OUR OWN MEDIUM. A REMINISCENCE OF DUNEDIN.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1642, 13 January 1883, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR OWN MEDIUM. A REMINISCENCE OF DUNEDIN.

Who, having dvyelfe in the moist city of Dunedin, the capitatof Otago, New Zealand, does not remember the spiritualistic craze that afflicted' so many of the residents a few years since, a craze which afforded those shining journalistic lights, Messrs. Charles Bright and James; Smith the opportunity of making much kudos, and not a little money, by their undoubtedly clever, lectures on psychological, matters in general. , Especially was my good friend and. near neighbour, Mr. Prosody, bitten with the craze. At the time, I lived in a house on the very top of High-street, and next to me was the long, low rambljng building used by Mr. Prosody as a school-room, for that estimable gentleman devoted his time and energies. to "teaching the young idea how to shoot.", In plain English, he kept what he was pleased 1 to call, a Commercial Academy for Ypung Gentlemen. Mr. Prosody was a thm, tall, cadaverous.man, with a very red nose, one eye, and one idea,, the latter, being that he alone knew everything, and fihat no pne else knew anything, a notion that t have observed pervades the minds of many schoolmasters. For f^he rest, he was a, fairly informed man, enough,,somewhat pompous' and pedantic, as became the, proprietor of a '(, Commercial Academy for .Young! Gentlemen,'', wrote sickly sentinjen'i^l and morbidly mysterious poems,, for the Otago IVitness and the' Star,- which were inserted' jsome.times", , vihen lie ydyeifiied, a,n,d/ was as innocent in, mundane affairs as a loflg Blab-sided, seedy, .snuffy, baby, of J3bc, feet' in h>>tock^gs, well co^'be. r ■\ u . , . f su& jaobpdy t^bte, pqm,. ,He y pjLn9ed(,% faith^'jinre^r^ vdihr on Mrs. Bunny, ,»fipfW neay TO^F> >W? d F I>2wFßl\ .^e^that^ is- to t m^py Qthers;, W, ,Ueved implici%,^ On. £m 7A t WM>&. $&. a Kind of generally useful human telegraph

between this world and that of spirits, and, in phort, a physiological and psychological wonder. She. didn't look much like it, I must confess,. Short, dumpy, nay, even fat, 1 ■with a neck suggestive of apoplexy, and a bust that " wobbled," for on my conscience, I don't belive she ever laced her stays. But her eyes, oh 1 such eyes. They Vere neither black, nor blue, nor grey, nor green, but a kind of conglomeration of the 1 lot, bold, piercing, staring eyes, that seemed to look you through, and that sometimes shone in the half-light with the phosphorescent fire of a cat's in the dark. 111-natured people said she dra — , but there, ill-natured people will say anything. Her husband, poor Bunny, as people got into the habit of calling him, was a meek and mild creature, who lighted the fire, washed and dressed the children, nursed the baby, there was always a baby in the Bunny household, and got up in his shirt for the milk every morning, but with him this veritable history has nothing to do. We were, at that time, a flourishing community in Dunedin, and appreciated ourselves accordingly, and though I say it, "as shouldn't say it," we were an intellectual community, and a Christian community. There was not an individual member amongst us who was not upon any subject, and every subject, better informed than any other individual member of any standing whatever, and as to the Christian observances, there was not amongst us one single iota of the envy, hatred, malice, and all unoharitableness that we read about in the prayer book. But there are limits to the endurance of even the most amiable and intellectual of communities, and we had reached them. I was not by a long chalk, the oldest inhabitant, neither was I the cleverest, nor yet the most influential, only the pen being one of the tools of my trade (although my trade was, as I believe, looked down upon in Dunedin, as one to which you cannot, or do not need to serve a time to) it had been deemed expedient that I should use it to lay our complaint before the public. We were only human in the influential neighbourhood, and as I have said, there are limits to amiability and endurance, and we had reached them. Short as had been my stay in this influential city, I was already a staunch Dunedinite. Its rights were my rights, (in spirit at least), its wrongs my wrongs, and the bitterest and most unendurable of its wrongs at that moment was— Mr. Peebles, " author of the Seers of the Age, .and Archimagus of the Sect." We had endured slights of every description, strength had been given us, to smile at the deifications of a Tyerman, but Peebleß had been the last straw, and the back of endurance in Dunedin was broken. Explain myself, say you 1 Well, I am explaining myself to the best of my ability. We were determined protectionists for native industry, and we were aggrieved because we didn't get it. We objected to Mr. Tyerman, and most especially to the money subscribed for Mr. Tyerman, I mean to the money having been subscribed for Mr. Tyerman, and we objected in the very strongest terms to the acknowledgement of Mr. Peebles as Archimagus of the sect. And why ? Because we had a medium of own. A medium whose powers in connection with spirits would not yield the palm ' to any medium elsewhere. ' I was standing in my little garden one morning in my days of ignorance, when my I friend Prosody came fussily down the road, he carried the newspaper in his hand, and stopped in front of my house. "It is intolerable," he said, "we must put a stop to it at once. The way in which they parade these wonderful lights before us is unbearable." " To what do you allude ?" I asked. "Good Gedl to mediums, sir, to the socalled mediums, half of whom are wretched impostors," and he dashed his hand, with the paper in it, against my fence, knocking off two palings incontinently, and giving ingress to three nice little black pigs into my garden. " Supscriptions, indeed," he went on, excitedly, " correct tips, and all that humbug. It's my firm determination to lay our claims before the public. Why should we, humble members though we be, of the great band of spiritualists, hide our lights under a bushel. No, rather let us sit it on the house top, so that the whole world may see it, and envy the possessors." Mechanically I looked up to the low top of my own house ; there was a very dirty magpie there sitting on the ridge, scratching his ear with his left claw. " This very day I shall originate a movement which shall eventuate in a subscription worthy of Mrs. Bunny. Something handsome shall be presented as a small acknowledgement of our gratitude to the gifted medium of Dunedin. Your prejudice is unconquerable, of course, you being so infinitely wiser than so many learned and scientific men of the present day. It is not to be expected that you " " Spare me your sarcasms, my friend," I said, " and give me a little information on this subject. I should really like to know if tables are actually moved, and spirits felt by these mediums. Believe me, I am open to conviction, though I do hope, not to imposi-

" Imposition 1 Can one doubt the evidence of his own senses ? Go, and be satisfied. Go to one of Mrs. Bunny's Saturdaynight seances, a*hd open your eyes' and ears. Didn't I see and hear for myself until I was convinced, and am I not now a disciple of the new faith — in spirits ?" "But about the tables? Is it true that they can make them waltz up-stairs by the simple laying on of hands ? Is it " " Up-stairs I" repeated he, with withering sarcasm. # " I myself can attest solemnly that, under the influence of our gifted and honoured medium, a table was transported from that spot to that, a distance of a couple of hundred yards, through the mediumship of Mrs. Bunny to the residence of Mrs. Bunny, where it remained for days." , "And," I 'asked meekly; "what was the nature of the movement, did it slide or roll?" ' t ' " You are disrespectful sir, and in the name of the believers in the city, I resent it, Sir, it neither slid nor rolled, it went Sir, went. ' Excuse me, my feelings of indignation, and, and, my school awaits me." Now, you may believe me that I felt thoroughly ashamed of myself, as \ saw the effect of my infidelity on my friend Prosody, and I watched the nice little black pigs turning up threes my only ' three, tulip roots, as I reproached myself. "Who am I?/' I' solilo-i ?uised, " that I should doubt 1 accredited facts? will go to Mrs. Bunny's and beconyerted, if lean,. Mrs. Bunny does, not l«ok ethereal, not aVall, but then 'soul, hot body, is the most lovely and admirable." ' J ' "'" j t Whaf'kou'rhad[ \o d 6 with one of; Mrs... Bunny's 'domestic h'ahits, I cannot say, bat you jm'ay judge' 'for yourselves: Judging from the 'inveterate hatred' and firm antipathy she displayed' toward hens straying into f jiejr gar£ "den,' l came td the conclusion that these "leathered friends" were hot tolerated in the , "spirit' world.' Scarcely a day r passed without her chasing some unfortunate of. 'the kind yxa and down. her attempts at ; a garden, here mfcking 1 a % drive'£Vi£;am4hg 'a, 'ro^of ragged ' cabbages; and there pinning it to ffle ground in a rank r^ed of mKfshihallpws,. and then wririgßg^iti neck' as' wie hurled Ji'oW the 1 ' 'fenp.WM^tfe S acrW'"4e&e'sne ! ' 1 6f th f e" J prec'i6uß i %u«fk > for winter' stQi"ftgei'l|)b|ri'my 5 WtndMkm Imwm^Si^Tlai^y tv-

lip roots to dry, feeling deeply conscious of the table meanwhile, as also of the marvellous powers of Mrs. Bunny. It was a sorubbylookuig table, and shaky ; its legs were decidedly unsound, and its joints afflicted with a creaking distemper ; out it was an old ' friend, and had found favour in my eyes,'and, — alas, that I should have to add — in those of the spirits also. It was nine on Saturday night, when Mr. Prosody ushered me into the presence of the priestess of the mysterious rites. She was seated on a bench, with her, back against the wall, andibefore her was a table. Her attitude was careless, to say, the least of it, and. her air was self-absorbed. Her eye was fixed on vacancy, and reflected it, her nose was red, and her dress was, so to speak, sloppy. Those were my first impressions. I was surprised to find her alone, although a subdued sound of scuffling and whimpering in the next room, gave evidence of the presence of the medium's lovely progeny, and I was also surprised to see on the face of Prosody, unmistakeable signs of dismay. "We had better retire," he whispered tremulously, " she is in one of her partial trances." Suddenly Mrs. Bunny fixed her fishy,, yes fishy, eyes on Prosody, and struggled to an upright sitting posture, " I'll scrunch her," she cried, " I'm as good as she is, and I'll wear my hair in rolls !" "Clairvoyance," muttered Prosody, deprecatingly. " I'm as good as she is, any day. I'll let 'em see I Fifteen yards '11 make it, and I'll have a panier with four frills to it I Where's the billy?" Now, I did .not know what connection there might be between the billy and a further communication from the World of Spirits, and was at a loss to understand that which we had already received. I was glad, therefore, to see the medium draw the billy from under the table, and unsteadily raise it to her lips. It doubtless contained nectar from the Spirit World, and was so powerful that it immediately produced another communication, this time to my believing friend direct. "Go home, you old fool, Prosody 1 What would Bunny say if he caught you here ? hiccup 1" And Prosody went home. He was doubtless busy with his classes, for I did not see him for a long time after. Two days and nights after that seance, my old table was moved. It was hard to part with it, but my entire conversion was the result. Some days after, one o£ its dear old creaking limbs found its way into my flower-pot in pursuit of an escaped fowl, but I shed no tears. Personal enquiry had convinced me, that a search warrant would cost more than the value of the table.