“Conservatism, what crimes of doubt and unbelief are committed in thy name!� responded the other.
By this time people were beginning to file into the room, until the chairs were filled.
Our friends sat down near the door, where the hard-coal fire cast a dim light into the room, and directly opposite the cabinet. No other light was left in the room after the entrance of the medium.
This person, who was tall and large-framed, and who weighed apparently about two hundred and fifty pounds, walked over to the tete and sat down.
“I will sit here for a time, and perhaps we may have a manifestation before I am under control,� she said. “Will anybody please sing.�
The spectators began to sing religious hymns, and almost immediately, to Mrs. Wylie’s astonishment, the curtains parted by invisible power and a little figure of light, with indistinguishable features, stepped forth.
“Good-evening, everybody. How do you do?� came from it in a thin, piping voice.
Some of those present, who had evidently seen the apparition before, addressed it as Starlight, and the vision vanished.
The medium then arose and stepped into the cabinet. No sooner had she done so than three or four men’s voices were heard speaking together. One, a Jack Tar, with nautical phrases; another, the guttural voice of the American Indian, a third that of an educated citizen.
Some in the audience seemed to recognize and greet the voices.