. I've shown him how he could-easily buy her off, in case of reconciliation with you-thather object, from the first, had been simply money, and the eclat of the position it would give her abroad-and that when she had become con- vinced that a separation must take place, she would soon be brought to compromise her claims; Beside, the marriage is im- possible ; I have seen his father and his brother, and have given them some seasonable hints in regard to her; ;and the testy old man now 'swears that he will disinherit, him, if he dares to marry what he considers to be little better than a common ,adven- turess. And the. brother, whom you know is the most influ- entiat-of the two with the old man,.is equally violent about it. So, you see, my dear 'Eugenie, I have been working for you faithfully'all the while, while you considered me as co-operating with Jeannette." "Yes," said. the other,. who had resumed :her seat quite calmly, "I dare.say.I did you injustice, for I had conceived all the time, that it was through you that this' affair, between Jean- nette and Edmond, had been brought about ; that you had had some interest in it you have not thought proper to explairi to me,; and an explanation of which I have not chosen to ask of you. It is quite sufficient for me to know that you now desire to supplant Jeannette, and thereby- undo your-own work. Now, if you choose to explain to me what the object+ you wish to ac-- complish is, so that I clean understand your motive, then, per- haps, we, may come, together in this matter-for I know you, Marie, that you never do,;things without a motive for yourself. I ETHERrAL SOFTDOWN. 189 Come, out with it ! Has Jeannette'crossed your track in any way? Has she foiled you?' In a word, do you hate her now-?" " Of course I hate her, now," said the woman, "or why this visit? Why the deliberate care I have taken to prepare the way to foil her dearest schemes.? She has outraged me beyond en- durance. by her insolent superiority. She frightens, bullies and taunts me, She has insulted me beyond the. possibility of wo- man's forgiveness to another ! I hate het as deeply as I love revenge !" " All this' maybe very.true, Marie," said the other, 'with a cool smile, " but knowing you as I do, I should prefer to be in- formed specifically in what thisinsult consisted. Tell me what she said and did, give me all 'the, circumstances in detail, and then I shall understand your motive and know how far'~woe can act together !" The woman paused an instant as if in hesitation, her'eye grew hideously askance' once more, her forehead blazed, andher lips quivered, as glancing furtively around the room,'with a stealthy movement, she glided closely to the side of-the French-woman and whispered in her ear, with purple lips, a.rapid eager com- munication for a few moments, and then' sank back. into her chair again, pale as death and seemingly exhausted. The French-woman bent her ear to, listen, with her needle .suspended in 5her hand, and as the other finished, a fierce, electric gleam darted from her eye, and with untrembling fingers she finished her stitch, While she said in a low tone'- " That will do, Marie ; that's enough to secure your faith. We will punish ,her. . Edmond' shall corne back to my feet!'? The results of the last scene may be rapidly traced; 'Very soon there commenced a' series of mysterious calls by a- dark- veiled lady, whom 'Manton was induced to suppose wassa patient who. was desirous to retain her incognito.' ,She came and went always at unusual hpurs, and though a vague :suspicion once- or twice forced itself upon his mind that-there was something un- page: 190-191[View Page 190-191] 190 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM.. usual going on, yet in his pre-occupation it created but little attention.- But we, who have undertaken from the first to be- somewhat closer and more widely-awakened observers than he, can see something more significant than met his eye in all this. 'Anaccidentad meeting in one of the, rooms of the house soon occurred:ibetween Edmond and Eugenie, upon the privacy of which we are not disposed to intrude.. Let the consequences suffice. In a -few weeks the imperious tone of Jeannette, who, too, t had been kept entirely ignorant of what was going on, was lowered, though the covert and. sardonic vindictiveness- of her wit had clearly lost nothing of its directness and ferocity even; because,- as she daily became less exultant, the moroseness of her temper increased. It would be anything but a pleasant picture to unveil the har- rowing struggles'of such a womar to regain an ascendency, which she felt was daily driven by 'some malign and invisible power-bey6id the breath of her heretofore ascendant will. She only felt its -devastation amidst her towering hopes,. and, the moon-stone battlements of regal schemes that she had nourished in daring fancies., She- only felt the shadow of desolation on her soul, but her-vision was not strong enough to see the demon wing that threw it.= She was passing througl'rthe valley and the shadow, yet knew not where to aim the lightning of her curse. She sank at last, bewildered, stunned, and-utterly humiliated ; for she had crawled. upon her very knees to Edmond to plead for mercy, but he was inexorable. The old passion had been restored tothis life, and her proud,'voluptuous rival held the sensual philosopher a prisoner, "rescue or rio-rescue," oncee-more. For days-and days after the tremendous realisation of her'loss had been forced upon her, she lay upon her bed, tossing in dumb anl tearless torture: then her concentrated madness took a new and sudden turn; she shrieked and wailed, she cursed heaven, arid- earth,- and mnen, and even Edrnond, with the lurid curses. ETHERIA.L .SOFTDOWN. 191 of madness, while she kissed the hand and blessed the minister- ings of the soft-gliding genius of her ruin, who"hung with a cunning science about her suffering bed. But 'Jeannette was clearly not the stuff to die of any one pas- sion less intense than her love of self. She came through at last, haggard and broken,-and humble enough, but she 'received~her' pension nevertheless, and soon after sailed for England, leaving the field to her stronger rival, to whom Edmond was soon after- wards married CHAPTER XXI. S ELECT SCENES CONTINUED. WE have. frequently mentioned the eccentric Dr. Weasel in the course of this-narrative. Another scene will enlighten the reader-somewhat in regard to the yet undefined character of his relations towards the woman Marie. He had just entered her room; arid'approaching with a quick, nervous step, he said to her in an irritated and squeaking voice - "Marie Orne, I tell you I musf have my money back again ! I did 'not give it to you, when I advanced 'it to get you started in business.. - You were to have returned it.to me, long since.! You have been doing well now for two years and more, and yet instead of returning the money I first ,advanced to you,.you have been borrowing, more than double as much! -At this moment you have more than 'five hundred dollars belonging, to me, of which you have never returned me'-a cent! Yet I have been suffering for money, for months, and you know it! You know' I cannot receive remittances now since the death of my grand- mother, till the settlement of our estate ! I an tired of this treat- ment, Madam! I will have' my money!" The Doctor, who had been walking hurriedly -up and down page: 192-193[View Page 192-193] 192 -DI'- ITsm A vAxmIsM. theroom during-this speech, now paused abruptly before the .iagn, who had quietly continued her writing Do you hear tne?" he said angrily, in a loud, sharp tone. " Where is the money you have plundered me of?"' The woman now looked up, staring at -him with wide-open eyes that expressed the-nost.unutterable astonishment, while, at the saine n ment; a bland smile. broke across her face, while she -exclaimedin a, lowj, sweet, reproachful voice- " Why, Doctor E. Willamot Weasel! What cai'you mean ?, My-dear friedid -Iplunder you? Ypu forget yoruself! Re- member what a feeble child you were-hQw sad, how sick; how. despairing; .when I took hold of you, as the tender nurse :does the dying foundling at her door- --" "Ibelieve you had no door, till I gave- ypu one !" interrupted the. Doctor, while his sharp little eyesshot fire. rThis were all very fine; if it were only true: I advanced yut my ioney, not to pay you for curing me, which you have neveraccompished, but that:you might do good with it ; be- Oae I beli ..l in 'yourrmission Ito your sex !.. But I am not pleased with ifeuse you--"" "Doesc rot that mission exist still ?'11said the woman, with flushing brow, quickly interrupting him. "Has not the number of my patients.,inc eased daily ?-including the first'ladies of the land,? Have; not my, lecture-classes- become'- more. full and widely-atteyded'every season? .Have you not a thousand evi- dences, in the extent ',of my correspondence; that woilien are becoming awakened throughout the country? What 'more do' you-ask?- Do-you expect me-to perform miracles ?"- "Not unless the expectation that you will deal honestly with those who have befriended you, be Jwhat you call a miracle. Come, I know what all this ambunfs' to, perfectly-! gaye you my money, as you know I dedicate ali that I have, in trust, for humanity r You seemed'to be laboring in common cause with myself, for the restoration of the Passional harmonies; and as- you appeared to me -capable of accomplishing much. for the ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. . 193 great cause, I felt that I had no right to withhold my aid froni you when you needed, it. I gave you my gold as freely as I would have given you a drink of water, when athirst.'- But you have not been just and true-you have used it selfishly -you have surrendered yourself exclusively to the cabalistic sphere; your life is wasted in 'a series of ignoble plottings; sensual in- trigues merely, inutter disregard of-the harmonic relations Do not interrupt me ! . I have -watched you closely ; I know :this to be true! Instead of elevating that noble sdnl, Manton, whom I thought, through you, to rescue froin the dominion of his appe- tites, and see set apart, with- all his glorious powers, to the- ex- alted priesthood of the Harmonies, you -)ave steadily dragged him down from the beginning until ow, when he is further removed than ever'beyond our teach, and regards withcontempt and disgust the very- name of the system with which I had yearned to see him identified;. You have done this, and allfor your own individual and unworthy ends, and have defeated one of my most treasured purposes !" " This is false !" shrieked the woman, as, with flushed face, and with the aspect of a roused tigress, she sprang to her feet, and placed herself directly across the track'- of the excited Doctor. "You lie in your teeth, you ingrate-! It is 'not so! His own beastly passions have degraded him, in spite of me ! - Justn as I have failed to make -a mian out of you, through your own weakness !. For years I have patiently wrestled with your down- ward tendencies, in the hope you, too, might be redeemed- might be sa-a-ved from yourself! The money that you have given 'me, I have earned twice over again, ainthese vain and exhausting struggles to bring you back, to the true health of unity with God through nature ! Your childish aberrations and eccentricities ha'e baffled all my spiritual strength'! The proof of it is,.-that you dare to- tannt me in this way ! I see that you are incorrigible!. You may go! Go from me forever! ' I am hopeless! I will no longer- expend myself upon' you! "Your 17 page: 194-195[View Page 194-195] 194 £?IRITU4L VAMPXI$M. monieydI shall keep until it is my convenience toprestore it,-if evet! it ia mydue, and you way recover it if you can ;. I own nothing here. TheT furniture of" this house has all been loaned ine: Seize it, if you dOarej Go, Lsay! Go! Leave my house instantly!" And she stamped{ her foot, an4, waving her. hand in nelo- dramatic fashion- towards. the. door, repeated the -imperative order to~ " begpne!?' We have mentioned, that the DoctorWas a small- man, and the woran was, ao doubt,.fully conscious of her physical, supe-. nority Qver him ,before. her coward and reptile nature could, have da.e4 tor have assumed such a tone. Jut. she hal mis- taken the metal with which-she had to- deal. The Doctor had listened to this tirade with. a. cold, sardonic smile upon .his fade,-while his keen little eyes. fairly snapped- with scintillating fury.. c"You are a fool !" said he, in.a low, smooth tone, ".as well as a thief and an impostor ! P11 put you in the Tombs to- morrow, if you. do not at. once lower your tone!. And what is more, I will expose your practices, fully and publicly.. I will swear to. the false pretences by which you have swindled me out of my money. 'I will swear that you have made overtures to me, time after time, asan equivalent for 'the money you'are dragging fro me, to:,sell.to me the chaste and gentle Moione, whose u potected poverty you have dared to think you could traffic in,! I will swear,, too, that at one time you did not scrupleto suggest, by indirection, one much nearer to you; the true scopeof which suggestion, howeverartfully disguised,' the world will readily comprehend. Furthermore, I can now un- derstand, perfectly, the secret of -all those physiological pheno- mena, by which you have -managed to delude and degrade Manton, not forgetting the disgusting fact, which has. become too'apparent to -me, that you are endeavoring to play off Elna upon him, and, through his generous susceptibilities, to retain hixnwithin the reach of your damnable arts! You are becoming j;ETlEfINAL sOcDOWN. 195 aware that 'he, too, is beginning to see through them, and through you. I have never'-spoken a word, for I wished him to work .out the problem himself! I will secure even him from your catchess !' The woman made no attempt -to reply. Her face became; of a sudden, as white and rigid- as death, and, muttering a few choked and guttural sounds, she pitched forward' suddenly, like a falling statue; against the bosom of the irritated Doctor Wea- sel; who, not' a little shocked by the unexpected concussion staggered- backward, for an instant, in 'the utmost 'confusion while her form fell upon the shaken floor. He recovered is coolness, however, in another morient, and merely muttered, as he left the room-- "Pah! nonsense!' The old trick - she's purely in the sub- versive sphere-and I can make nothing of her in.the 'Passional Harmonies ! We require purity and singleness of purpose. 'She- may go to the dogs, hereafter, for 'me.' page: 196-197[View Page 196-197] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. I CH AP-TER XXII. FURTHER REVELATIONS. . ANoTHE1, year had now passed, .which, although it-found Manton not entirely released from his, thrall, had yet left him a calmer and a stronger man. One by one the manacles had fallen off, unconsciously to himself. Hope was slowly filling his dark- ened. life once more with visions of an--emancipated future, and he now even dared to smile in dreams: - . Whence .came these fairy visitors ?. Ah, he did not understand yet, clearly, in his' own heart. 'He.only felt and welcomed them, fresh-comers from he knew: not what far Eden of God's minis- ters of grace. ,He did not question them-it was joy enough to have had them come down to him in his hell. Perhaps they were but airy counterparts of those- sweet children he had watch- ed over with such fostering tenderness.' But now at,-once a shadow fell upon his dream. Moione, the wise, the- resolute, and the gentle, seemed all at once to droop, to- become wavering and shy, while.Elna.grew, more conscious in her impish grace, and more exultant, more capriciously ten- .der; more caressingly electrical. -Manton could not but observe that although Moione shrank from him now, she held her pencil with a heavy hand, and worked with a hopeless carelessness, while, her lids drooped low and trembled often with a furtive moisture.' Another might have observed:what he. could not 'see, how at such times the eyes of Elna lit with glistening joy, and how her spirit mounted.in rollicking ecstacies-; how she danced and sang like some rmad elf; or¢else her drawing-sheet was spoiled while her pencil went riot over it, in all fantastic drolleries of form, mocking. characters, of every sentiment, and worst of all that she mocked Moione, too, and 'made' him see her heavy brow, and covertly suggested painful questions. "Manton would sometimes see enough of this to startle him gravely, and make .him question his own heart,'long and pain- fully. Elna seemed to watch these moods and dread then, and would break in upon 'them with 'some wild antic or pouting caress. Suddenly Moione \went away, without any other explanation than that she should return to hernother in NewEngland. The thing was done in a cold and resolute way that left no room for explanation. She had-been here-she was gone ; and strangely enoughit was not until now-that Manton realised how-much of light there had been from her presence. Deep shade filled the places which had known-'her once, and it seemed as if his-vision had been illmed - as if the shadow of. that shade' filled Heaven and darkened earth before him. He could not have explained why this was so. It was a voiceless -consciousness, through which he felt a sense, most indescribable, that made him first aware of a great want. It seemed as if the 'moon and stars were gone, with theirscalm inspirations of repose, their pure and, holy beatings, and-that their place about him had been usurped by a red and sultry light, more garish than perpetual day, and clouded in brazen unnatural splendors, too thickfor those star- pencillings to break through, or that chaste -moon to overcome. As the weeping Elna clung about him now, he 'shuddered while he felt that strange, new thrillings crept along his.veins. Why had he not felt this before, when' Moione. was beside them ?. Was 'he=again given over to the evil one? and had the white dove again been banished from his bosom ?- These vague forebodings could never be entirely banished from the heart of Manton, although the lavish tenderness of Elna, who, by-some strange instinct, seemed aware of the struggle; the shadow"and the cause, and wrought eagerly to.dispel them. Elnawas- no longer 'a hild,'if, in reality,' she er had been since Manton 'had 'known' her. 'Sheb atne daily rore 17* A 196 ETm1 TT ,I T n 1mO} AL SO"o 197 page: 198-199[View Page 198-199] 198 SF.RUats VAMPIBISM; and more lovely in his eyes, which soon grew again accustomed to the unnatural atmosphere-surrounding him, though he yearned oleb: for the calmer and the clearer sky he had lost ; yet ashe gave -him little time to think of- the past. The preternatural activity into which! hers brain had -been roused gave him full emi- ploymentin guiding its eccentric energies. And then: the bud had be g to unfold its petals, as well as give out its aroma. ,Her,,sick and wilted frame seemed to have become'suddenly inspired wish a tender and voluptuous sensuousness,-which filled out her graceful limbs in rouinded, bounding vigor, and swelled her line bust with its elastic tension, and lit and deepened her " keen eyes with most lustrous .and.magneticfires. He could not dream long among such conditions. One morning, as he sat beside her at her drawing, she-'"looked p suddenly into his face,.and with bewitching naivete remarked-' This ismy-birthday-do you know how old I am?" "No, I never thought." " Well, I am seventeen to-day." "Seventeen! Great God ! is it possible ?' And Manton bowed.his face, coveriiig it with'his'hands, and for a long-time spoke not a word, though his frame trembled. - That magical word; "seventeen," had revealed every thing to himself. He- had as yet always called .her b, the affectionate baby-name of ",Sis."3 ,Hebad thought of her only as-a child.;# for through these four weary years he had kept no note of time. He supposed, up to :this monient. that he had been feeling towards her, too, as to-, wards a child-the same saddened, persecuted child which had first attractedlhis sympathies by her mournful expression ofcon- stant suffering. Heihad never once, thought before that any. change had taken place in their-relations;.he had still, fondled' her as a spoiled and petted playmate-; he still attributed the strange thrills her topch Jiad lately produced, in him to a thou- sand -other and innocent causes beside the real.: He had not dreamed of passion;,-he had .only learned to deadly love her, as he thought, because she had been developed beneath his 'hand, ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 199 and semed, in some, senses, almost a creation of hisown-a sort 'of feminine .elaboration of the thought of Frankenstein within him=--the creature 'of his own daring mind and indomi- table will. Seventeen! seventeen.! Now the whole truth was flooded into his consciousness. She was 'no longer a child- she was 'a woman.' And -he felt that he had indeed loved her as a' woman, while recognising her as' a gaf pet, a play- thing .He now understood how deep, how pure, was the un- utterable fondness that had grown -thus unconsciously into his life, for her, and how monstrous had -.been the .relations into which the mother strove to drag-and hold him. With the first flash; of this conviction, of his real feeling to- wards Elna, camethe purpose, a stern as it was irrevocable. He lifted his head and turned, towards the young girl, with moistened eyelids, and said 'to her solemnly,-and with trembling lips - "Sis!-.- Elna,-do you know that you are no longer a child-? that you are now a woman,?" The blood sprang to her forehead, and, with downcast eyes, she said,'in a faintevoice-.' .I know I'm seyenteen to-day." " Do you know, too, Elna, that we cannot continue to be to each other that we have been ?" "Why, can't ,you be my brother still ?" said she, looking up quickly, as if astonished. "'Because you are a woman, 'dear; and I realise now, for the first time, that I love you as a woman." Her dilated eyes glistened;,for.a mniment, with a strange ex pression of exultation, and,' in: another instant; she threw her arms about the neck of Manton,. and burst ,into the wildest expressions of mingled ecstacy and grief, in the midst of which she sobbed out frequently. " My mother! my poor 'mother.! what will she do ? She will never consent to this'-it will kill her."' " Elna," saidManton, calmly,, disengaging. her clasped hands - page: 200-201[View Page 200-201] 200 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRJOM. rom about his-neck, 'A yourmother is an- evil woman; I know, and you know, something of :her terrible passions. But she shall submit to this; my will is her fate--she cannot escape me, now flat 'it is Thoroughly aroused. She' m st'bear it-she shall bear it,iif itskills her. I shall hold no middle ground; and she 'dare 'not stand 'before nie, or openly cross my track. This ex. piation is due from her to me. She ;has -strven to hideously wrong me, and-,rong you, and she shall noV reap the conse- quences. I shall hold no terms with-her; and vyou must fhake your choice now,-calmly, between us, for ever ! I 'have not guarded you thus -for .years, with sleepless vigilance, against her demiohising influence, to-have you fall back at once into her talons.. I know' it is a fearful -thing to- ask a child to do -to -sunder all instinctive- ties, and go apart into the house of strangers; 'but where implacable evil dwells, purity must look to be grieved in every contact,,and there are no human ties suf- ficiently sacred to justify pollution of soul and body in continu- ing such contacts. I love you, Elna -I feel' it now-I have loved you long, unconsciously; I would make you my true 'and honored wife, within another year -say the birthnight eve of eighteen. But mark me, you mustbe separate'from this horrid mother. Elna, -which- do you choose ?", She threw herself =hysterically upon.his breast, sobbing'- "You!--you! Ahm ry poor mother! I see it all! there is no choice- Yours! I am yours !-for ever yours! She is good to -me sometimes; butt I know. she is bad-you must shield me from her. But we will not go away at once -- it would kill her.- Oh,:my poor mother ! my dear mother ! this 'is hard !" and 'she shuddered, as 'she clasped him nore closely in her arms, and sobbed yet more wildly still.- Manton-spoke in tender soothing to the gentle trembler, who continued, amidst bursts of hysteric laughter, and. smiles of stormy joy, to 'moan --'-Poor mother! how will she bear'it?" Manton, at iengtig gently released himself- from her -cares, and placing herdad'up'on the eishion of the sofa, whisper-ed, ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 201 "Be-calm, Elna ! She must bear it --shewill bear it;Mit is a righteous retribution,,that has. overtaken her at last. I go now to tell her every thing. Promise me to be quiet, and wait till I return. She shall know her doom, in this [same sacred hour in which I have learned to know myself and yot."; She buried her face in her hands ad shivered. as he turned away. He mounted the stairs with calm, unhurried step, and, tap- ping at the.door of the woman's room, it was'opened instantly, and' she met him on the threshold.. Her eyes sought his as he entered, with a strange and troubled glare of inquiry. His brow was fixed, and all his features, seemed just cast in iron. She reached out ,her hand to him, with a vague, quick gesture ; but he did not accept it. He stood up before her, erect, rigid, and impassive. -Her eye grew wilder, and a ypt more furtive and startled, expression glanced across her face, as she. gasped out feebly--. " What now! has it come?" " Yes!"' answered Manton, with a cold, ringing, and metallic tone ; "it has come, woman! The same curse that your devil- ish arts brought upon poor Jeannette, has now come home to roost. We, are for ever severed, and,.on no pretence or artifice, shall, you ever again, come near me. Know you, woman, that I love your child with an honest love-have come to a realisation of the fact, and told her so."'- She reeled and staggered backwards, shrieking- "Ah! ah! ithas come at last! I felt it would be so! There was something in her gait and manner so like stun ed m adness, that Manton involuntarily sprang forward, to catch her wavering form in his arms. She thrust aside his clasp, and, staggering towardsthe bed, fell across it -not in a. swoon,. not in a bleeding-fit; but in a paroxysm of weeping; in which the flood-gates of long'years seemed suddenly opened.- There was no word, no sob, no gesture of impatience, but her eyes ran always a clear flood of silent tears page: 202-203[View Page 202-203] SPIEITUL vAML nid. Ha!:ha! 'Etherial !'has it cone to thee at last? Is it thou that must in turn be' -a-vie-d? 'Where-h owthy disguises? Where thy unnatural triumphs ? O'woman'! rthou woman, 'Etherial? To Manton, 'the phenonenon seemedtmore moving and inex- plicable than any we +haye yet described.' She did not sleep, but always the tearspoured'forth; and for twenty-fdur hours she did not change her posture, or utter any word, but these, 'which sent a chill shiver through the frame of Manton, as he heard them She' will serve you so, too!" 'Those. words he could -never forget. It was a ,weary watching beside that 'bed, that.-Manton had to pass through before the incessant flow of tears began to' be checked, and the woman to 'recover something' of her power'sofpeech, at intervals. The first thing now spoken was,"I must be content. 't can- not be escaped! She must be yours, if you can hold'her-!" A. fearful "if" was that suggested to 'Manton ; but he was too happy:after all this solemn travail, to notice its.significance-- "I shall try to reconcile myself to 'see you both 'made happy; while I shall walk aside in the cold 'isolation: of my duties 'to my mission among:women.". Manton,. who.had expected a much more sultry and formida- 'ble climax=to this critical 'scene, felt his heart tbund with the sense of relief, as, when after allthis exhausting watch over 'that dumb and sleepless flow' of tears, the calm and unexpected philosophy of this conclusion came to-,his consolation. He had anticipated a 'frantic, obstinate collision.; perhaps as 'savage as ~it-anight .prove tragical. And his grateful surprise may be 'con- ceived at the result. So soon'as this result had been attained, he hastened to im- part the news to Elna, whose approach to her mother, while in this condition, had been studiously guarded against by Manton." When he saw:her,' now, in her own room, to which he eagerly hastened, she sprang abut his neck, exclaiming-l I' ETIIEBIAL SQFTDOW r "W.ill she bear it'?' Can she live ?" " My darling, she has passed through a, terrible struggle,, but she has now awakened to a recognition of what is, and has been, and must continue to be, the falsehood of her purposed relation to me." " Ah !"- exclaimed the young girl rapturously, clasping his neck still closer--"-" Now I may dare to love you as .much as I please!" CHAPTER XXII. ANOTHER INTRIGUE. Wrru all the apparent amount of suffering which we have attempted to describe above, Manton was no little astonished, not only at the promptness and'completeness of'therecovery'of the woman Marie, but at the shortness of the time which she. permitted to elapse before he found her again engaged deep m a bold and characteristic, intrigue. He had immediately determined" that Elna should.be sepa- rated from him until the time of the proposed marriage had ap- proached. While she was to be sent to New England to prose- cute her studies under the charge of an artist friend, he himself proposed to spend the greater part of the year in the northern mountains, hunting, fishing and exploring. But before this prudent and 'proper step could- be taken, a week or so of- preparation became necessary. It was only' a week since the woman had risen from her bed; a showery Niobe, as we have seen, when Manton -entered the house one morning at an hour when he was not expected, he met the wo- man gliding hastily through a passage, with one. of the sleeves of her dress gone. The meaning 'of this sign at once flashed across him, for he remembered to have seen that fair and beau- page: 204-205[View Page 204-205] 204 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. tiful arm, by skilful accident,'exposed to his own gaze during her first attempts at diverting' and exciting his passions, and he shrewdly conceived that there must be somue now victim on hand, even'already. "Ha!" said he maliciously, as - she was. hurrying past. Why, what's become of your sleeve this morning ?" The woman flushed very red, and her eye- turned obliquely upon him as she muttered confusedly- "I-I've lost-it!" "'Ah, well, come ! Let us look for it !. Let us find it,! The morning is too cold !, I will help you! I fear you will suffer !" "No, no, never mind ! I will find it myself!" "But I insist.! We must find it at once, before you take cold! Come, we will look in the parlor!" And he. ma4e a movement of his outstretched hand as if'to open the door. She clutched him nervously, saying in a low whisper- "Don't go in there, I have a visitor !", But as Manton only siled at this and showed, no disposition to desist, she continued in an -imploring voice----. "Don't go in! Mr. Narcissus, the editor, is there ! I will get the sleeve and put it on immediately:! Don't disturb us now ; Iam just reading to him-the MS. of my new novel, which I hope he will undertake to publish in. his paper!" "Well," said Manton, qmietly stepping: 'back, "it must' be confessed you are prompt-' in'finding alternatives! I wish you success in your new publishing enterprise! And I suppose this bare arm is to have nothing to do with his anticipated commen- tory upon your text!" Mantonturned away with 'a light laugh, but the look which was, sentafter him. would have chilled his very soul could he have met it. His sneering conjecture wasonly too true: She had already fastened -upon a new victim. " But for once it turned out that it was'" file cut file." She had at lapt met her equal in all that was detestable--her peer in baseness, and only an under-graduate to her in cunning., ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN.. 205 She had -selected him as she did all her victims, with reference to social and,' pecuniary position. He was- at the time a,- co- editor and ostensible part-owner of one of the most brilliant and successful weekly papers of New York. She had always aspired to-command an "organ." And anything in that line, froni a review down to a thumb-paper, to her, restless a ibition, Vas better than nothing. -For by a process more hideous to the world than anomalous in fact, she had .come to 'reconcile any degree of private intrigue, by balancing it with the value of ab- stract teachings for the public.good, under that liberal:postulate of the school ,to which she belonged, that the end justifies the means. In setting herself down for a regular siege before this news- paper establishment, she had first iii- her eye, all three of the associate owners. - It was a matter of entire indifference to her, through which she succeeded in obtaining an entrance to its columns, which might lead to her control of the future tone of the paper.. She opened the investment in the-usual form; fire, by visiting them alone, in their offices;'then by bombarding them, from the distance of her own writing-table, with a con- stant hail of those snow-white missives, with the sugared con- tents of which we have before been made acquainted. They were each privately and successively pronounced in their own ears, and under 'eal .of those crow-quilled envelopes, to be "naughty boys," whose proud and wilful natures were driving then headlong to ruin-to be sons of genius, whoonly required to be saved from themselves and their own vices, by her, to become the illustrious reformers of the age! One of them sinoked-too much-was making a " chimney of his, nose," through which he was exhaling spiritual mightiness, that might equalise hin with the cherubim, if only free! Bit this unhap- pily did nqt tell; the shrewd and wary business-man, who knew more aboutcoppers than cherubim, and was by no means con- scious of the spiritual prowess she so pathetically attributed to 18 page: 206-207[View Page 206-207] 2O6 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. him,,"smoked" her, or her motive at least, and threw the dainty correspondence aside, with a jeering laugh. The other,+-who was really chief editor, and a handsome and talented fellow, might not have gt off so'well, had he not been pre-occupied, .and predisposed to bestow the exalted attri- butes which she had discovered in him, in another direction. He wag duly grateful to'"her, however, for the discover that he was a child of genius; -and, though a little disposed to be sus- picious, could not, for some time, restrain the expression of his delight at having' met with a lady possessing such unquestion- able and extraordinary discrimination. He was a jovial and generous fellow, though very shrewd and suspicious withal. She was not quite' aware of the last two attributes, aid therefore. expected a great deal from him, as he proverbially drank too much. She, therefore opened her bat- teries .merelessly upon this weakness, which, as she -affirmed, combined with the horrible practice of chewing to excess, was demonisirg an "Archangel! Dragging down the loftiest spirit of -his. age ! A spirit that migIht guide the destinies of the human-race, and. rule it, whether for evil'or for good." She particularly desired his salvation. -She prayed for' it, day and night! She had, a spiritual monition that -he could be saved ; and the fact was, he would be saved, if he would only listen to her counsel! Indeed, she might guarantee he should be saved; if he would-only give up his poisons, and dedicate the columns of his paper to the great cause of pro- gressive hygiene and popular physiology. In a word, the fact was, he must be saved, whether he wanted to be or-not! But the-trouble was, our editor was a person who would do nothing on compulsion. -.And when'he fond that such a pow- erful edict had gone forth, that he must be saved, he swore, in his benighted obstinacy, that he would be . if he would! This ledi through his spleens to an explanation between him- self and-the business-man of the firm, and what was their mu- tual 'astonishment, on privately comparing "notes," to find that ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 20T one was absolutely a "Cherubitn," and the other an " Arch- angel!" They looked at each other with a blank stare of sur- prise. The tawney, lean, angular, iron-jawed face of the busi- ness-man suggested anything but the plump, and dimpled out- lines of that prolific progeny of winged infants, which Raphael has rendered so illustrious. While, in contrast, the features of- the young editor were remarkable for their plump and child- like freshness. 4 Why!" shouted the business-man, with a tremendous guffaw, "there's a great mistake here -she 'has clearly mis- directed the notes. You should be the cherib !" The breath of a simultaneous roar of laughter dissipated all her fine-spun web, in these two directions, at least. She was more successful, however, with the third party. Manton had been deceived, egregiously, in regard to this man's past history,-or.he would never have permitted him to pass the threshold of the house where he lived. He had known him only as- ostensibly associate editor of a highly- respectable paper, and therefore had not felt himself called upon to interfere in any way. Although he had, as we have per- ceived, early indications of his having become a frequent visitor at thehouse. To have gone any higher in her classification of him than she had already gone in that of his associates, would have puzzled any less versatile genius than hers. But. as cherubim and arch- angel had already been used up, she placed- him among the "principalities and powers in heavenly places," and there he decided to stick. It was certainly time for him to be pleased with elevation of some sort, for, as it turned out afterwards, when his history became better understood by Manton, he was one of those slugs, or barnacles of the press, that, cling about and slime the keels of every noble aid thought-freighted bark. From the precarious and eminently honourable occupation of writing obscene books for private circulation, "getting up" quack advertisements, interpolating the pages of rau['De Kock page: 208-209[View Page 208-209] 208 SPIRITUAL' VAMPIAISM. -with smearings of darker filth than ever his mousing vision had yet discovered ,in- the sinks and gutters of Paris, he had gra. dually risen, through his facile availability, to the sub rosa respectability of a well-paid "sub" in a respectable office --.I say sub rosa, for it seems-to have been" well understood, in New York, that the appearance 'of his- name, at- the head of the columns of any paper, would be' sufficient to damn it, outright, so linked had it become with sneaking infamy of every sort. However, this-" dhild of genius" and Madame progressed bravely towards a mutual understanding; 'and billets-doux flew between them thick'as snow-flakes. ,As for their contents, the reader is 'by -this time, pretty well prepared to conjecture. In- terviews, from weekly tosemi-weekly, crowded fast upon each other's heels; until, at last, Manton began to perceive that, not only was the sleeve lost every day, but that the new novel, like the pious labor of the needle of Penelope, "grew with its growth." About this time, however, it came to his knowledge, that this highly respectable literary personage, Mr. Narcissus, had been as notoriously abject in his private relations as he had been in those to the press.' However, as he had. determined to drag Elna from beneath the. clutches of her mother, and to sever all reinote,: or even possible connection between them, he did not feel himself called upon to do more than announce the fact to Madame that the fellow was even now an infamous stipendiary to a party no less infamous tlhan himself, who had privately fur- nished, him, out of her ill-gotten gains,' the money to buy his share in-the weekly paper she was so ambitious of controlling, through him. As he had now 'to expect, she received the news with the most refreshing ycolness, and merely remarked, that it was no fault of hers that this.bad, woman had loved' Mr. Nat-' cissus; that he possessed-great talent in affairs; could be made of much use in, the cause of human progress and advancement --in a word, 'deserved to be: saved, and to save him she meant. { She should rescue him from such gross and debasing associa- ETHERIAL SOTDOWN. 209 tions, and give to his astonishing energies a nobler bent; 'that his future life; under her inspiration and guidance, should be made to atone for the past. This logic seemed so very conclusive and characteristic, that Manton made no reply, but a shudder,.at the thought of that saving process; to which, despicable as he was,'a new ,victim was to be subjected. But it' was no part of..his ,plan to divert her from her purpose ;. for he wished, by all means, toj see her active and dangerous energies employed in any direction;;save that of the subversion and counteraction of his own design in regard to her daughysafter, was sent to New.England, with the understanding between Manton and herself, that' she would by no means consent to return to -her mother, until he himself should come back from his tour, and should send for her. He did not dare to trust her for an hour' beneath the accursed shadow of this domestic Upas, that had given her birth;,and more particularly did he dread the hideous combination of in- fluences which were likely now to be brought to bear upon'her, as Madam had openly announced her intention, since she had obtained a divorce from her former husband;,to marry the delectablesNarcissus. dNWe may as. well dispose of this affair at once, by remarking, that in a few months afterward she did marry him; that the un- fortunate woman, who had heretofore so long lived with and loved Narcissus, 'instantly withdrew the support which her ill- gotten gains furnished'; and that, asserting her rightto the-share which he had pretended to own in the property of the paper, and disclosing the whole of his infamy to his former partners, the cherubim and, archangel indignantly.kicked him- out of doors, and at once toppled about the astonished earsof Madame all her castles, in the air reared, with regard to "controlling a powerful organ." But Madarne, as we have perceived, .was possessed of one of those elastic natures which always rebound from collisions, 18* page: 210-211[View Page 210-211] 210 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. or which, in a word,. U6never say die ;" so that, instead of being discouraged by this untoward conclusion of her ambitious schemes, she-set herself to work forthwith to make the best of a- bad bargain; and, as she had already exhibited. her passion for professional spouses,.in immediately converting her first and dear Ebenezer, into an M. D., she could not do less than make a Doctor o't of her-beloved Narcissus. It did not matter to her that both of them were ludicrously ignorant--that neither of-them had probablyever read a book clear through in their lives; rparchments were dog-cheap in New York, and could be had any day for an equivalent in hard coin. She accordingly "put him through ;" and in something less than three months, one more legalised murderer wjs turned loose upon society, under the cabalistic ogis of M. D. CHAPTER XXJV. REANIMATION. AMIDST the green and savage solitude of pine-haired hills, wild-bounding streams, and islet-fretted lakes, asleep, 'twixt gleam and shadow, -where the bellowing moose still roused the echoes, and the light deer whistled to the brown bear's growl, and-the trout leaped, flashing from its clear, still home, Manton _etiewed his life once more, in refreshing- communion with nature. It was not till now that he realised how terribly he had suffered during his long and hideous bondage. His physical health had been shockingly impaired; the elasticity of his con- stitution seemed to be gone forever ; but it was only in the pre- sence of Nature, with whom there are no disguises,-that he could first comprehend, in all its ghastliness, the mental and spiritual deterioration that had gradually supervened. 'He scarcely knew I ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 211 himself, now that, he had found-his way back to the only stan- dard :of comparison. He was profoundly humiliated, but not utterly despairing. He.felt his chest already beginning to play more freely, and a deadly sense, as if a thousand years of suffocating oppression had lain upon his lungs, was beginning to be dissipated before the pure air of the mountains, and the exciting pre-occupations of angling and the chase, in the rough wilderness-life he now led; and beside,-there was the image of that wizard child, that had so grown in beauty beneath his hand,~that- sat forever in his heart, glowing and, fair, to warm 'it with a new life of hope. How studiously his fancy exalted her. Each fortnight brought him a package of her daily letters; and though in spite of his isolation; and his idealising enthusiasm, as he eagerly read and re-read them all a thousand times, and' carried them near his heart, to keep the glow there all alive, he could not help realising at times, with mournful presentiment, their hollowness, the entire absence of ingenuousness and natural dignity which mostly characterised them. He would feel his flesh creep strangely too, as he recognised their close resemblance in aiti- ficiality of sentiment and tone,-to those first letters he had ,re- ceived from her mother. Buthe earnestly strove to banish"'all such impressions; he felt as if they were pofane, as if they'were a monstrous wrong to her, as well as to himself. That she was too young -as yet to have:developed into the full faculty of expression; that she was timid, and dared not trust herself to- speak freely out; that she feared his sharp criticism, and did not say everything that her soul moved her to speak; that she dreaded his analysis; and, in a word,' had not quite overcome, in -her. feelings towards him, the instinctive apprehension of the master, 'the preceptor, which so long lingers in a youthful mind.; and'this very timidity, of all things, he was desirous of removing, as he felt that, so long as it remained in her mind, the full and entire reciprocation of confidence, which the jealous exclusiveness of passion de- page: 212-213[View Page 212-213] 212 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. hands, could not take place. He felt that it was a most hazardous experiment he had been unconsciously makin thus attempting to develope and educate a 'wife, especially under circumstances so unusual and ill-omened. He therefore fatally persisted in. blaming himself for.the-.self-evident shallowness of1 Rlna's letters; and would not hear to the whispers of his con- non sense, that the chitd, was a mere chip of the old block. So that still, in spite of his determined idealisation of her, e these evidences stared him in. the face with. each new, yearned-for,.and eagerly-welcomed budget of letters from her, they enly servd to fill him, to a more sensitive degree, with the dangers of this excessive timidity, and the necessity of greater spiritual activity and tenderness of treatment on his part that might arouse her to a more full realisation of the sacred confi-' dences which- love implies. His letters to her overflowed with natural eloquence ; and all that was chastening, ennoblin fair and pure, in the inspirations surrounding him, were lavished in the prodigality of an absorbing and overflowing affection Upon this fair, hollow idol, that his passion alone had rendered all divine. Tliis brooding,, constantly and long, upon a sinle image, amidst the solemn privacies, the wild and' dear soleinnities of primeyal nature, was quite sufficient to give, intime, to an na-. ture possessing the intensity of that of Mantoi, a sultry tinge of monomania1, in reference to it- This was clearly the case with him now. Her image, glorified through ,his imagination, now killedd all his lice; he saw her everywhere--where the beau- tifu might be, it took some shade of semblance to her--where the d wers gave outtheir-odors to the breeze, it was to him tearoma ofher presence-; when the wild berry tingled his palate in a nameless, ecstacy of flavor, the taste was of his sense of her, when, in their last kiss, her 'lips were touched to.his.. But it'isa strange thing that, with all the fervor of this pas- sional attraction, "e never dreamed of her at all; she never, came tohis soul when his senses were asleep. This single fact ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 218 might have warned 'a man of imagination less 'excited than Manton. This happy delusion had at least one good effect, as it enabled him, by a single effort, to throwoff all his dangerous habits, and return from his tour, to New York, with a 'freshened and invigorated frame, and a soul chastened indeed, but 'filled with wild and eager hopes of the golden-hued Utopia he had framed out in the wilderness. Elna had returned and met him. . Alas-! how his heart sank, as, on the meeting, he felt the rainbow-hues all melting from out the visionary sky, and he took into his arms a cold, overact- ing, artificial semblance of his passionate ideal! He felt as if the sky had turned to lead, and- 'fallen oW him; and the first image recalled to his mind, was-of the sick and monkey-imp, souliess and animal-eyed, that he had years ago rescued, in compassion, from the demon-talons' of the mother. He clutched her desperately to his heart, endeavoring to recall the soul he misses, and that she had lost, while he had been away. HA felt as if there were fire enough' in his own veinsito make a soul -to fill that delicate and graceful organisation with a subtler element, that might answer to the ravin, of his sympathies. No such response as he yearned for came; but he felt in- stantly , from the contact of her hand, that fierce and sultry thrill, the memory of which had lingered so long with him, tinging his imagination with a lurid light amidst the white clear calm of nature's inspirations. He would not give up now ; he had loved too long already-or, rather, the habit of confounding passion with love, had become too confirmed with him, for it to be readily possible that he should make the clear distintion be- tween images nurtured in his own-mind and the objective real- ity. It was his own mistake ; he had expected too much of the' child--ihe must'give her time to gain confidence and speak out herself. Infatuated mai!' She only wanted. a few hours' contact to speak out himself to himself, through the Odic medium! And so it proved. Her organisation soon took the key-note N page: 214-215[View Page 214-215] 214 sI aiwTw VAMPnI M. from his, and, in a few :hours, responded as rapturously as he could desire, to the inost vehement expressions of his enthu- siasn. First. and foremost, she showed to him the drawings that she had raade- during-their long probation. Among them were some so characterised by a firm,. exquisite ,delicacy of hand. ling, that Mariton regarded them with delighted wonder;-ore especially as the defect in EIna's pencilling, which he had always noticed and lamented, had been precisely contrasted with the excellences here displayed.. .EIna's had, with all its gay and mocking eccentricity, always been trembling and uncertain. The want of smooth, and poised,,directness in .her harsh, rude handling, had often been contrasted by him in his lessons to her, upon art, with the clear, firm, and mathematical precision of the lines of Moione. He- could not. but exclaim impulsively, on examining them. curiously-= "Why, dearest, you-have equalled the brightest excellence of the style of Moione in these. Ah, how I love you for this ! you are deserving of all that. I have dreamed and thought and felt of you, since I have been away." The blushing girl slid into his embrace; and that moment was to Manton a sufficient compensation for all the self-degradation and the .humiliating conditions through which he had passed. He was now to attain the coveted crown and glory of his life as he conceived. An artist-wife ! Capable, inspired, true, and a "help-mate" indeed, through whose assistance and tutored skill lie night embody in realisation those. fleeting and majestic creations which visited him, not alone in dreams, but in the real impersonations of his habitual thought. It had been a dreary of such chate beanty,-that :all these visionary forms might be transfigured to him in the alembic of art, through love, and be- come, in form and color, fireside realities of the canvass... We shall see how vague and empty was this fanciful dream, as yet. ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 215 CHAPTER XXV THE SEPARATION. HAD it ever occurred to Manton to reason at all upon the subject of his passion for this girl Elna, or had it been possible for him, under the: circumstances which had lately surrounded his life, to reason concerning her, in any sense, he must and would have felt howrominous such a passion in reality was. To be sure, he did not feel that the. relations into which it had been attempted to drag him by the mother, had ever been voluntary or accepted on his part; he had loathed and rebelled against them from the. first. But this did not, in reality, niake the fact of his having con- tinued near her-to -occupy the same house-any the less offend. sive to the moralsense ; for, taking the best aspects of the case, the durance had not been a physical one, and he-might, if he had so willed, have walked himself bodily off, and thus escaped this horrible entanglement ; but he had not done so. Although we have endeavored, as some etenuation, to trace the reasons ihy he had not thus acted, yet we have found no excuse suffi- cient, in all this, for the new sin he has committed,-in daring to love, and contemplating honorable marriage, even, with-the daughter of such a mother. But we have naught to extenuate, naught to set down in malice, in this too fatally true narrative; we have related it because it is true, and because we felt it to be our duty to do so, that. others might be warned. of these things,'which may, perhaps, enlighten the reader somewhat, as to the character of the new thraldom to which Manton has been subjected. It must always be borne in mind, in speaking of Manton and measuring his actions, that although the nervous sanguine tem- T 4 page: 216-217[View Page 216-217] 216 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. peratment predominated to an extraordinary degree in this man's organisation, the tendencies of his mind were, nevertheless,, un- usually conservative, This rendered him, necessarily, a man of habits; and therefore, more than usually liable-to suffer from gradual and constant encroachment t for, if his quick'sense has not instantly det~eted the danger on its first presentation-if his ear has not }recognised the serpent's hiss at once, among the flowers; hisfearless hand would ,soon be caressing. the shining reptile, and .bear' if, it might- be, even to his own bosom. It was this tenacity of habits which had rendered him so. easy to be imposed upon.' Nothing was- so. difficult for him to. throw off as- a 'habit; for, from the intensity of his nature,it always cost himtthe- suffering of a strong excitement before its chains could be broken. ' Manton found, very soon, after his return, that what he most dreaded now, was to bey at once precipitated, which was a sepa- ration between himself and Elna. .Not that -he did not fully concede to the general propriety and prudence of such a step; for he; remembered that he had at once proposed. the previous' separation, when, he came to understand the nature of hisfeel- ings towards her ; but that- had been when she was to be placed beyond the reach of her mother, and they could be both out of town at the 'same time ; but now that his-business made' it im- perative - for him to remain in New York, if he dreaded before lest she be left with the mother one day. even, were not the same causes operating still, and with redoubled force, when, in addi- tion _to her -baleful contact, he had to .contemplate that of the creature she had married,?- The'moral and spiritual' grime of such a contact was enough 'to blast an angel's -bloom to sully, the purest wing that ever winnowed dream. He must be there to shield his fair treasure always, till the time had come when. he could snatch her for ever beyond their reach. But the war had now fairly opened. On the very day of' his return, Mantonhad been not a little astonished to find the heretofore abject and 'cringing otherr turn I f i c ETHEIAL SOFTDOWN. .917 upon him, suddenly, with a lofty insolence, that seemed at first incredible ; but his surprise .and anger rapidly gave way to wonder and stunned amaze, at finding her exhibiting the most unparalleled phenomena of brazen, grave, deliberate falsehood that ever still imagination, in bottomless conceit, had conjured as the thought of demons in dark hell. - This was yet, strange as it mayseem, a most terrible realisation to have .come upon his life ; though he- had, up to this time, known that she was unscrupulous, as far as the attainment of influential connexions, for the dissemination of her theoretical views, was concerned - that she was, in this respect, a dangerous and an evil woman- that her influence would make her presence deadly to purity, in her own or the other sex; yet, he had not learned to regard her as utterly God-forsaken. The veil was now lifted. The scales that had ,remained fell forever from his eyes. 'Shei now stood revealed, not as he had heretofore striven to palliate his convic- tions concerning her -the ferocious fanatic of one idea the cunning and detestable Jesuit of a "A cause"--but 'as the incarnation of, unnatural passions and a demonised selfishness He trembled to his heart's core at the thought of that fair young girl, whom he had learned to love, being left to the tender mer- cies of a monster such as this. He saw at once the whole nefa- rious scheme that had been concocted between herself and her worthy coadjutor. This was but the initial step. This precipitation of a quarrel with himself, which would~ bring about at least a partial separation with Elna, and then their subsequent game would slowly ands surely accomplish the rest. Was it likely that a wretch like this pink of 'Adelicacy, Narcissus, who had be- fore, for years, been steeped to 'lips in that monstrous traffic the sale of bodies as well as , would quietly permit to slip through s fingers a lovely and fascinating girl as Elna had now grow -P e, over wig's value, in dollars and cents, he had gloate rst ? or was it likely that his worthy consort, who had eil y learned to appreciate the convenience of such '19 page: 218-219[View Page 218-219] 218 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. speculations, would not fully coincide with him in his view of the policy of defeating 'Manton, who,' in the event of success, woeld be sure to separate, her from them as far as the poles are sundered ? We shall now see how-far the young lady herself' was likely to, -or had already, become a party to such utilitarian views. Manton had left the house, and 'taken board elsewhere. The same evening, he visited Elna, who.received him alone in the warm, well-lighted , .and neatly-arranged parlor. :Manton had come in the most hopeless mood, for all the results of this sepa- ration had been most fully and painfully impressed. upon him since the first indication of the rupture that had led to his quit- ting the house.' The, young girl sprang eagerly to meet - him, and with a bounding caress clasped his neck, exclaiming "Dearest one, you must not look so sad ! We are to have the parlor thus every evening, when you, shall come to see me ; when we shall be very stately and proper folk. I shall play the dignified matron in anticipation, and you shall be my very wise and solemn lord and master. . Mother is not to permit any interruption, and, we shall have such nice and easy times. Come, sit down here by my side, -and let us begin to play stately. And clear up that gloomy brow of yours,'for I am' de-. termined that 'we shall be happy !" Manton could only smile faintly, as he seated himself. "Ah, heedless child, you do not see in all this gay vision, the black and" deadly realities that. couch within its shadows!. I understand your mother's game fully.- This will note last long; and you are about to. be sorely' tried, my little love !n' His head fell back heavily, his eyelids drooped with an expression' of unutterable des . dency. Elna, who had been watching hinr eagerly," now flew to his, side, and taking his. head gently on her shoulder,. commenced caressing is face- in a- peculiar manner. She did not absohluty tou'it,. but' her lips crept over certain portions with a slow snale-like mo- ETH RIAL SOFTDOWN. -219 tion, while the deep 'heavings of her. chest, disclosed that "she was breathing heavily upon them, and a certain greenish dilation of the pupil of her eyes revealed--what ? . Ah, horror! and she so young! 'What? what ! is, that the mother's art ? Let us see. The lines of the man's face are sunken in the expression of hopeless prostration. Soonra slight twitching of the'nerves be- comes evident, then a faint smile breaks across its pallor; the inspirations become deeper, and she breathes with almostaon vulsive energy. The glowing air lingers and burns along -the sensitive' temple, and now it pauses on the cheek, close beside the ear-ha ! her arm is about his neck ; is it a wonder that the blood mounts flushing to that man's cheek and forehead, that his eyes fly open filled with wild and vivid fires, that a shudder- ing thrill is. running through his frame, as he stretches forth his arms to her, with a low, ecstatic laugh, of passionate yearning, while she clings about him, and their lips meet, in a burning, lingering kiss, and then, with a'-light laugh, she springs beyond his reach, and dances in tantalising mockery about him, per- mitting hie 'but to touch her for a moment, eluding-his grasp, with yet more subtle sleight, until exhausted by morbid excite- ment the unfortunate man sinks upon the sofa? This picture is only, but too real. But why should Manton have endured the repetition of a scene like this? He was.a man of habits, and for years, before a thought of passion had for once intruded upon him, this young girl, under the sacred shield of childhood, had been taught to approach him with fondling caresses. There seemed no danger then, but when the real time for danger came, he felt a vague and general 'monition of it, yet failed to locate it where it really rested. These caresses had become so- dear and 'natural to him; they seemed so harmless. He blamed only himself,. cursed only the unetherialised gross- ness of his own nature. There was to him far too much of affection and accustomed tenderness in all this to arouse his sus- picions for a moment. He hated 'only himself, and strove oni page: 220-221[View Page 220-221] 22~~ $PSIRITUAL VAMP'IRISM. ~HRAIS'TOI 2 eaoh of these now frequent occasions, to chasten, bythe sevetest selftinfdted penance, his own soul. In the meanwhile, this modern Tantalus grew thinner and more pale each day ; was wasting rapidly to a-shadow, beneath auch scenes as we have witnessed. The girl, Eha' grew fairer and more strong each day-.. seeming to have fed upon his slow consumption. We will not dwell upon} such 'pictures farther. It was enough that all the consequences dreaded'by Manfon followed,.in slow, but sure' progression, and that the, last blow the subtle couple struck at him -wasfully characteristic and consummated the separation. Elna had seen- little, as yet, of public amusements, and her strongimitative faculty had led her to-express. a passion 'for the stage,'which Manton greatly 'dreaded, "and had' particularly wished .to guard her against, Until her mind should become more fully developed, and until he, himself, should possess the legal right to attend her, upon 'all such occasions. He hadtherefore at all times resolutely opposed heroin g to any publ, place of amusement, unless he could accompany her. But now it happened that, being engaged in bringing out a new work, with the press only twenty-four hours behind him, urging him inexorablyfor a certain amount of'daily matt WhichIefthiMno leisuretwhatever, except a few moments, which i wrested from the vortex, for the short evening re-union with her he so loved, he had, therefore; no time left to accompany her to such places. Here the enterprising couple saw at once their advantage; the mother understood what Menton did not, the extreme shal- lowness of the character he had 'thus perseveringly idealised. She at once laid siege to her passion' for dress and display, as well as novelty.' They bought her fine and showy clothes, and urged her first. to accompany them to concerts, then to theatres, and then to public ball-s. When the young girl first came to Manton, all pushed with 'eagerness, to show him her finery, and 'ask him if she might not 2ao i'i X i go with her dearamother and her new "papa," he felt his heart sink unutterably within him. lie reasoned with her long and earnestly; endeavoring to inake her understand how impossible it was for a woman who was to become his'Wife, to appear at any public assembly in the -city of New York, with a person. so notorious as this, whom she had thus, suddenly, learned to style "papa."? Rut he soon found it to be all in vain.; for, when he-told her if she would only be content to wait a few weeks until his book had been published, that he would himself dedicate any amount of time she might require to visiting such places with her-she still urged that she did-snot see why it was improper for her to accompany the man whom her mother had '.nharried; to any public place-that her new dresses were so beautiful-that she wished to attend this magnificent concert. Manton sighed heavily and only answered in 'a mournful voice to her repeated entreaties--- "Alas ! poor child,' 'my dream is; nearly over!\ I see they have bought you' with the tinsel of a fine dress and new ribbons!" The child wept and fondled and caressed; but' all her arts failed this time. His heart felt like lead within him; and he no longer had nerves with life enough to be played upon.- But she went that night, nevertheless, and the great- gulf had sunk im- passably between them. Manton was now again a madman. In the pride of his hope- ful loye he had built magnificent schemes, which his singular energies had rapidly placed upon the firm basis of realisation; it only required the calm exercise of his own will to 'conisum- mate all and make his name illustrious. But he had not labored for himself-and she, for whom all had been achieved, ,was no longer his-she was gone-utterly gone! She had sold hei birthright, and was no'longer his. The world became'dark, its honors and its ambitions as nothing. To recount'the wild and desperate extravagance by which he dashed to earth all that he had achieved, as the 'heartless and hideous shallowness of the 19* 21. FTHERIAL, SOS 'TDO WN.. 1 ' page: 222-223[View Page 222-223] 222 sPxRnITUAL-vAmprars$. phantom soul he had been worshipping became, with each day, more apparent, would be only painful to the'reader, who can well understand what to expect from the recklessness of'such a madman. Suffice it that the separation was complete. He last saw her, but for an instant, on hei- eighteenth birth-night, to commemorate 'which, the mother, in pursuance of her schemes had assembled a large party at.her house. 'This was to have been -their wedding-night ; and Manton, though long .since hopelessly separated from bet, could'not resist the passionate desire to see once more, upon this.night, to which he had so long looked forward with holy raptures, that face and form._ He rang the bell, and, by a curious instinct, she recognised the characteristic pull, and met him alone 'at the door 'She was lovely, radiant even, as she' had sometimes come to'him in his wild, imaginings. .Dressed in pure white, with a wreath of flowering myrtleresting lightly on her brow. There was a look of exultation on her face which she 'had not been able to-throw off, as she came' forth from thew admiration of the crowded room. Manton took her hand -- r "Ah, child you are very lovely'now-=- you look just. as I dreamed you would look on this night, when you were to have. been- my bride. My eyes are filled with blood, now! I cannot see you any more ! Farewell! farewell !" and he rushed from the door into the dark street, while she, who had-spokenno word, made.inoattempt to detain him, turned cold!gback, and entered, -with a beaming face, the scene of her new triumph. c SI ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. 228' CHAPTER XXVI. DESPAIR. " The white feet of angels yet' upon the hills." MONTHs and months- had passed, and yet this wretched man was staggering on, not this time drunk, literally, but, as though blinded by red blood, oozing from his brain, which had been crushed by the weight of this blow. He was wandering vaguely hither and yon, distracting his brain in ineffectual chimeras, the very impossibilities of their success affording to him their greatest attraction. But gradually all this maddened struggle had been settling, down into one sultry, close, inevitable conclusion of sullen self-destruction, -which must. result from the continued precipitation, upon conditions. that promised death in-one form or.other. He went to Boston while- the cholera was raging there at its worst. The pretence of the visit, was some wild, dis- tracting scheme that he had seized upon, and in-which he was endeavoring to secure co-operation there. But unfo unately for his mad' purpose, since -that very sepa- - ration from daily contact with the irl Elna, which was working so sadly iupon his imagination nowt his attenuated and exhausted physique had rapidly recovered all its inherent vigor, and' in animal health and strength he had suddenly become, by an inex- plicable reaction, mor-e prodigally abounding than ever for many years. So that fate seemed to have closed up to'him'.any ordi- nary means of getting rid of himself, except the pistol and the dagger, from the use of which his manliness unoenquerably revolted. But by a strange process of self-delusion, he had managed to confouid himself into the idea that the abject cowardice of tie act of suicide might be avoided by a species of half uncnscious indirection. For instance cholera was rife -in the city, anc he page: 224-225[View Page 224-225] 224 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. well knew that long warm baths, by relaxing the ,system, would lay it more open'to the attacks.of any epidemical tendencies that. might be prevalent; and accordingly, without ever venturing to explain to himself why, he continued, day after day, to take these long hot baths -and then to eat and drink, in the quietest possi- ble way, everything that Was specially to be avoided at such a time.- While this novel process was thus coolly progressing, he one morning met, by the merest accident,-on State Street,' a person whom he knew to have been long and intimately the friend-of the lost. Moione aid her -family. .1Vanton eagerly asked him if he knew where she could now be found;^'for,.strange enough, her calm image had lately intruded often into the darkened vistas of bis.thought, from whence -he had supposed her ban-, ished long ago. +ler address was promptly given: it was in a remote and humble district of'. the city ; and, although Manton already felt the seeds of the disease, which he had - thus pertinaciouslyin- vited, rioting within him, yet he vowed to himself that he would at once seek her. His first visit failed.; but the second found her, thin and wan, stretched on 'a lounge, awaiting she knew not whom.. With a, short cry of sudden joy, as she recognised his fea- tures, she sprang -to meet him, as, of old, with a child caress. Ah, why was it that he felt such. sullen cold, and yet sawlight, falling like, star-beams upon .the midnight of his soul, as his arm,s met this fond, and.childishsclasp.? He did not understand it --but we shall see!. The physical results, which 'he had so assiduously courted, could not be 'avoided. As. he had walked about among his friends already for several days, with the premonitory symptoms of the fatal epidemic fully developed in his system, and as fully understood by.hihnself, yet without the adoption, on his own, part, of one single precautionary step, it was now sure to wreak its worst Soxie, who. could udt help observing his ghastly ap- - ETIrEitIAL SOFTDOWN. 225 I parance, thought him Jnonstrously reckless, and others, hope. - - lessly insane. Regardless of every remonstrance, he still kept his feet, until, at length, the third evening found :him leaving his hotel, in a, hank, which he ordered to be driven,.to the home of Moione ; and from which he. had to be carried, by the' driver, into the parlor, where 'he sank upon what he supposed to be the last couch upon which he should recline in life. A strange, inde- structible feeling, that he must die beneath her eye,-had urged him to this last and desperate exertion of the feeble vitality re- maining in him. He had lain himself there to die ; but why, the strange purpose that shoe should -minister to his passing breath? Was it only here that peace could be found for hin?, Moione was alone, with a timid, young, and undeveloped sister. Their mother was accidentally away that light; having been detained by the illness of a friend, joined with the incle- mency of the night, ,which set in in* darkne s- and storm, in terror, in thunder, and in blaze. In the me atine, the parox- ysms of cholera had commenced 'upon the enfeebled frame of Manton; and the black fear of the night outside only corre- sponded to the convulsed' and,, writhing agonies which now tossed him to and fro, in helpless, but most, mortal agonies. The thunder' crashed, and the frail house shook, and the fierce pangs shot along his quivering nerves, as vividly as any blinding burst of lightning' from without. The 'darkness' which sur- rounded hiim had been penetrated 'by a" calm, pure light, that dimmed not nor trembled before the blinding blast. A voice, the soft, clear, cheerful tones of 'which vibrated not to ,the quick rattling of thunder-crashes' from without, told'him. of strength and hope, of peace and a calm future, in. the life yet beyond him on the earth-that he could not die now,,and should not !-until his will b came elecirified with a new impulsion, and -was roused to cope with 'the fell derion that 'had thus, ofthis own invitation, possessed him;' and, illuminated with asudden page: 226-227[View Page 226-227] SPIRITUA VAMPIRISM. and rapid intellection, he directed her how to baffle every. paroxysm of cramp as it rose. It is sufficient, he was thus sustained by light applications of cold-water;-until the passing of 'the storm enabled her to sum- mon to his aid a physician, whose skilful 'application of the same, powerful remedy, even in the "blue-stage " of collapse into which Manton had now fallen, sufficed to relieve him from, the disease,-.with the vital Fprinciple yet striving .in his frame; though many days must elapse before those starry eyes, that held sleepless watch above him, could impart to his dimmed and 'in- credulous consciousness sufficient strength to nable him to lift his hand, in' Pague and mournful wonder that he still possessed a being. Ah, what an awakening was' this! Deep, deep, beneath the realms of shadow dark and deep -he had lain .in long and dunb oblivion of consciousness. He knew not that he lived; it was a blank' of rayless rest-a peace without sunshine. low profound ! how ununtterably still!' What a contrast with the ceaseless, dreadful tesion. of the moiling chaos of past years, during which the ,passions had never slept,, but, through his very dreams, had. moaned in the weariness of strife. Alas! the re- bellious heart, which struggletjh in' unyielding pride with life, refusing to concede to its conditions, how it must -suffer? The World, know little of the life-long horrors of that'fight.-.'the un- idealizing world, the conservative, the compromising world. It little dreams' what this self-immolating madman must endure a to what nights of sleepless' thought, to what days of bleak and sullen isolation-walking apart.from sympathies that are dis- trusted and scorned, yet yearned for-hating nothing, yet loving nothing which is warmed in the embrace of earth, because that earth -may be accursed in hissight: its barren bosom' has not yielded to his exacting soul the flowers and streams and echo.. ing groves of 'the' Utopia it has framed within him. This isthe unpardonable' sin of pride! He dares to 'treat ~wth contempt a ,world that will not. turn to his inspired voice, P , , l 1 and live as he has dreamed it might live. It is not to be won- dered at, that the bolts fall thick and fast about him; but when we see his pale brow scathed and seamed withmany a stunning stroke, while his-- hollow eyes yet glitter with, a 'deathless and defiant fire-when we think of, the mortal tension of his unsyn- pathised life - oh, should we not remember, that this. painful warrior has been battling, not for base lucre, not for selfish ends, but for the beautiful, as it has been revealed to'-him-the true, as he has felt it - for the ideal in him; and that, though wretched and suffering and wan, it is, after all, "Of such stuff as he, The gods are .made." It is of his suffering that his prowess comes-of his experiences, his themes-of his solitude, his reach and radiance of thought-, of his strong will, 'his conquering flight at last. Do not think to pity him; may-be he is pitying you.. Do-not attempt to "sate" him ; it may be, it is you who will be damned in the effort. Only let him alone-do not persecute, him. Let his pride pass-- that is what sustains him;' but for that, he would be like you, a mere "compromise." ; Give him the same chance that you give to others around you, and,' although you may -not under- stand him .now, only give him time, he will make you under- stand him; it may be, in wonder and in joy. But this waking-but this waking of the weary man! Was it a 'new birth--a new resurrection-or, a mere waking from a light sleep, without a dream? The world upon which his shrinking vision now opened was filled with sunshine -,he was blinded with the glory thereof. He closed his thin eyelids, and the splendor came through them, all rosy-hued. and dimmed, that he could bear it; but there was a starlight for him too, and her could bear its calm effulgene better. Yes, there were two stars, and'they were tempered, that they might neither freeze nor slay his ,feeble life. When they came over him, as he lay in a half-trance of weakness, he could feel XJ IIERIAL -OFTD0WN.22 227 page: 228-229[View Page 228-229] 228 1' SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. them through- his -eyelids and upon', his heart; 'and they were. warm, and he felt, his heart 'warm, as buds to the unfolding spring. - A dim-remembered music flowed" into his soul, faint and dim, but oh, sweetly mellowed, that he might not die ! . There was :a rustling, top,-it was as of a tempered wind,--. and a soft touch; it sent no thrill, but it was of healing-it sunk into his life in strength. A strange, balsamic tenderness, like a new sense of peace and joy, pervaded all his being-and a new growth set in apace, and a 'dim remembrance of ancient strength. flitted into his' thought. Ah, ha! this wondrous presence, what was it? Moione, the ministei-ing -Moione ! It was she! 'Ever there, sleeping and awake, she leaned over him. When he dreamed, he dreamed of a fair spirit, that hung upon the air above him, on viewless wings, and ever, with still eyes looking upon his, shedding their soft radiance deep into his -soul. No wonder that life,-in swift, light waves, came flooding in again; no wonder that the crushed and much-enduring man became as a child once more, and laughed out in the ,sunshine with a simple joy. The Present was .sufficient unto him; he remembered not the Past now-the hideous, the spectre-haunted Past. What was~it to him,, when serene hope thus smiled ? Ah, it was 'a happy time, that period of rapid -convalescence.. Yes, rapid, for his heart beat freely again. The natural sun could reach him; no lurid delusion, like miasmlatic fog,- hung over to intercept the rays. 4 They talked of the future, and peopled it with wild dreams, like children; until 'it all became as real to them ,as their own being. . There was a strange and mournful romance, connected with the or in of'oione's family, that pointed at possible realiza- tionsin another country, through inheritance, that would be' as gorgeous 'as the creations of Aladdin's lamp. They talked of these prospects as of facts. assumed, ,and of all the high- thoughted enterprises of the day which promised to be of true benefit to mankind, as already 'achieved, through their aid; and, I ETHRIAI 50FTDOWN. 229 with magnanimous simplicity, were already distributing hoarded and rusting millions to ,bless the world withal. These were gay daydreams; but they were innocent, and, Ilthough they may never be realized, they gave them joy -inspired the yet feeble Manton with a future. There could.be but one result to all-this. His health was rapidly restored; and when Manton married Moione, which he soon did, his soul now first -found rest. ,The' last that was spoken between them concerningElna was in a, conversation soon after,'when she.casually 'asked him- "Did Elna -show'you my drawings, when you came back from the 'North?" "Your drawings? your drawings? She showed me some, the delicacy and calm precision of which, I remember, 'vainly intoxicated: me with delight. - But why do you ask,'dear ?"_ "Why, she. carried off from me,' about .that time, certain studies of human anatorpy, which I had elaborated much, and which I valued. As I4have never been ably to recover them, after repeatedlyerequesting 'their return, I thought, perhaps, she might have shown-thein to you, and then thrown them aside, through forgetfulness."' "Ah! hal" said Manton, "I remember now.. They were assiduously paraded' before me by her as her own. In spite of my rec gnition of the fact, that she did not possess originally' and must-have very suddenly acquired, the constitutional steadi- ness and delicacy of touth'necessary to accomplish drawings so fine and exquisitely accurate, I never dreamed.,of imposition, of course; 'and thus, with 'fatal credulity,.set down to her credit, from what she had stolen of 'you, a new and .infinitely signifi- cant attribute, which I had heretofore,-speciallyand hopelessly, in spite of, my passion, denied to her." "Let us forget-it now," was the quiet response. "She is only harmful to either of us, as you ,mayiremember morbidly the' relations which have existed between you; the delusion is over " 20 i ' page: 230-231[View Page 230-231] 280 dPiRITUAI VAMPIRIis . Such was the fact, indee& anton had, at last found his artist-wife, and a true and wondrous artist did she prove indeed, realising 'his fond, high' dreatp. Uhider this blessed - and holy guardianship, he had returned fully to the'realities of a true existence . He now saw, felt, and understood all that had oc- urred in thtlong shuddering dream; and this-rsality he had attained seeed only the more unutterably precious. When the calm Mojone revealed to him all the secret of the bleak and poverty-stricken desolation, in which he found her living, he was not at all astonished to find- that her mother, who was a generous, trusting, noble-hearted zealot' of Water-cure, had been another of the many victims of Boanerges Phospher, the "Spiritual'Professor." He h'd not o9xly stripped her wid- owed isdlationof'all the appliances of-household comfort,' which years, of' devoted and selflsacrificing labor had enabled her to collect and' throw together, ;in respectable defence.between her helpless children and common:want, but had absolutely turned her out of 'doors, without even; spoon, or knife, or fork left her, of all this little property which she had'thrown .in rashly, per- haps, but earnestly arind with a noble dedication of .her widow's mite, towards'furnisliing a Water-cure establishment. The cause was' one that she revered for the good that she knew, ractially, it might accomplish; and Boanerges, who wasin this case,as usual, profoundly ignorant of what he had undertaken to 'o, had availed himself of her well-known expe- rence and knowledge of Water-cure, just so long as-sufficed to collect around him again a hirsute confederacy of -faithful 4ma- zons; the strength of ofwhich he thought would be sufficient to oer-ride'all opposition, and sustain him in the 'valorous'assault upon helpless widowhood intended. He then openly claimed her property as his'own, and the 'proud, uncomplaining mother of Moio e was, of course, plundered of- her iall---victimised! The sainted Boanerges soon met with a just retribution.V The partner, to 'wh6m healhad assignedin trust, to stave off his'cre- ditors, 'all his claims upon this illusti-ious institution, and wiho, 71 _ . ITHERIAL . SOFTPOWN. 28 from the late -chrysalis of a vulgar tailor, had suddenly'-been emancipated into an M. D of Water-cure, at once sprung upon him his legal rights, under the transfer, and he was-reduced again to beggary. Some method wrested from his- puerile studies of Sweden- borg, has no doubt,. by this time, andiupon some other tack, suggested to -the, .Spiritual Professor" just enough of wisdom to enable him to persevere in ."saving" the elderly New- Lights- of.the land. We wish Boarierges happiness in his now-enterprises; for, certainly, hi versatility at least' comrnands respect. f1 page: 232-233[View Page 232-233] SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. C1IAPTJER XXVII. THE SECRET COTCLAVE.'n THE Editor finds that here--the connected narrative of Ethe- rial 'Softdown breaks off. Though there are many fragmentary notes, which he found in Yieger's Cabinet, which bear a clear, yet somewhat disconnected relation, to the past and future of the scenes, and actors already described ; these he has thought proper to collate, and throw together into something as nearly' approaching order as their desultory character will permit. This -man Yieger, seems to have been an enthusiast of a very unusual stamp. He has, however, left so little concerning him- self, that we can only say, he appears to have made, it his business to follow up, in a quiet and unsuspected way, a certain series of investigations, the purport and"tendency of which was to unveil a class of, crimes, which, from being secret, were en- abled to work and worm their way nearest to the core of the social state.-" Thus, in addition to the monstrous and unimagined vices de- scribed by him in the preceding-chapters,-he seems to have dis- covered secret combinations, the possibilities of which have probably never entered before into human brains, but the results of which were as prodigious as the causes were unsuspected. These were composed of no mystic demagogues of humaiita- rianism, who sheltered mere partisan and personal designs, under the broad curtain of secret rituals symbolising philan- thropic aims ;- no bald enthusiasts, who softly sunk their indi- vidualities -in an. Order, 'and sold their, god-like birthrights of universal' benevolence, of world-wide charity, for the -golden shackles of a ,pretentious benevolence, the selfish code ofwhichb was,-mutual protection first, and -nobody else afterwards! - s i a C These were wise, bold, hardened .men -hardened in the: rough contests by, the highways of life--who had seen all; felt all, and known all, that life could give or take. They were pre- paged for, any of its.extremes, but had outlived its sympathies. They were incarnations of pure intellection; the accomplish- ment of the object was their conscience -t-hey despised alle- gories, and.they trampled upon symbols. Nothing was myste-i rioJs to them, but an undigested purpose. For them there Was; no law but that might be eluded=-no sanctities, but as they might be used-no religion but necessity, which was, -to them, achievement! When -such men organised, they merely cane.together,-ten or a dozen of them,-they required no oaths, no pledges--they knew each other! "We hold such and such opinions upon one point only; and thatone point is, mutual interest, and tnder, that, 1st, that we can govern this nation;.2d, that to govern it,' we must subvert its institutions; and, 3d, subvert them we will It is our interest ; this is our only bond. Capital must have ex- pansion. .Thil hybrid republicanism saps the power of our great agent .by its obstinate competition. We must demoralise the republic. We must make public virtue a by-word and a mock- ery, and.private infamy to be honor. Begit ning with the people, through, our agents, we shall corrupt the State. "We must pamper superstition, and pension energetic fanati- cism--as on 'Change we degrade commercial honor, and make 'success' the idol. . We' may fairly and' reasonably calculate, that within a succeeding generation, even our theoretical schemes of republican subversion maybe accomplished, and upon its-ruins be. erected-that 'noble-Oligarchy of caste and-wealth for which we all conspire,.as affording the only true-protection to capital. "Beside these genera views, we may in a thousand other ways . apply our combined capital to immediate advantage. We may buy up, through our agents, claims upon litigated estates,-upon confiscated bonds, mortgages-upon embarrassed property, land-claims, Government contracts, that have fallen into weak 20 * 282 283" ETJIERIAL SOPTDOWN. page: 234-235[View Page 234-235] 284 SPfIITUAL VAMPIRISM hands, and all those floating operations, 'constantly within hail, in which ready-money is eagerly-grasped as the equivalent. for enormous prospective gains. "In addition 'through our monopoly of the mahufacturing in- terest, by a rigorous and impartial system of discipline, we shall soon be able to fill the masses-of operators and producers with such' distrust of each other, and fear of us, as to'disintegrate their radical combinations,-and bring themto our'feet. - Govern- ing on 'Change, we rule in politics; governing in politics, we are-the despots in trade; ruling'in trade, we-subjugate produc- tion; production conquered, we domineer over labor.- This is the common-sense 'view of our interests -of the interests of capital, which we represent. In the promotion of this object, we appoint and pension our secret agents; who are everywhere on the lookout for outinterests. We arrange correspondence, in cipher, throughcut the. -civilized world ; we pension our editors and our reporters; .We bribe our legislators, and, last of all, we establish -and pay our secret police, local, and travelling, whose business it is, not alone to report to us the conduct of agents already employed, but to- find and report to us others, who may be useful-in such capacity. " We punish treachery by death!" Such is a partial schedule of the terms of one of these terri- ble confederacies, as furnished. -in a detached note by Yieger, which held its secret sessions- in New York city. - He seems to have, obtained- a sight of some of their records, but by what means, the most daring could only conjecture. He appears to have regarded this particular organisation as the most formida- blefof all, and to have traced many of its -ramifications, in their covert results, with A singularly dogged tenacity. - Among the extraordinary papers contained in the Cabinet he has left, are to be found -short notes, -containing what are clearly reports and proceedings of this formidable conclave. Its ~mysterious signature, Regulus,. seems to have been known throughout the world; and even he, though clearly a fierce and ETHERIA SOFTDOWN. 286 relentless foe, never writes it, bit'with the involuntary conces- sion of respect, which large, clear letters, underscored, would seem to convey. Having now presented- such an outline of the character, and designs of this secret conclave, as the means of information fur- nished him have enabled him to do,.the Editor will'proceed with the promised extracts from its proceedings, such as relate to thosein regard to whom the reader may be supposed to have some curiosity. First, we have here . A NOTE CONCERNING ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. "This woman, whose patronymic was Softdown, first -mar- ried a Quaker, named Orne ; which name, after her separation, and until after her-divorce, she continued to bear, with"the alias of Marie. *She began her public career, soon after her marriage, as a Quaker preacher ; but the straitness of this sect Dot conform, ing at all to her latitudinarian principles, she recanted in; disgust, and left the society. She now plunged at once into Phfsiology, and, after a miraculously short gestation, produced a few leires, with which she went the rounds of two or three New England States, accompanied by her husband, whom she, sans ceremonie, dubbed M. D., without putting him to the trouble of reading, or ever having read, a book on any subject. He officiated as ner doorkeeper, and received the 'shillings;' but, refusing to render any account of the proceeds,-a furious feud grew up between them, and soon the war waxed hot and fierce. "Finding this to be poor business on thewhole, she deserted nim, taking her child with her.. Tie next occupation in-which we find her versatile genius engaged, was that of teaching French; a more humble. employment, surely, but one. for which she was equally well fitted. This, however, soon dis- gusted her, as her unreasonable. patrons would insist. upon the vulgar :necessity..of her being able to speak French, 'as page: 236-237[View Page 236-237] -A 286 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. wll a: teach it. It was at best but a tame avocation, and one entirely, unsuited to her ambitious temper. "Having now fairly assayed her wings for flight, she soared aloft at' once, ip full career, through mid-air. She. became first a preacher of Universalism.; but meeting, about this time, with the celebrated Boanerges Phospher, she, in a: few weeks; turned out fall-plunied, as a lecturer on Elocution.- To his she' soon addeda knowledge of Phrenology, which, in her active zeal, she-took care to impart to the world,, as fast as, acquired, and in, the same public m manner. " Then, as, a natural consequence, came Mesmerism; then Neurology. Of ill these sciences she became the prompt ex- pounder, .f er a few days' investigation. "From this point she immediately ascended a step higher, and announced herself as- a revelator in Clairvoyance ; and, by an inevitable-p.ogression, she at. once found admission, along with Andrew Jackson Davis and a'host of other seers, into the Swe- denborgian.Arcana, and held herself on terms of frequent inter- course and positive intimacy:with the angel Gabriel, and, indeed, the whole heavenly host., They revealed to her that the great and unpardonable sins of humanity were, first, eating pork; second, using tobacco, whether snuffing, smoking, or chewing; and, third, wine-drink- ingin all its tfo ms. They accordingly commissioned her, form- ally, to go:brth into the world as a-missionary, to warn mankind- against, the fearful consequences of these vices, and to 'save' them therefrom. " Theexposition, of Grahamism and Bran-bread was now added to the enlarged circle of her enlightened Professorships; and, bye this aid,; and that of her spiritual commission, she wrought wonders, in assailing the, camps of the great foes of humanity-Pork, Tobacco, and Wine! "Many were the brands plucked by her from'the burning, or rather 'saved'--preachers, lawyers, .editors, artists, aid wa- tery-eyed young gentlemen, in -particular. It was or this grand I- -ETHERIAL S0FTDOWN. 234 to r that she first assumed her most distinguished attribute, the Patroness of Art-particularly of the Artists. "Returning to civilization once more, she again assumed her cast-off Profesorship of Physiologf, and. began lecturing to classes of her own sex. Now, with the first gleam- of light from =Gr efenberg, she, pronounced herself as having.been, for many years before, a practiitibner of the system; and at once proceeded to combinetGrahamism, Mesmerismn, Water-cure, and Physiology. " While in the vein of Physiology, she also lectured on the benefits of Amalgamation, Abolitionism, and Non-resistance. About this time, having met with one of the chief expounders of Fourierism, whom she also undertook to 'save,' she turned out in a few weeks a Phalansterian lecturer. That bubble had' barely exploded, when she came forth a Communist. Shortly after- wards, having one or two editors 'separately undergoing the process of being 'saved,' she became authoress'! She pro- duced several physiological novefs, :a number of essays, ppems, volumes of lectures, &c., &c. "The police which obey the mandates of the formidable Regulus, have kept the -changes of this feminine, Proteus for now upward of forty years, steadily in-view; and,the 'Council of Disorganisation report, through their comimittee, that they have ample reason to be.pleased with this Etherial Softdown, as the most indefatigable, active, unscrupulous, and energetic N of the agents of Demoralisation in the employment of the Secret Conclave. "UThey congratulate themselves in the belief that;with an hun- dred such employees devoted to their service, they could cor-. rupt the private faith and public virtue of the whole Union -so effectually,.in a single generation, as to enable them to utterly destroy its social organisation and subvert its Constitution: "This would, of course, secure the'desired Oligarchy of caste and wealth, and reduce the nation to'serfdom. "She is' to beencouraged, and placed upon the pension-list of the ' Secret Conclave.' B page: 238-239[View Page 238-239] w ; a s ia' .Ci. . , y ;' sr, l s . p 7' , is v', , t a 1 1 i r 3 1 ( , !.F 5 " ) - r L z~ . e ETHE1EIAL SOFTDOWN. Since this report, the latest transformations of*Etherial Soft down'have been, first, into rabid Bloomerism; in the height of which madness, she possessed a -suficiency of.the martyr-spirit to parade herself, 'on all public occasions,-though nearly- fifty years of age,.in full costume. By a'nedessary transition, the next step was into a apostle- 'ship.of- the new school of 'Woman's,. Rights'- and 'Abolition- ism which openly rejoiees.in the repudiation of the Bible from among the sacred books of the 'world-accepting it merely as the text-book -of popular. cantfto be used in working upon the passions and superstitions-of the mob- "'This last metamorphosis of Etilerial Softdown seems to be the most-promising of all those through which the polite of the '-onclave.' have,- thus far, been able to trace here" *" - * The' following note was received, in answer to one addressed to -distinguished surgeon of Philadelphia, in relation to the phenorne non of voluntary bleeding, so frequently illustrated in the History of Etherial-Softdown.--EIfR. DEA SIR: ' . - -"The case which you presented to ine, for an explanation of the causes which'may have produced volurntary discharges of blood from the mouth, is certainly a very remarkable one, though by no means without parallel 'in the records of feigned diseases. The power of the will, in persons of peculiar, formation or constitution, is seen,' occasiorially, to be extended to- various organs' designed by. nature to act without awakening con- scipusneqs and in a manner altogether beyond the control of the .indi- vidual.- TQ say nothing of many muscles of the-scalp, the ears, the skin of the neck, &c., which) are used to great purpose by the inferior ani- mls,'but are totally mactive inmanexcept in afew rare instances, it i's well-known-that many persons posses's the power of voluntary'vormit- ig. Aboutforty years- ago, a man presented hiihself before a cele- brated;surgeon of Londen, and proved that he 'possessed the 'ability to check completely the flow of blood through the artery at the wrist, by violetly contracting. . muscle of the arm above. the elbow, which, in his case, happened to overlap and press' upon the' rain trunk of the vessel. I am acquaintedwith -a' gentleman in this, country, who can perform-the-same feat. There'is on record a well-authenticated history HJHAPTER X-XVIL. REPORTS OF THE SECRET CONCLAVE; WE continue our reports of the police of the " Conclave," so far as we find them relating to Etherial Softdown.and her friends. of' a" man who could completely control, by will, the motions of his heart; and who, eventually, committed accidental suicide, by arresting the esoeulatlon so long that the heart never-reacted. Ilam acquainted with a gentleman who can voluntarily contract and dilate the pupil of the eye tgo asoertain extent; and have-seen the: same effect repeatedly, and in a far greater degree, 'Umong the-Hindoo jugglers. This action is natural in'the owl, but probably requires a peciliar nervous structure in man. So'mepersons have a power of'so completely simulating death, that neither by respiration, the motion of the ege'under light,-nor the pulse, could any-unprofessional observer, or even an experienced phy- siian, detect the counterfeit. One of my servants in India, struck another Jlindoodwith his open hand, for some impertinence. The man instantly -fell, apparently dead ; and L happened' to arrive just as the friends -were about to remove the body, no doubt for the purpose of ex- torting money by concealhent and false pretences,' I could perceive-no respiration (the glass-tet was not applied), no pulse at the wrist; 'the pupil of the'eye wad fixed in all lights. There was, however, a slight thrilling in the carotid artery; and I judged the case to be- one of ad. mirable feigning.' Severe pinching-was borne without change of ex- pression, -as was- also the deep prick' of a pin. For a; usement, I- pronounced' him dead,'but assured the ignorant natives that -1 would bring bim to life. On my calling for a little pan ofc'al; always ready in a bachelor drawing-room in the East,:ffr lighting eigars,;-there. came. over'the countenanethe. slightest possible shade of anxiety. I ordered the' patient's abdomen laid bare, and gentlyltoppled a bright coal from the pan upon it. The effect was magical. Instantly, tlke fellow gave, the most lively :evidences of vitality; -and, -as he crossed the Compound and darted through the gateway, he seemed solely; bent upon rivaling the mysterious' industry of the I man with the cork-leg.' --. 28 289 $PIRITUAL -VAMPIRISM. " ,ti , page: 240-241[View Page 240-241] 240 SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. This report -says of Eusedora Polypheme :-" This woman is between thirty and 'thirty-five'.years of -age. She is of New England birth, and eonumenced her ,education at what we' con- sider the female high-schools of demnoralisation on the Conti- nent-' the factories.' " These estalAishments are. especially 'patronised by the "Council of Disorganisation,' who consider them of vast effi- ciency, on account of -the well-understood certainty with which the results' we aim at are achievedunder this system. So great is this certainty, indeed, that we may always 'safely calculate that eight-tenths of the females who seek employment in them come forth, if they ever do live, ino ulated. with just such principles and habits as we dtesire to have spread among the rural population to whiclthe'.'majority of them return. -tCot- rupted themselves,' they act aas'dinirable mediums and con- ductors of corruption to the class from whom they went forth iniocent, and 5hich receives them again without suspicion. Besides the spinal diseases, affections of 'the lungs, twisted "By strong Contraction of all the muscles of the chest, while those of thesneck' are rigid and the lungs fully-inflated, the vessels of the head and neck can be, distended' almost to bursting.. Actors sometimes' use this power to produce .voluntary blushing,"or the suffusion of anger, though the practice endangers apoplexy. Take this to'be the secret of the voluntary bleeding, in the case describedby you. !'" The 'tonsils, andthe fmembrane of the throat behind,.the nose and mioutb arg full.of innumerable blood-vessels, forming a -net-work ; and very slight causedoften" produce great enlargement of these vessels. By frequent temporary distension, theyare. not only permanently en- larged, but.made more susceptilrle; of additiona.-expansion from trivial accidents. 'In this conditions'they may brought to resemble, in some degree, what is termed,'by-anatomists, dhe erectile issue, which' struc- ture has sufficient contractility to prevent the 'admission of more than au ordinary amount of blood on common occasions, but when excited in any wayhit yields with great ease, and admits of enormous ilata- tion. . Erectiletumors are dangerous,from theirtendency, ultimately, to reedpontaneoaly. They are sometimes former inlrthe that Te ETHERIAL SOFTDQWN. 241 bodies, and deformed limbs, which the greater number of these girls take home with them, all the foolish .romanticism of girl- hood has been thoroughly crushed out of them, by the morale which we have promoted in these institutions, and theirminds and tastes have become even more vitiated than their bodies. "It will thus be seen that this factory system is our chef- d'auvre of demoralisation of the simple agricultural classes. 'But in yet another aspect' the results, it will be perceived, are still more brilliant. We soon found the necessity of creat- ing a public sentiment in favor of our system, which would put a stop to officious investigation and interference with our plans. We accordingly established a defensive literature, in the shape of dainty serials, announced as being edited by the factory-girls themselves. These were filled with sentimental effusions, written principally to order, outside the factories, the general burdenof which consisted in poetico-rural pictures. of .the joys brought horne -by the patient~ atnd industrious factory-girl, to. some hip- shotten father or bedridden grand-papa. These little incidents sels by habitual mechanical distension, by compressing the chest in the manner just described.. There is such a natural tendency, in all parts about the throat and nose, to bleed from slight causes, particularly after repeated inflammation, that it strikes me as by no means wonder- ful, that a designing person should, by long-practised mechanical efforts, aided, perhaps, by the consequences of former colds, reduce these-prts to a condition such that they would bleed from voluntary distension. The only wonder in the case is the quantity discharged, while this person does not appears to be subject to involuntary hemorrhage also. This result will probably occur hereafter, and the impostor may share the fate of the man who arrested the motion of his heart. "These cases of feigned diseases give great vexation to army sur- geons and almshouse physicians; and, in :private life, are often resorted to by the cunning'and unprincipled, for the .purpose of harrowing the feelings of relatives, from some sinister intention. It might well be wished, that the case you -describe were one.of the most difficult 6f de: tection, but it is far from being so. "Believe me, my dear sir, ~"Very truly, yours," &c. 21~ page: 242-243[View Page 242-243] - 24~ SPIRITtAL VAMPIRISM. were studiously invested with all that'charming unexpectedness and die-away'bathos, which is so attractive to girlish imagina- tions; and so satisfactory to elder philanthropists. Then there was still another' class of romances,, cultivated with yet -more fervid unction.' These consisted in stories of a 'lovely young girl,'who,:all' for 'love of independence;' gave up a home of luxury, to comwsto the factories and make a living for herself, independent of her natural guardians. How this stout-hearted young ladyone day attracted, by her beauty, the-attention of a handsorfe young-gentleman of romantic appearance, vho visited the mills along with a party of other strangers.. HoW the sro- mantic young gentleman was very -much 'struck, while the strong-minded Angelina was rendered' nervous ; how the heart!-stricken' after many trials, succeeded in moving -upon the heart of the ' sleepless gryphon' of morality with whom Angelina boarded, to permit him to have an interview at least in said gryphon's presence ; how that then and th re the young gentleman, in the most 'proper' way declared h self, sought Angelina's -hand;, and was-accepted ; and how he turned out to be te son' of a' Southern nabob, and Angelina, from'a poor factory-girl, became one of the foremost ladies of the land;- and. how, though, she, never forgot her dear and happy com- panions of the factory. This same susceptible young South- erner' isF the standing hero of four-fihs. of these girls, and, is he does' not come -every year to make them all rich, we may coigratulate ourselves upon the general morals cons quent upon such reasonable' expectations. Out.of one or two thousand girls, there are usually a few who exhibit some sprightliness. In the ratio of the ductility of their characters; are they sure to be selected, ard= brought forward 'by our managers; and' in proportion as they exhibit tHeir availability, 'are they readily promoted to editorships. _ Y Y P toeditrshps- They receive private salaries, and are released from any other than norfinal participation in the routine of factory labor. Fror this distinguished caste of young ladies of the factory, Eusedorg Polypheme originated. ETHElIAL sQFTDOWN. 4Ad "We expect gratitude from all such. favored parties;rand Eusedora proved. the most grateful of the grateful. She as readily took to the shallow limpidity of Mr. Little, alias Tommy Noore, as ever did callow cygnet to the drains of a Holland flat. She possessed, indeed, a marvellous gift of sentiment-a sac- chariferous faculty, that would have caused Cerberus himself to have licked his jagged lips. She was accordingly encouraged to cultivate transcendental, tendencies, exchanged with the Dial, and, after a- few months' exercise, she spoke like a veritable thoness. -" " Considering "that she had now made herself sufficiently familiar with The celestial syren's harmony,' to make her of value to us abroad, we placed her on our pen- sion-list, and turned her loose upon society. "Thisstep the Committee.have never had cause to .regret. $he leaped upon the social stage, a specimen of what the, factory system~ could produce - achieved the lioness at once, and had, the honour of being hailed in all circles, a phenomenon, a lusts nature -the world was undecided which, considering she was nothing but a factory-girl. They must be eminent institutions surely, since they could turn .out young ladies who talked so ' divinely,' possessed 'such' command of language, and were such favorites with the gentlemen! "There was- a society, too, not very far off from this, into which she had forced her way,.and which haughtily called itself 'the' best,' that held its court in houses with dingy outsides, that. lined the back-alleys; but, amidst garish ;and sickening splen- dors.within,-the 'highly' intellectual' character, of the hollow eyed and painted queens who presided there, was equally owing tp the educations they had received at the ssme 'eminent' instill tutions -. on1y they had had more soul and less cunning than Eusedora Polypheme, and would not, therefore, have been so available to the Committee.. page: 244-245[View Page 244-245] I 'SPIErflJ.L VAMPIRT9 '. 244, "When a class is already sunk as low as it can sink, it is rit our policy to go aside to interfere with themyfor they are sure to fecundate in degradation fast enough; our sole aim is to drag the grades above down to their level, which we consider a sWfe one . " There is nothing so dangerous to the designs of the-'Corn. mitfee of Disorganisation, as soul ---what the world calls heart. To an executive power, these are always considered intrusive and distasteful superfluities; and it vas because Eusedora has managed, by some surprisingly efficient process, to rid herself of both, that she is to be so-trusted. "Besides parading her accomplishments everywhere, as merely a fair average of the education of a factory-girl, she very soon mapped out for herself a very peculiar field for ope- rations. She became the -leader 'of a new school of Platonic Sentimentalism, in New England. This was an achievement--- a decided triumph. She soon gathered around her a host of. feminine disciples--principally young and unmarried, with pre- mature wrinkles on their brows., "After years of close observation of the operations of this sect, its police would' beg to express to the Committee their unqualified admiration of the results obtained. Theincrease of the number of suicides hasbeen gratifying. The number of young men and girls rendered worthless-for life ; the number of elderly men plundered and cajoled out of their means and driven into dotage, is only equalled by the surprising rapidity with which the fanaticism has spread; indeed, it would seem as if thg first step towards all the popular forms of fanaticism, is through Platonic Senfimentalism. " It seems, that it is'through the teachings of this school, of which Tusedora Polypheme is now the acknowledged priestess, that the hollowness and unsatisfactory character of all, our natu- ral sentiments and passions is first perceived. This illumination achieved, it becomes necessary that their place be supplied by what the world would call morbid sentimentality and unnatural . ETIIERIAL POlTDOWN.24 passions, but which Eusedora P4lypheme aptly terms, 'spherical illuminations' and ' divine ecsthcies.' But since we know, as well as Eusedora, that flesh is ft sh, aid blood is blood, we can therefore calculate, with great precision, whither such mystifica- tions must lead, "Hardened and sharpened in mind and temper, by a gradu- ation in- this school, its disciples pass, not from it, but through it, 'into other, and, to us, not less important fields of activity. Hence. come the fiercest and most unscrupulous partisans of Infidelity, Abolitionism, and Woman's Rights. Having learned both theo- retically and practically to disbelieve in themselves, by the- most natural transition in the world, they become, infidel of all other truths, and 'scorn all other sacrednesses alike. They are then prepared. to be of use to us in a variety of ways. The spirit of antagonism, the love of strife and notoriety, have assumed in them the sense of duty, justice, and modesty ; a spiritual diabllerie. has possessed itself of the" emasculated 'remains of womanhood left in them. Only give them a chance for martyrdom -only give them an excuse for the cry of persecution, and upon what- ever theme or theory, ology or ism, that may promise to afford then. such healthful and natural excitements, they will at once seize, and, hugging the dear abstraction to their bosoms, do battle for the same, with a cunning and unscrupulous ferocity that has no parallel. "But for their thorough training under the teaching of Euse- dora Polypheme, they might, perhaps, be sometimes disposed to pause, and inquire if there might not be two sides to every question; whether they might not have made some slight mis- take in crying out 'Eureka' so soon. But, fortunately,' they are never troubled with this weakness; and, as their capacity for mischief is not, therefore, liable to be impaired by any maud- lin conscientiousness, or feeble questioning of their own infalli- bility, or that of their teachers, they are from the beginning as valuable as trained veterans. " The jargon of 'the sect, which they acquire with wonderful 21* SAC page: 246-247[View Page 246-247] N. 246, SPIRITUAL VAMPIRISM. facility/constitutes their logic; and their efficiency in the use of this weapon, consists in the savage, 'waspish, and persevering= iteration of, its phrases, at all times and on all occasions. "It is astonishing, 'the ease with which the majority of man, kind. can be bullied, -especially from within the bulwark of pet- ticoats. But when at once the terrible aspect is hid behind the mask of Circe, as the followers of Polypheme know so well to accomplish, the lower becomes resistless indeed. "' rhe principal weapons of-offence used by the followers of Polypheme, in all their subsequent metamorphoses, are, first and foremost, what is technically termed the 'electrical eye.' This is the most brilliant 'and. effective of their weapons. It is not by any nwans necessary that the spiritual Amazon should have been gifted by Nature, in this respect ; for the arts of Polypheme were clearly inspired from 'Some other deity than Nature, That shapes man better.' "After 'long practice, the power is acquired of dilating or straining the 'eyes wide open, and suffusing them at the same time." The moisture gives them a marvellous effect of electrical splendor. As this habitual tension can only besustained for a few seconds at a time, Polypheme- happily offsets it by the modest habit of dropping her eyes towards the floor, or a filow4r or book in her hand; then up go the 'Downy windows close' And out leaps-another humid flash, to electrify her audience. " Greatenergy and activity of gesticulation is recommended, in order to distract attention, as much as possible, from the fact, that these' cruelly-worked 'eyes sometimes run4 over with the 'salt-iheum'=-of any thing but,'grief.' A loud voice, too, is especially recommended-as, without it, somebody else might be heard in the room. "Secondly, a thorough knowledge of the minor dramatics of' _ _ , 247 emphasis is also suggested. Sneers should be thoroughly practised before the glass, as well as interjections, exclamations, shrieks of wonder and surprise. The grimace of rage, worked up with great ferocity, without the slightest regard to the poor victim. Scorn should be lofty and incredibly superb; archness, irresistible, taking care not to pucker the wrinkles in the brow too much; sentiment, nothing short of the white rolling-up of two huge spheres in spasm. Childlike simplicity requires great practice in the dancing-room; it is very effective, when artisticallydone. Favorite poets - Petrarch, Shelley, Mrs. Elizabeth Brownson, and her husband, 'poor Keafs.' Gods - Tom Moore, Byron, and Author of Festus.. High-priest of the Arcana-Emerson. Priestess - Margaret Fuller Ossoli. Apocalypse - The Dial, &c., &c~ " Travelling should be studied as an art. The many corre- spondences held in different portions, of the country should be made the dutiful occasion of sentimental {visits, which, as they may be protracted for a month or two, will, no doubt, result in the effectual 'saving' of some half-dozen, at the very least, of both sexes. Neither scrip nor money need be provided for the journey; for is not the laborer worthy of his hire?: Besides, who ever heard of a. lioness carrying a purse? The world owes all its benefactors a living. " It is necessary to be an authoress-abundantly prolific and intensely literary: to write dashing, slashing, graceful letters, in which your own superbhorsewomanship 'shall always figure most prominently;, next, your own disinterestedness; next, your own amiability, and dangerous powers of attraction; and, last, the' dashing, slashing,.graceful character of your own wit; your romantic love-affairs,~by bookk -and meadow, on-highway and in byway, by ocean-side or in greenwood. "These, with a lofty scorn of the commonplace, a darling love of the arts-that is, you. must know the names of the pic- tures, and what they are all - about, but 'most particularly the names of the painters. And if somebodysays the picture is a ETHERIAL SOFTDOWN. page: 248-249[View Page 248-249] 248 SPIRITUAL VAMPI1RSM.- goodone, be on term's of intimacy with the painter, or at least in close correspondence with him; and be sure he is a 'noble. spirit,'-a ' divine creature,' one of the 'elect of genius,' whose 'eyes haye been unsealed to the touch of the Promethean fire:' "Must know French, Italian, German, and Spanish phrases, out of the PronouncingDictionary. Quote theses occasionally, but very guardedly, when you are. certain there are no apeish foreigners or troublesome old fogy scholars present. " This panoplied, the novitiate will be, in -every, sense, the equal of Eusedora Polypheme herself, and entitled to go upon the pension-list of the Committee. Indeed, we. are booking them rapidly, and sending out missionaries in every direction. "The disciples of this school are among the chief favorites. of' the 'Committee of Disorgar isation.'" CHAPTER XXIX. REPORTS CONTINUED---REGINA STRAIGlITRACK. WE have already obtained a glimpse of -Regina Straight- back, in character. Her tall Indian-like figure, with her pictur- esque and semi-manly costume, will not be readily forgotten. The, faithful police of the.' Committee -of Disorganisation,' in course of a detailed report concerning this woman, says: "Regina Straightback is nearly as unbending in temper.as in figure, which peculiarity renders her of somewhat less avail, to- us than such more ductile -natures as her fast friend, Etherial Softdown, and her soul's sister, Eusedora Polypheme. " However, she possesses an availability of her-own, which is invaluabl in ifs way. She' is incontrovertibly the Amazonian queen of the 'New-Lights.' Her commanding figure and her dramnatic carriage, together with her -unanswerably positive and ETHERIAL $OFTDQWN. 249 'Io imperious manner, have, as implying a natural gift of command, won for her the universal 'suffrage of her sisters militant. - So it never fails that, bg a species of spontaneous' acclaim, she is selected to' preside "over all convocations of 'the 'faithful;' whether held in public or in private " By tacit consent, she has, therefore, -come to- be regarded as the actual figure-head of the' bark of Progress; and, hence, there is no movement,. on the part of feminine schismatics, worthy of attention,'to which "she has chosen to deny her pre- siding countenance.V "This renders her, of course, a very formidable and import- ant person, in all the 'New-Iight' agitations of the day. Con- scious of supremacy, she exercises it without hesitation; and, with a boldness that is startling to' all parties, dares to assert outright those opinions which, in reality, lie at the bottom of the whole agitation in which they are engaged., ' "Indeed, not only does she defiantly-assert them openly on all occasions, but openly lives up to them in the face of socir ety. While hier followers modestly say, they-want wonan's ciif rights in marriage, she courageously asserts, that there is no mr- riage except in love, and that the civil contract is -like any other partnership in which equivalents are exchanged.; and, by way of proof of her sincerity, she boasts, publicly and privately, of the'terms on which she married her'present husband ; -who, by the way, possessed considerable property. 'I do not love you', sir,' said she; 'I love another man, whom you k,.ow. If you choose to take me on these conditions, I an ready to mary you. "yThe charming candor of this proposal won the day; and the superannuated'-sew-Light' Was fain content to exchange his hand and fortune for her hand, and to leave her heart to settle its affairs in some other direction. . ' This is the sort of frankness in which the ' Comrtittee of Disorganisation' do most rejoice. They regard it as a highly favourable -oten, when a 'distiguished female' can take such . , i, page: 250-251[View Page 250-251] 250 RITUALL VAMPIRISM; grounds as this, and be publicly sustained by thousands of her sex; for with whatever gravity they may pretend to repudiate the doings of Regina Straightback, in this one particular, it is very certain, that they must regard it with secret favor, and that, this is the principal cause of her universal and overwhelming popularity., "They regard her with a species -of covert adoration -as' a heroine, who has first, since Fanny Wright,. dared, in living up to. principle, to do thatwhich they are, all, in, reality, yearning for courage to do themselves. "The chaos -of 'social. licentiousness, to which the- general acceptationI of such doctrine as-this must lead, may be regarded, to.say the least of it, as pleasantly nmelo-dramatic. When one woman may go to the house of another, and say,"' Though thou' hast been bound to this. man, in the holy bonds of matrimony, yet these bonds are of no moral force; though thou hast borne to this man children from iis loins, yet the- factthat thou hast suffered gives thee no claim upon him, for it is the penalty of 'thy sex; and. that they are bone of thy bone, pnd flesh of his flesh, gives thee. no just hold upon him, but rather upon the' State. And if thou hast 'nursed' him in sickness, he' -has fed-thee and clothed thee, in ample, equivalent; if thou hast loved him, he has loved thee'; if thou. lowest him still, it- is, 'thy weakness. Get thee gone!' This man no longer loveth thee; he is mine. Thou shalt surrender to me thy nuptial couch; there is no true mar- riage but in love!' "Nor does the ~candor of Regina Straightback rest with practical declarations such 'as these ; she goes quite as,. far in other: directions. She does not hesitate to denounce .the Bible, as sanctioning all the oppressions of woman-as the mere tool of the priesthood, the orthodox of whom are banded, to a man, in mortal opposition' to their rights. She recommends the use of it, as a means-to those who are more disposed than she is to Jesuitism:of ,conquering by. indirections. They may influence and control the masses, by invoking its sanction, to be 'ETHIERIAL SoFTDOWN. 251 p' 4 A f sure ; but she, for her own part, will..have nothing to do with subterfuges; she rejects the Bible systemin toto, as-false-false in fact and tendency. God has made woman sufficient unto herself in the universe. She can and ought to protect herself; and if she does not, it's her own fault. " The Bible might do for men; but women possess a higher spirituality, and stronger intuitions; they do not need it. Man, with his heavy logic, never gets beyond a truism or a self-evi- dent fact, of the .mere physical world; while woman, with her electrical inspiration, leaps the ' large lengths' of universal law, and, like a conquering presence, glides within the spiritual, supreme. It is thus that, scorning all bonds of sense, she knoweth that she doth know ! "The announcement of these tremendous propositions would, of course,.be calculated to have an overwhelming effect upon the tender adolescence of thousands of bright spirits -- to elec- trify their hearts and souls with the novel consciousness of claims and attributes, of which they had never dreamed them- selves or their sex to be possessors. "The result has been, of necessity, the, institution of a femi- nine order of 'knight-errantry,'of which the Quixote has yet to be sung. " The Committee do not generally employ such agents as Regina Straightback; but as the time seems to have practically arrived, owing to the preparatory labors of Etherial Softdown and Eusedora Polypheme, they seem to have conceded that such ppretensions may be safely risked, though, it is well known, they usually do far more harm than good to any cause. "The fact that such a step may be safely ventured upon, seems to be the most encouraging token of the progress already achieved, and of the ultimate and triumphant success of the exertions of the ' Committee of Disorganisation.'" page: 252-253[View Page 252-253] SVMPIIS. JERTIAnL soFIOW, .. t Y IJ _ {T +i 1( {, t 1t' (. v Lk 7 k'v1! , y, i7 te j . r M1 VtP7 ' . t 5r 7, IZMWT Y .AR B ONE'S 1T" QTT. T prgo'es onto say-. "JBut What the circumscribed wits of Etherial Saftdown, the divine ggtishr ents of EusedoraPQlypheme, the defiant un- serplQusaess of Regina Straightback, failed to accomplish,. napiely, the onvul ing ;of.al Phristendq, by one dexterous jugglery of cant, was left to be achieved by our at present ot .honoredag1nt, Euiity Barebones Stout. rtwill . seen ,by herigenealogical tree;,asj;indicated in her middle na e, that she came, as it were, prepared, through .a long table of engelicai descent, :for the work before .her. -Nothing could--be conceived more apropos: the' blood of the Covenanters in -thb veins of the modern New.- at.': prpsned inits passage thrg gh, New England Puri- Wnigit has now become as professionally capable of splitting hairs, as it formerly was of splitting heads. And then there was honoredsal,inwhichit Poq~~ AIJ it L~A d l fU : ure' s ooquirs orth - 1eprAnatinr of the exactintonations of.which does amarvel- 19 ,~egit to the antiuaria proclivities of hjs distinguished line.Thenthere is a. cthate rstie anunad of doggerel sngehes', confessedly, Witlig] hyhm, because they were in.' spired; . which U Jther arebones and Poundtext were pculiar1y otedin tirheW y,-w1 hiseems to ioveha ben trans- mitted,; withoutthe ;ightest deterioration of manner or em- phasis. 'And, in addition, there was an ecstaticism of text- ology, to which these revered fathers uniformly resigned them- selves, abpnt the time they had -reached their sitet, I ; r _ .' '.. r.. , From coughing trombone down to hoarsened piye'-- no fecundant' sprightliness of doggerel-no illuminated aptitude of text, betwixt Daniel in the lion's den, and Death on the pale horse-no syllogistic or aphoristic touch of bedridden theology that has been in vogue sinde the time of Luther, but is at the - tongue's-end of this Cyclopean. daughter of the 'Fathers of the Covenant.' c.Admirable admirable#! What was to prevent Humility Barebones Stout-from -using these rightfully derivedr'and ex- traordinary gifts for' they god of humanity ? "Not that she had thought anything inore philosophically about it, than that the good of humanity ought to consist with the claims of her inhe- rited renown, her caste, and her prescriptive rights. Not that she cared particularly who suffered; but being of a hysterical and exacting temperament, she had come to the conclusion that her own, the white xace, had conspiredagainst her --that they were jealous'of her- would never yield to her ancestral claims * a fair precedence. ' '' - ' "Her pride would not permit her to cry persecution for her- self and in her own name ; for she had been, lo! these 'many days ! a tireless scribbler and notoriety-seeker, in .appeals;. to her own race, through the legitimate .channels of current litera- ture,,on the simple basis of her own individual, experiences and the inspirations proper to her sex and grade. .These having' failed to attract any attentionbeyond the day's notoriety, an4 from the additional fact of the most labored of them having been consigned to oblivion ,through the pages of silly annuals, she turned herself about in wrath, to avenge -her wrongs. Her heart was filled with bitterness. "She. had known Etherial Softdown, with jealous unction; she had communed with Eusedora" Polypheme, in hopeless 22 the facilities of which seem to have been ruoxe than improved upon by their modern representative. In a word, no reach of nasal effect, ' ;r SPIR UAT; P=- -V- 253 page: 254-255 (Advertisement) [View Page 254-255 (Advertisement) ] 24sxrg4 VA. enulatioa of spirit; she had shrunk before the lioness. mood " of the triumphing .Regina Straightback, 'She felt that- she was displaced -"that she had been left 'behind. She saw that they, were all too proud, or too far advanced, to condescend to use the rusty weapons which had fallen to her by inheritace;" that they had, set theeNPet above her,.on the .platform of progress; that they at- least called the semblances of science and 'philosophy,. through their terminalogies,.to aid tem; while they left cant to their menials- "She felt,. that she was as bold as they. In what, then, consisted her weakness? 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