Mr. Home’s book is entitled Incidents in My Life. We will extract a dozen sample passages from it, as variations on and phrases of harmony in, the general strain for the Trumpet, which we have promised not to repeat.
1. Mr. Home is Supernaturally Nursed
“I cannot remember when first I became subject to the curious phenomena which have now for so long attended me, but my aunt and others have told me that when I was a baby my cradle was frequently rocked, as if some kind guardian spirit was attending me in my slumbers.”
2. Disrespectful Conduct of Mr. Home’s Aunt nevertheless
“In her uncontrollable anger she seized a chair and threw it at me.”
3. Punishment of Mr. Home’s Aunt
“Upon one occasion as the table was being thus moved about of itself, my aunt brought the family Bible, and placing it on the table, said, ‘There, that will soon drive the devils away’; but to her astonishment the table only moved in a more lively manner, as if pleased to bear such a burden.” (We believe this is constantly observed in pulpits and church reading desks, which are invariably lively.) “Seeing this she was greatly incensed, and determined to stop it, she angrily placed her whole weight on the table, and was actually lifted up with it bodily from the floor.”
4. Triumphant Effect of this Discipline on Mr. Home’s Aunt
“And she felt it a duty that I should leave her house, and which I did.”