MEETINGS. 271 



In one case, during the building of a greenhouse, certain 

 carpenters' tools mysteriously disappeared. Circumstances 

 seerued to point to someone among the workmen as being the 

 culprit ; but, of course, all denied the theft, and the question 

 was how to identify the delinquent. The men were sum- 

 moned before their employer, and the ordeal of the Bible and 

 key was invoked. The names of the men were successively 

 called, when, at one of them, the Bible " turned," and the 

 man was at once charged with the theft. To make assurance 

 doubly sure, however, the experiment was repeated, and — as 

 generally happens in such cases, when suspicion is once 

 aroused — the Bible again " turned " at the same name. This 

 was held to be proof positive. The bearer of the ill-fated 

 appellation was a highly respectable workman, against whom 

 there had never been a breath of suspicion, and who — dis- 

 tressed be} T ond measure at the aspersion — stoutly maintained 

 his innocence of the crime. This, however, by no means 

 cleared his reputation in the eyes of his intelligent (?) 

 employer. The Bible had decided the case, and the Bible 

 could not err. Indeed, the man's persistent denial of the 

 theft, and his previous unsuspected character, were, rather 

 regarded as merely so many aggravations of his actual 

 offence, for they now simply seemed to indicate that he was 

 a consummate hypocrite as well as an unprincipled thief. 

 Consequently he was at once ignominiously discharged from 

 his situation, although there was no other ground of suspicion. 

 Happily, however, a week or two later the real culprit was 

 discovered, and the unfortunate victim of the divination was 

 conclusively proved to have been entirely innocent of any 

 complicity in the theft. Here, then, was a signal instance of 

 failure in the divination, and also of gross injustice done to an 

 entirely innocent man. 



Another example of the practice occurred in connection 

 with the mysterious disappearance of a few pieces of family 

 plate after the death of the owner — comprising an antique 

 silver cream-jug and sugar basin, a dozen tea-spoons, &c. 

 One of the relatives, an old lady, had been seen after the 

 funeral to leave the house of mourning in a suspiciously 

 hurried and furtive manner. She was noticed, too, to be 

 holding her dress-pocket, as though it contained something 

 heavy and bulky ; while, as the plate disappeared just at the 

 same time, suspicion not unnaturally was fixed' upon her. 

 The Bible and key were invoked by the other relatives who were 

 entitled to share in the plate, the ordeal being gone through 

 again and again. On every occasion the Bible "turned" 



