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ATKINSON'S CASKET
Or Gems of Literature, Wit and Sentiment
Philadelphia, June, 1832JOSEPHINE AND FORTUNE TELLER
"One day before my first marriage while taking my usual walk, I observed a number of negro girls assembled round an old woman, engaged in telling their fortunes. I drew near to observe their proceedings. The old Sybil, on beholding me, uttered a loud exclamation, and almost by force, seized my hand. She appeared to be under the greatest agitation. Amused at these absurdities, as I thought them, I allowed her to proceed saying,
"So you discover something extraordinary in my destiny?"
"Yes."
"Is happiness or misfortune to be my lot?"
"Misfortune. Ah, stop! And happiness too."
"You take care not to commit yourself, my good dame; your oracles are not the most intelligible."
"I am not permitted to render them more clear," said the woman, raising her eyes with a mysterious expression towards heaven.
"But to the point," replied I, for my curiosity began to be excited; "what read you concerning my futurity?"
"What I see in future? You will not believe me if I speak"
"Yes, indeed, I assure you. Come my good mother, what am I to fear and hope?"
"On your own head be it then; listen: You will be married soon; that union will not be happy; you will become a widow; and then then you will be Queen of France! Some happy years will be yours; but you will die in a hospital, amid civil commotion."
"On concluding these words," continued Josephine, "the old woman burst from the crowd, and hurried away, as fast as her limbs, enfeebled by age, would permit. I forbade the bystanders to molest or banter the pretended prophetess on this ridiculous prediction; and took occasion from the seeming absurdity of the whole proceeding, to caution the young negresses how they gave heed to such matters. Henceforth, I thought of the affair only to laugh at it with my relatives. But afterward, when my husband had perished on the scaffold, in spite of my better judgement, this prediction forcibly recurred to my mind after a lapse of years; and although I was myself then in prison, the transaction daily assumed a less improbable character, and I ended by regarding the fulfillment as almost a matter of course."
The above recital may be corroborated, if necessary, by the evidence of various persons who, at different times, had likewise heard it from the lips of the individual concerned.
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