The particulars, he states, he had from Mrs. Fox, and her two daughters, Margaret and Kate, and son, David. The attention of the family had been attracted by strange noises which finally assumed the form of raps, or muffled footfalls, and became very annoying. Chairs were Page 19 sometimes moved from their places, and this was once also the case with the dining-room table. Heard occasionally during February, the disturbance so increased during the latter part of March, as seriously to break the nightly repose of the family. But as these annoyances occurred only in the nighttime, all the family hoped that soon, by some means, the mystery would be cleared away. They did not abandon this hope till Friday, the 31st of March, 1848. Wearied by a succession of sleepless nights, the family retired early, hoping for a respite from the disturbances that had harassed them. In this they were doomed to especial disappointment. We can do no better than to let Mr. Owen continue the narrative, in his own words: -- "The parents had removed the children's beds into their bedroom, and strictly enjoined them not to talk of noises, even if they heard them.
But scarcely had the mother seen them safely in bed, and was retiring to rest herself, when the children cried out, 'Here they are again!' The mother chided them, and lay down. Thereupon the noises became louder and mere startling. The children sat up in bed. Mrs. Fox called her husband. The night being windy, it was suggested to him that it might be the rattling of the sashes. He tried several to see if they were loose. Kate, the younger girl, happened to remark that as often as her father shook a window-sash, the noises seemed to reply. Being a lively child, and in a measure accustomed to what was going on, she turned to where the noise was, snapped her fingers, and called out, 'Here, old Splitfoot, do as I do!' The knocking instantly responded.
" That was the very commencement. Who can tell where the end will be?
"I do not mean that it was Kate Fox, who thus, in childish jest, first discovered that these mysterious sounds Page 20 seemed instinct with intelligence. Mr. Mompesson, two hundred years ago, had already observed a similar phenomenon. Glanvil had verified it. So had Wesley, and his children. So we have seen, and others. But in all these cases the matter rested there and the observation was not prosecuted further. As, previous to the invention of the steam engine, sundry observers had trodden the very threshold of the discovery and there stopped, so in this case, where the royal chaplain, disciple though he was of the inductive philosophy, and where the founder of Methodism, admitting, as he did, the probabilities of ultramundane interference, were both at fault, a Yankee girl, but nine years old, following up more in sport than in earnest, a chance observation, became the instigator of a movement which, whatever its true character, has had its influence throughout the civilized world.
The spark had been ignited,-- once at least two centuries ago; but it had died each time without effect. It kindled no flame till the middle of the nineteenth century.
"And yet how trifling the step from the observation at Tedworth to the discovery at Hydesville! Mr. Mompesson, in bed with his little daughter (about Kate's age), whom the sound seemed chiefly to follow, 'observed that it would exactly answer. in drumming, anything that was beaten or called for.' But his curiosity led him no further.
"Not so Kate Fox. She tried, by silently bringing together her thumb and forefinger; whether she could obtain a response. Yes I It could see, then, as well as hear. She called her mother. 'Only look, mother,'
she said, bringing together again her finger and thumb, as before. And as often as she repeated the noiseless motion, just as often responded the raps.
"This at once arrested her mother's attention. 'Count ten,' she said, addressing the noise. Ten strokes, distinctly given I 'How old is my daughter Margaret?' Twelve strokes. 'And Kate?' Nine. 'What can all this mean?'
was Mrs. Fox's thought. Who was answering her? Was it only some mysterious echo of her own thought? But the next question which she put seemed to refute the idea. 'How many children have I? ' she asked aloud. Seven strokes.
'Ah!' she thought, 'it can blunder sometimes.' Page 21 And then aloud, 'Try again.' Still the number of raps was seven.
Of a sudden a thought crossed Mrs. Fox's mind. 'Are they all alive?' she asked. Silence for answer. 'How many are living?' Six strokes. 'How many are dead?' A single stroke. She had lost a child.
"Then she asked, 'Are you a man?' No answer. 'Are you a spirit?' It rapped. 'May my neighbors hear, if I call them?' It rapped again.
"Thereupon she asked her husband to call her neighbor, a Mrs. Redfield, who came in laughing. But her cheer was soon changed. The answers to her inquiries were as prompt and pertinent, as they had been to those of Mrs.
