e Spear--a "Reverend Mr. Spear"--who was mixed up, it
appears, with the machinery-part of the business, and who was a medium
himself, transmitted to the lady a request from the spirits that she
would visit said Spear at High Rock on a certain day. She did so, of
course; and while there was unexpectedly taken with the pains of
childbirth, which the spiritualist authorities say, were
"internal"--where should they be, pray?--and "of the spirit rather than
of the physical nature; but were, nevertheless, quite as uncontrollable
as those of the latter, and not less severe." The labor proceeded. It
lasted two hours. As it went on, lo and behold! one part and another
part of the machinery began to move! And when, at the end of the two
hours, the parturition was safely over, all the machinery was going!

The lady had given birth to a Motive Force. Does anybody suppose I am
manufacturing this story? Not a bit of it. It is all told at length in a
book published by a spiritualist; and probably a good many of my readers
will remember about it.

Well, the baby had to be nursed--fact! This superhumanly silly female
actually went through the motions of nursing the motive force for some
weeks. Though how the thing sucked--Excuse me, ladies; I would not
discuss such delicate subjects did not the interests of truth require
it.

If I had been the physician, at any rate, I think I should have
recommended to hire a healthy female steam-engine for a wet nurse to
this young motive force; say a locomotive, for instance. I feel sure the
thing would have lived if it could have had a gauge-faucet or something
of that sort to draw on. But the medical folks in charge chose to permit
the mother to nurse the child, and she not being able to supply proper
nutriment, the poor little innocent faded--if that word be appropriate
for what couldn't be seen,--and finally "gin eout;" and the machinery,
after some abortive joggles and turns, stood hopelessly still.

This story is true--that is, it is true that the story was told, the
pretences were gone through, and the birth was actually believed by a
good many people. Some of them were prodigiously enthusiastic about it,
and called the invisible brat the New Motive Power, the Physical Savior,
Heaven's Last Best Gift to Man, the New Creation, the Great Spiritual
Revelation of the Age, the Philosopher's Stone, the Act of all Acts, and
so on, and so forth.

The great question of all was, Who was the daddy?