Page:The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (Volume Three).djvu/208

 way, that at the time I had myself not the slightest anticipation as to what President Johnson's intention with regard to me was. The most plausible supposition I entertained was, that he wished to discuss with me the points urged in my letters.)

Having disposed of this matter I asked whether the spirit of Lincoln had anything more to say to me. The answer came: “Yes, you will be a Senator of the United States.” This struck me as so fanciful that I could hardly suppress a laugh. But I asked further: “From what State?” Answer: “From Missouri.” This was more provokingly mysterious still; but there the conversation ended. Hardly anything could have been more improbable at that time than that I should be a Senator of the United States from the State of Missouri. My domicile was in Wisconsin, and I was then thinking of returning there. I had never thought of removing from Wisconsin to Missouri, and there was not the slightest prospect of my ever doing so. But—to forestall my narrative—two years later I was surprised by an entirely unsought and unexpected business proposition which took me to St. Louis, and in January, 1869, the Legislature of Missouri elected me a Senator of the United States. I then remembered the prophecy made to me at the spirit-séance in the house of my friend Tiedemann in Philadelphia, which during the intervening years had never been thought of. I should hardly have trusted my memory with regard to it, had it not been verified by friends who witnessed the occurrence.

I have given here my own experience, but do not offer any theory or hypothesis upon which to explain it. The believer in spiritualism may see in it a striking proof of the truthfulness of his belief. It is indeed as striking in this respect as anything that has ever come to my knowledge. But the story I told in the first volume of these Reminiscences of my