The Spirit and the heirs.

From The Hague, in Holland, one of our subscribers communicates to us the following fact, which occurred in a circle of friends who occupied themselves with spiritist manifestations. This proves once more — he says — and without any possible dispute, the existence of an intelligent and invisible element, acting individually and directly upon us.

The Spirits announce themselves by the movement of heavy tables and by the raps they strike. They are asked their names: the deceased Mr. M. and Mrs. G., very wealthy during their existence; the husband, from whom the fortune came, having no children, disinherited his close relatives in favor of his wife's family, she having died a short time before him. Among the nine persons present at the session were two disinherited ladies, as well as the husband of one of them.

Mr. G. had always been a poor devil and the most humble servant of his wife. After her death, his family installed itself in his house to care for him. The will was made with the certificate of a physician, declaring that the dying man enjoyed the fullness of his mental faculties.

The husband of the disinherited lady, whom we shall designate by the initial R…, took the floor in these terms: "How do you dare present yourselves here after the scandalous will you made?" Then, growing more and more heated, he ended by hurling insults at him. The table then gave a leap and threw the lamp forcefully at the head of the interlocutor. He begged their pardon for that first impulse of anger, and the latter asked them what they had come to do there. — A. We have come to render an account of the reasons for our conduct. (The answers were given by means of raps indicating the letters of the alphabet).

Knowing the husband's ineptitude, Mr. R. said to him brusquely that he ought to withdraw and that he would listen only to the wife.

Then her Spirit said that Mrs. R… and her sister were quite rich and could very well do without their share of the inheritance; that some were wicked and that others, finally, ought to undergo this trial; that for such reasons that fortune better suited her own family. Mr. M. was not satisfied with these explanations and manifested his anger in injurious reprimands. The table then shook violently, reared up, struck strong raps on the floor, and once more threw the lamp at Mr. R… After calming down, the Spirit tried to convince them that, since his death, he had been informed that the will had been dictated by a superior Spirit. Mr. R… and his ladies, no longer wishing to pursue a useless dispute, offered him sincere pardon. Soon the table rose toward Mr. R…'s side and descended gently against his chest, as if it wished to embrace him; the two ladies received the same gesture of gratitude. The table had a very pronounced vibration. With spirits calmed, the Spirit lamented the present heiress, saying that she would end by becoming mad. Mr. R. also reproached him, but affectionately, for not having done good during his life, when he possessed so great a fortune, adding that she was lamented by no one. "Yes," answered the Spirit, "there is a poor widow who lives on … street; she still thinks of me often, because I sometimes gave her food, clothing, and warmth."

The Spirit not having given the name of this poor woman, one of those present went in search of her and found her at the address indicated. And, what is no less worthy of note is that, after the death of Mrs. G…, the widow had changed her residence. It is this latter one that was indicated by the Spirit.