No. 



The Divinins: Rod. 



49 



For the Fariiiors' Cabinet. 

 Tile Diviuins Rod—^agaiM.* 



Mr. Editor, — If your correspondent at p. 

 18 of your number for last month had turned 

 to p. 355 of the second vol. of the Cabinet, 

 he would have seen that " iht sentiments of a 

 Jefferson" had already been appropriated : 

 now that's a f^reat pity, for two such antago- 

 nists must find it awkward to fight under the 

 same shield. To be sure he has added to liis 

 defence the Sampsonian weapon — a latin quo- 

 tation, — but if I had known him to be in want 

 of protection, 1 could have furnished a suit of 

 light armor which would have fitted him ex- 

 actly. It is from Cowpek's poem on " Con- 

 versation,''^ and as it appears that he has had 

 for many years the pleasant business of set- 

 ting others right after correcting himself, (he 

 is a schoolmaster, I presume,) it might be of 

 future service, and therefore copy it for his 

 use. — 



A great retailer of this curious ware, 



Having unloaded, and made others stare — 



" Can this be true ?" an arch observer cries, 



" Yes," rather mov'd, " I saw it with these eyes !" 



" Sir, I believe it on that ground alone, 



I could not, had I seen it with my own !" 



Now for this, I guess your correspondent 

 owes mc a kindness — but you must allow me 

 to add, from the same inimitable piece, a few 

 Imes in my defence. — 



Not that all freedom of dissent I blame. 

 No— there I grant the privilege I claim ; 

 But still, remember, if you wish to please. 

 To press your point with modesty and ease. 



I forgive him the rudeness of his attack, 

 and suppose tjou must do so too ; it is the pri- 

 vilege of much learning, but according to a 

 remark in one of your pages, such persons 

 hurt more v/ilh their manner than they bene- 

 fit with their knowledge ; and again, " To de- 

 ny the e.xistence of any thing is irrational and 

 nothing short of tolly ; it is a folly, because the 

 non-existence of a thing cannot be proved ; and 

 what cannot be proved, must always remain a 

 matter of doubt, and matters of doubt are not 



* The subject of the Divining Rod was introduced to 

 the pages of the Cabinet in the hope tliat some of its 

 very numerous readers might be endowed with the fac- 

 ulty of using it for the purpose of discovering .<tpr!rexr.*p/ 

 ■icatcr in the earth, and liearisig toi^timony to its virtues : 

 and in no country in the world would this invaluable 

 property be of so much importance as in this, where 

 thousands of newly planted establishments are spring- 

 ing up in every direction, to all of which a ready and 

 plentiful supply of water at all limes is of vital neccs- 

 Bity, both to man and beast. It was hoped, therefore, 

 that a subject of so much consequence, especially to the 

 agriculturist, would be taken up and discussed with a 

 calmness and seriousness worthy the object in view. 

 That there is some truth in the pretension, even the 

 testimony of remote ages bears witness, althougii it 

 must be admitted, the instances upon record are '■ few 

 and far betwe m." All that the subject demands is in- 

 vestigation, bearing in msiid that a wgative does not 

 admit of proof . 



subjects to which we can either affirm or de- 

 ny." " This positive manner might be useful 

 in a political contest, where the merits of a 

 cause depends upon its success, or in a polemi- 

 cal controversy, where the dictum of authority 

 supercedes the necessity of reason ; but in the 

 arts and sciences, in llie investigation of facts 

 that are to unfold new truths and useful dis- 

 coveries to mankind ; where the patlis of 

 knowledge are untrodden and every step is in 

 darkness, the mind revolts at a parade of in- 

 formation where all are equally ignorant, all 

 inquirers, all learners." 



Your correspondent is right in supposing 

 that I wrote under a real name — I did so, be- 

 cause I wished to lay before your readers the 

 simple facts for their examination, in the hope 

 that some one would set himself soberly to 

 accoimt for what I confess appeared to me 

 very mysterious, and I am sure 1 had no rea- 

 son to expect that any respectable person 

 would go out of his way to attack me ; but, ac- 

 cord ing to Cowper again, 



A modest, sensible, and well-bred man 

 Will not offend me, and no other can. 



But how stands the case ? I suppose that 

 I am compelled to believe what I have report- 

 ed, for although I might have refused my as- 

 sent, liad I only " seen it with these eyes." — 

 How shall I escape the dilemma that awaits 

 me, according to the old adage, " seeing is 

 believing, but feeling is the naked truth." I 

 not only saw the rod turn, but felt it tyrn in 

 my hands, at a time too wlien I did all in my 

 power to prevent it : and my attention was 

 never drawn off, as your correspondent oddly 

 expresses it, " until the tail, by the motion of 

 the body in walking, necessarily turns down," 

 — a most unlikely thing to huppen at a time 

 of such interest and excitement. But does it 

 not appear to us, simple persons, that your 

 correspondent must be near akin to the man 

 who cheated Lewis " by the plausible pretence 

 of a sharper, who professed to have the power 

 of using the rod," when we find him saying, 

 " Then, taking the rod in my own hands and 

 PRETENDING I had the power of using it, but 

 at the same time knowing it to be a sheer 

 hoax."* 



On reading my article to a friend, he re- 



* It is not our intention to suffer the Cabinet to be 

 the vehicle of useless controversy. The object of all 

 communications should be to elicit facts. This was 

 Mr. Pedder's design in his first communication on the 

 J>ivining Rod, by calling the attention of the people to 

 the subject. As we published the reply of Dr. Horton, 

 which we confi'ss is unusually severe, we owe it as a 

 matter of justice to Mr. 1'. to give equal publicity to his 

 rejoinder. If the art of tin ding water is possessed by cer- 

 tain individuals, if certainly is of the greatest import- 

 ance to the whole community, the agricultural class 

 more especially, that it should be known. "It does not 

 look reasonable," — ws srant it; but who dare affirm 

 that ti'e power as described by Mr. Pkdder does not ex- 

 ist ? That it may be abused, and the weak minded de- 

 ceived, is very likely. Let those who doubt ask them- 



