ifference
with them, and if either of us attempted to remonstrate against such
violence, they would instantly give _the remonstrant_ the benefit of a
ball."

Mrs. Kane remembers with tolerable distinctness the antics that
distinguished this sojourn of her mother, herself and her sisters in the
Rochester house. She and Katie did indulge in wild larks in the sleeping
rooms of the family at all hours of the night. The "whispering" and
"giggling," the "scuffling" and "groaning," and the tragic mimicry were
natural to childish daredevils like themselves, and one can well
understand how, with the attendant "rappings," the showers of slippers
hurled from the "green room," the shaking of Calvin's bed and the
"banging" of him on the head, these things may have made the desired
impression upon both him and the mother. Mrs. Kane says that this is the
true and only explanation of it all, and that in comparatively recent
years, at seances in Adelphi Hall, New York, she has done the most
audacious things, similar in character to these, under cover of
semi-darkness, and has not been detected, simply because nearly all of
those who were present were believers and were not too curious.

There is another "evidence" given by Ann Leah which is too pitiably
ridiculous to be considered, except as a subject of laughter.

"Often at meal-time," she says, "the table would be gradually agitated,
and Calvin in particular, [alas, poor Calvin!] would be more disturbed
than the rest of us. Once he arose from his chair and reached across the
table for a heavy pitcher of water, when _the chair was instantly removed
and he sat down on the floor, spilling the water all over himself_!"

Mrs. Kane's sole comment upon this is: "Of course, we slily did it, as we
did many other hoydenish tricks.

"We also used to twitch mother's cap off and gently jerk the comb out of
her hair, just to tease her. Leah says that these things were done by the
spirits! How silly to address such a puerile pretense to any one gifted
with common sense!"

As a companion picture to what has gone before, let the reader also
engrave this "miraculous" scene upon the retina of his imagination:

"We had stored our winter provisions in the cellar. Among them were
several barrels of apples, potatoes, turnips, etc. From this cellar came
the apples, potatoes and turnips flying across our room, hitting all in
precisely the same place every time. It will now be remembered that these
art