About sixty or seventy years ago, a man of piety and integrity arrived
in Germany from Philadelphia, to visit his poor old parents, and, with
his well-earned wealth, to place them beyond the reach of care. He went
out to America while he was still young, and had succeeded so far as
to become overlooker of various mills on the Delaware river, in which
situation he had honorably laid up a considerable sum.
In the neighborhood of Philadelphia, not far from the mills
above-mentioned, there dwelt a solitary man in a lonely house. He
was very benevolent, but extremely retired and reserved, and strange
things were related of him, among which was his being able to tell a
person things that were unknown to every one else. Now it happened,
that the captain of a vessel belonging to Philadelphia, was about to
sail to Africa and Europe. He promised his wife that he would return
in a certain time, and also that he would write to her frequently. She
waited long, but no letters arrived: the time appointed passed over,
but her beloved husband did not return. She was now deeply distressed
and knew not where to look for counsel or consolation. At length, a
friend advised her for once to go to the pious solitary and tell her
griefs. The woman followed his advice, and went to him. After she had
told him all her troubles, he desired her to wait a while there, until
he returned and brought her an answer. She sat down to wait, and the
man opening a door, went into his closet. But the woman thinking he
stayed a long, long time, rose up, went to the window in the door,
lifted up the little curtain, and looking in, saw him lying on the
couch or sofa like a corpse; she then immediately went back to her
place. At length he came and told her that her husband was in London,
in a coffee-house which he named, and that he would return very soon:
he then told her also the reason why he had been unable to write. The
woman went home pretty much at ease.
What the solitary had told her was minutely fulfilled, her husband
returned, and the reasons of his delay and his not writing were just
the same as the man had stated. The woman was now curious to know what
would be the result, if she visited the friendly solitary in company
with her husband. The visit was arranged, but when the captain saw the
man, he was struck with amazement; he afterwards told his wife that he
had seen this very man, on such a day (it was the very day that the
woman had been with him), in a coffee-house in London; and that he had
told him that his wife was much distressed about him; that he had then
stated the reason why his return was delayed, and of his not writing,
and that he would shortly come back, on which he lost sight of the man
among the company.