aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

62 AEOTJND THE WORLD.
the animus of a large portion of the religious and secular
press, touching- Spiritualism and its expositors —
:
"If the ' Seer of the Ages' get your length in earth-life, you had
better treat him well ; for I can assure you, you will seldom find his
equal. If his spirit should get the length of ' Arabula ' before his body
reaches N. Z., — I don't know the latitude of this place, viz., Arabula,'
'
but I refer you for information to The Arabian Nights,' — you should get
'
his hide stuffed, and preserve him to posterity; the ' ages,' I fear, shall
nevermore look on his like again. I can not better begin to describe
him than by giving a few of the delicate epithets bestowed on this Mr.
Peebles in all the newspapers, town and coimtry : an ' impudent American,
an ' impious pretender,' a ' long-haired apostate,' a ' specious
humbug,' a ' rabid lunatic,' an ' uncouth revivalist,' a 'vulgar blasphemer,'
a long-haired apostate ' '
! These figures of speech might be
indefinitely multiplied, and yet half the truth would not be told. This
' great and good man' (Peebles) in speaking works himself up to a
frenzy, while with bloodshot eyes, and rolling tongue, and foaming
mouth, he tells the opinion that some heathen Chinee ' ' had formed of
Christianity away somewhere in the Far West. He then maudles over a
Yankee story about some poor youth mourning for his granny, whom he
had never seen, and who came from Arabula ' ' to pat him on the head.
On every occasion of his public appearance, the same hysterical
. . .
females, the same half-crazed, wild-looking men, are to be seen ready to
swallow any thmg and eveiy thing ; the more absurd the better. They
cry, The new and beautiful faith! ' '
' There is no God, but Peebles is a
prophet.' "
In the strength of a high-toned Spiritualism, giving assurance
of attending angels, and a blissful immortality, a man
may richly afford to bear all insult, all falsehood, and all railing
at his country, or at his Spiritual convictions, from the
unclean lips of priests, and the paid minions of the press.
Australian journalism lacks the energy of the American,
the culture of the French, and the dignity of the English
press. The distinguished William Howitt never wrote a
pithier paragraph than this —
:
" Many persons who have attended Spiritual seances of various kinds,
and satisfied themselves of their reality, express their surprise that the
press, as a body, remam doggedly unconvinced. Why should they be sur-