The Grand Old Man.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IX, Issue 41, 19 January 1885, Page 4

The Grand Old Man.

' !'• i ;.'•.' • TiH ** ' — '-' ''' ■ ■ ' '■■' | fcdrres'pohclent 6f Exchange.] \ Is the , latest, story ,ahout Mr Gladstone true— .the. stoiy, I mean, about his, attending, a : spiritualistic seance,, ,l)e:ng' " much impressed '' iwith the r.csujt, anti expressing a jmore or less unqualified belief m the system ? ' ].' suppose it is, because, although it has been printed In nearly every newspaper m the country, 1 have seen no contradiction of' it, and no correction of a single word of it. Until/ it is - co^itradiyted^ .; I'; shall take "it as one,. more incident m boproboi-ation. of ; Gartylef s 7 theory, jth'at'Mr^G^aclstpqe.is-i.g, [jnaaii; who", £an see ho Tact veritably, but. .only'; j;he clothes of it. . Personally, ; J do }iot believc' ; that'a i iiy /jjian can. profess a belief m spirijLuiiiism unless lie is a knaye wh'b '.means to, make inoncy out of the profession, or. ;a i' crank,' 1 -as they say v . m, .America, Who is easily imposed .upon. .Apart from the silliness, pf supposing . that departed spirits can , and i will busy themselves, m; writing: answers ■ upbn iolding slates to frivijous 1 qilestiottsi' \n the French, SpanVglv arid 1 English; languages" the hypocracy 'df ; thti whole cult and of 'its' leading p'rbfe'ss-' prs has been so clearly demonstrated m England by Professor Ray Lankester an. cl Messrs.. Maskejiy.ne. and Cooke,' m Austria by members of <|he Royal Family, and m nearly every-Txmrrtry~~whf!te~"tt" has" ""been*" tried on, by equally creditable, persons, that it is quite impossible ,to ' im'^n|. anybody^ of honest prtnc^\ ])les ana iv ell-balanced mind pinning ljis faith t0.it,. . , It js.Jia^d to. knock spmethnig^iiVitd \.'*kW hbhd' : of Mr (Gladstone, but he/takes others, m., eas«y*etf6lfg!rl- Jf % e^ei^t 1 appear ' tp believe that shipwrights and other artisans of the" NWth are suffering to -an Qx^pt/tlfat, jsal^s ifo.^ 1 the!inter-vcoi# tion" of Parliament, tjhongh the fact i.|suffiicicntlyM^estt : d,'b'uE he does bjeljeyiev 'lib- I'gatheiv that' spirit's ; Will;' come when medriirfis bid them', "and that som'eof them will irihke'fbols 1 of tlid mselves 1 by ' Scratch ing" Vepi ics ib questions piit m: languages' which ! it. is highly improbable they ever learnt enuring, their ( natural. ., lives. And T.hfs is the lmahto^ whom, tbe. "d'estin'iesOjt.- this, great, nation are, in-. . tvust^cl '{ \ I jjuxpc Mr. . Gladstone , is' ithe' firkt ( and '.last believer; m. ghosts wiho£<?nam,e will be associated withthe JPreuiiersbip of a great country.' There was evidently a good deal of <w|arra,ut. ; fo;r the- prophesy "' that •Ke wbuld .cither- spend his' days _ in' a lunatic/ asylum or • ruin his country. Ji\ man- who can believe". in ghosts' and accept the " phenomena M of spiritflal 'scaiices^as u if'' they . Wer6\ (tospcl, is a,, man I .would not tr^st \ipori' 'ahy l l : 6libject' Trhajtov, l^. *'l'o shy tlie'ly.i^t'on'tjhls'^e'nius'is'too.eccctt-! >f tricfpr safety.^." .". " ; •-•,.., ..;■,,.