Under the guise of fortune-telling and clairvoyance the most nefarious atrocities are daily enacted, not only in the larger cities, but in the villages and towns even, throughout the country. In this chapter I propose to ventilate them in a manner never before attempted, and the exposÉ may be relied upon as correct in every particular.

“Why,” exclaimed a friend, “I thought fortune-telling one of the follies of the past, and that there was little or none of it practised at the present.”

Far from it. Very few, comparatively, who practise the black art come out under the ancient name of fortune-tellers; but there are thousands of ignorant, characterless wretches, in our enlightened day and generation, who pretend to tell fortunes, if not under the open title above, as astrologers, seers, clairvoyants, or spiritualists, etc. There are some clairvoyants of whom we shall treat under the head of “Mind and Matter.”

The Bible fortune-tellers practised their lesser deceptions under the various titles of “wise men,” “soothsayers,” the former being acknowledged as the more legitimate by the Jews, and the latter mere heathenish prognosticators, without divine authority, as thus: Is. ii. 6. “Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers, like the Philistines.”

8. “Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.”

There were also wizards, astrologers, “star-gazers” (Is. xlvii. 13), spiritualists (1 Sam. xxviii. 3), magicians, sorcerers, and “the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” Nahum iii. 4.

All of these exist at the present day, carrying on the same sort of vile deceptions and heinous crimes, to the “selling of families and nations,” and souls, in spite of law or gospel. Even as those of nearly six thousand years ago were patronized by the great, the kings, and queens, and nobles of the earth, so are the fortune-tellers, under the more refined titles, visited by governors, representatives, and ladies and gentlemen of rank, of modern times.

In visiting these pretenders, in order “to worm out the secrets of their trade,” the writer has not only been assured by them in confidence that the above is true, but he has met distinguished characters there, face to face,—the minister of the gospel, the lawyer, the judge, the doctor, and what ought to have been the representative intelligence of the land,—consulting and fellowshiping with ignorant fortune-tellers. “Ignorant?” Yes, out of the scores whom I have seen, there has not been one, male or female, possessing an intelligence above ordinary people in the unprofessional walks of life, while the majority of them were in comparison far below the mediocrity.

If ignorance alone patronized ignorance, like a family intermarrying, the stock would eventually dwindle into nothingness, and entirely die out.

Before the “captivity” the Jews had their wise men, and on their exodus they reported the existence of the magicians or magi of Egypt.

It seems that nearly everybody, and particularly the Egyptians, regarded Moses and Aaron as but magicians in those days; and the magi of Pharaoh’s household—for all kings and rulers of ancient times and countries had their fortune-tellers about them—had a little “tilt” with Moses and Aaron, commencing with the changing of the rods into snakes. The Egyptian magicians did very well at the snake “trick,” as the modern magician calls it, also at producing frogs, and such like reptiles; but they were puzzled in the vermin business, and the boils troubled them, and they then gave up, and acknowledged that there was a power beyond theirs, and that power was with God.

Well, that is not fortune-telling; but this was the class who professed the power of foretelling; and we find them, with women of the familiar spirits, made mention of all through the scriptural writing. Isaiah testifies (chapter xix.) that the charmers, familiar spirits, and wizards ruined Egypt as a nation. What advantage were they ever to King Saul, the grass-eating king with the long name, or any other individuals, in their perplexities?

They rather stood in the light of individuals, nations, and the cause of Heaven. Then Jesus and the apostles had them to meet and overcome—for their power had become very great, even to the publication of books to promulgate their doctrines; for we read in Acts xix. 19, that there were brought forth at Ephesus, at one time, these books, to the amount of fifty thousand pieces of silver, or about twenty-six thousand five hundred dollars’ worth, and burned in the public square or synagogue.

There are some instances recorded in the Bible, and by Josephus, where the Jews professed to foretell events. The curious case of Barjesus, at Paphos, who, for a time, hindered Sergius, the deputy of the country, from embracing Christianity, is cited in illustration of the injury that false prophets are to all advancement. Paul testifies to that fact in the following words: “O, full of all subtlety, and all mischief, child of the devil, enemy to all righteousness,” etc.

Arabian Fortune-teller.

The Arabians, from time immemorial, have been implicit believers in fortune-telling, as well as believers in the efficacy of charms and all other mystic arts. “No species of knowledge is more highly venerated by them than that of the occult sciences, which affords maintenance to a vast number of quacks and impudent pretenders.” The science of “Isen Allah” enables the possessor to discern what is passing in his absence, to expel evil spirits, and cure malignant diseases. Others claim to control the winds and the weather, calm tempests, and to say their prayers in person at Mecca, without stirring from their own abodes hundreds of miles away!

The “Sinia” is what is better known to us as jugglery and feats of illusion.

The “Ramle” is the more proper fortune-telling, and is believed in and practised by people of all ranks, male and female, and by the physicians.

The Eastern Prince.

Fortune-telling is practised in all Eastern countries, to a great extent, to the present day. Some pretend to foretell events by the stars and planets, some by charms, cards, the palm of the hand, or a lock of hair; the latter is the most vulgar mode, and commonly followed by the gypsies.

When the fortress of Ismail was besieged, in 1790, by the Russians, Prince Potemkin, the commanding officer, began to grow impatient, after nearly two months’ resistance, though he was surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of an Eastern prince—by courtiers and beautiful women, who employed the most exciting and voluptuous means to engage his attention. Madame De Witt, one of the females, pretended to read the decrees of fate by cards, and foretold that the prince would only take the place at the expiration of three more weeks.

“Ah,” exclaimed the prince, with a smile, “I have a method of divination far more infallible, as you shall see;” and he immediately despatched orders to Suwarof to take Ismail within three days. The brave but barbarous hero obeyed the order to the very letter.

The Seer’s Wife.

When Richmond, afterwards Henry VII., landed at Milford-Haven, on his memorable march to his successful encounter with Richard III., then at Bosworth Field, he consulted a celebrated Welsh seer, who dwelt in magnificent style at a place called Matha Farm. To the duke’s question as to whether he should succeed or not, the wily seer, whose name was Davyd Lloyd, requested a little time in which to consider so important a query.

As Richmond lodged that night with his friend Davyd, he gave him till the following morning to make up his decision, when the seer assured Richmond that he “would succeed gloriously.”

For this wonderful and timely information Lloyd received immense rewards at the hand of his grateful prince when he became King Henry VII.Now for the secret of his success: During the time granted for the answer, Davyd, in great perplexity and trepidation, consulted his wife, instead of the heavens, for an answer. See the wisdom of the reply.

“There can be no difficulty about an answer. Tell him he will certainly succeed. Then, if he does, you will receive honors and rewards; and if he fails, depend on’t he will never come here to punish you.”

Dee, the Astrologer.

One of the most remarkable and successful fortune-tellers known to English history was John Dee, who was born in London, 1527, and died in 1608. A biographer says, “He was an English divine and astrologer of great learning, celebrated in the history and science of necromancy, chancellor of St. Paul’s, and warden of Manchester College, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He was also author of several published works on the subject of astrology, revelations of spirits, etc., which books are preserved in the Cottonian library and elsewhere.”

Dee enjoyed for a long time the confidence and patronage of Elizabeth. He then resided in an elegant house at Mortlake, which was still standing in 1830, and was used for a female boarding school. “In two hundred years it necessarily had undergone some repairs and alterations; yet portions of it still exhibited the architecture of the sixteenth century.

“From the front windows might be seen the doctor’s garden, still attached to the house, down the central path of which the queen used to walk from her carriage from the Shan road to consult the wily conjurer on affairs of love and war.

“He was one of the few men of science who made use of his knowledge to induce the vulgar to believe him a conjurer, and one possessing the power to converse with spirits. Lilly’s memoirs recorded many of his impostures, and at one time the public mind was much agitated by his extravagances. The mob more than once destroyed his house (before residing at Mortlake) for being too familiar with their devil. He pretended to see spirits in a stone, which is still preserved with his books and papers.... In his spiritual visions Dee had a confederate in one Kelley, who, of course, confirmed all his master’s oracles. Both, however, in spite of their spiritual friends, died miserably—Kelley by leaping from a window and breaking his neck, and Dee in great poverty and wretchedness. The remains of the impostor lie in Mortlake Church, without any memorial.”

He unfortunately had survived his royal patroness.

Queen Mary had had Dee imprisoned for practising by enchantment against her life; but her successor released him, and required him to name a lucky day for her coronation.

“In view of this fact,” asks the author of ‘A Morning’s Walk from London to Kew,’ “is it to be wondered at that a mere man, like tens of thousands of other fanatics, persuaded himself that he was possessed of supernatural powers?”

Another Impostor.—The Great Fire.

William Lilly followed in the wake of, and was even a more successful impostor than the Reverend Dee. He was first known in London as a book-keeper, whose master, dying, gave him the opportunity of marrying his widow and her snug little fortune of one thousand pounds. The wife died in a few years, and Lilly set up as an astrologer and fortune-teller.

His first great attempt at a public demonstration of his art was about 1630, which was to discover certain treasures which he claimed were buried in the cloister of Westminster Abbey. Lilly had studied astronomy with a Welsh clergyman, and doubtless may have been sufficiently “weather-wise” to anticipate a storm; but however that might have been, on the night of the attempt, there came up a most terrific storm of wind, rain, thunder and lightning, which threatened to bury the actors beneath the ruins of the abbey, and his companions fled, leaving Lilly master of the situation. He unblushingly declared that he himself allayed the “storm spirit,” and “attributed the failure to the lack of faith and want of better knowledge in his companions.”

“In 1634 Lilly ventured a second marriage, with another woman of property, which was unfortunate as a commercial speculation, for the bride proved extravagant beyond her dowry and Lilly’s income. In 1644 he published his first almanac, which he continued thirty-six years. In 1648 he therein predicted the “great fire” of London, which immortalized his name. While Lilly was known as a cheat, and was ridiculed for his absurdities, he received the credit for as lucky a guess as ever blessed the fortunes of a cunning rogue.

“In the year 1656,” said his prediction, “the aphelium of Mars, the signification of England, will be in Virgo, which is assuredly the ascendant of the English monarchy, but Aries of the kingdom. When this absis, therefore, of Mars shall appear in Virgo, who shall expect less than a strange catastrophe of human affairs in the commonwealth, monarchy, and kingdom of England?”

He then further stated that it would be “ominous to London, unto her merchants at sea, to her traffique at land, to her poor, to her rich, to all sorts of people inhabiting her or her liberties, by reason of fire and plague!” These he predicted would occur within ten years of that time.

The great plague did occur in London in 1665, and the great fire in 1666! The fire originated by incendiarism in a bakery on Pudding Lane, near the Tower, in a section of the city where the buildings were all constructed of wood with pitched roofs, and also a section near the storehouses for shipping materials, and those of a highly combustible nature. It occurred also at a time when the water-pipes were empty.This fearful visitation destroyed nearly two thirds of the metropolis. Four hundred and thirty-three acres were burned over. Thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine churches, and scores of public buildings were laid in ashes and ruins. There was no estimating the amount of property destroyed, nor the many souls who perished in the relentless, devouring flames.

If this great fire originated at the instigation of Lilly, in order to demonstrate his claims as a foreteller of events, as is believed to be the case by nearly all who were not themselves believers in the occult science, what punishment could be meted out to such a villain commensurate to his heinous crime? Curran says, “There are two kinds of prophets, those who are inspired, and those who prophesy events which they themselves intend to bring about. Upon this occasion, Lilly had the ill luck to be deemed of the latter class.” Elihu Rich says in his biography of Lilly, “It is certain that he was a man of no character. He was a double-dealer and a liar, by his own showing, ... and perhaps as decent a man as a trading prophet could well be, under the circumstances.” Lilly was cited before a committee of the House of Commons, not, as was supposed by many, “that he might discover by the same planetary signs who were the authors of the great fire,” but because of the suspicion that he was already acquainted with them, and privy to the supposed machinations which brought about the catastrophe. At one time, 1648-9, Parliament gave him one hundred pounds a year, and he was courted by royalty and nobility, at home and abroad, from whom he received an immense revenue. He died a natural death, in 1681, “leaving some works of interest in the history of astrology,” which, in connection with the important personages with whom he was associated, and the remarkable events above recorded, have immortalized his name.

Respecting the prediction of the plague, I presume that if any prominent personage should, at any time, predict a great calamity to a great metropolis, to take place “within ten years, more or less,” there necessarily would be something during that time, of a calamitous nature, that might seem to verify their prediction. Besides, we should take into consideration how many predictions are never verified. Dr. Lamb, Dee, Bell, and others prophesied earthquakes to shake up London at various times in 1203, 1598, 1760, etc., which never occurred, to any great extent.

Supposing a great tidal wave should devastate our coast, within ten years even, would not Professor Agassiz be immortalized thereby, although he never predicted it, except in the imaginative and mulish brains of certain individuals, who will have it that he did so predict?

A Raid on Fortune-tellers.

In London, at the present day, it is estimated that nearly two thousand persons, male and female, gain a livelihood under the guise of fortune-telling. Some of them are “seers,” or “astrologers,” “seventh sons,” clairvoyants, etc.

From the London Telegraph of the year 1871 we gather the following description of a few of the most prominent of these, with their arrest and trial, as fortune-telling is there, as elsewhere, proscribed by law:—

“First was arraigned ‘Professor Zendavesta,’ otherwise John Dean Bryant, aged fifty, and described as a ‘botanist.’ He was charged with having told a woman’s fortune, for the not very extravagant sum of thirteen cents. Two married women, it seems, instructed by the police, went to No. 3 Homer Street, Marylebone, and paid sixpence each to a woman, who gave them a bone ticket in return. One might have imagined that it was a spiritualist’s seance, but for the fact that the fee for admittance was sixpence, and not one guinea. Professor Zendavesta shook hands with one of the women, and warmly inquired after her health. She told him she was in trouble about her husband, which was false, and he bade her be of good cheer, and made an appointment to meet her on another day. Subsequently, two constables went to Bryant’s house, and on going into a room on the ground floor, found thirty or forty young women seated there. The ladies began to scream, and there was a rush for the door; while the police, who seemed to labor under the impression that to attend an astrological lecture was as illegal an act as that of being present at a cock-fight or a common gambling-house, stopped several of the women, and made them give their names and addresses. The walls of the apartment were covered with pictures of Life and Death, with the ‘nativities of several royal and illustrious personages, and of Constance Kent.’ It is a wonder that the horoscopes of Heliogabalus and Jack the Painter should have been lacking. Then there was a medicine chest containing bottles and memoranda of nativities; also a ‘magic mirror, with a revolving cylinder,’ showing the figures of men and women, old and young. Of course the collection included a ‘book of fate.’ This was the case against Bryant.

“One Shepherd, alias ‘Professor Cicero,’ was next charged, and it was shown that the same ‘instructed’ women went to his house, paying sixpence for the usual bone ticket. They saw Shepherd separately. When one of them said that she wanted her fortune told, ‘Professor Cicero’ took a yard tape and measured her hand. He gabbled the usual nonsense to her about love, marriage, and good luck, hinting that the price of a complete nativity would be half a crown, and before they left the place he gave them a circular, with their phrenological organs marked. Indeed, the man’s defence was, that he was a professor of phrenology, and not of the black art. A ‘magic mirror’ and a ‘lawyer’s gown’ were, however, found at his house, and the last named item has certainly a very black look. The evidence against the next defendant, William Henry, alias ‘Professor Thalaby,’ and against the fourth and last, Frederick Shipton, alias ‘Professor Baretta,’ did not differ to any great extent from the testimony given against Zendavesta. The solicitor retained for this sage contended that if he had infringed the law, it was likewise violated at the Crystal Palace, where the ‘magic mirror’ was to be seen every day. Mr. Mansfield, however, had only to deal with the case and the culprits before him, and, convicting all the four fortune-tellers, he sent them to the house of correction, there to be kept, each and every one of them, to hard labor for three months.”

The Fortune-tellers of To-day.

Before entering upon the exposÉ of the viler practices of this vile art,—the “selling of families,” and of virginity, and the abominable practices of the procuresses, who carry on their damnable treacheries, particularly in our large cities, at the present day,—I wish to enliven this chapter by one or more amusing instances relative to country fortune-tellers.

Filliky Milliky.—During the summer of 185-, the writer was one of a large party of excursionists to Weymouth’s Point, in Union Bay. There was a large barge full of people, old and young, male and female, besides several sailboat loads, who, on the return in the afternoon, decided to stop at the hut of a fortune-teller called “Filliky Milliky.” This old man, with his equally ignorant wife, professed to tell fortunes by means of a tea-cup. He claimed that he knew of our intended visit, and had set his house in order; but if that house was “in order” that day, deliver us from seeing it when out of order.

There were some one hundred or more of us, and whilst but two could occupy the attention of the “Millikies” at once, we sought other means of whiling away the time. The old man lived near the river side, and at his leisure had picked up a large pile of lath edgings which had floated down from a lath mill on the river.One Captain Joy took it upon himself to form “all the gentlemen who would enlist in so noble a cause” into a “home guard,” and forthwith arming themselves with the aforesaid lath edgings, a company of volunteers was quickly raised, and drawn up in battle array.

I do not recollect the glorious and patriotic speech by which our noble captain fired our “sluggish souls with due enthusiasm for the great cause in which we were about to embark,” but we were put through a course of military tactics, “according to Hardee,” and took up our line of march.

CHARGE, INFANTRY!

There was no Bunker Hill on which to display our valor, but there was another hill, just in rear of the barn nearly, which had not been used in farming purposes that spring, and for this hill we charged at “double-quick.” In this charge—the danger lay in the swamping part of the hill—we unambushed a large flock of hens, chickens, and ducks, from the opposite side.“Charge bayonet!” shouted our noble captain, with great presence of mind.

We charged! The ducks quacked and fled. The hens cackled and ran. The noise was deafening, the chase enthusiastic, and above the dust and din of battle arose the stentorian cry, “Charge bayonet!” The Donnybrook Fair advice of “Wherever there’s a head, hit it,” was followed to the letter, until the last enemy lay dead on the gory field, or had hid so far under the barn that the small boys could not bring them forth. Then orders came to withdraw, and gather up the dead and wounded.

AFTER THE BATTLE.

There was an interesting string of hens, chickens, and ducks brought in and laid at the feet of our great commander, to represent the fowl products of that campaign. The captain’s congratulatory speech was characteristic also of the fowl proceedings, at the close of which harangue he appointed the “orderly a committee of three to wait on the fortune-teller, and present him with the spoils of war,” of which his “cups” had given him no previous intimation.

What next? The captain informed us that “as the company was ‘mutual,’ it became necessary, in consideration of the losses, to draw on the stock-holders (gun-stock), as he could see no other ‘policy’ under which to assess those ‘damages.’”

“Filliky Milliky” never carried fowl to a better market.

The “fortunate” ones entertained us, on the barge, with the marvellous revelations that had transpired within the hut. One married lady was assured that she was yet single, but would marry in a six-month. A double-and-twisted old maid was told that her husband was in California. But the most absurd revelation was to a well-known respectable middle-aged lady, who was inclined to believe in the foreseeing powers of old Mother Milliky until now, who was told that she was “soon to receive a letter from her absent husband, also in California for the last five years; that he had become rich, and was soon to return; but that her youngest child, a year old, was inclined to worms, and might not live to see its father return!” All this wonderful information for a ninepence.

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Secret of finding lost Property.—In Hopkinton, Mass., there lived a man named Sheffield, who professed to tell fortunes. The postmaster of that town told my informant that old Sheffield received from seven to ten letters per day from the fools who believed in his foreseeing powers. Once the surveyor, with a large gang of men, was working on the highway, and while they were at dinner an ox chain was stolen. The overseer, happening along before the rest of the men, saw some one unhook the chain, and steal away to a field adjoining, pull up a fence post, and deposit the chain in the hole, replace the post, and return. He “lay low,” and as the thief passed he discovered him to be old Sheffield, the fortune-teller. He kept his own counsel, and, the chain being missed, a committee of three was appointed to visit the seer, to discover by his art where the stolen property was secreted.

Mr. ——, the overseer, and others, called on Sheffield, who got out his mysterious book, and figured away in an impressive manner, and finally chalked out a rough plan of the ground on the floor, and again consulting his book, he solemnly declared that he had discovered the property.

“You follow this line from the spot where the chain was unhooked from the plough, so many rods to this line fence, go along the fence to the seventh post, draw it up, and the chain will be found beneath, in the post-hole.”

The two men were struck dumb with astonishment, for they believed in the mysterious powers of old Sheffield; but the overseer exclaimed, in words more impressive than elegant,—

“Yes, you infernal scoundrel, and you put it there, for I saw you with my own eyes.”

The Magic Mirror Expose.

Not long ago the body of a once beautiful young woman was taken from the Merrimack River, below the factories at L——. She was unknown at the time, and this was all there was given to the public. To the world she was merely—

“One more unfortunate,
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death.”

Now, these are the whole facts of the case. She was the daughter of respectable, Christian parents, in a New England village, where she was highly esteemed as an amiable and virtuous young lady. But the tempter came. Not in the form of a “serpent”—very harmless animals, comparatively!—nor that other old fellow, commonly descried as having clattering hoofs and forked tail, etc.—but in the flesh and semblance of a handsome young man! I think preachers and book-makers paint their devils too hideous and too far off! Leave off the d, and look for your evils nearer home, and rather pleasant to look at, on the sly, and not (at first) very unpleasant to the senses in general. These are the dangerous (d)evils; escape them, and you avoid all!

In the village there were two young men, rivals for the affections of this amiable young lady, and I know not but there were a dozen besides. One held the only advantage over the other of having been a native of the town, while the other was, comparatively, but little known.

Both were sober, industrious, and moral young men.

One day Miss —— was going to the great city, and, for the “sport of the thing,” agreed to visit a celebrated fortune-teller—a clairvoyant!—at the instigation of the young man, who, though least known to her, had recently distanced his rival by his assiduity in pressing his suit before the young lady.

He assured her there could be no impropriety in a young lady’s visiting a fortune-teller. It was only for fun; nobody believed in them, and she could keep her own secret if she chose!

She went in broad daylight. The lady clairvoyant greeted her cordially, begged her to feel quite at her ease, as there was great fortune in store for her. She described her two lovers very minutely, and informed the girl that the one who was to marry her would come to her in a vision, if she would but look into a mirror hanging on the wall before her.

“I see nothing but my own face,” replied the young lady, when she had arisen and looked into the glass.

The woman then turned it half around on the hinges, swung out the frame upon which the mirror was also hung, and, disclosing a plain black glass behind, fastened to the wall, said,—

“Now, if you will step behind the glass, back to the wall, and again look into the mirror, you may possibly see one of the two gentlemen—I cannot say which.”

More amused than alarmed, the lady complied.

THE FORTUNE-TELLER’S MAGIC MIRROR.

“Still I see nothing but myself and a dark glass behind me,” she said.

“Look steadfastly into the glass. Now!” exclaimed the woman.

“O, what—what do I see?” cried the girl. “’Tis he! ’tis Mr. ——”

“Don’t be alarmed; ’tis your future husband. No power can prevent it. It is fate—fate! But it will be a happy consummation,” said the woman, closing the mirror.“Why, I left him at home, surely; and I came by steam. That is a solid wall! Ah, my fate is decreed, I believe!”

Can the reader suppose any sensible person would believe this to be magic? There are thousands who believe it. Miss —— was one. She had seen the spiritual representation of her future husband, and, finding him at home on her return, the same afternoon, she accepted him as her betrothed, and the other was dismissed.

Her ruin followed. In the flight of her lover, her hopes were forever blasted. To hide her shame, she went secretly from home; and to earn her daily bread, she labored in a cotton factory. When she could no longer cover her shame in the world, she went without—into outer darkness! Her parents went down in sorrow to their untimely graves.

Now about the magic mirror. The young man went to the city by the same train with the girl he proposed to ruin. He had previously arranged with the fortune-teller—no unusual thing—to appear in person behind the darkened glass in the next room, and had returned in disguise by the same train with his victim.

The fortune-teller died miserably, and was buried in the Potter’s Field at the expense of the city of Hartford, Conn.

“The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree
I planted; they have torn me,—and I bleed:
I should have known what fruit would spring from such a seed.”
Byron.

Such is one of the results of patronizing fortune-tellers. I have seen this kind of mirror, and the first effect, even on a strong-minded person, seeing but faintly through the darkened glass, over your shoulder, the outlines of a face, and finally, as your eyes get familiar with the darkness, the very features of a person reflected therein, is truly impressive, if not startling.

Young ladies, for your own sakes, for the sake of your friends, and more for Heaven’s sake, keep away from fortune-tellers! You cannot possibly see into futurity, neither can any one, much less the ignorant wretches who profess the dark mysteries, tell for you what joys or sorrows are in store for the future!

Fortune-tellers as Procuresses.

An able reporter to the Boston Daily Post, who devoted a considerable time in May, 1869, to visiting and writing up the fortune-tellers of Boston, which he reported in full in the above paper, and from which I shall copy more fully hereafter, says in conclusion,—

“From what we are able to learn in this direction, we have arrived at the conclusion that there are not less than two hundred men and women in Boston and vicinity who get a good livelihood by this profession, while many do a large and profitable business.

“One lady, who has reduced her charges to the very lowest figure (fifty cents for an interview), candidly informed us that her receipts for the past year had not been less than twelve hundred dollars. Another reported her receipts from ten to fifty dollars a day.

“Of course no reliable estimate, without better statistics, can be made of the magnitude of the business; but it seems not extravagant to estimate their receipts, on an average, at fifteen hundred dollars per annum! or an annual cost to the people of Boston (and vicinity?) for fortune-telling, of the snug little sum of three hundred thousand dollars!”

The price advertised for a sitting in 1870 was from twenty-five cents to one dollar. The Post reporter says of “Mrs. Nellie Richards” (alias Mrs. Nelson), “Not unfrequently her receipts are fifty dollars per day.” Again of one, “She has received fifty dollars for one sitting.” The writer has visited the most celebrated fortune-tellers here, and been told by them that they have received five, ten, and twenty dollars for one sitting. What for? What was the value received? Not from females do they receive these liberal sums; but from middle-aged or old gentlemen and “married men,” as one assured me. It is quite possible for a few sharp fortune-tellers to make fifteen hundred dollars per year at merely telling fools what they may expect from the future. “Middle-aged, old, and married men” do not consult them, as a general rule, for that purpose.

Here is a true history illustrative of my meaning. I gathered the facts from the lady.

On Saturday, the 9th of December, 1871, a young woman, residing with her parents on —— Street, went to the afternoon performance at the Boston Museum. A young man made three unsuccessful attempts to “flirt” with her. The third time she slightly shook her head. Some one, seated immediately behind her, touched her on the shoulder, and said, “Right, young lady; you did right not to notice him.”

“I turned my head,” said my informant, “and just made the least bit of acknowledgment to a fine-looking, elderly gentleman, who, perhaps, was rising fifty. He was an utter stranger to me, and I did not observe him afterwards. On the following week I received a note—a very pretty, delicate letter—from the very gentleman. He explained that he saw me at the performance of “Elfie,” and was much struck by my lady-like appearance, and the rest, begging the privilege of calling on me privately. Now, how could he have obtained my address?”

“Did the other party, the young ‘flirt,’ know it?” I asked.

“No—not probable. I was not so astonished in receiving a letter from a stranger, as I was on learning that the nice-looking old gent at the theatre should have sent it, and that he possessed my address.”

“Why not surprised by receiving the letter from a stranger?” I asked.“Because I visited a fortune-teller, a day or two before, who told me I should receive a letter from a middle-aged man, and that it would be to my interest to cultivate his friendship, as he was a nice old covey, and was rich and liberal.”

“The secret is out! Did the fortune-teller know your address?”

“O, yes; she was an old friend of my mother’s, and asked me nothing for a sitting. And would she possibly betray the daughter of her old friend?”

I have since learned that the young woman was married at the time, which fact the fortune-teller must have known when she advised her to “cultivate the friendship” of an old rouÉ, “as he was rich and liberal.”

Rich and liberal! No doubt! The light was astounding which broke in upon the young lady’s mind from my intimating that the old viper, the fortune-teller (clairvoyant she calls herself), had betrayed her, and doubtless had received ocular demonstration of the “nice old gentleman’s” liberality. Doubtless there was a five, ten, or twenty dollar sitting! and the “friend of her mother” could well afford to give her sittings free!

Reader, if you doubt that such villanies are daily practised in this city, such “betrayals of confidence,” and “selling of families,” put up “five or ten dollars for a sitting,” almost anywhere, and you can have proof. None of your fifty cents or dollar affairs—those are for the females; but “come down” with the V.’s and X.’s; those bring the “great information.”

Let us “parable” a case.

“A nice, middle-aged gentleman” calls on Madam Blank.

“Here, now, my good woman, take this fee. Tell me a good future. Let her have dark hair and eyes. If it is satisfactory, I double the fee.”

“Call again next week, or in three or four days,” is all the conversation necessary to pass for the first “sitting.”Before the expiration of the time, just such a young lady calls. The wily old fortune-teller—too old to sell herself any longer—sells out this, perhaps, unsuspecting lady with black hair and eyes, by mysteriously informing her of a certain nice gentleman whom she will meet at a designated place, at a specified hour, on a particular day! She is very courteous to the girl, asks her nothing for a sitting, has taken a liking to her, worms from her the secrets of her birth, poverty, weaknesses, etc., and, with many smiles and fair promises, bows her out.

She next proceeds to inform the “nice gentleman” that the job is cooked, and the victim is unsuspecting, states where he is to meet her, the signal by which he is to know her; takes the “double fee,” and leaves the rest to the “nice middle-aged (and shrewd) gentleman” to manage for himself.

How many young women in Boston can avouch for the truth of this statement? I doubt not there are very many.

Cui Bono? While I know and confess that there are a few ladies who profess to tell fortunes, find lost property, etc., and who do no greater deception, still, what positive advantage has ever been derived therefrom?

Love Powders and Drops.—French Secret, etc.

I have, by purchase and otherwise, obtained the secret of the compounds of the celebrated “Spanish,” alias “Turkish, Love Powders.” I had previously considered them very harmless preparations. They are quite the reverse. The powder and drops are Spanish flies and blood-root! Sometimes the former are mixed (pulverized) with fine sugar; but the Spanish flies (cantharides), either in powder or liquid, is a very dangerous irritant, a very small dose sometimes producing painful and dangerous strangury. It is far more certain to produce this distressing complaint than to cause any sexual excitement. There may be some harmless powders sold as “love powders,” but I have never seen any. I have a quantity of the former. Any physician or chemist may see it, who is interested. A few drops of it will produce burning and excoriation of the mouth and stomach, and inflammation of the stomach, liver, and kidneys. And this dangerous stuff is sold by ignorant fortune-tellers to any equally ignorant, credulous creature who may send fifty cents therefor.

The French Secret is only for fools. Reader, you have no occasion for it. It would be of no positive earthly benefit, provided I could so construe language as to explain to you what it is, in this connection. Be assured that you cannot circumvent Nature, except at the expense of health. Qui n’a sante n’a rien.

Druggists’ clerks sometimes sell to boys tincture cantharis for evil purposes.

Hasheesh is another dangerous article, sometimes sold at random, and purchased for no good purpose. A few years since, a great excitement was produced by the young ladies of P—— Female Seminary obtaining and using a quantity of hasheesh. “One girl took five grains, another ten grains. The latter was rendered insensible, and with difficulty restored to consciousness, while the former was rushing around under the peculiar hallucinating effect of the drug, and in a manner bordering on indecency.” I obtained this statement, with more that I cannot publish, from a physician who witnessed the scene.

“Does he love me?”

Young girls and children are seduced into visiting fortune-tellers. A Boston fortune-teller, in 1871, took a summer tour through Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. At Manchester, one evening, some one knocked lightly at her reception-room door, when, on her answering the summons, there stood three little girls, of ten or twelve summers.

“Well,” said the lady, “what do you children want?”“We came to have our fortunes told,” replied the youngest, drawing her little form up to represent every half inch of her diminutive dimensions. With a smile of incredulity, the lady said, “It costs fifty cents. Besides, you are too small to have a fortune told.”

“We’ve got the money,” replied the little speaker; “and we’re not too little. Why, I am ten, and Jenny, here, is twelve.”

CHILDREN CONSULTING A FORTUNE-TELLER.

“Well, come in,” replied the fortune-teller. There was a lady present, who also asked what those children came there for.

The girls sat up in some chairs proffered. The younger one was so small that her little feet could not reach the floor, and sitting back in her chair, her little limbs stuck out straight, as such awkward little folks’ will.The woman told them something, to seem to cover the money paid. It was not satisfactory, however, and the ten-year-old one put the following questions:—

“Do you think, ma’am, that the young man who is keeping company with me loves me?”

This was a poser, and the woman laughed outright.

“What did she reply?” I asked, shocked, though amused, by the ridiculousness of the whole affair.

“O, Gad, if I know! I was too busy then to listen.”

The next question was more strange than the first:—

“Will the young gentleman marry me, eventually?”

“Doubtless he will when you become older,” was the reply; “and I advise you to think no more about it till you are much older.”

I obtained this item from the third party present, the husband of the fortune-teller.

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