MYSTIC APPARITIONS,
The Weird and Puzzling Enigma
of Ghostly Visions.
MESSAGES FROM THE DEAD.
"The "Ghost" That Appears to Warn a
Living Person of Impending Misfor
tune—The Strange Case of a Boston
Man and His Deceased Sister.
In the "Itiddle of Personality" the
liuthor, H. Addingtou Bruce, discuss
ing the proposition that human per
sonality persists beyond the grave,
cites a number of instances of appari
tions that were closely investigated by
the Society For Psychical Research
and says:
In order to appreciate the nature of
the evidence accumulated, let us
glance at a few typical instances, each
drawn from the society's records and
thus sufficiently authenticated to merit
serious consideration. We may begin
with an oid l'ashioned "ghost" story of
the sjiiii;.:ci* *oir. In this instance the
percSi'k-::a M/. J.. was a personal
acqtiMintance of F. W. 11. Myers, who
obtained a lirst hand account of the
experience. In ISSO it appears Mr.
Q., 11K.* librarian of X. library, died,
and Mr. J. was appointed his succes
sor. Mr. J. had not known Mr. Q„ nor
had he to his knowledge seen any
portrait of him when in 1884, or four
years after his death, he made the old
iibrarian's acquaintance under these
•circumstances:
"I was sitting alone in the library
■one evening late in March, 1884, fin
ishing some work after hours, when it
suddenly occurred to me that I should
miss the last train to H., where I was
then living, If I did not make haste.
I gathered up some books in one hand,
took the lamp in the other and pre
pared to leave the librarian's room,
which communicated by a passage
with the main room of the library. As
my lamp illumined the passage I saw
apparently at the end of it a man's
face. I instantly thought a thief had
got into the library. I turned back
into my room, put down the books and
took a revolver from the safe, and,
holding the lamp cautiously behind
me, I made my way along the passage
into the main room. Here I saw no
one, but the room was large and in
cumbered with bookcases.
"I called out loudly to the intruder
to show himself several times more
-with the hope of attracting a passing j
policeman than of drawing the in- j
truder. Then I saw a face looking ,
round one of the bookcases. I say !
round, but it had an odd appearance,
as if the body were in the bookcase, as
the face came so closely to the edge
and I could see no body. The face was
pallid and hairless and the orbits of
the eyes were very deep. I advanced
toward it, and as I did so I saw an old
man with high shoulders seem to ro
tate out of the end of the bookcase
and with his back toward me and with
a shuffling gait walk rather quickly
from the bookcase to the door of a
small lavatory which opened from the
library and had no other access. I
heard no noise. I followed the man at
once into the lavatory and to my ex
treme surprise found no one there.
Completely mystified, I even looked
into the little cupboard under the
fixed basin. There was nowhere hiding
for a child, and I confess I began to
experience for the first time what nov
elists describe as an 'eerie' feeling. I
left the library and found I had missed
my train.
"Next morning I mentioned what I
had seen to a local clergyman, who on
hearing my description said, 'Why,
that's old Q.!' Soon after I saw a pho
tograph (from a drawing) of Q., and
the resemblance was certainly striking.
Q. had lost all his hair, eyebrows and
all from, I believe, a gunpowder acci
dent. His walk was a peculiar rapid,
high shouldered shuffle. Later inquiry
proved he had died at about the time
of year at which I saw the figure."
This is a capital illustration of the
revenant type of apparition, the
"ghost" that visits a locality with
which it was familiar in life.
Then there is the "ghost" that ap- !
pears to warn a living person of im
pending misfortune. Take the strange
case of Mr. F. G. of Boston, who
writes:
"In 1867 my only sister, a young lady
of eighteen years, died suddenly of
cholera in St. Louis. My attachment
for" her was very strong and the blow
a severe one to me. A year or so after
her death the writer became a com
mercial traveler, and it was in 1876,
while on one of my western trips, that
the event occurred.
"I had 'drummed' the city of St. Jo
seph, Mo., and had gone to my room at
the Pacific House to send in my orders,
which were unusually large ones, so
that I was in a very happy frame of
mind indeed. The hour was high noon,
And the sun was shining cheerfully
into my room. While busily smoking
a cigar and writing; out my orders I
suddenly became conscious that some
one was sitting on my left, with one
arm resting on the table. Quick as a
flash I turned and distinctly saw the
form of my dead sister and for a brief
second or so looked her squarely in the
face, and so sure was I that it was she
that I sprang forward in delight, call
ing her by name, and as I did so the
apparition instantly vanished. Natu
rally I was startled and dumfounded,
almost {doubting my senses; but, the
cigar in my mouth and pen in hand,
with the Ink still moist on my letter, I
satisfied myself I had not been dream
ing and was wide awake.
"Now comes the most remarkable
.confirmation of my statement, which
»
cannot be doubted by those who know
What I state actually occurred. This
visitation or whatever you may call it
BO impressed me that I took the next
train home, and in the presence of my
parents and others I related what had
occurred. My father, a man of rare
good sense and very practical, was in
clined to ridicule me, as he saw how
earnestly I believed what I stated. But
he, too, was amazed when later on I
told them of a bright red line or
Scratch on the right hand side of my
sister's face which I distinctly had
seen. When I mentioned this, my
mother rose, trembling, to her feet and
nearly fainted away, and as soon as
she sufficiently recovered her self pos
session, with tears streaming down
her face, she exclaimed that I had in
deed seen my sister, as no living mor
tal *but herself was aware of that
scratch, which she had accidentally
made while doing some little act of
kindness after my sister's death. She
said she well remembered how pained
she was to think she should have un
intentionally marred the features of
her dead daughter and that unknown
to all how she had carefully obliter
ated all traces of the slight scratch
with the aid of powder, etc., and that
she had never mentioned it to a human
being from that day to this. In proof
neither my father nor any of our fam
ily had detected it and positively were
unaware of the incident, yet I saw the
scratch as bright as if just made."
Whatever the explanation of the ap
parition, it was the means of bringing
the son home to take a long, last fare
well of his mother, fnr she died within
a fortnight of his m:urn, "happy In
her belief she would rejoin her favor
ite daughter In another world."
And now to turn to psychical phe
nomena of another type, the auditory
hallucinations by which knowledge
seems to be conveyed of deaths occur
ring far outside the normal ken of the
percipient. The experience of a Mr.
Wambey is typical. Once when plan
ning a congratulatory letter to a friend
the words: "What! Write to a dead
man? Write to a dead man?" rang in
his ears, and he later found that his
friend had been dead for some days.
Far more bizarre was an incident re
lated to Mr. Myers by a Mrs. Davles.
An acquaintance of hers had changed
her abode unexpectedly, and it was
arranged that Mrs. Davies should re
ceive her mail until she could commu
nicate her new address to her friends
and particularly to her husband, who
was in India. One evening a letter ar
rived bearing the India postmark,
and Mrs. Davies placed it on the chim
ney piece, intending to ask her brother
to hand it next day to the addressee. ,
Suddenly she became aware of a
strange ticking sound that seemed to
proceed from the letter itself. Her
brother, too, heard it, and, yielding to
superstition, they imagined that the
sound meant: "Important! To be de
livered at once!" The brother there
upon put on his hat and carried the
letter to their friend, who found it to
be a communication from an unknown
correspondent, eomo eorvant or com
panion, notifying her of her husband's
death.
Taken singly, such incidents as the
above are not without impressiveness.
Considered in the aggregate and as
massed by the thousand with corrob
orative data carefully preserved in the
society's archives, they may well give
one pause. •
Custer and Ramseur.
In General Morris SchafiTs reminis
cences, "The Spirit of Old West
Point," there is an incident that goes
to show that not even the first bitter
ness of the struggle between the north
and the south could put out altogether
the fires of friendship. It was the
fate of Stephen D. Ramseur of North
Carolina to fall In the Confederate
service. His last hours had a close
connection with West Point, where he
had been enrolled as a cadet. When
In the darkness after the battle of Ce
dar Creek the Union cavalry charged
the broken and fleeing remnants of a
division of Early's corps, Custer, who
was In the midst, heard one of his
troopers who had seized the horses ask
the driver whom he had in his ambu
lance.
"Do not tell him," commanded a
weak, husky voice.
Whereupon Custer, who recognized
the voice as one he had so often heard
at West Point, exclaimed:
"Is that you, Ramseur?"
Custer had him taken to Sheridan's
headquarters, where his old friends,
Merritt, Custer and the gallant Pen
nington, gathered around him and
showed him every tenderness to the
last. He died about 10 o'clock the next
day.
Bunsen's Pocketful of Orders.
Professor Bunsen thought more
highly of his scientific discoveries than
he did of the many orders and other
tokens of honor that were showered on
him during his long life. He was apt
to forget to put on his crosses and rib
bons when invited to official ceremo
nies, and his housekeeper tried to re
mind him of his duty by putting his
various orders in the pocket of his
dress suit trousers. On one occasion
he was invited with the other Heidel
berg professors to dine with a Baden
prince. He entered the room late,
after the guests had assembled, and
one of his colleagues turned to him
and said:
"Excuse me, Herr Geheimrath, but
what have you done with your or
ders?"
Bunsen was taken aback. He thought
for a moment, and then plunging his
for a moment, and then, plunging his
ed out a fist full of stars and crosses.
As soon as they recovered from their
astonishment every one began to
laugh, but Bunsen said good natured
ly, 4i Oh, I have a lot more," and pulled
another Handful out of the right hand
pocket of his trousers.
The Rocky Mount Record, Thursda April 2,  8
A PRONOUN WE LACK
One of the Grammatical Difficul
ties of Our Language.
A RATHER PRETTY PROBLEM.
And One, by the Way, Whose Satis
factory Solution Probably Never
Will Be Found-—Phrases That Illus
trate the Difficult Point at Issue.
We have a nuyhber of words and
phrases in our tongue which require
the employment of a pronoun that
' 7 ocs not exist. As representatives of
is class can be taken each and every,
with the combination into which they
enter. The peculiarity about them is
that as regards form they are singular,
as regards meaning they are plural.
Consequently the construction, accord
ing to sense, is always coming into
•-•onflict with the construction according
to strict grammar. One of these ex
pressions—everybody, for instance
may be used to bring out the point
distinctly. It is desired, for example,
to make a statement to the effect that -
at some specific gathering all persons
present had seen there those whom
they knew well. With the employ
ment of the word Just selected gram
matical difficulties at once arise and
the troubles of the writer begin.
Three ways are open to him in which
he can overcome them after a fashion.
But not one of them answers fully all
the conditions existing. In the first
the masculine form can be made to
represent fcoih itself and the feminine.
Consequently such a sentence as the
following could be framed: There
everybody met his friends. Women
as well as men would be included un
der his. Though never really satisfac
tory, this was once the preferred usage.
For a time it served purpose fairly
well, and it still does so occasionally
and perhaps frequently. But there -
has been for a good while past a dis
tinct dislike to this construction. One
result of the increasingly important
part that the female sex plays in life
and literature is the growth of repug
nance on the part of the feminine ele
ment to have its identity merged In
the masculine. Subconsciousness of
the injustice of it has now passed
over into full consciousness that under
this form of expression its claims are
not really recognized; hence, while wo
men may use it, they do not like it,
and men have come to share largely
in the same feeling.
Another way out of the difficulty
was devised. To satisfy the claims of
both sexes resort was had to two rep
resentative pronouns. The sentence
previously given would accordingly ap
pear In the following shape: There
everybody met his or her friends. But
such a form of expression pleased no
one. It was felt to be formal, to suffer
from that stiffness which Is
sure to manifest itself when rniturai-W
ness of expression is sacrificed to mere
precision of statement. Besides being
objectionable on the score of clumsi
ness it was subject to exception on
other grounds. In words with feminine
terminations, like heiress or heroine,
the fact of sex is indicated, indeed, but
it is not made obtrusive. When, how
ever, we have distinct contrasted
forms, as in "his or her," it is lifted
into an undue and almost aggres
sive prominence, where there is nei
ther desire nor occasion to make it
prominent; hence this particular usage,
while serviceable in certain documents
and acceptable always to the devotees
of strict grammar, is usually detested
by everybody else.
A third way out of the difficulty
there is, and it was long ago taken by
the bolder spirits. This was the con
struction according to the sense. The
plural pronominal forms were used to
correspond to the idea of plurality ex
isting in the singular subject; hence
men said in the sentence quoted: There
everybody met their friends. Exam
ples of this usage can be found abun
dantly in works of high reputation, but
those given here for the purpose of il
lustrating it will be taken from a sin
gle one. This writer is Jane Austen.-
She is chosen not for her eminence,
but for her sex, for as a general rule
highly cultivated women speak and
write the language not only with more
naturalness, but with greater scrupu
lousness and purity, than the corre
sponding class of men. Examples from
their works are in consequence more
convincing. Here are two or three
taken out of many. "It is very un
fair," says Miss Austen in "Emma," "to
judge of anybody's conduct without an
intimate knowledge of their charac
ter." Again in the same work the re
mark is made that "they say every
body is in love once in their lives." In
"Mansfield Park" she observes that
"nobody could command attention when
they spoke." These examples, which
might be multiplied from numerous
other authors, are sufficient to indicate
the attitude of those who adopt the
third course. Every one can see that
the problem is a very pretty one as it
stands and that the interest in It will
never die because no satisfactory solu
tion of It will ever be found-—Thomas
R. Lounsbury, Professor of English,
Yale University, in Harper's Maga
zine.
Difficult Things.
To supply clean aprons for the lapse
of time.
To pick the teeth of the wind.
To cure blisters on the heels of mis
fortune. _ r >-
To wipe the mouth of a tunnel.
To pull the leg of a yachting course.
To break an arm of the sea.
To comb the head of a river.
To feed the hounds of a wagon.
To fit braces on the shoulder of a
mountain.—Chicago News.
To-day we want to talk to
you about "Catarrh cures"
During the past few months we have
been publishing what some of our good
friends have called "heart-to-heart talks"
on patent medicines.
That name suits us all right—"heart
to-heart talks" is just what we have
intended. There can't be anything more
serious to a sick rrian or sick woman
than his ailment and the remedies he or
she takes to cure it.
Our v talks have been "heart-to-heart."
Every word we have printed has been
written in absolute earnestness and sin
cerity, and judging from what our cus
tomers tell us, we have not been talking
in vain. We are convinced that our
frankness has been appreciated, and that
our suggestions have been welcomed—
which naturally encourages us to con
tinue.
To-day, and perhaps for some time to
come, we want to talk about that big
class of remedies known generally as
"catarrh cures."
Broadly speaking these are the patent
medicines that have been the chief tar
gets for the attacks of the "Ladies'
Home Journal," "Collier's Weekly" and
other magazines which are waging such
a lively warfare against patent medicine
abuses.
As we have pointed out in previous
talks, it is not our business to pass judg
ment on the crusade of these well
known, highly-respected publications.
The public alone must be the judge and
jury. Our business, as we see it, is to
carrv in stock a complete line of patent
medicines, and to sell those medicines at
the lowest possible price.
We sell hundreds —yes, thousands of
bottles of so-called "catarrh cures," and
know nothing of their ingredients. The
manufacturers advertise them, the public
demands them; we order them from the
manufacturers,* and sell them at the low
est price. That is absolutely as far as
our knowledge goes. The manufacturer
keeps his formula a secret. It may be
good, or it may not —we don't know, and
we have no means of finding out.
Naturally, we would rather sell a rem
H
MUCU-TONE
There is no guess work with us on Rexall
Mucu-Tone. We know what it is made of.
Not only do we kr-ow, but. we will give you a
copy of the formula.
There is no secret about any Rexall remedy
—we make them —one thousand of us leading
druggists all over America in our great co
operative laboratories at Boston, Mass. we
own the laboratories, and everything in them, and
we operate them just as skillfully as our com
bined brains and money will let us, and just as
honestly as honest men know how.
The Ingredients of Mucu-Tone
The chief ingredients of Mucu-Tone are Gen
tian, Cubebs, Cascars Sagrada, Glycerine, and
Sarsaparilla.
Gentian is recognized in medicine as one of the
greatest tonics ever discovered. It is the founda
tion on which Mucu-Tone is built. Gentian com
bines in high degree the tonic powers of all the
known "bitters," with none of the disadvantages
applying to them.
Cubebs have long been recognized as a spe
cific in the treatment of all catarrhal conditions.
Its action is prompt ar.d its benefits almost inva
riable. In whatever part of the body the inflamed
or diseased condition of the mucous membrane
exists, the use of Cubebs has been recommended
by the best physicians for many generations.
Cascara Sagrada is especially introduced for
its necessary laxative properties.
The combination of these with Glycerine and
Sarsaparilla makes Mucu : Tone a remedy that at
tacks catarrh from every point, gradually restores
and rebuilds the diseased tissues to their former
health and strength, promotes djeestion and cre
ates a normal appetite. Large trial bottle, 50c.
For Sole Only at This Store.
Subscribe to The Record.
SI.OO Per Year.
J. M. GRIFFIN, Druggist
The ffisxatE Store
edy that we know is right—that we can
back up with all our reputation for hon
esty and square-dealing.
And wouldn't you rather buy that kind
of a remedy? Wouldn't you rather hold
us responsible than to hold no one
responsible? We are right here,, right
where you can get at us every day in the
week, right where one false move on our
part will bring upon us your condem
nation, the loss of your friendship, your
patronage, your influence. Can we afford
to tell you anything that you will leani
later is not absolutely true?
Are you not safer in taking our word
for the merits of an article, than you are
to rely on the printed statement of a pa
tent medicine manufacturer, whom you
never even saw and probably never will?
Common sense most emphatically tells
you that we cannot afford to depart one
hair's breadth from the rigid truth.
None of us can deny that there is sucli
a disease known as "catarili." Those
who have it, or who have had it, know
that it is one of the hardest diseases to
cure. »
Perhaps the worst thing about catarrli
is its prevalence. Almost everyone—
especially in a climate like ours—has
catarrh in some form or another. That is
what has made the "catarrh cure" busi
ness so profitable. There are so many
thousands of cases of the disease and it is
so hard to cure, that the patent medicine
manufacturers have reaped a harvest in
preparing remedies that appeal to this
large class of sufferers.
One of the most serious things about
catarrh is that it breaks down the sys
tem, so that the sufferer becomes a prey
to other diseases. This fact has led the
proprietors of so many "catarrh cures"
to advertise their remedies as a specific
for almost every disease under the sun.
We have ONE catarrh cure that we
are willing to say to you; "We know
this is all right. Take it home and use-it
with the full assurance that if it does not
cure you, you can bring it back to us
and we will promptly refund your
money." That catarrh cure is
How can you know whether or
not you have catarrh?
Well, here are the symptoms that usually in
dicate its presence. Check them over, and if
you have any of them, try a bottle of Rexall
Mucu-Tone.
CATARRH *OF THE NOSE:—Chilliness—
feverishness—passages obstructed—watery dis
charge and latter thick, yellow and tenacious
discharge into the throat—headache—foul
breath —weak and watery eyes—and sometimes
loss of memory.
CATARRH OF THE THROAT: —Irritation —
sensation of heat and dryness—constant hawk
ing—sore throat—and difficult to breathe.
CATARRH OF THE STOMACH:—Dizziness
emaciation hollow cheeks sleeplessness
—bad dreams —despondent—dull, grinding or
sharp, short pains in side and stomach—nau
sea after eating—shortness of breath —and bit
ter fluid rising in throat.
CATARRH OF THE INTESTINES:—DuII,
grinding pain in bowels —diarrhoea—emaciation
—nervousness —and sleeplessness. *
CATARRH OF THE LIVER AND KID
NEYS: —Skin drawn and yellow—black specks
floating on field of vision—weak and dizzy—
dull pain in small of back—and constant desire
to urinate.
CATARRH OF THE BLADDER:—Sharp
pains in the lower abdomen and a loss of con
trol over urine—constant desire to urinate —
burning sensation when urinating—face drawn
and palid—eyes dull—palms of hands and feet
dnmn p.nd cbmmv.
PELVIC CATARRH:—Constant leucorrhoea—
dragging pain in the back and hips, abdomen
and thighs—stomach disturbances—skin erup
tions—sick headache— female irregularities—
and constipation,