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Page 22
Until about 30 years ago, a deaf and dumb man was in the habit of
visiting my native village, who was believed to possess wonderful gifts
of foresight. This _dummy_ carried with him a slate, a pencil, and a
piece of chalk, by use of which he gave his answers, and often he
volunteered to give certain information concerning the future; he would
often write down occurrences which he averred would happen to parties in
the village, or to persons then present. He did not beg nor ask alms,
but only visited certain houses as a sort of friend, and information of
his presence in the village was quickly conveyed to the neighbours, so
that he generally had a large gathering of women who were all friendly
to him, and he was never allowed to go away without reward. When any
stranger was present he would point them out, and write down the
initials of their name, and sometimes their names in full, without being
asked. He would also, at times, write down the names of relatives of
those present who lived at a distance, and tell them when they would
receive letters from them, and whether these letters would contain good
or bad news. He disclosed the whereabouts of sailor lads and absent
lovers, detected thefts, foretold deaths and marriages, and the names of
the parties on both sides who were to be married. He wrote of a young
woman, a stranger in the village, but who was present on one of his
visits, and was on the eve of being married to a tradesman, that she
would not be married to him, but would marry one who would keep her
counting money; which came to pass. The tradesman and she fell out, and
afterwards she married a haberdasher, and for a long time was in the
shop as cashier. This woman still lives, and firmly believes in the
prophetic gift of _dummy_. Another woman, a stranger also, asked him
some questions relative to herself; he shook his head, and for a long
time refused to answer, desiring her not to insist. This made her the
more anxious, and at last he drew upon the slate the figure of a coffin.
This was all the length he would go. In less than twelve months the
woman was in her grave. During one of his visits the husband of one of
the women who attended him was seriously ill, and the wife, a stout
healthy woman, was anxious to hear from _dummy_ the result of her
husband's illness. He wrote that the husband would recover, and that she
would die before him; and she did die not long after. In short, this
_dummy_ was a regular prophet, and his predictions were implicitly
believed by all who attended upon him. In his case there was no
pretension to visions, the form which he allowed his gift to assume was
that of intuition. Some few men in the village suspected the _dummy's_
honesty, and thought that he heard and assiduously and cunningly picked
up knowledge of the parties; but such doubts were regarded as bordering
upon blasphemy by the believers in _dummy_. I was never present at any
of these gatherings, but my information is gathered from those who were
present. Some months ago I was talking to an ordinarily intelligent
person on this subject, and he gave it as his opinion that dumb persons
had their loss of the faculties of hearing and speech recompensed to
them in the gift of supernatural knowledge, and he related how a certain
widow lady of his acquaintance had been informed of the death of her
son. This son was abroad, and she had with her in the house a mute, who
one day made signs to her that she would never see her son again, and a
few weeks after she received word of his death.
There was another phase of supernatural power, different from
witchcraft, and which the devil granted to certain parties: this was
called the _Black Airt_. The possession of this power was mostly
confined to Highlanders, and probably at this present day there are
still those who believe in it. The effects produced by this power did
not, however, differ much from those produced by witchcraft. A farmer in
the north-west of Glasgow engaged a Highland lad as herd, and my
informant also served with this farmer at the time. It was observed by
the family that, after the lad came to them, everything went well with
the farmer. During the winter, however, the _kye_ became _yell_, and the
family were consequently short of milk. The cows of a neighbouring
farmer were at the same time giving plenty of milk. Under these
circumstances, the Highland lad proposed to his mistress that he would
bring milk from their neighbour's cows, which she understood to be by
aid of the _black airt_, through the process known as _milking the
tether_. The tether is the rope halter, and by going through the form
of milking this, repeating certain incantations, the magic transference
was supposed capable of being effected. This proposal to exercise the
_black airt_ becoming known among the servants, they were greatly
alarmed, and showed their terror by all at once becoming very kind to
the lad, and very watchful of what he did. He was known to have in his
possession a pack of cards; and during family worship he displayed great
restlessness, generally falling asleep before these services were
concluded, and he was averse to reading the Bible. One night, for a few
pence, he offered to tell the names of the sweethearts of the two
servant-men, and they having agreed to the bargain, he shuffled the
cards and said certain words which they did not understand, and then
named two girls the lads were then courting. They refused to give him
the promised reward, and he told them they would be glad to pay him
before they slept. When the two men were going to their bed, which was
over the stable, they were surprised to find two women draped in black
closing up the stable door. As they stepped back, the women disappeared;
but every time they tried to get in, the door was blocked up as before.
The men then remembered what the lad had said to them, and going to
where he slept, found him in bed, and gave him the promised reward. He
then told them to go back, and they would not be further disturbed. Next
morning, the servant-men told what had taken place, and refused to
remain at the farm any longer with the lad; and the farmer had thus to
part with him, but he and the servants gave him little gifts that they
might part good friends. My informant believed himself above
superstition, yet he related this as evidence of the truth of the _black
airt_.
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