It would be tedious to relate the fantastic tricks
which have been played by household articles



OF THE GERMANS, ETC. 259

of every kind. An Egyptian vase jumped off
the table suddenly when no soul was near, and
was smashed to pieces. The tea-kettle popped
off the fire into the grate as Mr. Williams had
filled the teapot, which fell off. the chimney-
piece. Candlesticks, after a dance on the table,
flew off, and ornaments from the shelves, and
bonnets and cap-boxes flung about in the
oddest manner. A looking-glass hopped off
a dressing-table, followed by combs and
brushes and several bottles, and a great pin-
cushion has been remarkably conspicuous for
its incessant jigs from one part to another.
The little girl, who is a Spaniard, and under
the care of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, is supposed
by their friends to be the cause of it all, how-
ever extraordinary it may seem in one of her
age, but up to the present time it continues a
mystery, and the modus operandi is invisible."
— Morning Post.
To imagine that these extraordinary effects
were produced by the voluntary agency of the
child, furnishes one of those remarkable instan-
ces of the credulity of the sceptical, to which
I have referred. But when we read a true
statement of the effects involuntarily exhibited
by Augelique Cottin, we begin to see that it is



260 THE POLTERGEIST

just possible the other strange phenomena may
be provided by a similar agency.
